Inspiration: Last Thursday's Mail

Last Thursday, I received the most beautiful birth announcement/thank you card from Heather & Evan. Heather's Dad is a professional photographer and the announcement featured, I believe, seven images he captured of the family just after Cleo's arrival. They were so gorgeous. I knew immediately they needed to be in my scrapbook.

That same evening, I sat down and pondered how to begin.  I wanted a relatively clean look to match the style of the photos and my friends generally. I didn't want plain white though as it was a bit too harsh for baby pictures.  The solution? Creating my own background in minutes that was perfectly coordinated with the colors of Cleo's blanket.  Here's how I did that and how you can easily match whatever you're scraping for minimal cost.

First select/borrow coordinating mists or paints.  Here, I was matching to Cleo's blanket, but in a general rather than precise way as I have limited collection of mists, most of which I used here.  I used a bright pink, and green by Glimmer Mist (limited editions that aren't available now) in addition to Lemonade (Studio Calico) and Sunflower Sparkle (Ranger - Perfect Pearls).  Yes, this was four different bits of paint each in very limited quantities.

I gently splattered/sprayed the background until I'd achieved the desired look (and knowing me might have gone a spray or two beyond that).  I tried to keep a light hand as this was supposed to just soften the page, not overwhelm it.  There are both sprays of mist and some splattering done by taking the mister lid off and flicking it on the paper. You may want to gently blot the page with a paper towel if you end up with more than a light spray of paint.  As to design, I generally tried to create a bit of flow from the lower left to the upper right of the page, but nothing too dramatic beyond that.

It is important to let the page dry and take another look at the balance of color before adding your images.  Most of what I sprayed ended up covered up and I'm fine with that.  In this image you are also missing the "shimmer" that comes from the Glimmer Mist and perfect pearls, but in person it is lovely.

Overall, I added relatively minimal, flat embellishments on the same common color scheme and smiled at a page that came together in minutes.  Amazing photos made this project work and were the inspiration to scrap it immediately so these images were in my scrapbook within hours of their arrival and that is almost certainly a record.

I so love beauty in all its forms.  What beautiful things have you seen this week?  I'd love to see!


(Other supplies, for those that are interested - Martha Stewart punches, Ormolu tags, SEI & Studio Calico Patterned paper, Studio Calico letter stickers, Glue Dots, Core'dinations Cardstock).