garden photo tray by lauren bergold

have you seen the fabulous tim holtz "configurations" line of shadow boxes yet? i love them, and my favorite one is the printer's tray, so i was really excited when pixie-in-chief kirsty vittetoe said we'd be getting them in the pixie shoppe! i used my MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM kit... and a whole lot of photos... to fill this one!

the photos are of my mother's garden, and have been taken over the course of the last several years by the two of us. any time a particular section was looking especially nice, or a type of flower was fully in bloom, one of us would snap away at it! when i started working on this project, i made a grid in printshop (my favorite graphics program) and used it to size and crop the pictures until i had an arrangement i liked. then i printed them on photo paper and trimmed them to fit the sections of the box. (i've posted a bunch of the full-sized, un-retouched, photographs on my personal blog today, if you'd like to see more.)

pink paislee's "butterfly garden" is one of my favorite paper lines, and the "butterfly wings" paper that's in the july kit is utterly beautiful. i cropped a bit of it to fit three sections in the lower left of the tray.

my mom adores fairies--and pixies!--so i couldn't resist adding this pretty sprite from the "botanical gardens" paper. the tim holtz ornate plate is from march's FLORIBUNDA kit, and i've filled it with another photo labelled "le jardin 2011".

to balance the tray, i added another smaller vignette from the "butterfly wings" paper in the upper right, and affixed one of the lovely girls' paperie vintage whimsy trinkets. i must confess here that the lacy trim is my only cheat in this project. when the tray was "finished" i still thought it needed one more thing... i just didn't know WHAT. one day at my mother's house, i found this pretty trim in her sewing room and i knew it was THE THING!!! :)

i mentioned that fairies are a theme in the garden, and this one is my mom's favorite. she's featured prominently under the chestnut tree and next to the birdbath that is visible from the kitchen window. i loved this photo of her, and decided to use it as the centerpiece of a little "surprise" in the tray.

yes, it's a little accordion book with even MORE photos in it, that can be taken out of the tray and unfolded to reveal more garden beauty!

i built this little book on an 18" wide sheet of cardstock that i trimmed and folded to fit the 3.5 x 5.5" section of the tray. again i selected and sized the photos in my graphics program before printing, so i knew they'd look well together.

there are five photos on the front, and five more on the back. i hid a few basic grey magnetic snaps under the pictures to keep the book closed, and added a little bit of luscious pixie crinkled ribbon to tie it together.

my mother's birthday is in september, but i *think* she's going to get her gift early this year, because i CANNOT wait that long to show her this!!! ♥

Kirsty's Note -

WOW WOW WOW...... I bet your mom is going to LOVE this! Another brilliant project, thanks Pixie Lauren!!!!!

At The Pixie Shop

Tim Holtz Configurations Print Tray

get it at The Pixie Shop

Pixie July Challenge

It's all about butterfly

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