Marie Johansson – March Guest Designer • 7 dots studio

I live in a small village in the north of Sweden. I have been addicted to scrapbooking for more than 9 years by now. I love that it makes me think and reflect about things that has happened to me and my family. And for me it is a way of relaxing after a hard days work as an Intensive Care Nurse.

At first when I found scrapbooking to be my new hobby, it was the colored and patterned papers that drew my attention. Then I started loving layering, and now I´m a complete mess…. I love playing around with gesso , paint and different spray inks/mists. I make layers using the different mediums and papers, journaling cards, stamps and all kind of different embellishments. Even though I mess up my pages pretty bad, I try to have some sort of structure of it all.

I currently design for Linnie Blooms, the Color Room, Scrap & Music and the online magazine Allt om Scrap. Since I always look for new exciting creative challenges this Guest Desinger spot really got my creative mood up! Hope you find my work inspiring and take time to stop by my blog.

I do love making cards from time to time. And despite my rather grungy and messy style, my cards tend to be more romantic and frilly. This card was made by using a ordninary colored cardstock as a base. On top of that I placed my patterned paper from the 9th Wave Collection. I also used a round die-cut piece from the same collection instead of a stamp or sentiment.To get a bit of structure I placed a piece of cheese cloth underneath all the decorations before I started. I buildt up the card by first adding the patterned paper and the cloth, then a cake paper, the die-cut and a cut out frame. Then I took my trused friend the heat glue gun and fixed the ribbons and an old button. The last details was the little sparkle bits that I cut from an old top I never use.

Products used:
9th Wave 12×12 Elements
9th Wave Wavy Ocean

This page tell the story about my growing addiction to coffee. For god or bad that is as everyone with the same experience knows.

I love making my own backgrounds, and even though this Messy Head paper has such a great messy print I couldn´t resist “building” a bit on it. I have used a technique with tissue paper I quite often use for making cards, but never have tried on a layout before.

I started by applying a thin layer of gesso on the area of the paper I would use. After drying with the heater I glued on strips of torn tissue paper (the trick is not to press down to hard, and to add a lot of clear drying adhiesive). After a couple of minutes drying time (don´t use the heater – the paper will burn….) I randomly applied glue over the tissue paper strips, sprinkled some embossing powder and dried it all with the theater. After this I got a background effect that reminds a bit of distressed copper. Finishing up the background effect with stamps and a bit of different mediums before adding the decorations.”

Products used:
Messy Head – Big words (as background)
Messy Head – 6×12 Elements
Messy Head – 12×12 Elements
Massy Head – Alpha stickers
9th Wave – 12×12 Elements (bingo card)

I totally fell in love with the tags from the Queen´s Hearts Collection and used it for this frame that is a gift for my Aunts 70th birthday. A perfect thing for someone who has everything I belive. The frame was bought in a flee market.

I started off with a patterned paper and then used different elements and papers from the Queen´s Hearts Collection to build up sturcture inside the frame. I added some flowers, a vintage piece of lace and some old buttons as well. To finish of the project I sprinkled a bit of Spray ink in Gold.