GOTTA LOVE ME

Good morning once again, as promised!! First off though I'd like to say thanks to Scrapfriends and the design team. I'm so excited to have been a winner for sketch challenge #18. I'd also like to wish the other winners a congratulations and say well done to all those who entered, all the layouts were beautiful.

As you all know I have been doing lots of challenges lately, so I decided I would have a little break, even if only for a few days, and create a few things just because I can. So on the weekend I sat down and went through all my photos, choosing one that is very special to me. I also went through all my papers and products choosing some of my favorites to use on this page. I even used red... yes I know I shared a couple of pages just last week that had red in them, but they were made for challenges...... I have never used red on a page by my own choice... until now that is!!! I didn't use a lot of red though, just a touch, and I really love this page. It's so bright and fun and the colors remind me of my son's personality!!!

'Gotta Love Me'

For the background I have once again used my feather stencil with gesso, texture paste and watercolor paints. One of my favorite parts of this layout is how the feathers and the paint drips go up the page instead of down.... It is such a cool effect.
For my papers I have used a combination of AC, Cosmo Cricket, MME and Echo Park.

Some close-ups:

As you can see here I have once again created a frame for my photo using three different kinds of twine. I love the effect and texture this gives. 

For my cluster I have used some Prima flowers and junkyard findings, Tim Holtz pins, Studio Calico wood veneer, a flair from Shopevalicious, while the little black acetate heart and the butterfly are by Collections Elements..... All my favorite brands!!! And how cute is that little bee brad??? I have also added buttons, thread, black mesh and of course my pegs covered with black Kindy Glitz!!

Lot's of paper layers and calico as always. The little blue chipboard star is from Echo Park.

I chose to add the little wood veneer saying 'over & over', as this photo was taken shortly after my son learned to walk without holding onto anything. He was about 11 months old in this photo and it is one of my favorites. When it was taken he was standing at our back door. Now that he could walk all he wanted to do was go outside and every five minutes he would walk to the door and try to get out!! Unfortunately at the time I couldn't allow it due to our dog Missy, who sadly we had to give away. My Son plays outside all the time now..... He loves it out there!!

I love how bright my watercolor paints are, even when they mix together they never go muddy like some mists do. As you can see here I've torn the paper and folded it back to show the pattern on the other side. This actually wasn't intentional.... It happened when I was distressing the edge of my papers. I decided I liked it though and have tucked the little blue flower by Kaisercraft into the tear as it felt like there was something missing from there. I've added another little mosquito too, although this one is a different color to the one I used on my last layout. I love how cute they are! Perfect for boy pages!!!

More black mesh, Prima flowers, ribbon, buttons and thread. 

While I would normally only add one punched strip of patterned paper across the page, here I decided to use two. I love the effect this created and think I will double up more often!! 

How awesome do all these colors and textures look??? I'm so glad I added the red.... I have always loved orange but not red and as I said before, I never add red unless I have too. Those challenges I did for CSI case file #96 last week really have made me more confident in adding red to layouts. A bright red anyway, still not keen on dark red.... lol!! Thanks CSI!

Another bug/insect brad, this time a frog!! I didn't actually realize that I had three on here until just now... lol!! A few sequins, another black acetate heart and acetate butterfly.

The little cork arrow is from Studio Calico. As you can see I have once again decided to use a sticker from the Babysaurus collection by My Little Yellow Bicycle for my title. I love them.... they are all so bright and fun, not to mention always perfectly describing my boy!!! Besides it saves me having to think up a new title all the time!!!

So that's all from me again today. Though I should have more to share again later in the week... Anyway I had better get going.... Dad will be home soon and wanting his computer back and I've still got a few things I need to do. I hope you all have a good week!! Xxoxoxo!!