It's a Wonderful Life Tag

I moved to the Northern Virginia area just over one year ago and I MISS my group of scrappy ladies that I used to get together and crop with. They have been having some swaps that I haven't been participating in, but when they announced a Christmas Tag Swap I went "I WANT IN!" ;)

I had some things that have been in my stash a long time, some glittery papers that I bought when they were on clearance and a jacket I've used before to make a mask, some burlap just hanging out, charms, ribbon, etc...

I used my Tim Holtz Tag die to cut out twelve tags from this old creative imaginations glitter paper, sprayed over with a stencil of dots with Gold Lame' colorshine mist and added ruffles made from misted vintage pattern paper, leaves from burlap and the lining of the velvet jacket that I cut up to make pointsettas out of. I raided my button stash for flower centers.

I used this tutorial to make my pointsettia.

I kept adding things thinking that I needed to add more... they were looking so victorian... I found some cameos in my stash from a few years ago. 

I was agonizing over just that touch of something extra... did I need a stamp or a banner or what... nothing in my stash seemed to fit the bill and I kept wishing I had already taken the Kerri Bradford class that I bought months ago to be able to use the silhouette that my friend had traded to me last year before I moved here (she had upgraded to a cameo and I traded her a comfy chair).

So, I started watching the class videos. And I decided to add a charm and cut out a sentiment and colorize it with Mr. Huey's and Colorshine. This was the end result:

I am SO PROUD of these tags! I hope the ladies in the swap LOVE them as much as I do! They got mailed out as soon as they were dry. (the sentiment says It's a Wonderful Life which is my FAVORITE movie of all time)

Hugs all!

Eighteen and a High School Graduate

More pictures from my 18th birthday/high school graduation. I hardly ever make a two page layout, but I didn't really feel like these pictures needed tons more layouts for the rest of the story, so I borrowed the idea of photostacks from Heidi Swapp and finished them out.

I am in love with the Persimmon collection from Basic Grey right now. I bought it a few weeks ago and I think there are four pieces of whole paper left and very few scraps. I have made three pages so far with it and none of them fall or Halloween.  I think these two work well together to be side by side in an album. I made a video so you could take a look at the photostacks, they are so simple, and I really have a good amount of journalling on these layouts.

Here are some closeups from each page:

And here is the video so you can see the photostacks close up:

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and have a look.