Two more layouts

I've wanted to scrap this photo of Zach for quite some time. I just love how happy he looks! He's a really happy kid, even at 15, but trying to capture that bliss in photos can be very difficult. His smile hasn't changed in the past 10 years.. it's still ear to ear, full on every time he smiles. He's not one of those kids who try to downplay their smile... when he's happy the world knows it.

This second layout is of Gray, Zach and Gwen at the white house on Mt. Holyoke. It's from a couple summers ago and I love that it's a photo of the three of them together. I really enjoyed making this layout. The circle was made with paint and a scrap cardstock circle I had laying around. I used a toothbrush to add the paint and just kept dipping in 4 different colors of paint and let it take shape. I like how soft the edges became because the paint was so wet. I then used two speckled flower stamps, stormy sky distress ink and silver glittery embossing powder to frame a space for the photo. I found the cut strips of orange/pink paper left on my table from a previous layout (Traditions) and thought they worked well with the paint. I had a few nearly finished off packs of rub-ons so used those up. I ran a few stitches on the page to hold down the photo and matting papers and then felt it was all too center-heavy. So I started to give it a thin edge of the dark blue paint I had left from making the center. My toothbrush slipped a few times and it became a thicker line :o) All in all I had fun making the layout and am really happy with the results.