“It’s a beach thing”

I do hope this blogpost finds you all
well and happy. For my blogpost here today I thought I might do something just
a little different for me. Something vintage inspired. And the inspiration
comes from this fabulous photo of my husbands grandma, who is no longer with us
but when I see these photos of her it tugs at my heartstrings. There have been
so many of these beach photos given to me by her daughter (my mother in law)
and they truly are spectacular memories. This would have to be one of my
favourite photos. I am unsure as to whether the photo was taken, and if it was
staged, but it was just the perfect staging with the beach towels hanging in
front of them down at the beach. Grandma is the gorgeous young lady at the left
of the photo.

So being a vintage themed and also a
beachy photo, I reached for the Vintage Artistry Shore Collection. I have used
the patterned papers Tidepool, In the Shallows, and Triton’s Shell from the 12
x 12 inch collection. With it I have also incorporated the Vintage Artistry
Shore Ephemera Pack. Once I had this in my hands there was no going back. The
ephemera pack for this collection really helped me pull the layout and colours
together.

I started out tearing the patterned
papers and layering them for my start of the background page. This was primed
in clear gesso and then I added a small amount of crackle texture with a
fishnet stencil. I also added in a little more of the blue colour using an
acrylic paint.

With the leftover papers I cut differing
sized pieces to distress and layer behind my sepia photo. I also added in some
old boards between the layers to give me more dimension. Once all of these were
adhered together and placed on the background page I started adding in some
Dusty Attic chipboards and a mould. These were all coloured using rust pastes,
acrylic paints, and Distress inks. The shells were cut from the “b” side of
Triton’s Shell. At first I thought I probably would not use the largest of the shells
but I love how it worked in with the layout.

I have used 3 packs of gorgeous
49andMarket flowers to complete my embellishing of the page. I kept with the
blues from the background paper. These are the Vintage Shades Botanical
Potpourri Blends in Blue, Vintage Shades Clusters in Blue and for contrast I
have used the Country Blooms in Mushroom, oh I love these colours together!!
Finally to finish off my layout I added in some random stamping using two the
of 49andMarket collections stamp set listed below for you with some archival
ink and I did some dry brushing and add splatters of white gesso. I also
decided to add in some art stones in differing sizes.