Santa Photo - CSI Challenge

Okay, so technically I'm all finished with my Scrapmatts design team reveals but they are also the sponsors for CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration blog and I just could not resist the last challenge board. It was Christmas themed and I love Christmas, plus it has a nice twist on the standard colour scheme. 

These holly bough chipboard pieces were released last year and I loved them, but haven't had a chance to use them until now. I've just inked mine with a light green VersaColor cube, then applied red glitter Glitzin' Glamour in place of the berries. I had meant to use the plain red pearl bottle, but I couldn't find it so went with glitter instead. I like the festive effect it created, plus it suited the glitter alphas for the title perfectly then.

I used up a whole bunch of left over papers to create this layout and really enjoyed mixed and matching from so many different Kaisercraft paper ranges. The Scrap Words made a great finishing accent.

The stencil for the background work is by Scrapmatts too. I've added some loose thread behind two corners of the main embellishment cluster and accentuated everything with two D-lish Scraps flairs. I like all the different layers that have built up to create the photo matt. 

Here is the CSI case file that inspired my layout. I loved the 'split pea' shade of great and the addition of the grey. For my evidence I used Christmas, stencils, (pom pom) ribbon and I'm also going with vintage given how old some of these paper ranges were. My testimony is hidden on a journaling tag and speaks about our excitement of getting the family Santa photo together. 

This layout also fits the criteria for the More Than Words challenge this month. I was inspired by 'family' to use one of our family Santa photos and the 'numbers' part refers to the year in the photo. It's very important to date your Santa photos, so you can show how the family and grown and changed over the years, I think.

Daddy Hugs - Scrapmatts DT

Sometimes when you have a great photo, it's important to let it be the star of the layout and not over clutter the layout with embellishments or layers. I find Scrapmatts chipboard is the perfect finishing touch for these kinds of layouts, subtle yet effective. It's also nice sometimes to create a simple layout that doesn't take ages.

I have used the stencil ST9008-A5 to apply some white gesso over parts of the background, then covered the same areas with sections of CB5126 Diamond Mesh 02. Lastly, I've used CB1155 Ferns 01 to frame my title. 

I'm so happy to have finally used my die-set to create that vellum bow. I've had it sitting in my stash unopened for about 2 years now!

Scrapmatts is sponsoring the current challenge over at CSI: Color, Stories and Inspiration. The case file is below. I've used leaves, a heart, wood/woodgrain and vellum from the evidence and my journaling is inspired by the words 'outside' and 'calm'.

The layout also fits the criteria for the More Than Words challenge this month. I've been watching them for a while and they have some stunning entries to their blog.