Makalawena | Gossamer Blue Pattern Play

Aloha everyone! If you saw my post earlier this week, you may have seen that I just got back from Hawaii and had the most wonderful vacation with the family.  Waiting on my door step when I got back was the incredible Gossamer Blue August kit. I immediately dug into my box to find so many summer papers and embellishments, mixed and matched to perfection. Once all the post-vacation dust settled, I gathered up a few of my favorite photos and got a little creative for this month's Pattern Play on the Gossamer Blue blog...

I set out with a plan to mix various 2x2 pieces of pattern papers with a 5 - 6 photos. Once I started placing papers and photos, I doubled the amount of photos to 12. These are my top 12 photos from this particular day at the beach and I couldn't not include them all. The hardest part of this entire layout was sizing the photos so that I could cut them in the diamond shape.  TIP: in order to cut my photos as a 2x2 diamond, I printed them as 3x3 squares, keeping the subjects mostly in the center or slightly offset so I could have some of them running off the page.  If you have fancy photo printing software, you can also create the shape and place your photo in the shape, which is much easier since you can see the diamond outline and size your photo right in the software.

I intentionally left a lot of space in the middle for an offset, funky design and I love the amount of white space it left me. 

Of course I couldn't leave that white space well enough alone. I had to fill it with mist, embellishments and the title but I LOVE it. I chose to scatter the embellishments throughout this space. Why get all symmetrical when I've gone this far already??? I got soo lucky that the title fit perfectly along the row of photos and paper. I didn't pre-measure and really lucked out. If you try this, you may want to design your pattern with this in mind.

Of course, practically all of my projects include machine or hand stitching and this grid style layout  is no exception. 

I made an effort to use patterns and embellishments that would not draw attention away from the photos. I hope you like the design and how I mixed the photos and the papers together. Who's ready to give this one a go with me?!?! Stop on by the Gossamer Blue blog.

Supplies:

Gossamer Blue August 2014 Main Kit, Main Add-on, Main Add-on #2, Life Pages Add-on #3