Wonder & Promise - Updated

Well, this is my first layout of the New Year! It is a fairly simple layout - but I love the colour combination of blue and gold and the pops of white. I'm playing along with a few different challenges with this one -- I used the January 1st sketch at Once Upon a Sketch as the inspiration for the layout and the Glitz Design January 2012 Blog Challenge photo for colour inspiration. I'm also playing along with the Bird is the Word challenge for the word "Wonder". Phew...this layout is very "challenging"!

There is a lot of white space on the layout sketch so I wanted to use something a striking background page - I love this paper from the My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Two collection. It coordinates so beautifully with the blue patterned papers are from Glitz Design's Vintage Blue collection, which I used for the photo mat, envelope and punched horizontal paper strip.

*Update: I really wasn't in love the layout the way it originally turned out - so I trimmed the glittery background page and edge punched it with the same punch I had used on the horizontal paper strip. I then added Glitz Designs Vintage Blue Motif paper as the base page. I am much happier with the layout now - and apparently have "shown my crazy" (as my sister would say) to all my blog visitors.

I matted the photo as a "stamp" by trimming the Vintage Blue Stripe paper and white cardstock with the We R Memory Keepers Magnetic Twist Trimmer "stamp" blade. I inked the edges of the blue papers with gold-toned liquid chalk (which does not photograph well). I added a die-cut post mark to the photo itself. The lettering, which doesn't show up wonderfully in the photo, says "1 yr". 

I cut the library-card envelope from the Vintage Blue Stripe paper and lined the inside with Vintage Blue Rose paper. The horizontal strip of punched paper is also Vintage Blue Rose. The journalling challenge at OUAS was to journal about your feelings this time of year (i.e. New Year) - the ticket in the envelope has a short note from me to my son; it states:

Dearest William, I can't believe how much you have grown and changed in the past year. You amaze me daily - you're learning so many new things so quickly. I look at you and my heart is filled with love - and with the Wonder and Promise that you bring to my life. Love, Mommy (January 2012)

I cut the envelope, journalling ticket, title letters and all the snowflakes on this layout using my Silhouette.

The large snowflake has a bottom layer of dark blue cardstock (which coordinates with the title lettering) and a top layer of white cardstock. To get the glittery "snow" effect, I painted the snowflakes with mod podge and then sprinkled them with Twinklets Diamond Dust.

That's all for today! Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Materials Used:
Patterened Paper: My Mind's Eye - Lost and Found Two Collection - Sunshine "Two of Us" Lovely Paper; Glitz Design - Vintage Blue Collection - Vintage Blue Stripe, Vintage Blue Motif and Vintage Blue Rose; Bazzill Basics Cardstock in White and Dark Blue; Twinklets Diamond Dust; Martha Stewart Edge Punch and Liquid Chalk in Gold; Mod Podge (Matte); Aleene's Tacky Glue; Memory Tape Runner XL; Xyron Sticker Maker; Silhouette Die Cut Machine; We R Memory Keepers Magnetic Twist Trimmer.