Father/daughter dance; a patriotic celebration

In celebration of last weeks holiday, I created a layout inspired by the very fabric of our nation; the American flag. I created this page for this past Monday's Mix it Up challenge on the forum. I started my page with 13 paper strips, for the thirteen stripes in the flag. I than used 5 punched stars for the stars in our flag, and of course I used the colors red, white, and blue.
I started out my page with some basic black cardstock by Bazzill Basics. I wanted the dark background to help my papers really stand out.
I used a mix of paper strips cut from the following papers to create my background:
Cloud nine by Crate paper , I am creative by Simple Stories , and Craftsman by Crate paper.
 To dull the colors, helping add emphasis to my photo and title work, I layered my strips with a star vellum.

I wanted to play with some alphas in my title and photo surround. I started with some Simple Stories alphas from the sticker sheet which coordinates with the I am line.  I chose a lighter toned alpha from Crate paper to finish off my title.

Using the same alphas along with a few others from my stash, I crated a repeat of the letters "X O" for a fun look around my photo of daddy with his girls! I punched 5 stars in two different sizes, stitched ontop one another in the super fun Studio Calico Amelia paper!

 I added my splash of sequins and one more simple embellishment of a bright red banner from the collection pack by American Crafts Fine and Dandy collection. I chose to keep it basic without adding anything to let it stand out.

   I hope I inspired you to create your own patriotic page!
                                                                      Brianna