My Christmas Cactus

Hi everyone!  I created another layout for my garden scrapbook using a photo I took in early December of my Christmas Cactus.  This plant blooms only during the Christmas season.  I am very proud of this beautiful flowering plant that belonged to my Dad.  It is because of him that I have a love for flowers & other plants.

Although this unique plant is native to Brazil, the flowers of the Christmas Cactus look Hawaiian. It grows very well here in Louisiana!

 

I always keep my garden flower scrap pages simple because I want the photo of nature’s beauty to be the full focal point.  Since it doesn’t (well, rarely) snow in southwest Louisiana where I live, snowflake embellishments just would not ‘fit’, so I chose the Prima doily die that would look the most ‘festive’ for this time of year.   Where I live, we do have ‘Fall’ (Autumn), so that is why I chose to portray the falling leaves. I also decided not to decorate this LO with other flowers, like I normally do, because the uniqueness of this Christmas Cactus flower cannot be matched.

 

 

I have entered this LO in the Lindy’s Stamp Gang December 2014 challenge because the colors I chose match perfectly with their color selections this month.  Yay!  : )

 

Using TCW’s mini 6x6 stencil ‘Art is’ I applied Liquitex white texture paste that I colored with LSG Magical “Queen of Hearts Red”. This deep red is part of the Mad Hatter magical set.  Isn’t it stunning against the green background?!   WOW!  You can read the stenciled words so perfectly clear : )

 

All of the die cuts were inked with Distress Ink 'Vintage Photo’. I heat embossed a few of the Prima doilies, the larger die leaves and three of the printed leaves on the Bo Bunny paper with LSG embossing powder Starbright Gold Green.  The smaller Prima die cut leaves were embossed in clear.  I really love the way the distress ink nicely shows through the embossing!

 

The stamens I used on some of the doily centers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. 

White ones were recolored into green with alcohol ink color ‘Pesto’.

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful, Merry Christmas and a very healthy & prosperous New Year!

Lisa : )

Products used:

 

Bo Bunny – Autumn Song collection “Melody”

DCWV – Old World Stack

Recollections – Floral Foliage

Prima metal dies – Doilies Two & Leaves

TCW mini 6x6 stencil – Art is

Liquitex – modeling paste

Lindys Stamp Gang ~ Magical “Queen of Hearts Red”

                             ~ Embossing Powder “Starbright Gold Green”

VersaMagic chalk ink – Red Magic

Tim Holtz distress ink – Vintage Photo

Wild Orchid Crafts – Red Stamens, Red Double Head Pearl Stamens, White Bead Berry Spray Cluster (pulled apart & separated)

Tim Holtz – alcohol ink “Pesto”
Hobby Lobby - bead strand

 

 



cherish

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Today I’m sharing a layout of my beautiful daughter, Brianne.  She really loves and cherishes the jewelry she inherited from her Grandmother (my Mom).  Her favorite ring is the large emerald cut peridot, which is Mom’s birthstone.  The other one she is wearing is a double pearl.  Don’t they look fabulous with the studded leather wrap watch she is wearing?!  I really love this cell phone pic taken by Brianne’s husband and knew that it would make a nice scrapbook page.  : )

 

The dark mushroom color of Brianne’s shirt, coupled with the green of the peridot, became my inspirational colors for the LO.  I found varying tones of green and mushroom colors in Kaisercraft’s ‘Be-YOU-tiful’ collection.  The page named “Graceful” could not have been more perfect! 

I have been really admiring the look of distressed corrugated cardboard on a LO ever since it was beautifully exhibited by Lisa Gregory.  Her blog is full of beautiful, inspiring layouts and mini albums using corrugated cardboard.  Check out her talent at “What a Beautiful Mess”.    I decided to give this a try and boy am I pleased with the effect it gave the entire LO! 

I began by choosing a corner flourish, then sizing the cardboard and photo.  I distressed the cardboard by pulling, tearing & folding the top layer, revealing the corrugate underneath; spritzing water to help ease the process.  Once I was content with the look, I sprayed the entire cardboard piece with LSG’s Starburst Rusty Lantern Lime, followed by direct sprays of LSG’s retired Starburst color Saxifrage Olive Copper.  Even though this spray was described as brownish olive with a copper shimmer, the copper is really the more prominent color. I think it looks great with the greens and mushroom colors!  

Next, I stamped musical scores in black.  Then I mixed some acrylic paints in browns & black to achieve a dark mushroom color (I’m actually shocked, but proud of myself for guessing the right mixture of colors – LOL!).  I stamped distressed diamonds using this paint mixture.   

Mixing more acrylic paints together in browns and gray to achieve a light mushroom color, I painted all of the chipboard pieces, after first prepping them with gesso.  Distressed Ink ‘Black Soot’ was used to outline each piece and inks ‘Dark Moss’, ‘Hint of Pesto’ & ‘Burnt Sienna’ were used on top for added color.  Lastly, copper wax was applied to brighten them up a bit.

Round and tube shaped glass beads in colors of green, coppery dk brown & golden were used to decorate the corner flourish and a small part of the cardboard in the lower corner.  The precious green mulberry rosebuds & the cottage rose at the top of the layout are from Wild Orchid Crafts. 

 

Check out the beautiful copper color from the
LSG retired Starburst color Saxifrage Olive Copper!

 

A pretty bronze/coppery metal filigree flower was used to balance the photo area.  The center of the flower was a plain round bead that I replaced with a light green bling brad to coordinate with the peridot ring.  This brad was trimmed in silver, so I very carefully recolored it using Tim Holtz alcohol ink 'Copper Mixative'. 

 

As an afterthought, I sprinkled LSG’s Starburst Cowabunga Copper & retired Starburst Saxifrage Olive Copper by tapping the sprayer tube all around the page (covering the photo for protection). The dots that have the olive green outline are those made by the Saxifrage Olive Copper color. Cool!

 

Well, that’s it!   Not over embellished but elegant – just like my daughter.

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great day!  Lisa : )

 

Products used:

Kaisercraft ‘Be-YOU-tiful’ collection – page named “Graceful”

Corrugated cardboard

Lindy’s Stamp Gang Starbursts:

    ~Rusty Lantern Lime

    ~Saxifrage Olive Copper (retired color)

    ~Cowabunga Copper

Chipboard:

    ~Want2Scrap (title word)

    ~The Dusty Attic (Corner Flourish #5)

    ~Blue Fern Studios (Blooming Flourish – just a small portion used)

Inks:

    ~Tim Holtz distressed ink -Black Soot

    ~ColorBox catseye pigment inks – Dark Moss & Burnt Sienna

    ~VersaMagic archival chalk ink – Hint of Pesto

    ~Tim Holtz alcohol ink Copper Mixative

Stamps:

    ~Kaisercraft clear stamp “Diamonds”

    ~Michael’s bargain bin wood-mounted stamp “musical score”

Wild Orchid Crafts green tone mulberry flowers – Hip Rosebuds & Cottage Rose

Glass beads

Viva Décor Inka Gold – “Copper”

Michael’s – metal bronze/copper filigree flower set; gemstone brad; metal bronze rose leaf