Sweater Weather Layout #3 - Grafton Christmas Parade

Feeling pretty good about what I am getting out of this kit (and I only have the main kit, no add-ons!).  I am trying to stick fairly close to what has been included in the kit, although I'm not counting cardstock (or tissue paper).  I have reached into my stash for things like sequins, sprays, the occasional tab or banner. 

This page is just what it says it's about, attending our little hometown Christmas Parade.  I have some more photos of the event; they will either go onto another facing page or another separate page for the kids' albums.  Journaling is on the back, cuz it just did not fit nicely where I thought it was going to go. 

And, this is why I like to blog.  I just noticed that I did not outline the little banners I made for the cluster at the left side of the layout (I will go back and do that).  I love taking pictures of my layouts and seeing them on the screen.  Things show up that I just otherwise might not notice. 

So speaking of clusters, I did punch a few snowflakes (from the papers provided, other than the plain white one).  The photos are layered onto the Scraptastic exclusive papers; the red alphabet soup and the grey snowflake prints.  I placed the photos in a four square grid onto several layers of irregularly cut tissue paper.  The clusters were made using papers cut into banners, the stickers from the Carta Bella Warm and Cozy sticker sheet, a punched snowflake and the enamel dots included in the kit.  One of the clusters (on the left side of the page) also included one of the wood veneer tags included in the kit. 

The cardstock used as the base for the page was also in the kit.  The color kind of surprised me.  I would not have looked at this color if it had not been in the kit.  But in my mission to use as much as possible from the kit, I was plopping the matted photos down on one piece after another of the various pieces I had left and this one worked! 

From my stash on this one:  the baker's twine, doily, tissue paper, a scrap of white cardstock for one of the snowflakes (the other two are punched from the red cardstock included and the My Mind's Eye woodgrain paper). 

It would appear that my title is kind of crooked.  But I did measure up from the bottom of the page...I think it is the irregular (crooked--slightly curved--tissue paper edges).  I think I'm ok with it looking slightly wonky.  After all, we are a slightly wonky family! 

And that is layout #3, with more to come~
Cheryl

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas - Without Christmas Papers! Say What?

I've said it before.  I don't have much in the way of Christmas papers.  It's not that I don't scrapbook Christmas, I do.  We just do not seem to have Christmas colors going on in our photos and they never have seemed to look right on traditional Christmas-y papers. 

In more recent years, lots of paper companies have designed papers using non-traditional colors, so they are out there, yeah!  But I've gotten kind of used to making things "merry and bright" without the use of Christmas themed papers.  I have some....see,  Oh, Deer! that I did use Christmas paper (Wassail from Basic Grey) on.  But more often than not, I've used whatever papers are on hand, combined with Christmas embellishments, sayings, punches or dies to create that Christmas feeling. 

I used old, old, old My Mind's Eye papers on this page, along with stickers from a short-lived, but extra sweet company called Girl's Paperie.  The vellum stickers are from Little Yellow Bicycle (a bargain, purchased on clearance at good old Hobby Lobby for $1.07), the Joy To The World title was made from little scrabble style letters from EK Success (and those are years and years old, you don't even want to know how long I've had those things hanging around), the glitter brads were from Making Memories, the star shaped buttons are Prima, and the ribbon is actually a piece of seam binding, scrunched and taped into place.  I added some random dots of dark red Stickles glitter glue and some outlining around the edge of the page. 

The photo is from my daughter's Christmas card circa 2006 and I only just got this scrapped---what can I say---this is how I roll--I scrap what I want, when I want and never in any particular order! The holidays can be overwhelming for lots of us...why make it any harder on yourself?  Scrap, craft, sew, bake, whatever you do, do what you love.  It makes things loads easier.  And just know, you do not have to have the perfect holiday papers to make a perfectly joyous holiday page. 

best
Cheryl