My first layout, Joy & Cheer, began by nestling my photos on the calender piece with a 4x4 card that matched my son's shirt.  I of course, being the totally addicted fussy cutter that I am, had to cut the light paper and use a festive string of lights on this layout.  I love that the enamel dots are the perfect size to fit the light bulbs and add that special touch.  A few border pieces were the perfect touches to finish grounding my page.

 

 

I began making an embellishment cluster under my pictures with some Bits & Pieces, chipboard, and a wooden veneer which will form a visual triangle with my other wooden pieces.

 

 

I love the photo stickers that allow layering without overpowering.  The jingle bells tie back down to the 4x4 card leading your eyes around the page and connecting for a bigger impact.

 

My next page, Merry Christmas 2014, again began with my "photo block" as I like to call it, a picture and a 4x6 card which housed my title.

 

 

I grounded my photo with the border elements which also helped to balance the busyness of the top of the layout.  The chipboard frame housed a smaller picture that was important, but not the star of the show.

 

 

And one more look at my title area that I used a variety of embellishments to form an eye catching title card.

 

 

I have one more layout to share, one of all of most of the kids gathered, Ho Ho Ho.

 

 

I chose my photo and then I used the Sn@p! cards to mat my photo.  The 2x2 cards added to my "photo block" and gave me room to record details of the day.  

 

 

I placed my title on one of these 2x2 areas with a tag and a journaling piece giving the cluster enough importance to also ground my photo.

 

 

My other 2x2 cluster was just a lot of fun elements that tied into the background of the paper with the Joy and the star trail.

 

Thanks for joining me today, I hope you are feeling merry!  I have quite a few more projects up on my blog using the Claus & Co collection, if you'd like to stop by, see you there!