Cool stuff and pretty stuff

My boys watch Cartoon Network on Saturday mornings. The commercials, I mute. In the middle of some highly colorful ones for girls, Dominic broke out and asked, "Mom, how come boys have cool stuff and girls have pretty stuff?"

I actually think this is pretty profound. It made me think of McDonald's Happy Meal toys. For a while there, it seemed the boys got toys--stuff to play with--and the girls got fake makeup and jewelry--stuff to decorate themselves with. I'm honestly not a rabid feminist, but this bugged me. What are we teaching boys and girls through these choices? And to tell the truth, I would rather have gotten a toy than cheap plastic jewelry when I was a girl.

OK, tirade done...

Dominic's words made think. I have both pretty stuff and cool stuff! I decided to go make a page about both kinds of stuff. Here it is:

I used Studio Calico's February kit Daydream Believer. This layout killed the kit!

To make the grid: I laid out the photos and figured out how wide they had to be spaced to fit. I then used a ruler to lightly draw lines, which I then sewed on. I debated drawing journaling lines too, but I decided that it might detract from the grid.

I filled in non-photo spots with pretty stuff (and cool stuff!) from the kit. I stamped circles with this stamp set to journal on. The numbers on the photos correspond with the numbers in the journaling.

(Yes, my license plate says DETH STR. That is cool stuff.)

Fortuitously, I had a chipboard banner that said pretty, so that went on this pretty side, along with my last butterfly from the kit.

The title was stamped using a letter set from a kit add-on. I stamped the letter in yellow, then stamped over it with the outline stamp in brown.

I've heard rumors that this stamp set will go for sale later separately. If so, pick it up! Letter stamps are so versatile. And it looks like you spent HOURS outlining each letter.  Ha!