"Remember" - a Layout by Trish Alger

When is the last time you created a layout? If recently, kudos to you. If like me you can't remember, let us consider it. Scrapbooking was my entrée into this crafty medium. For the life of me I cannot figure out why I don't scrap anymore; at all. I don't even scrap digitally these days. There was a discussion recently on Facebook about the death of scrapping supplies vs the overwhelming number of digital photos we all have. I can shoot 300 at one family event. How do I choose just one?

As a guest designer, for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, this month I challenged myself to a layout.

I remembered that I had a frame break in moving and had set aside the 8"x10" photo for later. Well, later is now here. I loved what this family picture said about us, the time period, and our personalities. Plus, the bright colors were just what I wanted to use.I will walk you through the steps, the supply list is at the end.

I plan to place this on my wall so I chose a 12"x12" paper to start with.  Added some white gesso, then clear gesso before laying in some modeling paste and molding paste and crackle paste through some stencils. I even tried some black gesso for contrast.

Dye sprays in concentrated colors or iridescent tones were sprayed or splattered on the surface as well.

I kept trying materials until I achieved the look I was after. This is no time to be shy. Try it all if you like. That's why gesso is perfect for mixed media--it covers a multitude of attempts.

 

 Inks were dripped and dropped in random order.

 

 

 I wanted to add some matte effect with oil pastels.

 Now to the great chipboard pieces I chose to incorporate. I used white gesso to prepare for other medium uses. Here they are gessoed on the textured surface.

  But wait, that's not all. The pieces need to pop with color.

 

 Really pop. (Notice I cut apart the bottom piece).

 

  The banner (that I modified a bit) and the pointer hand needed the golden touch.

 It's getting there. I decided to use a gloss varnish over the brightly painted chipboard to make it shine and seal the surface.

 

 When I tried the layout, the yellow was just too much for me and I was concerned I was trying to crowd too many pieces onto the layout with my large photo.

 

 So I added back in some white, removed a couple of pieces and rearranged. I liked it a lot better. Let me know what you think.

 

 

 The sticks were great to journal on top of.

Please let me know how your scrapbooking/layout/mixed media endeavors are going.  I'd love to hear from you. Ciao for now, -Trish Alger  justchickenscratch.com

Supply list:

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts:  

Mixed Media Fragments 3  

Word Ribbons 1  

Curly Word: Remember  

Other Supplies:

Liquitex

-Black Gesso

-Clear Gesso

-Glossy Medium and Varnish

-Modeling Paste

Kaisercraft

-Hot Pink Paint

-Deep Yellow Paint

-Tropical Waters

Plaid

-Apple Barrel Paint Iris

Golden Paints

-Molding Paste

-Crackle Paste

Martha Stewart

-Gesso White

Scotch

-ATG

Eclectic Products

-E6000

Ranger Industries

-Dylusions Sprays

  Dirty Martini

  Fresh Lime

  White Linen

  Melted Chocolate

  Black Marble

Lindy's Stamp Gang

-Maidenhair Fern Green

Winsor and Newton

-Ink White

Faber Castell

-Gelatos Gold

-Adhesive pop dots