Searching for answers - Ruby Rock-it Creative Team

I was inspired by the Vision Board challenge set for the team to instead scrapbook taking the first step in a very important goal I have.
The only avenue I have for finding out who my Father was and the sister I was told I have is Ancestry DNA and the possibility that someone related on my paternal side has done a DNA test.  It has been a goal for some time to do my Ancestry DNA and create my family tree in preparation for sorting through the results, but life events have often gotten in the way of my doing this and I know from being in the DNA Detectives groups and other groups dedicated to finding answers for children who need them that this can be a difficult journey mentally so I also needed to have a good therapist to support me if things go badly.  I have a brilliant therapist so it is time to do my DNA.  My husband, children and in-laws all pitched in and got me a Ancestry DNA kit as a early birthday present and today's layout is documenting the day I filled that vial with spit and mailed it back to Ancestry.

When I saw the new Wanderlust range I knew I had to use it for this layout, as well Ancestry DNA does tell you where your DNA is from and links you with relatives around the world so it felt perfect for this.  I also grabbed out ATY90 Paperworld Baby Boy Little Star as I felt it would make a nice contrast and some scraps of light blue card left over from the light blue Franceville Cards & Envelopes Pastel Pack I cut a window out of for my Frozen themed card.  I also grabbed out some SB91 Just Bead It Glass Beads in Lime and a broken family tree frame chipboard I had in my stash.






My goal was to let my papers and embellishments tell the story of what this photo was all about.
The broken family tree frame represents that I am trying to fill in missing pieces, the beads and double helix represent using DNA to fill in missing pieces and finding out information about myself via my DNA.  The map paper represents the fact that I could get answers from all around the world.  The words I wind up using represent that I am searching and hoping to discover things that are incredibly important for a person to know.

I wanted to have a double helix on my layout and I wanted it to be a similar green to the Ancestry logo so I chose this light green from the Franceville Cards & Envelopes Primary Pack, later I would realise it was perfect for the leaf hints so I cut some leaves from it too.
And I cut the word searching from the card.

I gave the edges of all my leaves and double helix a slight edging with Distress Ink in Twisted Citron.


I figured this would also make a great photo matte so I cut my photo to fit (I had accidentally order 5x7 photos so I had some wiggle room for cropping) and then trimmed the excess card away.

I then got my inks back out and edged my leaves with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.
And using a scrap of foam and a embossing tool I embossed veins on my leaves.

I then added Distress Ink in Twisted Citron over each leave to try and bring out the embossing a bit more.













To colour my broken chipboard frame I first gave it a light coat of white gesso and then experimented with my Distress Ink in Twisted Citron to get a nice green, at first dabbing it on my mat and dipping/rubbing my piece through it, then just applying it directly with a blending tool.

I then edged it with Distress Ink Vintage Photo.

While I had my inks out I edged all my paper layers that I had at that point decided to use.

As for sizes I cut my papers, I don't go for any particular size, I like to cut random pieces and play with them until I am happy with how it has turned out.  If you ever have a creative block give that a go, that is how I came to be scrapping in this way, the need to push through a creative block so I just cut things randomly and played.

I started adhering my layers together with Helmar Acid Free Glue, just putting a swirl in the middle or along the edge depending on how things were going to go together so I would have areas not stuck down for tucking things in later.

You can see how I piece the 2 blue scraps of card to look like a full piece.

I am happy with how they are looking, now it's time to get the background sorted to add them too.

I had alread cut the word Discover from my sheet of THE616 Wanderlust Labels paper and as I was looking at the chevron colours on THE593 Wanderlust Chevrons as being my main background I decided to use the B side of the Labels paper as a edge for my background.

I cut my THE616 Wanderlust Labels paper to form a 1 inch window, trimmed 1/2 a inch of the bottom and one side of my paper and adhered it to my 1 inch frame of THE616 Wanderlust Labels paper.  I then grabbed my stack of layers and worked out where I wanted them, made some marks with a grey lead so I would have a rough guide of where I could cut some more away from the THE616 Wanderlust Labels paper to save for later.

Here is how it looks flipped over.


I now had some scraps for another project or another layer so I went with creating another layer with the THE616 Wanderlust Labels paper.  I forgot to ink it before adhering it down, but that is ok.

I started building my embellishment clusters using my die cuts, broken chipboard, the word I cut from THE616 Wanderlust Labels paper.

I decided I needed a tag in my layers so I grabbed out some Fundamentals Rectangle Tags and I distressed 2 of them with Distress Ink, one with just Vintage photo and the other going in with Twisted Citron followed by Vintage Photo.  I decided to use this one.

To add it to my layout I cut it in half and tucked it into my layers.

I was then inspired by the key in the Faded Empire Stamp Set to add it to my embellishment cluster as well I am trying to unlock some mysteries, so I stamped it with Distress Ink Vintage photo on the left over piece of my tag and fussy cut it out to add to my cluster.

Once I had everything down including the SB91 Just Bead It Glass Beads in Lime I decided I should add in this random frame I had that was similar to my broken frame to represent joining the missing pieces together.  I decided to colour this one differently.

I base coated it with my Dina Wakely paint and then added some Yellow Vicki Boutin paint to my mat and sort of mixed things together until I got a more Ancestry type green.




