"Living in the Moment" Layout - VIDEO TUTORIAL

Hello everyone! This is my newest layout titled "Living in the Moment" and it is my entry for the Words and Paintery challenge for March, 2016.

Here is the Words and Paintery challenge board for March:

I love the quote for this challenge; when I read it, I thought of the many times in my life in which I was not living in the moment. There have been too many times earlier in my life that I have tried to calculate what would be happening next instead of being in the present. In time, I came to realize that I have the most fun when I am "living in the moment".

To see my process for creating this layout, I invite you to watch my video tutorial. 

The paper is from Graphic  45; I used several stencils with texture paste; and I used some Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray in "Cattail Copper Brown" and my new Prima Watercolor Confections "The Classics" to color my background (I literally just got it in the mail right before I added the black watercolor to my background – I was so excited to use it!). 

I also used some black StazOn with my Prima "Crackle" Clear Stamp on the background. To finish the background,  I adhered Finnabair Art Ingredients Micro Beads in black and Mica Flakes in mulberry with Golden Regular Gel (Semi-Gloss).

For my video, I did not include the parts that show me spraying and coloring some flowers or the embossing, etc. Instead, I decided to just type it in my blog entry.

I used several different flowers on my page. The larger roses with sparkles on them in the two different colors are both made by Prima. The light (white) roses are from the Salvage District Collection – "Royal Hall" and the other sparkle roses are from the Vintage Emporium Collection – "Verona". 

The remaining roses on the page are from Wild Orchid Crafts. There are very tiny white roses and there are three slightly bigger roses that are red. I used Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray in "Postbox Red" to color these Wild Orchid Crafts' roses. The leaf vines on the page are from Wild Orchid Crafts as well.

Finally, there are flat, shiny looking flowers on my page. These are also Prima flowers from the Butterfly Collection – "Chenille". I colored them by spraying them with Prima Color Bloom Spray in "Ginger Coral" and adding a touch of Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray in "Postbox Red" around the center pearls. Once they were dry, I used my VersaMark ink pad and Ranger Melt Art UTEE and embossed each flower two times.

I designed my title in my Silhouette Design Studio software, cut it from watercolor paper (140 lbs.) with my Silhouette Portrait, and used my black Silhouette sketch pen for the words "in the". I decided to use ColorBox pigment ink in black to emboss my title three times with Ranger Melt Art UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).

The other embellishments on the page are random gems and things that I had in my stash. 

I hope you get a chance to watch some of my video tutorial! Please feel free to leave any comments, suggestions, or questions. Take care, and have a lovely day!

"Lovely" Layout

This is my newest layout titled "Lovely", and it is for the Prima PPP and the Prima BAP challenges for March, 2016.

Here is the inspiration board for the Prima Product Picks for this month:

And this month's Build-A-Page sketch is:

For my layout, I used paper from Prima's new Vintage Emporium collection, some of the collection's journal cards for the matting, and the "BE YOU TIFUL" and "you are" stickers by the photo. The flowers are from the Vintage Emporium collection also - "Verona", along with the Vintage Emporium Ephemera that I used to fill in spots around the matting and other embellishments and title.

To create the background, I used Prima's Circular Lattice stencil, Color Bloom Spray in "Cotton Candy", and Prima's clear acrylic stamp "Read to Me" with Ranger Archival ink in "Sepia" below the flowers and up toward the title. And as always, I use the homemade texture paste recipe found on Ms. Gabrielle Pollacco's blog.

Next came the fun part, since I really didn't know for sure if acrylic-paint splatters would disrupt the smooth and soft pink background - I didn't want the diluted acrylic paint to mix with the pink. To avoid the situation, I sprayed the pink area with Krylon Fixatif, let it completely air dry, then applied a coat of Liquitex Clear Gesso (I didn't know if acrylic paint would adhere to the fixatif, so I applied clear gesso over it just in case; and frankly, I get tired of trying things on a scrap paper when the result on the scrap paper isn't what happens on my actual layout).

