Adventure

Hello everyone!  Iris here with my very first layout for Simple Stories.  I am beyond excited (and a little bit nervous) but ready to play and tell stories using the latest fabulous collections!  

Last month my husband and I made the trek to visit Point Reyes Lighthouse on the Northern California coast. We took a selfie in the same spot we'd taken one 20 years before. Yes, we were taking selfies before they were cool! When I saw the Travel Notes collection, I knew it was perfect to document this story.

Taking my cue from the ocean, I went for the navy background paper that is the B-side from the 4x4 elements sheet.  The “Travelogue” sheet, reminiscent of the lightkeepers' logs, was a perfect addition to house my journaling.

You're going to love the scale of the patterns on the 6x8 paper pad! I chose a bunch layer a-symmetrically around the photos and in little strips above and below.  How awesome is that blue diagonal stripe for framing photos? The orange polkadot, which I cut in scallops for variety, adds a bright pop to the otherwise slightly muted colors. To bring in some of the white that the title has, I stitched across the strips and scallops. It’s subtle, but reminds me of the white capped waves and adds a bit of texture.

I made clusters in four spots with icons and word stickers - one of my favorite Simple Stories products - and made sure each spot had a red heart to draw the eye up and down the page in a zig zag across the photos.  If there were such a thing as a spirit icon, clouds would be it for me. So imagine how thrilled I was that Travel Notes has a couple in the Bits and Pieces pack. I hand stitched them with blue thread to make them extra special.  I fishtailed some of the word strips, and added pop dots to a few so they would layer smoothly on the clouds and the camera from the Chipboard set.

It can be hard to use washi on a dark background, but I've got a tip for that. Cut two strips and line up the patterns to double it up. Now it stands out, but you can still tell it's washi.

The navy and bluff colors and marine type icons were perfect for this story at the sea, but Travel Notes includes great patterns, icons, and phrases for all sorts of travel.  Happy travels and happy scrapping!