Northport Summer Vacation

Hi everyone! Melissa here with a layout for Gina's Designs.  This photo was taken at my in-laws house. It's great going there to see family, and to enjoy the cooler temperatures.Where I live in Houston, Texas, it's very hot and muggy in the summer.

I painted these fun Japanese lanterns first with gesso, then oil paints.  I decorated the rest of the page to fit around them. I stitched a border on the edges of the bg. paper, and on the paper for under the photo.

I sponged gesso on Nature Garden paper by Prima. I did that so the design on the paper didn't compete with the items I put on it. I wanted the pattern to show through a little but wound up putting too much gesso on. I painted on some pale yellow and green watercolors. It was too dark,and I didn't really like all the green, so I covered it up with more gesso. I used a stencil and put on some modeling paste.

My husband likes gnomes and frogs, so I stamped and painted some. My father-in-law liked moose, so I put one next to the frog.  I fussy cut images from several lines of paper. I punched a border, and put beads,liquid pearls, and watercolors on.

There is a piece of watercolor paper under the top piece. I painted a yellow border on it,so it would show through the punched areas. I brushed on some grey pearlex powder under the lanterns to make more of a contrast. I brushed and rubbed on  white pearlex all over the page, because I like the way it softens the look of the matte white color of the gesso.

I painted the sunburst with gold paint. I painted crackle accent on in a thick layer on the sun, and thinner layers on the outside edges of the page. I brushed on blue chalk to emphasize the crackle, and then painted with Viva Decor Inka Gold.

I applied glossy accents on some areas of the sunburst and sprinkled on gold embossing powder.

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend, and I hope you can find a little time to make something for yourself.

Gina's Products Used:
Oriental Shape Set

Other:
Prima paper for background

Prima green rose
Small images fussy cut from Prima, Bo bunny, and Graphic 45 papers
Tiny yellow flowers made with Sizzix Tattered Flower Garland
Twinkling H20s
Winsor and Newton Watercolors and Oil Paints
Perfect Pearls
Ranger Crackle Paint
Viva Decor Inka Gold
Martha Stewart punch
The stamps include some from Hampton Arts, Tim Holtz, and Prima
Swarovski Crystals
Stampendous Embossing Powder in Jeweled Gold