Emma Trout, Inspired 2010 - at 10 months

My weekend away last weekend at Meadow Barn was wonderful - it was my first break for a year (since the Meadow Barn trip the year before) and a chance to do whatever I wanted for most of the weekend.  (Well - it would have been nice to have had more sleep - but I can't blame anyone else for being such an excessively light sleeper!)

 

I have found over the years that what I prefer to do on crafty weekends away is to finish off old projects.  This weekend I was very weirdly well organised, and took a wide selection of stuff to do and things to finish off.  I got a few cards made, a layout started and finished, and I managed to progress this one below.  Not as productive as some others, but then I am excessively slow, and prefer to get all the details right before moving on to something else! 

 

This layout was taught by Emma Trout at the first "Inspired" retreat in 2010.  I believe it was also the first class she taught.  I really admire Emma's work for all the beautiful, intricate details and the overall visual picture she creates with each layout.  Emma's original piece was of her son and his dog and how they were "best buds".

 

I had just had a shoulder op when attending that retreat, and was still getting over the general anaesthetic.  I took no suitable pictures and didn't mentally absorb much of each class - I think I was pretty zoned out much of the time!  The background has been waiting in a bag since Feb 2010, and when packing up to go away this weekend, I brought out this packet and flicked through the photos on my computer.  I thought the following photos of my boys at 10 months old were perfect with the blue and rust tones in the photos. 

 

Emma used a Teresa Collins blue and white flower paper where my floral elements were, and we had to substitute it with something else when that original paper was not available for the class.  When I came back home, I rifled through my papers and found a very arts & crafts design of K & Co paper that has actually turned out perfectly, I think - I love the subtle honeycomb colour and design - very William Morris! 

 

It still took me a good couple of hours when I got home to further place the elements on the page and reprint the photos - I am such a nightmare, I always get adhesive all over my photos!  I had to reprint them all again, and change the mat size.  Because I had 4 photos instead of her 3, I also had to change the placement of the title and journalling block.  However - I love these photos of Henry and Lewis and I love the layout - especially the fact that it is now finished!  I also used different Thickers because these were a definite aqua and stood out more against that floral paper. 

 

I think my next project will be to finish off her other layout class as she used the same papers, but different elements.  What I really liked about Emma's class was that she explained how to look at a patterned paper and take different elements from it - for example, taking some of the damask elements and cutting them out of the background to form photo frames.  I don't think I would have hit upon that idea. 

 

As the rub-ons are so old, I added a layer of Glossy Accents over the top, so there will be no chance of them lifting off the page.  I also had to adhere the vinyl Thickers with Glossy Accents too, as they had largely lost their stick!  One of the disadvantages of keeping supplies so long, and a great lesson for the future. 

 

Supplies:

American Crafts Thickers "Poolside" vinyl

Making Memories "Rummage" rub-on alphabet

October Afternoon Cardstock Stickers "Cherry Hill"

Bazzill White cardstock

Patterned papers: October Afternoon (Detours) "Walk in the Park"

                             K & Co rust & aqua floral from their classic collection

                             My Mind's Eye (Be.Loved) "Smitten Stripes"

                             Teresa Collins (Damask) "Stationery"

                             Teresa Collins (Documented) "Measured"

                             My Mind's Eye (Love Me Do) "Head in the Clouds"

                             My Mind's Eye (Love Me Do) "Rock and Roll Heart"

                             Prima Marketing (Blooming Retro) "Cotton Clouds"

 

Those patterned papers are so beautiful!  I would never have thought of combining so many of them in such a striking way.  I wonder what projects I will make with the scraps?  Thanks Emma.  :)