Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sisters At Heart

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 I was SO excited to dig into my new package of goodies in the Scrap That! kit this month.  Despite moving and having a mulitude of things on my "must do" list, of course I took time to create. (Consequently, it's been a wild month sleep-wise.  Ha!)


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This page has been challenging to photograph.  We've had days and days of rain with zero natural light.  I've tried: morning shots, afternoon shots,outside on patio in between rain showers, in kitchen with tablecloth, on bare table (wood grain), on the floor, on the mantle.  The forecast is for more rain, so I'm just forging ahead on the theory of Press On Regardless.  I've done what I can, but there are a few shadows and the colours are really more lovely than they are showing right now.   Guess I should think about investing in a real camera!

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The picture is of my three girls in Aruba a little over 10 years ago.  I called it Sisters at Heart to honour the strong realtionships that exist between the girls in our blended family.
I couldn't bear to cover the butterfly motif of the paper, so I used my craft knife to make it possible for the picture to slide in underneath the butterfly wings.

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This is my first layout with the BoBunny Gabrielle papers.  They are just the way I like them: heavy, double-sided, and beautiful to work with.  For the first time ever, I did some machine-stitching around the edges for texture.  It was terrifying, but I was happy with the result.

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Another first: This is also my first attempt at water distressing the edges of my background paper to give it shape and dimension.  Yikes! I was really afraid of ruining the paper!  what if I ruin it?  what if I couldn't find another one?  what if I make a huge mess of this?  Anyway, armed with a water and a paintbrush, I finally went through with it.  Thank you to all the super-supportive and inspirational scrap divas at Scrap That!
Little butterfly charm at the bottom.



















This layout was really fun to do, and it represents a kind of crossing of the Rubicon.  I know that meeting and crossing those barriers is just part of the journey of creativity.  Which seems to be the journey that I am on!

 "How come such a process as creative joy brings up so many fears? The answer could be because creativity is the ultimate growth process; fear is simply affirmation that growth is happening. When we are unattached to the results of our creative journey, we move through the fear and find rewards greater than the purpose that initially drew us to the journey." (Jill Badonsky)

Thanks for stopping by.
Fran

Materials List:
Gabrielle Papers (Bo Bunny)
Dusty Attic swirl embellisments
Prima flowers
Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Age of Which We Do Not Speak


It is a snowy Sunday morning in April.  What a perfect day to launch my new blog!

I have spent the past month in Costa Rica.  Immediately upon returning to Ontario, we moved to a new house.  Whew!  It has been busy to say the least.

In between all the packing and unpacking, I completed this project for my daughter's 30th birthday.  Or as she calls it, "the age of which we do not speak".

The glamourous 30's-themed Curtain Call papers from Graphic45 were just right for this 3-part project: card, altered cigar box, and matching paper-bag book.  With its focus on some specific magical periods of time, the Curtain Call collection echoes my belief that every decade of a woman's life has its own glories and beautiful qualities.

I kept to the basic black and cream colour scheme, with pearls for glamour and occasional touches of colour for emphasis.

Here is the birthday card:

The inspiration for this card came from the uber-talented Robin Shakoor.  Check out her blog, and you will see what I mean!

Creative process went like this:  from the card came the idea for a box, and from the box came the paper bag book:

The book had three sections.  The first was a Parisian/Moulin Rouge theme.

I used my wide paper-punch to create pockets for tags and photos.

Section 2:  The Golden Age of Cinema.   Dahling, You Look Fabulous!

Section 3: All That Jazz, dedicated to the glorious jazz age.

SO love this image of Billie Holliday...could not cover it or improve on it in any way.




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