Christmas 2006, page 2

I absolutely love these pictures and the memory of the evening they were taken. It was a really, truly fantastic evening. I had an essentially complete vision of how I wanted this page to turn out. Of course, the final product is not an exact replica of that vision, but the main elements of it are certainly included.

I wanted the right side of the page to suggest a Christmas present. The specifics of that vision are partially embodied in the final product, closely enough I think. I also wanted the whole page to have a vaguely vintage feel to it. That and the fact that it's a Christmas page together inspired the color scheme.

This is based on Sketch Inspiration sketch #148. The sketch leaves a lot open to interpretation, which in this case was a good thing. In place of the suggested flower, I created an embellishment out of textured cardstock. This was a new technique for me, and one I will definitely try again. A while back I read this blog post about getting paper wet to make it conform to shapes it wouldn't normally take. I was inspired. The shapes in that blog post are amazing. A little intimidated by trying that right away, I decided to start simpler and make this embellishment just a little flatter than the paper would have allowed if dry. Turns out it's a really easy technique. I will definitely be trying this again later with more complex shapes and angles.

Supplies used:

Making Memories--Mistletoe, Happy Holidays Mistletoe patterned paper

American Crafts--a la Carte, Artichoke (in all seriousness, my favorite paper ever. I bought 10 sheets of it!)

generic black and ivory cardstock from whatever pack I had

The Paper Studio--Textured Cardstocks, darks

American Crafts--thickers, Bumble glitter puffy letter stickers, black

Making Memories--Slice with Studio Essentials and Basics 1 design cards

Mark Richards--Crystal Stickers, Clusters (Michaels clearance rack find a while ago)

The Paper Studio--Spare Parts, gemstone brads

black ink pad

Martha Stewart--writing pen, ebony, 0.5mm