A Time to Raise...A Time to Spoil

Me...I'm in the raising time.  And believe me, there are days when I can't wait until the spoiling time.  My In-Laws, are thoroughly entrenched in the "time to spoil."  With 4 grandkids and 1 great grandson, they have had plenty of practice.  The Life Portrait Collection from Websters Pages fit the bill for this family layout.  The 12 piece paper collection can be found at Lil' Lambs Boutique here.

I cut out the frames from the patterned paper and sized all the grandkid photos to fit.  I enhanced the yellow frame with a tan colored pencil to give it a bit more visible dimension.  For the background, I used some masks from the Tim Holtz Idea-Ology collection and stamps from See Dee's.  The stamps I embossed with clear embossing powder.  After the stamps were embossed, the background was inked with Distress Ink (Tattered Rose, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo used here.)  You can see the embossed areas popping through as they resist the Distress Ink.

I love these chandelier stamps from Inkadinkado.  It made a perfect filler for the this space beneath the Life Portrait die cut.  You can also see a great close up of the new Martha Stewart Iron Gate border punch here.  There is a corner punch with the set too.  You can find them both here.  Notice that even though I covered the background with Distress Inks, the underlying pattern still shows through.

The sentiment is printed on transparency paper (again, once the layout is in a page protector in your album, the transparency seams disappear).  The stamp on the right is from Mirkwood Stamps.  I stamped it on cream colored paper and then used Distress Embossing Powder on the top.  Distress Powder is different from regular embossing powder in that it does not melt to a sheen.  It will leave a rough, textured surface, which makes for a nice change.  (Weathered Wood, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo used here).

After adding all the photos to my layout and inking, I thought it needed just a touch more.  Normally I would have stamped the little hour glass before I glued my photos down but I didn't realize I wanted it until after everything was adhered.  So what do you do?  You don't want to stamp over the frame because you want the illusion of it being behind.  Easy as this:

1. Get a scrap piece of transparency paper and lay it over the area where you want the stamp. 

2. Take a Sharpie or some type of permanent marker and outline the edges of the area where you do NOT want your stamp to show.  In the picture below, I outlined the edges of the two frames. 

3. Cut out the center of your transparency paper (where the stamp will go) following your guidelines.

4. Lay your transparency cut out back on your layout.  Now the transparency should be covering any part that you do not want stamped.

5. Ink your stamp and press down on top of the opening in your transparency.  You now have a stamped image that is in back of your photos.

Try something new with your background, whether it's stamping images, or doing the emboss resist technique or just inking your background with several colors.