Guest *Blogger* over at Making Memories "Tis The Season"

When I was contacted to be a guest blogger for Making Memories, I was over the moon.  I've never been published or featured, so "WOW" was about all I could say.  And then of course, I had to share with a couple scrappy buddies.  Thank you Joli for motivating me, lending me your Slice cartridges, and for getting me hooked on the Slice.  Thank you Sasha for giving me words of encouragement.

I was asked to do a collage about our Holiday Memories, so without further adieu .... (much better viewing over at flickr vs my computer editing. 


http://www.flickr.com/photos/12395330@N06/

Tis the Season
By Suzy McNeilly, Colfax, WA

Supplies:
MM Papers: FaLaLa & Mistletoe
MM: All embellishments (Journaling page, ribbon, buttons, snowflakes & bling) are from the Mistletoe pack.
Slice specialty paper: Shimmer Aqua Dot
Slice cartridges: Happy Trails (letters & sheriff badges) & Remember This (letters)CS: White, Kraft & Persimmon
Red & White bakers thread
Distressing Ink

1. First, I chose the pictures that, for me, best represent the Holiday Season in our household. We’re empty nesters & our kids/grandkids visit at other times of the year (establishing their own family traditions), so we’ve found that our season is pretty much the same for us and we love it. We are live on a ranch, so getting away is not an option as we’ve cattle to feed on a daily basis. On Christmas morning we are gone bright & early to our feedlot in Idaho to feed the cattle. We then ride the pens to check on the ‘kids’, head to town for breakfast at local restaurant, take in the newest comedy of the season, and then head back for afternoon feeding. Dinner is always leftovers from our festive Christmas Eve celebration.

2. So … to create my layout I decided on a two-pager. I cropped the pictures to a size that would allow me to fit them on the two pages and then backed all pictures (except the Santa Collection) with CS, inking the edges.

3. Using my much loved Slice, I cut the letters “tis the” from the Happy Trails cartridge & “Season” from Remember This. Also I cut Sheriff Badges from Happy Trails to use as my stars.

4. Cutting strips of paper in various sizes – wide & long, inking the edges & tearing off the top of the long (vertical) pieces, I began to layer my paper on the white CS using a combination of adhesive & staples to secure.

5. The pictures were placed in an order that represents our Season … from chopping the tree to Christmas Day.

6. I like to use my own handwriting ~ I journaled our season on ‘Santa’s List’ and our Christmas Day routine on a circle from the Falala paper.

7. To make my stars, I layered the sheriff badges, a snowflake and then topped it off with a button.

8. On my letters I wrapped bakers twine around a couple, used a button for the dot on the ‘I’ and used a circle from FaLaLa for my O in season.

Happy Holidays!