1923: Creative Therapy Guest Designer

I was recently asked to be a guest designer on a really cool inspiration blog called Creative Therapy. Each week they offer a different creative catalyst for members to draw inspiration from. The theme for my week was "What's Your Dream Home". You probably know how much I love doing projects around a "home" theme so I was really excited for this one! Here is what I shared on the Creative Therapy blog about my project: Journaling Reads: A forever home. When I daydream about growing old along side my sweet family it is in this house that I see us laughing and loving and growing older together. Technique Highlight: I really love adding dimension to projects and make them very lumpy and bumpy. In addition to a lot of tearing and curling of edges, I like adding dimension by adhering elements with adhesive foam squares. This project is essentially a page, but since is so lumpy, would be hard to put into a book without flattening it a bit. Instead, I mounted the page on a black wall plaque. I picked it up at a local craft store in their clearance section for a couple of dollars. The design on it was scratched up, which was okay with me since I knew I would cover it. The edges were also dinged up a bit, but since I love things shabby and distressed, I thought the wear was a perfect touch. * For my weathered numbers, I used printed chipboard numbers from Prima. They have a newsprint pattern to them. I sanded the surface to remove the slick texture and painted them with Tim Holtz Crackle Paint. After the paint is dry, add a bit of distress ink. When the ink is dry, sand the letter again lightly to expose all of the layers underneath. * I printed my photos on smooth textured cardstock so that they would be easier to sew through and curl and distress. I also like the very matte look of photos printed on cardstock. The color photo, though hard to tell in the project photos, is a photo that was turned into an illustration using PhotoShop. I originally altered the photo for another project but loved the look of it for this project as well. I think the effect adds a dreamy feel to the image.