Scenic Route Metropolis

Here are the papers from the Scenic Route Metropolis range I used for this layout.... and the Paint Dabber too...

I took the first sheet of paper, Broadway Street and cut a square to 10 1/2x 10 1/2 inches. This I cut into a frame, by cutting out the middle 9 1/2x 9 1/2 square.

I love the Kraft background papers from Scenic Route- the one I used is Kraft Stars. To add extra dimension to the page, and make the best use of patterned this base cardstock, I decided to tuck the frame behind the stars.
To do this, I lay the frame I had just cut over the Kraft card, to see where I would need to cut the stars so they could overlap the frame.

I used a paper piercer to mark where I needed to cut, the carefully joined these marks cutting along the edges of the stars.
Then I tucked the frame behind the stars to make sure it all fitted and there were no adjustments to make.

I matted the photo onto a piece of the Simmons Street paper.

Using the reverse of the same paper, I cut a strip to fit across the page- this was just the width of my ruler. This too would tuck under the stars, and the frame, so I stuck this into place with double sided tape.

Now I don't generally like using paint on my layouts.
Firstly I just don't like mess; and secondly it worries me applying paint directly to the page just incase something goes wrong that I can't undo.
I tried a little of the paint on the cut off strip off the bottom of the craft card, and it gave such a strong clear colour that I had to be brave and give it a go.
Whenever I've tried the dry brushing technique it has never quite worked, so I decided to go for the bubble wrap printing technique instead.
Applying paint to the bubble wrap using the sponge applicator on the top of the bottle was really easy, and it meant that the paint only stayed on the top of the bubbles, and didn't go between into the gaps- so should give a good sharp result.

I carefully turned the painted bubble wrap upside down and lay it onto my layout.

I applied firm pressure onto it, but had to take card not to move the wrap around or the paint would smudge.

It was then time to carefully peel back the bubblewrap to reveal the printed pattern.

Once that was dry, I added the frame to the layout, taking care to tuck it behind all the cut sections of the stars.

I love adding touches of doodling to my layouts in quite a reserved way- I tend to add lots of dots around the edges of shapes and of the whole page.

A few embellishments add some extra interest- these buttons I had in my button box, along with a strip of bling border.

On top of the bubble wrap print, I lightly drew around a couple of chipboard stars, then coloured over the top with a white pen. This stands out particuarly well on the Kraft background.

For the title I used American Crafts Daiquiri Black foam Thickers.

I finished the title with Making memories Tiny Alpha Stickers...

I also painted the edges of a couple of acetate stars,.... and after a touch more dotty doodling the page was finished!
Hope you like it :o)
I'll be back again on Friday with another page.



*edited to add* we sell white pens in the shop, but we did a blog post about white pens and the different ones you can use. Click here to see the post, in the post are the links to the white pens we sell.