May 11, 2021 Janine O'Rourke

Nature Trail by LORNA SIMONS

For this page I used just 3 papers ... 12x12 sheets and a plain white cardstock.

I love it when some papers have just everything you need to complete your page, I sometimes find I am spending far too much time trying to find other bits and pieces to fit!

I started with the hello happy for my base and cut round the right-hand side of the middle 3 butterflies only, lifted them up from the page and then backed with an off cut from one of the other pages.

My photos started off 6x4, I trimmed them down to allow me to fit the 3 photos on my page and then mounted them on white cardstock just to allow the photos to lift off the page and not sink into the back ground. I put them aside to work on my background.

I cut three pieces from the other papers, remember these are double sided papers so great for using more of the design, I didn't measure the pieces just went with the size of my photos and placed them down and trimmed until I was happy with the sizing, I then distressed the edges with open scissors, please be careful doing it this way, there are distressing tools available to buy for this.

I then fussy cut the large flower, looks a bit hydrangea like to me, one of my favourite flowers!

I placed my backing pieces and photos down and moved around with my flower until I was happy with the layout and then stuck them down. You can do this by picking up corners and sticking down or by taking a photo to look back on to take up and layer your pieces on. I tucked my photos under and on top of the flower - I love to have things overlapping!

Next was making my title I look one of the papers. I hand wrote my title using a journaling pen, cut round it roughly and then roughly coloured with a gold paint pen. I gently inked the edges and mounted on 3d foam pads to lift it off the page slightly.

Next, I fussy cut 3 more butterflies from one of the other papers, inked then gently shaped them and placed them around my title.

Lastly, I went round my main backing and my layered pieces with my journaling pen, just roughly bordering them, it adds a frame to my work and gives it a great finish I feel. Just roughly, no ruler just a slightly wobbly line, in fact I think I went round 2 or 3 times. I love to finish things off this way, it's a great detail, so simple but adds a lot to a page.