holiday concert

I love creating for the Christmas holidays.  That is why, I think I make way more layouts during that time of the year.  I have another one today for my DD’s holiday school concert.  For two years now, I look forward to these concerts.  It is always a joy to watch my DD and her classmates’ take on classic holiday songs and how they make them sound so adorable.  The school also gives character awards during that time and again, for two years now, my DD has gotten an award for exemplary demonstration of a certain character trait. Gotta love that!

Here is my layout…

 

I used Headline Alphabet dies from Papertrey, various patterned papers and cardstock from Papertrey and Echo Park and cardboard stickers from Simple Stories.  I also used my wide format printer to type out my journaling directly on to my page.  I love that I could do that to my 12 x 12 paper layout! I have not yet embraced digital scrapbooking but I have always admired being able to print across a 12 x 12 page.

I am linking this page to 2 challenges.  First is a sketch challenge over at Write Click Scrapbook here.  I love love Marnie’s style and almost completely CASE’d her layout.  I love the colours she used and the layout design was fabulous.   It was from a post she did way back in December but I have this on my inspiration file so I thought, it would be nice to link it there.

The other one is to Leigh Penner’s Pages with Papertrey challenge here which is to use three of something in your layout.  Here I used 3 photos from that day and 3 colors of cardstock for my title.

Thanks for stopping by!

hello 2014

Is it February already?  How did January go by that fast? Before I start creating Valentine goodies, let me share with you my New Year's Eve layout.  We had a small get together at a friend's house to welcome the new year together.  My DD was so excited spending that time with her friend and with all the noise makers and overall merry making.

I used Papertrey's Wonderful Words: Hello, Heart 2 Heart and Journal tab dies.  I also used journal cards from Simple Stories and  Project Life.

I am linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey challenge here which is to use 3 Papertrey dies. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

dear santa, i can explain

Every year, we have our holiday family photo taken with Santa. This year, my DD enjoyed chatting with him a bit before our photo shoot started.  She told him in detail what she wanted and answered some questions from him (this part I did not hear very well anymore, lol).

Here is this year's layout.

I used Papertrey's Holly Jolly die, journal cards from Simple Stories, ephemera from Fancy Pants and patterned paper from Echo Park.

I rarely used just one photo on a layout but this one called for it since the photo was a 5 x 7. I tried to restrain myself from adding more elements and tried to leave enough "white space" to give the eyes some rest.

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey here which is to use a tag and twine in your layout.  I used a small Merry Christmas tag and embellished it with a button and twine.

Thanks for stopping by! 

  

let it snow

Toronto was hit with one of the worst ice storms in ages last December.  A big part of the city was without power for days during the Christmas week.  We were lucky as we did not lose power but our big tree at the backyard lost some branches due to the weight of the ice.  

I made a layout of my DD's last day in school before the winter break.  This was the last time she was able to enjoy the snow as the following day, the ice storm hit us and we were pretty much on house arrest from then... too slippery and icy to go out.

I used Papertrey's Script Alphabet dies, Ali Edwards' Fun Flair stamp set and Simple Stories' journaling cards and patterned paper.

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge here which is to use different elements in your title.  I used some die cuts and sticker alphas for my title.

 
Thanks for stopping by!

 

holiday recital

Another highlight of our holiday season this year was my DD's recital at her gymnastics school.  Their class prepared a Christmas-inspired routine and it was really fun watching her perform the awesome things she's learned in class.  It was also fun to see amazing routines on the floor, balance beams and uneven bars from the bigger girls.  It's like watching something from the Olympics! 

Here is  the layout I made...

  
I used Papertrey's Headline Alphabet and journal tab dies, Simple Stories' journal cards and cardboard stickers and Pink Paisley's "love you" tab.

Here are some close ups...  Gymnastics is such a big part of our life now.  She was invited to the pre-competitive program and now trains 6 hours a week.  We had to re-prioritize our schedule contstantly but it is all worth it.

