I Believe In Me Layout

There's no greater feeling than the feeling of accomplishment one feels on graduation day.   I am blessed enough to have met two educational accomplishments--the first one in my family as well!  I have both a Bachelors & Masters degree in my name & I'm quite proud of them both.  I can't say it was easy--I put in much energy, time, sweat & just plain ol' hard work into both degrees.  While I went to school I was also working & have no issues admitting that I'm still paying out my student loans--but it was all worth it in the end.

So when I saw Authentique's latest collection titled 'Accomplished' I knew this was the perfect paper for my Bachelor degree graduation photo.  I don't think I ever smiled as big as I did for this particular photo.  I was just so happy to have that degree in my hot little hands!  :-)

The collection itself is full of wonderful kraft tone papers--this gives the perfect opportunity to add a splash of color in any other tone.

 For a much needed mojo jump start on the design of my page--I went to Page Drafts once again.  I found this sketch in Page Drafts Pinterest page & felt that it would fit the vision in my head just right.

You'll notice a couple of gold stars scattered around my page--this was actually a vine from Prima that I took apart.  This way I was able to spread out the gold stars onto the background of my page.

For my mini diploma embellishment; I just rolled up a piece of scrap white paper, glued it closed & wrapped a piece of black ribbon around it.  Voila!  Instant diploma embellishment.

This wise owl is a stamp by Tattered Angels--I used owls twice on this page because of their symbolism for wisdom & knowledge. 

Layers with dimension--I enjoy making the layers pop on my pages.  It gives off a more interesting visual effect. 

The light bulb mask was used to accentuate the pattern on my background paper which is composed of mini light bulbs.  I used Black Soot Distress Ink with my stencil and then highlighted the border of the image with a fine tipped Sharpie marker.

My journaling is in the form of my favorite way of storing my thoughts--a journaling scroll.  You can find a tutorial for this scroll on my blog here. 

All the sticker elements used on this page are part of the 'Accomplished' collection--they're great for adding interest to your project or for dressing up clusters.

The best part of this page was the fact that it finally gave me a chance to use a couple of these mini wooden rulers!  I've had these rulers in my stash since before time & I finally found the right theme to bring them out & use them.  See, this is why scrappers don't throw anything out.  You never know when the right theme will pop up!

Supplies: Paper - Authentique, Stamps - Tim Holtz, Unity, Tattered Angel, Stencil - UmWow Studio, Flowers - Prima, Embellishments - Prima, Freckled Fawn, Ink - Ranger, Glitter Glue - Ranger (Stickles), Mist - Heidi Swapp, Other - Mini Wooden Ruler, Spiral Clips, Doily

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit--your time is always appreciated.  Have a great weekend!