Family in the Truest Sense of the Word

I took a photo of a dear friend of mine with her stepson at a barbecue a few months ago.  I just loved the shot and wanted to do something special with the photograph.  My friend, Kori (AKA Mamma Kori to her stepson), has wanted to be a mom ever since I met her over 10 years ago.  She finally got the opportunity when her boyfriend, now husband, had a son not long after they met.  There is something poignant and sweet about this image that typifies their relationship.  I know that Kori loves him with every ounce of her being as much as she would have if he were her own.  It made me think of a quote from Richard Bach's book Illusions.  In it he talks about what family really means.  Essentially, he says we're born with relatives but we choose our family.  This has been so true in my own life.  Anyone who has grown close to their in-laws can testify to this fact.

I had 3 goals in mind with this layout:

1. I wanted to do something special with the photograph.
2. I wanted to keep it fairly simple - simple color scheme and not too many papers.
3. I wanted to have a pocket for hidden journaling since the topic was a very personal one.

Hidden journaling pocket

I always start my layout design with a photo in mind.  My initial thought was to do an image transfer with the photo so I printed it onto an ink jet transparency in a sepia tone to give it an antique feel.  Then I realized that I'd forgotten to reverse the image before I printed it (when doing image transfers, the image goes print side down so you get the reverse of the original image)!  I didn't like the look of it reversed so I decided to try something different.  There were strong horizontal lines and pretty clear distinctions between the sky, background and water so I painted a piece of watercolor paper and overlaid the transparency on top.  It gave the photo an ethereal quality and I love how the texture of the watercolor paper shows through the transparency.  To soften the horizontal lines, I tore the edges of the paper and stitched around it a couple of times in wonky lines.

H2O colored background under a transparency with glass bead gel painted frame

I just got some Golden Glass Bead Gel and wanted to try it out (gotta love new toys!).  I took a postage frame from Tattered Angels and Glimmer Misted it in Marshmallow. I let it dry and then applied a fairly thin layer of bead gel.  It dries clear and shiny and the beads take on the light beautifully.  I can tell I'm going to get hooked on this product!  I added it to the photo with Scrap Dots to help highlight the focal point.

For the background, I took a Tattered Angels glimmer screen and misted over a piece of MME patterned paper with Riptide Glimmer Mist.  I distressed the edges of the teal paper and then stitched it to a piece of orange cardstock.  I then curled up the edges of the teal paper to reveal some of the orange underneath. I played the teal-y blue off the orange with my accents and tried to keep it simple. I Glimmer Misted the leaves on the flower as well as the word "mama" and added the glass bead gel to the subtitle "Kori".

Glimmer misted background and accents with glass bead gel subtitle

I heated a piece of Glimmer Glass to bend it and topped off the upper corner of the photo. A few flowers, buttons (which I painted with StazOn ink), some lace, and metal flowers from Making Memories and I was done!

This one is for you Kori - my friend, my family. 

Supplies used:

• Orange cardstock (Club Scrap)
• Teal patterned cardstock (My Mind's Eye)
• Patterned paper (Sassafrass Lass)
• Lace, large flower, orange flowers, and leaves (Prima)
• Buttons (Jenni Bowlin)
• Metal flowers (Making Memories)
• "Memories" Tag and envelope (Maya Road)
• Lace rub ons (Hambly)
• "Kori" chipboard letters (Basic Grey)
• Glimmer screen, glimmer glass, postage frame, "mama" letters (Tattered Angels)
• Glimmer Mist in Marshmallow and Riptide (Tattered Angels)
• Golden Glass Bead Gel
• Watercolor paper (Strathmore)
• Watercolors (Prang)
• Timber Brown ink (StazOn)
• Green embroidery floss
• Brown thread