Mommy & Me

Hi again!
   Here's the Mommy and Me page for my niece's book. It contains a fun game called, 'Find all the Doilies!' I might have gone a bit overboard on this one...
   I started this page by picking out the background 12 x 12 papers. I just loved the vintage shoes, dress form and fancy clothes! I went with a pink, yellow, and green color scheme for the pages in vintage shades to match the background papers and made the accent color black with a tad bit of gold. The ephemera on the pages is from Tim Holtz's new packs and the washi tape is from his collection and a few other designers. These lines look a bit crooked on the page, but luckily that is due to the photo and not an inability to see straight on my part. My favorite part of this page is the little silhouette of the girl with the tiniest bow I've ever tied around her neck. I used a piece of ephemera and added glossy accents to the entire piece and let it dry overnight. Then I added a bit of embroidery floss and Ta-da! I like how it jumps off the light pink paper, but doesn't  look lonely since it's next to the distressed black matting squares. (Those squares won't look so prominent when they are filled with wonderful pics of my niece and sister-in-law)
   I didn't added any specific journaling sections or prompts to this page because it could be used for so many different scenarios. I thought the black and yellow strip spaces would work well for pictures but the pink and green pieces and yellow tag could be for pictures, more ephemera or journaling about places they've gone together, things they like to do or any great memory. There is also blank space by the dress form on the background page that could be used for photos, journaling or ephemera as well.
   I hope you like the page and will visit again soon!
   Rachel

12 Tags - January

There is a first time for everything, right? Currently, I'm doing roughly 6 things right now while writing this post. And yes, watching hockey, house cleaning, texting, and cooking are all involved (in case you are curious). I think that's not a personal best, but if it is, then hey, another first time!
What I really mean, though, is that this is the first time I've played along with the 12 tags by Tim Holtz. I love the monthly inspiration and played along this time!
Using Tim's techniques that you can find here, I made this card for my brother's 28th birthday which is next week. So, Happy (Early) Birthday, little bro! (The card is in the mail!)
In making the card, I really stuck to the techniques and just added a few of my own touches to the elements. One thing I wanted to try was to add paint to the glittered numbers, not just ink. I was really pleased with the way it turned out! I think using the metallic paints makes a huge difference, though, since they have their own shimmery finish which compliments the distress glitter. To apply, I just added a bit with my fingers here and there and buffed it with a paper towel before it dried.
Another change I made was adding some smears of paint to the background after applying the glue and seal behind the numbers and 'eight'. This added some contrast to really make the 'eight' stand out since I used many different shades of blue on the background. Just a smear of bronze paint really made a difference.
I had a lot of fun making this card and selecting the birthday wish related words to add to the back, especially the 'happy', 'day' and 'brother'.
I hope you like the card and, just as an update, the Mommy and Me pages of my niece's book will be up soon!!