About Me

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Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
I have been crafting since May 2008, when in desperation to find an unusual birthday card for my Mum, I gave up looking in the shops and decided to have a go at making my own. I soon realised that crafting is addictive and I haven't brought a card since. In 2011 I completed my certificate in papercrafting as a result of the work I did as part of the course I started entering challenges on line and in magazines. I applied for design teams and also started making samples for Ooh La La Creations for their shows on Create and Craft. I have now completed my Diploma in professional crafting and most recently been runner up in the Papercrafter of the Year 2013 a competition run by Papercraft essentials magazine, I don't have a particular style I like to use elements from lots of styles and techniques, although I do love all things vintage. In 2014 I started to move more towards scrapbooking to take care of the huge family archive of photographs that were stored in my attic. I have continued cardmaking and Scrapbooking through 2015 and 2016 but have also become interested in off the page projects. I hope to be able focus on these in the future.

Thursday 13 October 2011

Mum and Dad

About a year ago my dad gave me a bag of old photographs that he had come across when he was sorting through my mum's clothes after she had passed away. In amongst the photographs was one of  Mum and Dad's wedding photo's that really was crying out to become part of a scrapbook layout. I was really wary of using the original photograph as it is 60 years old and had been hand coloured so I scanned the image into my computer and printed another copy off on ilford pearl photo paper. 



Then I did nothing with it until I went shopping and came across a pack of 'Bobunny' 12x12 papers in their 'Timepiece' collection range. I loved the vintage feel of the papers and thought the colour would provide a perfect background for the wedding photograph. One of the stickers in the pack also struck a chord with me as it said 'Bound by Love' and having seen how devastated my dad was when mum passed away suddenly 2 years ago after their being married for 58 years it really did ring true. 

Below is the layout I created using the photograph and the Bobunny paper as a base.



The dark brown paper came from a papermania stack I have had in my stash so long that the front cover with the design name on it has become separated from the pad so I have no idea what the design is, another sheet from the same pad was used to make the flower which was finished with a papermania pearlised brad.


I added a border strip along the top of the page made by wrapping cotton lace around the off cut of matt gold card, which had been trimmed from around the photograph.

Once I had positioned the backing paper I used a paper doily heart from 'Wild Orchid crafts' on the top right before placing the photograph on the page.

Once I was happy with the layout I added a spray of pearls to the flower embellishment the colour of which picks out the pale pink from mum's bouquet. I added an embroidered motif of flowers down the side to mirror the embroidery at the bottom of Mum's veil - the photograph doesn't do this justice I remember as a child seeing the veil for real when mum leant it to a cousin to wear at her wedding, sadly it got damaged beyond repair so I was not able to use it for my own wedding. 

I then added the title using the sticker from the bobunny pack.


I was going to leave it there but once the layout was dry I noticed that the glue on the doily had showed through so I searched through my stash of stickers and found the Shakespeare quote 'I love thee with a love that shall not die 'til the sun grows cold and the stars grow old' which really does sum up how Mum and Dad felt about each other, and used this to cover the glue stain. 


I also found two net butterflies in my stash which I added at either end of the top border, it reminds me of when I first started making cards - in an attempt to make something really special for mum when I could find nothing in the shops. I used embellishments similar to these on that card and Mum loved it.

All in all I am reasonable happy with the layout but am always looking to improve, I would be interested in reading your comments particularly in relation to the suitability of the papers/colours used on this layout, and if you could change or add one thing what would it be?