Bright and Beautiful

A family tradition we have, is making gingerbread houses every year with the kids.  In these pics, my son, Bryn, was 4 1/2 and we got together with our close friends for some house making fun. It also happened to be the day that we found out that our long wished for second child was on the way -- our precious little Sabina!  I remember decorating these houses with the kids, with my heart full up to the top with happiness and anticipation and hope....  Preserving memories -- isn't that what scrap booking is all about?!!!

One of the many stamp sets from the Holiday Catalog that I absolutely love, is the Bright and Beautiful stamp set with the matching star framelits.  I wanted to create a starry Christmas layout for my last scrap club class of the year, and here it is!  I used the star confetti border punch (also from the holiday catalog) to punch that little star border out of black.  A sparkly strip of scalloped Champagne glimmer paper -- cut with the retired Tasteful Trim die -- that is currently in the clearance rack for a killer price -- just sayin'!  That 3-D star is several of the star stamps from the Bright and Beautiful stamp set -- stamped in Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, and Memento Black ink and then cut out with the coordinating star framelits.  I cut out 3 sizes of other smaller stars to make that "sprinkling" of stars across the pages -- glimmer paper, retired black and Cherry Cobbler coordination card stock (embossed with the star embossing folder and sanded), scraps from the Typeset DSP, and a few stamped and die cut small stars, as well as a few gold sequins.

Another of my very favorite products, is the Wondrous Wreath Bundle  -- also from the Holiday catalog.  That sparkly champagne glimmer paper "Noel" is from the wondrous wreath framelits.  There is also the word "Joy"in that set.  Beautiful set that can be used for all seasons.  I love making my journaling block look like a notebook page by using the spiral border punch to punch the edge.  Small thing, but adds to the look, I think.

On the background, I used the star masks and added some random stars to the pages -- using a sponge dauber and Cherry Cobbler ink.  I also stamped the two stars from Bright and Beautiful directly on the pages and used the eclectic paper piercing pack to pierce an outline around the stars -- see the last photo below to see this subtle, but cute effect.

If you haven't checked out the Year end Closeout sale, hop onto my website and see what you have to get.  There are so many gorgeous products from the past in there for a super great price.