Moments that make me smile ...........

Well all the time I spend with these guys are happy - full of laughter and moments that make me smile!  Marian, Andrea, Bev, Cathy and me - five old schoolfriends on our last get together in Paris. (Cathy took this wonderful photo so is sadly not in it.)

I thought this photograph would make a great layout for this month's Swirly Hues Challenge on the Swirlydoos site.  Here is the sketch and story board.  I just love the blue and really wanted to use the Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby Papers with their references to Paris.  I toned the brown down to match as well and of course used my new DI swatch book to match the right ink!

The flower was made from Lisa's Blue Daze Flower Tutorial.  I made another couple of smaller ones, but they were just a bit too overpowering for the page.  Thank you Lisa - another great flower!  Check out her blog for an amazing array of flowers and wonderful LOs.

I am also entering this into the Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead Challenge - Favourite Designer Paper.  I just LOVE these Vintage Shabby Papers by Tim Holtz and have already done so much with them.  They go so well with my other favourites - the  Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper and the ColourCore Cardstock.   Although I've used a full page for my layout I have used saved scraps for the rest of the layout - every little bit gets used!  So click the link HERE to go to the challenge and have a look at the other wonderful entries.

Now off to tidy my desk area!  Have a good week everyone.