As a Scrapbook Evangalist, one of my passions is finding new ways to present scrapbook layouts as valid works of art. And as I was decorating my new house, I decided to take that concept and create a scrapbook gallery in the circulation hall. I wanted to make the scrapbook layouts blend in architecturally with the rest of the elements in our rambler cottage style house.
So, I went to my local Michael's, and found unfinished shadow box style memory frames, and got to work creating my gallery. I painted the inside panels black to create depth, and because Black is the New Black, as I have discussed before! And then I painted the frames white, using the same Super Hide white that all of the trim and baseboards are painted throughout the house.
Once the frames were dry and ready, I mounted a piece of store bought 12 x 12 scrapbook paper into each frame. I used the same background paper in each frame to give the gallery a consistent feel. And then I took some of my favorite digital scrapbook layouts, and had them printed at 11 x 11 at a local Kinko's type print shop. If you have your digital layouts printed at your local print shop, ask them to use a cardstock, and to print it on a Fiery or better printer. I prefer non-glossy. But that's a personal choice. The prints you'll get will look darker than they do on your computer monitor, so choose layouts that naturally have high contrast to print at a local printer. If you want prints that look EXACTLY like your layouts on your screen, then order from a PHOTO printer, such as Printroom.com.
I cut the 11 x 11 layouts so that there were no white borders, and then mounted them into the memory frames on top of the 12 x 12 background paper. Then, I measured, and hung the frames on the wall, gallery style.
I think it looks great, and it was an easy and inexpensive way to instantly increase my art collection!
With all of the doodling, handwriting, and inking going on in the scrapbook world right now, I'm happy to report that Black is the New Black! I have found myself jumping aboard, and embracing the style with much enthusiasm. When my grandchildren look back at my 2006 scrapbook, they'll refer to it as "Grandamme's Dark Ages".
Last year, I went through my "Pink Period", and perhaps next year will be "The Year of the Earth Tone". But for now, I'm cranking up the AC/DC and freestylin' with the Sharpie. I outlined every single damn element in the K & Company mini book in black, and today as I was working on my new upcoming collections for autumn, I found myself tuning the Lightness on my Hue/Saturation dial down to nearly nothing.
If these layouts get any darker, we'll have to bust out the black light, and call it a party!
How have you been using black in your layouts or designs these days?
