LAYOUTS

1st Place Bake-Off
Apricot and Walnut cardstocks (which sounds good enough to eat) provide a winning combination for designer Christi Spadoni's First Place Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake recipe...absolutely yummy!

Dear Santa
Every family has their own Christmas traditions. For the Shimniok clan, it's setting out a plate for Santa on Christmas Eve —not piled high with cookies as one might expect, but with carrots for Santa's reindeer! Another tradition is creating a scrapbook page from the letters to Santa...the note featured here is absolutely priceless!

Home for the Holidays and Forever
The words "home for the holidays" usually mean a trip to see family ("Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go..."), but for a puppy, it means a journey straight into the arms of his new family —home for the holidays and forever after!

Instead of making a window card as the sheet was originally intended, I turned the Free Download from Crafts U Print into a scrapbook layout and gift tag. It was a fun challenge. I used almost every inch of the sheet except for the small Happy Birthday block which I'll save for another project.

You can, of course, print the Free Download Sheet as many times as you want, which means you could have a row of windows on your layout, make dozens of cards or tags —the possibilities are endless.

Fall Trees Turn into Christmas Trees
"I keep a spiral notebook to write down all the cute/funny things my kids say. I also write a blog where most of my recent stories end up. When there is a picture that I really like, that doesn't have a specific story attached to it, I go and find a story from the notebook. It's very handy because the journaling is already done for me!" —Claude Campeau

Christmas is Peace
Wonderful things can happen on Christmas morning. For the Burgos family, it was the arrival of a solitary red cloaked visitor who seemed content to share the festivities perched on a snowy branch outside their window, looking in. Before flying away, he left behind a gift...a special holiday memory for all who delighted in his unexpected and joyful visit.

Hello Little Me
The technique used here will only work on photos that are printed using emulsion (ones printed from a photo lab, not your home color printer). The combination of soaking the photo in water and then distressing around the face of the little girl shown here provides a fantasy effect of swirling light, ice, and snow.

Snowbound
There is nothing more joyful for a snow lover than that early morning phone call or radio announcement that informs us that "school is closed due to inclement weather." The idea of dressing in as many warm layers of outdoor clothing that you own, racing up the BIGGEST hill with your sled in tow as many times as your legs will allow, then ending the day inside defrosting with a warm mug of hot cocoa and marshmallows sounds like a day made in heaven! Enjoy recreating these layouts using your favorite snowy day pictures and reminiscing about how a wonderful surprise that day really was!

Delight in Life
For designer Liana Suwandi, the mother of twin girls, delighting in life is twice the fun and twice the work! This "calendar layout" captures all the family events enjoyed throughout the year. Layouts of this nature serve two purposes: they save precious time and are a great way to use up leftover scraps of paper and odds-and-ends.

This Year, 2007
"I created this layout for an online challenge that required participants to use at least eight photos on a layout. With 98 photos on one page, I might have overdone it! I like to use single-page multiphoto layouts like this one as the opening page in my family albums." —Judith Mara

New Year's Day
Designer Tammy Chafin took this photo of her daughter Makayla just as snow began to fall. "It always feels fresh and clean when the ground is covered in white, so I wanted my journaling to reflect my thoughts on the fresh start a new year brings," comments Tammy. BasicGrey's Archaic Collection of patterned papers was the perfect choice for coordinating the barn wood background in the photo with the mood of a cold, wintry day.

Kissed by a Boy
"My very good friend Erin's son, Ethan, is only a few weeks younger than my daughter, Kira. While on a play date, I saw Ethan lean in to kiss Kira. No coaxing necessary; he did it without any prompting! I quickly grabbed my camera, hoping for the best. I was glad to see the picture turned out so well! I hope they grow up to be great friends, just like their mothers!" —Claude Campeau

Finally Home
Rather than a thousand words, only two were used to express what this one image conveys. "Finally home"...it just doesn't get any better than that.

Art
Mosaic is an ancient form of decoration using small pieces of glass, tile, or pebbles pressed into a plaster or other ground to create eye-catching works of art. Small paper scraps are suitable replacements for traditional mosaic materials when making a scrapbook page, but on the layout featured here, designer Julie Fei-Fan Balzer takes an entirely different approach by using UTEE Embossing Enamel and red dye to make her colorful and surprisingly lightweight mosaic heart.

Create Yourself
This high-styled grunge layout blends two rockin' photos with richly colored and foil patterned papers, black flourish rub-ons, and antiqued floral brads...a striking combination that lives up to its journaling —"Life is an adventure, live it!"

I Ride the Bus
One never knows when or where the next photo opportunity will present itself, so designer Julie Fei-Fan Balzer never leaves home without her trusted camera. The images she captures revolve around her daily routines and while out and about in New York City. Get in the habit of having a camera handy, not just for the special occasions, but to record the everyday events that occur in your life.

