Pool Boy...

As my kids get older it gets harder and harder to snap good pictures of them. I get the "cheese" smile from my 9 year old and the "smirk" from my 14 year old. So when I do get a good photo, I want to scrapbook it! I've found that I do best if I set my camera on "burst"; which takes a photo every second, and just zoom in on the kids having fun. They don't know that mom is taking their picture so I actually get some great NATURAL smiles and expressions.

The photo in this layout was taken using the above technique while my son was at a pool party...

I am a dedicated scrapbooker; it's a hobby with a purpose and I love that! But scrapbooking supplies can be expensive, especially specialty papers. And there are a lot of specialty papers out on the market right now, papers with glitter, embossing, foil, etc. And since those embellished papers are usually priced about double the price of regular paper, the cost of a layout can get a little pricey when you use them. The good news is that you can make your own "specialty" paper with supplies you probably already have on hand. The POOL BOY layout was made using ONLY cardstock and some basic stamping supplies.

The aqua background paper was embellished with a stamped circular pattern that was embossed using Opalescent Clear Embossing Powder to give it a rainbow of shimmer...

The dark blue background has a bubble pattern that was stamped and embossed using White Embossing Powder...

The "embellishments" were all stamped using Pigment Ink, and then embossed using

Clear Embossing Powder...

"Pool Boy" 8 X 8 layout

Skill Level: moderate

SUPPLIES:

ColorBox Embossing Pad: Tinted, Top Boss Embossing Powder: White, Clear and Opalescent Clear and ColorBox Pigment Ink: Harbor, Citrine, Orange, Lime, Mango Tango, Marigold and Turquoise

My Sentiments Exactly: Background Circles, Alpha Tags and Parfait Multi clear stamp sets

Hampton Art: Modern Flair Patterns clear stamp set

Petersen Arne: aqua, dark blue and white cardstock

Other: vintage baker's twine

Tools: trimmer, adhesive, pencil, dimensional foam dots and heat gun

DIRECTIONS:

1) Cut an 8 X 8 piece of aqua cardstock and an 4 1/2 X 7 1/2 piece of dark blue cardstock. Lay the dark blue cardstock at the right side of the aqua cardstock, centering top, bottom and right side and mark placement lightly on aqua cardstock.

2) Using circle stamp inked with Top Boss Tinted Embossing Pad, stamp design over aqua cardstock, stamping off edges and avoiding area marked off in pencil. {No point in embossing an area that is going to be covered}. Sprinkle with Opalescent Clear Embossing Powder and heat set.

3) Use bubble stamp inked with Top Boss Tinted Embossing Pad to stamp design over dark blue cardstock, stamping off the edges too. Emboss using White Embossing Powder.

4) Using pencil marks as guidelines, adhere dark blue cardstock to aqua cardstock and then erase pencil marks.

5) Crop photo to 3 3 /4 square and mat on a 4 X 4 piece of white cardstock. Use foam dimensional dot to adhere photo about 1 3/4 from left side and about 1 1/2 up from bottom of background.

6) Stamp pennants on white cardstock using Pigments Inks as follows: swirl: Lime, dot: Harbor, harlequin: Orange, solid dot: Marigold, solid: Citrine and check: Mango Tango, then emboss all using Clear Embossing Powder and cut out.

7) Use Parfait alpha to spell "pool", ink using Turquoise Pigment Ink, emboss using Clear Embossing Powder and cut out in squares. Ink edges using Turquoise ink. Adhere to pennants.

8) Arrange and adhere pennants in left corner of layout using foam dimensional dots to adhere the tops of the 2 that cross the photo. Tie bakers twine in tiny bows and adhere to each end of banner.

9) Using Alpha Tag stamps, stamp "b" in Orange, "o" in Lime and "y" in Turquoise. Emboss all using Clear Embossing Powder. Cut out and adhere at lower right of photo.