I then decided my broken chipboard frame needed to be more green so I dry brushed some of my left over lime green I had created over it.  It blends in with the beads, etc much better now.

I then swiped the last remnants on my brush on my 2 corners of my background.

Finally I decided I needed the date I did my test somewhere on my layout so I grabbed the last scrap of my tag and stamped the date with Archival ink on it and tucked it in under some leaves.

I then decided to tuck in some green and grey ricrac I have in my stash and finally called this layout done.

ANZAC - Scrapping Fun Kits Design Team

Last year on ANZAC Day the boys and I spent the day exploring the Discovering ANZACs website and reading all the documents about my Grandfather and my Grandmother's brother, I really wanted to scrapbook these important stories from our family history but I just didn't have enough suitable supplies so I made some Watercolour Poppies that day and then started work on creating a ANZAC inspired kit.

I scrapped the photo my Great-grandmother sent Grandad while he was stationed in France during WW1 earlier this month and on ANZAC Day I spent some quality scrapping time scrapping the restored photo of Grandad from WW1. 

I started by aging my cream cardstock with Distress Ink in Antique Linen and Vintage Photo, I also edged all my paper layers and my photos with Vintage Photo.








I started by playing with my papers until I was happy with my layers, trimming out any paper that would be behind things and adhering them together with Helmar Acid Free Glue.  When sticking them down I didn't glue to the edge so that I could tuck things in later.
I wound up tucking in some Fundamentals white paper doilies later as once my embellishments were going down it felt like it needed it.

I stepped a little further outside my comfort zone and created a big field of poppies with all my Watercolour Poppies, the fabric and resin poppies from the kit and the poppy washi from the kit.  I usually don't do a cluster of flowers this big but I do love my poppy field. 






I started by sticking down some of the poppy washi and then sticking down all my watercolour poppies.  I then added my poppies and the leaf die cuts from the kit.
And finally added 2 wood veneer clock faces and some chipboard flowers and swirls from a old pack of Basic Grey chipboard.

For my title I grabbed out the letters for ANZAC from some Ruby Rock-It chipboard alphas and painted them with some gold paint. 
Once dry I inked them with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to create a more brass look.









I added some scraps from a vintage crochet doily to my layout with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive (I used this for the wood veneer clocks and the resin flowers also) and some green embroidery thread. 
I placed a piece of the vintage doily in my top left cluster and into my main cluster, carefully poking it under flowers so it looked like it belonged in the cluster rather than being added as a after thought.

I added some Ruby Rock-It red micro beads to my cluster by just dabbing a little Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive in random spots.












I added some paper scraps and washi to my top left and bottom right corners to draw your eye.

 I was so worried while I was building this layout as I do not usually do a big flower cluster but I absolutely love how it turned out.

Message from Home - Scrapping Fun Kits

Ever since I attended my first scrapbooking class one of the most important things I planned to scrap the heritage photos and in particular I wanted to tell the 2 ANZAC stories in my family.

So when creating this ANZAC kit for my business Scrapping Fun Kits I thought about what I needed to tell the story of my Granddad and my Grandmother's brother.
For this layout I am scrapping a copy of the front and back of the photo my Granddad's Mother sent him when he was serving in France, dated 22/2/1917.  This is the only photo in existence of his Mum and the only example of her hand writing so it is very special and I am so glad I was able to get a scanned copy on a visit to my then 88 year old Uncle in 2009.  I was going to include the photo of my Granddad but changed my mind during the creation process.

I wanted to create a aged paper look with my cardstock so I started with a sheet of cream cardstock and created the aged feel with Distress Ink in Old Paper, Antique Linen and Vintage Photo using the packaging technique on my craft sheet and then some ink blending to finish to accomplish this.
I then sealed it with Helmar Chrystal Kote to ensure if it got wet I  wouldn't have my ink run.

I then grabbed out the lace from my August 2018 Mary Poppins inspired Kit from Scrapping Fun Kits and aged it with some Distress Ink Aged Linen, I just dabbed it several times on my craft sheet, spritzed with water and then smooshed my lace in it.

To put my layout together I used 3 papers from the kit and selectively cut the papers so I could save the paper that would be behind the photos.
I matted my photos with cream cardstock and inked the edges of the photos and the photo matts with Distress Ink Vintage Photo.
Adhering all my layers with Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue.

I put down a strip of the washi from the April 2019 ANZAC Kit, then adhered my lace using Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.
Once this was down I glued my photo cluster down with Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue and then started adding the charms and 2 of the die cuts from the ANZAC Kit.
I used Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere the charms and Helmar Acid Free Glue to adhere the die cuts.

I decided to just put my Great-Grandmother's name as my Title so I grabbed out some really old Kaszazz alphas that look like handwriting and spelt out her name, I chose this as I wanted it to work in with her hand writing.
As I was sticking it down I realised I was putting down her maiden name so added her surname but I was out of y and s  so I had to make them by cutting other letters and numbers up.  I created the y with a u and the bottom of a 3 and the s were created with the bottom of a 3 and top of a 2. 
I think they look pretty good.

Scrapping family heritage photos can be really hard but I am really happy with how this turned out.