Tis the Season!

When the December kit arrived at my house, while I did try to do winter projects and non Christmas related projects, I saw no problem with throwing in a little holiday spirit!

Personally, I like creating out of chronological order. I first started scrapbooking after Morgan was born, and while I was still "learning"... I didn't want to use all of those baby photos while I was still trying to find myself and my style in my work. By creating out of order, when you look through my books, some of my favorite layouts are mixed in with some of my not so favorite layouts, and they are mixed throughout the early years of my babies.

In fact... I haven't even started my wedding album! And I've been married 8 years! I just wanted to make sure it was perfect. I do think it's finally time to do it. I'm ready.

Anyway, back to Christmas. In digging for photos I went with a photo of my sweet PJ from my Christmas photo shoot in 2006. She was so wiggly during this time that I had the hardest time getting a photo with all of her in it, lol. She was about 8 months old here. I just love the photo I did choose. She still wrinkles her nose just like that, two years later.

I made great use of the lace stamp that was in this month's kit. Kirsty would be so proud of me... I stamped it all over the brown paper bags that the kits come in. I needed something with dimension that would "flutter" a bit.... I just love how these turned out. Very frilly and lacey. The kit doesn't come with ribbon this month, and this was a great way to get the ribbon affect.

Kelly took photos of her sweet Brady while they were decorating their tree. I had so much fun with this layout! I even used a different stitch on my trusty Bazzill stitching template!

To share a bit about what I was referring to with regards to scrapping out of order, I wanted to share a couple of layouts I did a while ago of Morgan during this same photoshoot. She actually let me curl her hair that day, and she was wearing the same dress as her sister. Someday soon I'll do a layout of the two of them together.

Amazingly, I still LOVE this one. And I created this one in the winter of 2006. Look at me, I was ahead of the trend! LOL! I made my own funky scallops, and I punched holes. I was totally ahead of the Fiskars threading water punch! I also hand stitched part of my title. You know I do much more than that now, but it's interesting to see what basic elements I have maintained throughout the years.

This next layout was created for a contest that I was part of. It was a contest that lasted several weeks, and this particular week my assignment was to create a layout that was urban chic. Urban chic isn't my style, but I had a lot of fun with this layout, mostly because of the photos. These photos were taken the same day as the sweet photo above! I think I created this layout around June of 2007.

It was really hard for me not to sew all over this layout so I used a pen instead. lol This layout isn't me but I still love it!

Because I am busy working on my December daily album and feeling the Christmas spirit, I also wanted to share a couple of additional projects that I created using this month's kit. These projects aren't in my DT gallery because I created them today.

Last year, just as I was packing up my Christmas boxes after the holidays were over, I was watching a commercial, where a woman was standing in the kitchen. I can't even tell you what the commercial was about, but in the background, on her refrigerator, was this super cute reindeer. I immediately grabbed some cardstock and my kiddos and traced their hands and one foot, intending to create a project with it. One year later and I finally had an opportunity to finish that project.

I white washed a picture frame for a shabby feel and added some Cosmo Cricket from the December kit as well as some dark brown and kraft cardstock, a la Calico. I then used some buttons from previous kits to finish off my little reindeer. This is Payton's 20 month prints. It's a really simple and fun home decor item. It would make a great gift too!

I really liked the colors of the October Afternoon papers, the red, blue, and green, so I mixed it with some of the Cosmo Cricket and Making Memories for this garland. I used Claudine's canvas as toppers for my little flags.

AND I used my new Slice for the poinsetta shaped flowers. I think this shape is part of the Noteworthy cartridge. You have to have that one!

You'll notice I didn't put a "title" on this garland. I couldn't think of the right words, so I used the little words on the October Afternoon sticker sheet mixed with flower/snowflakes, so that this garland would work after the holiday. As long as their's snow, or it's the winter months at least, this garland is appropriate home decor.

I also wanted to do an ornament with the December kit. I used a photo of the girls on our visit to Santa at the Reindeer Ranch for this ornament. I have the paper and photo behind the acrylic shape, and I applied the October Afternoon rubon snowflakes to the front. I love the effect!

Of course, I had to chop up some more canvas for my trees.

P.S. A little about me... when we give directions to our house, we always say we live down the street from the Reindeer Ranch. That's right... if you ever want to know where Santa's Reindeer are, you can tell your kiddos they are in Oregon. Sometimes it's just too cold at the North Pole so a nice family in Redmond offered to take care of the reindeer. Truth be told, these Reindeer are famous in other ways too. They used to travel to New York every fall for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. This stopped a few years ago when the Mad Cow fiasco was happening and they passed new laws about taking animals out of state.

Anyway, back to scrappin'.

The holiday season wouldn't be complete without a Christmas layout. I don't know about you but I never get very good photos on this holiday. It's my favorite day of the year, so I am too busy enjoying myself and watching my sweet angels to focus on getting good photos. To help with that, last year I took a photo of my hubby Steve with the girls right before they headed to the Christmas tree. It was before the paper started to fly so it was a good opportunity to capture a photo. I also used one photo of each girl unwrapping a present. And that's all you need for a layout!

Christmas dress photo shoots, Christmas decor, and Christmas day layouts... ... I hope I've given you a taste of the possibilities with the December kit! I hope you aren't laughing too hard at my older work. lol. Unless it's with me. Then you can laugh.

Davinie