DOUBLE TROUBLE

Hey friends!!! Hope you are all having a great week! I've just been shopping and brought myself a few new goodies to scrap with so expect to be seeing them soon..... But for now I thought I'd share with you a couple of pages I just made. I recently joined the CSI... Color, Stories, Inspiration challenge site, which is totally amazing and so I decided to participate in their most recent challenge... Case File #96.... twice!! Yes I made 2 layouts for this challenge both very different layouts, though I've used photo's from the same shoot. I really enjoyed the journaling part of this challenge. It's not something that I always do, mostly because I never leave enough space for it, and it was nice to be reminded of why I was doing all this to begin with. You can view all the case files, DT work, gallery's, and more on their website http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/.

Now for this case file, one of the colors required was a scarlet red. Now why I decided to put myself through this twice I do not know because I really do not like the color red.... and I'm not very good at making it work. Perhaps I made 2 because I liked the challenge this presented to me. However in the second layout I did I used a more red than scarlet as it was all I had. I had used the last of my scarlet chevron paper on the first layout. Red/Scarlet are not colors I really use and therefore do not buy so I did my best with what I had. So as I said, I found both of these layouts extremely challenging, they are both very different, and I really love how they turned out. I'm even feeling more confident about using splashes of red in future layouts!!!

Here is this weeks Case File

 

For the 'Evidence' I have used flowers, rhinestones, gold metal and paint. I also took a little extra inspiration from the picture and used some wood veneers as the desk against the wall has a wooden top. 
For my 'Testimony' I have taken inspiration from the 'One-Minute Writer' Blog, based on a post they did in early October... What is your greatest blessing? I have also used the inspiration words 'remember' and 'things' in my journaling.

'Your So Fascinated Baby'

  Lots of fun products and brands on here.... Prima (of course!!), MME, AC, Echo Park, Studio Calico, Teresa Collins, Kaisercraft, Tim Holtz.... The list goes on and on.

Here is what my background looked like originally:

It was a little warped, but once I started adding all my layers and embellishments to it, it flattened out. Lots of gesso, texture paste, water colors, ink sprays and mists, and stamping.
When I was painting my bricks with the watercolors I used a crimson and soft yellow but they have mixed together in places to form a more pinkish/orange color, while this was not my intention I really like the way it turned out and how it helps to soften the rest of the layout.

Here are some close ups:

A mixture of flowers here, both Prima and Kaisercraft, as well as a few unknown brands. I've randomly added some gesso to the edges of my paper layers for a bit of added texture and dimension.

As I said before my jounaling was inspired by the One-Minute Writer. They have some pretty inspiring posts on there, however in the end I chose the post, 'What is your greatest blessing?'. This was posted on their blog in early October and it was well suited to the photo and my thoughts regarding it.

Here is my little Gold metal dragonfly that I have included as part of my 'Evidence'.

 

I have once again used my Prima alphas for the title though I have trimmed them. I also ran out of enamel dots so I have just used a few plain red brads (black on other areas of the layout) along with a couple of these gorgeous MME pearl brads.

 

 I'm totally loving skeleton leaves at the moment. They are so thin and transparent, that you can use them in a small or large area's without overloading your page.
In the inspiration image, there was a desk against the wall, under the mirror, which had a wooden top. This inspired me to add a few wood veneers onto this page. I also used twine to frame my photo.

 

Going through my products I came across my Prima antique mirror embellishments, of which only a butterfly was left. This reminded me of the mirror in the inspiration image, therefore I decided I would add the butterfly to my page.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way this layout turned out. It reminds me just a little of the layout I created a few months back titled "Treasure". It was a real challenge for me to make this because like I said, I don't work well with red, which is why there are only hints of it throughout the page, but I'm glad I gave it a go and I'm happy with the result!!

So now onto my second layout.... Once again created for the same challenge CSI case file #96. This layout is very different from the last one and as I mentioned before the colors are slightly different shades. The yellow is darker, the red lighter, however they are not that different from the colors required for this challenge. I went through almost every piece of paper I own... which isn't really a great deal looking for something suitable to use, and here is what I came up with.....

'I Love You'

 For the 'Evidence' I have used flowers, mesh, a frame, rhinestones, paint and gold metal. Once again I have taken extra inspiration from the wooden desk top and used wood veneers.
For my 'Testimony' I have used the same post 'What is your Greatest Blessing?' from the 'One-Minute Writer' Blog, though the journaling I have done this time is actually very different.

Some close-ups for you:

I have used a huge range of papers from at least five different brands though all the background papers are from MME. I made some rope using a couple of pieces of twine, which I then folded up and added under my Prima flower to help balance out this side of the page. The little chipboard arrow was painted with gesso and then a red watercolor paint. I've used the same color to add a shadow effect behind some of the papers.

 
My title sticker, which I have raised up on foam tape, is from the Babysaurus collection by My Little Yellow Bicycle. I've added sequins, black rhinestones and the black fabric mesh which I have torn to give a more distressed feel, along with the little gold metal heart and key to the page to symbolize my son holding 'The Key to my Heart'.

As you can see I have also chosen to use the red for my journaling. I have used a lot more red on this page than on the previous one, I'm actually beginning to think I might like this color after all!!! 

I love these black rhinestone 'Crystal Palace' flowers from Prima. I brought like 5 packets a few years ago, though I have used them all now..... 

Once again I have used black Kindy Glitz to cover my pegs. This is one of my fave things at the moment.. the Kindy Glitz... I've been using it on almost every page I've created. I love how it dries!!
The pinwheel I made myself using some patterned paper, a toothpick and a MME brad. 

The big white, velvet and lace flower on here is from Prima's 'Scarlett' collection. I love these flowers they are perfect for springtime/summertime layouts. 
I have used more wood veneers, along with some packaging from American Crafts, while the chalkboard frame around the photo was cut from a piece of patterned paper from MME's Chalk Studio collection.

So that's it from me today though before I go I would like to thank CSI for really inspiring me to take a step outside my comfort zone and create something I would not normally do. While I can't say that I'm entirely comfortable with using red and I am much more confident about it and will likely continue to use this color and challenge myself in the future. 

I hope you enjoyed my layouts and found some inspiration here yourself. I will have more creations to share with you next week, along with a couple of very special just for fun layouts that I've been working on. Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you all have a great weekend!!