A Few of my Favourite Things
Hello again and a happy new year! I hope that all of you had a lovely Christmas and are now recovering from the festivities and getting back to the usual swing of things. I have had a rather busy December and as usual, still running behind with my Christmas album ( I have yet to complete one successfully - I've nearly achieved it last year). It just doesn't seem to get any easier and quieter as the years go by, but I'm not complaining. I'm just trying to make the most of Christmas every year while I still have the kids around, anticipating a visit from Saint Nicholas with great excitement.
I have decided to go with a less traditional angle for my January double page layout for the Stick It Down blog. Rather than documenting the big event, I decided to make a layout about the little things that make Christmas special for me...
...Like the Christmas crackers I made for the kids to avoid the disappointment of finding another naff present and bad joke inside. Or the fact that I was off work for a week, and I could have my nails done (this does not happen very often and therefore is special). Or the Lindt chocolate teddy bears, wearing Christmas jumpers - how precious is that??? Or the coffee and cake I treated myself on one of our days out. Or the fact that this year I really needed that woolly hat with the cute bobble on, it wasn't just an accessory. I find that these little details are so easily lost from our memories...
I chose an older October Afternoon paper for the background with a chevron pattern. It's from one of their Christmas collections and a favourite of mine. I have used it in previous years, and stocked up on it when I found it reduced at an online shop. I have to say, it took me years to get used to using non-traditional colours on Christmas layouts, but now I love the pink on this paper - it totally complements the red.
Instead of using wet media to create the paint effect, I decided to use the gold paper at the top of the page. I ended up repeating it at the bottom, to balance things out. I used the actual paper crowns from the crackers - they were such a lovely quality paper, it seemed a waste to put them in the bin. Also, it's another piece of memorabilia 'archived' without taking up too much space...
The rest of the layout is fairly true to the sketch, even though I have added an extra photo and embellishments. The die-cut shapes are mostly from the Pebbles Christmas collection 'Merry Merry', and so are the small square cards with the sentiments on. The photo frames are from an older Simple Stories line. The rest of the embellishments and the small letter stickers are from various Pretty Little Studio Christmas collections.
I hope you like my layout. Please visit the Stick It Down blog for more information. Have a peaceful, prosperous, happy new year!
