"Perfect in Pearls" Layout

This is my entry for the Prima BAP Challenge for February,2016. My entry this month for their challenge is titled "Perfect in Pearls", and here is the challenge sketch:

Prima's BAP Challenge February, 2016

I used the sketch and rotated it for my layout. I took two pictures of my project. The first one was taken in daylight without the flash:

This second picture was taken in a darker room with the flash – it really accents the glass bead gel I used on my page:

For the background of my layout, I used a paper from Prima's"Timeless Memories" collection. Before I began the video, I primed the front with a nice coat of Liquitex Clear Gesso. I use homemade texture paste, and for the recipe please visit gabriellepollacco.blogspot.ca. With the texture paste, I used Prima's "Floral Petites" stencil. To begin my layers of green, I started with some Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray in "Ponderosa Pines Olive" and Starburst Color Shot in "My MojitoGreen".  What really added the green that I was looking for was Prima's Color Bloom Spray in "Lime Wedge". That is where I got the nice, vibrant drips that I was going for. In the background, I also used some spots of Prima's Color Bloom Spray in "Empress Gold".

With black StazOn ink and Prima's clear stamp "Epiphany 2", I did a ton of stamping around my design and around the edges of the paper.  I used Liquitex Glass Bead Gel medium around the three areas with the pearls; I also applied it with Prima's stencil "Circular Lattice" right under the title; and finally I did a whole circle around the picture area where the brown twine circle frame is. At the end of the video, I distressed the edges of the paper in spots with Prima's Distressing Tool then went around the page distressing the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink pad in "Vintage Photo".

The flowers on the page are mostly from Prima's ButterflyCollection "Chenille", and I added some Prima Color Bloom Spray in"Empress Gold" to those flowers. The one larger flower that stands out is from Prima's Debutante Collection "Lavinia". I loved that the pearls in the center of these flowers fit the theme! The clusters of leaves are from Wild Orchid Crafts. The circle twine was something I made by hand, and I colored the twine with Prima's Color Bloom Sprays in a mixture of "AntiqueGold" and "Vintage Coal" and glued them on the knots with Ranger's Glossy Accents.  I used these two colors to create the matting for the photo with 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Using Prima's Time Traveler's Memories Collection Journaling Pad, I added part of a paper by the picture and also tore out an adorable quote that I put at the bottom of the page: "The most important things in life aren't things".  I distressed both pieces of paper with Tim Holtz Distress ink in "Vintage Photo".

Finally, the flourish piece that is behind the picture was something I picked up at Michael's thinking one day I might use it. It's a wooden shape from ArtMinds' Simply Surfaces. I ran into an all-familiar issue when I went to prime it with acrylic gesso: the surface of the wood was too smooth for the gesso to grab onto. I didn't want to sand it because of how fragile it was. I tried some color bloom sprays on it just to try it, and it wasn't holding either (I figured). That’s when I mixed some brown acrylic paint with a touch of Prima's Color Bloom Spray in "Vintage Coal" to make the brown a bit darker.

For the title, I designed it in the Silhouette Design Studio software and cut out three copies with my Silhouette Portrait from 140 lb. watercolor paper, glued the 3 copies together (to act as homemade chipboard) with Glossy Accents, and embossed the pieces twice with VersaMark ink and white embossing powder. 

NOTE ABOUT WATERCOLOR PAPER AND HOMEMADE CHIPBOARD:  Do not prime your watercolor paper chipboard pieces with gesso!  On watercolor paper, gesso acts as a sealant and you will have problems! I repeat, do not prime watercolor paper with gesso before using spray mists and other water based inks! I can't think of a situation where a person would actually want to do this. If you know of one, please add it in my comments section and I will update this blog entry.