Finger Pointing – December 7th

Happy Thursday (well, almost Friday)!! Am I the only one caught up in the holiday craziness?  I bet not.  Tonight we put up our main Christmas tree and its currently half way covered in lights.   Some how holiday song videos turned in to a Weird Al video fest..and this is holiday craziness in our house.  Everyone gets easily distracted and things don’t get done, but we have a good time and that’s what’s important -right???

I was so excited looking through the galleries tonight.  Christmas photos and layouts are in full swing.  I love December and seeing other people’s holiday celebrations and traditions is so fun to me.  So lucky me for getting to pick 6 amazing layouts to feature today!!!

We’ll start out with this layout titled German Village Walk by becky_a. This looks like a day filled with fun! First of all I love the large photo she used for the background to set the stage. Then the photos in the shape of the Christmas tree look great!  I love that she highlighted all the different things they did during their visit to the German Village.  The little elves tucked in are just adorable and the bit of glitter at the top is just right.  I also love how she mixed in some flowers.  Finally, the story of why this day was so important – I love it!!!  This looks like my kind of December event.

Next up we have this fun page by Kim Ege titled A Wonderful Awful Idea.  This page really called out to me because The Grinch is my favorite animated Christmas show and I love watching it (myself so I can say all the words out loud) each year.   I really love what Kim did here.  This page looks like something right out of a Dr. Seuss book.  The title work with the hand holding the bulb behind the title is totally draws you in.  I love how she used a fun font and included words from the book/movie to help your eye move down the page.  Then there is this great family photo and a wonderful story of their family tradition.  So heartwarming!!!  Kim’s layering and shadowing look awesome, I especially love her clusters and how the bring the whole page together.  This is the best Grinch page I’ve ever seen!!

Next up is this sweet page by dawninskip titled Today I Choose Joy.  I have to admit right off the bat that snowmen are my favorite. My whole house is decorated in snowman. This page starts with a fun a photo. Then I love how  Dawn uses muted colors and let’s the ribbon and the flower petals pop off the page.  So classy looking!!  I love the use of the product sku tucked behind the ribbons and the card of buttons- what a cool idea!  The journaling being partially hidden makes this feel like a real paper page. Finally the texture on this page is fabulous. I love the white watercolor looking paper and how Dawn blended colors and ink doodles in to the paper to add to the realistic look.  So stunning!

Next I found this pretty in pink page titled Winter Wonderland by Stacia Hall. This page features the new free download at Scrapaneers (check it out!!!).  What I love about this page is that it’s a pocket page style with a fun twist.  I love that Stacia doesn’t put spaces in between the photo, but instead buts everything up against each other just leaving the wood grain paper to show at the top and the bottom.  The the use of the layered elements gives this page such a great dimension!  I really love the use of the angle at the bottom right for the title. The angle really draws your eye up the page to the featured photo.  So well done!  I also love all the little bits around the page from the twine to little snowflakes all over.  Every little bit you look at evokes this feeling of Christmas warmth and love.  Such a soft and pretty page!!

This next layout’s photo really caught my eye!! I love the perspective used in the layout Christmas Eve by jcb5600.  The use of the white space here (with the little bit of wood grain for texture) is just perfect to make the Christmas colors pop off the page!  The red and green paper pop right out from the white background and really draw you in to the picture. Then seeing the fun glasses and the bow on the head, you just “have” to read what’s going on…who doesn’t want to join in the fun?   I love that the scrapper is documenting a family tradition and did just beautifully.  Such a festive page!

My final choice is so fresh and fun!  Merry & Bright by azkio is just that…merry AND bright.  I really love the design here.  I love how it looks like these photos are dangling from strings and ribbons tied together with the fabulous cluster at the top – such a neat idea!  The cluster is well shadowed and everything works together so beautifully.  Then the ribbons hanging down is nice touch to give the photos more of a hanging feel. The photos are so cute!  The background paper is the perfect choice to fill the space without making the page feel too full.  So, so cute!!

I hope you are having a wonderful December and you’re taking time to take those every day photos to try to capture the spirit, colors, sights and craziness of the holiday season!!