Life Is So Good

 

I’ve scrapped this photo of my Granddaughter taken by her mother before. It’s one of my favorite images of her, so it immediately popped into my mind when I opened the February Scrapbook Kit from Tres Jolie and discovered that it contained paper and laser cut elements from 49 and Market’s Alena collection.

This took a few days to complete because I decided to fussy cut a lot of the flowers and butterflies that were included on the cover sheets of the paper pack and the laser cut embellishments. While I was doing that, I put together a plan for my finished layout.

To begin, I cut an 8” x 8” square in the center of the Full Bloom page and put it aside for a future project. (This is a good way to stretch patterned paper; I only needed the outside area.) The remaining 12” x 12” piece was glued to an 11.75” square of chipboard to give it stability.

I trimmed the Exquisite sheet by .25” on all sides, giving me a 11.5” square; this was adhered to the base.

The photo was glued to one of the laser cut frames, then cut down to fit. I glued small pieces of chipboard to the back of this, as well as to the other frame pieces that I had selected. These were arranged in a fan-like arrangement and glued to the page.

I adhered the “twine” piece to the bottom of the photo and then selected flowers and leaves from the pile of laser- and fussy-cut embellishments, starting with that marvelous flowing vine. To add dimension, I used foam adhesive to glue them all down.

To fill what looked like a gap, I added a few “ticket” pieces to the side of the photo after tearing the edges and topped this with my title piece.

To finish my page, I glued down a few scattered butterflies and a bit of script: the “beauty” piece above the vine.

A few closeups:

 

***************************************************

*****Supplies*****

***Paper***

49 and Market – Art Options – Alena Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Exquisite #AA-37254

49 and Market – Art Options – Alena Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Full Bloom #AA-37292

***Embellishments***

49 and Market – Art Options – Alena Collection – Laser Cut Elements #AA-37360

***Other***

Beacon – Fabri-Tac Permanent Adhesive

Craft Country – Aleene’s All-Purpose Tacky Glue

Scrapbook.com – Foam Adhesive Strips #sbc-bcadh-3122

***Tools***

EK Success – Cutter Bee Scissors

***************************************************

As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

 

Captured in a Photograph

 

This layout was inspired by the March 2023 Challenge at Tres Jolie Kit Club, featuring a sketch and a Spring Flowers theme. I concentrated more on the “Spring” than the “Flowers”, allowing the layers and layers to do that job for me.

I love this photo and the memories of a Sunday in May, 1953 that it evokes. That’s a six-year-old me on the left and my five-year-old sister and my brother who would have been four on the left. The gentleman holding our hands was not only our neighbor, but our surrogate grandfather who doled out hugs and candy and many, many stories of growing up “long, long ago”. You can just make out the swing set and sandbox in the background, along with trees that were beginning to fill out with leaves. Directly behind us is an elm tree that spread over all of our yards and provided so much shade in the summer. Unfortunately, it (and its smaller sibling next to our house) succumbed to Dutch Elm disease some years later.

For a change, I didn’t do a lot of embellishing on this layout. Instead, I began with the beautiful pattern of the paper and added lots and lots of layers of laser and fussy cut images, backing everything with small bits of packaging for dimension.

I usually ink the edges of every component of my pages; this time, I added a small amount to the photo, clock and title piece.

A few close-ups:

 

 

 

 ***************************************************

 

*****Supplies*****

 

***Paper***

49 and Market – Vintage Artistry Tranquility Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Cover Sheet #VAT39623

49 and Market – Vintage Artistry Tranquility Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Sweet Nothings #VAT39562

***Embellishments***

49 and Market – Vintage Artistry Tranquility Collection – Laser Cut Elements #VAT39715

49 and Market – Vintage Artistry Tranquility Collection – Chipboard Elements #VAT39753

***Mediums***

Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink Pad – Pumice Stone

***Other***

ScorTape – 1/2”

Art Institute Glitter – Dries Clear Designer Adhesive

USPS Packaging

***Tools***

EK Success – Cutter Bee Precision Scissors

Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Mini Ink Blending Tool

***************************************************

As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

 

Golden Moments

 

I love so much about Autumn: the cooler days and nights, the seasonal produce, the holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving; most of all, I love the beautiful colors that appear in the Fall. Inspired by this month’s Mood Board, I’ve used the November Scrapbook Kit, loaded with 49 and Market papers and ephemera, along with packages of flowers from Prima, to scrap this photo of two of my grandchildren taken six years ago.   

Here is the Mood Board; I’ve kept to the twist of “Fall Colors”, and I’ve included the pumpkins in the top right image in my layout.

I began by adding “stitches” here and there around the border of the base sheet, using an old Prima stamp. I added more around a large piece of ephemera that I had selected to go under the photo. The photo itself is matted with a piece of corrugate to reflect the image on that piece. I began to select more pieces of ephemera to go under and around the piece, forming a cluster of layers. Before gluing everything down, I decided to add the paper that I had torn off the corrugate; I think it blend in perfectly.

Once the focal point was set, I began to add flowers and more flowers until I was satisfied. Next came the butterflies: the large one is from the ephemera pack, the smaller two are included in the cut-apart sheets from the paper pack.

I wanted to fill in some gaps, so I grabbed a jar of glass beads from my stash and began to apply them using gel medium as an adhesive. I liked the look, so I scattered some small clusters here and there around the page.

I finished my layout by adding the title piece: another bit of ephemera backed with a small piece of the paper left from stripping the corrugate.

 

****Did You Know?****

The Mood Board Challenge is open to everyone! – you don’t have to be a subscriber to Tres Jolie. If the November Mood Board has inspired you, why not play along? Here’s a link to the blog post; just scroll down to the bottom for details.

***************************************************

*****Supplies*****

***Très Jolie Scrapbook Kit***

49 and Market – Vintage Artistry – In the Leaves Collection – 12 x 12 Collection Pack #VAL-35113

Prima – Diamond Collection – Flower Embellishments – Courage #653200

Prima – Diamond Collection – Flower Embellishments – Love Wins #653279

49 and Market – Vintage Artistry – In the Leaves – Ephemera Bits #VAL-35137

***Other***

Prima – Cling Mounted Stamp – Stitch Lines #570514

Prima – Art Ingredients – Glass Beads – Butter #961701

***Mediums***

Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink Pad – Walnut Stain

Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink Pad – Ground Espresso

Liquitex – Professional – Acrylic Medium – Matte Gel

 

***************************************************

As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

Don’t forget that Tres Jolie can be found in the following places:

Facebook: 

Instagram: 

Tres Jolie website: 

Tres Jolie subscriptions: 

Tres Jolie blog:

Tres Jolie YouTube: 

Pinterest