Steampunk-Gone-Glam

This is my first attemp at steampunk and, of coure, I had to "elegantize" it to glam it up a little bit.  I have use the Kosher Salt technique that I posted in an earlier post, I think it added a lot of texture and interest in this mini-album I created to house the techniques and/or tutorials I have posted this year.  The corrugated cardboard was ripped and torn in various places to showcase the finely detailed Imaginarium and Leaky Shed chipboard pieces that were assembled together to make it look "steampunkish".  The salt technique was added to some areas of the chipboard as well.  Originally, this started off as a tag but then I thought it would be more appealing to use as a cover to house the tutorials that were enclosed in clear sheet protectors that I cut down to size and sewn at the botton.
Hope you find some inspiration here to create your own mini-album book. Let me know if you use the salt technique so that I might drop by your blog and see what you did with it.  Thank you for stopping by.

Some close ups are below:

 

 

 

Lady Grey

I was inspired to use these colors upon seeing a woman walk into my office building wearing a grey pant suit, with a pale shell pink silk blouse and a cream scarf with little tiny pink pearls woven in the fabric, and, of course, she was wearing a strand of pearls.  She looked just exquisite in these colors.  I hope she didn’t notice my staring her down to absorb all the details.  LOL.   Later on that day, I went through my scrapping stash in my mind wondering if I could create a page inspired by Lady Grey wearing those exquisite colors and textures.

Using the salt texture technique I posted earlier,  some of the supplies I purchased from the C'est Magnifique ("CM") store which included the French Kiss - Glitz paper, and four staples (a challenge to members in the CM Forum),I created this page. 

My title on my page comes from an experience most of us un-goddess like ladies have experienced at one time or another.   While vacationing in Hawaii with some very dear friends, I was introduced to this Goddess.  She was tall, with long golden tresses, with perfect teeth and a smile, and had  gorgeous high cheek bones.   I was told she was a Miss something or another, I can’t remember what her title was at this time, but she fit the title perfectly.  J   I had mousy hair, a gapped tooth smile, and flat cheek bones, and at that moment, I wanted to become invisible in front of the Goddess standing before me.     Later on we were invited by the Goddess and some mutual friends to join them for dinner.  It would be ungracious of me to try to think of an excuse not to go so since I was invited to stay at my friend’s lovely home on this beautiful island.  I put on my best face and went.   As everyone was finding a place at the dinner table, the chairs starting filling up quickly around the table and there were chairs vacant next to the Goddess.  It quickly became evident to me that I might have to sit next to the Goddess.  My heart starts racing, and I’m thinking, “Please don’t seat me next to that pretty girl”.  Not only did I not want to sit next to the Goddess, I certainly did not want to be photographed with her as that would only enhance her Goddess like qualities. LOL.  Well, all my insecurities faded as the evening went on because this Goddess was warm, friendly, funny and terribly sweet.   She truly was a Goddess in every sense of the word by making me feel like we had known each other for a long time.

 

 

 

 



Walkie for Once Upon A Sketch

 

 

Here’s my interpretation of the quote and sketch for the October Once Upon a Sketch Challenge.

I’ve incorporated an actual negative from a 35mm camera in my sketch.  Fortunately for me the color of the negative blended in well with the 7 Dots Domestic Goddess paper collection. I didn’t realize it at the time I opened the kit package, because I was in awe over all the pinks and oranges in the papers and embellies, but there were a number of yellow elements to choose from too and I separated them from the kit and put them aside.  The theme of the OUAS challenge and papers and embellies came together really well, I thought. “Walkies” were common in the 1920’s throughout the 1950’s in England.  There were street photographers that would take pictures of unsuspecting subjects going about their daily lives, running errands, visiting fairs and vacationing in beach communities too.  These photos depicted fashion at the time, history and social status. The photographer would give you a ticket after they took a picture and if you were interested, you would drop by the studio and pick them up.  Here’s one of my unsuspecting grandmother running an errand in England in the 1920’s.

Paper:

7 Dots Studio: Domestic Goddess: White Apron
17 Dots Studio: Domestic Goddess: Ah, Whatever

Embellishments:
Manor House Creations: Winter Song (mix of 2)

Cheep Trims: Lace
Pink Paislee: Artisan: Circles

Flower Add-On:

Prima: Soubrette: Pink/Orange
Manor House Creations: Wishes: Peace
Prima: Banda: Golden Yellow

Embellishment Add-On:
7 Dots Studio: Domestic Goddess: Collage: Fashionista
Cheep Trims: Applique
Want2Scrap: Fancy Tags
May Arts: Burlap String: Olive, Black, Yellow, Bittersweet, Brown & Grape

7 Dots Studio Add-On:
7 Dots Studio: Domestic Goddess: Stickers 12x12

 

Keeping the Best Sketch Challenge ("Remember Prom")

I found a new sketch challenge site by following Georgia Heald's blog.  "Keeping the Best" posts a sketch challenge every two Monday's and it is open to international participation. The Design Team is consisted of some very talented and inspiring ladies, and I'm hoping to become a regular participant there.

I loved this sketch by Angela because of it's archectural elements and it inspired me to create a masculine page featuring one of my brothers.

Here he waiting for the phone call from his prom date to pick her up and take her to the prom.  He looks so anxious waiting for that call. 

On this page, I used a watercolor technique by applying Kosher Salt to a pool of various colors of Glimmer Mist.  Normally in watercolor, we remove the salt after the paint has thoroughly dried and it reveals a lovely texture and effect.  In this case, I really loved how the salt added so much texture and height and I chose to preserve it by adding some spray adhesive over the salt areas.  The salt stayed in place perfectly.  If you're interested in this technique, check out the tutorial I posted prior to posting this page.  It's really quite simple.

Here is close up:

 

 

 

Kosher Salt Technique

Look as this yummy texture achieved by using Kosher Salt.  The size of the salt crystals are just perfect for layouts and/or your mixed media art.

The supplies shown in the picture are all you need to achieve this salt texture.  I'm only showing one color of Glimmer Mist in the photo, but I actually used a Lindy's Stamp Gang Moonshadow Mist (Smoky Sapphire) color as well.

 

Kosher Salt is often used in watercolor paintings.  When you saturate a section of watercolor paper with watercolor paint, and you pour some Kosher Salt on top of the paint and let it dry thoroughly, the salt absorbs all the color and you can then flick off the salt and it leaves a really cool effect. I would often use this technique on some of my watercolor art and thought why couldn't this work on a layout as well, so I set out to see if I could make it work.

In this case, I saturated some sections of corrugated paper with various colors of Glimmer Mist and Lindy's Stamp Gang Moonshadow Mist and poured some salt on the pools of color and let it dry with the help of a heat gun, but not too close as you don’t want the salt to fly off the paper. I would suggest you let the pooled colors with salt dry naturally. Once it was dried, I really liked the texture it revealed and decided to keep it as it was by applying a light mist of Elmer’s Graft Bond Spray Adhesive.  If you don’t apply the bond spray adhesive, the salt will eventually fall off the paper.

 

Unfortunately, that strip is a piece I had to cut off to make this creation fit on my layout that I was working on, but you can see all the cool texture effect the salt produced.

 

I sincerely hope you give it a try and let me know what you do with it.

 

 

 

 





Chipboard Tutorial (Designed for C'est Magnifique)

 

 

This diamond shape ScrapFx Chipboard was included in the C'est Magnifique November Add-On.  Come on over to the Inspiration Forum at C'est Magnifique and find out how I dressed this chippie up.