The moment that I saw these gorgeous tissue papers from Hazel and Ruby I knew I wanted to use them on a page, so I sat down to play with a few of the newer items in my stash and this is the result - I think it would also make for an excellent 12 x 12 layout.  It's only recently that I've 'found' my scrapbooking or photo page 'style' and I owe that all to Louise Nelson!  I've mentioned it before but seeing her pages really bought home that pages with photos didn't have to be busy or cluttered and somehow gave me permission (silly I know) to create my more minimal style pages and feel that they were ok - even good!  So I'm having rather a lot of fun playing with photos on pages and seeing how I can incorporate these as a design element - I think I succeeded here, well at least I'm happy with how it turned out.

SUPPLIES

• Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabios - Tres Chic Set: Cafe au Lait, C'est la vie Cerise & Merci Beaucoup Mint
• Hazel & Ruby - Pass the Tissue (Chevron Newsprint & Quote Collage) and Wrap It Up (Crazy for Chevy - Teals) plus Stencil Masks (Everyday Words)
• Copic Markers: Copic Blending Fluid, N3, N5, N7 and BG57
• Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress Paint: Black Soot
• Liquitex Matte Medium
• Martha Stewart Gesso Primer 
• The Crafter's Workshop Stencils: Specimens, Splatz (12x12) & Mini Confetti (6x6)

To Create the Background:

Tear strips from the Hazel & Ruby papers and use matte medium to glue down onto journal page - I covered the entire page.

While matte medium is still damp, start applying the gesso - apply heavier in some areas and lighter in others to allow some of the background collage to show through.  While still wet, take a baby wipe and use this to blend some of the gesso into the background (for a softer effect) or if any areas have too much - use a clean baby wipe to remove some of the gesso and reveal what is underneath.

 While the gesso is still damp begin spraying or flicking/dripping colour on top - because both spray and underlayers are wet they will mingle a little giving a different result than if you had waited for the gesso to dry, rather than puddles of colour (on top of the dry gesso) the Lindy's sort of soaks into the gesso and blends a little - it's a really beautiful effect that I encourage you to try for yourself.  If any areas of spray are too dark or large - blot with a paper towel to remove a little colour.  I semi dried this with a heat gun.

Allow to dry thoroughly before you begin working over the painted surface.  Use matte medium to glue down the photo and then very carefully spray over the background and photo using Copic Markers and an airbrush, starting with lightest colours first.  
I used the stencil patterns to create a frame for the photo.

I then added the word 'smile' using stencil masks from Hazel and Ruby.

I sprayed my darkest colours over the word and added a few more dark areas around the photo to bring the page together.  I then sprayed and flicked a little Copic Blending Solution over the whole page to create some very cool patterns in the Copic inked areas.

Carefully peel off the letters to reveal the finished page!

I hope you like this style of page, I really enjoy trying out new products and finding ways to make them work with other stuff I already own - I just had a ball making this - picture me with ink under every nail, gesso up my arms from leaning on a wet page and accidentally splattering myself with paint and a BIG GRIN!  That's where the word on the page came from - making this made me happy and when I'm happy I have a very big smile.