Photoplay - Christmas Junque - Oh Christmas Tree

Today is the eve of Epiphany, which means the Christmas decorations are coming down tomorrow! 🎄 To say a proper goodbye to the season, I’ve created a new layout featuring my Christmas tree. I used the gorgeous Christmas Junque collection by Photoplay, which I think was the perfect match for the photo.

I started with a sheet of  Mrs. Claus Bakery paper. While I originally saved this for a festive food-themed layout, I realised that by layering embelishments to hide the 'Bakery' reference, I could use the entire sheet for this tree layout instead.

After printing my photo slightly smaller than A4, I double-matted it using Christmas Time paper and gold mirror card. I then stuck it to the right-hand side of my layout.

From the Collage Cut Out Sheets I fussy cut several images, matted them with gold card and used them to embellish the photo. Stars from more gold card were also included.

A fussy cut arrow was used to pinpoint a favourite ornament in the photo.

To cover the 'Mrs. Claus’ Bakery' text, I used a cut-out piece as a pocket. I secured it to the layout using gold brads, which added a touch more gold to the layout and also hid the original paper's theme.

I printed my journalling onto a tag, created a red tag top, threaded it with some red and white twine and tucked it into the pocket.

Tucking a few additional cut-outs into the pocket created a layered, cluster effect that gave more interest to the layout.

At the top of the layout I added a die cut title and finished it off with a scattering of gold sequins and punched cardstock stars which carry the gold theme across the whole layout.

Photoplay - Christmas Junque - Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

Despite the chaos of the season, I have managed to squeeze in some scrapping time and today I have another layout to share with you, using the gorgeous Christmas Junque collection from Photoplay.

I began the layout with a sheet of the Unwrap the Magic paper (B side). I trimmed the paper down slightly, rounded the corners and then matted it onto a sheet of red Bazzill cardstock from the Matchmaker Pack, making sure to leave a narrow border around the edges. Before gluing the patterned paper down, I gutted the middle of the red cardstock so I still had the rest of the sheet available to use.

Using the remaining red cardstock, I cut a bauble shape using my Silhouette machine. I combined two different cut files from the Silhouette Store, 'bauble flourish drop corner' and 'bauble frame' but manipulated and welded the two files together before cutting them. I then backed the cut file with patterned papers from the collection and two photos.

I also used some gold mirror card to back the tops of the baubles. The backed cut file was glued flat to the layout.

Thin green ribbon bows were used to embellish the baubles and add some texture.

Some phrase strips and small images were cut from the Collage Cut Out Sheets and added.

On the left side of the layout there was a convenient space to add a word plaque from the Collage Sheets.

I positioned the title at the bottom of the layout, which I cut using the Silhouette from more gold mirror card. I always like to add a touch of gold to my Christmas project. I think it really gives a layout that perfect festive sparkle!

Finally, I added the date in the bottom left corner and a scattering of green sequins at the top.

Photoplay - Christmas Junque - Merry Christmas

Today I'm sharing a layout featuring Photoplay's Christmas Junque Collection. Sadly, this beautiful collection was one of Photoplays last releases before they ceased trading. It captures a wonderfully nostalgic, rustic, and cosy Christmas feel, with a classic colour palette of reds, greens, creams, and kraft. The collection features vintage images of Santa, snowmen, old ornaments, sleighs, sheet music, trees, poinsettias and more.

For my layout, I paired this collection with a cute photo of Lara writing her letter to Santa many years ago. I even included the words of her original letter as my journaling.



I started by matting a slightly trimmed down sheet of white cardstock onto a sheet of green Bazzill ‘Rain Forest’ cardstock, leaving a narrow border.



In the centre of the layout, I layered pieces of the Christmas Time, December and Mrs. Claus Bakery papers. Each piece was matted with gold mirror card to add to the festive feel of the layout, before being arranged in the centre. My 6x4 photo was also matted with the gold card and placed on top of the layered papers.

The ‘Merry Christmas’ title was cut from the Collage Cut Out Sheets and positioned beneath the photo.



I used cut-out baubles and word strips from the Collage sheet, cascading them down the right side of the photo.

I typed up a copy of my daughter's letter to Santa, printed it, cut it into strips, and glued these to the layout as journaling.

I threaded gold twine through one of the paper layers along the top, giving it a tag-like appearance.

Red felt stars from my stash were added for texture.

To complete the layout, I added soft, watered-down green ink around the layered papers to define the edges and dotted tiny stars -punched from the gold card - around the layout for a final sparkle.

Mintay Papers - Christmas Blessings - Dear Santa

This is my final layout using Mintay Paper's Christmas Blessings collection. The photo I chose to scrapbook is of my husband when he was a child and I think the photo has quite a timeless, vintage vibe to it. If you like creating projects with a vintage vibe, Mintay Papers are perfect.



I started by printing my photo to the exact size to fit in front of the window printed on paper #1. Using a craft knife I then cut into the printed picture so that my photo would slip into and become part of the picture.



