National Scrapbook Day: Let's Get Inky (Mixed Media) Challenge

For me, a big part of National Scrapbook Day is working way outside my comfort zone, which is why I attempted the mixed media challenge at Scrapbook.com. There are a lot of reasons I don't work in mixed media when scrapbooking: I prefer a clean look when photos are involved; I don't like dealing with drying time; and I don't like dimensional items on my scrapbook layouts. That said, I do think it is really fun! For the challenge, I tried to create a layout that matched my style but still used mixed media products and techniques. A hybrid, of sorts:

 

In choosing a paper, I looked for something that I could keep mostly clean but still add mixed media techniques. The ampersand paper was perfect. Well, almost. While I liked the design, I didn't like the original color combination of peach and aqua. The first step was using a brown pen to color in the aqua. It created an interesting deep dark blue.

Then I chose the two largest chipboard letters I could find and painted them - pink for Allison (my niece) and blue for Trevor. When the paint was dry, I used embossing paste and stencils to add patterns on the letters. When the paste was dry, I added ink. The drying time was ridiculous- I finished three whole layouts just waiting for paint and paste to dry. Worse, I'm not crazy about how the letters came out, reinforcing why I don't do mixed media when scrapbooking! Still, I'm glad it's done and that I tried it. And I'm very happy to have the cute photos of the happy cousins in the album.