Stamping In My Scrapbook

I love combining my stamping and scrapbooking.  I always feel like it is a great way to stretch my craft supplies and make a really unique scrapbook page that is all my own.

I’ve played around with creating my own backgrounds for my scrapbook pages over the last couple of months.  I’ve taken a couple of classes at Altenew Academy that encouraged me to experiment with different backgrounds.

One of my favorite tools and techniques is to use a stencil and add some ink blending for card backgrounds and that is on thing that I have not yet tried on a scrapbook page.  I decided to do that today and I’ve used the latest sketch challenge from the Altenew Scrapbook Blog as my inspiration for my layout.  Although, I do have to say that I took a lot of liberty to add more background than the sketch allowed.  After I started the page, I realized there was also a color challenge component that I decided to play along with too, although I felt that my page needed some blue which you will see that I added with my script title sentiment.

I used the Stone Wall stencil for my background along with the Altenew Moon Rock ink to create a wall-like background.  I used the Freeform Greenery set to create some background greenery and I fussy cut 3 of those images and colored them in with my Altenew Artist markers to add some actual green color to my page since there is so much of it in the photo.

I used some fussy cut roses from the Reflections paper pack and added those on top of some square wood elements from one of the Altenew scrapbook kits.  I really like those wood elements.

The love title is one of Altenew’s script word dies that was a fairly recent release and the stamped sentiments are from the new Everything About You stamp set.  The sequins are from a Neat & Tangled mix.

I also created my yellow striped patterned paper using Altenew’s Watercolor Striped stencil for a really unique touch.  I really love creating my own patterned papers for cards and scrapbook projects.  It adds that pop of color in just the shade you want because you create it yourself.  Plus, Altenew has a huge number of fabulous stencils and cover dies that can be used to create stencils.  It is so easy to create your own patterned paper from a stencil.

I also love that stencils are a fairly inexpensive tool that you can use over and over with several techniques.  I’ve chosen to blend ink over the stencil with my ink blending tool, but you could use the Altenew Ink Sprays or a watercoloring technique with the ink sprays, pads or reinkers to create your patterned paper with the stencils.  The possibilities are endless!!

I selected the rock wall stencil because my daughter and I are standing in front of a natural rock structure on Mackinac Island, Michigan.  It is surrounded by a ton of greenery, so this seemed an appropriate background once I did the stencil technique and the stamping of the greenery outline images.  I used the squares to remind myself of the hundreds of stairs we climbed to see that beautiful outcrop!!

If you’re looking for a fun family vacation spot, I can highly recommend that little island and the neighboring city.  The island has no motorize vehicles.  We rented bikes and rode bikes around the island and hiked the sites.  It was a really fun day, followed by a couple of days in the little town there as well.

Here is the Altenew Sketch that I started with:

I have a bit of white space in my layout.  Certainly not as much as the sketch!  I started out intending to have more, but I do love to stencil.  I’ve also added my yellow with my own patterned paper and in the florals where I added the red.  My green is not a mint, but it coordinates with the green from the photo.  I’ve used the sketch and the colors as a guide and my photo helped me select the actual color and elements to add to the layout.

If you love to scrapbook, you should try a scrapbook sketch or color challenge!!  You can check out the Altenew Sketch HERE!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Happy weekend!