Carta Bella - Christmas in the City - Smile

Hello!

Claire here today and I've been using up the last bits of my Christmas in the City collection from Carta Bella. 

I quite enjoy this time of year from a create perspective, seeing how versatile a Christmas collection can be and this one did not disappoint.

I've opted to scrap a picture from one of our walks over the festive period. It's was very cold and frosty and although we definitely weren't in a city, the papers still worked fantastically well for my photo and I love how they could be adapted for my layout theme.

So to start, I cut varying widths of papers using the mustard cardstock from the Matchmaker Pack, Merry Snowflake Sky (red) and Christmas Tree Cab (green b side). 

I began layering them vertically and horizontally but wanted to add extra framing. To create this, I cut two triangles from a square of the blue b side of the Merry Snowflake Sky paper, and layered this underneath my red paper to frame the corners. I love this bold edge - I think it helps the red paper to pop off the page. 

I also opted for a small splash of mixed media, adding dry Distress Oxide with a brush to extend the grass colours of the photo. 

I really love the Peace on Earth Pines paper - it reminds me of beautiful festive foliage so felt very  fitting as the border for my photo. I added this to my other papers with foam for extra dimension. 

Next, I raided my stash of dies and chose some snowflakes which I cut from plain white cardstock. There's an amazing choice of dies in the shop, and they're such fun to incorporate into your project. I'd highly recommend you take a peek! You can find loads of snowflake dies here. 

To the centres of each snowflake, I added a small sticker from the Element Stickers which echoes the colours of the paper into the snowflakes, making it feel more cohesive. 

I also chose to use the little pennant stickers to create a small banner cluster to the left of my photo along with the December sticker to note the month of the photo. 

I pulled some Thickers from my stash to create my Smile title, and lightly added some green watercolour pain to each letter to pull in the green colour. 

To finish, I added a small sprinkling of Pinkfresh Studio Crystals which give the slightest sparkle and help bring this frosty page to life! There are some Pinkfresh Jewels in the shop here.

I hope you've enjoyed this layout and are inspired to stretch your own Christmas collections. 

Until next month, happy scrapping! 

Claire

@scrappysoulmate

Merry Days | Santa's Christmas Delivery | Echo Park | Rebecca Bee

Hello Scrappy Friends! Rebecca Bee here! It may be mid-January but I am still clinging onto the last ounces of joy from Christmas so have a third layout using Echo Park's Santa's Christmas Delivery collection to share!

For this layout, I have created a frame from the Holiday Ornaments patterned paper. Using a small amount of busy patterned papers in this way this means I still get to use pretty papers, but they aren't too overpowering to the eye on the layout. 

I wanted to create an effect of Christmas lights twinkling from behind this patterned paper frame, so I added a tiny amount of Distress Oxide splatters that would just barely peek out from behind the edge of the patterned frame. 

I added a small amount of twine and some of the Christmas Ornaments stickers from the elements stickers sheet to create a cluster that hangs down from the top of the frame

Onto the frame I have added a sprinkling of sequins and some tiny droplets of glossy accents glue to act as shiny decorations twinkling on the frame.

I have added clusters of stickers around the page and a perspex title from my stash.

Happy Scrapping everyone!

XOXO

Merry Christmas | Santa's Christmas Delivery Echo Park | Rebecca Bee

 Hello Scrappy friends! Rebecca Bee here with my last layout of 2025 using Echo Park's Santa's Christmas Delivery collection. 

I love the traditional Christmas colourway with reds and greens, so this collection really suits most of my festive photos from this year. For this layout I have used the Twinkling Lights paper which I offset on each side of the sweet as sugar candies paper. For the appearance of extra layers, I also added some small strips of the Happy Santa paper which I had leftover for a previous layout. 

I love the cute little Santa stickers in this collection, they very much suited my Christmas Morning photos, just after Santa had made his delivery of presents! 

Do you enjoy festive scrapbooking? If so, you definitely need to have a look at this cute, whimsical collection, it is so much fun! Until next time!

Rebecca

XOXO

Echo Park ~ Christmas Express #2

Hello everyone and Happy Christmas! Hope you’ve all been enjoying the festive period and making memories to document!

I’ve been enjoying some crafty time in amongst all the Christmas fun. So I went back to using Echo Park Christmas Express to create another page. 

