Scrapbook layout is complete!

After much anticipation, here is the two page layout I created.

Page 1 

Page 2

What do you think??
Here's a few close ups.

Paper used - October Afternoon & Stampin' Up!
Stamps used - Close To My Heart, Lawn Fawn, Swiss Girl Designs
American Crafts foam Thickers - for the word "Summer"
Doodle Bug stickers - for the word "dad"
Chipboard stickers - Lilybee designs
Twine
Corner Rounder
Distress Ink
Acrylic Paint


So I printed my photos, selected designer paper that complimented the photos.  The red gingham pattern is from Stampin' Up! and I thought it went well with the summer theme and contrasted the black and white.  I then chose the October Afternoon paper with the stars to add some color and again more 'fun' accents since the kids were quite busy in these photos.  The yellow grid paper is also from October Afternoon.  I printed my journaling using a free font from Kevin and Amanda, that looks like handwriting.  Click on the link on the side of my blog to check out the free fonts they have.  I did this using Microsoft Word.  I measured my space on my page, then made a text box slightly smaller than the space I measured.  Once typed up, I printed it on some scratch computer paper.  I then cut my designer paper and used temporary adhesive to glue it atop where the text printed.  I held up the paper to the light and this allowed me to see through it..slightly to place my paper close to where my printer would print.  I then placed this computer paper with my designer paper attached in my paper tray and printed again.  That was it!  Then I trimmed my designer paper as needed, distressed the edges and rounded the corners.  Super easy - I definitely will be doing this more often.  This printed journaling adds such a finished look - I really like it.  I added handwritten journaling atop the pages to list the places where the photos were taken since it's not what I included in the story, and I just thought it would be a good reminder of where they went during the summer.  I made my own tag accent and used stamps for the title and the year.  The black stitching is also a stamp - from Close To My Heart, I've had for years!  It's hard to see but I added acrylic paint in turquoise in the two corners of the pages.  I just used a brush and ran my finger through the bristles, and this added light speckles onto the layout.  I breaks up the white and was a subtle way to tie in the turquoise color from the photos and the title.
Thanks for joining me on this journey.  What do you think?  How did I do?  Many more pages to come - I'm looking forward to sharing them with you.  Happy scrapping!  - Ezlie