Gabrielle Pollacco : MajaDesign

Love You Forever

8 May, 2013 - Layouts, Life in the Country, Vintage Spring Basics

Gabrielle here with you today, sharing a layout I made inspired by the May Mood Board. Yesterday I shared with you a card I made using the fresh red berry colors mixed with white, but today I chose the soft greens in the Mood Board and let the words like ‘checkered table cloth’, ‘green’, ‘scent of grass’, ‘fabric’, ‘white’ and ‘flowers’ be my inspirational words. The title of this layout comes from one of my favourite childrens books that I used to read to my girls called “I’ll Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch, a well known Canadian author. It’s one of those sweet books that is a challenge to read without getting teary eyed.

I used a variety of papers from the “Life in the Country Collection to make my little heart designs. I really like the little 6×6 paper pad for making little designs like these if I don’t have little scraps from my 12×12 papers to work with.

Funny how sometimes some designs just create themselves: I had machine stitched each of the heart designs, planning to cut off the excess threads but when I placed them down on the page to see what order I’d put them in I realized I liked the look of the threads hanging there like that, looking like soft little streamers hanging from the blooms!

I chose to go with a monochromatic color scheme for this page, so all the embellishments and blooms I picked were in the fresh white or soft green color spectrum. I wanted to keep the page soft and delicate so I picked some very intricate pieces of chipboard to pair up with the embellishments from from Dusty Attic. I finished the design with tiny cut butterflies from the “Vintage Spring Basic’s” collection.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Life In the Country (Summer Fields-bs, Sowing Seeds-bs, Kitchen Garden, Kitchen Garden-bs, In the Hammock, In the Hammock-bs), Vintage Spring Basics (6th of May, 7th of April-bs). Rub-on’s: Basic Grey Flourishes. Chipboard: Dusty Attic Designs (Vine Border, Ornate Arched WIndows, Cameo Ribbon Slides and Decorative Frame #1). Flowers: Dusty Attic (Dusty In Bloom, Grassy Knoll, Dusty Leaves), White blooms (Michael’s bargain bin). Cameo: Websters Pages. Other: Burlap, twine, lace. Alpha’s: Websters Pages Storytellers.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I’m excited to see what all of you will be creating with inspiration from the gorgeous May Mood Board!

A Little Romance

Posted by Gabrielle Pollacco

24 April, 2013 - Layouts, Ska Vi Ta En Fika?, Vintage Spring Basics, Walking in the Forest

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It’s Gabrielle here with you today! Spring is in the air so I thought I’d have a little fun doing a romantic layout this time! It’s funny how I sometimes go through stages in my scrapping. A while back I was all about circles. There was a time when almost every layout in my gallery had circle designs in them. In the past few months I’ve found myself haveing fun with hearts! And what’s more romantic than a heart design right?

I love this beach wedding photo, sometimes just capturing an indirect shot like the feet of a bride and groom can be so much more intriguing than a straight on photo. I love the soft blues and fawn colors in this photo so I decided to play up these colors in the layout. I used papers from 3 different collections: Vintage Spring Basics (the blue stripe), Ska vie ta en Fika? (the Coffee color dot) and Walking In the Forest (the leafy paper).

I added lots of intricately cut chipboard from Dusty Attic and finished it with some white paint and brown chalk ink and then gave them a coat of crackle medium.

I created a little birds nest trinket that I made out of 3 turquoise beads and some 26 gauge wire. I shared a link for the tutorial at my blog Such a Pretty Mess if anyone wants to learn how to make it.

Supplies: Patterned Paper – Vintage Spring Basics (7th of March, 6th of May-butterflies), Ska vie ta en Fika (Sockerkaka), Walking in the Forest (Birdsong-bs). Chipboard – Dusty Attic Designs (Sweet Pea Frame Set, Wrought Iron Fence, Small Scroll#2, Grass Clusters #2, Mini Script ABC set). Blooms – Recollections, Prima, Dusty Attic (leaves). Extras: Paper lace doilee – Bo Bunny. Trinket – Prima. Lace and pearl trim – no name off the roll.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! xo

Looking Forward to Summer!

Posted by Gabrielle Pollacco

10 April, 2013 - Layouts, Vintage Spring Basics, Vintage Summer Basics

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Hi everyone! It’s me, Gabrielle here with you today! It’s been so cold here in Canada these past few weeks. We were hoping for a warmer Spring but so far it’s been really chilly! We took our kiddiesand their friends to the Maple Syrup Festival on Saturday and had a blast but wow! it was hard to get the chill out after we got back! So I hunkered down and worked on creating a nice summer layout that I’ve been wanting to scrap for a while!

I got this cute photo of my l’il great-niece Kiera a little while back and was meaning to scrap it for some time now. I love using blues and taupes when doing beach/sea-side photos, so I combined a couple of collections to make up this page. I used some of the NEW Vintage Spring Basics collection and some of the Vintage Summer Basics. Here are a few close-ups of my page so you can see some of the detailing closer-up….

I wanted to use your classic sea-side embellishments to dress up the page so I used a whole bunch of Dusty Attic chippies to do this, everything from a Fish Net Panel, Birds on Branches, Grasses and Shells. I usually being by painting them all white and then adding touches of chalk ink to color. I used a paper from the Vintage Summer Basics collection to add the weather board design, cutting out individual slabs of the wood design (VSB ~ 1905).

I added some kitchen cheese-cloth and some burlap for a little extra texture and the blooms were some cool flowers I got from a bargain bin at Michaels!

