Scrap Around the World May Challenge Epic Event 2015

The Scrap Around the World Challenge site is having an epic event this month! There are lots of wonderful prizes to be won! Also, it is a special celebratory month, as it is another birthday for Scrap Around the World. Previous winners who were featured on the Wall of Fame are being asked to participate to determine the top ten winners of the year. The year runs from May 2014 to April 2015. Also, anyone can enter who has not been featured on the Wall of Fame. There will be 20 featured layouts, and I'm sure it will be an amazing show!

Since I was featured on The Wall of Fame for January 2015, I decided to participate in this month's challenge as a VIP. That is the designation previous winners are being given, VIP. Pretty humbling, as there are so many vastly talented and gifted previous winners. But, I thought, well, why not, might as well give it a try!

Here is this month's challenge and the celebratory Moodboard, composed by the site owner, Helen Tillbury:

As you can see, this board has something to offer everyone!

Because I felt inspired by the celebratory nature of the moodboard, I decided to create something lighthearted and playful! But I was also very much inspired by the basket of roses in the lower right corner, and took my cue from that. I also took inspiration from the softness of the ice cream, and from the crystals around the outer edge of the glass - both images in the upper left. 

Here is what I came up with:

I have titled this layout "A Bed of Roses".

I wanted to create something light, so I stuck with a lighter color palette, but worked in some brown tones along with the pinks and pale orange. Working with some antique silk velvet, I twisted and turned the fabric, trying to emulate the folds and softness of a beautiful rose. I was seeking to emulate the many layers of the rose, so I first of all tore and layered a lot of paper strips, again seeking to emulate the many layered rose. Over this base I put down my velvet fabric pieces. And then I placed a cut out photo of my Mother and her little sister taken in 1929. They look as if they were just having a happy time, carefree, loving life, celebrating the everyday. Behind them I placed a lot of fussy cut images of roses, and then placed bits of lace and crochet, and floral roses. Then I went in with a stencil and molding paste, which was inspired by the little round bumps on the shoes in the moodboard. There is also some stamping and some spritzing of mists, very delicate. And as the final touch, I scattered little glass beads in the upper right and lower left corners of the layout, as inspired by the coating of crystals around the glass on the moodboard, and added some twine.

Here is a close up of the velvet work:

Thanks for looking at my layout, I hope you like it!

Vintage Card Cafe Challenge

Totally by accident I discovered this beautiful site and was instantly captivated by the latest challenge, which is called "Family Values". The site is a Russian one, and such incredible work is produced here! There is a translate button, which helps a lot for all of us "foreigners", and I think I understand the general drift of this challenge!

Here is the challenge:

As luck would have it, I needed to make an introductory layout for a family heritage album, and I knew which photograph I wanted to use. So I set to work! I also knew that the layout I needed to make had to be fairly flat, with no bulky embellishments, as the album was already full. So I decided to go with an old fashioned vintage layout, mostly with layered and torn papers, and flat embellishment, without any mixed media, flowers, or fabric. (all of which I love to use, but couldn't!) It was a bit of a challenge to use restraint!

The challenge requires the use of a photograph with more than one person in it, and done in a vintage, retro style. Well, the photo I used has 30 people in it!! This is what I came up with:

The layout is entitled "Today - delivered - 1950". And the photograph shows the entire family of my Mother at the family picnic reunion in July, 1950. My Mother took the photograph, and because she was not in the photo for obvious reasons, I felt I needed to include her. So I cut out a small photo of her and layered it over a chipboard element and paper elements, and placed her on the far left, next to the larger family group. So now, everyone is present! There were 9 siblings in the family, and they are all present along with their spouses. The family Matriarch, my Grandmother, is standing on the far left. All of the children and babies are in the front. There are 12 children in the photo. All of the adults have now passed on, and 3 of the children have also joined them.

I like to use old elements that belonged to the person/place/timeframe I am scrapping. In this case I used an old lock surround that belonged to my Mom and Dad. I built up a lot of paper layers, along with drywall tape, to frame my photograph. I also inked and applied crackle glaze to the chipboard elements, which are the "Today" title, and the clock surround underneath my Mom's photo.

Thank you for looking at my old fashioned vintage layout. The photograph is a very special one to me, it holds so many memories of people who were dear to me and with whom I shared my earliest years of life!

Scrap Around The World February 2015

I decided to play along again at Scrap Around The World. The February moodboard is so evocative of Spring, and right now here in New England, we are buried under several feet of snow, with icy cold temperatures. So, I am imagining the unimaginable, nurturing my heart and creating a Spring layout in the midst of this interminable Winter!!

Here is the beautiful, romantic February moodboard....

Sigh, what a lot of loveliness!!! If you would like to play along with Scrap Around the World this month, HERE is the link to this wonderful challenge.

