We Are Home| Adding a large stamped element to a page.

Studio Calico has this fabulous new stamp set called House Guests that I was dying to use.  It is a large 4x6 set with interchangeable parts.  It seems suited to card making, but I really wanted to put it on a layout. 

I started playing around with the "guests" that go inside the house.  I mostly used my favorite black ink from Ranger Archival because I knew it wouldn't bleed if I watercolored on top of it.  I of course had to stamp a set for Nandini too.  There was nothing about the little guests that she didn't love. Cats? A girl drinking tea? And a sleeping bear?  Heaven.

I carefully colored in the shape outlines with my waterbrush.  She painted in her own style, the perfect abstractness that only three-year olds can create.  Her set won.  I gave up my tortuously colored guests and made a crazy abstract set instead. 

Putting it all together after that took some more thought.  I thought about using a few different new pictures from the house, but ended up with just one.  The kitchen is definitely a favorite spot, combined with roses from our garden, this picture was just so fitting.    I layered a few different softly colored patterned papers together across the middle but I decided to keep a lot of white space on the page (big Marcy Penner inspiration there).

The title "We are home" was the first thought I had when planning this layout.  A statement, but also a prayer and a promise to our family.  The letters had to be woodgrain for that. 

We bought a house! Close to the city but feels like we are in the woods.  I love it so.