Hello friends, Iris here.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year, the time to do some Christmas scrapping!  

I’m delving into documenting our tree picking traditions with the Merry & Bright collection. I wanted to play with the smaller scale patterns of the 6x8 paper pad and some of those cute frames from the Tags & Frames pack, so I made those the focus of my layout with a layered design.

I started by picking my photos and printing them at 2x3 inches and 2x2 inches to fit my two favorite frames from the pack.  To add a little bit of texture and whimsy, I added a border of tiny pompoms to the smaller frame.  

For my background I picked the green plaid side of the Joy & Happiness paper.  I cut the papers into 2x2 squares and overlapped them randomly along with the framed photos until I reached a point where they looked balanced.  The rectangular die-cut of the truck carrying a tree from the Bits & Pieces pack was a great addition to the layers.  I cut the scalloped buffalo plaid border sticker from the Combo Sticker sheet, tucking a bit under the truck and another bit above the right photo frame. These little bits echo the left frame, providing a visual triangle.  

I added chipboard, flat stickers, and puffy stickers along many of the seams of the layers, with an emphasis on the Christmas trees.

I typed my journaling on vellum because I didn’t want a bunch of white strips taking too much visual weight away from the layers. Before sticking the journaling on, I splattered white mist up and down in line with the larger photo.  Directly at the bottom of the column of splatters, I used one of the die-cuts as my title at the very edge of the page, cutting off the bottom.  The final touch was to stitch a double line of machine stitching along the entire edge of the page.

The Merry & Bright collection has the loveliest mix of traditional and modern.  I love all the plaid, the brush script, and the cute icons in this collection, and I know you will too.