Tuesday 18 October 2016

Kraft + Retro Challenge - Dream

Thanks for visiting my blog today, on this wet and wild "Spr-i-nter" day,
Spring is missing in action, Winter reigns and I hope we don't leap straight into Summer.
The up side however, is it's perfect for crafting.
Here is the Kraft+ challenge for October.
The challenge is to use any one or more of the retro things listed, 
things we may have abandoned in search of new papers and techniques.
My starting point was the hair style on the woman and I went in search of this photo of my Aunt.
It's a different era of retro, but when one is older, retro is a bit further back in history!
The Prima paper is about six years old - it's from the Madeleine collection, "Ste. Marie"
The tatted doily was made by my Mother, as was Aunty Rita's gown.
I tried to glam it up with some Liquitex Glass Beads through a Prima stencil,
then added Walnut Gold Glimmer mist, when the texture paste was dry.
Can you see the tiny gold ribbon bow?   Another item from the retro list.
It was fun using the flower and border punches and not so fun trying to find my eyelet setter.
It's still missing in action, so they got bashed in with a meat tenderiser.
I did locate my vellum and using an idea from Lizzy Hill
I stamped and embossed it before cutting it out with flower and leaf dies.
Love how that turned out.  Thanks Lizzy.

The journalling is on the back of the page and it reads:-

Auntie Rita, was my Mother's youngest Sister; the Baby in a family of nine.
She, along with three of her Sisters, studied Nursing and worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital when she completed her training.  Sadly, she suffered from mental health issues in later life and was unable to work, as a result of the medication she was on.  As she never married, nor had children, my Mother and another Sister, became her carers. When I see this beautiful young woman making her debut, with her whole life ahead of her, no one could have predicted 
her sad, sick and lonely life as an older woman.  

Thanks for calling in today and for any comments you may care to leave.
They are so much appreciated.

15 comments:

  1. This is stunning Helen, much more my kind of retro tha what was in the inspiration graphic. I adore how you did the background, the flowers and photo finish the whole LO to perfection!

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  2. Oh, that is a bit of a sad story, really. One just never knows what the future holds. My Grandma used to have 2 photos of her 2 daughters, very similar to this one, sitting in her spare bedroom. I was always fascinated by how beautiful Mum and my Aunty were in 'those days'!!!! GLAD the vellum idea worked. And punches! Gosh! They still work, then, LOL ;) They look fabulous here. Your whole page works a treat with that photo. Can I say I'm glad it rained....cos then you got to join in with us at K+!! Thank you;)!!!

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  3. Oh dear, that is a bit sad about your Auntie, but it is good to record it anyway.. The photo is so beautiful and has that elegance from years past.. love the colors and I still have that paper!! love the punch work on the edges and lovely dies and flowers too.. That retro flower die is one of the first punches I ever bought.. love that one!! and the mornings are still cool here, however we are expecting a very warm day tomorrow!!

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  4. Such a beautiful layout. I really love the treatment of the doily with the glass beads and your cluster of flowers are beautiful . Great idea with the velum . It is a sad story but I bet your auntie would be thrilled to bits with the beautiful layout of her.

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  5. Gorgeous layout Helen! Love the textured background and all the fancy flowers!

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  6. Simply stunning. The colours just pop on the kraft background. Great to see you putting those punches to use. xxx

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  7. A beautiful and elegant page Helen! Such a sad story about your Aunt but it was good that she had a loving family to take care of her. Love the textured background and your vellum flowers are gorgeous .. have to try that myself one day!! A really beautiful Olde World page! hugs xx

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  8. This is so beautiful Helen, with all the wonderful layers of lace and flowers and the little personal details like your Mum's tatting. I always love the way you use mixed media with a light touch to add depth and interest without overwhelming the photo. One of my fave details is those embossed and diecut vellum sprays, very pretty!! :o)xxx

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  9. Such a gorgeous vintage layout! I love the added glass beads and the pretty blooms.

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  10. Wow, wow, wow! This is so gorgeous...I love the colours, the textures & layers, as well as that embossing. It's all so beautiful. Thanks for joining us over @ Kraft+ :)

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  11. Sad story, but what an incredibly gorgeous layout to remember your auntie! The doily is amazing!

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  12. Absolutely gorgeous Helen. Love love love your work xxx Thank you for playing along with us again x

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  13. A beautiful layout for a really beautiful aunt. It makes you realise just how much you need to enjoy the moment for the next it may be gone. She was lucky to have two caring sisters to look after her. Love your take on the challenge. A beautiful layout with loads of wonderful things to look at.

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  14. Absolutely love this page! It is such a beauty...just like you aunt! Love the elements and the styling....so perfect! Beautiful photo too and a sad story of this young beauty...

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  15. I adore the romantic feel of this page! The gold embossing is tremendous. Super inspiring! Hugs, Autumn

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