I seem to be taking my Mother as my muse lately, and have used an old photo of her taken in 1945. The photo was my jumping off point. I was very inspired by the quotation in the upper right and also by the ombre tones behind the quote. I loved the soft greens and yellows of the woods depicted in the lower left, and felt the photo of my Mom had that same sort of feeling. I was also inspired by the beautiful braid and soft curls of the woman's hair.

Here is my layout:

I have titled my layout "Reawakening," and included some lines from a piece of poetry by W. de la Mare that I thought worked with the whole theme of the moodboard and the photograph.

I began with a plain piece of white cardstock. Onto this I did some random stamping, and then put molding paste through various stencils. Inspired by the ombre tones of greens and yellows, I sprayed inks, and also applied them with a brush, building up the layers slowly. When I finally got the colors where I needed them, I did more stamping.  I framed up my photo over many layers and applied it to the background piece over a bit of a lacy trim which I colorized. Then I began adding little pieces of more trims. All of the lace pieces, etc., came from my Mom, who had acquired quite a lot of old textiles. And because I like to use something that belonged to the person I am doing the page on, if I have something, I also did some fussy cutting from a piece of wallpaper that Mom saved. This wallpaper hung in one of the rooms in her home. These pieces I layered under and around the photo, the quotation and the right hand side of the layout. I added some beads in various spots. Inspired by the braid in the hair of the woman on the moodboard, I braided pieces of jute twine, very loosely, and fixed it to the right hand side of my arrangement.

A close up:

This gives a better look at the old pieces of textiles, and some of the fussy cut wallpaper, and the braid.  And the beautiful, old photograph!

Hopefully those soft, sweet Spring days are just a few months away, but the layout has greatly eased my longing, and reawakened my soul to the delights of Springtime! I hope you like my page, and a thank you to all who look at it!

Scrap Around The World January 2015

I am playing along this month at Scrap Around The World. The mood board is just so romantically shabby and beautiful!! So I had to give it a try!!

This is the wonderful moodboard, and here is the link to this month's challenge.

I was inspired by the general shabby mood of the board, the bucket of flowers in the upper right photo, the collection of frames and the time elements.

Here is my entry:

The title of my layout is "Holding On to Memories of You"

Six years ago I had to let go of my dear Mother. That is her photograph in the tiny frame on the right. And although I miss her every day, and our times together, I have my memories to hold on to. And I have saved precious items that were a part of her. In the large photo you see roses and peonies that Mom patiently dried in her spacious attic. I like to display them at certain times of the year on various tables throughout my home. They remind me of our happy times together in the garden, and the effort Mom made to save her flowers.

I used various framing elements - some I whitewashed with gesso, other I left alone in their metallic gold state, as they already had a nice, aged patina. I applied molding paste through various stencils. Then I made a "shabby" frame for my larger photo with layers of distressed papers. I applied my frames over a distressed and gessoed piece of corrugated cardboard, applied spray inks and from there built up the elements, using cheesecloth, torn papers, bits of fabric, flowers and fussy cut elements. Lastly I added beads and paint splatters. Then I applied paint to the floral elements and added the little key. Also I used twine to tie the arrangement together.

Some close ups:

For whatever reasons, I had a very difficult time pulling this layout together. I suppose my brain just stopped functioning after the intense holiday work load, and perhaps I needed to let it rest a bit, LOL! Although it was not funny trying to get this page into some kind of order. Anyway, I hope you like my layout, and let's hope my brain cells are more cooperative next time around! Best wishes to all for a great new year!

November Scrap Around The World

Because I was so inspired by the November mood board at Scrap Around The World, I created a second layout for this challenge!

Once again, HERE is the link to the challenge, and here is the vintage, nostalgic, beautiful mood board:

For this entry I decided to create a masculine layout. The source of my inspiration was the image in the upper left corner of the sheet music stacks, and also the doilies in the window, the image in the center bottom. Seems I can't get enough of these two images!!

Here is my entry:

The photograph is my Grandfather, who indeed was very elusive for the longest time!! It took many,many years of searching, untold hours of research and painful discovery, to finally find this man and learn his tragic story.

The layout is composed of many heavily distressed and torn layers. Various ink sprays and inks were applied through a stencil. Then with molding paste applied through a stencil another layer of texture was added. Seven layers of torn and distressed papers were used to frame up the photograph. All of these layers allude to the many layered journey to discovery of this man. Ink drips and mica flakes were added to the page. I added pieces of vintage window doilies, as I always like to have something old on my heritage layouts. And I had 2 old lock surrounds that belonged to my Mother, (his daughter), which I used as embellishment to anchor two corners of the photograph stack. It is important to me to use items that actually belonged to the person if possible, and in this case I was able to use something that belonged to his daughter. Because I did not want to use any flowers, I added a couple more pieces of metal, and an old, screen washer. I tied up the page, reminiscent of the photo on the moodboard, with twine, and also added some thread. Then went in with more ink, lightly washing in areas for an old, worn look.

From what I have been able to piece together, I believe the photograph was taken about 1895.

