Wednesday 15 February 2017

The Palm Garden

My grandfather George (left) and his brother Tammy
 in the Palm Garden at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan
around 1911




For this layout I used a piece of Blue Fern Studios paper for the main background and several very old My Mind's Eye papers from their Signature Suite and Signature Life collections for the border on the right, the foliage and the mat layers under the photo.


BFS - Tranquility -Blissful
 ( I used the backside)



I ripped the right side off the Blissful paper and stained the edges with diluted espresso distress ink from a re-inker bottle using a paint brush.  I then inked the edges in black chalk ink using an ink pad.






I used a punch along the border of MME paper and glued it over top of the strip of paper I had ripped off the Blissful piece and then glued this to the rest of the ripped Blissful paper.





Martha Stewart punch - Stained Glass Pattern



I used a punch for the brown mat and a die cut for the pale blue one (layering them over a darker version to accentuate the edges more).
Martha Stewart punch - Cherish
Spellbinders die - Devine Floral









These are the Tattered Lace dies I used for the fern leaves:

Paradise Ferns
Ferns
Ornate Leaves









I cut the palm leaves using my very old Silhouette SD.  I prefer to use dies but I couldn't find a palm one that I liked.  My Silhouette wouldn't cut cleanly through the brown patterned cardstock but it cut beautifully through the black cardstock that I layered the pieces over.  I had to clean up the patterned pieces with an utility knife and used a marker to touch up the rough edges.






The pale blue flowers were made with 3 different sizes of 5 petal flower punches.  I traced around each layer with a chocolate-coloured Zig writer (I like these markers because they are waterproof and don't bleed).   I misted them slightly and shaped the layers with a ball stylus before gluing the dried layers together pressing in the middle with the stylus.  For the tiny flowers I picked out some larger Express-O-Yourself coloured Prills from the jar and glued one in the center of each flower.






I also glued some patches of Express-O-Yourself Prills to the top and bottom of the layout.  They looked a bit too heavy and dense so I rubbed some pale blue paint over top with my fingertip to accentuate the texture and lighten the look.







For the chipboard border under the photo I painted the piece brown, applied clear ink and then heat embossed it with Weathered Wood Distress Embossing Powder.  After that I rubbed it with white paint using my fingertip and applied brown chalk ink around the edges.



Blue Fern Studios - Scalloped Border








Thank you so much for taking a look!




2 comments:

  1. I love a pale blue and brown color palette! Love your handmade flowers! Wonderful vintage photo too!

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