Life is Better When You're Laughing / Simple Stories

Well hello there, Friday!  I've been waiting for you!  Before the weekend gets started, I wanted to share my second monthly layout for Simple Stories.  I used the Life in Color collection, and I had lots of fun with my Silhouette Cameo.  I found this awesome quote on Pinterest, and I found a fun font for it.  I enlarged it to fill most of the paper and then tilted it diagonally.

I backed the open letters with lots of different patterned papers and then went over most of the paper with white gesso.  I wanted to blend out some of the yellow and white stripes so they didn't compete or overpower the letters.  Plus I wanted to prime the paper for the watercolors.  I love how the gesso fades away patterns.  I applied it mostly in the center so you can still see plenty of the yellow stripes around the perimeter of the page.

I really love this backing technique.  It allows you to use lots of color and patterns in small doses.  I wound up using a black pen to outline each letter to make them stand out a little more.  I used my Shimmerz watercolors to create this, and I used my water brush mostly.  I also used some of the clear stickers, and I did some machine stitching.  I combined some chipboard pieces and some die cut florals as well.

Here's another angle of the page.  I love these fun and bold colors mixed with pops of black.  I wanted to show how you can make these colors stand out with a light background.  I love how this red heart contrasts with the yellow.

I used a few papers behind my photo as well as some tissue paper from my stash.  I added a few stickers and some grey tangled thread.

Here's one final close up...I used a few more clear stickers, chipboard and die cut stickers.  I love those brush stroke stickers...so fun!

Thanks so much for stopping in...have an awesome Friday!