"Love Lazy Weekends" Masculine TN Spread │ Mix-It Monday │ Lydia Cost

Goodness have I missed my craft desk! I've had a roller coaster of a month with my health, and I haven't been able to leave my bed much for the past few weeks, but as soon as I was back in shape, I couldn't wait to sit down at my desk again. I pulled out my already chunky TN notebook and some recent photos; I always find that starting on a small canvas can really bring back my crafty mojo.

What I love so much about Mix It Mondays at FJ are the endless possibilities you find in your FJ stash! For this project I really wanted to stretch my FJ goodies into a color scheme that we don't normally see here. I really wanted to create a masculine spread, to really honor the cute photos of my little.

I pulled greens and blues and yellows from my FJ stash of papers; Gabby, Grace, and Millie really had some great options for masculine colors. I used these great papers to add some background layers. They were perfect for covering up some stitching that I had on the opposing pages. I layered on some great plaid with some recycled packaging.

Next, I trimmed up a piece of yellow paper, so that it could be tucked into my recycled packaging to add all my journaling to. I then stitched my pocket onto my background paper. I layered on my two photos, and I added some extra character with two jumbo numbers and some leftover fringe.

For the left side of my spread, I really wanted to messily duplicate the "love" stamp from the Millie collection. To start I went ahead and placed my partial title in the center, using a mix of FJ alpha stickers. Next, I pulled out my black ink pad and began stamping messily all around that page, filling in the gaps with lots of "love."

To finish off the spread, I fussy-cut a green tag and added another stamped sentiment from the Millie stamp set. I really do love how all these elements mixed perfectly together to create a fun spread, that represents my little man perfectly. Normally I couldn't care less if I use girly colors and florals with photos of my boys, but it feels so satisfying that I can incorporate my favorite FJ goodies, into a perfectly appropriate color scheme they can appreciate as well.

SUPPLIES:  Millie Kit │ Millie Puffy Heart Stickers │ Millie Stamp Set │ Millie Paper Pack │ Gabby Paper Pack │ Grace Paper Pack │ Essentials Puffy Alphabet Stickers - Marigold │ Tori Puffy Alphabet Stickers │ Tori JUMBO Die Cut Alphabets & Numbers │ Gabby Cardstock Fringe