Tropical Domes

While at the Botanical Gardens we visited the Tropical Domes. My inner teacher takes in all of the information I learn at these places. I'm doing this book in an 8x8 format which is why I have so many of one activity. I was stir crazy all weekend without my laptop, as I wanted to load all my pictures. It was really tough traveling with only my iPad and not having the ability to see my pictures on a full screen.

 My techniques are getting a little repetitive in this book. But I wanted the pages to flow together nicely and smoothly. I used watermark ink and mist on the background of the page. The green paper was ran through my cuttlebug and then sanded to reveal the second core color underneath.

 I combined a few different embellishments on this page. I used a combo of Basic Grey Chipboard along with Prima and Imaginensce flowers in this cluster.

I didn't journal on every single page but I did on some. Some of my journalling were in the pocket protectors and some were right on the page. I really wanted to capture the details of the vacation in one way or another.

Reflecting Pond

 The reflecting ponds at the Botanical Gardens were awesome! The lily pads were massive. We don't see things of this size or color in Wisconsin. I was amazed by all the colors and the dimensions in this pond.

 The backgrounds on this page got out of control quite quickly. The paper started as plain white, then were stamped with my damask Hero Arts background stamp with a Versa Mark Ink Pad. Then I sprinkled on embossing powder and heated it. Then I sprayed with the green, blue, and pink Heidi Swapp mists. The cool part is how the embossing powder resists and then the mist soaks into the other open parts of the paper.

 I cut the title on my Silhouette using the Pacifico font. I used this one more than once in this album.

At the Fountain

 One of my other favorites at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens was the fountain. Since it was in the high 80's, we needed to find something cold. The fountain was topped with gorgeous blown glass. It sparkled in the sun and was beautiful against the blue sky.

 I started with plain white paper. Then I lightly misted with gold and then put on a mask that I cut on my Silhouette and misted in blue. This book is a little more simple and I really want to focus on the story of this special weekend.

Throughout the book I used some Basic Grey Chipboard pieces.  I really wanted the entire paperline but it was retired. So I used these pieces as a basis and a starting point for my backgrounds. On this page I also used a ribbon with bling and a zipper. It was perfect for the aqua blue of the water.

A peak in my garden

 

I'm pretty proud of my little deck top garden. Since this is my first year in my apartment I had to have flowers. Of course I went beyond what I needed but I love my little sanctuary!

 I ended up with two pots of the rail and a big basket along with my bird feeder. I've got quite the population of pet birds that come to visit.

 

I also have a planter of green beans and a trellis for them to climb up. I'm a bit of a green bean addict. This is a major experiment but we will see what happens. 

Imaginary Worlds Part II

The Imaginary Worlds Display was pretty awesome cool! I took so many pictures that I had to scrap. I'm having a blast putting together this album and playing with new and old techniques.

For the background I started with plain kraft paper. I used a Versa Mark Watermark ink pad along with my favorite Stampin Up stamps to make all the flowers. It was just right to match all of my pictures and the colors. 

 I always like to keep the tickets from places I visit. The metal accents were from an old Close to My Heart catalog and they are absolutely perfect with these pictures. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but I did use Heidi Swapp Color Shine in blue, to accent the blue paper.

Our Family

As I've been working on my auto posts, I realized I have a lot of pages to share about Atlanta. I could not let this page sit well into the summer without sharing. I just think this picture is way too special not to share sooner. Granted it was our Christmas card, so most people in our immediate family have already seen this but I love it. 

 I wanted elegance. Simple as that. This page was perfect. Perfect colors. Nothing overly fancy. Just nice and just my style.

 Sequins, pearls, and flowers. Nothing better. Sequins from my LSS, bling from Studio Calico, and some flowers from a friend misted with pink Heidi Swapp. The background paper is from WRMK and did great with all our our colors and the background of our hotel. 

And a simple title cut on my Silhouette with some glitter paper from Hobby Lobby. I don't think there needs to be a description or journalling for this page. Just the people I love.

Imaginary Worlds

Life has gotten busy and I just realized I haven't blogged in a few weeks. We have 8 more days left in our school year. I'm moving classrooms, so I've been busy packing and getting things ready. It's been super hot and I'm not so motivated to go in my warm scraproom. But we have a crop the day after school lets out! I've got another pages to share from my Atlanta vacation.

One of the coolest features of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens was the Imaginary Worlds. These sculptures are real plants that are built into steel cages and are designed to grow in a specific pattern to look like a real life animal. My favorites were the bunnies and the goddess fountain.

 For this page I used my Studio Calico mask and painted with three colors of Heidi Swapp Color Shine. I used a brush from my gelatos to paint the various colors. I love the metallic in the paint.

 I used some Inka Gold on the button to tone down the wild purple color. The ribbons are from the big American Crafts variety packs.

These two pictures are some of my favorite sculptures in the park. The goddess in unbelievable until you see it in person. If you get to the park you have to watch the video of how the sculptures are actually made. It is a very interesting process to build them and the upkeep.