Sewing Project for Baby

Since THIS PROJECT failed because I have absolutely NO sewing experience whatsoever, I enthusiastically started a new one LOL!
But I just learned from my colleague who can actually sew that I have to finish it by hand.. hey..that they didn't say that in the pattern!
So now it lying here waiting to be finished... not sure when I am going to get to that!

Anatomy of a Page

Recently, Ali Edwards had an item on her blog called Anatomy of an Album. This inspired me to do a blogpost called "Anatomy of a page".

For me, making a layout is about layering.
Layering is about patience....
Patience is about reflection, not acting straight away.

So... when I am making a layout I am not glueing down anything (like I used to do when I just started scrapping). I wait until I have like 3 or 4 layers that I like and only then I attach these layers to eachother. Most of the time the layering continues but only in details.
I remember that when I started srapbooking, I was looking with open mouth to multi layered layouts in the 2peas gallery, having no clue how they had made it. I wish every scrapper would show a step by step guide of their own work now and then, to share their way of creating with others.

What follows is a step by step photo guide to a finished layout with several layers. Enjoy!

1) I chose this picture because I wanted to make a layout for my daughters album that showed how unflattering these last weeks of the pregnancy were. This picture of me is typical for all pregnant woman at the end of the pregnancy; you cannot sit normally (read: with your legs closed) anymore, nor walk for 10 minutes without panting and wanting to sit down.... oh.. and your shoes don't fit you anymore so you have to wear your rubber boots.... :-(. And to top it off... although it is end of November... there are no coats / sweaters in the world big enough to cover your ever expanding belly.




2) This Rouge de Garance patterned paper is perfect for the background because of the coordinating colours of the graffiti on the picture and my top.




3) I layered a piece of wallpaper on top of it... beautiful colours!



4) To make it visually exciting I added a Hambly transparency to cover the complete page.

I love the see-through effect of all the different colours and the patterns.




5) To create a frame I cut the transparency slightly smaller than the page and added the picture to a place on the layout where it wouldn't cover up the wallpaper or the flowers from the patterned paper.




6) Once the layers and the pictures are positioned on the layout, I started adding details like these Stazon stamped stars from Purple Onion Designs. I also used masking tape to attach the photo to the background.

7) Another transparent layer added!

On my desk I found a leftover from the transparency I printed to create this layout .

8) Time to add the title! In this case I chose self adhesive letters in horrible colours.

9) Horrible colours? No problemo! I recently forced myself to use the products that I once bought but never use because they are just not right.... Now I just alter them to my liking so I can still use them. This way I can get rid of stash that is just lying there... I also do this with patterned paper nowadays... i just paint or stamp on it..whatever.. at least now I try to make something with it. To change the looks of these letters I used alcohol ink.

10) I decide the stamps are too vague so I outline them with a black Posca Pen and add some colour to them. And I pull of the masking tape of the picture and outline it too.

11) Now it is time to add some journaling...a part that I hate. You might have already noticed that.. I hardly have any journaling on my pages. Here you can see I had to "repair" my page with black paint, because of a failed attempt to add some funny text. For the balance I add a strip of paint under the photo as well.

12) Now that I have my paint in front of me..... I go wild and start adding some red and white paint as well. During that process I think of the good old Dymo label maker for my journaling.

13) Finishing touch!

14) Detailed photo of the paint structure.

AND A FINISHED LAYOUT

Good Advice #1

You might have noticed that I hardly ever use one of the Studio DaphNat techniques on my layouts. I just try them once together with Nat, enjoy doing them and never look back! How stupid! Because some of them are so easy to do and you have such a cool effect on your layout. So..I decided to use these techniques more often.

For this layout, on which I journaled some good advice for Mini-Me about learning to hold on to the right things and recognizing the moment when it is time to let go, I used the layered masking tape technique.
Like the first time...I just LOVE the result!

B is for Breast

Big Girl you are beautiful

No comment

She rules my world!

All I want for Christmas.....

I made this lo already in December but still had to finish the journaling (behind the tag). Journaling is about a new Christmas tradition I started for my mini-moi: we will buy her 1 Christmas ornament every year until she is 18 years old, so when she will buy her first tree (which will be a small one in her student room maybe) she can already fill it with a nice collection of ornaments.
I was inspired to make this layout with the "holiday"prompt on the
Global Perspectives blog.

Colour Match

Baby LO nr 2 of..... many?

Well then...

.... here it is: my very first baby layout!
I remember chatting online with Nat when I was pregnant and I told her that I was afraid to bore everyone with baby layouts once the baby was born.
She told me: "You are so going to make a lot of baby layouts!"...
And damn...she's right!
So...if you get bored in a few weeks/months....don't come here anymore... LOL














Supplies (from top to bottom)
- handmade on glossy paper with ecoline on a versamark resist
- 7 Gypsies tag
- Hambly transparancy
- Stars on the left are cut from a Scenic Route sheet
- Big Star on the right; colored with ecoline and then heat embossed with pink powder
- Little stars stamped (Purple Onion) with Versamark and colored with Perfect Pearls
- The name is cut out from the birth announcement card
- Letter paper is from Scenic Route
- Handmade scallops on a Rouge de Garance sheet.
- Background is stamped with acrylic paint and bubble wrap

1 week ago.......

Happy Birthday Dutch Dares!

1 year ago... we started the Dutch Dare blog and although I am currently no longer a part of the DT, I am still sooo proud that our challenge blog is now celebrating their first anniversary :-).

For this 1st anniversary the challenge was to be creative with the number "1". And so I took this opportunity to celebrate my 1st pregnancy ever!

EDITED:
The photo effect was done like this:
In photoshop I turned the photo's to black & white and played a bit with the exposure levels. Then I copied the layer and with this copy I started to play a little with different filters until I found one that I really liked. To finish I changed the opacity to see just enough of the underlying 1st layer.
I printed the photo's on a transparency and attached them to the BG paper.
Of course I could have also printed them directly on the PP... but when I started printing I had a different idea of how the layout would be.