Lots to Learn, Need Some Tips

In my journey to learn more about my craft I run in to "I just can't figure it out" moments.  Today's layout is the one of those moments.  Read under "What I Learned or Didn't" and if you have a suggestion or know how, please leave a comment. 

The Story
Spring has sprung in South Carolina except that the temperature dropped about 20 to 25 degrees and it's been raining and that makes it miserably cold. 

I went looking in my photos for pictures that remind me of the signs of Spring.  This is my granddaughter several years ago.  It was a beautiful Spring day and she wanted to go outside.  She put Bailey on his leash and took the poor dog for a run!  She sat in the swing my Uncle Earl made many years ago.  What an enjoyable time we had 'just swinging.'  Of course the ultimate sign of Spring here is the sandals/flip flops.  Trees may bloom, flowers burst open with color, but it's not Spring unless you are wearing the sandals!

The Layout


What I Learned or Didn't Learned
  • Bo Bunny has some incredible papers.  This is from there Gabrielle line.
  • I totally love Spring!
  • ** I can't figure out how to layer elements and place the photos on top.  In this case the ribbon is bulky and my photo are lifted up in a way I don't like.
  • **I used a Prima mask and Perfect Pearls Spray to create a light accent.  The close up gives you just a hint of the flower design.  Whether I use Maya Mist, Glimmer Mist, or Perfect Pearls Spray my paper foundation always "warps."  I know it is the liquid content in the different mists.  How can you avoid or correct the problem?
  • Brads are our friends.  The tiny white flowers are from Making Memories.  They are perfect accent.  It's been awhile since I've used brads in any quantity.
  • I love the epoxy embellishments from Prima.  Very cool.
  • **I may have every pack of sticker letters, run-on letters, naked chipboard, designer chipboard, (and I mean a lot!), Circut, and Slice you never have enough letters or the right style of letters, or the right colors.   I did use my Slice, Basic 3, which has a nice font.  But I had already gone through everything at that point.  I need to go through some of my stash and if it mixes and matches, keep; if there are not enough vowels it's time to move on.  If you have some ideas let me know.
  • Keep all your pieces.  The Kaisercrafts wooden element was a piece left over from another project.  The Prima pearls and lace left over from a recent layout,  The paper flowers are several years old from Hero Arts.
You can see I need help!  I would appreciate all your advice.

I plan on a Crafty weekend, how about you?

Do have a Crafty day!

Gratitude List
1.  kisses
2.  God's promises
3.  God's faithfulness and surety
4.  Time and Love produced the best love of all
5.  safety of my family

Comments

  1. about the alphabets...I keep them all...my grandkids have their own bin to choose letters from..some always choose to match their letters and some are free spirits and mix it up! I also change it up once in awhile...and sometimes I even make my vowels from other letters bits and pieces...an O from a Q; an I form an H; E from the number 8...and so on! Great layout!
    On the ribbon under a photo - myabe if you pop-dot the photo you won't notice the bulk under it...

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  2. Sweet Spring layout! Debby, I just
    love your blog :)

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  3. Lovely layout! I try to keep the warping at a minimum by spraying then taking several layers of papertowels and grabbing the excess liquid right away. I may have to spray several times to get the desired saturation, but blotting up the excess helps. I also zap it with a heat gun sometimes if it's more wet. But I hold the heat gun high, not just a few inches from the paper. That's what works for me!

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  4. on the warping~JMO~I think maybe you are to close to the paper when you spray~Lots of great suggestions here. Debby~I love the direction you are taking your art~beautiful!!!!!

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  5. Nice layout. It's lovely!

    I haven't figured out an alphabet solution yet (I have the same problem). With mists, I wait until the cardstock/paper dries and then put it under something heavy (a dictionary) for a while. :)

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  6. misting- I talked to a Tattered Angels rep at a CKC last year. They say to tightly spritz the back of your paper with water then flip to mist with color. This has the fibers on both sides of the paper swell evenly. However, if you still have warping, you can always iron your paper. I have done that a couple of times, but the misting the back really helps. Just be aware that it will take longer to dry though, unless you use a heat gun, but that will cause the fibers to shrink unevenly..and brings you back to the iron! LOL!

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  7. This is very pretty! Love the gratitude list, too:)

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  8. I spritz the back with water and then the front with my spritz. You don't get to much warping this way. I also heat my paper with a heat gun before I spritz.

    Love the layout..

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  9. Are you doing Karen's Finding Your Way class by any chance?
    I totally sympathise about the alphabets. So many of them but never exactly what I need. :)

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  10. Gorgeous layout!!! Love it!!! Totally agree about the letters!

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  11. Beautiful layout Debby! To spritz the back first works pretty well and I love using my leftover letters for collages, or as masks on the background. But like you, I never have the one I visioned. And I'm a letter junkie! LOL!

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  12. Debby, you asked about the class I mentioned. It's on at the moment over at Big Picture Classes, www.bigpictureclasses.com. The teacher is Karen G, www.karenika.com. The reason I asked is that each week we are moving through different areas of a scrapbook layout (eg. design, embellishing, journaling) and looking at different ways and styles to work out what is authentically us. Sounds like you are doing just that without the class. :)

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