Welcome back to another 2015-16 Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team blog hop. We are a group of international demonstrators chosen by Stampin' Up! to represent the company on our blogs and on social media. March 4th is International Scrapbooking Day, and since this is a global design team, we thought it would be fitting to focus on scrapbooking projects for this blog hop. Most of us tend to feature cards on our blogs, so this is an interesting change of pace. If you are already going through the hop, you should have just arrived here from visiting my super talented friend, Cindy Schuster. When you leave here you will travel on to visit the amazing Inge Groot.
I will be the first to admit that I don't scrapbook much...probably because I just don't have a sweet, little one underfoot. I am in that stage between little children and grandchildren (and I hope to stay there for at least a few more years.) So when I need photos of beautiful little girls, I turn to my sister. She and my mother are more than happy to supply photographs of my beautiful nieces. They live a few hundred miles away, so we only get to see them a couple of times a year. This is Maggie. She is the newest addition to our family. This is the very first page of have made of her and I think I am going to be in BIG TROUBLE. I typically make digital scrapbook pages when I know I will need duplicates...but this one is the real deal. Have you ever done something with the best of intentions, only to have it come back to haunt you? What was I thinking? I know that I need to make three more of this layout...or risk being shunned from any future family outings. (Insert puppy dog eyes and violin music here!) LOL!
I come from a family of seamstresses and quilters, but I have never actually made a quilt. (That is on my bucket list.) I like to joke and say that I create paper quilts. You may have already guessed that this page was a bit time consuming, but compared to a fabric quilt, it was much faster. The background is made up of 144 one inch squares of designer series paper. I wasn't sure what my final layout was going to look like, so I just decided to cover the entire 12"x12" piece of cardstock just to be safe. Yes, this was a bit of a challenge, so I have some tips that might make it easier for you to create your own.
First, I narrowed down my color pallet...Rose Red, Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron, Crumb Cake, Garden Green, and Whisper White. Then I looked through my paper collection to see what I had in these colors. Most of the patterns are from Birthday Bouquet DSP and Love Blossoms DSP.
After I selected the colors, I used a 1" square punch and got busy. I loosely arranged the squares on a piece of 12"x"12 cardstock. Once I felt good about the arrangement, I used my cell phone to snap a photo. Next, I collected each row in order from left to right. I kept each row separate by placing them in an old ice cube tray. The tray has 14 wells and this was the prefect way to keep everything organized. Next, I put several rows of tear and tape adhesive on my card base and worked two rows at a time, using my cell phone photo to help me stay on track. This allowed me to be able to take a much needed break between rows when necessary. I hate to even mention this, but I sponged Crumb Cake lightly around each square...I can hear the groans now...LOL! I think that if I were going to start over, I might use larger squares, but not too large because it may take away from the heirloom quilt feeling that I am trying to achieve.
If you make it to this point, then it is smooth sailing. I layered a large piece of DSP behind the photo mat to help tone down the "busy-ness" of the layout. I die cut several flowers and leaves to help ground the corners of the photo. I also stamped and die cut the sentiment oval and words. The entire project took about eight hours to complete, but I could probably reproduce it in about 5-6 hours now that I have the design worked out. I know that is a lot of time to spend on a scrapbook page, but I consider this an heirloom page...one that will be enjoyed for years to come. I think I am going to have to find a way to at least scan the background of this page so that I don't have to start completely from scratch. If you have a favorite place to have your 12x12 scrapbook pages copied, then leave me a comment below...please!
The Artisan Design Team will be hopping again in a few weeks, so be sure to check back often. Inge Groot is next on our blog hop so be sure to head on over and check out what she and the the rest of the Artisan Design Team team have in store by clicking on the button below.
I WOULD LOVE TO BE YOUR DEMONSTRATOR!
If you are in the United States and need a demonstrator, then you can order your supplies in my online store here. Thanks for looking!
SUPPLIES FOR THIS PROJECT:
140697-Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set, 140691-Grateful Bunch Photopolymer Set, 126975-Crumb Cake Stampin’ Pad, 126954-Rose Red Stampin’ Pad, 140557-Birthday Bouquet DSP, 140548-Love Blossoms DSP Stack, 138437-Subtles DSP Stack (Blushing Bride), 138440-English Garden DSP, 140549-Love Blossoms CS Pack, 100730-Whisper White CS, 131188-Regals Collection 12x12 CS (Rose Red/Garden Green), 113439-Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, 130911-Circles Collection Framelits, 140619-Rose Garden Thinlits Dies, 133730-Little Letters Thinlits, 137363-Hello You Thinlits, 140625-Botanical Builder Framelits Dies, 140603-Big Shot Die Brush, 139684-Precision Base Plate, 129399-Tea Lace Paper Doilies, 119246-Rhinestone Basic Jewels, 101610-Stampin’ Sponges, 124094-1” Square Punch, 104430-Stampin’ Dimensionals, 138995-Tear & Tape Adhesive, 130683-Mini Glue Dots
