Scrap Matrix Blog: Inhale Exhale .. with Alz

Morning peeps!

You could be forgiven for thinking I'm about to run a relaxation class from the subject heading of this blog post but, trust me, I'm not. Instead, I plan to put you to sleep with my waffling instead. ;)

Whilst I had several Aall and Create stamps and stencils laying around on my desk from creating projects for this month's Scrap Matrix Aall and Create challenge I decided to keep playing and came up with this ..

Inhale Exhale

Initially, I struggled with this layout big time. The background was killing me! I started with a sheet of 7 Dots Studio Dreamscapes patterned paper (Sunrise) because on the reverse there was about a three inch section that had the perfect colours for my photo. Thing is, those colours blended into a mostly rose pink-ish colour which, whilst also perfect for my photo, just wasn't doing it for me. I really wanted to bring in more of the yellows and oranges but hard up against the far side of the paper where that rose pink-ish colour was quite dark, it just wasn't working. Aargh!

(I used the reverse and you can see the colours I wanted to use in the top right hand corner)

What to do?? After contemplating my navel (and scrapping supplies) for oh, I'd say an hour, easy, I figured 'what's the worst that could happen?'. Right? So I pulled out my Tim Holtz Distress Oxides which, I'll confess, I haven't played with as much as I should have considering how long they've been gathering dust in my stash. Anyways. I figured Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber and Candied Apple might do the trick. At this point I wasn't sure exactly what that 'trick' would be and I was feeling kinda nervous. So I went back to what I know and smeared on a little white gesso with a brayer and spread about some Finnabair Texture Paste White Sand using Aall and Create Stencils. I used #10 (I think this is my favourite) and #8 which I especially love for travel pages. I went over my page again with a brayer and the white gesso to highlight the White Sand Finnabair Texture Paste as it had faded into the background just a wee bit, although the sandy texture was perfect.

Once all that was dry, I started mucking about with my Tim Holtz Distress Oxides. Other than watching some tutorials quite some time ago on You Tube I really didn't have a clue what I was doing. I knew that if I heat dried them between each application the layers would sit on top of each other versus blending and potentially making a big muddy mess. I also knew that they would dry with a chalky finish. I knew I had seen a lot of successful finishes achieved on tags and cards, but not on a piece of 12x12 which I thought would be less manageable (I was wrong). Figuring I had nothing to lose I squished my ink pads onto my craft mat, spritzed the ink with water and literally started 'splodging' my page into the ink and drying it with a heat tool. As I continued 'splodging and drying' I could begin to see which sections on my page needed more of one colour than another. In the end, I had pretty successfully (or so I thought lol) blended the colours I was first drawn to in the 7 Dots Studio Dreamscapes Sunrise patterned paper, and I loved, loved, loved the way the inks sat on the White Sand Finnabair Texture Paste ..

I had ink left on my mat so also inked up a couple of paper doilies to use behind my photo and strands of gauze I later used to tuck in here and there. I used a Blue Fern Studio stamp (London Chronicle) and Jet Black Archival Ink to add some stamped detail on my background, one of the tags from 7 Dots Dreamscapes Tags 12x12 which I used to mat my photo, and one of the doilies.

I stamped some feathers from Aall and Create Stamp set #11 onto kraft cardstock, cut them out and stapled them together with a black feather from my stash. These were the foundation for my primary cluster of embellishments which also included some of that inked gauze strands, a Prima Archivist Ledger flower, a stick pin from my stash and a couple of leaves I made from a Large Square Brass flower (#5). These brass flowers are super easy to break up just by bending them back and forth and, in this instance, I painted them with black acrylic paint.

To balance my page I created another, smaller, embellishment cluster to the right of my photo. I cut a heart from one of the 7 Dots Dreamscapes Sunrise Tags 12x12 and inked the edges black. I added another Prima Archivist Ledger flower (it could not have been a more perfect match), another 'leaf' and more strands of gauze. I used Black Fitzgerald Thickers for my title and, because it was done and dusted (or so I thought) generously flicked around some heavy drops of irResistible Pico Embellisher in black. Unfortunately, whilst my page was drying, I accidentally smudged a drop of the irResistible Pico Embellisher and, taking into account Murphy's Law, it had to be the drop that was dead centre, right at the very top of my page. Aargh!!!! Buuuuut as we know, in scrapbooking, a mistake is just an opportunity and whist I could have used a sprinkling of something like black sequins from my stash, that didn't occur to me at the time lol! Instead, I grabbed one of my Tim Holtz pads with sayings printed on black and white strips (very similar to his Small Talk) and added a few. I actually reckon it might have just added the finishing touch I didn't know my page needed, and that was that.

Now, if you're anything like me, when you've finished creating you end up with one giant, big, chaotic mess of products on your table. Included in my messes are invariably bits and pieces I made which didn't make it onto my page. Ordinarily I store those bits and pieces in all sorts of places where they get lost and forgotten about. I'm kinda tired of that happening but find it soooooo hard to throw out these little creative 'gems'. My mess after this layout was finished included tissue paper, bits of doilies, gauze strands and seam binding, all of which I'd inked with the Distress Oxides. Also in my mess were packets of products I'd used and some I didn't (Yellow Crystal Stems and Nottinghill Black Embossed Paper Lace). Whilst wondering what I could do with my 'gems' and other products I remembered something I had seen shared in the Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook page .. Karen Stepney had decided to take her art journaling an extra step and made cards with a spare piece of paper on which she repeated her art journaling. Does that make sense? I figured, why not make a tag? I could always use it on a page down the track or even add it to a card. Who knew? I certainly didn't. But the idea was appealing, and so this was born ..

(thanks for the inspiration Karen!)

After all that it was time to clean up my mess, write a materials list, photograph my layout, write some blog posts, wipe down my table and sweep up the mess I'd made on the floor. What I wouldn't give for a personal assistant lol!

Anyways, you now only have until midnight on the 31st to get your project done and uploaded to the Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook page so you'd best get a wriggle on!! Oh and heh, don't forget to tell us which products you've used from Scrap Matrix .. I need inspiring!!

'Til next time!

Cheers .. Alz :)