Best Teacher Ever

Back last year I was asked to design a class for Crop In The Country who hold retreats in South West England. I wanted to make a 12×12 page that would suit lots of different photos to make it easy for the ladies attending and so I created this bright and fun layout.

I was replacing another teacher who had to drop out and so everyone had already chosen their supplies. I really wanted to use a manufacturer that I hadn’t used before but I was struggling to find something with a generic feel. Then I came across the colourful painty paper in the top cluster and the chevron paper from the same line and I knew this was the collection I wanted to use. I didn’t realise until I looked at the embellishments that it was from their Illustrated Faith line which is not my thing normally but this collection was called One Nation so the papers are absolutely fine to use for non-faith layouts.

It meant I could only use the papers and had to find alternatives for embellishments. I started with a layer of texture paste in 3 areas (stencils are all very reduced in the shop now) and then layered up some papers and the photo. I created some little star die cuts to back fill with some of the scraps which is a great way to make your own matching die-cuts.

I added some tags and tickets from our “Layering Loot Packs” which will be listed this week and some of the cute wood veneer stars (also in the clearance section). Lastly I added the title, and some sequins and enamel dots for a fun and bright layout using papers I would never normally have looked at! They ended up matching the photo of my son leaving junior school and his favourite teacher really well.

I really loved creating this layout and it took me totally out of my comfort zone. I have never planned a layout without having the papers in front of me and with a specific budget and with thoughts of replicating that design 75 times! I ended up creating something that was still very much me and I’m so happy that I used such gorgeous papers that I might otherwise have missed.

And I had so many bits left over that I created another layout for the ladies. Check back soon for that one!