Happy layers on a scrapbook page

The school year has started out. We're not too busy with writing yet, though it's coming soon. Mostly we've been enjoying the start of Dominic's last year in middle school and the start of Rowan's first year in high school. Here's a page I made recently about the two of them and a stint in Dinner Theater:

They'd seen the show for several years and dreamed of being in it, so I want to remember each year they do it. Since it's so dark at the show, I only included one shot of the finale number, which was well lit; the one of the boys I took after.

To lighten the photos, I picked a light background paper and happy-colored Project Life cards to layer over it. They weren't enough, so I added a couple strips of scrap paper. I put the photos on top, then embellished.

Before I stuck everything down, I added some mist for some texture. Here's some details:

I don't have a lot of the Illustrated Faith line, but I was happy to use it on this page.

Some old and beloved Basic Grey layered flowers worked well for contrast on this layout.

After I was finished, I realized how symbolic, albeit inadvertently, the background paper with crosses was. My son the stickler, however, said, "They're pluses not crosses ,Mom." He obviously won't be the English teacher. Sigh.

Thank you for coming today! I hope this gave you ideas about adding colors and layers to capture the feeling on the page, even when the photos aren't stellar.