You Can't Touch This

Good afternoon, paper crafting friends. Today is the first Use It Tuesday challenge of May. Not only do we have a great challenge for you (we'll get to that soon), we also have a Design Team Call! Be sure to check it out! 

All challenges at Use It Tuesday call for you to use your hoarded supplies. In fact, a challenge requirement is that you tell us in your post what you used. This challenge goes beyond the hoarded items, asking you to use a beloved item that you love so gosh darn much you avoid using it at all costs. That's right - "You Can't Touch This!"

Now don't worry... I have faith in you. You can do it! Along with my fellow design team members,  I was able to dig into my own stash and find a collection of papers from BoBunny that I never wanted to use. The Country Garden collection is full of the most beautiful paper designs. How could I ever cut them to create a card... Or cover up its beauty with photos and embellishments?! Well I sucked it up, called myself ridiculous, and got over it to create this layout below.

The large background paper is from the Country Garden collection. I actually forced myself to create a few different layouts with the pieces that will be shared over the next few days. This layout documents the first time my mom and dad met my nephew. I wanted it to be soft, but to still have boyish elements. Therefore, I layered 6x6 patterned papers from the large collection of 6x6 paper pads I have laying around. Pulling together the oranges and light blue helped keep a masculine feel among the floral elements. 

I opened my May Studio Calico Project Life Kit right before starting this layout and found a few things to use right away, including this adorable paper clip with fabric flag. Included in the kit was a fun stamp set from Amy Tangerine. I used the ampersand stamp from the set and stamped it directly onto the page using Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink. I added some sticker alphas over the top. 

I stamped it a second time onto white cardstock and adhered it to the page. Using the cut out image allows me to layer the pieces and have added movement. A few additional embellishments from around my craft room complete the layout. I just love those bird shaped wood veneer's from Studio Calico! I had yet to open them, so I'm counting that as an additional hoarded item. I used two large birds and one small to stay within the theme of the page. I plan to make copies of all of my nephew-related layouts and print them off for my mom as a gift. Therefore, I haven't added any journaling yet. I'll let her add her own personal thoughts to each page. 

Thanks for stopping by to see my take on the challenge. We love looking through all of your fabulous entries, so please link up to the Use It Tuesday site by noon EST on Friday, May 24th. One lucky participant will be a guest designer on an upcoming challenge!