And it soothed her soul layout by Rachel Lowe:

Hello everyone well I am back to reality returning from Italy yesterday where it was a whole lot warmer than it is here. Today I have a summer layout for you.

I am a huge fan of photo Play and this collection Nautical Bliss is no exception.

I knew I wanted to use the banner paper as my background paper (cutting it down you would lose it's visual effect of floating flags) but I also knew I had to be careful not to lose my photo.

I chose the light blue paper with tiny red stars as my mat to go behind my photo and knew this was a good contrast against the banner paper. Before I attached anything on the banners page I sewed along every banner on the page which gives the illusion that the flags are attached to a 'real' string/cord. I then sewed around my photo mat but did so in a messy fashion. I chose the journal card which suited my photo and create my theme, I also sewed around this. To assist in breaking up the banner paper around my photo I layered the pink scallop border sticker under my photo.

It was then about layering stickers, I love Julie Nutting's dolls/girls and on this layout I managed to incorporate two beach babes!

I then layered lots of the flower stickers, foam taping the top ones to create a 3D effect.  I also foam taped some small photos along the flag banner again to break up the 'busy' paper. For a beach themed layout it is still pretty and soft. Thank you for stopping by today and although summer seems far away here in Australia this collection is a 'must have' for summer photos. See you next week. X Photo Play - nautical bliss element sticker sheet Photo Play - nautical bliss paper banners Photo Play nautical bliss paper pink dolls Photo Play nautical bliss paper cards