Adding color to a sepia photo

Hi Flock Followers! This is Donna with a project that is near and dear to my heart. My grandchildren! Last Christmas I had my three angels photographed together. Living in two states, we coordinated the shoot with outfits that would work together. Our studio of choice did not do the best job, and what I ended up with was the collage of choice, but in a sepia tone. The color version, without the vignette cut off the top of my oldest granddaughter's head when framed. So I set out to make the photo look more "Christmas-y" by adding color with the Carte Bella Winter Fun collection. Purchasing a Warehouse Combo Grab Box from Flamingo Scraps, you may receive these in your box! All the hexes and the chevrons we cut from just one double sided piece of patterned paper and the rocking horse is from the chipboard collection. The hex piece in the upper right corner was a scrap left over from my July guest designer project. This is the finished result.

As I was so focused on the process of making this project, I failed to photograph each step, I am an over thinker when I work on things, but never though about that, so I will add a step by step, listed below. The photo is an 8 x 10, so I used an 11 x 14 photo mat and started with a few hexagons cut out from the patterned paper. This was my preliminary design I started out with. I snapped a quick photo with my phone to remember the placement  as I was gluing them down.

Before I glued them down, I used a Tim Holtz stencil, Honeycomb, as it resembled the shapes of my hexagons. I inked them with Gathered Twigs and Broken China distress inks, over lapping the colors in spots to blend. Next I sprayed the mat with Red Velvet glimmer mist to add some red to the background. I then started gluing the hexagons down. I extended a few of them off the mat and directly onto the photograph, just slipping them underneath to match the half that was on the mat.

Under each individual photo, I used the Prima Wood Icons Sampler, painting them in Broken China and Aged Mahogany distress chalk paints. With a white chalkboard marker I wrote each girl's name and 2012 on the little tag in the upper right corner noting the year taken. A brad added to the tag, from that infamous Warehouse Combo Grab Box is an endless source of goodies to add just the right detail when needed!

Any items used are available from Flamingo Scraps online store, or through Special Order directly from the Flamingo's owner, Suzanne, she goes above and beyond to get exactly what you need, whenever possible, if it's not in the store. I highly recommend a Warehouse Combo Grab Box though, it really is an endless source of just the right touch when you need that little something. They are also available in paper and embellishment only. Each box is over a 50% saving of MSRP! Get yours today!

Scrappy smiles!!! Donna Sullivan