Finally, I made the splatters on the background with Prima's new Art Alchemy acrylic paint in "Metallique Green Olive". I also used it on the Blue Fern Studios' chipboard "Chelsea Vines", and on my title "Lovely" (that I cut with my Silhouette Portrait and glued together three copies of the word with 140 lb. watercolor paper).

Side Note: Anyhow, this was the first time I have used Prima's acrylic paint - I love the metallic effect and in my opinion it has just the right amount of fluidity and thick enough for applying to larger areas. This acrylic paint is the very first acrylic paint I ever used that wasn't a generic; and wow, I do love it! It doesn't dry to my surfaces in half of a second like my generic acrylics do. (My birthday is in May - who wants to get me an early birthday present? *hehe*)

When the green splatters dried, I covered my picture and diluted Liquitex Basics Acrylic Gesso to add some splatters in white.

That's all, folks! *hehe* Thank you for visiting today.

"Bliss" Layout

My newest layout is titled "Bliss". I created it for two challenges this month: the More than Words challenge and the Blue Fern Studios challenge.

Here is the challenge board for More than Words:

More than Words Challenge for March, 2016

This is the sketch for the Blue Fern Studios challenge:

Blue Fern Studios Challenge for March, 2016

For the More than Words challenge, I used Liquitex Basics Acrylic Gesso in several spots on my layout. First, I used diluted gesso on the whole background. I also used it on the Blue Fern Studios chipboard pieces, the centers of some of the flowers, a layer of gesso on the large rose by the picture, and on the metal piece by the picture. When I thought of the word bliss, I thought of a picture of a father and his first-born son.  I can't imagine that kind of bliss – it must be undescribable. 

For the Blue Fern Studios challenge, I did something unique with the sketch so that it would be softer to match the softness of the theme. I wanted it to cradle the newborn child. I used Blue Fern Studios chipboard on my layout – "Chelsea Vines".

The paper is the back of the Prima's "Timeless Memories" collection 12"x12" paper pad, and the black ink is Prima's Color Bloom Spray in "Precious Stone". The texture paste is homemade texture paste – the recipe can be found on Gabrielle Pollacco's blog. I used a Hero Arts stencil pair with the texture paste.

The small roses on the page are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and the other flowers are from Prima Marketing: Seashore collection "Sand Dollar", Valentina collection "Simona", and Parisa collection "Aspen White".

I embossed the title twice to make it extra shiny, used Distress Paint in "Picket Fence" over the gesso for the chipboard vines and the layers of matting behind the photo, and Distress Paint in "Black Soot" on one piece of the matting.

Thank you for taking a look at my new layout! I hope you have a lovely day.

"Shine On." Layout

This is my newest layout titled "Shine On.", and it is my entry for the Words and Paintery challenge for February, 2016.

Here is the challenge board for this month:

Words and Paintery challenge for February, 2016

To make the background, I used watercolor paper (140 lbs.) and tore it into two parts. For the top section with the picture, I used Prima's "Checker" stencil and embossed with white embossing powder. Next, I used Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst spray in "Ponderosa Pines Olive" and color shot in "Blue Hawaiian Blue", and they actually have a resist effect over embossed areas.  Around the edges of the watercolor paper sections, I used Ranger Distress Paint in "Black Soot". After layers and layers of ink and water, I built up the background.  

For the bottom half, I sprayed it with Prima Color Bloom Spray in "Pressed Petal" then used Liquitex Glass Bead Gel and Prima's "Circular Lattice" stencil. After the gel was dry, I used Ranger Distress Paint in "Black Soot" around the edges while spraying it with water to allow it to drip.

I glued my two sections of watercolor paper over a piece of black sparkly paper that I had in my stash.

The flowers on the page are "Coconut" KAISERCRAFT Blooms and Wild Orchid Crafts white roses.  I made and cut the title, the two circles, and the embellishment with gems with my Silhouette Portrait. Finally, the two fancy "leaf" embellishments were actually a pair of earrings I haven't used in years.

Here is an angle shot:

Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting!