Scrapper's Retreat

I think I need to beat a hasty retreat before my husband discovers what I have been buying today.  I have been thinking about Project Life for a while now having read articles in scrap magazines and from comments made in forums by other scrappers.  Until today that's all I've done - thought about it!  The internet and cable TV are wonderful inventions and have broadened our knowledge and links ... they are also responsible for my wildly inflated bills! 

 

Now I need to devise a way to hide the entire Project Life collection that should be   arriving in 3-5 days.  I'm not planning to scrap my day to day life at the moment ... I have enough trouble living my day to day life, never mind recording it!  I'm hoping it will be an easy and comparatively quick way to catch up with scrapping my life to date.  I've been meaning to record the stories of my childhood and the momentous events before I began scrapping.  I seem to have only really done layouts of recent events; and there are piles of old photos languishing in boxes and old albums, just waiting to be liberated.

 

I am so excited to get started .......

 

In the meantime I have been thinking about my scrapping journey.  The very first layout I did was so linear and basic and I am now a little disappointed that I used the original photos that are irreplaceable.  Part of me would like to re-scrap them with the new techniques and confidence I have gained, but perhaps they should remain as evidence of my scrapping journey.

 

I thought it might be interesting to compare how my ideas and pages have changed.  I still love the photos in my first layout even if I would scrap them differently now.  My mother died when I was just 10 years old and I have few memories of her.  Those I have are very precious and these photos show us together although I have no recollection of the times.  They are poor photos but the essence of feeling is evident and I particularly love the one of Mummy reading to me at bedtime.  I do not actually remember her doing this but it feels good to know that she did.  Sometimes I have questioned if she really loved me but seeing these photos shows me that she did.

 

So for those of you that are still with me and reading this, here is my first ever layout:

 

 

I no longer like the plain presentation but I still love the photos.  Despite the darkness and lack of detail the love shines through. I still love to read and am grateful for the wonderful start in life that I had.

Somehow even my flower arrangements are boring when I look at them now ... but look at that bonny smile.  Hard to believe that it was so long ago.

 

 

For many years I had my christening gown that I dressed my dolls in but now the only remnant of it is the image in this photo.  Such a shame that my hording tendencies started later in life!

 

 

In contrast to the simplicity of my first layouts, I love the extra touches that I used when I experimented with layers.  The layout of my step daughter's wedding is a favourite.  I used papers in keeping with her colour scheme and just looking at it brings back the joy we experienced on the day ... and the tears of course; why do weddings make us cry?

 

 

The journaling strip reads: How can you give away the most precious gift you have?   

 

Thank you for staying with me on my walk down memory lane, it may be a torturous trek by the time I've embarked on Project Life so you'd better bring your walking boots next time.

 

 

Facing the challenge

The latest challenge on CSI was a challenge indeed.  Not only was it a bold colour palette, I set myself a personal challenge too.

I decided to leave my comfort zone and to try using paint, and also to over come my fear of getting messy.  I have recently bought some texture paste and gesso and with the encouragement of a crazy chat room conversation with the CSI girls I came to the conclusion that the world would not end if my layout didn't go exactly to plan ... and who's to know what my plan was anyway?

So the starting point was to gather all possible stash that matched the colours and my 'plan'; that equates to making a great mess and opening all drawers in my craft space:

The next stage was to ensure that my stencil and photos would be well placed.  I wanted the brick stencil to imply the building of ancient civilisations.  A good idea in principle but I didn't allow for the fact that embellishments would later hide it!  Previously I've always placed things on the layout in their final position before securing.  My challenge to myself for this layout was to 'go with it', so I stencilled my bricks as a photo mat with texture paste and then to add further detail used paste and a reverse chicken wire stencil in both corners.  This was going ok until I decided that to make the colour scheme I would use glitter instead of grey ink.  Good idea but not so good in reality - the glitter leapt out of the pot and landed in a blob on the stencil.  The next good idea was to rub it in with my finger.  That did turn out to be a good idea and I must admit it felt good to be messy.

Carrying on this gungho manner I splattered gesso around and was pleased with the result.  Spurred on I then thought I'd use stamps to add more detail.  Unfortunately one stamp ended upside down but who cares ... I'm an intrepid scrapper!  I am pleased with my use of new techniques although I am not so pleased with the final result but I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps it was using an old transparency for the first time which I didn't really know what to do with.  My journaling was using a rough typewriter font and unfortunately I had already stuck it in place before I spotted two spelling mistakes.  At one time I would have been devastated but my new laid back approach took it in stride and used tipex to repair it.  That is in keeping with the typewriter effect isn't it? 

So in meeting the challenge I used all colours.  As evidence I used typewriter font, sheet music, flowers, hinges, a rhinestone, transparency and paint.

The testimony was typewriter font again and I used the Inspirational Word 'remember'.  I only recently remembered that I had once wanted to be an archaeologist.  I may not have followed that dream but I have managed to visit some amazing ancient sites and so far I have been to 32 countries, which I can't really believe.  My favourites have to be the ones that I never thought I'd actually get to.  My journaling is on the back of the passport which is attached by a hinge.

If you look very closely you can just about see the bricks peeping between the photos and embellies:

Thanks so much for looking, and thank you to everyone at CSI for inspiring me and giving me the confidence to try new things.

Improving the past

As I am away from home I find myself unable to scrap and am surprised at how frustrating this is ... I guess I'm an addict.  So I have resorted to improving on what I have already done.  I created a layout for a challenge by Merly Impressions in March.  However when it was photographed the colours were not as clear as in real life.  I have now discovered online photo editing which is so easy to use and so effective I thought I'd show off the before and after shots.  The pre edited photo has a pink hue over the entire layout, which may be very feminine and in keeping with the layout but is not a true colour.

 

 

Once adjusted, the colour is much sharper and true to life.  This was a challenging layout for me as I'm never very confident at trying new techniques but successfully used stencils and stamps and distressed the edges.  It isn't easy to see the distressing but I sprayed the edges of cardstock with water and rolled the edges with my fingers.  I then lightly chalked the edges for a soft effect.  I am much more at home with inking chipboard and using Gloss effects and luckily found space for this too!  I am particularly pleased with the beautiful Kaisercraft blooms that I threaded together to underline the photo.

The whole page is one that brings a smile to my face ... as does my fabulous friend!