genius without education is like silver in the mine - benjamin franklin

This post is long overdue.  The delay in posting was partly due to its length and partly due to the how busy life has been the last few months.  Better late than even later. 

I am still saddened by mr. chemistry's retirement this past summer.  There are a few people at work that brighten my day and although my interactions with mr. chemistry were limited and mainly in times of crisis, our conversations were always extremely entertaining, awe inspiring (mr. chemistry is a world of number knowledge) and very special to me.

It was a pleasure putting this memory book together in his honour.  Every page has a pocket to fill with mementos, colleague well wishes and greetings and other keepsakes.

I found this truly adorable mini clipboard at Michaels which made a great front cover and fit in nicely with the Chemistry theme.  I stamped the formula image from the Tim Holtz stamp set The Chemist in white Brillance pigment ink onto the clipboard and layered the same set bottles and flasks in front for some dimension.  The mini glass bottle was a Dollarstore treasure, filled with gold glass beads and a cork topper secured with glossy accents.

Page one: I love this stamp set!  I coloured the Chemist in with coloured pencils and distress inks as watercolour medium.  The background was created using peeled paint and vintage photo distress inks.  I stamped the bottles and flasks onto a page of an old book with the exception of the green bottle in the foreground to add a bit of interest.  You have seen the brick stencil before in many of my projects.  Definitely a go-to stencil.

Page two:  I embossed and distressed tinfoil (yep, tinfoil; thank you The Inked Stamper for that amazing tip and technique) to create the front layer of the pocket.  The image is a photo I took at one of our local science centres and printed it on glossy paper.  The back layer of the pocket was created using primary elements (black emerald) through the ink splatter and mini grid Tim Holtz stencils.  I am madly in love with primary elements.  Easy to use, great variety in colours and they have a spectacular shimmer.  I have to thank Finnabair for getting me hooked.

I seriously love these little Dollarstore bottles/vials.  I wasn't sure how well they would take to paper and the other medium but they did incredibly well and they are fantastically sweet.

Page three: I simply love this paper.  The colours and the image are just fab.  How sweet is that telephone?  I popped up a few of the argyle squares for a bit of fun and added the chandelier to the back part of the pocket.  Love chandeliers.  Love.

Page four:  The graphic design team at work created the image of mr. chemistry in bed with the monster hovering above him.  He always had a saying about putting the project or job to bed.  I decided to transform that image into my interpretation of mr. chemistry's bedroom.  The stars and dots on grey pearl paper were added with the lovely izinks.  If you haven't yet played with izinks you definitely should go out and get a couple of bottles.  They are very reasonably priced and they are really fun and versatile to play with on projects.  The inks are good to go as-is out of the bottle or they respond really well to water.

I added multiple layers of the memory box die cut cityscape and the created the bedpost by hand.  I drew and outlined the image on some wood paper scraps I had lying around and covered it with glossy accents.

 

 

Page five:  The graphic artists created a where's mr. chemistry-type page which I then expanded into the chemistry joke page with mustaches, spectacles and a pocket-protector filled with the funniest chemistry jokes I could find.

Page six: mr. chemistry was often teased for his messy office.  I'm not sure messy really adequately describes the volumes of paper, books and other materials in his office.  I'm pretty sure we had to, at one point, get the floor tested by engineers to ensure that it could bear the weight of mr. chemistry's stuff.  The graphic artists mocked up a photo of mr. chemistry's office adding bits of this and that to the floor, desk and existing stacks of paper.  I then went in and added even more embellishments.  It's kind of like an I Spy book now.  Have fun guessing what was in the original photo and what was added.

By the way, mr. chemistry, in addition to being a mathematical genius, speaks fluently in French.  Trésor means treasure.

Page seven: mr. chemistry is a genius with three or four advanced degrees in mathematics and sciences so the book papers were truly fitting.  If you look closely you will see the pocket line pretty close to the top of the page because I didn't want to mess with the fantastic dimension of the paper itself.  I really love the way the faux book bindings look and the way the popped up books turned out.  It is a multi-layer stack of books highlighted with gold stickles and distress crackle.  The feather, inkwell and mini-stacked books were coloured with watercolours and highlighted with pearl watercolour and glossy accents. 

Page eight: The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments was a children's chemistry book written in the 1960s by Robert Brent.  It is a controversial book and banned as many of the experiments contained in the book are now considered too dangerous for the general public. Despite this, its known as one of the best DIY chemistry books ever published (thank you wiki people for helping me out with the information).

I borrowed the fantastic apron die cut from my amazing enabler/friend and cut both the apron and the pocket out of grunge paper.  I distressed the edges with black soot distress ink and covered the pocket in a layer of clear crackle paint.  The front of the page pocket was stamped using white brillance moonlight pigment ink and the chemistry set blackboard stamp.  The back paper was first inked with tea dye distress ink and given a hit using primary elements black emerald and the Tim Holtz splatter layering stencil.

Page nine: I love the blueprint embossing folder and I love embossing wood paper.  Married together is a simply brilliant result.  I highlighted some of the raised lines for added interest.

The back of the pocket was stamped, distressed (black soot) and given a few embellishments.

The insert was first covered in tea dye, weathered wood and peeled paint distress inks and highligted with washi tape and embellishments.

Page ten: True story.  The Chemistry examination in June 2011 was interrupted by a streaker.  Great memories.  The memories of working with mr. chemistry were great, not the streaker.  Silly.  Although maybe for some students the memories of the streaker were greater than the Chemistry examination.  It's all perspective, I suppose.

Backcover: The periodic table paper was popped up and highlighted with a copy of a daily work report.  I love my GEEK is the new sexy stamp.

The book:  And here it is assembled.  I embellished the inserts with faux coffee/tea cup rings, spills and splatters.

 

Memory books are really fun to build.  I love the details and creating something so meaningful, special and unique.

Thank you for visiting.  I would love to hear from you about the memory books you have created.  What did you love most about the process?  What would you highly recommend for my next memory book?