Fountain of Fun

First off sorry about the crummy pictures. We've been socked in by rain for the last week so trying to find good lighting in my house is imposible. 

I'll admit that I am not loving this layout right now.  This collection from Crate Paper is so pretty and the border strip paper was perfect.  I fussy cut a couple of the borders out and then layered them on left.  I pop dotted the top one for some demension.  I think the reason I don't like it, is it has to do with the title block ... to me it just looks out of place.  How would you change it?

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Crate Paper - Restoration Collection; Cardstock: Bazzils; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts Thickers and Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type; Embellishments: Crate Paper - Restoration Border Strip paper, Chipboard Pieces from my Stash, and Flower Soft.

The Journey Awakens the Soul

You never know where you will find the neatest embellishments!  Before we left for Cuba, I bought my husband a new pair of swim trunks and they came with a brand tag made out of cork.  I thought it was so cool and measuring at just over three inches I was sure I could find a use for it.  And sure enough, I did on this layout!  I flipped the tag over so that the brand was on the back and then stamped one of  Tim Holtz's stamps on it.  Pretty cool eh?!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny - Paradise Collection; Embellishments: Bo Bunny - Paradise Collection Chipboard, Brad, and Sticker Sets, Drywall Tape, Brads, Glossy Accents, Tim Hotlz - Soulful Collection, Tattered Angels - Beach Journalling Cards ; Inks: Archival Ink - Black, and Distress Ink - Scattered Straw and Barn Door .

Toast The Newlyweds

I love these photos! It shows what fun loving people my brother and his wife are. They are always up for a good time and are always willing to laugh ... even if it is at themselves!

This is another layout I created using items from my stash. If I keep this up I might have to replenish ... oh who am I kidding ... I could probably survive a year without shopping (except for adhesive) but why would I want to do that! It is nice though to use up some of this older stuff though. I ran into a small issue after I had the whole layout done and went to add the final piece, my journalling.  Because my background paper was so busy the letters I had originally chosen just got lost.  So I changed them to a larger size and dark color which helped out quite a bit.  But I still had a problem with the "The" as it was so small that it was lost.  I decided to place them on this chipboard journalling piece which helped to anchor them and stand out a lot better.  Phew ... another problem solved!

This layout was based on this sketch.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Basic Grey - Sulty Collection; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts Thickers and Making Memories Alphas; Embellishments: Basic Grey - Sultry Collection Chipboard Set and Glossy Accents; Sketch: Allison Davis - Sketches for Scrapbooking Volume 3; Tools: Creative Memories Corner Rounder.

La Musica

I really liked this chipboard journalling spot I got from a friend of mine and wanted to use it on this layout but I struggled with it.  I tried several different strategies with it but for some reason nothing worked.  I then decided to use it as the background for my title and went with the monochromatic look and it seemed to come together from there.  At the end of it all I really like how it turned out and I find it suits the layout quite well.  I'm so glad I decided to tough it out until I found something I liked!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Martha Stewart Crafts - Essentials Paper Pad; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts Thickers; Embellishments: Jillibean Bakers Twine and Brads; Tools: Typewriter.

Let's Get The Party Started

I love how this layout turned out! I was able to get a tonne of photos on it which meant I could show more of the party without the bulk of multiple pages dedicated to it!  With the exception of the two photos on the top left, which were printed in 4x6, everything else was a collage I made in photoshop.  It was really quite easy to do.  I opened up a new image in photoshop and then sized each photo I wanted to use into different sizes and like a puzzle, I put them on my new image.  I printed the collage in 8x10 size and had intended on just adhering that to the layout directly but I found the black background was just to dark so I decided to cut out each of the little photos on the collage.  I love how it turned out!

For the sake of clarity ... this is what my collage photo looked like before I cut it apart.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: SEI - On The Coast; Cardstock: Bazzils; Alphabet Stickers: Basic Grey, American Crafts Thickers; Embellishments: Basic Grey -  June Bug Chipboard Elements, Adhesive Pearls, Flower Soft, Stickles, and Brads; Tools:  EK Success Dotted Wave Border Punch and Photoshop