Trains | A scrapbook layout | Halt! Breathe

Hi!

It's Krisy back today with my first share for this month. I was given the theme "Trains" as my topic to share today. My initial thought was to scrapbook some photos of my kids at the Railway Workshops, a local museum exhibit close to home but to be honest that was a bit boring. I decided I would find some photos from our travels. We travelled a lot by train all over the world but nothing appealed to me until I came across our photos of a trip to Auschwitz concentration camp. This place moved me. I love grunge heavy mixed media scrapbooking layouts and this experience had me filled with ideas that captured all my favourite things. So, I decided to create a grungy, heavy mixed media scrapbooking layout.

Here it is here:

Just a bit of background on the photos. These are photos taken at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. It is a place that evoked so much emotion that I totally did not expect. It is a very dark place. This is one train journey I am glad I was never made to take. If you would like to know more you can read all about it here.

This and most of my layouts are all about the techniques used to create interesting backgrounds. Everything added on top is to embellish and compliment the layout. I am just going to give you a basic run through how to create it. Mixed media to me, is about creating something that is free flowing and more than likely, very hard to duplicate again. That's why I love it. So, with this in mind, I can only give you basic instructions and a basic list of what you will need, the rest is up to you. Have a go and see what you can create.

Basics of what you will need to create this layout is:

Kraft Cardstock, old used teabags, gel medium, printed images, inks, stamps, permanent ink pad, embellishments (chipboard, wire, thread and whatever else tickles your fancy), Cardboard, maps and your Helmar products - 450 Quick Dry, Acid Free Glue and Scrap Dots.

This layout has a very layered mixed media background. I love layers and textures. When I create a layout I want the finished product to have so much to look at that it just makes you want to touch it.

I started by applying some Matte gel medium all over the cardstock using an old rewards card. Gel medium creates a waterproof base to protect the cardstock when you are adding wet mediums and stops them soaking in. I used matte as I didn't want any shine on the background. Once it was dry I began adding layers.

The first layer is torn used teabags. This adds texture and colour to the base of the layout. To grunge up the background a bit more, I applied some gesso using a palette knife in a scraping motion. This breaks up the background and creates a different base for the colour layers to stick to. Over the top I tore and glued down some printed newspaper articles. To soften the starkness of the white I added a few more tea bags.

Once that was dry I began applying colour. I used Colour Blast Colour Spray in Mocha and Coffee colours to spray on some colour using some wire chipboard pieces as a mask and stamp. One important tip is to make sure you dry the layout really well between colours, this will stop them from mixing too much. I also added some Colour Blast Shimmer dust in Navy and made runs down the page. I repeated this process with Colour Blast Colour Spray in Sunset, making sure I was drying between colours.

Once the base colours were dry, I added some texture stamping using different stamps and permanent black ink. I know at this stage I am going to be adding more wet mediums, so it is important that the ink is permanent and doesn't react with any water I apply.

Now the background is finished, I began adding all the details. I added a cardboard detail across the middle. This is just a torn strip of cardboard that I am using to add more texture detail to the layout. Over the top of that I glued on a strip of a map of Poland. This ties in the location of the photo as well as the flair button that I have chosen to use on the layout. Then I went ahead and glued everything into place. Starting with my photos then adding all the chipboard and textures.

I like my mixed media layouts to come together fairly quickly, my go to glue is Helmar's Acid Free but sometimes when you are adding lots of heavy embellishments and want to work fairly quickly 450 Quick Dry is the way to go. I used two different glues to stick all the bits on to this background. The reason why is because, the heavy cardboard I chose to use was just that... heavy. I wanted it to stick in place quickly so I could carry on with the layout.

For the photos and chipboard pieces I used Acid Free glue because of all the Helmar glues, it's the one that I like the best and I used on ALL my scrapbooking projects.

I also used my Scrap Dots to add more dimension when sticking my photos and chipboard pieces in place. Scrap Dots is such a quick and easy product to use.