I have followed the ten golden rules for the Scrap Around The World entry requirements. Thank you for looking, and I hope you like my page!

Scrap Around The World November

Happy November to all! This month I am playing along again at Scrap Around The World. The mood board is absolutely inspiring in every way.

Here is this month's board. Is it not beautiful?? My very favorite vintage look. Love every bit of it! I could look at this board all day long and be inspired by so many different aspects of it!! If you would like to play along, here is the link.


And here is my layout.............

Zest For Life

I knew I wanted to use this photograph taken of my Mother in 1946 for my layout. Inspired by the mood board's sheet music stack, in the upper left, this was my starting point. I layered up under the photo using sheet music paper, script, and a scrap of vintage silk velvet, which is a nod to the velvet dress my Mom is wearing in the photo.

Very much inspired by the center photo on the bottom of the board of the doilies in the window, with sun gleaming through them, I created a textural background using  gloss gel medium, and also molding paste.

After this was dry, I applied spray inks of various colors.

I was also very inspired by the beautiful bouquet of flowers, especially the colors. I used some very vintage embroidery floss, that was the perfect softness of color, to fill in under and around the photo. The pinks and oranges were perfect, though not as bright as the colors on the board. Adding bits of old beaded bracelets in the same area also, to give a bit more glinting light effect. The flowers were lightly touched with silks paints, then swabbed over with fluid acrylic in a natural tone. I also added 2 tiny feathers that I found in my garden, they are the palest orange, a gift from a cardinal bird!!

Behind the photograph are 2 vintage doilies, and various pods from my garden are scattered around on the page. And of course, twine! I love using twine on my pages, it gives a very organic look that I adore. And as a final touch, ink splatters.

I titled my page "Zest for Life", which I felt embodied the spirit of the quotation in the lower right, "life is beautiful," My Mother surely had a most wonderful zest for life, and was a very inspirational and strong woman.

I believe I have followed the 10 golden rules of the Scrap Around The World challenge site. I hope you like my layout.

Altered Book

Throughout the past several months I've been working on a little altered book project that I intend to give as a Christmas gift to my cousin. It's been a lot of fun! As the book is quite small, only 7 x 5 inches, it is like working in miniature. Not having to stress out about filling up a 12 x 12 space frees up my mind a bit and relaxes me in a way that making layouts does not! And I get to use up little bitty scraps that I can't seem to throw away.

The theme of this book is the family history, and it is titled "Portraits." Since my cousin and I naturally have the same ancestral family, and she very much enjoys our joint history, I wanted to make something special for her so she could record her thoughts, etc.  I left the "journaling" spaces blank in some cases so that she could write in her own words and handwriting.

I found the most difficult part to be the cover, and I can't say I am entirely happy with it! It was a huge learning experience - lots of pulling things off, wiping ink off, starting over - but at least I got something! It is my first ever book cover! Hopefully I will improve the more I do!

To make the cover I first gessoed the entire book. Then I applied molding paste through a stencil. After this I sprayed the whole cover with inks, many times, building up layers of transparency. I then positioned my title and main floral element (which was first colored with inks) and laid that down over lace scraps. Everything was secured using mat gel medium. Through much trial and error I proceeded to add more ink, spraying on and wiping off, to achieve the look I was after. I must have wasted a ton of spray ink doing this, and have now learned that applying the ink with a brush is the best way to go as I can slowly build up color intensity without wasting a lot of product. I finally secured the buttons and the roman numeral, with gel medium. The button serves as a wrap -around for a piece of twine which secures the book closed.

Grandfather

First entry is our illusive Grandfather, whom we never knew, and our parents did not know him either. He died when his children were very young, and his story is a tragic one, which I will not get into here. The individual pages were first given a coat of gesso, then modeling paste was applied through different stencils. The page was inked and elements glued down, and various touches of spray were applied, along with thread and ribbon.

Grandmother

This page, done in the same manner with gesso, laces and wallpaper is about our Grandmother. It also includes a photo of her tea set, as the page alludes to a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, "A woman never knows how strong she is until she gets into hot water." Our poor Grandmother was in hot water an awful lot, and she was very strong indeed!!

Now we go back to the old country, to this lost place in Poland, and some of my Grandmother's family. The old woman on the blanket is my Grandmother's Mother, and the woman kneeling is one of her sisters. Those are her children alongside her. Again, the same technique, layering strips, gesso, inking through a stencil, applying paper strips and fabrics, some stamping.

Another page featuring Grandmother's family in Poland. I wanted to keep some of these early pages similar in feeling, so I stuck with a neutral, earthy palette, as I felt it suited the place and time.

This page features my cousin's Father as a little boy. He was my Grandmother's 4th son. He and my Mother were very close.

And this is my Mother. She was my Grandmother's 5th daughter, her 9th child.

Here we have my Mother with my cousin's Father, together in their first communion photo. Can you see how close they were?!!

That's it for now, more to come!!