Christmas Catchup: Part 1 of 2

I know, I know … Christmas was like TWO whole months ago. LOL! But every year goes by and because I get so busy with all the fun and preparations during the holidays, I get further and further behind in my Christmas scrapping.

This year I made a goal with myself, that I would do my best to create as many Christmas layouts as I could in between things. I have been working on these layouts intermittently since December and although we are already on our way into Spring, I figured I may as well share them here with all of you.

When do you work on your Christmas scrapping? Do you do it right after the holidays in January, or are you more of a “Christmas in July” type of scrapper?

Anyway, I have three double-page layouts to share today, and I’ll two single-page layouts I will share tomorrow.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

CHRISTMAS EVE

For this first layout, I busted out a Christmas collection from 2016: Bella Blvd’s Holly Jolly Christmas line.

I had fun mixing it with a bunch of embellishments I have had in my stash for several years. I really like the way it came together!

I cut this cute little snowman fella out from the Daily Details journaling cards paper. I then used Studio Calico chipboard pieces and Martha Stewart Crafts poinsettia flowers as accents.

I cut the title on my Silhouette Cameo machine using a cut file by Karla Dudley (Design #14034 in the Silhouette Design Store).  I love mixing a script word like that with a clean cut font. The fone I used for the word “Eve” is the Bree Serif Font.

Here’s a closer look at the right page.

I used gems in the centeres of each of the chipboard “sparkles.” The gems are all the same size, but to give a little more presence to the ones on the larger “sparkles” I “matted” them with a white button.

SUPPLIES:

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

JOY

This next double page layout features the Simple Stories Oh What Fun! collection from this year.

I mixed in some Dear Lizzy dimensional poinsettia flower stickers that I have had in my stash for FOREVER! The reds matched perfectly and it felt great to get them used up!

Here’s a closer look at the right page of the layout.

These pictures crack me up every time I look at them. My daughter and her cousin took an acting class together. She was still pretty young, and it was all she could do to “entertain” herself patiently while the other kids were doing their parts. I love the expression on her face in the first photo … “When is it going to be *MY* turn?!” Bwaaahaaa!

I love fussy-cutting elements out of the journaling cards to use as elements on my page. Simple Stories always has the cutest word cards … and they always make fun, large titles on scrapbook pages! I combined the word “JOY” here with a present.

At the bottom of the page, I paired another preset with this darling Santa, cut out from another journaling card.

SUPPLIES:

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

DECEMBER 25TH

This last two-page layout was created with the adorable “A Perfect Christmas” collection by Echo Park Paper with lots of die cut snowflakes and pine branches!

The snowflakes were cut using the “Snowflake Die #7” set. I added decorative brads to center of each one for a bit more dimension.

I fussy-cut the floral elements from the Merry Mistletoe paper, but wanted them to be a little bit larger, so I added in pine branches cut from black cardstock using the Be Merry Branch Die Set.

And here’s a closer look at the right side of the page. I was so happy that I was able to squeeze in so many photos with this page design!

Haha! I love that phrase “Don’t Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle” from the Element Sticker Sheet … It’s like Santa is counseling us to just chill out and enjoy the day! 🙂

SUPPLIES:

Swirly Scribbles Thinlits Dies by Stampin’ Up

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

I hope you were able to glean some information from today’s post. Double page layouts are the perfect work horses for Christmas photos and hopefully, the designs today inspired you to get some of your holiday memories scrapbooked.

See you tomorrow!

Bella Blvd: Santa Stops Here Album Kit

I know it is REALLY early in the year to be posting a Christmas project, but today I am up on the Bella Blvd. blog featuring one of their new items! If you are looking for a fun way to display your Christmas photos this upcoming holiday, you are going to want to check out the NEW Santa Stops Here Freestanding Album Kit by Bella Blvd. This kit features an adorable easel-style album with pocketed sheet protectors along with all of the supplies you will need to complete the album (6×8 paper pad, 1 roll washi tape, chipboard numbers, cardstock stickers, and 43 die cuts).

Take a closer look at the kit’s contents as well as a flip-through of my complete 2016 Christmas Album in the video below.

This album was so much fun (and so EASY!) to put together! I loved having all of the supplies in one place, ready to go! I hope you enjoyed getting a closer look at the album kit and seeing my project come together.

\

Have a great week!

