Good morning

Many of us find decorating our pages a little daunting – the way to begin is to look at other pages that have been created, look at the decorations and try them yourself.  This can be done by purchasing one of the AZZA booklets which always come with the most amazing sample layouts, or the easiest and most accessible place – online.  I have a gallery on this blog and try to post layouts to inspire you but there is always Facebook, Pinterest and many others.

Lyn’s Pinterest Page – Decorations

You could also ask your Consultant to give you a class on Inks, chalks, stamps, etc.   Every AZZA Consultant is well trained and would always be happy to run a class for a group of Ladies wanting to learn something new.

Most of us have so many stamps, inks, chalks, pens and all the other crafty goods that we continue to accumulate, now is  your chance to begin using them.  Please do remember the AZZA philosophy – less is best, you need to showcase your photos, not hide them behind the decorations.  The decorations should always be in the same ‘tones’ as the photos so as not to take the eye off the photos when you look at the page.

AZZA creates stamps, figurines and decoration stencils with each theme, do use them together to create your little ‘scenes’.

Here, the Creator ‘So Scrap’ in France has used both an AZZA decoration figure and AZZA Decorative stencil to create this little scene.  Note how she has varied the colours when she has used the decorative stencil and then highlighted it with a white pen.  The figure has also been coloured in the tones of the page and cut!  Quite often we forget we do not have to use the whole ‘shape’.  The little piece of string completes the scene.  If you have the ‘Nautical’ theme products at home, go ahead and give it a go!

I couldn’t possibly show you the decoration and not the lovely page ……

Note her second decoration using the AZZA Nautical decoration stencil, she has also highlighted the shape with the white pen and created a ‘sea’ below the shape for it to ‘sit’ on.  She has used the AZZA Mauritius stencil to create the page.

The decoration above is a combination of an AZZA stamp, silhouette figures, a punched out circle and an AZZA embossing shape.  Note how the chalking creates the frame for the scene and the highlights on the stamped bicycle using a white pen.

Now to show you Celine’s page creation with a combination of decorations, all with the same theme.

A beautiful set of pages using the AZZA Mirage stencil and the Round Lace Frames cutting dies.

 

Now to a page by Mimouscrap using the AZZA Japanese Spring Theme products.

Below she shows us a close-up of her decoration, note how the stamped decoration has been enhanced with chalks and pens.  Always enhance your stamped image with chalks and pens to bring it alive.  Once again,  it sits on a chalked background.

Below is a different use of the same products on a page.  Here the stamps have been stamped on an AZZA Cutting die shape.  A lot of detail on this one,  it is beautiful.

Here a ‘lace figure’ has been coloured and hung off an AZZA wooden scroll.  Note the little white dots add to the scene.  These are all little ideas for you to play with.

Another wonderful AZZA theme is the ‘Walk in the park’ set.  The stamps set is so versatile and can be used with so many themes.  This would be a good one to get if you don’t already have it.

Below a little scene has been created using a few stamps together.  Note how it sits on a chalked background and the lamp post also ‘sits’ on  a base – using pens.

A lovely pre-cut Mirage page by Christine Ronsin using the Walk in the Park theme to create a Title page.  Note how the light in the lamp has been highlighted.  The scene is ‘brought together’ with the circle.  By not making the circle a continuous line, it is not too ‘heavy’.

Pink birds, blue birds …..Rosalie has created a lovely page here using the Mirage stencil and the Walk in the Park stamps.  Note how she has coloured in the stamp to bring it to life and once again it ‘sits’ on a shaded in area.  Note the use of ‘dots’ with the decorations on both Christine and Rosalie’s pages.

A page by Christelle, idscrap, Europe.  How beautiful is this little scene.  Note how the biggest tree has been stamped a little lighter, this has been done by using lighter colours and not pressing quite as hard as with the two other images.

Lastly a few decorations by Christine Caparros using the same set of AZZA stamps.

Herewith Christine’s page using the AZZA Toronto stencil.  I love the use of a detailed boat on the one page and the lighter image on the second.

 

Pages can be completed with just chalking/inking.  This cute little page by Celine has been completed with chalking, a few lace figures and a few lines.  Very simple, but it completes the page.

The page below has been completed with papers, note the lighter paper cut-outs have been embossed, both have been inked and then on the page:  inking and a few pen highlights.  One small stamped image,  I love this page!!  But then I am from Africa.

Another page by Be Creativa where she has completed her page with inking – to frame the page and then a simple stamp down the one side.  The tag has the same theme and she has used a lace figure on this.

Texture stencils are also a good way to finish off a page if you do not want to do too much.

They fill in the corners between photos and can also create a nice line for the eye to follow.

A few of the AZZA Texture stencils available are:

and the latest one to arrive in Australia …..

Below is a set of pages by Cathy Pirson, showing the use of a texture stencil.

On the front page Cathy has used her texture stencil from her photos outward towards the edge of her page but on the second page she has used the texture stencil from the ‘outside’ of the page toward the middle to complete the shape of the stencil.

Cathy has used the AZZA Essential stencil for her pages.

On her back page she has not used the Plants texture stencil, but the AZZA Embossing folder. She has used inks to complete the shape of the stencil.  Using the texture stencil will give you a heavier look, using the inks on their own will give you a lighter decoration.

One last decoration by Christine in Europe …  what fun.  Created with the AZZA stamps and Decorative stencils all telling the story of the pages that follow!!

 

Thought I would leave you with a U-Tube clip of Dominique Spirlet creating an Accordion Album.  She uses chalking, inking and pens for the decoration – do take a look and see how you can use these techniques on your pages.

 

 

Creating an Accordion Album with Dominique

Happy Scrappin’

Lyn