This picture of my niece was taken about a year and a half ago, when she hit the age of two and suddenly started doing those exaggerated smiles every time she became aware she was being photographed, just like her big sister had done before her at the same age. Her colorful clothes were the inspiration behind the page. I had a certain patterned paper collection in mind for this page, which I can't for the life of me remember which it was, but as I started going through my patterned papers, I spotted the Oh Happy Day! collection from Simple Stories (2019), and was pretty much instantly sold on it as the mood, feel and colours were perfect for the picture.
I looked at Page Maps sketches and found one I liked from October 2020. From there, I spent quite a few hours on the layout but I was totally engrossed in what I was doing and barely struggled or double-guessed anything. Oh, how I love creative nights that go like this... The multiple-stitch circle from the sketch was replaced with a messy stitched heart from my favorite rub-on set. The collection didn't have a green patterned paper (at least, not in the sheets I have on hand) so I dug through my scraps, picked a polka dot paper, transferred the rub-on on the sheet and I traced around the heart with an aqua painter brush to soften the fibers of the paper in the heart shape, then I tore my shape out.
I was loving the rainbow 4" x 6" cut-apart, so it replaced the second picture from the sketch. I matted it with Basic Black cardstock using my Perfect Layers rulers (those made a comeback recently from We R Memory Makers, I think, but mine date back to when Stampin' Up! used to sell this tool). I still love pulling it out to mat shapes. I bedazzled my rainbow using gems and pearls in matching colours, and I added a piece of star silver washi tape and a sun-shaped clip at the top, found in my stash while going through embellishments.
To make the picture also stand out, I added white tissue paper and sparkly tulle under it. The cute camera came from another 4" x 6" cut-apart, and I fussy cut the image to turn it into an embellishment. I added Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer to the lense to make it shimmer and stand out and I added my title right over it, using Bumblebee Sunshine alphabet stickers from Doodlebug (another score from the clearance order from around the holidays). The yellow matched my patterned papers perfectly. I was initially planning to add my title to the stitched heart as per the sketch, but it was looking much better placed on the camera and made sense since it says "Cheese!"
A few of the embellishments were little bits and bobs I found on my desk - leftover yarn from knitting a quick headband and scarf set for plushes for my niece, a little white embossed banner scrap, a leftover piece of torn glitter paper, the little embossed aqua tab, a green envelope from testing out the mini envelope punch board. The color inside the envelope was not matching well, but the green from the outside was, so I got the idea to tuck the mini-envelope behind the picture and place the flap over it. I added a brad from Carpe Diem, an older Simple Stories collection. This is the kind of ideas I kind when I do a "desk cleanup" and use things I wouldn't have thought to have made or matched if I was just coming up with ideas randomly. Because I had been looking for my stitching rub-ons, I also found the Sky & Navy rub-on transfers from 49 and Market and spotted some aqua wording and sequins that I decided to add to the right corner - "Story of Today," right underneath my hand-written journaling. Because the heart didn't have a title on it, it felt a little bare, so I glued a few sparkly circles that had fallen from my tulle and a word epoxy embellishments that reads "I love you very much" in French.
Supplies
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Oh Happy Day! (Simple Stories); Paper Scraps (Various)
Rub-Ons: Vintage Artistry Sky & Navy, Black Roughly Sewn (49 and Market)
Stickers: Bumblebee Sunshine Alphabet (Doodlebug Design); Sorbet Alphabet Stickers (American Crafts);
Bell Pepper Trinkets Puffy Stickers (Bella Blvd.); Pretty Pale Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing)
Accessories: White Tissue Paper (Unknown); White Sparkly Tulle (Recollections);
Mini Envelope Punch Board (We R Memory Makers); Décos Mots Doux Céladon (Florilège Design);
Carpe Diem New Bradz (Simple Stories); Sunny Skie Cute Clips (Doodlebug Design);
Ripe Persimmon Pearls, March Crystals, Pineapple Delight Crystals, August Crystals (Studio Katia);
Enamel Dots (Altenew); Washi Tape, Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Journaling Pen (Stampin' Up!);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)