Installment #1: Close To My Heart Convention Artwork

Layout #1 - Monochromatic Color Scheme (vintage and soft)
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Layout #2 - Split Complementary Color Scheme (Happy and Carefree)
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I'm home! It has been a whirlwind the last 2 weeks. Washington, DC was incredible, from the sight-seeing to the Close To My Heart Convention to the fun I had with my CTMH team and buddies. FYI: Our Close To My Heart Annual Convention next year is at Disneyland! I would LOVE to have you join us. For information about joining my team, click here (or just email me at pedermom@aol.com). Chicago was fantastsic. I must say that the people in Chicago might be the kindest and most hospitable of anywhere I have ever visited. It is a beautiful city, made even more beautiful to me by my loved ones who now live there. All that considered, there is no place like home (as Dorothy would say). I came home to a clean home, big hugs from my hubby and sons, and a dozen roses from Tan-Man. What a wonderful welcome. Sometimes even testosterone laced human beings do very estrogen based things. lol. Lest you think these guys are perfect, there were 7 loads of laundry waiting for me. :)

Okay, the real reason for this post, and I suspect the real reason you are stopping by my blog, is to see some of the 'top-secret' (until after Convention) artwork I have been promising you for weeks. So, without further ado, here is the first installment. You can click on any photo in this message to see it larger. There are lots of details to see on both layouts, so I'm thinking you will want to click!

The class I taught at Convention was a class about color, how to combine it, where to get inspiration, how color affects moods and emotion, etc. I LOVED preparing for and teaching this class. I hope my students enjoyed it as much as I did. The artwork I am sharing today is one of the examples I used in my class to show what a difference color can make.

These layouts are of my cuter-than-cute, sweeter-than-sweet granddaughter, Daci. If you look closely you will be able to see that the photos on the layouts are the same, it's the colors that are different. Let me explain my reasoning, the techniques and products I used, and you decide if what I did was effective. I'll start with Layout One:

• First I changed the color of the photographs. If you are an iphoto user, all that is involved to do this is to click on the photo you want and then click on 'edit', then 'effects', then choose 'antique'. Voila. One little tip. I ALWAYS make a 2nd copy of the original before I do this and then antique the copy. That way I still have my originally colored photo. The photos you see on the first layout are antiqued (the photos on Layout Two are their true colors).
• The reason I changed the color of the photos was to show what a difference the color makes in how a photograph feels. I wanted one of the layouts I did to feel vintage and soft, the other I wanted to feel happy and carefree. You decide if the colors and techniques I used accomplished this goal.
  
• Layout One is made using a monochromatic color scheme. I used (CTMH colors) Vanilla Cream (X5646) and Parchment Cardstocks (X5645) with some Chocolate Ink (Z2111) and Parchment Ink (Z2142) and stamping (with one of my favorite stamp sets, Damask Tiles (C1342). I also used our Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint (Z1039) to paint over some of the papers I stamped, as well as the Dimensional Elements Simple Alphabet-Lower (Z1048) that I used for the "Wonder" words. I added some rubons to spell out "A world of...", for the little swirl border on page 2, and for the word "Memories" on page 2. (Love Letters-Z1098).
• There are 2 techniques I wanted to explain from Layout 1: 1. If you look at the paper on the left side of page 1 and under the photos on page 2, you will see it looks almost like a vintage wallpaper. This is how I achieved this look: *first stamp the Damask Tiles stamp of your choice in parchment ink onto parchment cardstock. Then, while wet mist with a mixture of Chocolate Reinker (Z2211) and Water. Let dry and you have this beautiful look. Simple but oh-so-elegant. I just used a little mister that I found in the travel aisle at Target (I think it is meant for hairspray and was about $1). 2. The second technique is what you see on the papers in layout one under the word "Wonder" and across the bottom of page 2. Again, I used Parchment Cardstock and using one of the stamps in the Damask Tiles Stamp Set I stamped a pattern in Chocolate Ink. I let this dry and then using sponge paint brush I painted over the entire piece lightly with our Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint (Z1039) and then let it dry. You can also see this paper covering the A-door-ables windows (Z1321) on both pages. The one on page 2 with the photo on it opens to reveal hidden journaling. I love these little chipboard A-door-ables, and with the great price of $3.95 for 10 of them, you can't lose!
• Other techniques used in Layout One: scissor edge distressing (both on paper and photos), sponging edges with Chocolate ink (again, paper and photos), ribbon flowers (great tutorial here...the only difference between my roses and these is I built mine on a cardstock circle so that I could glue it down flat) using our Designer Ribbon Rounds Cocoa Collection (Z1316) and our Twill Bulk Ribbon (Z1099). The pearls you see in the middles are available beginning on September 1 in the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book. You will see a link to that here on my blog on that day.

On to Layout Two:

• As I mentioned earlier, this layout was meant to feel "happy" and "carefree." I left the photos of Daci in their true colors. I used a modified Split Complementary color scheme that was inspired by the colors in my photos. I also felt they conveyed the happy, carefree theme I was going with.All 3 colors you see in this layout are new colors that will be available in the Autumn/Winter Idea Book on September 1.
• I did quite a bit of sanding on this layout, and there is nothing better to have to achieve this look than the CTMH Sanding Kit (Z1294). It has everything you need to create just about any distressed look you want.
  
• The technique I used on the bright green paper to achieve the striped look works like this: Take out the blade in your Fiskars Euro Trimmer (Z338). Line your paper up and ever 1/2" run your Dry Embossing/Scoring Stylus (Z608) along the paper in the cutting trough. Advance your paper another 1/2" in the trimmer and do the same thing again. Repeat every 1/2". Of course, you could do stripes closer together, further apart, or even create plaids, diamonds or just about anything. Remember as you are doing this that the part that will be 'poking up' is the side that was against the trimmer. Take your paper out of the trimmer, turn it over so the 'outie' side is up, and sand. Cool beans!
• You will also notice that many of the chipboard flowers and leaves have white embossing on them. Lest you think I spent hours upon hours on these, I'll let you in on a little secret. I used the Irresistibles Pizzaz (Z1307) collections for these. These white chipboard pieces are already embossed. All you do is color with markers or sponge with a stamp pad on top and you have the most beautiful creations ever. LOVE these!
• You might notice that I also sponged tone-on-tone ink on each piece of paper used in the layout. This is quick and easy and adds depth and personality.
• I also glittered several of the flower middles. To do this, I just sprayed with spray adhesive and then sprinkled with Prisma Glitter (Z134).
• I also added some rounded corners (on the photos and journaling square). It's important to note that any time you have a layout (or card for that matter) that has all square edges, it is not nearly as pleasing to the eye. Rounded edges don't have to just come from a corner rounder. You can see several other examples of things that add 'roundness' in this layout as well: the flowers, the polka dots, the edge of the piece that the photos are mounted on (page 2). Be sure to add both round and square edges to give your creations a more likable appearance.

I hope you have enjoyed today's artwork and explanations. I am so excited to be able to begin sharing some of my Convention class artwork with you over the next couple of weeks. I have created links to most of the products I have used above, which will take you straight to my website if you want to see that particular product. You can also click here to order from me 24/7...even in your PJ's! Have a wonderful Monday!