Products:

WatercolorTemplateAlbum No. 2_6--**on sale now**: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/WaterColor-Template-Album-No.-2.html
Papers: Capture Artplay Palette http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Capture.html, Glacial Artplay palette http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Glacial.html, Seafoam Artplay Palette http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Seafoam.html
WordART and wood camera--Capture Artplay Palette: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Capture.html
Tape--Document Artplay Palette: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Document.html
Foliage--Gentle Morning Artplay Palette: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Gentle-Morning.html
Distressing layersBrown solid Paper #1, Artplay Palette Home: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Home.html OldWorldArtplayPalette Transfer #1 http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Old-World.html, 12x12 Page Overlay No. 2 (retired)

I didn't alter the template at all, and left all of its layers visible. The hard part for me was getting the distressed feel right, which I superimposed at the end, after popping the pictures into the frames and masks and blending a background on soft light from a sandwich of papers from the artplay palette. The journaling was also not flowing at first, but once I constructed the title, the words loosened up. While I was waiting for inspiration I recolored the stainsalways something I love to do in these templates.

To distress the layout, I dragged the brown paper on top of the layer stack, blended it on multiply, and selectively scratched away areas with an artsy brush, leaving the brown mostly around the edges. To make the journaling easier to read, I distressed in those areas, too, only at lower opacity. Then I added the page overlay, reducing the opacity to about 40% and, finally, the transfer, just to put a little light back into the corners.