"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.

"Love from a Friendship" Layout - VIDEO TUTORIAL

This is my second entry for the More Than Words Challenge for February, 2016, and I also decided to enter it into the 13@rts Challenge #39 (I just learned about their challenges).

Before I go into the details about my layout for the More Than Words Challenge, I want to give a HUGE "thank you" to the many 13@rts DT members' layout tutorials posted on Youtube. Their tutorials have been an enormous help in my mixed media journey. I couldn't thank them enough.

Here are the two challenge boards for this month:

More Than Words Challenge Blog

and

13@rts Challenge

The word for the More Than Words Challenge this month is wonderful. There are so many things that I would consider wonderful, but for my newest layout titled "Love from a Friendship", it ranks among the top wonderful parts of life. When a friendship develops, it is pretty rare for love to blossom from that friendship. It is one of the most special occurrences and is so wonderful that it is priceless.

This month the creative challenge is to include sparkle on the project.  Sparkles definitely fit into my friendship (we LOVE sparkles!) so I put sparkles on the tips of the petals for all the flowers on my page.

For the background, I used Lindy's Stamp Gang Color Shot in "Cosmopolitan Pink" – the two-toned color really adds pizzazz and shimmer! The 13@rts challenge, Think Pink, had been a huge inspiration for this layout actually - but in a funny yet strange way. When my friend and I would go to the pool or beach (which was just about every day), we would usually wear shorts over our swimsuits from Victoria's Secret PINK. We also would wear PINK yoga pants quite often when lounging around together, chatting and laughing for hours on end. So, when I think about my friend, I literally think PINK! hahaha

In my video tutorial I used the pink color shot toward the beginning and after doing some stamping and other things, I decided to create more whimsical outlines of some drips and allowed it to dry that way. I really like the many things I am learning about the Lindy's Stamp Gang products! Here is a picture of my layout with the flash on my camera - it really shows off the shimmer:

To conclude my sparkle in my layout, I added pink gems in the title and double embossed several items on my layout (see the video for more information!). Having a lot of shine, shimmer, and sparkle really brings out the friendship part of my title – but the love from a friendship is absolutely wonderful.

I hope you enjoyed this video tutorial. Just a couple of side notes: 1. I always spray Krylon Fixative on the parts of my layouts that are not acid-free. My goal is to preserve the photo! 2. For this tutorial and others, I may "skip over" something in the video. For example, I did a ton of embossing for this video, so after showing it a couple of times, I made a note on the screen saying I embossed an item two times.  3. I would love any sort of feedback about my blog and my videos! Any suggestions would be appreciated, as my goal is to have clear and concise entries and tutorials that are enjoyable. :-D

If you visit my gallery at Scrapbook.com, you can see the links to the different products I used on this page. Other products not listed in the gallery page are:
Liquitex Basics Acrylic Gesso, white acrylic paint, 140 lb. watercolor paper, embossing powder (clear and white), random pink glitter, some random stamps and scrapbook paper I'm trying to get rid of hahaha, and Wild Orchid Crafts' white roses.

Hope you have a marvelous day! *hugs* Thanks for visiting!

"Memories" Layout

For this layout titled "Memories" , I  decided to  try a masculine page.  The picture I used is from the Tim Holtz idea-ology "Found Relatives – Occasions" collection.

The black border around the page has some drywall tape followed by a couple of layers of Liquitex Acrylic Gesso, some Distress Crackle Paint, and homemade texture paste (recipe is found at gabriellepollacco.blogspot.ca) with Prima's Weaving  stencil. The flowers on the page are from Prima's Debutante collection and I added some glitter to highlight the flowers. I made the leaf vine using Wild Orchid Crafts' leaves. Along with some stamping in spots, I used the Tim Holtz Crackle stencil to sort of "stamp" some Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray in Cattail Copper Brown.

Using my Silhouette Portrait and the software, I made the title and the clock by the picture. To color it, I mixed some black and brown acrylic paint with Liquitex Glass Bead Gel – the acrylic paint adds a matte finish when used with the gel.  When dry, I brushed some black distress paint over the raised portions of the beads to make it sort of rusty looking.

I am so thankful for my Prima distressing tool for this project! Since I began playing around with mixed media, I think that carpal tunnel syndrome is trying to sneak into my hands and wrists (but it's worth it!).

Hopefully you enjoyed this "masculine" style, heirloom layout. For a more complete list of products, check out my www.scrapbook.com gallery (http://www.scrapbook.com/gallery/image/layout/5562183.html).

"Wonderful" Layout - VIDEO TUTORIAL

My newest layout is titled "Wonderful", and it is my entry for the More Than Words Challenge for February, 2016. I also uploaded a video tutorial for this layout toward the end of this post. 

The February, 2016 challenge can be found here.

The word this month is wonderful, and I chose to use it for the title to go along with the beautiful picture of the sunrise on my layout. The colors in the sky that morning were stunning – needless to say I was full of wonder! It almost seemed too perfect.

For the creative challenge, I used several kinds of sparkle on my layout: gold glitter, Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst colors (two-toned shimmer), Prima Color Bloom Sprays with shimmer, gems, and Liquitex Glass Bead gel. The following two pictures really capture the sparkle  much better than the other pictures (I had to use my flash in low light).

I used my Silhouette Portrait to cut the title I designed in the software and to cut the doily by the picture. For this project, I used Liquitex cs Acrylic Gesso and Liquitex Glass Bead Gel. The roses around the picture are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and the other flowers are from Prima's Epiphany collection.

Here are some angle shots:

Hopefully my video tutorial will be insightful and I hope you enjoy it!  Any comments, questions, or suggestions (including criticisms!) are encouraged. Have a wonderful day!