Summer Love : MajaDesign

Hello Maja fans!

Summer is upon us, although in here in Singapore, it’s nearly summer all year round. Don’t be envious though, the heat can drive you nuts and I can take cold showers up to three times a day!

Summer is also a season of love and Maja Design has just released their newest collection Summer Crush. I can’t tell you how much I love the colors and designs on these papers and I have had so much fun creating with them, and even made my own embellishments as well. Here is a layout I made, with a step-by-step photo tutorial for you.

Step 1:

Summer is all about fun right? So I had these mini rosettes made using papers from the Summer Crush collection with one of my Sizzix dies and they are just too cute. I also used Glossy Accents as a glue as it has a very strong hold and dries decently fast enough to keep my rosettes in place.

Step 2:

For some reason, straws came to mind and I rolled these up with some of the papers from the collection. Just lightly spritz with water (not too much or else the paper becomes mushy) to make the heavy patterned paper easier to roll and glue down the edges with Glossy Accents. I then brushed the ends with gel medium and dipped it into gold embossing powder. I chose the papers with the chevron design because they were simple and do not distract the viewer away from the page, even though the straws themselves were such a cute addition.

Step 3:

My chipboard pieces which I had painted with different mediums and also layered different shades of the same color for a nice ombre effect.

Step 4:

Assembling my paper layers and embellishments together so that I can start working on my background.

Step 5:

Spread a very thin layer of gesso over the area where I wanted to work on, followed by some stenciling with modeling paste to follow the general flow of my layout. I constantly placed my paper layers down as a guide over the stencil to see where else I should add the modeling paste.

Step 6:

Misting and watering the color down. Some parts I painted straight from the bottle for gradations in tone. Finish with some random stamping, and start gluing everything away!

Here is the completed page:

Love the summery feel this piece has! But I have a confession – I cheated on the photo because it was taken in fall during our Perth trip. But it was the perfect kind of weather which I wish Singapore would have in summer (or throughout the year for that matter!) – balmy temperatures, refreshing breeze, blue skies dotted by little white clouds, and that amazing picnic in the park… I deliberately chose the patterned paper with the sunburst because it adds to the composition – sun rays radiating out from my main cluster and that pattern is repeated in my mini rosettes. Also, I distressed the edges of my background paper with gesso using my finger to enhance the white-washed feel.

More details in the close-ups:

Loving the patterns and colors from the Summer Crush collection, and how easily I can layer them together. The info strips at the bottom of each page also came in handy to add more interesting details.

Lots of touching up with mediums. I made more splashes with Light Turquoise chalk mist, Raspberry paint all over the page, followed by Acrylic Splash! Ink in white. The mist and paint were watered down to give enough hint of color, but not over-powering the gorgeous background paper.

I layered some of the die cut Polaroid looking pictures from the Snapshot patterned paper beneath my chipboard title. Everything was also given a dab of gesso for a vintage washed out look, followed by Silk glaze for a shimmery effect. And lastly, a generous patting of a yummy paste made from Gold Pearl paint and Magic powder.