Christmas traditions and 'Bestie'

Hi there:-)

Been dealing with a few computer problems as of late and finally was able to download a new photo editing software.. The transition to Mac from my HP has been a bit of a pain really. The minute I inserted my camera memory card, this little Mac has been fussy and switching off and not coming on.. So I had to get someone to reinstall everything, but still my computer starts racing from time to time:-(

Here are the first few photographs that I cropped and managed to prep for my blog using my new software :-)

Both layouts were done about a week back when I got back from vacation...

I love this photograph, the best buds sitting on the balcony:-) called for a lovely sunny and happy layout... and that's what I did literally. I let the chipboard alpha take center stage and kept everything else simple. I used some vellum as the base of my stamped journalling.

I also used some Maya Road chipboard houses and stamped it with the Friendship background cling stamp by Hero arts to re enforce the 'Friendship' theme here, and added a tiny punched heart.

The next layout is a documentation of Christmas 2010. Finally, (I know you were thinking it:-)) Yes, it does take me that long! The main idea was to showcase as many photographs as possible on a single layout. So I went for a very few embellishments and a smaller photo size.

Not all the photographs were perfect, some were out of focus, but when you make layouts like this with multiple photographs it really doesn't matter. It's all about telling a story, so hang on to your not so perfect photographs.. you never know when you might want to use them!

I used a glittery chipboard letter that was by Making Memories, and I hate it when the glitter starts 'shedding'. So my trick is to use glossy accents and 'seal' the glitter in. So if you have the same problem, give it a go:-) You still get to enjoy the glitter without the mess.

I used some punched borders and added some light embellishing with little strips of paper.

Here I layered a Prima flower with a die cut snowflake and a little Websters pages button to create this embellishment. I also added a Maya road pin too, just because!

A closer look at my border strips, held together with a Tim Holtz tiny attacher staple pin. Perfect for thick layering. No chance of that border budging!

In the last photograph you might see that I used the negative of a punched scallop border to add some interest to the left had side of my layout.. The graphic black and white strip is the perfect accent to balance out the colours of the page! And my layouts complete:-)

List of supplies:

Card stock - Bazzil

Stamps- Hero arts

Patterned paper - Teresa Collins, Sassafras and Basic grey

Punches- Scallop and postage stamp punch by Fiskars and EK success

Chipboard alpha- Basic Grey June Bug collection and Making memories

Chipboard embellishments- Maya Road ( House and Sun)

Snowflake and cloud dies- Die Namics

Thank you for dropping by, have a great day!!!