Using Older Supplies / Whatever

Hey, friends!  It's Friday again...yessss!  I have a new layout to share today just for fun :)  When I have a break in design team assignments, I try and squeeze in some layouts using up older supplies.  I went to my shelves and just randomly picked a bag of goodies.  I discovered that I had never even opened this cute Hashtag Whatever collection from Simple Stories.  It's a small line with only six double-sided patterned papers and a 6x12 sticker sheet.  I had the perfect photo to go with these sentiments...haha!

Paige had just thrown herself a huge temper tantrum.  The kind where she buries her head under blankets and couch cushions and screams her head off.  When she emerged (haha) her hair looked like this.  This could pass for a drunken mugshot if you ask me, but it's the funniest thing ever!  Needless to say, she wasn't in the mood for a photoshoot, but I took some anyway.  Because that's what scrappy moms do, right?!

The first thing I did was slice up some striped patterned paper and create a little rainbow at the top.  I tore a big chunk of this black and white wonky grid paper and attached it.  I covered a lot of the paper with clear and white gesso.  I wanted to mimic the stripes, so I took some matching Distress Oxide pads and scraped them horizontally across in stripes.  I spritzed the area with a bit of water and let the colors sort of mesh together.  I love how it turned out!

Once it was dry, I went a little crazy with my sewing machine.  I used black thread and went back and forth all over the place.  I love the crazy feel it gives...it matches my crazy photo...haha!  I knew I wanted to use a bunch of the sentiments on the cut-apart paper, so I fussy cut out several sayings.  I used the "Whatever" stickers as my title.

I fussy cut a few of these watercolor circles from another paper and created a little cluster with a few more stickers.  I did reach for my Crate Paper Good Vibes stamps to add a little something extra, like this "literally."

The sticker sheet had a few florals on it, so I tucked those in over on the right as well as a random black floral die cut I had lying around in my stash bin.  I also added some black tangled thread.  I did add a few pieces of patterned paper behind my photo as well as some tissue paper and adhesive foam.

Here's the left side of the photo...more stickers, a few leafy die cuts, more thread and stitching...the works!

I love the effect of tearing paper.  It allows you to be crooked and messy and not have to worry about being perfectly straight.  And since my photo is far from perfect, this was the "perfect" solution!

Plus you get some awesome dimension from not laying everything flat against the background.

One more shot of all that fun stitching here...again, this creates awesome texture and dimension.  Plus it's fun to just go back and forth on the sewing maching!

I hope you enjoyed this page...I loved making it!  I love scrapping those photos that aren't so great.  The memory is still great, and that's what counts!  My tip is if you have a photo that isn't great quality because of the lighting or colors or maybe a busy background, convert it to black and white.  It makes a huge difference!

Here's my process video if you'd like to see this layout in action:

Thanks so much for stopping by!  See you soon :)