January 2019 - The year in review with Helen

Happy New Year - I wish you good health, happiness 
and lots of creativity throughout 2019.

The Scrap Matrix mood board this month 
is eclectic, with lots of different ideas to inspire you.

The theme is a Year in review, so you can take this
pretty much any where you want.

I should warn you that this is a long post, so you might like to get a cuppa before you start.

The team has been gently coaxed into trying a double pager, multiple photos or both; something I agreed to willy nilly.

Huh!  Silly me.  Lol. 

 I seemed to have forgotten all the rules, was bereft of ideas 

and numerous pages ended up in the bin. 

Luckily one of my wise team mates advised me to just step awaaaay 

from the desk and that did the trick. 

My project is about various events in my Grand Daughter's life during December 2018.

To begin with, I chose three colours from the clothes in the photos and created some backgrounds with a Gel plate and some Paper Artsy paints. Doesn't sound too hard does it, but what a mighty mess I made until I remembered what to do.

This photo was taken before the yellow was added to the gel plate, but you can see it in the middle of the first pulled print below.

I simply placed a piece of card stock down on the rolled paint, smoothed it out firmly with my hands and pulled it off the gel plate. 

 Ta Da!   Or some times - Oh no!

I never know what the result will be and that's part of the fun.

Using a Stencil similar to this one Paper Artsy Stencil, I roughly dabbed some of the purple paint onto the green and trimmed it into a squarish shape.

I lined up the stencil so I could continue it off the background and onto the card stock, then I outlined the petals with a gold pen and doodled around the frame.

Some more stamping with Carabelle "Et rond et roads" and stencil work with a smaller Paper artsy stencil, PS111.

A gorgeous stamped butterfly, Paper Artsy ETS22, some stamped words, Paper Artsy EEA03 as well as some pops 

of red to tie in with the red on the other page. They embellishments are from Pink Fresh studio, Gold foiled die cuts.

Now for some - yes - you guessed it - some more stamping!

I'm a big fan of Carabelle stamps - this one is 

"Textures: Mini Fleurettes. I added some bunches into the corners.

To obtain the patterned circle under the photo, I brayered some green and purple paint onto the gel plate, then placed a the Paper Artsy stencil into the wet paint, layered a piece of card stock on top, burnished the card stock well with my hand and then pulled the card stock off to reveal the monoprint.

The purple flowers in the corner have faded a bit here, due to me whitening the whites, but in real life they are crisp and pretty.

Did you notice the sweet butterfly stamp, Paper Artsy, ETS21 with the golden prills in the centre? and the pretty brass heart shape that matches my girl's dance trophy? 

This photo shows you what the mono print looks like before it's trimmed and dressed.  One more butterfly again from Paper Artsy, this time from ETS22. 

Phewww!  Are you still with me? Thanks for staying until the end. I hope you found something to intrigue and inspire you to get messy with your paints and stencils.

I hope you find time to play along, just add your entry to the Scrap Matrix Shares page in the corresponding folder and don't forget to let us know what Scrap Matrix products you used and what inspired you.  You could be in the running for a generous gift voucher and perhaps a Guest Design Team spot down the track.