Family ~ ScrapFIT Workout #57 Reveal

It's time for another fabulous ScrapFIT reveal. The first Workout for December is Word of the Year.

Workout #57 ~ Word of the Year

It's almost a new year!!! What single word best describes how you want to embrace the new year? Here's your chance to think about how you want to change, improve, create, define or challenge the new year! Share with us a layout or altered project that showcases your Word of the Year!

The word I selected is Family. There are so many changes going on in our family, and I want to embrace the new directions our family is taking. Our son, Joseph, is getting married on December 10 and giving us a lovely new daughter, Rachel (bottom right photo). These photos were taken last week during our Thanksgiving celebration with extended family. We weren't all there at the same time, so I created a collage of photos to include everyone. 

We have a gorgeous Echo Park kit to give to the winner of Workout #57 donated by Paper Lovelies. Be sure to stop by their store and check out their monthly kits for only $15 each!!

I hope you'll join us in creating a project to embrace the new year. Be sure to hop on over to ScrapFIT to see the inspiration by our fabulous design team and to link up your creation. 

Techniques:

Hand Crafted Flowers ~ I used the Spellbinders Rose Creations Die to cut both the petals and rose leaves for these flowers. I just love all the different sizes and that the petals are not all exactly the same shape. This makes for more realistic flowers. 

For each blossom, I cut 3 sizes of the petals and 4 sizes for the largest flower. I wanted to use the two papers from the background, so I alternated the papers for each size. I cut two petal shapes for the largest size used for that particular flower and one of each of the other sizes. I tried two of each size initially, but found the finished flower to be more thick and fluffy than I wanted for this page. 

To get the texture, I wet the cut petals by dipping them in water. You want them damp but not sopping wet. With my fingers, I pleated each petal, then lightly twisted them together to form a bud-like shape. You can set them aside to dry over night, or if you're like me, hold them with tweezers and dry them with your heat tool. If you use the heat tool, they may not be all the way dry in spots - so be very careful in opening them, because the damp spots will tear very easily. (The completely air dried ones can rip too, but not quite as readily.) 

At this point I inked the petal edges and on the yellow petals inked lightly over the entire petal to give more visual dimension. I wanted the pattern on the black/tan paper to be prominent, so I only inked the edges of those petals. 

I put the blossoms together with a decorative brad, and arranged the petals before closing up the back of the brad. You could also use glue or glue dots to hold them together and use a stick-on decorative center as well. 

For the leaves, I fold them in half to get a center vein, then use my fingers to pinch along each side to get the smaller veins you would find in a real leaf. Then I ink the edges and lightly across the entire leaf. 

Fabric Ruffle ~ This is so easy peasy!! I just tore a strip of fabric (make little snips on the edge of the fabric the width you desire and simply rip the fabric). I machine basted down the center and then lightly gathered it up to make the ruffle. (If you don't have a sewing machine, a quick run of hand basted stitches down the center will work just as well.) I pulled some of the threads off the edges to give a rustic look. I used 3 rows of my Scotch Tape Runner to adhere it to the page.

Fussy Cutting ~ I fussy cut the bracket mat under the flower cluster and hid the bird (that I didn't think went with this layout) under the flowers and leaves. 

I want to say thanks to Amy Gaskins for the fabulous inspiration. The wonderful November Scrap-Friendzy challenges were focused on scraplifting pages from our gallery, and I selected one of Amy's gorgeous pages to lift. If you're looking for a fun forum based scrappy place to hang out with 3 challenges each week, run don't walk to ScrapFriendzy and join our uplifting group of girlz for loads of scrappy fun. December's theme is Scrap Your Stash. 

Paper:

My Mind's Eye ~ Lost & Found Two Sunshine Collection - 

"Memories" Blossoms, "Lovely" Plaid, "Sunshine" Music

Authentique ~ Foundations

Basic Grey ~ Fruitcake - Pine

Embellishments:

Tan Loose Weave Fabric - Stash

The Paper Studio ~ Spare-Parts - Brad Assortment Browns

Zva Creative - Adhesive Pearl Swirls

Technique Products:

Spellbinders ~ Donna Salazar - Rose Creations Dies

Ranger Distress Inks ~ Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain, Forest Moss

TPC Studio ~  Clearly Better - Chocolate

Hot Off the Press ~ Artful Collection acrylic stamps

7gypsies ~ Clear Stamp Ink - Family

Tools:

Tonic Studios ~ Paper Distresser

Sizzix ~ Big Shot

Visual Artestry ~ Stamp Gird Blocks

Fiskars ~ Kraft Knife

Fiskars ~ Self Healing Craft Mat

EK Success ~ Honey Bee Scissors (My favorite for fussy cutting)

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~