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Inspiration: June 2019 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memory Layout Challenge #651 (patterned paper + 1 picture + doily)

The Gingham Garden collection from My Mind's Eye has been in my stash untouched for quite a while now and as I was picking new pictures to scrapbook, I realized they might work well with a picture taken after we successfully solved the Piccadilly Cabaret escape room. The flowery patterns and soft colours worked well with the pictures so that was the inspiration for the page.

I picked which patterns I wanted where and started assembling the base. What I struggled with the most was where to put my title. I placed the letters I wanted to use on acetate pieces and moved the words around until I finally found a way to work the words into the design that was pleasing with the overall design. I have to say that I am shocked that I managed to use the Tinsel Town Thickers twice in a week with other papers than the collection this set was released with. I'm always wary of colorful alphabets as the colours might not all work with another collection and you might not have all of the letters you need in a selected colour. Here, all four colours totally worked with the papers, even the reddish foam peeking from the sides. I have been doing a lot of combined alphabets on all the pages I've put together this month. It does give me an additional point for the Calvinball challenge, but aside from that, I like how much personality carefully selected fonts gives a layout.

Inspired by the sketch, I glued the picture using three lengths of foam tape, creating a pocket to slide an oversize tag in. This in turn allowed me to include longer journaling without having to squeeze it somewhere on the page. I used the larger die of the Framed Tags set from Tim Holtz. It was my first time inking the edges before die-cutting. I first tried out with grey Archival ink, doing direct to metal. The result was disastrous. I cleaned the die and tried again, adding Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide ink with a brayer. This worked really well. I was not planning on doing the inking all that often because it looked like too much trouble, but this went pretty well, so I might reconsider and use that technique more often. I added a hole reinforcer made out of glimmer paper and thicker baker's twine.

I made a banner as per the sketch, but I found a leftover punched chevron on my desk, so placed it inside the dovetail and added an enamel dot. When I last pulled my wax seal tools out, I had made an extra seal to test my Peach wax beads and the colour was perfect to work into this design. I highlighted the design with a gold foil pen and I overlapped the swallow die-cut image over it.

The die-cut pack offered a lot of inspiration. At the bottom, I placed a flower punch, a leaf and a bee (extra point!), then added a date label, on which I stamped the date the picture was taken. I took the two houses and the "find joy in the journey" banner to place where the small photos would have been on the sketch. I added a star eyelet to the banner, and enamel dots in matching colours to the houses.

I die-cut a doily out of vellum, to represent the circle from the sketch and I slid a little heart die-cut over it. For the picture mat, I had die-cut a tab using My Favorite Things dies, but I found tabs in the die-cut set, so I glued two in place, and added little words to it using the Planner Stickers. While looking at the Calvinball list, I remember about the clear stickers, so I pulled the ones I have nearby from a Maggie Holmes pack and I added a few black elements around the page. This is where I see the value of the Calvinball challenge - it pushes me to "shop my stash" and get out items that are generally overlooked. I have been using those little clear stickers all month so they are finally getting used! (And the sheet was brand-new when this challenge started...)

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: White Smoke (My Mind's Eye); Vellum, Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Sparkle Classic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Ink: Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Patterned Papers, Planner Stickers, Mixed Bag, Enamel Dots: Gingham Garden (My Mind's Eye)
Thickers: Tinsel Town, Courtyard (American Crafts)
Dies: Darling Doily (Stampin' Up!); Framed Tags (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Lacy Borders (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Chevron Border Punch, Stampin' DImensionals, Calypso Coral Glimmer Ribbon,
1/8" Gold Ribbon, Thick Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!);
Peach Wax Beads (DIY & Cie); Mail Wax Seal (Honey Bee);
Gold DecoColor Marker (Marvy); Corner Chomper, Star Eyelet (We R Memory Keepers);
Clear Stickers (Maggie Holmes for American Crafts)

 

Comments

[Sandy R]

Fabulous layout! Love your clusters of embellishments! Great job with the Tic Tac Toe challenge! Thanks for sharing with us at Lasting Memories Layout Challenges!!!

[Cheryl Even]

What beautiful paper you used, and I love the shimmery ribbon and the lacy border! Thanks for playing along with our Tic Tac Toe challenge over at Lasting Memories.