Tam's got Mail......dear Mama

Hi everyone, Tam here today to share my layout for the current 'You've Got Mail' Challenge at Scrap Matrix.

 

I love this theme......so many options.  As soon as I saw it, I knew what I wanted to do.

 

You see I've had these precious letters that my daughter wrote to me a couple of years ago. They are just beautiful, heartfelt and so very precious to me. I actually carry a copy around with me in my purse at ALL times.  I often sit and read them, and I think they bring a tear every time.

 

Anyway, I really wanted to preserve these letters, and now I have!!

 

Here's my layout.....

Yep, in that hand made envelope sits the letters.

So let's see how this came together......

 

I began with a gorgeous paper from 7Dots 'Writer's Block' Range.  The script feel is just perfect.

 

I knew I would add lots of colour.....yep it's gotta have colour, so I added a thin coat of clear gesso to act as a barrier/sealer to protect the paper.

Whilst this was drying, I grabbed another sheet from the 7Dots 'Writer's Block' Range.  I chose a darker colour, as a contrast to the  background.

I grabbed an envelope that I had laying about the place, and I opened it up, and used this as a template.

I traced it and cut it out

 

 

 

I then taped it back together.....such a simple way to have a perfectly co-ordinating envelope.

 

 

 

 

 

Now it's time to add some colour to the layout..... you know how much I LOVE colour!

 

 

 

 

For this part, I used the 'clear packaging' technique.

 

I began with Dylusions 'Polished Jade', and spritzed some onto some old packaging, I also added some water.

 

I then turned this over and splodged it onto my layout. (super technical hey!)

 

 

 

 

I then repeated this process with Dylusions 'Lemon Zest'.

 

Then just a hint of  Dylusions 'After Midnight'.

 

*Make sure you dry in between each colour*

 

 

 

 

I then added some string to my page.

 

 

 

 

You will notice that these are vertical on the page, however, on the final layout they are horizontal.

 

When I got to the very end of the layout, I changed my mind and decided that this needed to change!

So I swapped the string to vertical.

I just felt it 'tied' in with the layout more (he he see what I did there)

 

 

 

 

I then added a few stamps to the background. 

 

I used AALL & Create #60. I used the circle/script/word section of this stamp.

 

 

 

 

I grabbed a Dina Wakley flower stamp and stamped this onto white cardstock using an Archival Black Ink.

 

I again used the 'clear packaging' technique to add colour to these stamped images.

 

 

 

 

 

I cut these out and began layering and tucking in and around my photos using both the flowers and lots of 7Dots Tags, again from the 'Writer's Block' collection.

 

 

 

 

For my title, I decided to use a tag I made from 7Dots paper.

 

I stamped onto it using these very cool Idea-ology Alpha Stamps.

 

I added some hand-writing, so that the tag read 'Dear Mama, Love Paige'

 

 

 

 

I then attached this to the envelope, making sure it could still open and close.

 

 

 

I added a few embellishments, including some 7Dots die cut elements from the 'Air Mail' range, a gorgeous German Scrap Pen Nib, and a cute metal envelope charm.  This just finished off the tag perfectly.

 

 

 

 

Aren't the pen nibs just gorgeous!!

 

 

 

 

Now it was time to add in more layers.......embellishments, tags, stickers, pen nibs, and the stamped flowers and leaves.

 

 

 

I added some journaling to a 7Dots tag, and some word stickers from 7Dots too.

 

 

 

 

Here's the word stickers and embellishments I used.

 

 

 

 

I then spritzed some of these little white flowers in the Dylusions 'Vibrant Turquoise' and 'Lemon Zest', and scattered these amongst the layers too.

 

 

 

 

Love the colour combo, and the overall effect.

 

 

 

 

This layout has a special place in my heart, and I'm so glad this challenge was set as it forced me to create a forever keepsake.

 

What special keepsake/ephemera could you scrap, thus preserving the memories forever?

 

Head on over to our Facebook Shares page to add your entry, and let us know what Scrap Matrix Product/s you used.

Just pop it in the 'You've got Mail' Album.

 

Here's a reminder of the challenge:

 

 

 

That's it from me today.

 

I hope this has inspired you.

 

If you'd like to see more of my work head to my BLOG.

 

I will leave a list of the products used below.

 

See you again soon.

 

 

Scrap Matrix Products used:

 

7Dots Writer's Block Paper - Epilogue

7Dots Writer's Block Paper - Sincerely

7Dots Writer's Block Tags

7Dots Writer's Block Word Stickers

7Dots Air Mail Elements

7Dots Lost and Found Word Stickers

Dina Wakley Stamps

Idea-ology foam Stamps block lowercase

AALL & Create Stamp #60

Dylusions Ink Spray - Polished Jade, Lemon Zest, After Midnight. Vibrant Turquoise

Mini White flowers

German Scrap Pen Nibs Black

Envelope Metal Charm

String

Clear Gesso

Black Archival Ink