Layout nos. 2 & 3 (Backporch Memories)

Thanks for all your kind comments ;-D

I don't like to nag people into doing it 'cos we are all in the same position - we love checking our e mail after a post to see who has bothered to leave one - so it is a real boost when I get so many!

Desire has asked me to explain the flower technique in the previous post. You can check the layout out there.

Cut 3 circles of any size you choose - but small, medium & large (gradually getting bigger/smaller). I used my Creative memories punch for the 2 smaller circles & traced around a round container for the biggest circle. Use your distessing tool (Mine is Making Memories but Heidi Swapp does a good one too...) around the edges. Hold on tight & be careful not to tear completely in half! Crumple into a tight ball in your fist then flatten out & ink gently over the resultant creases & the edge. I always use Dark Brown for the distressed effect...Layer the flowers one on top of the other (I put a foam pad between each circle to make my flowers less flat). When you are uncrumpling don't flatten your flowers out TOO much. Pierce through the centre of your layered up flower with your paper piercer (I used to use a dart until I got one but that was in Zimbabwe - so only do that if you are seriously underprivileged!) then attach with a brad. I used medium-sized shimmery one from Making Memories that had overstayed their welcome in my treasure drawers!


Here is my layout using the photos of my husband & the two younger kids, at the same event as my first layout (last post) First Promenade Walk. I think the paper was Fancy Pants. Great paper. Looks like you have layered shaped-cardstock on top of spotted paper, then added a border, but that's all the actual paper! So I didn't have to do any of it ;-D The funny shapes are from a Sassafrass paper from my April Cocoadaisy kit. I inked them with red & bumped them up on foamcore to 3D them. The scallop photo-corners were actually a chipboard frame I bought that was too small to fit a significant photo in, so I cut it in half, inked it all over (easy if your inkpad is newish & as I hardly ever use red it's still quite wet) & blinged up the one with cheap Body Bling from our local Chinese import warehouse. It is about one tenth of the price of Scrapbooking bling & fine for straight lines but a bit trickier for flourishes, although some of it is quite bendy!




I used my cheapie "mini thickers" from CNA & the real thing for the "walk". The dark blue paper you see on the left is actually the reverse side of the paper. You will see in the next layout that I used less than half of my second sheet of this paper and then flicked my remnant over to use under these photos. My economising is now in full swing... The "All in a Day" metal is a leftover from a 2008 Making Memories set. I just love this paper. I think it is so effective! Oh yes, the challenge here was to document something new...New Beginnings it was called.

My next layout (no. 3) was for the Overkill challenge. You had to use a LOT of one thing so I went overboard on the bling. I used cheap rhinestones that you buy in packets here. Quite a few for R10 (USD1) - a good price for South Africa. I attached them with a glue dot each. I used the back of a printed Dreamstreet paper as my backing paper. Perhaps that was a waste but it looked so good against the photo I couldn't resist ;-D

I drew the flourishes by hand with my metallic pens & blinged them up a bit. Then used more of my cheapie stick-on bling (it comes in lines as you see on the "photo corner" - that is the length you buy it in - each strip is about R5 (USD50c) and self-adhesive). I cut around the shaped-cardstock brackety shape then flicked the paper over to the reverse side then distanced it a bit, in order to fit in the bling in the space.

The Title is made up of letters from The Crazy Store (like the Dollar Store in the States) and the date is from Making Memories Tiny Ledger alphas. I hand journalled with my Creative Memories pen & that was it - Done! Oh, and then I added a little Making Memories Leather flower & a bling centre to the centre of Chelsea's sunglasses - just for fun! ;-D