Everyday Life
"These photos of my daughter and her doll were the main inspiration for this layout and I let them shine in this linear design. I also gave the focal photo a little extra attention with a red border to make it stand out from the rest. These clear words and journaling pieces also come to life on this neutral kraft background. And the journaling is tucked neatly away on a shipping tag behind one of the photos." —Greta Hammond

Gorgeous
Multi layerings of patterned papers pack a powerful punch of color and texture on this stunning layout. Machine zigzag stitches, lace trims, and a rhinestone butterfly all contribute to its overall appeal.

FEATURES

A Flourish for Every Season
This is the last installment of A Flourish for Every Season. The series was created using one major embellishment to represent each season, and shows how four talented designers choose to design their pages around it. The layouts presented here feature cardstock flourishes. Whether purchased precut or made using a die cut machine of your choice, cardstock embellishments can add wonderful design elements to your layout quite easily and can impact your layout design in a big way. Take a look at the results as we welcome winter in this issue of Scrapbooking & Beyond.

Adventures of Santa Claus
"Christmas is such a magical time! The pages of this mini album capture the sights and sounds of the season. Have some fun and ask your children what they think about the magic: 'Why does Santa come down the Chimney?' or 'Why does Rudolph have a red nose?' Capture the voices of children, parents, grandparents, and friends as they share their favorite holiday thoughts and memories. Enhance your pages by adding the family's favorite carols. To hear the sounds that are on each page, go to www.sounds-easy.com." —Lucy Lambert

Winter Memories Album
Richly colored patterned papers, graceful flourishes, and striking embellishments set the tone for this memorable winter photo album.

Hansel & Gretel Album
A fairy tale of Germanic origin, Hansel and Gretel tells the story of two children abandoned in the forest by their woodcutter father. Wandering about, trying to find their way home, they discover a house made from gingerbread, candy, and other sweets. This delightful house album pays homage to this Brothers Grimm classic by sporting candy cane roofs, frosted peaks, and glittered embellishments. The similarity doesn't end there, as both the album and the fairy tale have happy endings. In the story, Hansel and Gretel find themselves rid of the wicked witch who owns the confectionary cottage and wants to eat them for dinner, while the children whose photos are featured in the house album discover lots of toys and treats under their Christmas tree.

Snow Day Mini Album
A fun day building a snowman is captured on film and preserved in this sweet little mini album. Crisp white accents add a snowy spark to several shades of blue and green patterned papers. Journaling is kept to a minimum, allowing the photos of happy faces to speak for themselves.

Resin Filled Memory Charms
Simply beaded necklaces, plain silver chains, or silken ribbons are beautifully accented with memory charms of your own design. Treasured photos of loved ones, special vacation spots or favorite motifs and images are encased forever in a domed and jeweled setting. These small treasures destined to be worn or attached to a keychain will be cherished for a lifetime and make excellent holiday gifts and stocking stuffers.

Ruby & Pearl Photo Album
Fashioned from sumptuously colored patterned papers and trimmed with ruby and pearl embellishments, this stunning photo album would make the perfect gift to give your favorite jewelry lover. Each page is beautifully arranged and exquisitely finished, so all the intended recipient has to do is select and insert their favorite photos as desired.

Personality Profile
Personality Profiles —A fun look at what your favorite candy flavor says about your scrapbook style!

Out-of-Order
We already know that crafting is good for us. Immersing ourselves in a craft we are passionate about hones our creativity, inspires and motivates us, and simply makes us feel happy...but, let's face it —long hours sitting at the craft table can reek havoc on our back and eyes. Next time you take your seat at a weekend crop session or plan on finishing up all those scrapbook pages at home, take into consideration a few precautionary tips.

MORE LAYOUTS

Amalia
For those of us who are grandmothers, you know how hard it is to keep "everything even" among our grandchildren. You know what I mean...what we give to one, we try to give to the other. Well, since I featured a layout of my granddaughter Lily in the Summer issue of Scrapbooking & Beyond, and one of Cecelia, in the Fall issue, it's now Amalia's turn to be featured in this issue. At not quite two years old, Lily didn't really have much say about her layout. Cecelia, who is nine years-old, had definite ideas about her page; including the photo, the colors...well, just about everything. Six year-old Amalia was blissfully happy with all of my choices, especially all those "sparkies." Pure joy...

Baby Rock
The image of a skull and crossbones has come to represent many things. Some may immediately picture a flag hoisted high on the mast of a pirate ship, while others visualize a medicine bottle with a warning label. A few might think of a special military force and there will be those that know this symbol has been long used to mark the entrances to Spanish cemeteries. Today the skull and crossbones imagery is as popular as ever, and is being used on everything from t-shirts to scrapbook paper and related embellishments. A new palette of colors transforms the dull colors of old into bright new ones: shocking pink (laced with black) for girls and electric blue (complete with winged guitars) for boys. This new look packs a big punch and a lot of fun into an image that is still highly appealing and appropriate for all ages.