american beauty

I have wanted to play with this photo for a while now.  It is an amazing pic of my daughter Kerry taken by C. Whitney-Ward and posted on the blog, Chasing Santa Fe:

http://chasingsantafe.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-03-05T19:28:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=3&by-date=false#.UYKIA7Xqmtg

After obtaining permission to print the photo I let it sit here for a while.  First, I loved seeing my daughter, so lovely, since I haven't seen her in person in over a year.  But I will be seeing her soon.  :)

Then, my new Memory Works catalogs arrived and low and behold, we have Graphic 45 papers this season and I knew at that moment I would be using the Secret Garden collection to scrap this photo.

I started with the stripped background paper and grabbed the floral print with a small purple print on the "B" side  I used the scraps from cutting it down as well.  A little spritz of water along the ends made it easy to curl the edges for texture.  I sewed it on, sloppily, but that's about the level of my sewing skills.  A Maggie Homes fabric polaroid frame die cut centers in on Kerry's face.  She has gorgeous blue eyes, huh?  I added additional layers of papers, die cuts, flowers, butterflies, and a wood veneer doily from Michaels.  The key is grunge board covered in paper and then run through a texture folder and inked.  When she was younger she wore a key around her neck prompting Eden to nickname her Kiki, and Kiki she is today.  So the key had to make the layout.  I should have zeroed in on that to show you the punched bird.  The wonderful thin about punches is that you can turn them over and see exactly where you are punching.  /The wording on the head of the bird says "plant good seeds," good advice for everyone.  The wing is a rose bud.  

A close up of the flowers I made using a few 6"x6" pieces from the paper pad using the t!m holtz mini tattered floral die.  I inked and stacked using gem topped brads to hold them together.

I cut a "v" in the floral background and laced it up corset style with some baker's twine, then backed it with a yellow print from the 6"x6" paper pad.  

You can really see the layers here, stacked flowers, stacked butterflies with idea'ology gem pins for bodies.  

I know, I'm just a proud mama, but Kerry is an American beauty, her dad's blue eyes and fair skin, her mom's features and independent personality.  

So, get happy, get scrappy,

Jenn