Whitewashing with gesso

I actually began this page with no direction in mind.

Shocking I know.

I did have a photo though - a very artistic type photo.

I grabbed my Basic Grey and began

by laying down some 3MScotch washi tape - I know.

 It was quite bright so I decided that some whitewashing would mute it a bit.

And it worked.

 Went to the stash BG sent me from the warehouse purchase and ba-zinga...

(I miss Sheldon).

I located quite a few stickers that would work on the page

and began laying them down as well.

 So as usual I got into the spirit of the thing and with a couple of interruptions

we'll be going straight from here to the finished product.

Surprise!!!

I seriously love how it turned out. 

And it works so well with the photo of little Lou.

I'm jealous actually - I'd love to take cool pix like that.

All BG except for Bella Blvd & October Afternoon alphas,

Evalicious (my new favorite) and Cloud 9 buttons and Scotch 3M washi.

I did post this over at Paper Issues and participated in their New Issue.
I am also going to follow them on blog lovin'.

Documenting the little moments over and over

Below are pages that could be construed as "documenting" moments.

And I'm sure it was deliberate.

If you'll note its the same cast of characters, except older, on the same couch in what appears to be the same kidlet order. Maybe. It's okay if they're not exactly placed because the same players are involved.

Only they are almost five months apart.

And when toddlers are involved that's alot of growing and changing. I love photos and pages like this. I even try to put them on the same page. However, I didn't remember I had this until I was trying to come up with a "schtick" for this post. As a matter of fact, I came up with the title "couch cousins" after I had posted the Christmas one that says "that magic moment." And it is magic because photographing kidlets is like herding cats.  I'm glad I got to use the second title. I'm sure I could've worked in somewhere. 

Studio Calico rocks again in patterned papers, alphas, tags, and puffy stars, with some Recollections Washi and Simple Stories and October afternoon journaling cards.

Hmmm...so your challenge can be a comparison page, i.e.:

 documenting growth, 

comparing your children and grandchildren's 

looks at about the same age

 comparison pictures of you and your grandkids about the same age

comparison pix of you and your hubby as young'uns

etc. 

Going girly

Finally, the great thing about having granddaughters 

is being able to go girly. 

Love the boys but there is something about pearls,

bows and flowers.

Although I must admit I love boys, I love girly too.

So here we have new Studio Calico paper, my go-to doily heart,

October Afternoon card, Paper Studio pearls, prima flowers

of which I have an entire super satchel full.

(I've been slowly working my way through and not purchasing

any more flowers). Yay!

And those adorable little bows with pearls I found in the

wedding aisle at Michael's.

I did mist with my new Heidi Swapp and Mr. Huey and

it appears I managed to cover some of it up.

Ms. Amelia is at the beach, but since the background is artfully

blurred out, I went with the paper since it works

with the artfully blurred background.

Stay tuned for my tutorial on using household goods in scrapbooking.
Coming March 19th at Off the Rails Scrapbooking!

Using cardstock as a base

I have to admit that with all the amazing, gorgeous and awesome pattern papers available, I forget that cardstock can be used as a base and will absolutely be the perfect fit in assembling your page. 

I remembered that for this page.

 I had chosen a blue/turquoise pattern paper that matched the dots in the October Afternoon paper. And it didn't quite work. 

And I just so happened across the same color in cardstock. 

The reason I loved October Afternoon PP is that it made my photos pop and I wanted that paper

to be the mat rather than the blue/turquoise pattern paper.

 The blues in my photos were just jarring against any other paper but the taupe/blue/green.

Therefore, CARDSTOCK as a base and a bigger mat for the photos.

The rest of the embellishments worked out well, however, I'm so not feeling the splats I made.

It just looked so BARE. Oh well. Too late now. LOL.

I did break out the sewing machine and did some stitching.

We stopped at St. Mark's wildlife refuge that also had a lighthouse.

A total win-win. Love them both. Wildlife and lighthouses.

This was a slight detour on our way home from Tallahassee and I got to take

photos, admire a lighthouse (they make me swoon) and critters. 

The critters actually stood still long enough for me to snap them, even the lighthouse.