ScrapbooksPlus DT

Happy Valentine’s Day! This blog is about a 2-page layout that showcases some pictures from a trip to Copenhagen. This is a good example of the benefits of really looking at papers rather than just rejecting them because they don’t immediately spark an interest. I’m not big on roses or pink and might have ignored the English Rose Collection if I didn’t have to use it for the Design Team Challenge. When finished I like the English Rose Collection so much that I want to get more paper.

As I thought about it, the maroon and green mosaic pattern seemed perfect for pictures from a trip to Copenhagen. I had gone some time ago and had not had a chance to scrap the pictures so decided to try and capture the essence of Copenhagen on two pages in case this was the only page I ever completed. For me this meant spirals, water, interesting architecture and food.

To provide some focus on the five pictures, I made a large photo-mat for the four smaller pictures. This drew attention but since I had four pictures with different colors, I made a Sizzix frame for each of the four pictures. This highlighted each picture and provided some consistency to the diverse pictures.

But the paper seemed a little flat with the colors of the pictures. I addressed this by spraying a little Walnut Gold Glimmer Mist on papers. This gave the maroon paper a shimmer and made the color go a little better with my pictures.

Many of our blogs have mentioned using Glimmer Mist and I must say, if you’re not using it you are missing out on a really easy way to jazz up your pages. It is one of those things that can seem intimidating but once you start using it you’ll want to use it more and more. An easy way to start is just spraying some on a scrap of the paper you are using. If you like the look, spray it on. I first tried a green on the maroon paper but it made it to dark but the Walnut Gold gave the page a little sparkle. I liked the effect so I used it on the picture frames and the hearts.

For the larger picture on the left page, I didn’t want to reduce its size to fit in the frame used for the other pictures. Instead, I made a photo-mat the same height as the photo-mat used for the other pictures. Adding a strip of scallops at the bottom of the left page added some consistency with the right page. I also rounded the upper left corner of the picture.

The page clearly needed a few embellishments. I used a chipboard heart (made with chipboard pressed onto the Peeled Paint Distress Ink pad to make it green and applied Walnut Gold Glimmer Mist) to substitute for the word “love” in my title. A second heart was used as an exclamation point. Using a clear button, I made a period for the “heart” exclamation point. I simply put Glossy Accents on the bottom of the clear button and affixed it to the mosaic paper. Once it is dry, you simply cut around the button. Using a Danish coin was a fun way to add a little gold and accent the spiral picture. For balance, I used two more buttons on each side of the coin.

Since my pages were so different, I used a strip of ribbon completely across bottom to bring two pages together.

Finally, I filled in with some tags of various papers used in the page.

Even though when I first looked at the papers, I wasn’t thrilled. I really like this page and believe the papers reflect the “old country” well.

The moral of this blog is:
• really think before you reject papers
• use Glimmer Mist
• make embellishments using glossy accents and clear buttons to accent your pages

Kathy Bryant