My First Ever Scrapbook Layout

Technically this is my third LO. But I made the other two for a mystery project which I can't reveal. You never know who might be reading :) Anyhoo, I have been meaning to participate in a couple of scrapbooking challenges, but ......... I based this LO on Sarah's November challenge. Over at Merly Impressions, the challenge is to use stencils. This is the first time I used stencil/mask on any of my projects. I don't have many stencils ( only one actually), so I tried cheating and used sizzix framelit die as my stencil and painted the area with blue acrylic paint. But the result wasn't to my liking so I glued black frame over the stencilled part. Next I experimented with my Imagination Crafts honeycomb mask. I was a bit impatient to take it off, and smudged the area in the process. At the bottom right corner, I embroidered waves.