Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Songbird Scraps April Challenge

The first lyrics for this month's challenge over at Songbird Scraps are up, go check it out, the girls of the design team have done their best to inspire you, and hopefully some of you will give this challenge a try... The April prize for the winner hasn't been revealed yet, but I'll keep you posted on that one!

April lyrics:

Pete Murray – Opportunity…
Don't be scared of what you cannot see
Your only fear is possibility
Never wonder what the hell went wrong
Your second chance may never come along
Hold on now your exits here
It's waiting just for you
Don't pause too long
It's fading nowIt's ending all too soon you'll see

Hunters and Collectors - Throw Your Arms Around Me...
I dreamed of you at night time
And I watched you in your sleep
I met you in high places
I touched your head and touched your feet
So if you disappear out of view
You know I will never say goodbye
And though I try to forget it
You will make me call your name
And I'll shout it to the blue summer sky


When I read the lyrics of this first song, it's first two sentences immediately made me think of this awesome quote by Marianne Williamson. I first heard this quote in the movie "Coach Carter" with Samuel L. Jackson, and I remember being so struck by this I just had to write it down in my little quote book. I definitely wanted to use this in my LO, and at first I intended to make a journaling tag, but later on decided to make it the main part of the LO and use it as a background. If you click on the pic, you should be able to read it.


Though it doesn't look like anything I've made before, I'm so happy with the way this LO turned out. I probably shouldn't say this about my own work, but I just love this one!

How to:

For the background, I started out with really ugly (and really cheap) pp featuring some kind of landscape and a huge blue skye. I really didn't like it and thought I'd never use it. To my own surprise, it was the first paper I reached out for, and though I didn't have a clear view of what I was going to do beforehand, when I saw this paper, inspiration hit me. I first layered some parts of the paper with a slight layer of gesso, just to make sure my paints would stick, but leaving some of the background visible. I then started masking the butterflies, first with blue, later on adding different colours. I was actually very surprised how easy it is to mask with paints, there's even no need to attach the mask to the page. I simply put it on and started painting, taking it away and putting it back on if I wanted to add another colour. I added some blues to the rest of the sky, just light touches, to give it some more depth.
I knew I wanted to use chipboard frames for the smaller pics, so I painted them in the same colours I had used for masking the butterflies. This presented the problem that the smaller pics had a beautiful frame, which left the big picture kind of lost on the LO, which is why I painted some sort of red "frame" on the background paper. It still looked a bit unbalanced, but a quick white doodled frame solved that problem.
There was still too much blue, overwhelming the LO, so I added some reds and yellows on top.
I was now ready to write down the quote, a pretty scary moment, so much can go wrong there! I decided to make straight lines and was pretty surprised to find that you can simply erase pencil lines off of the paint.
I had expected this pretty lengthy quote to go all the way down, but was left with a huge open space at the bottom. I thought about adding some flowers to give the LO some more texture (it's a pretty flat LO), but decided to stick with painting... I painted some green stripes, added some red and yellow dots and voila, my flowers were created. I actually felt proud that my childlike dabbering could turn out so perfect (in my eyes anyway LOL).

Now though I wanted this LO to be messy and chaotic, I just can't help myself, I need structure!!!!! Without some sort of frame around the LO, it just doesn't look finished in my eyes, so I started painting some of the edges in the corners and added some stamped swirls.

It's not so visible here, but on the large photo I added the first two lines of the lyrics. I deliberately used white because I wanted the lines to be in the LO, but I still wanted the main focus to be on the quote I used.

To finish it of, I wrote the title down on a cereals' box, cut it out and painted it, easy peasy.

Wow, quite a lengthy post, I think by now I've bored you long enough ... that can happen when you wake up at 5 in the morning and decide against going back to bed LOL, blame it on my insomnia!! Well, time to officially start my day and get some work done...

Love xxx Peggy

38 comments:

  1. I dont think Ive played along with this challenge site before. Will have to check it out. I love how you did the butterfly is in layout. I need to make time to try new things.

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  2. Oh Peggy, this is beyond stunning!!! Wow look at all the paint and masking!!!! Just adore looking at it and all the detail work!!! I love the idea that you used a piece of paper that you thought you would never use!!!! Yay, that is the best and I love the journaling written in the background!!!! Great idea of painting a frame around the bigger pic!!!! Thanks so much for giving us the step by step instructions on completing this LO!!! I would love to try it!!!! Have a wonderfu Wednesday!!!

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  3. Peggy, you SHOULD be proud of this one...it is absolutely STUNNING! So many creative steps and the thought that went it to the actual heart of this one. You have blown me away!

