me myself and i

You totally need to do a technique thread or chat about masking a photo into a background paper! I love the large photo in the background.

Awe, thanks @KayTeaPea I'm blushing.
I just played with blend modes and opacity to see what looked good with this paper. I used color burn at 38% opacity on the photo. Then I duplicated the photo and used a second blend mode of linear light at 18% opacity to get the look. Then, I cleaned up the blended photo with a layer mask and a soft brush to hide the sharp edges of the photo and make it blend seamlessly into the background paper.

Here's a blending tutorial that @AnneofAlamo did that shows what the different blend modes do. The trick is to use the arrow keys to go through the different blend modes to see what works best with your photo and the paper you're blending it with.

wowza, absolutely beautiful

I love a big photo page and to top it off...blended!! Awesome! Love this.