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Here is something I created as a kind of experiment on using paper I don’t love:

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A quick and easy layout!

Ever wonder what to do with papers like this one from the My Mind’s Eye Follow Your Heart collection?

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Before…

I like the collection, and I love that this piece is on notebook paper, but I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely diggin’ that cluster of images in the corner.  I like that there is something in the corner, and I like some of the fainter parts of the image (the butterfly, the mist, the pink hexagons, and the washi).  But the birdcage, the flowers and the banner, just had to go.  This paper came in the June kit from Studio Calico (So Cal and I also have the Newport add-on), so I grabbed a few other elements from the kit and an Instax photo of my sister, my nephew, and my daughter, and tried to keep the parts I liked and cover up the parts I didn’t like:

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…After!

I covered the printed washi with my own real washi tape added some more hexagons (which I outlined) to cover the birdcage, and covered the banner with my own banner.  Then I just added a title using letters from the kit and my own stash,  a photo, and some tiny embellishments.

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This idea of covering a printed cluster with a replication using your own embellishments would be great for a layout that required a lot of room for journalling, or to accommodate a large photo.  Here I left the rest of the page empty to emphasize the negative space.

Check out the process vid to see how easy this was:

Mercy Tiara

Mercy Tiara

You may be wondering who is Mercy Tiara, and why the name? MercyTiara is an anagram of my first and middle names, Tracy Marie. I discovered this name in the 90's in grad school when we were all coming up with alter egos for one another in a lab one day. I've used it ever since, but you can call me Tracy or MercyTiara, or anything you want... just don't call me late for supper!