Smile

So this is actually my third LO for this weekend but the other two were created for The Lollipop Ladies as they have asked me to come back as a guest designer for May so you'll have to wait until later on the month to see those. On to the info about this layout, your eyes are not decieving you, I actually have purchased and scrapped with a new release paper range! The beautiful purple paper and the flower paper is from Basic Grey's Plumeria range and the yellow is from their PB&J range. I originally purchased the purple paper for the orange octagon print on the reverse but it didn't suit my LO in the end. There is some Kaisercraft paper and rubons too because my work just wouldn't be complete without them. Chipboard birdcage is from Kaisercraft, beautiful florish is from Imaginarium Designs (I'm slowly working my way through the incredible prize pack they sent me a few months ago).

I think I'm slowly getting the hang of these busy cluster designs. Basically, I just pull out everything in my stash that colour co-ordinates and then try to stick it down, walk away for a short time to get fresh eyes them come back and repeat x 3! :) If anyone has tips/advice or wants to share how they make their clusters I would love to hear from you. The beautiful hand-made flower is from Lil' Red Rocket, there is a crochet doily from The Chip Chop Shop cut in half and hidden under the cluster. I think the problem might be that I don't like covering up my supplies. Here is a close-up of my cluster:

This LO was created for the May challenge over at Once Upon A... Sketch. This is truly one of my favourite challenge sites and is very popular. They have a fantastic design team. The theme this month is 'Mum': We would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "Mum" however you like based on the following sketch. You can journal as little or as much as you like, but your layout must incorporate this theme and the sketch. My journalling is hidden on a tag under the photo.

I'm also entering this LO in three other challenges this month. The Paper Variety's May challenge is to include a handmade flower. I also stumbled across a new challenge blog called Southern Girls Challenge for Australian and New Zealand crafters (internationals are still welcome to participate). Their challenge for this month is to create something girls. With all the flowers on this LO I think it fits the bill. Finally, Bird is the Word has 'smile' as their word this month.