The Prettiest Sugar Cookies

I am wrapping up my 2020 December scrapbooking with the prettiest Christmas collection I have ever had the pleasure to get these scrappy hands on. No jokes folks! Scrap Shotz sent me the Prima Marketing Inc, Sugar Cookie Christmas Collection and it is as pretty as it gets - all pinks and crystals and paper florals and touches of gold and just so, so pretty. 

So pretty, in fact, I completely forgot to pause and film an unboxing for you all - apologies! I sat down with a warm beverage and got right to playing with all the beautiful bits and pieces.

For my first layout, I started with a white background which I fancied up with some Tim Holtz, Distress Inks in Frayed Burlap and Victorian Velvet and snowflake stamps. The Snowflake stamp is from the Kaiser Craft, Let it Snow Collection Scrap Shotz sent me last year to play with! Sometimes I stamped fresh from a re-inking and other times I stamped 2 or three times without re-inking to give a little dimension and different shades of colour. 

I ripped the Sugar Sweet Christmas pattern paper from the collection to create a pattern across the middle of my page and tucked in some ripped vellum and cardstock (Bazzil in the colour Fawn) in behind. This design idea gives the eye an anchor for my photo and all the embellishments. 

From there it was all the fun of embellishing using the collection goodies - paper florals, ephemera tucked in and around the photo. Then I used the collection's "Say it in Crystals" and some Moonshine sequins from Picket Fence Studios (included in my package fro Scrap Shotz) to create a confetti look wherever I stamped the snowflakes. I wanted it to look like it was snowing pretty down the page! 

For my second layout, I wanted to focus on the pattern paper of the collection. Splitting my page in two I selected a more neutral pattern for the bottom half and then used 4 different patterns to create an angled design for the top half. I really like how this design showcases 5 of the patters without looking too busy and leaves me lots of pattern paper left over for other layouts too. 

With the middle of my page as my focal point, I added a few layers of tissue paper from my stash (tissue really softens busy patterns behind it and feels Christmas-y to me). I used 2 photos this time and lots of ephemera. Simple cluster and tuck and layer and tilt here and there method. The Santas were so pretty they had to be included and of course who can resist adding some Primar paper florals. The final touch was a few of those "Say it in Crystals" in and about the layering. 

A couple of touches I kept consistent across both layouts: 

• white splatters to give the impression of falling snow. I have simple bright white Acrylic paint that I add a spritz of water too and then just splatter all messy like. Use a wee baby paintbrush for whispy snow or a bigger paintbrush (maybe the width of a fingernail, for a blizzard. 
• chose photos that looked good in black and white or were quite dark - something about the simple colour of the photos and that gorgeous pink of the Prima collection makes me happy. 
• used a gold title, from Heid Swapp, from my stash. I love that the titles are simple, have a  feminine that matches the collection and plays on the sparkle of the Prima crystals and florals too

I am off to make more layouts with this pretty collection. Scrapbooking and binge-watching Big Bang Theory are my New Year Plans. I would say Happy New Year to you all but rather let's go with Happy Goodbye 2020. wink, wink

Cheers!