I have been bringing my son to art museums since he was a toddler. One of our outings brought us to a museum which featured art heavily influenced by the Mayan and Aztec cultures. It seemed appropriate to document those photos during September,the month that Mexican Independence day is celebrated. I chose to pull inspiration from the art of Mexico since both cultures are a part of it's roots. I found myself fascinated by Milagros and I wanted to recreate something similar on my scrapbook page.
What are Milagros?
Milagros are small folk charms that are of a variety of materials including wood, wax,gold, silver and tin. It's the shiny charms that inspired the scrapbook embellishments that I am sharing with you today. I loved the look of the tin and the metallic paints on the little Milagro charms. You can see what inspired me on my Pinterest board: Inspiration from Around the World-Mexico.
It's easy to achieve that shiny, metallic painted tin look!
One of my favorite ways to add a shiny metallic look is to use Decofoil. It comes in thin sheets and with a little adhesive, you can adhere it to a variety of surfaces. I used the Decofoil in conjunction with Icraft's foam adhesive sheets. The foam sheets are thin and you can easily cut them with a die cut machine.
Once you have the die cut foam shape, you simply need to peel the backing off and lay the foam piece, sticky side down, onto the silver or dull side of the Decofoil sheet. The foil comes in a variety of colors. This rainbow foil seems a bit busy, but if you use small shapes, the color doesn't feel so crazy.
Another alternative is to use the Decofoil transfer adhesive. It's a liquid glue that does require a bit of patience( due to the drying time). It takes about an hour or two to dry before you can use the foil with the shape. I chose to use it on some resin pieces that I had cast. If you don't have resin shapes, try it on chipboard, die cuts, or wood veneer.
Customize chipboard, resin or wood veneer with acrylic paint.
I did learn the hard way that I should have painted my resin pieces prior to using the Decofoil. It is possible to paint them after you add the foil, but doing so beforehand would have really been much easier. Should you need to touch up a piece with paint after you add the foil, you can easily wipe off any stray paint marks with a baby wipe or damp cloth.
Once everything is dry, the assembly of the Milagro is simple!
Assembly of the Milagro is easy and can be finished within minutes. Simply begin layering up your pieces and adhering them as you wish from largest piece to smallest. Depending on what you choose to use, you might find that you need a strong liquid adhesive.
Search through your stash to find the perfect objects to create your own Milagros!
My Milagro scrapbook embellishments consist of die cut foam shapes, metal die cuts and resin objects.
The elements you choose will determine whether your Milagro will look bright and fresh or if it will have a weathered look. This particular piece, for example, has a lot of delicate filigree edges. Once I painted it and added the foil, it had an aged appearance. The great thing about these scrapbook embellishments is that you can mix and match the weathered and fresh style Milagros without any issue.
I layered the Milagros into embellishment clusters. I chose a few matte embellishments to place within each cluster. The matte piece keeps the cluster from feeling too bright and busy.
Once your Milagros are complete, choose the rest of your scrapbook supplies and create your scrapbook layout.
I chose scrapbook papers with a muted color palette taken from the Mexican Coat of Arms. The patterns, colors and Milagro style scrapbook embellishments all come together to form a subtle tribute to Mexico and the art we saw at the museum that day.
I love the way the Milagros turned out. I have to admit that I adore a bit of something shiny on all of my scrapbook layouts. Do you love adding in shiny objects or do you prefer to leave them off your scrapbook layouts?
Supplies Used
Patterned papers: Cocoa Daisy, October Afternoon, Basic Grey
Adhesive: Decofoil Transfer Adhesive and foam sheets by iCraft
Foil Sheets: Decofoil by iCraft
Dies: Spellbinders
, Studio Calico, Die-Namicsrel="nofollow"
Rubber Stickers: Pinkfresh Studios
Other: resin,silicone molds, acrylic paint
This scrapbook layout is based on a design from the Scrap Free Scrapbooking Ebook by Jennifer Priest. I had the opportunity to test the book when Jennifer first wrote it. It was so awesome, that I became an affiliate! You can get your copy here.
