Christmas is coming!

I know, I know ... it's merely the week of Thanksgiving and I'm already talking about Christmas?!  It's not that I like to overshadow this special holiday in the least, but I do love the extra time to celebrate, decorate and SHOP for Christmas! 

 

I admit, I've been so much in the Christmas mood this year, that we've already put up our tree and I've been busy scrapping pictures from Christmases past.  There are so many cute Christmas collections out this year that it's hard to resist.

 

Each year, my family attempts a family photo on Christmas day.  It is something I cherish and love to look back on, but the coordination and cooperation of gathering all of those individuals is always chaos!  Somehow we still manage to make it work, though! For last year's Christmas photo, I used Bella's new Christmas Countdown collection.

 

Supplies used: Patterned paper, diecut pieces, stickers - Bella Blvd; Cardstock - American Crafts; Buttons - Making Memories; Gems - Doodlebug Designs; Fonts - Veteran Typewriter (journaling) and Marmelatta (title); Other: machine stitching, crochet thread.

I've been having fun incorporating script style fonts into my titles lately.  Unfortunately, I don't yet have a silhouette so I've been cutting them by (gasp!) hand!  Hopefully Santa gets the memo and brings me a little surprise under the tree this year! ;)

I love, love, love the little diecut pieces that coordinate with all of the new Bella collections.  I got the idea to combine them with several sizes of punched patterned paper circles to create my own Christmas tree.  You know how you sometimes have an idea in your head in your page and it doesn't quite translate how you imagined on paper?  Well, fortunately for me, this idea turned out even better than it looked in my head!

 

After constructing my tree, I went about adding foam adhesive, gems and buttons to give it added interest and sparkle.

 

I pretty much love everything that Simple Stories comes out with.  Even though their brand new Christmas collections were calling my name, I knew I needed to scrap with the elements I had accumulated from last year's release before I bought any more (my hubby might agree with that!).

 

I selected and printed some favorite photos from Christmas Eve last year and went to work with the vintage style Handmade Holiday collection.

Supplies used: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Label Stickers, Letter Sticker - Simple Stories; Punch - Martha Stewart (snowflake) and Stampin' Up (notebook border); 3D Sticker - Martha Stewart; Buttons and twine - American Crafts; Stamps - Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday; Ink - Stampin' Up; Diecut - Spellbinders (tag); Other - ribbon, computer font.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of this Martha Stewart snowflake punch - I tend to use it often on my holiday pages.  I just love how it looks punched out of a grid style paper and accented with these festive American Crafts wooden buttons, as I've done here.

More of those darling buttons - they add just the right touch and correspond to the vintage, 'homey' feel of the page.

The stamps I used throughout the page are all Ali Edwards designs from Technique Tuesday.  I love her script handwritten fonts and how her words and phrases are the perfect little finishing detail to just about any page or project.

Thanks for joining me today friends!  I've been working on the foundation pages for my December Daily album using lots of Jillibean Soup's Christmas Cheer Chowder collection.  I'm excited to get them photographed and share them with you!  See you soon!

A few more Bella pages

Hi blog friends!  I didn't mean to take such a long blog hiatus, but life is busy with three little ones and a household to maintain!  In the evenings, when I typically sit down to scrap, I usually have only enough energy to blog OR create.  Lately creating has been winning out!  That also means, though, that I have LOTS to share with you -- now I just need to carve out the time to do so! :)

My design team term with Bella Blvd ended back in September, but I still never got around to sharing a few final pages that I designed for them.  The first of these pages, is a favorite.  I incorporated LOTS of pattern and color by using triangles of several patterns from several collections, and all sorts of bits and pieces and embellishments.



Bella Supplies used: Snapshots: Family Chaos, Free Time, Daily Details, Captions, Paper Pieces; Daily Chevies & Everyday Bits: Chevy Gulf, Chevy Pickle Juice, Arrows Black & White; Engaged At Last: Bachelorette Extras, Alpha+Bits Bachelor-ette, Bachelor/ette Chipboard Icons; Love and Marriage: May Eighteenth; Sand & Surf: Paradise, Borders, Surf's Up; Kiss Me: Flutter, Mustache Love; Thankful: Alpha+Bits;  Button Market: Masculine Mix, Neutral Mix, Pink Flowers; Feathers: Carnation; High Five Alphabets: Black-White. Other: Pacifico font (title), Studio Calico Sequins, machine stitching, crochet thread.

To add a little sparkle to my title, I covered the the cut-out word in adhesive and sprinkled on some fine, black glitter.  It adds some subtle sparkle and interest to draw attention to it amidst all the color and pattern.

 

 

Initially, I started snipping triangles from some of my very favorite papers in both the Snapshots and Everyday Chevies collections.

 

 

From there, I couldn't resist reaching into my scraps from some of the prior releases to round out the theme and color palette. 

 

 

I love that this page feels a bit like a party, because spending time with my favorite girlfriends is definitely something worth celebrating!

This next page again uses many different patterns and colors, but this time I pulled mainly from the All American collection.  The addition of teal and grey into this line allow it to translate onto pages of any subject or theme without screaming "Fourth of July".  In fact, I've used it here with a sweet quote and favorite everyday photo of my daughter.  Mixing in the feathers and crochet hearts onto this page was a breeze, and adds so much fun texture and interest!

 

Bella Supplies used: All American: American Pride, Seeing Stars, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Scallop; Crochet Hearts: McIntosh, Scallop; Feathers: Oyster; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Gulf; Button Market: Red Flowers; Other: Stamps - Teresa Collins, Ink - Tsukineko, Gems - Hero Arts.

To secure the feathers onto the page (which can be rather tricky to adhere), I tried to tuck the feathers in where they could be stitched or secured between a couple layers.  This seems to be a good alternative for keeping them secure and hiding the adhesive.

 

That's all I've got for today!  Hope you are enjoying a great Friday and I'll see you soon with lots more to share!