I think there is a misconception that one must visit a place and have photos to scrapbook in order to use any of the inspiration from it.  Last month, Layout a Week Challenged the team to be inspired by Mexico. Though it’s on my wishlist of places to visit,I have never traveled there. That didn’t stop me from finding a way to bring  inspiration from the vibrant culture of mexico to my scrapbook page. It’s something that you can do too!

My Process for Finding Inspiration From the Vibrant Culture of Mexico

When looking for inspiration from a country, try searching for the topics listed below. You don’t have to use everything from the list. Just use it as a starting point.

• The flag and or coast of arms: for color and for motif
• Art: Famous artists can inspire the design of your project. From here you can search for new techniques to try.
• Clothing and textiles: for color and textures uses in the region. You may also want to try searching for traditional dress. Pay attention to recurring patterns or motifs, how the cloth is used( example, are there ruffles or a lot of lace?), and the texture of the materials used. All of these can give you hints for supplies to use in your project.
• Architecture: What are the traditional building materials used in that region? Do you have products in your supplies that can replicate that feel? Are there specific colors used frequently on homes and buildings? Are the buildings edges sharp or rounded? If so, that can influence the shapes you use on your project.
• Food: While you can’t make edible scrapbook embellishments, you can sometimes find additional color palettes here.
• Language: Are there words and phrases you can use to tell a story on a scrapbook page or to inspire an art journal page?

Pinterest provides me with a visual tool to have everything saved and organized into one spot. I created a board for Mexico which you can view here.

 

I chose to create a color palette from the Mexican coat of arms. It has the red and green found in Mexico’s flag, but also provides an extended palette of colors to work with. Though I did not use them, there were multiple motifs to garner inspiration from within the coat of arms. I could have chosen to use feathers or birds, snakes, or cacti.

You’re probably questioning snakes as a motif. Inspiration is a starting point. Remember, you don’t have to have visited Mexico to use that inspiration. You just have to find a way to apply the inspiration to your story. I could easily make a page about my son exploring the outdoors using this palette as inspiration. After perusing my photos, I came across a few I had taken of a trip to an Orlando, Florida area art museum featuring an exhibition of Aztec and Mayan art.

Art Center Antics by Christy Strickler for Layout a Week Challenge Blog ; Supplies| Cardstock: Bazzill Patterned Papers: Cocoa Daisy, October Afternoon, Basic Grey;Letters: American Crafts, Adhesive:  Decofoil Transfer Adhesive and foam sheets by iCraft, Foil Sheets: Decofoil by iCraft; Dies: Spellbinders, Studio Calico; Rubber Stickers: Pinkfresh Studios;Other: resin,silicone molds, acrylic paint

How I Used the Colors from the Palette and MSE’s Inspiration from the Vibrant Culture of Mexico Pinterest Board

I pulled the soft brown color out first and chose kraft cardstock as my base. Kraft acts as a nuetral and keeps busy colors and/or patterns in check. I chose a patterned paper with pinks and a reddish tone. The pattern of this paper was similar to some patterns I had found on Mexican textiles. I didn’t have to pull any blue paper as there was a photo featuring a similar blue color. Keep in mind that sometimes colors from your palette will appear in the photos. This means that choosing supplies with other colors from the palette will compliment it nicely. Not everything on the page has to match color wise.Greens, reds and yellows appear in smaller amounts within some of the patterned paper prints and the embellishments.The embellishments are based on Milagros which are a Mexican Folk Charm. You can view the tutorial I shared about how I made them on the Layout a Week blog. The colors and patterns chosen work with the page’s story and theme in a subtle tribute to inspiration from the vibrant culture of Mexico.

I have a long list of places I want to travel to someday. Meanwhile, I can find inspiration from each of those places to use in my art projects, art journal and scrapbook pages. You can too! If you create a scrapbook layout based on the MSE Inspiration from Around the World: Mexico Pinterest board or from the color palette I shared above, I would love to see it. Please leave a link in the comments section below.