scrappassion

BEING HAPPY...

is the title of my layout for TCR #109. With this layout I start at The Color Room as their Revolving Door Artist for the month of May. 

I am so very happy and honored to be creating with Ana Paula from Brazil as my fellow RDA and alongside such a talented group of artists which compose the Design Team at The Color Room.

So here is my page:

I used a photo taken by my son Andrea last fall because I found it so fitting for the quote "Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you decide to see beyond the imperfections." which I used as my title and journaling for my page.

For the background I used stenciling, Neo color water soluble crayons (the red circles), stamping with Distress Inks and Archival ink and splashing a little bit of watered down acrylic paint (blu)

 

 

CASE FILE #17 AT CSI

Case file #17  is the last case I solved at CSI as a Special Investigator. From next week I will be on the Design Team :)))

If you want to have fun, come over to CSI. There is still time until May 6th to solve the case #17.

This is how I solved it.

For my evidence I used circles (plain chipboard circles that I glued on the background and whitewashed with gesso), music sheet (a tiny circle in the label cluster), stars and white space.

For my journaling I journaled in a circle:

"I'm so out of my league when it comes to any kind of machine. I hate automatic ticket machines and the self-service check-in kiosks. I'd much rather wait in line to be ale to speak with a human being. I dread the moment people start lining up BEHIND me because I'm slow."

This photo was taken in Athens by Hubs who told me how to get the tram ticket even though he doesn't speak Greek nor English. (I speak very little Greek but I know English but just wasn't able to figure out how to buy the darn ticket!!)

Here are some close-ups.

 

GRET NEWS!!

I can finally share some fantastic news: I'm part of the fab Design Team at CSI

 

We are thrilled to announce the latest additions to our design team of CSI Detectives. These ladies are all incredibly talented and inspiring and will add a beautiful flavor to our already wonderfully diverse team.

Please help us welcome our new CSI Detectives:

Adrienne Ford - United States

Anita Stokes - Australia

Annette Gearside - Australia

Ellinor Bergdahl - Sweden

Heather Jacob - Australia

Helena Virpi - Italy

Maiko Kosugi - Japan

Sarah Martin - Australia

 

CSI #12 - edited

I WAS CHOSEN TO BE ON THE WATCH LIST AT CSI WITH MY LAYOUT!!! Happy, happy, happy!

 

This was the first monochromatic color palette at CSI. Loved it.

I tried something new this time. My layout is totally inspired by the talented Solange Marques.

I also used some of the techniques she's teaching at Miss Art's.

The colors didn't photograph well, they are a little bit greener IRL. As my evidence I used flowers on which I used gesso and acrylic paint and minuscule stars (stamp). My journaling is not a dream but my thoughts about dreams. On the back of the layout I wrote my dreams today: most of them concern my children and their future.

I really loved working on this page using new techniques and I can see myself repeating the experience.

ANOTHER FEATURE AND TWO LAYOUTS "EDITED"

I WAS FEATURED AGAIN AT CSI!!! YIPPEE!

So Much for You to Discover by Helena Virpi

Helena's photo is so darling! We love how it stand out against the light background. Her page has such a fresh, light, airy feel. Her background is an amazing array of layers and textures. We just keep staring at it to figure out how she achieved those interesting effects. The message contained in her six-word memoir and the supporting journaling seem the perfect story to go with her photo. How we admire Helena's artsy style!

 

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!!

I'VE ADDED MY LAYOUT FOR CSI #10 "Sometimes I wish..."

which I apparently forgot to add when I was writing the post....??!!

 

Back to business. I have two layouts to share: one is CSI case file #10

Absolutely gorgeous color scheme.

This layout started out in an unusual way: I wrote first a letter to Andrea and then built the layout from there.

As Evidence I've used metal (staples), fabric (canvas heart) and contrasting textures (fabric, paper, twine, gesso, gauze)
As for the Testimony I shed light on my 14 yr old son at this point of his life and I used 'hope' and 'light' in my journaling. The letter starts like this:

Sometimes I wish...we could skip your teen years.

I played with the textures here: the harsh stitching and the entangled twine represent the obstacles and difficulties teenagers encounter, the round chipboard shapes that I gessoed on the background and the circle stamping represent the softer patches and better times. The fabric heart of course is Mamma's love, but there are some staples in there: Andrea's words or actions that make my heart bleed.

Oh, well, I'm sure we'll make through these years without too many difficulties. I hope. :DD

Here are some close ups:

Here you can detect some subtle background stamping. The flower stamp is Studio 490. Love Wendy Vecchi's stamps!

