Inspiration Elevator #24 (Michelle Hernandez) - A Public Page

It's that time...........

Welcome to another month of Inspiration Elevator!

Our main purpose here at IE is to challenge ourselves, each other and YOU to take the creative process to the next level;  to inspire growth and change in our scrapbooking beyond the mundane.
You can see all of Inspiration Elevator's previous challenges at our blog and catch us on Facebook and Instagram (soon!) too.

This month's challenge is issued by the innovative Michelle Hernandez. Michelle's style is about telling the story with a clean and simple, yet artsy approach, an awareness of current trends, and garnished with her use of chipboard and often neutral colours. Here is her challenge for us, in her own words:
The challenge for June 15th is- make a public scrapbook page. You are making a page to go up at work or to give away to a family member to put up in their space. In your blog post you will tell us how knowing this page isn't going in a book or in your home changed your style. Did you go all out and make something that is 3D? Did you suppress your love of a particular color or product? How do you feel about the page being public- outside your regular audience of scrapbook lovers who read your blog or open your books at home?

OK so I had to think long and hard about this one, mainly because the majority of my pages are created for the public eye.  My DT work for a local Scrapbook store and a couple of other Design Teams means that I'm constantly creating with a particular goal in mind.......to promote a certain paper collection/embellishments, or to interpret a Sketch as creatively as possible to hopefully inspire others.

My point is, these days I rarely scrap just for the pleasure of accomplishing another page for the scrapbook........that's not to say I don't enjoy these regular methods of scrapping - far from it!

I just struggled with coming up with something different to my norm for this challenge.

Then, whilst I was stalking perusing Facebook one day and in conversation with a scrappy friend, I noticed a gorgeous photo in her album.

Inspiration finally struck and I started on a page as a gift for her.

But before I reveal that, let me fill you in on the inspiration behind it.

I've known Dee for approximately 5 years since she welcomed me into a close knit community of fellow crafters, and nurtured my like minded love of Scrapbooking.

She's one of the good ones.....both creatively and in Spirit.

Unlike some crafters in their Golden years, she is definitely not your 'Old Fashioned' scrapper......always receptive to trying new techniques and idea's, especially when it comes to Art Journalling......her secret love.

This is where her real personality shines through and I believe what she enjoys the most.

We've often talked about our wish to incorporate more and more of the mixed media techniques into our scrapbook pages.

I for one dabble here and there, trying to introduce more 'artsy' stuff into a layout, as does she, but she's said more than once that she often feels a little nervous about going 'full out' on a layout in case she doesn't like it.

That's the purpose of my page.

It's not a perfect work of art by any means (I'm my worst critic!) but I'm hoping it will at least serve as a little encouragement for her to 'go for it' and more than anything......enjoy the process!

Here goes:

Beautiful Bermuda

I started by layering strips of burlap behind a second sheet of PP, then got to work with mists, a whitewash of Gesso, Molding Paste and stencils, stamps and ink and just a touch of Inca Gold (in Silver) to give that pearlescent look.

Another stencil and texture paste up here, together with Gelato's and a paintbrush to create a little water coloured shading.

I printed the photograph onto a textured cardstock, then sanded the edges a little as I wanted to create the look of canvas.

There's also feathers, some inked florist wire, lots of flowers and a pretty little collection of embellies clustered here....

It's now all framed and ready to go.....I'm a little nervous as I hope she likes it.....

......but if nothing else, I thoroughly enjoyed making it.

And now back to some important deets....

Here's a complete list of this month's participating designers!  We encourage you to check out each designer's creation this month, then come on back and give the challenge a try yourself!

We also have the wonderfully talented Christy Riopel joining us as Guest Designer this month so please stop by and say Hi.

 Michelle Hernandez

Jayne Morgan
Wendi Robinson

Katherine Sutton

Lisa Moen
Lisa Spiegel
Ann Jobes

We have a couple of regular artists taking a summer hiatus and look forward to the return of Joanne Burton and Christa Uttley in the fall.
Meantime, if you've wanted to participate as a guest designer with Inspiration Elevator, just contact team lead, Ann at ann jobes at bell dot net
Now it's your turn to get creating about art you share publicly, and share your blog link at the IE blog. We would love to see what you were inspired to make!

So there you have it!

I'm off to check out some fabulous creations from this inspiring group, in amongst trying to clean my house......my parents are flying in later this afternoon from across the pond.

Woo hoo......babysitters!! Lol

Take care and have a great day,
Jayne.x.