Family

This page was made as a project for My Creative Scrapbook's Design Team Call.

Hi everyone,this is a tribute page to my dear stepmother Ruth, who passed away recently at the age of 93. She was dearly loved by a huge family. This photo includes her first husband and daughter.   Ruth had a very good and full life, and I have tons of great memories of the time I was blessed enough to be around her.Her parents both came here from Sweden, and raised four girls. Her parents both came here from Sweden, and raised four girls.  Ruth came into my life when I was about 12, so she had to go through raising two of my brothers and I through the teenage years, after bringing up two of her own. She always listened to my sometimes endless chatter, and was always so fun to be around.  She worked full time, and didn't retire until her and my Dad decided to move to Florida. 

I used Prima paper, Lindy's Stamp Gang,in purple, teal, and blue, Petaloo flowers, Tim Holtz words and rub ons, and a few bling items. 

I first applied Prima Heavy Gesso with a credit card, then put some more on through a TCW stencil, and sprinkled on clear seed beads into the wet gesso,  drying between layers.  I spritzed on water and flicked on dry Lindy's powder with a fan brush, and moved the paper around.  I did two or three layers in places, to make the colors more intense, because it got lighter when I dried it.

I also put on some embossing powder, in a verdigris color. Ruth loved the color blue, and music too.

 Here you can see some chipboard, I'm not positive what company it's from. The owl, symbolizing wisdom, is Vintaj.

I used purple, gold, green, and aqua mica powders on the chipboard, also some bark Derwent Inktense watercolor pencil.  I used the same pencil to outline around the photos and flowers and softened it with water brushed over it.  You can see a little purple embossing powder here too.

Pale aqua is my favorite color, but purple blue is number two.

Thank you so much for looking, and have a great week!

Girl and Butterfly

Hi everyone! A card I made for my collection.

I made 24 of these butterflies, thinking I would make a mobile, then changed my mind. I'm going to save them for layouts and cards. I used the Sizzix- Tim Holtz- Alterations Collection-BigZ Die with Texture Fades- Butterfly Duo. I started off painting them with Lindy's Stamp Gang, a teal color. I followed this with some gesso, then used a brown watercolor pencil and outlined the indented areas from the embossing.  I brushed over the lines with a little water to soften them.  I inked the edges with cocao brown. I added a little purple gel pen, glitter glue in a couple areas, and a mix of gold mica powder and water on the edges. I put a little Tsukineko Pigment Ink Pad Nordic Ice on in a few areas.

I took a 12 by 12 sheet of watercolor paper, cut it in half, and folded it. I took my Farber Castell water soluble oil pastel crayons, (the ones for kids, they're cheaper) and scribbled some on my craft mat.  I used to use wax paper, but a mat is much better. After awhile the water seeps through wax paper, still , its good in a pinch.   I mixed the colors together.  I sprayed the paper with water, and brushed on the color very quickly, I just wanted to get the color on.  I sprayed it with more water, picked it up and let the color move and drip all over the paper. If you want to, you can dab some off with a paper towel.

I initially just wanted two butterflies on this, but instead, used part of a photo from Advantus -Tim Holtz- Idea-ology Collection-Found Relatives. The girl's crown is a rub on by Hampton Arts.

I used a Prima  stencil, Fluttering Flowers,  and some texture paste, and spread it on with a credit card. It's important to have some wet paper towels at hand to immediately get that paste off your stencil. It dries super fast and it's hard to remove. 

I brushed some extra watercolor on in teal and brown tones. I rubbed  some gold mica powder on the texture paste. I decided there were too many colors on the card, and dabbed on some gesso with a cosmetic sponge,and rubbed some pearl mica powder on top of it.

Here at the bottom edge you can see a little fairy from Graphic 45's Enchanted Forest Collection. Thanks for looking, and I hope you liked it! Have a wonderful week!

Happy Together

Hi everyone! Melissa here with a mixed media page for Paper House. I love the colors and details   on the Discover paper, and just had to use it!

This is a fun photo of my son and his girlfriend, I think they're so cute together.

Supplies Used:

• Discover the World 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper
• Discover Tags 12"Double Sided Scrapbook Paper
• Mini Mixed Butterflies Puffy Sticker
• London Tags 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper

To make this page I used mod podge to glue the top piece of scrapbook paper to a piece of black cardstock, and glued on two more sheets of old scrapbook paper underneath. This was to decrease the chance of warping from the materials I planned on applying.

