Scenic Route Sonoma

Last month, my parcel from Papermaze contained some beautiful papers from the Scenic Route Sonoma range. I have always been a fan of Scenic Route, but with this range they have surpassed themselves. The designs are stunning, and they look even better in the flesh than they do in an online shop! The papers I was sent from the range featured mainly the red and brown tones rather than the pinks which make up a large proportion of the papers. They immediately set me in mind of a layout I wanted to create using a photo of my Great Grandad. Its the only photo we have of him as he was killed in 1918 in the trenches, and I recently managed to get a copy of the photo at my Grandad's funeral. Heritage layouts can tend to be a bit 'chintzy' so I wanted to add a splash of bright colour to give the layout a slightly fresher feel.

I took some Kraft cardstock and layered a slightly smaller piece of the yellow dotted paper on top (I inked around the edges using distress ink first). Next, I added a strip of the reverse side of the paper which I tore along the bottom to the left hand side of the page. I cut a strip from another paper in the range with a red pattern and used scallop edged scissors on the bottom edge - you could also use a craft punch for this. I adhered it horizontally, just off centre. Next, I layered a page from a Making Memories Noteworthy journalling book to the right side of the page, before placing my photo on the top.

To add a bit of interest, I used my Autumn Leaves flourish stamp - this is a really versatile stamp which I use all the time. Just ink parts of it if you want a smaller design, as I have done on the top and bottom of the page.

I added my title using Making Memories Tiny Alpha stickers and American Crafts Thickers, before writing my journalling on the notebook page above.

As embellishment, I stapled a ticket stub to the bottom right-hand corner, adding a Scenic Route sticker. On the left hand side of the photo, I added some more stickers in the shape of hole reinforcers.

This range is so versatile, while the tones are suitable for old photos like this one, the colours are bright enough to prevent the pages looking dull and old-fashioned, which is perfect for my idea of a heritage page.