Throwback Thursday

Sometimes I like play around with the products I have on hand just to see what I can do, or if I have a need for it, I try to make it rather than buy it. Results are varied, and sometimes quite interesting or they just downright fail and I feel like I've utterly wasted good money, despite the learning process. Much like my programming debacles, I have scrapbooking failures, I accept neither easily. The deeper recesses of my brain still thinks I'm a perfectionist.

I encountered one of these such incidents a few weeks ago. Mind you, I have been stuck on building the page that these were intended for, still putzing about wondering if I should use them. At least I have the sense and time to put off a page for a while and come back with a fresh head later.

A little background on the page, since there are no pictures. I only take them when I have a finished product. This page is intended for my youngest daughter's baby book. Its a 2 page spread with inks of her feet at 2 weeks old. Title: 10 fingers & toes. Solid color background with accenting pattern strip across the middle. Purple and pink hues.

My problem was/is, (and always has been) accents. I tend to love to put as many embellishments as pictures when that is really not the point. I'm learning to curb that urge. However, I needed flowers to accent. Side note: LOVE flowers, and its a girlie girl book, its expected. I didn't have a single flower in the hue of my chosen palette. I often run into this problem with my embellishments and lately have fought the urge hard core to just run out and buy something. I refused to give into that this time.

So, here's what I decided to do:

I looked through my huge stockpile of random things I own, found these. I picked them up at Target sometime back only because they were on clearance. Side note 2: If its not on sale or I don't have a coupon for it I -try- not to buy it, unless I really, really, really (yes 3 really's) need it.

Okay, so I discovered these. White fabric flowers. Fabric, not paper. I had paper, but I wasn't so sure the thoughts in my head would work on paper flowers, so I opted for this.

Pretty, cheap fabric flowers

Better to start with a white base than some other odd color that I'd have to mutate somehow. Alright. Next thought in my head was, INK. I didn't have any pigment inkpads that would work for color and my Adirondacks seemed a bit to watery to work for the situation. I'm not good with fabrics, so I couldn't guess what they were made out of (wasn't written on the packaging either). All I could think of was to grab my Tattered Angels ink in Rum Raisin and try it. I could at least have some bling on there too in that case. I think I eventually mixed in some of my Adirondack ink as well by the end, and the shimmer of the TA ink didn't stick.

So first off, I tried the TA Rum Raisin, not too much, just a couple of sprays. I figured I would let just a splash of purple catch on it, and the white of the fabric would still stick out on my page design. So I tried that, and it didn't seem quite right. So I took to the Adirondack ink (I forget what the name of the color was), dabbed a few drops, added in some blending solution (few drops) and let it stew in that.

Once they dried out (next day) I decided they needed something more. Another layer of color, dimension, something, ANYTHING. Since I also had pink in my color palette for the page, I decided to dig through the pigment inkpads again. One of my Colorbox ink colors seemed to fit the bill, so I tried it lightly, just hoping to catch the raised edges of the fabric. It worked decently.

Pretty Little Flowers

Kinda. I'm still not sure about using them in the page, but then again, the page is still one I'm mulling about. Not so sure I like the visible ink edges where it "bled" out as it soaked up the ink it stewed in. I could always cover those with other bling, or stack them. Honestly though, not one of my worst failures in either field I know. I'll make it work with something, someday. If nothing else, I learned just exactly what ink can do in this case.