Life Is Short...

Today I'm sharing my first Pretty My Page layout of the year.

I’ve used the Paige Evans pre-cut Origami Birds cut on white card.  You can find them here; they are also available in black or cream.

I’ve used black and white patterned project life cards from a recent Quirky Kit and added in a pop of colour with a green polka dot paper from Jillibean Soup.  I cut small pieces to back each of the openings making sure to vary the patterns.  When I tried to fit all 4 birds on to my 12x12 base I found I was running out of room.  In order to fit two photos and still keep the white space I crave I put one of the birds aside to use on a future layout or card.

After working out my placement I removed the birds and photos and added a few splatters to the background.  I went with green and yellow to tie in with the photos.  When they were dry I added the birds and photos back on top and secured with a little adhesive.  I left the edges free from glue so they could curl up slightly adding movement to the page.

Next up came my title...  I worked out on a piece of scrap if I had enough alphas left on my sheet of Jillibean Soup Alphabeans.  I didn’t, I was a couple of T’s short.  That was easily solved with a little alpha surgery – sacrificing a couple of J’s, a P and an L to piece together the T’s I needed.  It was a bit of trial and error to get the spacing right but eventually, I settled on a layout I liked.  

I ran a line of yellow sewing through the centre of each line of alphas to keep them secure.  I thought that was done but the more I looked the more I thought the lower half of the alphas needed a bit of help to stand out.  I hate outlining alphas as I always go over the edge, or smudge the ink, or mess up in some other way.  Taking it slow and steady I got there with just a few wobbles!

Thanks for looking!