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge here which is to include three of something in your layout.  Here, I am including 3 photos on my layout.

Thanks for stopping by!
 

pwp challenge - we believe in santa

Are you tired of my holiday layouts yet?  I have more so hold on tight in the next few days, lol.

Here is another one of our early holiday favourites... Santa Claus parade!  The Toronto one coincides with my DD's birthday party so we were not able to go (A bit of trivia... When she was born, I went on labor on Saturday but she decided to come out only on Sunday noon as soon as the Toronto Santa Clause parade started.  Showing up with all the fanfare has always been her thing, lol).  Good thing there were lots of other smaller parades which we could enjoy.  Here is one...

 I used Papertrey's Get a Handle on It die for the long banner, 3x4 cards from Simple Stories and Echo Park and glittery die cuts from DCWV.

Here is a close up of my journaling... 

 And since I used those glittery die cuts, I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge here which is to add a sparkle to your layout.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

santa came!

So last time I shared with you here the chaos that was Christmas morning.  I made another layout to focus on just the gifts my DD got from Santa. Her wishlist this year was short -- just a wooden dollhouse and Lalaloopsy.  

Here is the layout I made to capture the joy in her face after seeing all her requested presents from Santa.

 I experimented and tried on a different colour combo. What do you think?

I used Papertrey's Headline Alphabet dies (I don't think I will use any other alpha dies again!  These are my absolute  faves!), Stampin' Up cardstocks, Teresa Collins enamel dots, sticker and 3x4 cards from Simple Stories and Kelly Purkey's Right Now stamp set.  I also used my HP Officejet 7610 large format printer to print my journaling directly onto my page. 

Some close ups...

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge # 22 here which is to stamp on something other than a cardstock. Here, I stamped the X mark from Papertrey's Big Ticket Basics onto the journaling card.

 Thanks for stopping by!
 

 

chirstmas morning

Ah.. there is nothing better than the anticipation of Christmas morning... waking up and asking if Santa came, walking down the stairs excitedly to check what's under the tree and ripping open all the gifts with all your might.  Such is the Christmas morning at our house this year.

So many great photos during that short span of time.  So I decided not to torture myself and just included all the photos I liked.  Because there were so many photos, I had to keep the design pretty simple.  Here it is... 

Some close ups...

 I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge #16 here which is to combine different elements in your title.  Here I used Papertrey's Headline Alphabet dies and some sticker alphas from Simple Stories.

 Thanks for stopping by!

o christmas tree

Every year,  I take a photo of my DD by the Christmas tree.  I would love to put them all side by side one day and see how much she has grown and changed over the years. 

I plan to use a similar layout every year, starting last year (if I can remember to do that!).  Here is what I had last year and the years before.

And here is what I did this year...

 I used Papertrey's Block Alphabet dies and Love Lives Here: Holiday stamp, October Afternoon's patterned papers and Fancy Pants' Merry Little Christmas ephemera pack.

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge here which is to stamp on something other than a cardstock.  Here, I stamped a sentiment from Love Lives Here onto a patterned paper.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

advent tree

I previously shared with you here the advent tree that I crammed to complete last December.  It was one of the new fun holiday traditions we started this year.

Here is the layout I made of that...

I used Papertrey's Headline Alphabet dies, a round ephemera from Fancy Pants' Merry Little Christmas pack, glittered die cut and paper from DCWV and a 3x4 card from Echo Park.

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge here which is to add sparkle to your layout. Here is a close up of the sparkles. Love the shiny reds!

One of the best  things I got myself for Christmas is a wide format printer which can take in a 12x12 cardstock.  I have been  wanting to get this for a while but would always hesitate as it is quite pricey.  I finally bit the bullet and bought one when I saw that it was on sale at our local Staples.  Got it for a great price and had been very happy with it.  This was one of my biggest time savers for creating layouts over the holiday break.  And I have always loved the look of journaling incorporated into the base cardstock. Here’s a close up of how I printed my journaling directly to my cardstock…

 

Thanks for stopping by!