Olives

My husband and kids love olives.  I don't.  But I do like how this layout turned out. 

This picture shows the hidden journaling.

Here is how I assembled this layout:

After I selected which color I wanted for the photo mats, I used a pencil to mark trimmer guides for cutting out the space under the picture. 

Then I cut out the main part of the matting that is under the photo.

Next, put adhesive along the edges of the photo mat.  (Yes, I know in the scrapbook world using glue stic ties me to the devil.  But its acid free, photo safe, cheap and only in my books so I don't care what other people use.)

Before the adhesive dries, put the center piece inside the outer edges of the photo mat to make sure they are square.  (the back of my green paper was brown)

I decided to ink the edges of my papers.  I stamped the potential colors on a scrap paper to see which one I liked.  As I was stamping them I thought:  looks good, too purple, too light, no, too light for the green paper.

Then I inked the edges of the main background paper and the photo mats.  After that, I chose the ink for my journaling in the same fashion as the ink.

Next I wrote on the section of the photo mat I had cut out.

Make sure to stop the journaling high enough on the paper so you can't see it.  This will give the illusion of a continuous photo mat.

Add adhesive to the back of the photo mat only.  This gets attached to your main background paper.  Again, don't put any adhesive on the picture, you need that space for the journaling block.

Then add any other embellishments and you are done!  And yes, the green stickles I used are appropriately labeled 'crushed olive.'