Contemplation

Hello, my sweet blog friends! Today, I'm sharing with you, a layout about a favorite read that caused me to contemplate the history of the Native Americans in the United States. The author is  S. C. Gwynne, Pulitzer Prize Finalist and New York Times best-selling author. This particular novel is about the most powerful tribe in American history, the Comanche Nation, and it's last great chief, Quanah Parker.  I have to tell you that I absolutely fell in love with this book to the point of doing a page for my scrapbook about it! 

Over at CSI, we have a new challenge and I thought the colors would work beautifully with the subject of the layout. Here is how I solved the case:

Scheme: All five colors used
Evidence: Animals, flowers, leaves
Testimony: I journaled about my favorite recent book. 

Before I do anything else, when scrapbooking, I have to add texture and dimension to the background. Here, I used sprays, ink and stamp, and art stones for this purpose. 

You can see where I sprayed the paper with a little bit of water and let it partially dry before using water color sprays and tapping the bottom edge of the paper to allow the blue streams run down the page for a little significance in the story of the Comanche People. 

Here, you can see the honeycomb shaped imprint on the background, which was done in a mustard color and embossed. 

Products:

Blue Fern Studios:
     Wanderlust Memento paper
     Twilight Garden Frame, Basic Stems
          chipboard
     Apricot Blooms, Wanderlust Lilies
     Honey, Lime and Seven Seas Embossing
          Powder
     Basic Stems, Apricot Blooms flowers
     Honey Bits Stamp

Imagine Crafts: 
     Irresistible spray
Prima: 
     3-D Matte Gel
     Colorbloom, Colorbloom 2
     Art Stones
     Mini Art Stones
Ranger:
     Emboss It Dabber
From my Stash:
     feather
     beads

My journaling reads, " Have you ever started reading a book knowing full well you are completely on the side of the protagonist? Then, by the time you're two thirds of the way through the blook, you realize that you have miraculously managed to do a 180 degree turn-around and now are on the side of the antagonist! This is exactly what I experienced as I read this amazingly well written novel by S. C. Gwynne.

Empire of the Summer Moon tells the tale of what man is capable of, in order to survive and retain his culture. It also speaks to man's ability to adapt. The setting is in east Texas, during the mid to late 1800's. Nine year old Cynthia Ann Parker came with her family to settle in Texas. The Parkers quickly erected a fort, but they were not able to hold it and a Comanche war party raided it. Cynthia was one of five children and women kidnapped by the Native American warriors. She later became the bride of Chief Peta Nocona, and their eldest child was Quanah Parker, "the last great Comanche Chief".

Empire of the Summer Moon gives great insight into the Comanche way of life and how Quanah was able to ultimately live with one foot in the Comanche world and the other foot in the white settler's world. This true American tale will leave the reader incapable of putting the book down."

Until next time.....

Thank You

Hi everyone! I'm finally back after having some pretty serious surgery. Then, after the surgery, my mother in law passed away, which gave me the perfect timing to do a layout about something learned from her. I couldn't have asked for a better mother in law, and learned a lot throughout the forty-three years that we had this wonderful relationship. In the journaling portion of this post, I will explain. 

Here is how I solved the case: 

Scheme: All five colors used 
Evidence: Grid pattern, stripes, book pages,     
       animals, people, airplane, frame
Testimony: School or something learned

It wouldn't be my work if there weren't multiple layers in the layout, and that holds true here, as it does with all of my layouts. First, I used a Crafter's Workshop stencil to get a grid pattern, as called for in the prompt. Just a few strokes of an old credit card and modeling paste gave me the look I wanted. When doing my layering, I create scaffolding to hold up the various layers. I use pieces of cardboard and pop dots to create the scaffolding. 

Here you can see that there are various layers: the little cut out vintage advertising pieces were inked, adhered to the paper first, then came the beautiful gold heart with crown and wings. Next, came the scaffolding that I used to raise up the doily, the two pictures, the jute frame and the oval resin frame. I love to be able to tuck pretty little bits and pieces here and there, such as leaves, chipboard pieces and flowers. 

After I was satisfied with the placement of all the embellishments, I got out some gesso, poured less than a teaspoon into a little paper cup, then thinned it with a few sprays of water. Using my fan brush, I sprinkled small splatters of white gesso to give a rather etheral feel to the layout. 

Next, came the chipboard pieces that were heat embossed, cut up and also tucked into spaces that needed just a little more interest. 

Last, I spray painted the mini art stones using Color Bloom Spray. I used a paper cup here, too, and gave the stones a day to dry, so I started early here. Using a medium small paintbrush and 3-D Matte Gell, I "painted" the Art Stones onto the paper in strategic places. The Matte Gell dries clear, and with no trace, as you can see here:

Products: 

Blue Fern Studios: 
          Wanderlust, Pacific Coast Paper
          Wanderlust, Seascape Paper
           Memories, Tale of Treasures
           Chesterville Collage
           Snow and Poinsettia Embossing Powders
Frantic Stamper Dies: 
            leaves and "Thank You"
Prima: 3-D Matte Gel
           Art Stones, standard and mini 
           Color Bloom Spray
           Flowers
Petaloo: Flowers
Spellbinders: A Gilded Life (Heart with Wings
           Charm)

The journaling reads, "Thank you, Lavoys, for having been my friend, mother in law and teacher. Some things you have taught me are: Be kind to everyone. Dedicate yourself to your family. A smile is the most beautiful thing a woman can wear. Live life to the fullest. Thank you for teaching by example."