"Unique" by Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

Sue Plumb here with my latest design team project for you. Today I have a 12x12" mixed media scrapbook layout to share using very simple techniques that combine for a great result. The products I used on this page include Colour Shimmer Dusts; Colour Paste; Colour Spray and a Colour Shimmer Brush Marker.

I created this page after seeing this photo of my daughter and her friend pop up in my Facebook memories and realised that I hadn't scrapped it yet. The photo of them was really vibrant and featured quite strong colours, so I wanted to create a colourful and fun page to go with it.

This photo actually presented an interesting visual trick. The striped shirt my daughter's friend was wearing was actually blue and red stripes, but when you view the combination of the two colours so close together it actually gives the impression of purple, so I decided to use purple as a feature on the page.

I began with some white cardstock, a small floral stencil and 'Royalty' Colour Paste. I applied the paste through the stencil with a palette knife, repeating the image 3 times in the central area of my page (I usually use the visual rule of threes when I create a page). Once the paste was down, I dried it off with a heat tool and moved onto the next step.

I chose three shades of Colour Shimmer Dust - Lush; Cobalt; and Lollipop and mixed a small amount of each with water. I then used a wide brush to apply a vertical strip of each colour to the page over the top of the dry paste. 

I started with Lush, drying it off before moving onto Cobalt; then repeating the process to finish with Lollipop.

As these are watercolours that reactivate when wet, I knew the colours would blend when I overlapped them so I deliberately chose colours that would blend together. You can see I chose green-blue together; then blue-pink together; knowing that they would blend well and avoiding making "mud" (brown). 

If you are unsure about colour theory when it comes to mixing colours, I would suggest a test run on some scrap paper first. If you would prefer to have something to refer to regularly, you might like to swatch out your colours and make yourself a colour mixing chart. (You can see an example of a chart Selena Stevens created with Colour Artist Inks here)

But what about actually choosing colours that work well together on a page? The three colours I chose to use are called a triadic colour scheme. In a nutshell, it means using three colours that are evenly spaced around the colour wheel. The results of this type of colour scheme are usually vibrant, no matter what colours you select.

Here you can see how the colours I used fit onto a colour wheel...

Once my paint was dry it was time to add some extra layers. A recent dig through my stash had unearthed some VERY old rub-ons. I was curious to see how these would stand up after so many years, so I tested one on some paper and was shocked to find that it transferred pretty well so I added some to my background.

I then cut down my cardstock to measure 11x11" and added sheet of Cocoa Vanilla Studio patterned paper to the back to provide a border for my page.

With the background under control, it was time to add my photo and some embellishments. Another dig through my stash revealed yet another long forgotten item - a sheet of Sassafras Lass (remember them?) foldies. These flowers were designed to be punched out and folded for dimension, but I simply cut out some of the pieces and adhered them onto my page using foam tape. 

I twisted and bent the edges of the flowers up for a little extra dimension, and also added some messy cotton thread among them for texture.

For my page title I used a Cocoa Vanilla Studio chipboard title sticker, and then added my handwritten journalling using a felt pen.

Once my title and embellishments were all in place, I took my Colour Shimmer Brush Marker (I used the Clear one) to add some subtle shimmery detail to both my title and my flowers.

I love how adding the shimmer instantly gave the flowers extra depth!

To finish off my layout, I took my 'Violet' Colour Spray and dipped a small brush into the bottle to add some little splatters around the page.

That's all from me today. I hope I have inspired you to experiment with a little colour theory, or even dust off some long forgotten supplies and see if you can breathe new life into them by mixing them with your Colour Blast products.
Until next time, happy scrapping!