Think Like A Queen whydontcha?

This is my first layout using the Acme kit from Gauche Alchemy, and it seems to have brought out my superior, regal side!

I thought it might be interesting to share with you how I built up the layers into the finished page, so here goes:

• I love to use patterned papers for my background and, as coral and teal are two of my favourite shades, I couldn't wait to use the amazing 'Botanical Bliss' paper from Tinkering Ink.
• I loved the 'queen' and 'ring' images - from a sheet of definitions from a vintage kids' book - and liked the way the colours in the Queen's dress echoed in the backing paper. Now I had to think of a way to make 'queenliness' the theme of the page ... and I remembered the photo of me wearing a new dress on my birthday. And as the dress is peacock green silk with bronze devore scroll designs on it, a serious dress for me, I reckoned I have every right to look that haughty and celebrate it too ;).
• Then comes my most anticipated point in pulling a layout together ... selecting which decorative bits and bobs within the kit colour co-ordinated with my dress and the papers, including: the fabric across the bottom; the wine bottle label beneath my photo; the rather stately Burlesque dancer from a Playboy magazine and then the strip of what I thought was formica edging but what Amy tells me is non-slip stuff you stick to the bottom of your bath![down the far right].

Yes, you heard right, my kit contained a combination of vintage girlie mag pages and DIY store treasures!!! And that's precisley what puts the Alchemy into the name [as for the Gauche part ...well, they recruited me didn't they? And I'm more than capable of fulfilling that part every now and again!].

• Finally I picked out the green and blue enamelled earring along with the gold leaf-shaped pendant to add a little decadence and a level of be-jewelled-ness befitting of my self-acclaimed royal status!

• In addition to the kit contents all of the soft-'furnishings', the ribbons, trims and flower, [which again, matches the Queen's dress. Oh, how I never cease to get excited when I detect a colour match!!!] were from my own stash. As was was the crown upon which I wrote my title "Think like a Queen. A Queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steping stone to greatness" which is a quotation from Oprah Winfrey.

A touch of coral and gold, some lace, a new dress, a little of Oprah's wisdom ... how can I fail to think like a Queen with all that going on ... now where did I leave my lady-in-waiting ......