DIY alphabet background

I debated if I should share this layout or not. If I do, I get to show that I have started and finished a layout, but then I will also reveal how long it took. Although, the actual start to finish did only take a couple of hours. It was the time that had elapsed since Hayden had: 1 - requested the photo, and 2 - requested the layout (essentially the same breath) that was not so impressive.

There is no denying how long that was. The layout gives it all away. You see Hayden is a 'millennium baby' - born in the year 2000 (with a fancy 'millennium birth certificate to prove it!) Whatever year it happens to be now? That will be how old he is.

Cue the layout...

Seven. Seven. Seven.

Yep. He was aged seven, the date was 07.07.07, and the time we took the photo? Why 07:07 of course!

For two years now I have had an idea of what I wanted to do, but just hadn't quite gotten around to doing it. Until now. Time for some more 'DIY patterned paper' for the ultimate one off layout. I love how you can make your backgrounds look exactly the way you want by making them yourself. Remember this one?

I pulled out my alphabet stamps, and started stamping (and you know, when you look at a word for a while, and it suddenly doesn't look right? About half way through I was convinced that seven perhaps wasn't spelt s.e.v.e.n after all - argh!)

I decided to use versamark ink, and then clear emboss the letters, so that they would have a nice shine, and be a little more interesting. It didn't take that long - although I was sure to leave blank the spot that I knew would be covered over by the photo...

I knew I wanted to have the little bit of journaling (age, date, time) in strip form, but when it came time to see how it looked it kind of got lost a little in all those lovely shiny sevens...

I didn't want to cover all those lovely shiny sevens over, so what to do?

Vellum to the rescue. By placing vellum under the photo and journaling, it helped to anchor them all a bit, but didn't cover the background completely. Best of both worlds! Some brads to finish off, and the layout was finally in the album. I think I might be breaking out the vellum a little more often now!