Finally, I added a scattering of sea-glass, some shells and some adhesive pearls and gems to complete the effect of a little treasure hunt along a shore-line. I have to admit, creating this page brought some summer warmth to my day! Here is a full list of the products I used to make up this page.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Vintage Summer Basics (1934-bs, 1905), Vintage Spring Basics (7th of April ~ Front and backside), Chipboard: Dusty Attic (Grass Clusters #1, Grass Clusters #2, Ornate Corner, Shells, Mini Bird Houses, Fishnet Panel, Birds a Field, Corrugated Card), Blooms: Dusty Attic (Mini-roses), Petaloo, Michaels (no name/blue/white blooms), Stamps: Bo Bunny Script Stamp, Rub-on: Daisy D’s, Other: Burlap, Cheese-cloth, loose buttons, Shells, Sea Glass, Bo Bunny Jewels, Dusty Attic Paints and Mixed Media Crackle Varnish.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! xo

A Little Spring Whimsy!

Posted by Gabrielle Pollacco

27 March, 2013 - Layouts, Templates, Tutorials, Vintage Spring Basics

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Grow

Hi everyone! It’s me Gabrielle here with you again today! I was so thrilled to be working on my first project using the NEW and gorgeous Vintage Spring Basics collection! I’m such a huge fan of butterflies, birdies and florals on my scrapbook papers, and add them to a vintage design and I’m in heaven! I wanted to go with a butterfly theme so I thought I’d create a layered butterfly wing design to accent the page. I thought I would share with you all the steps I took to create the butterfly design…

Before I added the larger wing to my page, I first lightly inked some of the area around where the wing would be placed and did a little stamping with some script stamps. I wanted a 3D layered effect so I glued down the larger wing and did a little doodling around the edges of the wing and then glued down the smaller wing on top, glueing only at the center of the wing so that it can be folded up slightly. Here is a close-up view of the finished design…

I also added some chipboard in the lower right corner to mirror the cherry blossom design in the papers. These I handpainted and I added a little nest to give a nice Spring feel to the page.

I also wanted to try something fun for this page, and it was to make my own Vintage Crinkle Ribbon! I’ve seen these cute ribbons on many projects in the past and when I went to source them locally I had an impossible time finding them! Then I came across some information on Pinterest on how to make these vintage ribbons from seam binding! I gave it a try and it was easy-peasy to do and so inexpensive! I did a little video tutorial on how to make these (the tutorial can be found at my blogpost for today at Such A Pretty Mess Blog ….if you want to have a peek!

And I have one more little extra for you today. I know that not everyone is comfortable with sketching, so if you want to try the butterfly wing design that I created above, you can right click on the template below and ‘save picture as’ to your computer. I saved the page as a 8.5×11 so when you go to print if you hit ‘fit to page’ it should give you the wings in the same size as I created for my page.

I hope you enjoyed my first project with the NEW Vintage Spring Basics collection as much as I enjoyed making it!

Supplies: Patterned Paper – Vintage Spring Basics (1st of May, 4th of May, 7th of May, 7th of May-bs, 6th of May), Chipboard – Dusty Attic (Cherry Blossoms), Flowers – Dusty Attic Mini Roses, Prima Roses, Prima Pearl Ribbon/trim, Nest – Prima, Green Vine Trim – May Arts, Crinkle Ribbon – handmade (tutorial link above)

Like a Basket of Fresh Berries!

Posted by Gabrielle Pollacco

13 March, 2013 - Layouts, Life in the Country

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That’s what I think of when I see the gorgeous selection of red patterned papers in the Life in the Country Collection ! I LOVE the dotty red paper and the beautiful scripted floral design paper, … and the pretty gingham….it all makes me think of picking a basket of fresh strawberries in Summer! And I thought it would be the perfect collection of papers to compliment this happy picture of my little niece Jade, as she’s splashing around in a creek.

This would be my version of a more ‘Clean & Simple’ style of layout. My pages can often get very fussy and busy, but this time I thought I’d pair the pretty patterned papers with simple white card stock so that they really pop. Here are a few close-up details of the page…

I used some store bought Prima flowers and mixed them with a handmade bloom I made from the plaid paper called ‘Porch’, I used a Spellbinders die cut called ‘Spiral Blossom #1’ to make the bloom. I thought it gave the page a more home-spun appeal adding this flower.

I added chipboard swirls from Dusty Attic and I finished them with a dark red paint and Glossy Accents to give them a deep rich shine. I also did a wee bit of background stamping and light inking with Prima’s Moulin Rouge stamp and Versa Mark Dew Drops Ink. To complete the ‘country’ look I added just a touch of paper lace doilies and a bit of burlap (I love adding burlap for some nice texture!). Here are the supplies I used to create this page….

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Life in the Country (Summer Kitchen, Summer Kitchen-bs, Porch, Berries with Ice, In the Hammock-bs….don’t you just love the names of the papers!!!), Dusty Attic Chipboard, Flowers: Prima (Primrose Sangria), Spellbinders die cut (Spiral Blossom #1), White blooms: Petaloo, Stamp: Prima (Moulin Rouge), Title rub-on: Daisy D’s, Adhesive Pearls: Queen & Co. Ink: Versa Mark (Pretty Pastels Dew Drops).

Thanks for stopping by today and don’t forget, I have a nice give-away going at my blog of the new Maja Design Spring collection called ‘Vintage Spring Basics’. You can now view the full collection in the products section HERE (these papers are sooooo very beautiful!!!) If you want to have a chance of winning this gorgeous collection, check out this link before March 31st! ~~~> Gabrielles Blog

Here are just a few of my favourites from this new collection! So excited to start scrapping with these beauties!….