So how has the new year been treating my friends and fellow bloggers so far? January is always a challenging month for me...I drag out the Holidays till the Epiphany, when I throw my annual Feast of the Three Kings party, then the post- Holiday cleanup seems to take weeks! Although, this year I had help. My sweet Gigi stayed with me till the middle of the month to help pack up Jim's giant O-gauge model train collection, so it can move on to other loving homes. Then I flew to Atlanta, Georgia for 2 weeks, to help my friend Lucy recover from hip surgery and to get away from New England's winter chill for a while. Although I didn't blog while I was there, I did scrapbook alot and have much to share with you.
Lucy and her Bob will be celebrating their 30th Wedding Anniversary next month and I wanted to gift them with a frame-worthy layout of their wedding as a thank you for their kind hospitality during my visit with them. Lucy & I chose the photos together, deciding on three. In the first one, the couple is cuddling their beloved little black poodle, the second photo included Lucy's dad, whom she adored, and for the third photo, we chose a cute shot of the newlyweds dancing at the reception.
Using the pretty blue of Lucy's wedding dress and the left side of the weekly sketch (by fellow Design Team member Judy Rakes) posted on Let's Scrap as my inspiration, I chose my papers.
I selected a bright powder blue with a muted script on it as the background paper and the mat for the photos, and decided to accent it with soft browns and blues...
Next, I gathered my materials, choosing elegant gold alphas and some lovely ornate brads that I picked up at the local Hobby Lobby. (I was in scrapbook heaven! I had been a Hobby Lobby virgin until now. What a fun store!)
Following the design of the sketch, I laid out vertical strips, planning for the large title to the left of the three photos., as suggested by the sketch.
I decided that the base color I chose was just too bright & competed with Lucy's wedding dress, so I peeled off the photos, and switched to cardstock with a touch of aqua.
There...I like that much better. I also saved that wonderful peeled-paint-on-wood paper for a future scrapbook layout, which I will share with you soon...it just seemed too harsh for the softness of the occasion. Now for the titlework...
Placing alpha stickers is tricky business. I've read that many scrappers use a method of placing the stickers partially on a sheet of transparent acrylic for spacing, then transferring to the paper. I've tried it, but I don't have patience for that. So I just split the title and worked the second line backwards to make sure it would fit. I didn't press my letters down until I was happy with their placement. (A good little tip to remember.) I also added a little lace to soften the strip of brown paper nearest the photos.
Layering is such a fun way to add texture and interest to a scrapbook layout. Here I was adding a strip of Washi tape...so cool because it has semi-transparent qualities.
Now for the embellishments. Because I didn't have my stash with me in Georgia, I was challenged to create my own embellies. Fortunately, I had found this beautiful paper at Hobby Lobby, and I fussy-cut some brown & blue doilies that worked perfectly.
Inking the edges adds dimension...I did this with all of the paper strips as well as the doilies.
I used some pretty epoxy-centered ornate brads on some of the doilie cut-outs to futher embellish them.
Isn't that lovely?
My scrapbooking friend, Heather, has a new crafting show that broadcasts on Google+ and YouTube called Coffee, Chat and Kraaft (by Kraaft Shaak) and I learned how to make cool little posies just from paper! Thought it would be fun to share it with you. First, cut out a circular spiral, starting on the outside...just like we used to do as kids, when we cut out "snakes"...ending in a small circle in the middle.
Start rolling from the outside of your spiral, tightly toward the center. Heather used a piercing tool to wind the paper on, but I didn't have anything like that with me, so I just rolled by hand. My center is not as tight, but it came out so pretty anyway.
When you get to the middle, let go to allow the roll to relax, then simply glue-down the flower onto the center circle, and hold for a few minutes until the glue dries.
I made a second, smaller flower & added some "leaves" underneath. I probably should have inked the edges of the spirals before rolling them up, but I inked the flowers once they were complete. (Why take the easy road, when you can make things more difficult, right?)
Aren't they just so pretty? (Thank you, Heather, for your wonderful tutorial on your show!) I will no doubt use this technique again. So here's a close-up of the left side of the layout, with all it's bells & whistles...actually, I think I had just pierced a whole to insert a brad into the doilie on the left in this photo.
And ta...da... Here's the final scrapbook layout! -A lovely memento of a very special day for Lucy & Bob! (I added the date later, in the blue strip in between the "p" and the "g" ...No need for additional journaling, as the photos and the title say it all!
Happy Anniversary, Lucy and Bob!
And happy scrapping to all my scrappy freinds! -Enikö
