Embracing Victorian Froufrou Embellishment:

A Splendid "Waste-of-Time"

 Embracing Victorian Froufrou Embellishment:

A Splendid "Waste-of-Time"

      I have always adored Victorian decoupage with all it's opulent froufrou textures of layer upon layer of florals, birds, gold leaf, and hand-colored paper scraps.  I also love valentines of the same period for the same reason:  they are a glorious visual treat of busy, busy, busy texture and pattern.  My love for them may stem from my admiration of their freedom from restraint.  In an everyday world where clutter on the counter or a scattered toy bothers my minimalist aesthetic, looking at something that I perceive as beautiful even though "cluttered" with images fascinates me. 

       For the above reasons, I have always stealthily avoided scrapbook stores, or engaging in scrapbooking of any kind (unless one counts the gluing of mementos in my girls' baby books and birthday books) because I've always been secretly afraid that once started, I might waste a ridiculous amount of time and energy with tiny pieces of paper that will never be of any value to anyone but me.
       Well, this past weekend, I discovered the scrapbook aisles of a local craft store and I have not been the same since!  It is embarrassing to admit how much fun I have had pasting bits of paper on floral paper, but it is true...I love it!  Being a person who enjoys reading a tactile book more than online words, and who likes to have hard copies of photographs rather than keeping them only on my hard drive, I also decided to print out a few of my blog entries in case I wanted to keep the silly writings for when my girls are older and want to see what they did as a child.  (Because yes, I am sure technology will keep changing and this blog will someday seem so archaically vintage:  just like my elementary school hand-colored film strip about cyclops--yes, you read that right!). 
       Once printed, I decided to scrapbook around them until they are dizzyingly, sumptuously busy and cluttered with ridiculous layers of butterflies, Japanese papers, and floral extravagance.  And did I mention that stickers have come a long way since the scratch n sniff stickers from the 1980's?  And yes, playing with floral papers and stickers was a dream come true--pure fun.  And now Liliana is delighting in looking at herself in the photographs and playing with the finished products...