Tropical Getaway
By Shauna Berglund-Immel

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Trendy colors and patterns from the Retro sarapapers™ collection are perfect for this tropical layout, pulling all of those bright colors out of Shauna’s photo. Shauna began this layout by piecing together a 12”x12” background out of three different papers, then double matted a large horizontal photo to use as the focus of the page. She added coordinating tags, ribbon strips and brads for dimension. Shauna computer journaled in a bold black font, then tucked some of the journaling under the photo for a fresh look.

Shauna shares her designer tip:
Have a little extra time? Instead of using one solid piece of paper in the background of your layout, try piecing together papers to form a 12”x12” sheet. In this “Tropical Getaway” layout, I combined three different papers just to form my background paper. By piecing together papers rather than layering them, I save tons of paper and I leave myself with paper scraps that I can use as photo mats or accents. Finally, I added a horizontal photo and a horizontal ribbon strip to balance all of the vertical lines created from piecing together my background.

Supplies:

• patterned Paper Pizazz® Retro sarapapers™: Green dots, blue glimmer paper, purple texture paper, lime texture paper and lime paisley tag
• Paper Pizazz® cardstock: White from the Light Cardstock Collection
• Cardmaker’s™ Citrus Ribbons
• mini white brads
• graphite black Brilliance™ ink pad
• glue stick
• Scotch® Brand Foam Mounting Tape
• Glue Dots™

Instructions:

1. Cut a 5 7/8”x12” piece of green dots paper and ink the edges with black. Mat the right side on a strip of blue glimmer paper and trim the mat to 1/8”. Cut a 6 1/2”x12” piece of purple texture paper. Layer the right side of the matted green dots paper over the purple texture paper, overlapping 1/2” so that they total 12” wide together, and adhere using a glue stick. Trim 1/2” off the top of the layout and ink the left and right edges with black. Cut two 1/2”x12” strips of blue glimmer paper. Mat the top and bottom edges of the background on the blue glimmer paper strips, leaving a 1/8” mat so that the whole layout measures 12”x12”.
2. Mat the photo on lime texture paper, then trim the mat to 1/16”. Ink the edges of the photo mat with black. Mat again on blue glimmer paper, then trim the mat to 1/8”. Mat the right side on green dots paper and trim the mat to 1/2”.
3. Cut a 6 1/2” strip of lime grosgrain ribbon and attach it horizontally across the purple texture paper, about 4 1/2” down from the top, wrapping the end around the right side of the page and securing on the back. Using a glue stick, secure the matted photo to the page as shown.
4. Cut out the lime paisley tag and ink the edges with black. Mat on blue glimmer paper and trim the mat to 1/16”. Computer journal the date onto white cardstock and trim to fit on the tag. Mat the journaling on blue glimmer paper and trim the mat to 1/16”. Adhere to the tag with a glue stick. Add a white brad to the top of the tag. Using foam mounting tape, attach the tag at an angle to the right of the photo, layering it on top of the grosgrain ribbon strip. Cut a 10” strip of lime grosgrain ribbon and tie it into a shoestring bow, then attach it to the top of the tag using a Glue Dot™.
5. Computer journal onto white cardstock and crop to fit on the page. Ink the edges with black and mat on blue glimmer paper, then trim the mats to 1/16”. Add the journaled title to the bottom right corner of the page and tuck the rest of the journaling under the photo mat, then secure with a glue stick. Add one white brad in each corner of the background.