Guest Designer - Denise Holmes

Today we welcome our first guest designer for May...

My name is Denise Holmes and I am a paper-craft  addict. I live in the lovely town of Ware in Hertfordshire. I've been crafting since I was a teenager really, starting off with those old fashioned blotting paper scrapbooks then learning to crochet making those big squares that go on and on until you have a blanket. I began card making in about 2007 then expanded into scrapbooking and  haven't looked back since. I never ever get tired of scrapbooking and I love to document all the things in life and enjoy the process at the same time. I really enjoy going to retreats spending time with like minded people and have made some really lovely friends through scrapbooking. I love to fussy cut and often spend ages just snipping away. I also like to get inky on my projects sometimes. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter as @deeciedee.

 

For my guest design layout I knew I wanted to use the Cocoa Vanilla Wild at Heart Collection as I love the colour combinations. I based it on one of the sketches for this month.We recently went to a very special ball and the colours of our outfits were a perfect match to the papers so I was ready!

I started with plain white card as the background, coating it with gesso first to help absorb the colours I was going to use. 

A popular technique at the moment is the 'packaging ' technique. I used a distress ink pen in an old favourite of mine 'Weathered Wood'. I scribbled onto the plastic packaging from the die cuts in the collection then sprayed this with water. After this I splodged the colour onto the background. I then repeated using 'Worn Lipstick' You can do  this onto a craft sheet but would need to take the card to the sheet so using the packing sheet which is smaller makes it easier.

Once this was done I took some black mist, removed the applicator and flicked it over the layout.

My photo was mounted on to foam pads on top of some of the chipboard elements from the collection to add depth to the layout.

I'm a bit of a sucker for butterflies and hearts so I had to add a few to this layout, together with blue and pink, two of my favourite colours. I've enjoyed making this layout for my guest design spot and thanks ladies for having me !

Thanks for joining us this month Denise!