Circle of Friends

I think another title for this post could be Easy and Detailed, you know like those articles that you see in magazines. It was not my original intention to do this. Over the years on my blog, I had done some posts about doing "Add-to"s where I might add an item or two to make something work that was bothering me on a layout well after I had declared it done and posted. With this page, it was more than a simple "Add-to". It all started with inspiration from the More Than Words August main challenge.

I had initially sketched and created this simpler 'Easier' version and at the time when I finished it, I liked it.

I don't know about you but I do not put my newest made pages straight away in an album, rather I display them in my scraproom.  So this is how it came about that as I would enter my scraproom over the next day I thought... umm, it needs more... it needs some black on the circles.  I had debated about inking the edges but that was not practical at that point as they were already adhered to the background so instead I faux stitched them with a pencil. This required the removal of the photos and titling which is where dental floss comes in handy. ;)

Then, I was thinking that it needed a bit more colour added to the border areas. Once that was done, I was thinking that I would draw in more of the red, by adding red paint to the corrugated, chipboard, and cork title letters. However, after I did that, I didn't care for it so I painted them black.

Yet, it still needed something more for the red, so I decided to Archival ink stamp the large Asian flower on patterned paper. Then, I misted, scrunched them, and air dried them. Once dry, I flattened out the shapes a bit, sanded them, and the fussy cut them out, prior to putting some black glitter glue as the centres. I tucked them under the photos helping to create a second visual triangle on the layout and I was pleased by the results.

However, I still had a nagging sense that something was off about the balance of the layout. I solved it with the journaling lines. They help draw your eyes down the page to an end point. Now I feel a sense of rightness and completion with the 'Detailed' version.

Supplies: patterned papers, small and large Asian Bubble Flower stamps, Flowers mask, corrugated letters, chipboard letters, cork letters (Magenta), Tim Holtz Distress inks [Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Barn Door], Distress Paints [Evergreen Bough, Barn Door, Candied Apple, Black Soot], Black Archival ink (Ranger), Cloudy Sky and Black StazOn (Tsukineko), glitter glue (Hampton Art), pen (CTMH), Sketchy Circles Silhouette cut file (SCT)

Now I know that there are those that will like the easy version over the detailed one and vice versa. That is one of the many beauties of art, it is in the eye of the beholder both as one experiencing it as the viewer or just knowing when it feels done and right for you as the artist creating it.

Magenta is once again the challenge comment sponsor so head on over to the More Than Words Challenge to see the beautiful inspirations by their DT, leave a lovely comment for a chance to win a $25.00 Magenta Gift Certificate, and see the lovely creations of fellow entrants.

TTFN,

Magenta products used:

Flowers Mask MC02

Small Asian Bubble Flower 0629.G

Large Asian Bubble Flower 0624.L

Corrugated Rounded Alphabet - CF09

Self-Adhesive Cork Alphabet - CORKA

Victoria Patterned Paper ME230

Lilianne Patterned Paper ME232

Tangerine Odyssey Patterned Paper ME076