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26 March 2010

Glamour Photos

I'm not quite sure why, but when I saw the papers in this month's competition kit from Wrapped in Paper, I thought of these glamour photos I had taken some 16 or 17 years ago. They were taken at a time when it was all the rage to go to a photography studio where they would do your hair and makeup then take shots of you as if you were a model. I have to say that I look much better in those photos than I did in real life back then, and I looked much better then than I look now, so many years later! I guess that's what happens when you age though! Anyway, back to the layout.

Here's a photo of what was in the kit. There was a sheet of brown cardstock, a full sheet of Love Me Bella! Damsel Paperz, and three half sheets of patterned papers that I imagine are part of the Bella! Damsel Paperz range as well. There was also a pack of 'Handmade Sticker' flower stickers, lengths of two different brown ribbons and some pink ribbon, as well as some small rhinestones. I added some white 50mm Kaisercraft flowers, some pink Kaisercraft rhinestones, and some white Delish Designs flocked alphabet stickers from my stash.

Now, Here's my layout!


I started by cutting a 1 inch strip of paper from each of the papers that came in the kit. Then I cut those strips into one inch squares. I stuck them onto the cardstock in a random order across the top and bottom of the page. Then I cut pieces of the ribbons and stuck them over some of the joins between the squares. Finally I got my sewing machine out and zigzag stitched the squares and ribbons to the page. It didn't really turn out as I had envisioned as the stitch was too big, but it has grown on me. I added the photos, with the middle one put on with foam tape so it's a bit higher than the two end ones. For the rest of the embellishment I made up the flowers by punching daisies (using a Sullivans 25mm daisy punch and a matching smaller version by Carl?) out of the papers. For the all pink flowers I layered two 25mm flowers on top of each other, but offset, and then added a smaller daisy on top of that, with a rhinestone in the middle. I put the whole thing in the palm of my hand and pressed the centre in with my little finger so that the petals would stand up a bit. For the white flowers I took a Kaisercraft 50mm flower, added a 25mm punched flower, then added one of the flower stickers from the kit.


Here's some closeup views of the stitching and flower embellishments. You can click on any of the photos to see them larger.


Finally I added the title and a few of the clear rhinestones here and there, including on the middle photo to make my ring stand out! I wish the diamond in my engagement ring was really that big! Well, actually I don't as I think it would get caught on everything, but it looks good on the layout! You can see it better in this photo.

The only thing that I don't have on this layout is some journalling. This is extremely unusual for me as I normally do put some on. I think I might add something to the back, or a pull out tab under one of the photos when I get it back from the shop after the competition is over. I considered putting some on the layout, but with all the little paper squares it's just too busy to add some journalling as well. In fact I had initially used some silver glitter alphas that I had, but they just got lost on the page, so I changed that title to the white letters instead.

Well, let me know what you think of my page.

Till next time, happy days!

21 March 2010

Project 12 - February 2010 Layout



I've had the photos for this layout for over a week, but haven't had a chance to get to this layout, so I'm pleased that I finally got it finished. This is my second layout for Project 12 at Scrapbook and Cards Today. Two down, ten to go!

This month's sketch allowed for 7 photos. I love that these sketches give me the opportunity to put lots of photos on a page. I've always felt that while single photo layouts can be absolutely beautiful works of art, that the real reason for scrapbooking is to record the events and everyday happenings of life. Of course that requires many photos and lots of journalling. These sketches allow me to do just that!

Once again I used the papers and embellishments from the scrapbooking kit that I purchased from Aldi last year. My intention is to use the same kit for all the Project 12 layouts and to keep them in the matching album. So far, so good. I'm not sure whether I will actually have enough papers, but I guess we'll see as the year goes on. The cardstock is from my TLC stash, and I also added a few buttons, some ribbon and some edging from my stash. The ribbon was left over from a competition kit but wouldn't stay stuck with the double sided tape I was using, so I sewed it to the page. That ended up being difficult as it was hard to see through the ribbon to the holes I pierced for the purpose. Both of the edgings I used were white but I coloured them with bronze Versamark ink.

During February the kids started a new school year. We had two and a half days of rain, the most we've seen in months. The grass is actually green again instead of brown and dead! There was so much rain in that period in fact that Lake Burley Griffin was so full that they opened Scrivener Dam. It proved to be quite a draw card, and like most of Canberra we too went to have a look. This month also saw the winter Olympics being held in Vancouver. We were all cheering for Canada during the ice hockey and the kids went to find the Canadian flag to have out during the game. Both kids also had lots of badges that they had traded during their Guide and Scout camps in January. They all needed to be sewn on to their camp blankets, so much of their time was spent sewing! Some were sewn on better than others, but at least I didn't have to do it, although I did help with a few of the more difficult badges.

I like how this layout turned out. I like it better than last month's.

On the left is the left hand side on its own. Just click on it if you want a closer look.



On the right is the right hand side.



I have another layout done for my LSS monthly competition, but won't post it just yet as I feel there's something wrong with it at the moment. I'm still trying to work out how to improve it.

Till next time, happy days!