Saturday 17 August 2013

Snowy Secrets

Hi all,

Wow! What a wild week we've had weather-wise. Our local town was in chaos yesterday as power lines came down, buildings were damaged and traffic lights were out due to wild winds lashing the area. There weren't enough police to man all the intersections so motorists and pedestrians were taking their lives into their own hands just trying to cross the road.

The winter weather was on my mind when I put together my Workshop Secretes article for Scrapbooking Memories Magazine, Vol 15, No 11. I wrote about how to use snowflakes on a page. Snowflakes are so versatile - if you regularly use flowers on layouts then you'll have no problem with snowflakes as they work in a very similar way.

My first layout was completely inspired by the whole snowflake/crystal theme and I went with a transparent background onto which I stitched rows of falling snowflakes. I love the effect but it proved very difficult to photograph! To be honest though, I reckon I did a better job than the magazine photographers as they placed it on a white background which ruined the effect completely.

Here's my photo of the layout:


I made a giant snowflake from paper, painted it and decorated it with anything that gave an icy impression. I then added some smaller flakes and attached the lot to my stitched transparency background.

Here's a close-up - this time taken on a flat timbered surface.


My second layout featured my gorgeous niece rugged up against the wild winter in Europe a few years ago. The pic was only a small one sent from her phone but I think that sometimes the impression a photo gives can be more important than it being perfect quality.


Although the layout looks like there are snowflakes falling all over it, only a few of those embellies are actually snowflakes. The rest just give the impression of snowflakes. There are various flowers, liquid pearl dots and swirls, knotted rafia, rhinestones, hearts, fibres and clear pebbles.

Here are some close ups so you can see what I mean:


I tore the page in the top right corner so it looks like the snowflakes are pouring out if there.



I hope you're keeping warm inside and finding some scrapping time!

Cheers,
Heather

12 comments:

  1. Lovely use of the flakes...hoping your workshops went well?? And I hope there wasn't too much damage done....wondering if you're Lara way...I have a GF there...Lara often gets stuff, cos they're so flat......

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  2. Oh I am sure glad you have shown your first layout the way you have here, it is so different than in the mag.. you lose all the effect on the white back ground.. it looks amazing. and I love the second one too.. has a very chilly feel to it.. the weather up here has been quite warm really for august.. take care down there.. I hope you dont get any more nasty weather!

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  3. Wow wow wow!!! These are gorgeous!! LOVING that snowflake and the stitching on the first one!! Glad you are all ok from the strom!!!

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  4. Awesome layouts. Love the stitching on transparent background

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  5. Incredible layouts Heather. The first one is so unique ... love how it looks, and your Snow Queen is equally gorgeous. Beautiful work all round. ox

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  6. Hi Heather, gorgeous Layouts.... the stitching on the transparency looks fabulous...love the big snowflake and the fabulous photo.
    Love the colours, design and beautiful details on your "Snow Queen" layout. x

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  8. These are fantastic Heather! WOW!! Yes I think all magazines photograph up against a white background. Stunning effects!! I only have a couple of real Winter photographs from when we were overseas...

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