Hello Maja Design fans!  Nancy Hanttula here again to share my 3rd installment for this month’s Guest Creative Team contribution.  This week I am going to share the projects that I created with the amazing Life by the Sea paper collection.

I knew the moment that I saw this collection, that I needed to scrap a photo of my son, Saylor (my grandfather’s middle name.)  I have always decorated his room in a nautical theme, including his nursery, and now, he even has a boat bed!

I absolutely love this photo of him when he was around 6 months old, and I think these papers were absolutely perfect to showcase it.

I did some hand-sewing on this layout…. around the edges, inside the paper buttons, and the star in the lower right corner of the photo.

Above, I created these “paper” buttons with my Martha Stewart embossing button punch.  This punch allows you to make any paper into a button!

Above and below, you can see the little hidden journaling card that I created for the layout.

Life by the Sea papers used for this layout included:  Drop the anchor, Landmark, the West Coast, Regatta, Bottle Message, the East Coast, Seaside Cottage, Life jacket, & Nautic.  other supplies used here included:  stamps from Tim Holtz and CTMH; Martha Stewart embossing button punch, embroidery floss, star stitching template from Timeless Touches, mini star punch, Cricut cartridges Elegant Edges and Graphically Speaking (title)

The next project that I would like to share is a 12 x 12 canvas, mixed media piece, that  I created to hang in my son’s room.

The first step in this project was to choose the papers I wanted for the background.

After choosing the background papers, I took them off, painted the edges of the canvas, and then decoupaged the background papers into place.

I used the Pirates and Mermaid Cricut cartridge to cut out my pirate ship in layers.  I then decoupaged them down.

It is important that while you are decoupaging each layer down, you let each layer thoroughly dry in between layers.

Once I had created my ship, I started creating the waves. I tore several different widths of parchment paper. The awesome quality about parchment paper is how much it bends and curls when water and paint are added.

Here, I have adhered the different torn strips of parchment paper to my canvas…adding some white paint to the “crests” of the waves.

After that, I added some darker ink to shade and enhance the dimension of the waves.

At this point, I added some background stamping, some banners at the top, some red inking to compliment the blues and nautical theme, and voila, I considered this piece finished.

the quote on this canvas reads, “a smooth sea never made a skillful sailor”

The Life by the Sea papers I used for this project included:  the West Coast, Navigate, Landmark, Nautic, Sailing, Bottle Message, the East Coast, & Optimist Dinghy,  other supplies used include:  12 x 12 canvas, Decoupage, Stencils from TCW/Dylusions, stamps from CTMH, Tim Holtz, Stampabilites, and Hampton Arts, Cricut cartridge Pirates and Mermaids, parchment paper (waves), Ink from CTMH and Staz-On, acrylic paint

TFL my friends!!! I hope something here has inspired you to create something today!!!

Be sure and check back next Saturday, as I have a whole lot to share on my last Saturday posting!!!  or better yet, sign up to receive the Maja Design daily blog posting directly to your inbox!!!!

Until next Saturday, keep creating!