I began with a sheet of white bazzill as my base. I then created a star template in various sizes on my silhouette cameo. I used the template to draw around North Pole Plaid and then a slightly smaller star from Holly Jolly Stockings, so that I could layer them on top of each other. I then cut out some smaller stars from the b side of Red Snowflakes. 

After distressing the edges, I adhered my large stars off centre to the left and trimmed off the excess. I then layered my photo on to some red coordinating bazzill cardstock and Red Snowflakes. 

I placed my mounted photo in the centre of the star and alongside it I added a 3x4 journal card. 

I added the smaller stars randomly around the rest of the layout and also added in a few Element stickers. 

I used some stars, snowflakes and sentiments from the Vicki Boutin Peppermint Kisses, Ho Ho Ho Phrase Thickers. 

Thanks so much for looking! 

I’ll see you again in January when I’ll be working with Simple Stories Take Note.

Happy New Year! 

Anna 

@acraftylifewithanna

Wonder - Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Believe Collection

 Hi everyone, it’s Rebecca here, sharing my final layout and blog post of 2025!

As we gear up for Christmas in our house, one of our favourite traditions is taking part in the school PTA photoshoot. That means I have some lovely family photos to scrapbook this month — and none of them are selfies, which is always a bonus!

For this layout, I’ve been working with the Simple Vintage Believe collection from Simple Stories. You can find the full collection in the shop here.

For the page design, I selected two landscape photos. This immediately reminded me of a layout I created some time ago that I absolutely loved. Once that idea popped into my head, I couldn’t let it go, so I decided to scraplift my own work. I do this often when I’m in the mood to create but unsure where to start — revisiting past layouts is a great way to spark inspiration.

I began by cutting a couple of strips from patterned papers to act as an anchor for the page. These were adhered vertically down the centre of a sheet of Premium White Cardstock, with the photos positioned centrally on either side of the strips. From there, I added cascading die-cut stars in varying sizes from top to bottom. Using metal dies to create shapes is a great way to showcase some of the busier papers in a collection. I mixed both patterned and more solid designs to keep the stars visually balanced.

Next came the embellishing — the fun part! (Although, let’s be honest, it’s all fun.) I especially love this stage, as adding those tiny details really brings the page together. I reached for the Floral Bits and Pieces and Element Stickers, arranging them into two main clusters in the centre of the page. A sweet little fawn takes pride of place in the centre, surrounded by florals and leaves that fill the natural gaps left by the photos.

For the title, I used another Element Sticker, placing it over the leafy sprigs and popping it up on foam pads to add a little dimension.

To finish the layout, I added some simple stamping. I used the Pine Holidays Stamps and Die set by 49 and Market, choosing one of the pine leaf designs and my favourite Jet Black StazOn Ink Pad. This helped subtly extend the floral and leafy clusters and added just a touch more detail.

Thank you so much for reading — this is me signing off for 2025.

Thank you for following along and supporting my creative journey for another year. I hope you all have a wonderful and restful Christmas, and I’ll see you for more scrappy adventures in 2026!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Rebecca xx
@preciouspagespapercraft

Carta Bella - Christmas in the City - Merry & Bright

Hello everyone!

The festivities are getting nearer and I've taken the opportunity to spend some time at my crafty desk scrapping memories of a Christmas shopping trip.

For this layout I'm using the Christmas in the City collection by Carta Bella. One of the icons is a red snow globe with a cityscape inside and it inspired me to create my own. 

I cut the snowglobe on my cricut using the red coordinating cardstock from the matchmaker pack. Once it was cut, I used it as a template to cut around the stunning Christmas City Scene paper. 

Before sticking anything together, I added a layer of acetate to the snowglobe and backed the edge with thick foam tape being careful not to leave any gaps. I added sequins, glittery bits and mini foam balls and then added the background paper to create a giant shaker!

I mounted my photos using the blue side of the Merry Snowflake Sky paper and adhered these to the bottom left of the globe. 

To embellish I chose a variety of stickers from the Element Stickers. I arranged them around my photograph to bring the scene to life. 

This included a big bold sticker 'Merry & Bright' which I used as my title. 

I also added a small cluster of snowflake stickers opposite the photos on the top of the globe to help balance the design. 

This was a really fun one to make that came together really quickly. It's such an inspiring collection, do drop by and check it out here, but be quick, it's proving popular! 

