At last, it's the end (or Colours of the Rainbow 3)

The Never-Ending Rose Album!

Remember this?  Yes, I know it was a while ago, but we're finally going to see the last few pages of the Rose Album.  If you want a recap, please have a look here and here - we'll wait here for you...

Okay, all up to speed?  So here we go, final act.  (Romance warning - it's really pretty girly stuff, so if you prefer your scrapping a little grungier, try these pages instead!  But do check out today's quotes at the bottom of the post before you go.)

As you'll recall (since you've only just been there, right?), I enjoyed myself on this album by adding extra layers of images to some of the papers I was using.  

This double-page spread was especially fun to do as, for some reason, I find birdcages really enjoyable to stamp.  Thankfully, it seems plenty of other people do too, as birdcages of all shapes and sizes seem to crop up pretty frequently in stamp sets.  Or maybe that's just the ones I'm drawn to...?

The pages are trimmed with the Tim Holtz Scallops On the Edge die.  The paper to the left in the picture is from Paper Cellar, with my elaboration; the one to the right is from Prima's Fairy Belle 6x6 pad, with one extra birdcage from me.

Right from the start, as one of my first acquisitions, the Tim Holtz bird on a branch stamp has been an absolute favourite.  He's stamped here in Stormy Sky Distress Ink.  I used my Tattered Rose Distress Marker on the rose (makes sense, I suppose) to give it some colour, and to tone in with the flowers on the opposite leaf.

As well as the lovely Pink Paislee birdcage (from the London Market stamp set) in the top left corner and on the Prima page, I've also added the fabulous Kaisercraft tall birdcage on the inner edge.  I'm in love with this stamp: it's elegant, ethereal, perfectly proportioned... just delicious!


I like how it looks as though the fairy is reaching up towards it, perhaps to release the spring and let out whoever's inside, whilst keeping her eye on the mischievous butterflies, of course.


This page also feels quite close to home.  My first love was ballet; I was headed that way for quite a while when I was young... and the dancing fairy is balanced on a mushroom - fungi are one of my mother's passions... fungus forays galore in the Czech Republic!

Here, I've added the shabby chic frame (TH) and some additional script to the right-hand page, to complement and mirror the left-hand side.   


I love the gentle blue-lavender shades of these two papers.  The edges of each set of pages are distressed using inks that tone in, so here I think I applied Weathered Wood with a blending tool.  I think it just gives a lovely sense of definition to the pages to give them that edging.


For this next double page spread, I wanted to add some extra interest.  I created a half-page insert in translucent paper (you try getting it to stay still for a photo on a windy day!), stamped with another of my favourite TH stamps, and edged in blended Bundled Sage and Forest Moss.  

The On the Edge dies used are the brackets pair: the wide bracket is visible on the left page, and the wavier one echoing from the insert to the edge of the right-hand page.

The butterfly in the top left was part of the packet of Tattered Florals die-cuts I bought on ebay for an absolute song (plenty of flowers, leaves and a few butterflies to keep me going while I decide whether to invest in the dies myself), so in its original form it was just plain brown Kraft cardstock.  I gave it a coat of white acrylic, and then inked over that with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.  And where did I choose to do that?  Yes - well spotted, top marks! - in the bottom corner of that left hand page, so that I got a lovely shadow effect by using it as a stencil at the same time as getting it to the colour I wanted - gotta love a shortcut!  I then stamped the music (Pink Paislee - they're going to need a PP abbreviation soon!) on to the butterfly itself in Forest Moss.  He also has a coat of Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

So that's all, folks, as far as the Rose Album goes.  Sorry it took so long, but I hope it was worth the wait.  


If you enjoyed this album, here's a sneak peek of another you might like which will be coming up shortly.  Watch this space...


If you would like to buy or commission albums, cards or other pieces, do get in touch by leaving me a comment.


For now, I'd just like to say thank you for spending some time here today.  If you've stuck with the Rose Album this long, I think you deserve a double quote so... here's a hilarious one from, of all people, Eleanor Roosevelt:


I once had a rose named after me, and I was very flattered.  But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.
Eleanor Roosevelt


... and here from Dorothy Parker, one of my favourite writers, a blend of just the right amount of romance and bittersweet acerbic wit (and it works best out loud):

One Perfect Rose


A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet -
One perfect rose.

I knew the language of the floweret;
'My fragile leaves,' it said, 'his heart enclose.'
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose. 


Dorothy Parker

Colours of the Rainbow

Finally, as I promised you, some proof that I do have colours other than blue and brown on my palette!  Here's my Rose mini-album:

I also want to start showing some of the new techniques and possibilities I'm discovering every step of the way.  

This is a 6x6 album, with the front and back covers made of heavyweight chipboard, and the internal pages based on lightweight kraft cardstock.  The papers for this one are partly from Prima's Fairy Belle 6x6 pad (gorgeous!), and partly from Paper Cellar's Victorian Classic 6x6 pad. 

I found the Paper Cellar pad very much reduced in The Range one day (I guess it's sort of as close as we get in the UK to Michael's but, from what I read about it, oh, how I envy the American crafters having Michael's!), so I bought two or three books of it.  They're nice shabby chic designs in fairly neutral colours, but with plenty of scope for me to get creative dressing them up, as you'll see.  This is one of them on the cover, with additional inking round the edges.

The metal corner edgings were one of my e-bay bargains.  I'm sure you'll spot them coming up again somewhere down the line.

I added some mixed ribbons and strings to the binding rings, some lace ribbon across the centre, and then the silky rose in the corner.  It was originally white (part of a very cheap bridal set, from the same place as the ribbon... the Czech Republic may not do much scrapbooking, but they do do white weddings), so I used my Tim Holtz Distress Markers on it.  

The rose is backed onto some die-cut distressed florals I got on e-bay, cut out of kraft card.  I used pale acrylic to get a matte background, and then inked the colours on, again using the markers to get the detail of veins on the leaves and petals.  Over the top of that I painted some Rock Candy (clear) Distress Crackle Paint, 
and left them to get on with crackling.

I mentioned in the last blog that I'd been playing with the TH On the Edge dies... well, here they come in to their own, I think.  Page by page, different edgings reveal themselves (though I've not got a full set yet, so there are some repeats!).


I love how you get a tantalising little sneak-peek of what you're about to get and, most of all, I like letting it fall open like this, so that you get a sense of the whole paper collection in one go.


Next time we'll take a closer look at the page spreads, and some of the detailing I've been adding to get the Paper Cellar designs to reflect the Prima ones they're being used with.


Thanks so much for dropping by... there'll be more very soon!




I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.
Lousia May Alcott