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Back to inspirations
Santorini
For those of you who did not see the images of Santorini and for those who may be visited this splendid island. Santorini is really picturesque with its cream white houses and, blue domes of the churches, black sand beaches, the sky and the sea so blue that one cannot believe his eyes.
Its history is rich and mysterious like the history of all Greece with its the picturesque small and large islands.
Thanks to a powerful eruption in 1450 BC that gave the island its crescent shape a legend was born that Santorini was the lost Kingdom of Atlantis.
Doriens that occupied this island in VIIth BC called it Thira. Even when at the XIII century the island was conquered by Venice and its name became Santorini the old name Thira or Fira (in Greek) remained as the name of the island’s main city.
The city is very impressive. It was rebuilt after the seism of 1956. And now it governs, cut in the volcanic cliff.
This island is almost all pedestrian, like all the Cyclades islands. And discovering it can be very interesting…
Narrow streets, picturesque hotels, small coffee shops and restaurants (I adore eating fish over there… mmmm… delicious). There is one street that you cannot miss. It is the most spectacular, it carries out towards a large white Church with a blue dome, which became the symbol of Santorini. You can also discover another city or rather, a village - Oia, village of the sinners, known by its white houses, blue and ochre.
And for me, historian, the most spectacular place is Arkotiri. A site which was covered with 3500 of volcanic ash. Thanks to that it remained very well preserved.
Imagine the streets with houses 2-3 stories high, a mill, frescos etc…
And so I stop…. Because the history does not have an end…
If one day you will have a chance to visit Santorini, after all your walks and discoveries, relax on terrace at the evening while sipping one of their innumerable cocktails and observe one of the most splendid sunsets you’ll ever see…
Finally, to change the subject, here is Annie Quintin’s article …
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Small details by Annie Quintin
When Marina asked me to talk to you about the small details that I use here and there on my scrapbooking pages I wondered what she meant by that. What I have to say? Why she asked me? How to write a text about small details without ending up with just simple numbering of tricks and things that are used in Scrapbooking? I realized why she made this proposal to me only when I looked closely at my own creations.
It is quite true that my pages are detailed! I can say that in my process of creation to finicky and to add personal details is the part of scrapbooking that impassions me the most.
In fact, it relaxes me! It is with a different regard that I took pictures while zooming at the details. What I will present you are my pages under a microscope (or almost) with short comments. One image is worth a thousand words…and forty-two images are worth…um..here we go!
Playing with paper design.
Whether I am starting a page or adding details I often have different ways of using the paper. Here are some tricks…
A polka dot motif can be used to insert eyelets. Note that I do note regularly use this technique. I mix the colors and I do everything spontaneously without counting the quantity of the used elements and calculating the space between them.
You can also simply use one design to create another one. Here the circles become flowers.
I really like to trace shapes with my black Zig crayon. It emphasizes the paper design. It can also add some punch to pastel colors.
Here is a trick to add some texture. Wet the sides of your design paper with your finger (that you will have soaked in a glass of water) and scratch the paper. Ripped and textures effect guaranteed!
To « punch » the paper and give a freestyle effect to your page cut the paper roughly and…crookedly!
Wet edges again. .. You can roll your Bazzill cardboard by working with your fingers.
Here is just an example of the way to play with the background design. I traced the shape with a pencil so I can add buttons.
Here I also traced the paper design with a pencil.
Pencils.
I cannot do without my pencils when I am creating my pages. They are essential to emphasize the elements and to create contrasts.
Here is the simple festooned border doubles to point out the pink of the chipboard.
Three small touches of zig crayon and Uni-ball Signo white crayon to match the flowers of the Bobarbo paper.
Parisian fasteners placed in groups of three. I like encircle the embelishmens!
With a medium point permanent marker you can create your own buttons. It is also very amusing!
Here fine lines are traced to to delimit the paper.
My permanent marker is also used to create photo frames. Your trace does not have to be straight. As you can see I use the fact that I am clumsy to trace crooked. It adds a little movement.
Double trace to delimit the lettering cut by hand.
Here again, encircled embellishments. You can believe me – that is fun!
With buttons, pencils create a photo frame
Modify the embellishments.
There are tons of things that one can do with the embellishments. Trying new stuff impassions me. There are so many possibilities. Here are some ideas.
You can cover your chipboards with lace. (Ah me and my lace… la la la)
Encircle a shape with Parisian fasteners.
Or simply add some glitter inside.
Here again, the permanent marker( but she is not organized the girl!) on plastic flowers. And here are some “homemade” embellishments..
A photo corner found at my mothers. I painted it and covered with glitter.
OK, why this photo? Um…you can sew by hand. Just in case you did not know…um…hihi
Here are tons of chipboards that I inked. I adorned them with decorative stones, stickers, doodling, rub ons and shiny gel-pen lines.
Have you ever used the Rangers cracking medium?
The Parisian fasteners from different suppliers. Do not be afraid of mixing them.
Here is a chipboard that I covered with decorative stones to add texture and that I covered with paint later.
Another chipboard! This time it is covered with glitter.
My friends – the rub-ons!
Easy to use and interchangeable. Rub-ons are very amusing… They are of quality, of course!
Here I used white pencil in a black rub-on.
I scrached the rub-ons on the button.
Bobarbo rub-ons transfered on a photo.
Rub-ons on a chipboard. Why not? If you make a mistake do not worry. It adds an interesting touch.
Trace around the rub-ons to emphasize them. Didn’t I tell you that I like to emphasize details with pencils?
Other small details.
Aaaah – lace! A simple band… or in several layers. Chic romantic effect guaranteed!
To play with the shapes of ribbon…I cut the ribbon following the design.
I start to amuse myself with paint. Here, I delimited the contour of the paper with a paint a bit darker then the background. A bit of pencil and chizzle-it to finish it off.
A roll for patterns drenched in paint to make the effect of a false seam.
The same trick used on a photo.
Stamped shapes. We often forget to use them!
A small focus here shows a mixture of paper, various colors, doodling, superposition and the use of Parisian fasteners. One can do not badly in the same block without it looking overcharged.
But the question with a big Q is……
With all these little details around how do we make sure to keep the focus on the most important, i.e. the photograph?
The trick that I often use on my creations is the principle of the visual triangle which is in fact, a design technique. It is a dimension that I learned how by try and error, but also by reading the Scrapbook Answers magazine which unfortunately does not exist anymore. The triangle, you can see it everywhere: in interior design, in publicities, etc The idea of the visual triangle is to use the repetition of elements and/or colors to direct the glance towards the subject of our choice. Therefore, in scrapbooking it is the photograph! Thus, I often use three elements of the same color to create a point of focus on the photograph.
Here is an example. (As appeared in the magazine Style & Scrap of spring 2007)
On this page you can see multiple small details and embellishments in addition to four papers of different design.
Why is our gaze directed on the photo?
Sincerely, I do not deserve any praise… I even cheated! Yes, yes! It is the conscientious use of three elements which help the eye not to be confused. And the center is obvious – it is the photograph!
(As appeared in the magazine Style & Scrap of spring 2007)
Another example…
Here is a more “freestyle” page. I laid out everywhere little chunks of elements: design papers, seams, painting, buttons, flowers, journaling. You can see various visual triangles. It is the best way to avoid confusion and to concentrate the attention towards the essential no matter how much embellishments and small details we use.
I hope you liked this microscopic voyage through my pages,. Now, I am uncovered. I revealed you all my secrets!
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