Sweet Dreams Canvas Collage

Hello everyone! Just a quick note: I think my camera is biting the dust. The lens gets stuck every time I turn it on and when it's shut down and is supposed to retract. Looks like it's time to get the camera I didn't get for Christmas. I got a video camera instead, so can't complain too much. :)

At 22x18, this is a huge piece and I had trouble getting it all in the camera and keeping it focused. I created this for a special little girl to hang in her room. The framed words are a bedtime poem that my mother recited to me every night from the time I was born. In fact I think it's why I could talk in full sentences by two years old because I was reciting it as well between two and three years old. To say the least this poem means a lot to me and I thought it would be great for a canvas collage. I wanted a lot of layers and things to look at. I also wanted it to have kind a hint of a seventies feeling with the orange and green colors and funny cut-out flowers. Don't know if I pulled it off though.

I used upholstery material for the leaves, a real tree branch and used paper to make the flowers of which I sprayed with homemade paint sprays then edged with ink. I used a popcycle stick to support the nest.

 

Along the left side I used a strip of wall border wallpaper. I also integrated an old book page about flowers and then used modeling paste to overlay some white flowers on the floral scrapbook paper.

 

Hope you like it. Happy Crafting!

Make a Photo Appear Larger for a Scrapbook Layout Design

Hello! Just a quick tip that may help you out one day when you want to do a layout of which your photo peeks out in different spots or is just too small for your design.

Sometimes the design of a layout calls for a larger photo (one that encompasses a wider or taller background view). When I made my layout I was using an inspiration piece (below) to design it from. In the inspiration piece there are three cog-like decorations on the wall. I wanted to incorporate these somehow into my layout.

I decided to use them on the blind of my window.

The actual photo stops where I have drawn the red line.

This caused a problem. I had already cut three holes out of my blind. I wanted the cogs to surround them and since I had the blind partially covering what was suppose to be the continuance of a glass window there was nothing behind the holes but white paper. 

Sure I could have ignored it or filled the holes, but there was another choice that was as easy and would allow me to get the look I wanted. I printed the same photo again and then just cut three small portions from it that I felt would look realistic behind the holes. The trickiest one was the hole on the left that would still show the tree so I just cut a piece with smaller branches on it (since branches get smaller at the very top of a tree) and made sure the branches were faced in a realistic direction when I glued the piece into place. 

So if you decide to do a layout that will require your photo to "appear" larger, there is a way to do it.

Happy crafting!