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  4. Peggy your LO is awesome. just love how you have done the butterflies. Hmm, another technique I will have to learn. LOL

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  5. how artsy is that?? I love! just checked out the assignment you left me! LOL... took the pic, will post next time i blog okay :)

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  6. WOW!! This is fabulous, Peggy!! Love the painted and masked background!!

    Remember when you said you couldn't art journal? I beg to differ - this painted background would be perfect on a journal page, too!

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  7. peg,
    that page is aMAzing!!!! those lyrics really speak to me...i think i'll play along! i just HAPPENED to take pix of my hubbs asleep while we were out of town this past weekend! thanx so much for the kind words!

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  8. Hallo Peggy,
    Allereerst: dankjewel voor je leuke berichtjes op m'n blog!! Echt heel leuk als er weer iemand voorbij komt die je (nog) niet kent! En natuurlijk ben je dan benieuwd naar die persoon en ga je even op haar blog kijken. Vandaar dat ik hier nu ben!
    En als eerste moet ik je zeggen dat ik je layout helemaal te gek vind!!!!! Echt helemaal super!! Zoals je op m'n blog hebt kunnen zien, ben ik de laatste tijd ook helemaal into verf, glimmermist, masks, gesso e.d. Heerlijk om mee te werken!! En het resultaat is altijd verrassend, je weet nooit hoe het eindresultaat zal zijn.
    Je zult me hier vaker zien!
    Groetjes, Jenneke

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  9. Hey peggy. i got your comment left on my Blog. Thank you. Please feel free to scraplift away LOL. The layered photo thing still doesnt sit right with me....HMMMM. You maybe able to perfect it somehow. :-)

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  10. thanks for the birthday wishes! The alpha's on my Here I am Layout are Acrylic by Fancy Pants. Love the background on this layout-so beautiful!!

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  11. um WOW! Peggy that layout is simply stunning! You amaze me girl!

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  12. Oh wow Peggy, this is utterly fantastic!!! This reminds me of a funky and arty art journal page, I just love it!!!! Your handwriting is gorgeous too!!!

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  13. that is stunning - love it - please drop me an email about prima :)

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  14. PEGGY! This is just stunning! The description you gave on how this peice of art came about is awesome! It just goes to show you even ugly ducklings can become swans! LUV IT!

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  15. Wow! This is absolutely stunning, Peggy! The paint work is amazing!!!

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  16. Wow Peggy just adore all the colour on this page.

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  17. Peggy, that LO is AMAZING! I seriously love every single bit about it! And of course you should say you love it - that's the most important part! :-)

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  18. What a fantstic lo!! I love the butterflies.. you did great work!!!

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  19. Amazing LO Peggy! Absolutely beautiful.

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  20. wow!!!!!!!!!!!

    that LO of yours blew me away!!! you totally inspired me to look at the ugly papers I got when i first started scrapping!!! LOL

    it's gorgeous and you totally have the right to love it!!!

    just wanted to let you know I finally put that photo up!!! LOL!!!

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  21. wow.. i think you are right. .great lo. love what you did with it.. =)

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  22. Wow wow wow! Peggy - I absolutely love this! You are SOOOOO brave - bravo bravo bravo! Painting directly on your patterned paper without knowing how it would end up - you're having serious scrapbooking adventures! Woo Hoo!

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  23. Peggy, this is just gorgeous!

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  24. Oooh Peggy, dit vind ik echt wel een heel leuke en originele lay-out!! Prachtig gedaan en heel leuke en toffe foto's.

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  25. Hi Peggy,
    Thank you so so much for taking the time to write those kind and encouraging words to me - it certainly spurs me on to continue sharing ideas and learning too. Thank you so much :o)

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  26. this layout is just so amazing! I could stare at it forever!

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  27. Breath-taking gf!!
    Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! Youve got the gift!

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  28. crap peggy! couldn't remember WHO i was supposed to be doing the layout of hubbs sleeping for! and i see it's too late to enter into the running for a prize! well, i'm still gonna do it. hopefully, i'll get to play along at songbird soon!

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  29. This is totally stunning...amazing...creative...and original. Thanks so much for playing along at Scrapping Out Loud too!

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  30. beautiful layout...love the butterflies...thanks so much for playing along with us at Scrapping out LOUD!..hope you will join us again!

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  31. wow - awesome painting! really nice work

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  32. This is so stunning, you are very creative!!! Great design.

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  33. Wow that background is stunning!! Thanks for playing along with us!

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  34. beautiful layout, you should be proud! This is amazing work!

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  35. what a beautiful "you" layout!!!

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  36. WOW! I love this LO! And yes, it is okay to say that you like your own work! Because after all, that's really what matters in the long run. I love your style chica!

    I'd also like to thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. It totally and completely made my day. Thank you.

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