 I dabbed on gesso with a cosmetic sponge,let it dry, then put a piece of cheesecloth on, and glued it in spots with glossy accents. I dipped a brush into gesso, mixed it with a little water on my craft sheet, and flung it on the paper.  I distressed all the edges of the pieces, layered the tags, and put a photo on top. I used foam core board and masking tape between layers, to give it some dimension, and to make some space for things to fit in between the layers.

 After I had the layers on, I stenciled on some texture paste.  I made kind of wreath for Aron with dried pressed flowers,dried moss, gold and silver metal chain, rhinestones,feathers,and pearls.

I decided that my arrangement looked too busy, so I brushed gesso on the layers of papers, and added some colors. I painted with an aqua blue sparkly water color,and when dry,brushed on then gold mica powder with water. I put on lavender paint, and when dry, brushed on dry pearl colored mica powder.

 I took a piece of black tulle and covered the paper layers with it, I used masking tape  to draw the tulle tight onto the bottom of the layers. I glued some areas on with glossy accents, then cut the all the tulle off that wasn't right on the paper. I put more aqua blue paint on, then silver mica powder. I brushed on dry coppery mica powder to pick up the colors of the sunset. To add a complementary color to the copper, I brushed on turquoise Dylusions around the edges, and some on the layers too. The turquoise made the page work, as it added some "punch", or definition, to the design.

You can see some Vintaj metal pieces, seed beads, and glass glitter. I added the adorable  butterflies at the top to kind of tie the page together.

 I especially love the lavender tones in the sunset!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you liked it.

Rich and I

Hi everyone, Melissa here with a page for Paper House. I love working with these beautifully made products, the colors and images are amazing! 

My husband and I had a house in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Northern California. We were there for about two years, and this photo was taken during that time. It's hard to put into words how much I loved living there. We were on top of a hill, and could see the mountains of Tahoe, 40 miles away.

 Supplies used:

• Believe 12"Double Sided Scrapbook Paper
• Hummingbirds Puffy Sticker
• Mini Mixed Butterflies Puffy Sticker
• Wolf Pack 2" Stickers

To make this page I put a piece of Believe paper onto a sheet of black cardstock.  I put a wide piece of lace on, and taped it to the underside of the black paper.  I put the photo on black cardstock, and used foam core board to give it some dimension. Later on I attached ribbon around the photo with foam tape.  I also decided there was too much lace, and cut some off.

I applied gesso with a small cosmetic sponge, and put on my embellishments. I added some cute hummingbird puffy stickers because they're adorable. There were a lot of those little birds in real life there, and I would spend hours watching them.  I used watercolors,crackle paint,mica powders,stenciled texture paste on to frame the photo.  

I wiped glossy accents on the mini butterflies, then poured on glitter.

I colored  gauze with brown watercolor to make some nesting material that you see at the bottom right. I dry brushed all over the page with metallic aqua paint on the edges and surfaces of textured areas.

I outlined areas on the page with heavy lines using a watercolor pencil, and brushed water on over them to blend them.

 I've used some wolf stickers at the bottom of the page,and while wolves weren't in that area, there was a lot of wildlife. Every night I would listen to coyotes howling. 

Thanks for looking at my page, I hope you liked it!

Woman, Birds, and Nest

Hi everyone! Melissa here with a page for Paper House. I love using the ColorWays papers, the images are so beautiful.

Supplies Used:

• Atlantis Mini Trim Cards 12" Colorways Scrapbook Paper
• Atlantis Map 12"Colorways Scrapbook Paper
• Hummingbirds Puffy Sticker      

To make this page. I started by cutting up some paper, and arranging the pieces underneath the photo.

 Using a stencil, I applied texture paste at the upper left. 

I glued on squares of foam core board underneath the arrangement to give some dimension, and sponged on gesso around the edges.  I painted over the gesso with watercolors.and watersoluble oil pastels.

I used several different things to give more texture to the page: microbeads, crackle paint, glass glitter, seed beads,lace, and ribbon are a few.

I made a crown/bird's nest out of crystals, dried moss, embroidery floss, feathers, silver chain, and small pearls.

To kind of blend the colors together, I brushed on a lot of turquoise mica powder.

As the final step, I wanted to give the raised papers more definition. I took a watercolor pencil, and drew lines around a lot of the edges, and brushed water over them.  On top of that, I painted on a mix of green and brown water soluble oil pastels. 

Thanks for looking, and I hope you liked my page!