Bella Blvd: Together is Our Favorite Place

My husband has a busy schedule these days, and so I am grateful when we can sneak away for lunch or maybe just spend a little time together running errands. He is my best friend … so doing mundane things can be fun … JUST because we are together.

The photo on this page was a quick selfie we sent our kids when we were all chatting on a group text … but I thought it would be fun to use on a page about how I love spending time with my guy.

Because I had just one photo, I decided to go with a grid design. Dividing the space up and then decorating each section is really fun!

TOGETHER IS OUR FAVORITE PLACE

I used the ADORABLE Bella Blvd. Mind Your Manners collection for this one. (Can I just mention real quick that I LOVE how happy, bright, and cheery Bella Blvd products are?! Everything I create with them immediately lifts my spirits!)

I used the cut apart cards from the Daily Details paper to make quick work of my grid. I matted my photo on a smaller-scaled patterned paper pulled from the 6×8 paper pad and then added a strip of the blue Be A Good Guest Paper across the top of the page.

To jazz up the blue strip of paper, I added the scalloped border sticker from the Fundamentals 12×12 Sticker sheet. I then used some enamel dots from my stash on top of the orange and white dots of the border sticker to give it some interesting dimension.

This card already had a house printed on it, but I wanted it to have a bit more dimension, so I used foam squares to adhere a house die cut from the Ephemera pack right on top. The “Home” phrase is also from the Ephemera pack.

I accented the green quote card with a flower and mushroom die cuts and then sprinkled on a few puffy heart stickers (McIntosh Mix and Punch Mix) on both the house card and this card as accents.

How flippin’ CUTE are the new felt pennant embellishments that Bella Blvd. have created to go with all of their new collections?! I LOVE these things! I cut a bamboo skewer in half and added two of the pennant stickers to the top, tying together the two sticks with a bit of green grosgrain ribbon from my stash.

Yes… our time together is definitely worth “celebrating” with some pennants! Woohoo!

I love the way this page came together! I forget how fun grids can be to work with!

If you ever feel overwhelmed with where to start on a page, or if you only have one photo, like I did for this page … try a grid design! It breaks the page up into bite-sized sections that you can then decorate and treat individually.

SUPPLIES:

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Bella Blvd: Back to School Page Inspired By the Iconic Apple

Happy Friday, friends! I have always loved the feeling of going back to school! The freshly sharpened pencils, the new box of crayons with their perfect points all lined up in beautiful rows, new clothes and shoes, seeing friends, and the feeling of a fresh start.

Today I am up on the Bella Blvd blog with a Back to School page about my son. I decided to use the iconic school symbol … the apple … as inspiration for my color choices.

I love the simple colors of an apple … the red of its shiny skin, the green of the leaves, and the black of the stem. I found this beautiful image of an apple on pinterest HERE to get me started.

I lined the photos up in a single row in the center of the page, with a block of the Football Throw It paper in the center, cut to the same size of the photos. I decorated this block with Oh My Stars star paper pieces and used an Oh My Stars gift tag for the journaling.

The photos and journaling block are then anchored together with three rows of border stickers from the Soccer Fundamentals Stickers.

Along the top of the photos is where I placed the title; using the “New” acrylic word along with alphabet letter stickers from the Soccer Fundamentals sticker sheet and Tiny Text Pumpkin Spice Stickers.

I decorated the centers of the two letter “O”s with a couple of star die cuts, a button tied with twine, and a clear enamel sticker (Stampin’ Up Metallic Enamel Shapes). The green arrow and circular star stickers add a bit of fun to the title as well.

With my design centered in the middle of the page, I felt like it needed to be framed a bit. I decided to “bookend” the top and bottom of the design with strips of the Oh My Stars McIntosh Stars paper with its clean and simple plus pattern. I then used the Stampin’ Up Border Ticket Tear punch to add a decorative strip of black cardstock below the top patterned paper strip.

Next time you sit down to scrapbook a page, try using the colors of a simple icon or image to guide your color choices. It was a lot of fun!

SUPPLIES:

OTHER SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: White, Black
Bella Blvd. Tiny Text Pumpkin Spice Stickers
Metallic Enamel Shapes (Stampin’ Up)
White Button/White Crochet Twine
Border Ticket Tear Punch (Stampin’ Up)
Silver Brad
Black Journaling Pen
Adhesive/Foam Squares
Trimmer/Scissors

Have a great weekend!