Where There's a Will, There's a Chevron

ETA:  Holy cow!  I can't believe it.  The "Winter Market" layout from this post is being featured on the Color Room site.  This is a real honor, and it's very exciting for me.

I have a confession.  Working with black and white chevron so much over these last several days made me think about the icing on top of napoleons (mille-feuilles/cream slices).  A lot.  Today, I gave in to my craving and bought myself the treat that you see pictured above.  Talk about a yummy chevron!  :)

And now, back to the original post...

I promised another layout with a friendship bracelet, and here it is!  I created this layout for palette #127 in the Color Room.  This palette is a bit different...instead of four colors, it contains three colors plus a pattern.  The pattern is black and white chevron.  I don't currently own any black and white chevron paper, but I didn't let that stop my from participating in the challenge.  I made a friendship bracelet page element to supply this chevron pattern.   

Supplies: patterned papers by My Mind's Eye; kraft notebook paper by Earthbound--Cachet; journaling sticker by Lily Bee Design; buttons & alphabet stickers by October Afternoon; burlap/hessian tag by Canvas Corp.; ink by Tsukineko; punch by E. K. Success; pens by Zig; thread by DMC; natural twine; assorted glass beads; household safety pins.

Since I was already using a friendship bracelet, I thought, why not use friendship pins, too?  So I've added two.  One is held on by a paper strip, and the other is sewn on, as you see in the two photos below.

And if I'm already adding friendship pins, I might as well glue on some more seed beads, right?  :)  Swirls of beads...

...and also lines and clumps of beads to the right of my title.

Last but not least, here is the journaling, which explains that this play area is called the "Main Street Playland."

But wait!  That's not all!  I felt so inspired by this color palette that I made a second layout.  It's completely different, and it uses photos from my 1995 study abroad experience in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Supplies: background paper by Glitz; plain & patterned kraft papers by My Mind's Eye; alphabet stickers by Basic Grey; snowflake sticker by Cosmo Cricket; chipboard frame, die cut word bubble, & lollipop stick by October Afternoon; envelope by Colorbok; beading wire by Artistic Wire; stamp by Stampendous; ink by Stewart Superior; paints by Ranger; pen by Pilot; vintage Czech sequins; ribbon & shipping tag upcycled from gift packaging.

This time, I added the chevrons by stamping with corrugated cardboard.  It was immensely satisfying on some kind of visceral artistic level.  I tore the top sheet off the cardboard to expose the ribs, cut two pieces to fit my envelope, and got good & inky during the grungy stamping process.  :)  After that, most of my embellishing was winter/snow-related...starting with the "snowflake on a stick" that is tucked into the envelope.

I painted faux snow onto the tops of my photos...

...and onto the chipboard frame, creating some drippy "icicles."  By the way, I added texture to the red part of the frame by pressing a piece of burlap/hessian into the paint while it was still wet.

I stamped wintery Russian dolls onto kraft paper, then cut them out.  I also sprinkled on sequin "snowflakes."

I inked the strings of the shipping tag, so that they would coordinate with the chevron envelope.  Then I twisted beading wire around the strings, so that I could position them as if they were blowing in a cold gust of wind.

The journaling reads: "A little snow never discouraged Russians (or Minnesotans)!  This artisan market ran daily.  I bought cool souvenirs there."  Ugh, reading it over again, I realize that the last sentence sounds like a corny pun.  :)  Didn't mean it that way.

And here's one of the photos of the market. 

Whew!  Are you still with me?  Thanks for sticking around through this extra-long post.  Thanks for stopping by my blog today!