Well, here it is! In all honesty, I could have gone on designing this collection forever. The sirens that they are, these mermaids captivated and mystified me! I wanted to include so much more, go in different directions, but I had to be disciplined and limit myself, keeping to my original vision. Here's the collection:
In my original vision, my papers would be misty, watery abstract backgrounds that would just give you the feeling of the ocean. Normally I use a combination of textures, patterns and color overlays to make my papers, and they turn out rather quickly and easily. This time I used photographs, lots of brushes and filters, and I experimented with the art history brush tool in Photoshop. I taught myself some new techniques, but it was very time consuming. I made a ton of backgrounds, but there were only a dozen or so that I really liked. I just wasn't going to have enough papers to turn out a collection "Biggie."
Consequently, I found myself with an over-abundance of embellishments. I looked through them all and found a theme within a theme - treasure! So I took most of the treasure and put it together in an embellishment mini. I added a couple of pirate coins for good measure. To make these, I modified a style that I created when I designed the coins in another of my collections,
Via Dolorosa Collection Mini.
When I design a collection, I make layouts during the process rather than at the end. That way, it's the photos and the scrapping process that determine what works and what doesn't. I know you'll get a product that you can use to make your own layouts, not something that just looks pretty in the boutique but won't get used. In one of my favorite layouts, I used a mask that I created and clipped a paper to, to make a border. And rather than leave you alone to figure out how I did it, I just included the mask in the layered scrapbook page file that comes with this JIF Plus:
And in case you hadn't guessed yet, all three products are available together in a Value Pack!
And here are the layouts!
I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the design process of this collection. I hope you have fun using it on your own digital scrapbook pages and hybrid crafts!
