Hello friends.  Iris here with a layout using the I Am collection. Have you ever fallen head over heels in love with a piece of patterned paper?  When I first got the this collection in my hands, I squealed in delight with each piece I took out of the box.  But when I saw the typewriter text print with rose gold foiling of the Focusing on the Good paper, I gasped! I knew immediately I couldn't cut it up.  I had to use it as a complete background.

To help all the elements stand out against the dark background, I started with off-white acrylic paint that I dabbed on lightly with a makeup sponge so that it remained translucent enough for the background words to show through.  I thinned some of the paint down with water and used a round paint brush to splatter big droplets. Inspired by the water color circle sentiments in the Clear Sticker pack, I also watered down acrylic paint in aqua, pink, green, and yellow shades, and used the packaging technique to create some splotches. Then I stitched a few lines radiating out from the center.  

Now my base was ready to add all the elements to. I cut the yellow flower and black and cream papers from the 6x8 pad to layer behind my photo.  I'm really loving the scale of the patterns in those pads!  I was going for a mostly symmetric design radiating from the center, so I divided my title above and below the photo.  I used the lovely rose gold foiled "I Am" from the Bits & Pieces pack. The "Me" was cut with my Cameo from the b-side of the 4x6 cut-apart sheet using one of my favorite fonts called Miss Elizabeth. (downloaded from the Silhouette store)  I hand stitched around it to make it pop and to personalize it even more because stitching is one of my things. 

I had so much fun picking the icons and words that really resonate with me and arranging them in a swirling cloud around the photo.  My brain is always swirling with stuff, so I feel this design captures my personality really well.  I used something from every pack in this collection. The "making it happen" was a square from the 4x6 Stickers, but I punched it out with a 1" circle punch so that it could match the others.  

To fill in some of the gaps and create a bit of clustering, I sprinkled lots of hearts around.  I can't decide if the rose gold are my favorite, or the buffalo plaid and striped ones.  I love them all!  One final bit of whimsical touch is a string of pom-poms from my stash I've had at least 8 years.  Great to finally use it and I like how it underscores "I Am".

The I Am collection is so beautiful and inspiring, I'm absolutely smitten with it!  It's full of soft colors, accents of black and glorious rose gold, and tons of affirming sentiments, making it the perfect collection for documenting ourselves.