It took me a few attempts to get the background effects I wanted for this layout, but through several tries and a few more trials and errors beyond that, I was able to get the look I wanted.
This might have been better titled “Life is a Beautiful Accident”, because that’s totally what this layout started out as.
I had a vision, I wanted to use the My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found – Union Square paper line to create a cut-out background as my base. So I pulled out the paper and ran it through my Silhouette Cameo. (Side Note: How I ever lived without this machine I will never know!) But… the background I ended up with was too delicate and didn’t fit the vision. So now I had used an entire piece of paper and created something I couldn’t use. Trying again, I downloaded an individual shape pattern and created my own, more spacious background, again using my Silhouette. Voila – background vision achieved.
Then I wanted to stencil over the top layer using a lovely Memory Box damask stencil. So I pulled out my grey and black paint, but fortunately before I could apply paint to paper I decided that would be too dark. I grabbed a nice crimson red instead and sponged my paint with different pressures through the stencil, and although I was a bit skeptical at first, I pressed on.
I added my other paper layers, also from the Union Square paper line, distressed the edges and added my photo. I was really liking the direction, but something was missing. Then I pulled out the original background paper I had cut, and what a great little extra layer of dimension it added. By snipping out pieces of it and applying them I created this delicate layer of mosaic pattern and I get extra bonus points for also using the negative bits left over from the original background cuts as solid pieces of pattern. I sponged their edges, popped them up on pop dots, and adhered them in little groupings around the photo.
In the end I love how the whole layout turned out.
Supplies:
Paper – My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found – Union Square and Echo Park Dots & Stripes
Silhouette Cameo
Ink – Colorbox Black
Tim Holtz Distressing Tool
Stencil – Memory Box
Stickers K&Company
E6000 Spray Adhesive
Various Acrylic Paints
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