I can see...

clearly now!    Because after many years I have glasses again, now the world looks 3D again LOL!

This LO is a lift of the beautiful Gabrielle Pollacco's layout: The Perfect Pumpkin,  I have done it for the Inspired By challenge that runs at Dusty Attic each fortnight.  I find the best way to learn a new style that you're having trouble with is to lift one of the layouts.  But Gabrielle's style just has that special 'something' and I struggled!!   But I am happy with what I created... and determined to try again to achieve that softness Gabrielle has!

So other than the overall design of Gabrielle's I tried to find things that were 'her' in there.  She sews, so I have hand sewing; she uses {most times} gentle feminine papers, so I found about the most feminine I had at the time; and her chipboard often has that soft shabby chic look so I tried to replicate that also, simple white paint with soft inked edges... so pretty, I think I got that part just right!

 Dusty Attic Baroque Corner DA0543

The papers I have used are stunning IOD ones, I really love the gentle shabby designs to their paper ranges, such lovely designs.  There's also Prima flowers and Green Tara Roses, Pink Paislee Pebble Button thingy's, BoBunny Trinkets, Prima Pebbles, Prima Lace Trim.

Some-days it does...

Yep... some-days the creative streak WORKS, this one I had a ball with and I think it shows!

Vicki at Tomorrow's gave me some of the Creative Imaginations IOD Night Divine papers to work with and I fell in love with it. It's rare for me to love a Christmas range, I guess growing up where Christmas is about BBQ's and Pool Party's and there's no sign of snowmen, snow and reindeers led me to just not 'get' the usual Christmas ranges. This one is perfect though... gorgeous soft bordeaux tones, with cool greens and a touch of duck egg blue, no santa's or snow to be seen = perfection in my eyes! And with the angel in the corner... yeah I was sold!

So I thought on it all week, thinking of what photo to grab from years gone by... how to use the papers, researching what others had done {pretty much nothing nowhere} and then played... with a canvas LOL! I think that part was procrastination at first, get messy have fun, hope for the best... but it worked, it WANTED the canvas. And then I just played, trimmed this, cut there, added that... and it all worked and I am so pleased with it.

I have also used all kinds of Prima Flowers, Beaded Trim, Paper Doily, these weird bronze glitter stalky things that are the BEST things when cut up and used here an there, {Tomorrow's now have more of these in stock!} Dusty Attic Decorative Trim Set, Dusty Attic Word & Dusty Attic Chain Fence, Websters Silhouette and a ZVA Bling Flourish {ahhh my new FAVE's in the bling world, they are luxurious}.

This chippy has been inked and then splooshed and dabbed with Luminarte Daubers and Adirondack Dabbers and then sealed with UTEE.


So now I have {when it comes home to me one day}, a new Christmas Decoration! For now though it will grace the display at Tomorrow's Memories... which is almost the same, I get to see it every weekend and it will be in with other gorgeous Christmas displays before too long I'm sure. And maybe... just maybe I might get that Christmas Spirit afterall!

Take care of you.