Surprised Before and After

Grace found some older photos in her closet a couple weeks ago, and these gems were in the stash.  I just had to scrap Mom's reaction as we revealed her Christmas gift!

Have you ever created a LO that you feel fell flat?  That's what happened to me with this LO, and here is what I came up with on try number two using the number challenge (#32) over at ScrapFIT, the Scraplift "This" or "That" Challenge #3 at Scrap- Friendzy, and a stunning sketch by Ingeborg Dijkstra-Verbeek.  (My first stab is in the previous post.)

See what you think.  I am much happier with the new LO!  Crazy me to do it all over again.  :-)

ScrapFIT number challenge:
1 piece of cardstock - black to mat the photo and journal box 
2 types of alpha's - Title and journaling use different fonts 
3 different embellies - Flower with rhinestone swirls, Rhinestone Dragonfly, and nearly 40 rhinestones adhered to the punched borders and flower. 
4 patterened papers - Green, blue, flowered, and striped. 
5 pictures - 4 photos of my mom and her new cat in the center and another of Coco at the bottom left.

Here is the LO I used for the lift from Scrap-Friendzy by the very talented Cheryl:

I like how Cheryl made the thin punched border across the page and then the partial thicker one below.  I adore the circle distressed flower.  I also water distressed and scrunched the one I created.  Thanks for the inspiration, Cheryl!

Ingborg's Sketch:

I tried something new in making the pleated paper around the bracket frame cut paper.  I appreciate the inspiration from the oh so talented Michelle Van Wyk.  As  soon as I saw this technique on one of her layouts, I knew I had to try it and really like the way it turned out!

~ BLESSINGS ~