Sandi C's July Tutorial ~ Build a page ~

Happy Tuesday, fellow scrappers! It's Sandi Clarkson here today with my July tutorial using the awesome Scrap That! "Summer in my Garden" Kit.  I've chosen to feature the page I did using only the contents from the "main kit" and thought I would share how I put my layout together.

I started with selecting the papers I wanted to use along with a favorite photo of my mom picking cherries many years ago.  For the base, I selected the beautiful Fabscraps Organic "Tree" paper ..

.. and then selected the "Strawberries" paper to make a couple of handmade flowers. I also set aside a sheet of the matching "Script" paper for later use.  I've left my photo in color rather than converting to b/w because I wanted to remember the photo and the day "as it was."

These flowers were done using the Tim Holz Tattered Florals die. After cutting them with my Vagabond, I spritzed the paper and twisted each flower layer tightly, then unfolded and layered them. These were spritzed with Sugar Plum Glimmer Mist as well as Iridescent Gold. After assembling, I scrunched them some more and rotated the petals until I was satisfied with the look. We've had some great flower tutorials from our DT lately and I highly recommend your reviewing them when you have time! I think handmade flowers look great on projects but I don't do them often enough! 

Knowing that I wanted to add the burlap piece to my floral cluster, I sewed the brown button from the kit onto the circle, then cut the burlap toward the center to make flower "petals."  It was also spritzed with some of my Sugar Plum GM. 

Next, I started altering my chipboard piece and began with the items seen above .. 

which quickly turned into this ... LOL! I just keep adding until I get the mix I want. I am still laughing at myself but I'm sure you can relate! 

For the base, I applied white Gesso to provide some texture. Next I painted the piece with Adirondack's acrylic paint Dabber in Juniper. Normally I work on kraft paper but sometimes I just grab a bit of newspaper! 

Then I began painting on my GM and Glimmer Glams with a "fan" brush until I got the color mix I was looking for. Don't be afraid to mix your colors on your chipboard pieces. It really makes them more interesting when you do! Pre-dominantly, I've used Dirty Martini and Royal Velvet GG for the intense color. Lastly, I added a little pearl above the "I."

Knowing that I wanted to break up the color scheme with some white, I splattered white Gesso on my paper by tapping on a loaded paintbrush. 

My next paper selection was the Fabscraps Organic Script paper which I tore to give me a diagonal piece for the upper right corner of the layout.  Before adhering it to the base, I did use a Prima "branches" mask and some Sugar Plum GM but I forgot to photograph this step. However, you can see the results in the photos at the end of this post.

For added interest, after trimming my papers to about 11.75 by 11.75 inches, I punched around the edge of my papers with my Martha Stewart Cherish punch and then lightly distressed the edges with my Tim Holtz distress tool. At this point, I inked all my paper edges with Shabby Shutters distress ink on the green and Prima's Old Road (included in the kit .. and a gorgeous color!) on the rose. I then added some cardstock beneath these papers to bring definition to the edges. 

As I work on a page, I stop from time to time and lay my elements down to get an idea how things are going to look, making changes as needed. 

.. checking it again with more elements in place ...

There is a recipe card include in the kit, which I've distressed and used as a photo mat. Here you can also see the cute little clothespins that were included. Because of their dimension, I used foam squares to adhere my photo to the layout. 

Next I applied some spray adhesive to my chipboard and added it to the page. To avoid the chipboard from "floating" by itself, I've layered it over the photo slightly. 

I decided to add some gauze underneath my floral cluster and also tucked it under the Script paper just a bit on one side. 

Then I glued my flowers in place, adding in just a few small red flowers from my stash. The white flowers are also from the kit and along with the gauze work great with the white paint splatters.  I decided to use the craft sticks as journaling strips. With some inked edges and a few mini-alphas from my stash, they were done.  I finished the page with a green Sizzix-cut branch and a small butterfly made with a Martha Stewart punch. These were also inked before adhering to the page. The dual layer butterfly is mounted using foam squares and decorated with a few pearls. 

Here is a close-up of the floral cluster. You can see that I've added some gorgeous leaves that were from the kit. 

I included this shot because you can see the little curlicues (on the left) that I made using the green floral picks (aka green fence posts.) I tucked those in to the cluster and did not even need to glue them in place.

And finally, a close-up of the craft sticks used as journaling strips. 

Whew, that was a long post! Thanks for bearing with me. Hopefully, you had a bit of fun in the process! See you next time!