Hi everyone! Lisa here with you today to share two layouts I made with the fabulous new Cozy Christmas collection. I don't usually create holiday layouts in August when the sun is shining and the temps are soaring (I'm more of an "in season" scrapper), but this collection was a breeze to work with and these pages came together so easily (even without snow on the ground or holiday music playing in the background to get me in the spirit of things).

First up is a page about my daughter's cat. He likes to take up residence under our tree. When he was a kitten, he actually liked to climb the tree, nestle among the branches, and just hang out.

The base of this page uses the 2x12 Border & 4x12 Title Strip Elements 12x12 Paper. I love how it looks like a number of different papers have been pieced together but without all of the choosing and all of the work. After all, that's what Simple Stories is about, right? Making it easy to scrap our memories.

Let's take a closer look at this page...

I added a number of embellishments to the bottom strip of the paper, not only to extend the one element already printed there (the word "believe"), but to give the page added dimension. One way to do this is to layer the die cut Bits & Pieces with Expressions and Fundamental Cardstock Stickers. Enamel dots give the Bits & Pieces even more depth.

Embellishments are also a great way to fill an empty space on a photo, like I did here in the bottom left corner of my photo. Again, I used a mix of Bits & Pieces, along with a snowflake sticker (cut in half since I didn't need the whole thing).

Chipboard pieces can also add dimension and another element to your pages. I decorated the tree with enamel dots and a mix of stickers.

This last shot shows how I decorated one of the Sn@p Pockets. There are times when I use the pockets to house a journaling tag or card, but other times I like to decorate them and use them as another element on my pages.

Now let's take a look at a page about my daughter's love of all things crafty. I wonder where she got that from? :)

Once again, I used a number of Bits & Pieces. In this case I layered a snowflake die cut over the mug, using foam adhesive to give the snowflake dimension.

Here's a look at the top right corner of the page. Enamel dots added to the "ho ho ho" die cut give it a bit of whimsy. The candy cane die cut piece gets dressed up a bit with a ribbon bow.

This last image shows the adorable snowman die cut peeking out from behind the photo, almost as if he's waving hello. Layering this piece over a tag helps to ground the die cut.

I hope you enjoyed this look at the Cozy Christmas collection and the different ways you can use the papers and embellishments. I hope you have a fun and crafty day!