Young Woman of Wonder

Here is a link to the poem from which the title derives - there is also a link at the end with a bit more description.

My imaginary Victorian Townhouse attic trunk has once again yielded a treasure......young Esmée on her sixteenth birthday. From the other items found with this, I surmise that she received a trip to Paris!  She appears to be in the family dining room, and I am certain there is a wonderful cake on the table awaiting her.



What follows is, per usual, my way of logging what I did to get this page.  Please feel free to skip along past!

I gessoed just the edge of my journal page with an old credit card, and then tapped it up and down with the flat side to create some texture.  I put deli paper behind the page to protect the rest of the journal, and actually remembered to remove it before the gesso dried.  I did only the edges, because I knew I was going to mount the rest of the work on a smaller piece of card and put it into the journal.

I then colored this edge with a watery mix of Antique Linen and Tattered Rose Distress Paints.

I am (as is obvious in this blog) not a photographer, nor do I have pictures to use for something like a portrait challenge, so I decided to use one of Tim Holtz' Found Relatives in the interest of time.  I have since delved into The Graphic Fairy, and hope to play around with some of the fabulous imagery there one of these days.  But as this is my last free day for a while (university commences again this coming week), I went for the ready-made thing this time!

When I found the image that would become Esmée, I immediately wanted to create some Victorian-looking wall paper or plastered wall behind her, and went to a technique I recalled from Anna Karin to get a nice, textured look.

I gessoed a large piece of card, and embossed it with two Alterations Textured Impressions embossing folders.  I then painted on a watery mix of Distress Paints inVictorian Velvet and Tattered Rose, as seen below.  I was pleased that the gesso remained intact, as Anna Karin actually applies after she dry embosses.

I was most pleased with the results, as was my consultant in all things, Gertrude.

Now to find the frame for Esmée's portrait....I remembered a beautiful project by the talented Butterfly at Words and Pictures using the Book Covers stamp from Tim Holtz as something other than a book cover.   Forgive the shadow in the picture below - my consultant was moving in for a closer look.

The stamp would work as a frame for Esmée, yea! I stamped the smaller Book Cover with Versamark and heat embossed it with Victorian Bronze embossing powder, leaving a small edge around the frame clear so that I could distress it with Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy  distress inks.  I inked over the embossing powder as well, using the darker ink around the edges especially.

I added in other time-saving ready made ephemera from the Thrift Shop collection - wished I had distressed them bit before adhering - lesson learned!

I had thought to present Esmée in a straightforward fashion, as I am trying to teach myself how to layer as an element of the piece itself, a la Kate Yetter and others, but decided  ultimately that the jumbled look was better, and more in keeping with the story :-)

I adhered the page to my prepared journal page, after securing a seam binding ribbon dyed with Victorian Velvet Distress Stain, and tied to look like a package, or perhaps a folio which contained all these goodies. .  

I stamped "Happy Birthday" in Archival Coffee on tissue paper, and adhered with matte medium.  The stamp is part of a wonderful set from Oxford Impressions.  

Here is the final page.  Had I been able to actually gift her, I would have given Esmée the following  poem, which was composed in 2007 by Joana Ukali as part of the United Nations Women's Rights project.  

I am also posting this at Brenda's blog party for Week Four.

Thank you so much for visiting, and comments most welcome!  xx Lynn