The Sweet Life | Pattern Play - Repetition

Hi friends. I'm up on the the Gossamer Blue blog today with another rendition of Pattern Play. I usually like to mix multiple patterns and they are almost always busy patterns but I try to use them in an interesting way, like last month when I chose to mimic an element in my photo in the overall design of my layout, Dream a Little Dream. 

This month, I'm focusing on PATTERN REPETITION by reusing similar shapes and patterns throughout my design.  I also decided to use a gradiation effect, starting out smaller at the top and growing larger to the bottom. 

I snapped a photo of my youngest daughter enjoying an ice cream cone on a New York City street last fall.  The ice cream was melting and her face was covered in it. I decided to spare you those messy faced photos but I just thought this one was so sweet and innocent. She’s trying to catch the ice cream before it melts away.

I chose the background paper because it blended so well with the wall behind my daughter. Then, I was going to find a fun way to create the look of layers of ice cream throughout my page but then it dawned on me…my daughter is infatuated with sprinkles and this cone just happened to be covered in sprinkles. She spotted the sprinkle covered ice cream photo on the side of the truck and immediately knew which one she wanted. So…..I used different sized circles to represent sprinkles on my page.

I designed the page so that the tiniest “sprinkles” were at the top of the page, using the enamel dots and some small flowers from the 6x6 pad and used buttons, brads, small chipboard and small polka dots in the upper middle portion of my page and then lastly, I used the larger polka dots, which were cut from 12x12 paper and ephemera at the bottom. I chose to keep the focus on circles and dots to represent the sprinkles but it also helps the layout feel a bit cleaner and less cluttered. And it was all inspired by the ice cream sprinkles dripping down the side of the cone, hence my daughter’s sideways glance as she tried to catch them all as the ice cream began to melt.

I just adore this photo because it really captures the essence of the moment. I layered a few papers under the photo and then added my embellishments – geo tag heart, the coolest ampersand paper clip, a wooden dot and “The Good Stuff” banner. I couldn’t resist repeating one of the stamps. I focused in on the words “so good” and stamped it in gold immediately on the photo as well as the papers below. I also tucked a few more circles around the photo to keep the repetition throughout the page.

To create the title, I found the perfect words pre-printed on a scalloped circle on one of the sticker sheets and another word printed on a starburst/circle on the chipboard sheet.  I grouped them together and then added the letters to spell out the last word, angling them inside the circle to keep the repetition going.

By choosing to use pattern repetition as a key element in my layout design, it helped to clarify the overall effect of the layout and bring a sense of cohesiveness to it. The patterns may be a little more understated than usual but I love the impact it makes on the page. 

Thanks for stopping by today!