Exciting News

My Girl

Today marks my official return to the Scrapbooking arena! For the next four months I'll be working with Heather at Home and Scrapped on her Design Team to provide challenges and support for the members.


My first challenge "Create Your Own Background" is featured on the forum. Follow this link for all the details.

Here's How I Did It:

My Girl – Step by Step

Materials:

Bazzill Cardstock– Petunia

Basic Grey Porcelain Elements Sticker

Basic Grey Porcelain Rub Ons

Kaisercraft Paper Flowers

Organza Ribbon

Tulle

Pink Embroidery Thread

Wooden Letters

Itty Bitty Letter Stickers

Therese Collins foam stamp – Rose

Script Stamp

Stampin Up! Ink – Chocolate Chip and Regal Rose

Kaisercraft White Paint

Paper Doily

 

This sketch from the talented and very lovely Heather Waldron caught my eye and I wanted to use it for this layout.

You can find more of Heather’s sketches on her blog.

 

Method:

The first step was to create a background.

 

I used a dry brush (or you could use a foam brush) to apply white paint onto the cardstock in random strokes.

When it was dry, I stamped over the white painted area with the script stamp using the Chocolate Chip ink. I wasn’t concerned about the stamping being perfect and didn’t re-ink the stamp after every stamping to give a softer look.

I repeated this technique with the rose stamp using the Regal Rose ink. When stamping all over the background I like to stamp off the page to leave partial stamped images around the edges. It’s very effective in the overall design (make sure you have some protection for your work surface).

I used the Chocolate Chip ink to swipe around the edges of the cardstock and also to create “lines” on the background using the edge of the ink pag. I then light dry brushed some white paint around the edges to soften the colour.

I cut the centre from a paper doily to make a frame. (Save the centre for another project.) I positioned the doily over the painted area and glued it down.

There was a lot of dark background in the photo I wanted to use which didn’t suit the style of layout I was creating so I used a sandpaper block to lightly sand around the edges and remove the dark colouring. You could dry brush some white paint around the edges or use photoshop brushes for the same effect.

The frame around the photo is a journal block sticker. I used a craft knife to cut out the centre and leave the frame edge to place over my photo.

I cut the border stickers to the length I wanted and used them to make an L shaped frame for my framed photo. I stuck them in position and added a lacy border rub on to soften the frame.

A large flower sticker was used for  the base for my major embellishment group. I cut a leaf border strip into pieces and added it randomly behind the flower sticker. I grouped the paper flowers and glued them on top of the flower stickers.

I used some organza ribbon and a strip of tulle to make bows. I used a piece of embroidery thread to tie them together in the centre and allowed the thread to hang with the bow ends. I then glued the bows over the stems of the flowers. To keep the bows in place I used some double sided tape to glue the hanging ends to the page.

I trimmed the edges of the butterfly sticker to make the border thinner and the sticker smaller. I stuck it above the flowers to continue the embellishment group to the border of the page and added random butterfly rub ons.

For the second embellishment group I used more rub ons and applied them over top of the doily, adding some small butterfly rub ons to the background.

I placed my title on the page using letter stickers and wooden letters which I glued on.

For the finishing touches I added flower rub ons near the title and random small words and images to the doily.

I hope you've enjoyed my step by step and have some fun creating your own background.

♥♥♥