Paris in Spring

This month the Inspiration is Paris in Spring. Have you wondered where we get some of our ideas for our scrapbook pages? My first stop for all these Inspiration posts is to Pinterest to search for ideas. Generally, I have something in mind to begin the search, but gradually things come together and sometimes it’s more like a waterfall of ideas and pinning. I will invite you to go to my inspiration board here: https://www.pinterest.com/fivepines/inspiration-paris-in-spring/,  but I’d like to incorporate some of my choices here and show you how I brought them together in this layout.

As I looked over my board these were the divisions I created in my sketch pad:

1. Colors: Black, White, Cream, Pinks,
2. Patterns: Stripes, Flourishes, Fleur de Lis, swirls
3. Inspiration: Paris: Arches, Wrought Iron, Flourishes, Cherry Blossoms
4. Repetition: rows of Lamp posts, Lanterns, posts, windows, balconies, arches, cherry trees
5. Fonts: Paris, Parisish

You will notice I do have a few things that overlap. I think of it as pulling things together.

Let’s begin with my photos. When I first began planning the page, it was going to be a page about Julia Child’s quotes and the main photo would be the one of her cookbook and kitchen utensils. I planned on including some journaling about connecting to the quotes. I was even going to bake off one of her recipes and take a photo of that item. However…

We recently had Emmi overnight and as Auntie was preparing the evening meal, my little chef had to get right up there and help out. I grabbed my camera and watched the two of them making biscuits. (A Julia Child recipe!) My layout now was expanding to two pages!

Given my subject now, it was not just about Julia who was the one instrumental to bringing French Cuisine to American TV audiences, but to a recipe and baking photos of my girls. I was also introducing more colors that were a bit outside my original color palette.

Essentially the Ivory Mosaic Grid, black and cream pattern papers with light pink cardstock tiles were fairly neutral for displaying the bolder, brighter photos. Here’s my color inspiration:

1. COLORS

2. PATTERNS

My pattern papers of stripes and Fleur-de-Lis were chosen with this theme in mind. Including a Fleur-de-Lis cornerstone tile cut with our die in black adds another pattern touch. The stripe pattern reminds me of the canopies of outdoor café’s in Paris and the patterned Fleur-de-Lis seemed perfect.

 

 

3. INSPIRATION
Paris is the theme and main inspiration but I’ve sub-divided that into several things that stood out to me in my pins they are: Arches, Wrought Iron, Flourishes and Cherry Blossoms.

A. Arches

 

B. Wrought Iron

 

 

C. Flourishes

 

D. Cherry Blossoms

Like our own capital of Washington D.C. the city of Paris has a very large selection of cherry trees that fill the city with their delicate pink blooms in spring.

4. REPETITION

For Repetition I went with a series of arch tiles. If you have the new Arch Tile and Tab Die set you will easily be able to customize color, pattern and amount of tiles needed, but we also have several colors of Arch Tiles available in the store. The top row of each page is full of black arch tiles with light pink cardstock tile backgrounds allowing for ten quotes to be included.

I’ve also used cherry blossoms as a repeating embellishment across the page tucked around the arches.

My journal blocks on each side of the page two layout repeat a pinstripe awning with a punched edge and a scroll work flourish along the bottom. A few cherry blossoms are tucked into the awning edges.

 

5. FONTS

I chose to go with Paris and Parisish there are only slight differences in the two. I thought both worked well one for the quotes the other for the journal blocks. A small detail but fonts often help to carry the theme for any layout.

Let me show you how the awnings were made. It really isn’t difficult and they will stand up to being in a scrapbook binder. I’ve done something similar to my Inspired by “Letters to Juliette” page and they still look pretty good.

TECHNIQUES:
Making the Awnings

• Foam mounting tape
• glue dots
• 3/8” strip of pinstriped patterned paper
• Punched edge strip of MS Heart border in black

 

Making the flowers

Now the flowers are a simple EK Success punch and I used several shades of pink 1×4 paper tiles and scraps of pink cardstock. I even used several flowers that were chipped on some of the edges while I was attempting to get as many out as possible. I used an embossing tool with a wide ball embosser on a firm foam mat to cup he flowers. I began in the center and rolled it out to the edges. Then using several shades of pinks/red and yellow/oranges I dusted the centers of the cupped flowers. Then I used cream and pink liquid pearls for the centers. I cut some vines and glued them in place then used glue dots and pop dots to attach the flowers to the page. A few drops of liquid pearls dot the floral sprays and I even glued a few of the tiny green leaves from the die for a little added color.

• Paper tiles in light pretty pink, medium pretty pink, watermelon sensations for flowers
• Cardstock in Light Fairy Pink and Medium Fairy Pink for flowers
• Pebbles Pearlescent Chalks
• Liquid Pearls cream, pink petals

Supply List:
• Mosaic Moments 12×12 Grid Paper in Ivory
• Mosaic Moments Paper Tiles: Lt Pretty Pink, Medium Pretty Pink, Dark Pretty Pink, Watermelon Sensation, Bamboo and Ivory
• Mosaic Moments Fleur De Lis Cornerstone Die
• Patterned Paper: The Paper Studio Black & Cream Fleur-De-Lis; DCWV All Dressed Up Pinstripe
• EK Success Punches: small flower
• Martha Stewart Heart Border Punch
• Impression Obsession Vine Die051-B
• Memory Box Fremont Crest Die
• Peebles Pearlescent Chalks
• Liquid Pearls: petal pink
• Viva Pearl Pen: cream
• Cardstock: ColorMates Medium Fairy Tale Pink
• Fonts: Paris and Parisish
• Foam mounting tape
• Glue Dots: micro and mini size

So while my pages are not photos of Paris, I hope my design choices have given you a few ideas of how you can bring a little bit of Paris in spring to your layout too!

Show us what you come up with and share with us on our Facebook page and find all the ideas for working with Mosaics on our Pinterest boards. You can find a link to this pin here:  https://www.pinterest.com/snapncrop/scrapbooking-ideas-and-techniques/

Enjoy!
Andrea Fisher