Life is Tough / Bella Blvd

It's Friday...woo hoo!  I hope you all have some fun weekend plans :)  Today I wanted to share my newest layout for Bella Blvd, and I used a ton of collections and papers to create it.  One of my favorite things to do is create a large title out of patterned papers.  I searched Pinterest for quotes about little girls, and I found this one.  It seemed to say everything about these serious photos of my Reesie.  I printed them in black & white since I wanted to use lots of color everywhere else, but also because it made them a little more serious and dramatic. 

I used the A to the Z alpha cut file from The Cut Shoppe and created my title.  I went through so many papers to find the ones I wanted and then arranged little pieces onto my Cameo cutting mat.  I used papers from Sweet Baby Girl, Cute Baby Boy, Fresh Market, Just Add Color, Color Chaos, Illustrated Faith What is Lovely, Simply Spring & Classic Calendars.  Even though a lot of Bella papers are themed (like in the baby collections), always check the "B" sides of the papers.  You can't tell is any of these papers are themed when you cut small letters out of them.

I added a little bit of gesso to my pink dotted background paper so I could prep it for some watercolor.  I just added a little bit of pink spray inks to create some darker pink areas.  I wanted it to be subtle and not overpowering since all those letters are full of color..  Once I glued down all the letters, I ran my paper through my sewing machine.

I wanted to break things up, so I cut "you" on plain black cardstock in a script font.  I like how it stands out.  I added a few stickers and tangled thread here.  This "You are Enough" sticker was perfect for this page.

I added a few enamel hearts to the middle of some of the letters.  I never want to run out of those!  They are the best little embellishments :)  I also added a sticker and a Cute Clip bow.  Those bows are so cute...they're attached to paper clips!

The two baby collections have several hearts on their chipboard sheets.  I used a few of them around my photos and layered them up with a die cut, another enamel heart, and a vellum heart I colored orange.  I also added in more phrase stickers and my journaling.

Here's one more look at the quote...I honestly love how this turned out!  I know I've said this many times before, but this is a great way to get lots of pattern & colors on your paper without it being too overwhelming.  Yes, it's busy, but in a cohesive way.  I think breaking up the colors and putting the right ones together makes it work.

Thank you so much for stopping in...I hope you are inspired in some way!  Enjoy your weekend, friends!