Now What Shall I do with it?......

This is a Prima Paintables that I have had for a very long time.  Long before we knew about Pro markers but it was they that finally turned this pretty black and white pattern into the above.  I, like many of you love to colour in and Pro markers and other similar pens means we can indulge a childhood love with a grown up result.

 I had a lovely time as you can see.  The only thing I will say is that this paper is very porous and it was a bit difficult to blend as the alcohol of the markers dried very quickly indeed.  But still I was happy with the result.  I have done nothing with it until today.  I recently did a spot of tidying that resulted in a whole heap of layouts waiting for something to be done to them so they could finally be finished and find homes in albums.  I know you will relate to me here.  UFOs  UnFinished Objects (not my phrase but I heard it recently).
So I decided to finally do something with this - but what?  I decided it would be a layout and here is what I did.

First I trimmed a little of the edges off the sheet so that I could frame the page with a dark grey.  I also gutted the Grey 12 x 12 so I could use some of it to frame my photos (just call my thrifty!).  I then inked my Prima page with Iced Spruce distress ink.

I had already decided I wanted to make more of a feature of the flowers so I cheated a little and photo copied the flower section so I would have some images to decoupage later.

It took me a while to find the right images to put on this page because I didn't want to loose too much of the flower design and equally did not want to overpower my photographs.  Eventually I decided on these too images of my Mum and Dad.  My Dad absolutely loved photo booths and our family has loads of these strips of photos from one trip out or another.  We always had to pull a funny face on at least one of the photos!  This strip has one image missing - I am not sure why.  The large photo was taken at a Regimental Cambria Ball.  My Mum still has this dress.  It is a gorgeous orange colour.  My Mum and Dad were presented to the Queen that afternoon after a huge parade of the Regiment (tanks and all).  You may think this is a strange photo combination one so formal and one definitely not but read on......

I happened to have a reel of ribbon on my desk that I thought might go with this layout and tried making photo corners with it.  But something about it wasn't quite right so I left it out.  I don't think it was delicate enough.  Listen to your instincts as you work putting layouts together.  If you are not sure you probably shouldn't!

I wanted to sit my photographs into my page so that I didn't cover up too many flowers (so lovingly coloured in by me!!).  So I cut around some of the swirls and a butterfly to tuck the photo strip behind.

It works quite nicely as a technique.  I have used it before on other fancy papers I have bought.  It takes a little while to cut around things with a craft knife but it is worth it.

I repeated the process for my large photo.  This was a little trickier as there was a lot more image in this area as you can see so I worked out which bits would frame my photo rather than obliterate it and then cut around those bits.

When I was framing the photograph with grey card I noticed this writing on the back of it.  It was written by my Grandma.  My parents sent her this photo many years ago and it has since come back to me.  I was careful not to put tape over it.

It took a little bit of manoeuvring to get this photo into place as I had sticky tape and flowers and leaves to contend with but I got there.

Next up was a bit more fussy cutting to add more flowers and butterflies (from the copies I made earlier) and I layered up some of the flowers in the centre of the image.  I think you can just about see it in the photograph.  I also added some tiny jewels for a bit of sparkle.

As I put this together came up with a title for my layout and I also had already drafted my journalling.  I used some tiny wooden letters, which I coloured to match my layout with Pro markers, for the title and I journaled down the side of the photo strip.

I have just been on the phone to my Mum and told her what I have been up to so..............

Hope you like it Mum!

Wasn't the Olympic Ceremony fab?  I loved the Britishness of it.  There were some great moments of wit and wonder - Love that James Bond escorted the Queen to the stadium and the the cycling doves wings were stunning.

The heavens have opened so I had better go and let the dog in!! 

Hope you are all having a fab weekend X