Melanie's Monday Column 9-21-09

Hi! Happy Monday to you!

Each Monday, I'll be coming at cha' with some inspiration from the kits, showing you my take on them, along with a little explanation of what I did and how I did it.

This month I'll be using the kit titled "Shining Madonna," which is available right now!

One of my favorite techniques is cutting apart pattern papers. The Graphic 45 papers are awesome just for that. They have a ton of really cool elements on them which you can use as embellishments for your pages rather than a piece of paper. I loved the "curtain" from the Graphic 45 paper, it really adds a lot of interest to my layout. To finish off the curtain, I added a Prima Flower! The flowers are so pretty, the have beautiful rhinestones already attached to them. Sure makes embellishing simple!

Again, using certain elements from the paper makes a really easy and pretty backdrop for my page. I love this "old" writing on this paper. I knew I had to use it somewhere on my page.


On one of the Graphic 45 tags, I used Tim Holtz's Rock Candy over the top to really give it a beautiful "cracked, aged" finish. I can't wait to try this finish on my pictures. This is a must have for your vintage pages.

The Prima flowers included in the kit are amazingly beautiful! (I did add 2 stick pins I had around, but there are some pins available in the store like these Maya Road pins, changing the color of clear top to match your project is really easy too. You can do it by paint pens, staz-on ink or alcohol inks.) I topped the flower off with the a Prima Pebble.

That's my first layout from the kit. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll follow up on them soon.

I hope everyone enjoys their week and once again, I'd like to thank Lisa and Scott, the terrific owners of BlueMoon, for this opportunity!

~Melanie