Hello everyone. Christin here today with a new layout using the August 2016 kits.

When I create my backgrounds I usually pretty much start without that much planning except which colors I want to use and often I know what kind of photo(s) I want to use and start from there.  For this layout I did something I don’t often do – I went back and copied the design for my background from a layout I made last year for Bella Blvd – then I used blue instead of pink.  What I liked about my background was that you could actually see a lot of it…  I used the whole length of the paper from top to bottom and to counter that I added a long strip of photos going the other way.  Here is a starting point.

I mixed and matched the Prima Marketing oil pastels into different shades of pink/red and used a waterbrush to paint it on my white paper. I like to mix colors with water in a tray so I don’t get any pastel residue on my paper – I just prefer a cleaner look.  I often use a layer of white gesso to tone down a strong color.

I  like to tone down the background, but for my title I like to use a strong contrast color. These chipboard words from American Crafts Dear Lizzy are perfect for that.

Here are a few more close ups.