Life is Good

Hey there everyone!  Happy Tuesday.  Is time flying for you like it is for me?  Part of me really wants the structure of the school year back, and part of me wants summer to stay. Then there's my son, who can't stop singing Christmas songs.  It's our own personal Christmas in July.  ;)

Today I'd like to share a layout I created about the three most important people in my life.  To capture my sweet and crazy family, I'm using the Fancy Pants Designs Burlap & Bouquets.  I had to have this collection as soon as I saw the sneak peaks!  These colors with the burlap just caught my eye.  I also wanted to use the My Scraps & More Sketch #86, and I put a circular twist on it.  Here's my layout:

Here is the sketch:

I made the focal area larger and circular and switched the photo and journaling areas. To start, I used black cardstock as my base and Colonial White on top of that, inking the edge with CTMH Juniper ink.  I fussycut the floral wreath from the "Floral Wreath" paper and positioned it to see where I wanted my sewn circles to go.  I sketched my circle lightly in pencil and then sewed circles using black and green thread.

Next, I played with the papers to see what I felt worked best.  I ended up using the bokeh paper on the bottom, then the dark pink "maze" looking pattern, the burlap pattern, and the green pattern.  I inked the edges of the bokeh paper and distressed the dark pink maze pattern for depth and texture.

Next, I decided to create some flowers of my own to complement the wreath.  I cut different sizes of scallop circles and flowers with my Big Kick, punches, and Cricut.  These distressed flowers are fun and easy to make!  I spritzed each with Pearl Glimmer Mist to moisten and give them a little shimmer.  I crumpled them up and then uncrumpled them.  Next, I layered them to get the effect I wanted and pierced each with a coordinating brad.  You can see one of my distressed flowers above the journal area:

To finish my layout, I included two banners using the gold paper to follow the sketch, tucked in a small decorative tag (which I replaced the original white string of with a piece of burlap string!), some label stickers (including the "Life is Good" title and the very cool Walt Whitman quote sticker on the top left of my layout), and sticker fundamentals.

I really am pleased with the way it all "turned out" (pardon the circle pun!), and I hope you do too!

I love comments and new followers, so I'd love to hear how you have turned a sketch circular.  

I hope you have a fabulous week!  

Chocolaty hugs,
Majken