OK- this is a sad topic- but no worries- I keep it still light ;)

I was a while ago asked to create a page about grieving. It wasn’t the easiest part – I have to admit. I mean, Scrapbooking, ArtJournaling- all pretty personal, right and it is all making you vulnerable already…and then to put it out there about grief. mmmpfff…..I have to admit that I was for the first time hesitant to do something I was asked for. But then I thought, I should just give it a go and see – I can still decide to hold it back, right?

I decided to do a layout without picture about my feelings of my loss of my step father.

In short, my father died when I was 20 days old. My stepfather, who came later in my Mom’s and my life, was an amazing man- and a loving father, taking care of me as if I was one of his own children. He died when I was 25.

After a while you do not think every second, every hour, every day, every week, every month about the person you lost. But sometimes it hits you still after all those years without warning- and this is what the journaling is about.

My father for example loved to listen to his music sometimes pretty loud – I think I got my love for loud and heavy music actually from him – LOL. He had quite a big LP collection and we would sometimes in the summer sit together in our garden with open windows, listening to some cool music. Not sure if the neighbors thought it was cool, but he was for sure ranking as the “cool” Dad among my friends ;) We would meet at the same concerts…which was as a teenager a bit strange at times- LOL – because dang it – Dads are supposed to stay home and sleep so you can sneak in late ;) So sometimes if I hear certain songs – it just hits me and I think back and I miss him a lot! It is a weird mixture of sadness and happiness. I guess I don’t have to explain the Sadness – but: Happiness is because I was so fortune to have a person like that in my life and spent time with him to have those memories!

Supplies: Prima Shabby Chic Papers, Prima Vine, old Music sheets, Gesso, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glam, Pink Paislee Dailee Junque Alphabet, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

It was actually quite relieving creating this layout and I am glad I did it. Well – they say art and creating is therapy, huh? I think that is a pretty good excuse for spending all that money in art supplies, what do you think? LOL

Have you ever created a layout or project about grief?

Have a wonderful and happy day!

Nat

Nat

I had lot’ so fun with the March Pier 39 Kit.

I know I did use the title and lyrics of one of my favorite songs already on a layout in 2010 – but the paper in the kit  was soooo fitting, I had to use it again :)

*If the Stars were mine…”

Journaling:

If the stars were mine
I’d tell you what I’d do
I’d put the stars right in a jar and give them all to you

Lyrics by Melanie Gardot

Here is the song in case you want to listen to it

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLX-DdxfUKU&feature=related]

I used some PanPastel to paint over a Crafter’s Workshop – Balzer Designs Stencils and then used another Crafter’s Workshop Stencil with Stars to trace the stars.

*Helping Hand*

This Layout was actually a lift of a member layout at the Cocoa Daisy Gallery by Hanna Marie.

Love those Arrow Row Stamps !

Have a gorgeous day :)

Nat

Nat

If you missed yesterday’s post about What the Second Floor Challenge is – here you go :

• Julie & I have made a one-year commitment to each other and our “Second Floor” project.
• Every few weeks we will issue a challenge (just something to spark some creativity – sometimes starting without a prompt can be very intimidating).
• Your assignment is to take that challenge and make some art.
• Here’s the most important part: at some point you need to “take it to the second floor.”  What does that mean?  It means trying something vastly out of your comfort zone.  Doing something that might not work.  Experimenting with a crazy idea.  It’s all about pushing yourself.  If it works, awesome.  If it doesn’t work, awesome!
• If you want to participate publicly, we’ll have a linky list for each challenge. If you don’t want to participate publicly, that’s cool too.  It takes a lot of courage to put yourself – not necessarily at your best – out there.
• We have a private flickr group set up for those of you who want to share sort of publicly but within the safe confines of a private group.  If you want to join the group, you will need to e-mail to secondfloorchallenge(at)googlemail(dot)com we’ll send you an invitation.

For our first challenge we decided to go with the Challenge to

“Use Golden Acrylic Paint”

I usually only use golden Acrylic Paint as accents. I use them through a stencil to tie elements together or to paint a frame or the edges, or just a tiny embellishment. So this challenge let me think of actually painting the whole background of my paper golden in order to do something differently.

I gave it some texture by cooking the acrylic paint and also using rub ons before applying the paint. As I had watered down the golden acrylic paint a bit in order to reveal the Rest-Print on the paper and also the rub ons – the paper got a bit wrapped- and to tell you the truth – I do not like that – I do like the cooking though :)

So it could have been done as it was like this- but then decided to take it to the 2nd Floor.

I used twine and rolled it also in golden acrylic paint. I was a bit afraid that the golden acrylic paint would harden the twine too much in order to be still able to twirl it in the forms I want it. But no problems – after it dried I easily applied it in loops to my layout.

And here is the end result:

For me it looks more finished now and I liked using some of the extra golden paint on my twine. The Layout is a bit more shiny as you see it here.

What did I learn from this challenge:

1. Golden or I would assume any metallic paints painted on big areas are hard to apply because you can see the direction of how the paint was applied and it makes it look messy and uneven. So next time I would definitely use a different tool and try to only paint in one direction.
2. I like how the Resist Print and Rub-Ons are peaking through and in generell I like the golden color.
3. Next time I would not water down the paint too much as to avoid the paper to wrap and adding a messy feeling to it.
4. Although the twine rolled in golden paint was still workable, I do not like the look of it…it looks dirty – I would not do this again…

I used the following supplies for my Remember This Layout:

Not linked: Tattered Angels Paper, Package Twine

Eco Green Crafts Pure Gold	7Gypsies Tags	Hambly Rub Ons	MyStik Permanent Adhesive by SAby3L
Eco Green Crafts Dye Inks	Letraset Fine Liner	Heating Gun

Check out Julie’s blog with her result here

If you want to play along with us show us your project here on InLinkz or on the  Second Floor Flickr Group:

Nat

Nat