I hope you find some creative time this holiday and enjoy the festivities! 

Claire x

@scrappysoulmate 

Merry | Rebecca Bee | Echo Park Santa's Christmas Delivery

 

Hello everyone, Rebecca Bee here! Is anyone else starting to feel a little festive? I most certainly am and so I couldn't resist creating using Echo Park's Santa's Christmas Delivery this month to document some festive memories.. 

To create this layout I cut out some of the square cards in the 2x2 Journaling Cards paper, distressed their edges and created some rolled tabs to add some interest and texture above the central photo panel of this layout. My three 2x3" photos are matted into a panel of the Happy Santa paper.

To add some pretty detail to the cardstock background, I have added some star shaped sequins and a small amount of texture paste through a stencil from my stash- similar item here. 

A scattering of stickers from the Element Stickers sheet and some journaling finishes off the layout. I adore using soft pink with traditional Christmas reds and greens, it makes them feel fresher and softer. This soft pink Bazzil cardstock comes from the coordinating Bazzil Matchmaker pack for this collection and suits the collection perfectly 

I finished the layout off by adding some journaling and some tiny doodled stars using my white journaling pen. I'll be back later in the month with another layout using this charming Christmas collection. Until then, have a wonderful Christmas friends!

Rebecca Bee 

XOXO

Very Merry - Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Believe Collection

Hi everyone, it’s Rebecca with you today. I can’t believe it’s December already—where has this year gone?! It felt only right to use a Christmas collection this month, so I’ve chosen to create with the wonderful Simple Vintage Believe collection by Simple Stories. I love a more traditional Christmas aesthetic, and out of the four Christmas lines Simple Stories released this year, this one appealed to me the most. You can find the collection in the shop here.

I started with the Journal Elements patterned paper and cut out several of the larger pieces. After distressing the edges, I arranged them in the centre of a sheet of Premium White Cardstock, adding foam between the layers to create dimension. I also tucked in a few pieces from the Ephemera pack for extra depth.

On top of these layers, I placed my photo, framing it with a piece from an older 49 and Market collection. On either side of the photo, I added icons from the Floral Bits & Pieces and Ephemera packs. To build up these clusters even more, I incorporated some Cardstock Stickers.

I felt the background needed a touch of mixed media, but because my design was quite “blocky,” I didn’t want to use coloured ink—it just doesn’t always suit this kind of structure! Instead, I decided on stamping. I pulled out a selection of stamps from my stash, including some by Arden Creative and 49 and Market, and stamped all around the edges of my design.

I loved the effect but felt the layout needed a darker paper to pull everything together. I considered framing the entire page with the All the Trimmings paper, but it didn’t look quite right. Instead, I tore two strips of the same patterned paper and added them above and below my layered design. This felt like the perfect finishing touch.

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you’re all enjoying the countdown to Christmas and finding some time to scrap your December memories. I’m hoping to be back with one final layout before the year is out—so until then, take care.

Rebecca xx

@preciouspagespapercraft

Echo Park ~ Christmas Express ~ Advent Calendar 🎅🏻

Hi everyone, it’s Anna back with you on the blog today. It’s that time of year again - it’s time for my annual advent calendar project. 

To create this project I have used Echo Park Christmas Express.

This year I’ve gone with a slightly different take on it. I always make something that can be displayed at home and then it either gets taken apart, given away or stored for another year. So this year I decided it would be nice to be able to keep it in my album like a scrapbook layout. Which got me thinking, and then I came up with this idea…

It’s an advent calendar which looks back over the year. I debated whether to use Christmas photos from over the years - but in the end decided that as it would be in my 2025 album, I would use photos from this year. So behind each door is a memory from the year. I can have it on display in December and then it can be placed into my album when I’m finished with it. 

So the calendar has been created using ‘Christmas Coundown’ as seen below. 

I kept this paper as it was, but used a craft knife to create the cuts to make the numbers into openable doors.

I adhered this on to some bazzill cardstock and then printed pictures to fit behind each door. I just trimmed them down to fit behind and tucked them underneath.

I then decorated each door with some cardstock stickers and some journalling boxes, noting down when the picture was taken during the year. 

Here are some of the advent doors…

I added some Nuvo drops to decorate the front of some of the doors. 

Thanks so much for looking! Hope this inspires you to create your own version. 

See you next month!

Anna 

@acraftylifewithanna