I Am Here To Live Out loud

Hi Friends! The inspiration for this layout is a photo of my Mom taken in June 2009. As many of you may remember my Mom was very sick in the spring... and a few months later she looked fantastic!! She is 87 ( soon to be 88) & is an amazing example of "living out loud". I used the June kit from My Creative Scrapbook that featured the Lily Bee "French Couture" papers. I thought the colors worked wonderfully with the pic!
This was also my first attempt at sewing on a layout! I know many of you do this on a regular basis.... but I had some HUGE fears to overcome! You have to look close... I have stitched around the layout on the printed paper! /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ :D

I cut a couple scalloped edged papers to place under the photo. I then inked the edges with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. It has to be on of my fav's in the Distress Inks line. I matted the photo to match the ribbon & distressed it with Walnut Stain ink. The title is kit included Pink Paislee "Captivating" chipboard alphabet. It had quite a bit of letters. That is a fairly long title & I still have leftovers for another layout! The bling flourishes are from a double pack Zva Creative self adhesive crystals. I placed them in a mirror image to use as a base to the photo!

The flowers were really easy. I cut then using various dies & papers from the kit plus card stock used in layout. The leaf & fern punches are both from Martha Stewart. I folded the leaf down the center & ran the fold over the ink to give it the leaf vein. All flower layers were inked with both Walnut Stain & Spiced Marmalade! The flower centers are brads from Creative Imaginations & came with the kit. I added some bling around the border, a few scattered small Retro punch flowers & wahhhhlaaah .... done! It was such a joy to do this layout of my Mom!!

I want to thank everyone for visiting! It is so nice to share with my scrappy friends!