Archiscraps August challenge

This month there is a challenge at the Archiscraps blog, to used something clear. I thought I would have a go at this one, as I have a lot of clear embellishments in my stash, so why not use some of them up. That was my thought anyway. For some reason, I struggled when it actually came to putting this all together, as my mojo has taken a dive again.
From my stash I chose Heidi Swapp banner, ghost letters (remember those) and some other clear items from an ephemera pack. I think what I struggled with most, was putting the ghost letters on the page - attaching them, without glue showing, and the only other way that would have worked for me was to staple them, which I didn't want to do, as it would have detracted from them. So I glued them, don't think I should have, but it can't be undone now. Anyway, the layout is ok, I just don't feel it with this one - mojo - come back. Even photographing this was tricky, the photos all taken at the same time, just didn't match up colour wise - grrr, bit disappointed about that.

Adorable

Archiscraps Jully challenge

So this is a new challenge site that I found after seeing a link for it from another blog that I follow - Scrapping Outback - who are sponsors for the July challenge. The challenge at Archiscraps is to scrap our pets. I don't do a lot of pet layouts, but did have a cute photo of our cat Tess, that I wanted to scrap, so this was the perfect challenge.
I started by spreading gesso over Kraft cardstock, then spread a variety of paints over the gesso. I added some texture paste through stencils, and some stamping, then some mica flakes to create this background. I matted the photo over a doily, project life cards, and a variety of patterned papers. Then I added transparency over the photo. I embellished simply with a D-lish Scraps flair, some recycled Making Memories ribbon slides that had the slide part removed and they just became flowers. I also had this wood veneer cat from Corbett Creations that topped it all off.
I am so happy with the result of this layout.
Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave.

Tess