It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Hi Magpies,
Julie with you today. This month, being as it’s December, I decided to go with it and embrace the mania that it is Christmas!! I looked at all the festive themed products on the site and choose to play with the Simple Stories DIY Christmas line, a very beautiful collection, with traditional colours of red, green and black. I ordered the 12×12 Double Side Paper Pack, the Chipboard Shape Stickers, Journal Layers Die-Cuts, Letters & Wards Stickers, and the Clear Stickers.
My first layout uses the title ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’, which I cut out on my silhouette, and backed with pieces of papers from the collection. I used a plain cream cardstock as my background paper, and stitched it to a piece of patterned paper. I cut out three frames, also on my silhouette, and then topped them with photos which were took at the annual German Market in Birmingham. It’s one of our traditions to visit the German Market in December, and although I never buy anything (apart from a few sweets!) I love the atmosphere and the Christmassy feeling it gives me! I added a few splatters of Heidi Swapp Color Shine Mists, and then a few of the chipboard stickers to finish.

For my second layout, Sweater Weather, I chose one of the patterned papers which was plain on the other side to use as my background, and then I punched, tore and pleated an assortment of the papers, layering them on the page. I applied some lace for texture, then added a variety of the embellishments in the layers. The photos are of one of my pooches, Riley, in his new winter jumper. Again, I finished with some mist, an exclusive flair badge and a few of the clear stickers, which when applied, look like rub-ons.

My last layout, Costa Christmas Cups, is all about the takeaway Christmas cups from Costa. They have four different styles, and as my eldest daughter works there, I was able to get my hands on all four to photograph (after having a few free drinks out of them!). I used a plain cream cardstock as my background, and backed it with a piece of American Crafts Be Merry Peppermint paper. I took apart the Santa cups and used parts of that on my layout. I put the photos to the top and bottom, then in-between added some bakers twine and hung all the embellishments from that, layering them up. I again finished with some mist and a few clear stickers.

Wishing you a Happy Christmas!
Until next time,