Man at Work

Growing up we slowly learn to stop "messy play" in line for more constructive methods of play that are usually a lot cleaner. As children we're told off for making a mess & getting things dirty, so when I want to try a grungier layout I get this sense of unease. I think my main concern is "what if I LITERALLY mess it up", make a total pigs ear of it, waste a whole lot of stuff & dont like it in the end.

Well, with a bit of inspiration from Jennifers "crafting without fuss" blog post (part of this weekends blog event she's holding called "Refresh Your Craft & Soul") & this months Scrap 365 sketch I just got on with it.

I used some washi tape before stencilling with punchinella & plenty of acrylic black paint, I then added a few streaks of black paint as well. With the page about my son doing work experience at a publishers I wanted plenty of representation of ink and printing which I think this effect did quite well.

I started layering the photo up but found I really didnt like the lines behind it on the background going horizontally so I turned it around. I also found there was too much going on in the background of the photo so I inked around the edges with brown & black ink to bring the eye more to the subject in the photo.

With the browns & the blacks the page was looking a little dark and dull so I decided to brighten it up with some gilding flakes. I die cut a clock face, painted it & once dry added the flitterglu & gilding flakes before adding it to the layers. I also stamped some clocks & cogs to the background sheet with flitterglu & again used the gilding flakes on them. A few layered embellishments and a cork title finished the page off before adding the journalling.