Aunt Mildred

I created this page in memory of my aunt who died in February. The background was painted by alternating two colors. Over this, I laid down a cut-out of flowers with matte medium as the adhesive. This has become my favorite way to apply cut-outs in my compo journals:

1. Position the cut-out where you want it on the page and hold it in place with the fingers of one hand while lifting one edge with the thumb.

2. Dip a flat brush (I use a 1/2" or a 1", depending on the size of the cut-out) in matte medium.

3. Brush both the underside of the cut-out as well as the place on the page where the cut-out will lie.

4. Once this bit is stuck down, you can more easily lift up the rest of the cut-out to glue it and the underlying part of the page.

This works so well for me. The cut-out almost seems to sink into the page instead of just sitting on top. When I want to reduce the shine of a glossy magazine cut-out, I also coat the top with the matte medium. Also, with this method, you avoid the curling that happens when you apply the glue all over the back and then try to stick it down. And since you are applying just a bit of adhesive at the time, it doesn't dry out before you can get it down on the page.

Note: This cut-out was from a paper bag that Hobby Lobby used to put your purchase in.