CSI case file 2: The little one and the sea

Challenge two of CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration starts today. I have really enjoyed seeing all the gorgeous layouts posted for challenge 1 (the deadline for challenge 1 is on Sunday). This week we have another fabulous colour combo and inspiration photo. Head over to the CSI site to check out the layouts of the rest of the DT. I hope you can play along with us!

Here's the case file:

And here's my layout:

And each of the two pages on its own (sorry about the somewhat blurry second photo):

From the evidence items I used: flower, sheer elements, flourish
And from the testimony: document an adventure

The inspiration photo made me think of water, so I decided to use these photos of the first time our little boy stood in the sea. I had a lot of photos from this occasion, so I did a double layout. Since I was going to use mists and Distress Stains, I used watercolour paper, which also gives a nice texture. The clouds and birds were clear embossed. Blue shades of Distress Stains were dragged across the paper, aiming for a streaky but soft appearance, some areas were left the white of the paper. The clear embossing resist the ink. On the base of the layout a flourish was clear embossed (I thought it looked a bit like waves), some gesso was smeared here and there and then I mixed a mist from Adirondack Pool and Distress Ink Broken China reinkers and Perfect Pearls, to get the right shade. Vellum was dry embossed, torn into strips and Antique Linen Stickles applied at the top, creating a wavy and sandy look. I also layered some gauze under the photos.

When I was thinking of this challenge, I was thinking of adventures and how they don't really need to be big major things, but small things can also be adventures, especially for a child. I wrote the journaling as a description of the adventure of being in the sea for the first time. The journaling is on stamped tickets underneath the photos and typed on a paper placed in the pocket. The text beneath the photos translates ‘hold your feet up’, ‘one foot in the sea’, ‘both feet in the sea’, ‘a little bit scary’, ‘but interesting’, ‘and fun’. He was very sceptical at first and tried to hold both feet up as long as possible, but then it was more fun. Because of the story theme of January (Alice) I adapted the Hemingway title The old man and the sea, to The little one and the sea as my title. The journaling pocket was inked with Distress Stain Mustard Seed to get the right shade of yellow. I only used small bits of the lavender and maroon colours.

Some close ups:

Two of the clouds were stamped with sentiment stamps. The ‘you are my happy’ stamp was stamped repeatedly on a border piece.

The sun is made from a piece of debossed and sanded Core’dinations paper layered on crepe paper.

Stars were cut from the maroon Core’dinations paper, sanded and then rub-ons were placed on top. 

Thank you so much for visiting! It is a bit quiet on the blog at the moment, because I am visiting family.

Supplies: Stampscapes: Ducks in formation 027A, Duck Trio in Flight 023A; Hero Arts Halloween Moon CG369, Bold Flourish S5146, Home Sweet Home ST513, alphabet stamps; Tim Holtz Stamper’s Anonymous ticket stamps; MME cloud stamp; Distress Stain: Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Brocken China, Faded Jeans, Mustard Seed; Perfect Pearls; Distress Ink reinker: Broken China; Adirondack Pool reinker; Versafine Onyx Black; Stazon Jet Black; clear embossing powder; BasicGrey patterned paper; gesso; Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folders; Spellbinders scalloped die; Cuttlebug star dies; Hambly screen print; 7Gypsies journaling pocket; Making Memories letter stickers; American Crafts rub-ons; crepe paper; vellum; gauze; fabric flower.