Sweet Spuds -- scrapbook kits that rock!








	This is a layout about my dear friend Sari. (isn't she pretty?) The first thing I did on this one was to use bubble wrap to paint onto cardstock. I really think it complements the circles on the Elsie paper. Another thing that I did was tear strips out of the polka dot paper, but then I used my square punch and punched on top of the circle. I then crumpled and inked the strips for a more distressed look. I really liked the Jenni Bowlin Journaling block, but the green trim didn't match my layout. I cut the green part off and used the remainder for my journaling block. Now I have a lovely green scalloped sticker for use on another project!




	I really wanted the tree to stand out on this one, so I mounted the light colored tree diecut onto black cardstock and then cut around it. I deliberately placed the tree on top of everything else so that it would frame the area around my eye (which is my best feature, I think!). I also used a small circle punch to cut random circles out of a dictionary page. I placed them underneath the tree diecut so they would look a little bit like falling leaves. That lovely lace came with notches that were just perfect to weave another ribbon and a strip of stamped cardstock into. You could do this with a hole punch if your ribbon did not have holes that were big enough. I really love putting rubons onto things like plain foam. Here I used the Elsie "home" heart on top of the white foam heart so that it was almost like a buckle on the ribbon border.




	A new technique that I tried was paper pleating to create the border on the left side of the layout. I tore a strip of paper off of the BG flower paper and folded it into pleats. I stapled the pleats as I went to keep them in place. Then I went and stapled the pleated paper to a strip of cardstock for stability and to make it lay flatter. Then I inked it on the edges using distress inks and my fingers. I also made my own "paper lace" by cutting a dual-sided scallop out of cardstock and using my small hole punch to punch holes in a (mostly) lace-like pattern. I had so many photos of the Market, because it's one of my favorite places in the city that I couldn't pick just one. So I put them in a collage. To help the title stand out, I mounted the letters onto contrasting cardstock and used pop dots to help them float above the collage. I also cut out the flower details from the busy flower patterned paper to use as an accent. To make the middle flower stand out more, I used glue dots to secure sequins in the flower center.




	With this layout I used quite a few remnants. The graph paper is actually the packaging from the rubons that came with the kit. The little bit of lace was left over from a different layout. The little scallop border was also a remnant from a previous layout. Making stuff with scraps is fun! I hand cut the title from the Elsie doodle paper and mounted onto the Jenni Bowlin cream paper, then attached it with pop dots to give it some height. The little houses are cut from the fabric paper and individually placed as a border at the top.




	I painted the BG letters all one color (white) so they would have a uniform look. In order to ink a scallop I actually place it on a piece of scratch paper and take an ink pen (I use a copic sketch pen) and trace around the edges. If I want a more dramatic look, I'll lean the brush more towards my patterned paper. If I want to make something really inky and messy, I'll use my fingers.
	Check out Christina's September Gallery