Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Easy Christmas Countdown

Are you ready for December?  It's right around the corner so I'm sharing a couple of quick and fun projects to help you count down the days until Christmas.  Scrapdoodles has a great selection of Christmas papers and I wanted to highlight one of my favorites - Echo Park's Reflections Christmas. There are so many beautiful and versatile pieces in this collection - I love the vintage images, traditional colors, and variety of patterns.  Some of the sheets include border strips and project life style cards. Check out the collection here online and then stop by Scrapdoodles to see them in person and pick out all of your favorites.  One of my favorite sheets is the North Pole map paper.  I used it as the background for a "Tracking Santa" layout.  Did you know that NORAD begins counting down and tracking Santa on December 1st?  Check out their website HERE and add it to your family countdown activities.  All you'll need to do is snap your photo of the kids at the computer and add it to your layout with your journaling.





The second project I am sharing is a simple countdown made from a 5x7 inch frame.  To make this project, layer 3 rectangles of Echo Park Reflections Christmas papers: red base layer cut to 5x7,  then green layer cut to 4x6, and on top of that a patterned piece cut to 3 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches.  Toward the bottom of this piece layer several stickers, including letter stickers "days 'til".  Put this inside the frame.  Outside the frame I added the large Christmas tag sticker with twine.  To hold the countdown cards, attach a clothespin (dyed red and glittered) to the outside of the frame at the top.  I used foam dots to support it over the glass and hot glue to secure it to the frame. Once the frame is done, you can set it aside and work on your countdown cards.



One of the collection sheets includes a set of numbers 1-24.  I cut them apart and used these numbers on each of my cards.  I cut apart the Echo Park 3x4 cards from the large sheets and added more 3x4 cards cut from various papers to total 24.  Then I used additional stickers and papers from the collection as well as additional items from my Christmas stash to embellish each card.  Each card is different and fun!  Now I can display the frame and put up a new card each day as we countdown to Christmas!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Sketch Challenge - November DCWV

Love DCWV's monthly sketch challenges! This is a great sketch for showcasing one photo and some awesome papers.
 

I used the White Ginger stack for my layout. The bright blues really bring out the blue in my girl's eyes! The large feathery element is from the stack - I just fussy cut it out and added some bright yellow pearl dots.  The title is from the Cricut Artbooking cartridge.