UDI Inspiration Challenge - A Pirate Kind of Day

Hey there stampers! I'm back in the swing of things here in the ol' studio and have been creating up a storm lately! I was so happy to open up this week's inspiration photo from the UDI Blog Challenge - even when I saw what it was! LOL!
Honestly, the first thing I thought of was my buddy Kimberly and her obsession with Johnny Depp AKA Captain Jack Sparrow.

Pirate ships generally aren't my thing, but I then realized that this was the perfect opportunity to finally do a scrapbook layout from our Stampin' Up! Southern Caribbean cruise in April. We, with some trepidation (fear of the "party boat") embarked on a pirate cruise on the Black Swan ship in Antigua. And you know what? It couldn't have been a more perfect day! In fact, as we look back on the trip, it was one of the highlights of the whole week!

Here is the full 12 x 12 layout:

I kept the colors neutral to kind of go with the Pirate ship theme and also to make sure that the colors in the photos really popped out.

The 3/8" Twill Tape is meant to mimic the rigging on the ship and I don't know why I stamped the little medallions from Artistic Etchings, but they look really cool, don't you think! HA! I stamped them with Early Espresso on Shimmer White cardstock, punched them out with the 1 3/4" Circle Punch and added an Antique Brad to the center. They, along with the photos, are popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals.

I used the Medallion stamp for the background, stamping it randomly with Crumb Cake ink for a tone on tone effect.

I really love these pictures! Emma looks so awesome in her floppy straw hat. I'll never forget shopping with her for it at Forever 21. She fell in love and opened up her wallet! That doesn't happen often! LOL!

To really make the photos stand out, I matted them each on pieces of Early Espresso cardstock and then added a strip of gathered Waffle Paper to the bottom of each one - cool, huh? That Waffle Paper is da' bomb! You have GOT to try it!

To make the title, I cut the letters from Early Espresso cardstock with the Naturally Serif Decorative Strip Die and then turned them gold by smooching the heck out of them with the Gold Glow Smooch Spray. The photo does NOT do them justice!

It felt so good to scrapbook again - I know it was for a challenge, but somehow this page seemed like it was just for me and that made Wednesday a perfect day for me!
Be sure to check out the other inspiration team member's projects by visiting the UDI Blog - you'll be saying "Ahoy, Matey" in no time - "Arrrgh!"

Stamped blessings,
~~Robin