Paper #1 (complete with my photo) was then trimmed down slightly and layered onto a sheet of paper #4 and then paper #3 leaving narrow borders around each. I like the effect this gives and it also introduced a little more blue to the layout.



Using one of the pieces from the Paper Elements Pack I then created some 3D stars to embellish the layout with. These are really easy to make with a 5 point paper star and a scoring tool. There is a good tutorial on how to make these here on the Doodlebug blog. They are quite addictive and you'll soon be adding them to your layouts.



I stuck the stars to my layout in clusters using some wet glue and once the glue has dried they held their shape quite well.



For the title I added some wooden words from Mintay's Chippies Christmas Words. I chose to leave the words in their original raw state rather than colour them, as I thought they went well with the colours in the papers.



Finally I added some computer printed journaling strips at the bottom of the layout, and some wood veneer stars and sequins from my stash.

Mintay Papers - Christmas Blessings - Merry Christmas Bootiful

Today I have another layout to share using Mintay Paper's Christmas Blessings collection. This collection is beautiful and the colours, whilst not traditional Christmas colours, are perfect for scrapbooking Christmas memories.

I started with a sheet of smooth white cardstock and a sheet of paper #1 and layered them on top of each other with sheets of kraft cardstock between. Then with some white thread I machine stitched round the edges.

Next I took 2.5" wide pieces of papers from the 6x8 Add-on Paper Pad and cascaded them across the layout, overlapping them slightly and staggering the tops and bottoms.

I printed my photo three times in different sizes, matted them with white cardstock and layered them on top of the patterned paper pieces with 3D foam underneath to raise them up a little.

There was a space at the bottom left of the layout, so I added one of the tags and pockets from the Paper Elements pack and threaded some jute twine through the tag top.

In my stash I found an old chipboard phrase thicker and used this together with some small puffy alphabet stickers from Pinkfresh Studio to create the title.

Finally I fussy cut some stars, snowflakes and cookies from paper #9 and the Paper Pad and used these to embellish the layout together with some sequins and some tiny wood veneer stars.

Mintay Papers - Christmas Blessings - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Today I'm starting to get in the Christmas mood with a layout to share  using the new Christmas Blessings collection from Mintay Papers. I was really drawn to the unusual colour palette used for this Christmas collection - beige, brown and muted blues. It has a warm and cosy feel to it which is perfect for scrapbooking a warm, homely Christmas vibe. For this layout I chose to use some photos taken of the shop windows in a nearby market town in the lead up to Christmas a couple of years ago.

I started with a sheet of beige cardstock from the Bazzill Matchmaker Pack and onto this I layered a slightly trimmed down sheet of smooth white cardstock to leave a narrow border. In the centre of the layout I added a 10" square piece of paper #5, which I had inked the edges of with a Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inkpad, and using my sewing machine and white thread I stitched a straight stitch round the edges.

I cut three strips of paper #4 roughly 1" x 9", inked the edges and placed these horizontally on the layout to create a series of shelves.



I then set about creating a cluster of embellishments and photo on each shelf.



Each cluster contained a 3 x 4 photo and images fussy cut from paper #9.



Some of the images were mounted on 3D foam to add some dimension.



I also added a pale green doilie into each cluster to give the layout a more homely feel.



In my stash I found some wood veneer stars in various sizes and added these to the clusters as well as some blue and beige sequins.



Finally I die cut on the Silhouette Cameo the word Christmas from a scrap of brown card and added this to the bottom of the layout and completed the long title with some very old teeny tiny letter stickers.

Vicki Boutin Peppermint Kisses - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This is my final layout using Vicki Boutin's Peppermint Kisses collection which is also my final layout for 2023.

I've been working with the 12x12 paper pad this month and started my layout by layering the red candy cane striped paper and text paper onto a sheet of white 12x12 cardstock with another layer of white cardstock between.

With white thread I machine stitched a straight stitch round the edges of the papers. This is quite a flat layout, so the stitching added some texture. Before adding any elements, I also splattered some gold ink onto the background

Using some of the green papers from the collection I cut four simple triangular Christmas Tree shapes and punched some holes in a couple of them. After machine stitching round the edges of the trees, the trees were glued to the centre of the layout in a row.

I die cut some stars from gold card and added one to the top of each tree.

A piece of gold ribbon (from a recent gift) was stuck horizontally across the bottom of the layout. Three small photos, from Christmases past, were matted with more of the red striped paper and placed at the bottom of the trees.

To create a title I took the phrase 'Merry Christmas' from a sheet of Mintay Papers Chippies Christmas Words and cut it in half. Using embossing powder I transformed the bare chipboard into gold and added the two words to the layout.

The other words in the title were made by die cutting letters from gold card which I backed with some self-adhesive foam. 

At the top of the layout I placed a phrase from the pack of Journaling Ephemera and also added some phrase strips from my stash. 

The layout was finished with a scattering of gold sequins to add some Christmassy sparkle.