'Deck the Halls' Holly Days, Simple Stories by Meg

Hey hey all you scrappy friends! I hope you had some fantastic festive celebrations and that you had a chance to wind down time over Christmas and New Year! 

Today I'm sharing another Christmas page using Holly Days by Simple Stories - I realised I haven't EVER tried out a classic green and red Christmas combo and this was the perfect opportunity to get one done, while it's still cold outside! 

So I started this page by pulling out the Tis The Season paper and the Mistletoe Memories paper. These two compliment each other so well, especially since the floral print is a large pattern and the polka dots on Mistletoe Memories are much smaller and contrast nicely. I cut them into wide strips, as well as a third strip from the Let's Get Cozy paper scraps I had left over from my previous projects. 

Originally I thought I might use the strips across the page horizontally, but I decided to cut the strips into thirds to create a 3x3 grid across my page. I realised I could use the 'Holly Days' and 'Comfort + Joy' elements from the 3x4 Elements paper, which matched the papers I'd chosen perfectly and added a little extra interest to the page. I trimmed the 3x4 Elements and arranged on the left and the right and used my photo on the lower right to create a sort of triangle around the page and keep the eye moving. 

After distressing and adhering the squares, I began creating a large cluster around my photo. I backed my photo with tags from the cut apart Tags paper and used 3D foam to pop up the photo and add dimension. The sweet little Christmas tree and polar bear were both fussy cut from the Tags paper too. 

I created a little banner using Bazills red cardstock, edging it with a white pen and using some little alphabet stamps with white paint to add the date to the banner. 

I finished the page with some puffy stickers, including the Vicki Boutins Warm Wishes Puffy Phrase 'Deck the Halls' thicker and hanging bauble, some fussy cut flowers from the Mistletoe Memories paper and some white and gold watercolour splatters peeking out each side. I really love this effect as it mimics the twinkling lights in my photo - I added quite a lot of little flat back gems and Bright Gold Nuvo Drops on top to really emphasise those twinkles! 

And there we have it, another paper made with the fun and festive Holly Days collection. I really enjoyed using these papers and I love how not a lot of product has ended up in a page just bursting with colour. 

Thank you so much for joining me today and I hope you have a wonderful start to the New Year! 

Stay safe, 

Meg x 

'Hot Cocoa and Cookies' Holly Days Simple Stories by Meg

Hello everybody! It's the 22nd already - how did that happen?! And if you're anything like me, you still need to do your gift buying and wrapping but have been busy scrapping instead ha ha!

Here's my latest page, create using Simple Stories' Holly Days. This is a wonderfully festive collection and even a small amount as shown here can make your page feel warm and Christmassy! 

I started by picking out my photos and I wanted to use these three of my son decorating Christmas biscuits - they went really well with the Vicki Boutin Warm Wishes Puffy Phrase Sticker sentiments 'Hot Cocoa' and 'Cookies'. I used these puffy stickers on my last Holly Days page and I really love how they look together! I adhered my little photos to white cardstock to make them look like mini Polaroids and decided I wanted them to be a square formation in the centre of my page. 

I had some fussy cut elements from the Tags paper that I played with to decide which piece would be the final 'square' in my grid and chose the little snowman in his snowglobe, but Santa was a close second!

I cut out a square of white cardstock and folded the edges up to create a sort of diamond shaped 'tray' which I really liked the look of. I cut a second slightly larger square of the patterned paper Let's Get Cozy to layer behind, plus a square of blue Bazzill Jetstream cardstock and red Bazzill Cherry Splash cardstock in the same size. I offset these behind to create a blue side and a red side! 

After sticking these bits down and using foam to pop the little snowman up, I started embellishing around my photos. I used the fussy cut little car and Merry Christmas banner from the Tags paper, the 'Holiday', 'Hot Cocoa' and 'Cookies' sentiments from the Vicki Boutin Warm Wishes Puffy Stickers, some fussy cut snowflakes from the other side of the Let's Get Cozy paper, some red thread to handstitch some large lines around the edge of my centre diamond and I scattered a few little mirrored stars around to finish. My journaling is tucked in there too, on the diagonal. 

And that's it! My second page using Holly Days. I hope you like it and I'll leave you now to your festivities! Thank you so much for popping by and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! 

Meg x 

Simple Stories Holly Days - 'Warm Wishes' by Meg

Hey hey everyone! 

It's getting close to Christmas now and I'm sure you've been busy! As have we on the Papermaze Design Team, scrapping with some wonderfully festive collections 😃 

I'm here today to show you a page I've made using Simple Stories 'Holly Days' - I always love Simple Stories for their fun and cheery designs, so I am so super excited to be sharing this with you today! 

I had the Holly Days Chipboard Frames in my pack so the first thing I did was open that packet up to pick out my favourite frames! One that really caught my eye was this one I used in the centre of my design, with the sweet little houses on it. 

This chipboard frame was actually a double frame and at first I thought I was going to use both sides but then I ended up deciding I only wanted to use it as a single frame and layer around it, so I cut it apart with my scissors to create a single frame instead. 

I decided I wanted to create a diagonal design and so I cut a triangle out of the Holly Days Let's Get Cozy paper to make a gentle snowy slope on the bottom of my page. After that it all seemed to come together naturally! I positioned the chipboard frame on the top and the middle of the slope and cut out a house from the other side of the chipboard frame, plus another fussy-cut house from the Home For Christmas paper, which I arranged either side of my chipboard frame to create like a little street of houses! 

I had already sorted through my photos and had picked out my Christmas/Winter photos ready to possibly use with this collection, so I had a quick look through and picked out these three photos of my two children and arranged them either side of the chipboard frame, using a section of another frame to frame my smaller photos on the left and another piece of chipboard frame on the right to create a trio and balance out the page. 

I tucked some pom pom trim under the chipboard frame for some texture and because I love it, it just makes a page feel so Christmassy! There was a banner on the top of the frame that said 'Merry Christmas' but I'd cut it in half and it only said 'Merry', so I used a Warm Wishes Puffy Phrase Thicker sticker by Vicki Boutin American Crafts that said 'family times' to cover it up. These puffy stickers go so nicely with the Holly Days collection and have lovely festive sentiments, so I used two more to create another trio around the page and some golden puffy stars. I also added a snowman that I'd fussy cut from the Holly Days Tags paper, some Bramble Fox red heart Perspectives and a big red bow to add a few more pops of red. 

I added blue Jetstream Bazzill cardstock to the top and bottom of the page which matched the other blues perfectly, plus some strips of Let's Get Cozy paper to the top of the page. I finished with some blue crystal and pearl flatback gems on each of the snowflakes at the bottom of the page for some sparkle and shine!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my layout today and that you get a chance for a little scrappy downtime during this busy season - I'll be back again soon with another Wintery layout!

Merry Christmas and lots of love from our family to yours,

Meg x