 

 Really loved working on this one.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Here's TCR #101 color palette

 

And here is my take

The Best Times ..are those that are shared.

I had the pleasure of sharing a very meaningful time (our 30th wedding anniversary) with my Finnish friends. We lived together for 2 years while at the university, then lost touch for a while and were united again this past February. We live in 3 different countries so it's not so easy to get all three of us together.

I started out by converting my photo to 'antique' so that it would better fit with this week's palette. Once again I was challenged with muted colors but I loved working on this page.

I used modeling paste (colored with acrylic paint) and stamped on it. It's the velvet mauve behind the photo. I learned it from Solange at Miss Art's. A wonderful place and wonderful teachers at The Round Table there!
I also painted the chippy clock with antique blue.

some close ups

 

Thanks for those who made it this far :)

TOOT TOOT!

Yeah, tooting for myself;)

 

So so proud that my layout You & Me was featured at The Color Room this week amongst so many beautiful creations.

Hello March!

This March has started out gorgeously, warm and sunny. Let's hope it will continue the same.

I have two layouts to show. One is for TCR #100 and the other is for a Norwegian sketch challenge blog Skissedilla.

 

This is TCR color palette#100

and this is my layout

This is a photo of me and Franco back in 94 when we spent Christmas in Finland at my Mom's. Lovely memories.

 

The second layout is for Skissedilla. This is the first time I play there. This is the sketch #153

I followed the sketch but moved the main accent=the hat and the weed to the right and replaced them with a huge number 12 for Andrea's 12th birthday

 

CSI #8 + OUAS

The CSI #8 color scheme is fantastic. I love yellow, it's my happy color so I went to town with the scheme:

The March 1 challenge at OUAS is All About Me

 

Journalling Criteria/Theme:

All About Me!

The focus of your journalling and the theme of your layout has to be based on YOU and something/s that you are really good at. Don't be shy! We are all good at something as small or as big as it might be.

And this is Nadia's sketch 

I was happy to combine these two challenges.

Here's my layout

 

And here are some detail shots

Note: my camera lens is not dirty, it's the diecut that is how would I say, a little worn...

One of the requirements for CSI was to use liquid mediums. I used acrylic paint, glimmer mist and ink on the background but wanted to use also Glossy accents. I covered this cut-out (Teresa Collins, I believe) with Glossy accents and after a couple of hours I went to admire it. Not only did I look at it but I picked it up. Bad mistake, missy! I dropped it FACE DOWN and as you can see,  it wasn't completely dry and thus I got this aged, worn look on my diecut. 

 

We also had to add something that sparkles or shines. Other than the glimmer mist which is really shiny and glimmery I added some sparkly brads. Brads!? Oh yes, I had forgotten all about those lil buggers. I added quite a few of those and love the effect!

 

Another sparkling element on my page is the chipboard ampersand. Have no recollection whatsoever about the company. I've had it for ages. I've said it many times before that I try to use my old stash in every layout and this time I used brads, the ampersand, the circle stickers (from Lisa Bearnson) and the above mentioned diecut. Go me!

I also splashed around black watered down acrylic paint. I put the layout on the ground and let the paint drop from far above, ca 1,5 mt. Finally I got big splashes :)

And the stitching is a must on my layouts.

The journaling is about me and my camera and about what I'm good at:

"My first DSLR camera was a Nikon D40. It served me well for 2 years while I was happily clicking away, always rigorously "on automatic". I actually thought I took discreetly good pictures. That changed when I enrolled in Karen Russell's online Photographers' Workshop in March 2009. Nine weeks later I was exhausted but had learned to take good pictures. ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation and white balance were no longer foreign words or strange concepts to me. Since then I have upgraded to D90 - the one in the picture - and last Christmas I indulged myself with a D7000. Heaven!"

FEATURED AT CSI

Doing the happy dance since I was featured or put "under surveillance" at CSI  case file #7 with this layout since it has become one of my faves of all times!

Journey and Heart

What do these words have in common?

They are both words to be used on layouts on the challenge blog "Bird is The Word". 

 

My first layout is about Andrea's upcoming trip to Welly to see his sister.

The title and the journaling: It will be a long journey

and a lonely one. You are flying from Rome to Wellington, New Zealand, to spend the summer with Kristina and Matteo. It is something you and your sister both want so badly that I didn't have the heart to say no even though I will be a nervous wreck by the time you arrive in Auckland where Kristina and Matteo will pick you up.

 

The next layout is for the word "heart". You have to use the given word either as part of the title or in the journaling. I used it as part of my title.

the photo is obviously our wedding photo. In my journaling I say that I love my hubby more today than on that day. And it's true.

 

TFL