Thankful / Bella Blvd DT

Morning everyone! I'm a little late posting this one! lol

So with my layout, I chose pics of my kids from over the last year, just to show the different stages and things that they do. They aren't spacifac to anything, just little things they have done and the memories I have just looking at them. I'm thankful for all the little stages they go through and the memories they give me to cherish.

I pulled the pictures I decided to use and then grabbed a collection I wanted to use,Oh my Stars collection. I also grabbed a few things from the Alex collection and some of the Hears and hugs!! Love them by the way, the texture they add to the layouts, cards and any project you decided to make.

I haven't used a dark background in a while, I've also been watching some youtube videos with water colors and acrylics, so I decided I would play with the Illustrated Faith water colors on this one. I knew the papers I wanted to use were all on the bright/light side so I thought the background, being dark was going to be ok, to me it made it all pop from the center of the layout.

I mixed some of the paint and watered it down and started splattering it down the center of the layout. I thought I was only going to do the teal color, but once I saw how nice it was showing up on the black background I decided to add some yellow, white and a little bit of orange. I sat it aside to dry and started to work on my photo mat/layers.

I didn't want to add white mats to my photos cause I wanted to do a little close-line for them to hang from, so to have a good contrast between the background and my patterned papers, I added a white mat to my patterned paper.  I wanted to add a little more texture so I pulled out some of my old punches and punched a few places on my white mat and distressed the edges, and I did that to the rest of my papers too. I cut a large piece of patterned paper and added it to the center of my mat, cut another plain paper from one of the 6x8 paper pad and had that for the mat for my photos.

I started wrapping my embroidery thread around my mat and decided I wanted to add a little more color, so I cut a few strips of patterned paper and tucked them behind my blue photo mat. After I was happy with the colors and the way I had them tucked I put my embroidery thread back and added my photos on top and went to embellishing!!

I pulled out embellishments from Oh my stars, Alex and Hearts and hugs collections and started to pop and tuck things here and there. Like I said before, the hearts and hugs have such great texture, but little sayings on some of then and little rhinestones!And on top of that they have enamel dots to go with them!! So I grabbed some of those and popped them here and there where I had splattered the paint. After I added a few stickers, tabs, hearts and enamel dots, I decided to to pull out a few of the cute mini bows and add them to the close-line, more texture lol. 

I hope you enjoyed this layout and make sure to come back and check out all the other great projects the team makes!!

 Oh my Stars collection: Gulf Stars patterned paper, Boarders patterned paper, 6x8 paper pad, Tabbies, ephemera pack

Alex collection: Tabbies 

Hearts and hugs: Give thanks, Sunshine, Sentiments

Cute clips: Wild Berries, Pretty boy