A DIY from Jeremy Kroes

I'm the first to admit that I don't follow fashion. I stock up on a fresh supply of plain white tee's from Eddie Bauer in the spring and call it good.
But I love seeing someone translate gorgeous fashion and fashion photography into artwork or, in this case, scrapbook art.
Jeremy Kroes took time away from his trip preparations (he is on his way to India for a month!) to share this DIY with us ...
Hi friends! I am back again with the March kit and a little inside look at my process from inspiration to the completion of a layout. I get inspiration for my scrap pages from just about anywhere. In fact, I am often asked where I find inspiration, and I always answer "Where don't I find inspiration?" ;)Recently I was looking through the new, F&W 2010 lookbook for one of my favourite (Canadian!!) designers - Ashley Rowe. I was so amazed by her new collection and I just know you will be too. Take a look at some of her designs:

I spent so long looking at these designs. Her design aesthetic is so similar to mine and even after getting off the site my mind was still buzzing about the designs. Finally I decided I had to recreate the look. I am going to share how I did it with you so you can too!Supplies: Cardstock (any colour) acrylic paint (any color) newspaper (this is a messy technique) paint brushes & water.I started by laying out my newspaper and setting up a make-shift easel made out of cans to stand up my cardstock.

If you look at Ashley's designs, the black splatters have drip marks from applying the paint while the garment is hanging vertically. I wanted to achieve this same look by standing up my cardstock. Now for the fun (and easy) part. You want to choose your cardstock and paint colours. I went with the a simple black and white because I loved the visual contrast it gave - but you can choose any colour combination you want.Stand your cardstock up against your easel (or cans in my case) and then 'fling' your paint at your cardstock. It is literally as simple as that. You can fling as much or as little as you want. Just go crazy and don't think too much about it. If you've never flung paint before, or haven't since elementary school, you'll quickly find out it is very therapeutic. Make sure you have a few sheets of cardstock so you can try a few different times and see what you like best.

In order to get a good splatter you can do one of two things. Acrylic paint on its own, unless it is a very thin consistency (some brands are) will not splatter very easily.You can go out and buy a stringing medium to add to mix with your paint which will help the paint to string out when you throw it at your cardstock and produce a similar effect that Ashley achieves on her garments. This is the technique I used. I used clear tar gel by Golden with this paint in ivory black. Or you can just water down your paint with water until you reach a good consistency to throw at your cardstock. With this, I would suggest adding a bit of water, trying to 'fling' your paint at your cardstock, and adjusting by adding more water or paint. I also tried this technique without the can easel and it worked just as well.

So after coming up with a few designs on my cardstock I brought out my leftovers from the March Kit to finish up the layout and here is the finished product:

Since the background is so busy I wanted to keep the rest of the page pretty minimal. I used a sticker from Studio Calico, some FabRips behind the cassette overlay, some blue scrap from the Cosmo Cricket elements page and some of my own chipboard letters. Super easy and I'm very happy with the way it came out.Please go and try this technique and if you do link me up here in the comments. I would love to see what you all come up with. And like I said, just let yourself go and experiment with this technique and I guarantee you'll be surprised with a) how easy it is and b) the things you come up with.

How much fun is that? I just want to go play. Think how much fun your kids would have with something like this ... lay paper out on the lawn and let them have at it.

Thank you so much Jeremy :) You never fail to bring it. Have a wonderful trip. I can't wait to hear about your adventures.

Be sure to follow Jeremy's blog for updates on his trip.