Christmas Joy

What is more Christmas-y than gathering around the tree for a family photo? This layout was a Joy to do! I used the December My Creative Scrapbook kit. It features the Little Yellow Bicycle's "Magic of Christmas" Collection.

I hand scalloped edges of printed paper,& distressed with Tim Holtz's

red mahogany distress ink. I punched the scallops with a Christmas tree punch & used my

Easy Filled Punch Technique to fill in the punched trees. This was adhered to the beautiful card stock made by Bazzil. ( I have to admit, I love love love Bazzil card stock!!)

Little Yellow Bicycle rub-ons were added to the picture. I distressed the photo edges using Tim Holtz vintage photo distress ink.

My lettering was white, and I wanted to bring the festive feel to them also! So I simply wiped the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink, red mahogany. As I was distressing the edges, I pulled the ink to the letter top so it would"spill" over on the front. I also did the same with the white flourishes. Gold Stickles highlight the curves to the lettering!

The flower was made with silks included in the kit, and from papers used in the layout. I made the paper flowers with my Sizzix Big Shot. Gold & Christmas Red Stickles were added to flower to separate layers & add sparkle!

The chipboard ornaments were white glossy chipboard that I covered with the printed papers. the Covered Chipboard technique is something that I do all the time!! The edges were distressed with Tim Holtz Red Mahogany Distress ink. I added glitter stars & Stickles! I then attached ribbon & ran it under printed papers on top to give the "hanging" feel!

This layout was fun to do! I hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for taking a look!

Make Those Gift Cards Special!

I was determined to add a personal touch to a batch of gift cards I purchased. So I grabbed my Basic Grey Figgy Pudding & Wassail Collections & here is what I came up with!

The basic supplies I used are shown above. Corner rounder, corner rounder w/slit, threading water punch, & bone folder for scoring!
After some trial & error I found that this really works best with 2 sided paper! I cut my paper 4"x7" & an additional flap piece cut 1.5" X 4 ".

I scored & folded my paper at 2.5" from bottom & 5.5" from bottom.

I then punched using threading water punch on top flap & corner rounder with slit on bottom.

The slit holds the gift card. If you do not have a rounder w/slit , You can do this with a regular rounder & cutting along curve with craft knife!

I then took the additional cut flap piece & adhered it to inside score with opposite side showing as an accent!

Next I rounded the accented papers corners & added 4 eyelets as shown below! This was not measured, just eyeballed! Just remember to have them on the flap & directly under the flap. It does not have to be perfect !

I also distress all raw edges, including the scoring. I think it adds a nice finished touch!

I ran ribbon through the eyelets.

I have also done some with fibers, cord etc! I think twine would look great too!

Now just fold over & pull ribbon to sides! Presto!

Embellish, Stickle, Ink, and you are good to go!

I hope you have enjoyed making those gift cards special!

Thanks for taking a look!!!