alexandra renke – Gia Aloha

Using a Sketch

This layout is based on a sketch of the month from Clique Kits several months back:

It was the perfect design for me to use this wreath paper in the August Main kit Meadow. To add more depth to the wreath, I layered some of the twigs from the August cut file:

Here is a close up showing how this looks.

Its hard to see in this photo but I used some copper embossing powder to coat one of the wood veneer butterflies in the kit. As opposed to most kits where I use white cardstock as a background and then do lots of cutting with patterned papers in the kit, this kit inspired me to use almost every paper as a background base.

Thanks for stopping by and if you have not used this sketch yet give it a try!

-xGia

Mixed Media Monday: Boy Layout!

There is literally NO paper line or scrapbooking kit that I could NOT find a way to use for either gender even though I hear all the time that certain kits are “too girly” and the August Clique Kit is no exception. In addition to choosing the black and white grid paper from Kesi-Art in the kit, I used the Alexandra Renke “blobs” stencil included with the Main kit with some black embossing paste to add texture and contrast to the background of the collage.

When I saw this Alexandra Renke ribbon like paper design it inspired me because the words with it were about action and motion. I cut out just some of the ribbons which give a dynamic effect to the composition of my collage layout. I propped the fussy cut photo against the background using some foam tape. This separated the silhouette from aa noisy background. It is not a technique I use often, but once in a while it can be fun.

I wanted to add a pop of this beautiful blue in one of the exclusive cut apart cards included in the kit, but didn’t want it to be obvious that it was an illustration of some flowers (too girly LOL). Tucking it behind the Heidi Swapp rolodex watercolor card from a past Clique Kit was the perfect solution allowing the color to pop through the die cut word “Happy”. I used just a few stickers from the August Travelers Notebook kit which features the Crate Paper Here + There collection. The puffy stickers are all black and white and were just what I needed together with the Heidi Swapp Hawthorne words included in the kit to form my title and journaling. Believe it or not, the black scraps layered to the left of the photo behind the word “Happy” were exclusives in the very first Clique Kit which debuted in April of 2014. I guess I had been saving them for a reason. #ScrapbookingHordersAnonymous.

What I learned from this layout is that sometimes the emotion a layout evokes is just as important to tell a story as lengthy journaling or themed supplies. There are many ways to convey movement, excitement, and the pure joy of a child running to make a basket ! After all, mixed media is first and foremost a way of using art techniques in our memory keeping, and often the more abstract pieces express what words do not.

-xGia

Stretch a Kit Mixing Kit + Stash

Here is a really simple layout using one of the Alexandra Renke papers in the Meadow main kit in combination with some items from my stash. 6×6 Paper pads are great for adding layers of color to matte a photo and add texture to a multilayer design. It can be overwhelming to dig into your stash sometimes and I find it easier to decide on a color palette before doing so. In this case, I was looking for some bright hot pink and orange to tie in the pink tapestry in the photo and the orange and yellow watercolors on the background paper. The Amy Tangerine Hustle & Heart pad from the Clique Kits shop fit the bill exactly! It happens to be on sale right now if you want to pick one up!

The alphabet in the kit is called “light box letters” and they are shaped like the trendy translucent block letters used to spell out words on those very popular signs. They are also made of a translucent vellum and I love the way the background peeks through them. The embellishments in the kit mixed and matched really well with another collection in my stash where I found the tropical bird puffy sticker and the little rosette dimensional sticker (I think this is called Wild Heart by Crate Paper)

Picking up a la carte add ons from the Clique Kits shop allows you to stretch your kit contents even further and saves $$ on shipping! And even if your budget does not allow this don’t forget to shop your stash!

-xGia