CSI #123 Smile...

Yep, it's that time again!  Happy Friday everyone and welcome to the weekend!  We've had one heck of a week around here.  The little lady came down with a case of contagious kid germs (lol), our cat had to have his tail surgically amputated due to a nasty infection(seriously!), and our dog...well, it's just another day for him.  No tail amputation in his future.  LOL!   Needless to say I'm feeling very TGIF-y. Anywhoooo...CSI is back with another fabulous case file with such a striking color scheme and great scene for inspiration.  Here's the case fule:

And here is how I cracked the case. CLICK HERE to see how the rest of the talented design team solved the case.

For evidence, I chose a mixed media background, wings (butterflies), rub-ons, and mistable elements.

I absolutely loved these colors and had mists in each of the 5 main colors, so I used them in layers over watercolor paper, and used black mist, modeling paste and masks to add some texture and dimension. I also had some great wood stamp butterflies that I scattered around in the back.

The Tim Holtz stamp was perfect for this layout, because this photo was taken at a "Super Mom" photo shoot that I was nominated for and won (yay!).  For an entire evening I had no other agenda than to sip some wine, share some laughs, and have some photos taken of me doing something other than being a mom.  Alexis Emm Photograffi is a super talented photographer and I was so lucky to have the opportunity to be photographed by her! CLICK HERE to see more of Alexis Emm's fabulous work.

For my journaling, I wrote a fairy tale and added it digitally to my photo before I printed it.  For those of you old folks out there who can't see the writing clearly (I say this with love, I swear, because I'm squinting to see it myself LOL!) it says:

"Once upon a time there was a girl, who met a boy, married a boy, and started a family...years went by and the girl worked very hard to balance home, family and career...sometimes she felt like she was 80 years old; sometimes she felt like she was just a "mom"...but on days like today she felt like so much more...she felt young, strong and fun.  She was a mom, she was a wife, but she was (and is) still she...even after all these years."

...and I should have added..."and they all lived happily ever after. The End." hehe ;-)

The white ruffle is from The Paper Company, a Hobby Lobby brand, and the lace doily looking sticker is Recollections, the Michael's brand.

Layered up some more Heidi Swapp in the sparkly pink button and the fun flair button.  The corkboard butterfly is from Studio Calico.

I've had these great Heidi Swapp rub on circles for quite some time and they were perfect to add a little detail around the scribbed circles I drew behind the photo.

Heidi Swapp makes an appearance again with the "smile" title word. LOL She totally monopolizes this layout. ;-) I can't recall the manufacturer of the Take Note journaling pocket but it is the cutest!

I hope you've enjoyed the closeups!  I really appreciate the visits, comments and support.  Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo,

Shawna