me

To quote my friend Michele, "Don't ya just love the subject line? ME lol" I don't usually do page layouts about myself but decided to put my photo on this page. It is the same photo you see here on my blog. When creating layouts, it's sometimes harder to come up with the photos than the layout. This particular page is somewhat "artsy-fartsy" or "airy-fairy" which is what they say on BBC's Hotel Inspector to describe something that focuses more on the art than the photo. I like airy-fairy better. Yes, I've been watching way too much tv over these last months. Back to the page. I had fun creating the background layering on pieces that I made.


I made the left side background first, actually a couple of months ago. I started with watercolor paper and added distress inks to it using the Ranger tool with the sponge pad attached. I put on masks and added more Ranger distress inks and the added Tattered Angels glimmer mists. I stamped using Ranger Artistry stamps and Prima Build a Swirl stamps in Stampin' Up inks. Idea'ology journaling tickets were stapled on and an idea'ology metal wheel is attached with a random brad. I took a silver metal word, "imagine" and inked it with alcohol inks and inked a grunge board faceplate to frame it, attached with bronze brads from my stash. I inked some idea'ology fragments with alcohol inks and adhered them to highlight parts of the words.

The right side is made from strips of grunge paper from idea'ology. I cut 1" strips, inked half with distress inks, sprayed them with glimmer mists and then dry embossed them with a Cuttlebug folder. The other half of the strips were inked, stamped and then sprayed with glimmer mists. I then wove them together to create a 3" piece to border my left side.

I put them together on a piece of kraft colored card stock, inked the edges with distress ink and then decided to sew the two pieces on. After searching high and low for my sewing machine, to no avail I thought, why not blanket stitch the piece by hand? I am glad the sewing machine didn't turn up. I used green crewel floss and stitched the piece after piercing the papers. I also added a couple of "x's" to join the two pieces. I really liked the final outcome of the background. I matted a photo of myself and added "me" in Thickers that I toned down with some ink. The whole page has such a tactile look and is much better in real life that this photo shows. So, this is me, trusting, hoping, soaring, imagining, dreaming.