On the 12th day of December...

...I want to share with you something fun that has been going on at Scrapbook & Cards Today's website. Besides having major giveaways on their blog, they have been featuring a designer everyday for the month of December - some of *my favorites* like Kimber McGray & Melissa Phillips (card queens extraordinaire), Kelly Purkey, Sheri Reguly, Lisa Dickinson and MORE...and there are MORE to come.

My fun thing is that for today the honor goes to me! I love the ladies over at this magazine and love the quality of the things they do so I always jump at the chance to do things with them when they ask. For today's post I got to share a few things made with BasicGrey's NORDIC HOLIDAY line...and I even broke out my Notch & Die tool. Lookout, people! ;)

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I don't know about you, but as the holiday season approaches, I often find myself zapped of not only energy but inspiration and creative fortitude as well! Thank goodness inspiration is all around just waiting to be absorbed. Now there is just no excuse to not be creating in some shape or form. I have long been a fan of the super talented Robyn Werlich and the design of this layout was flipped around and tweaked from one of her gorgeous pages I saw online. The color scheme is one I've been wanting to try since seeing so many amazing projects on Pinterest.com. Grey seems to be the new black and I couldn't wait to try the gorgeous neutral with the brighter colors of BasicGrey's Nordic Holiday papers. And the cute kid? Well he's mine. I created him a while back too. (Can we say he's recycled? See, I'm environmental!) What I ended up with is a page I loved that didn't send me into fits to design or create. How great is that? It's a true Christmas miracle!

Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock; BasicGrey PP, 3-D stickers, alpha stickers, diecut, glazed brad; Uni-ball pen; Fiskars punches

Instructions:

1. Trim a 12"x10.5" piece of red paper and adhere across grey cardstock base 1" from the top of the page.
2. Trim a 12"x3.25" piece of green tree patterned paper and adhere across page 2" down from the top.
3. Trim a 1"x3.75" strip of pink patterned paper and adhere vertically along the left edge of the layout directly under the green tree strip.
4. Trim a .75"x3.75" strip of striped paper and adhere vertically to the right of the pink strip.
5. Trim a 3"x3.75" block of red poinsettia paper and adhere vertically along the right edge of the layout directly under the green tree strip.
6. Trim a 2"x3.75" strip of white paper. Add journaling as desired then adhere vertically to the left of the red poinsettia block.
7. Trim a 12"x1.75" strip of grey paper. Adhere across the page flush with the bottom edge of the vertical strips.
8. Trim a 1/4"x7" strip of grey cardstock and adhere vertically along the right edge of the layout between the green and grey strip. Trim a 1/4"x8" strip of red striped paper and adhere vertically along the left edge of the grey strip.
9. Draw a dashed line with a white pen around the perimeter of the the layout as shown.
10. Adhere 5"x7" photo to 5 3/8"x7 3/8" green cardstock photo mat. Adhere matted photo to the page in the empty section of red paper.
11. Mat 4"x3" photo onto 4.25"x3.25" block of white paper then adhere to the right of the focal photo within the green strip.
12. Adhere "merry christmas" diecut in upper right corner of layout.
13. Punch four 1" circles from white paper. Trim in half and adhere five half circles along the top of the focal photo. Add three half circles under the grey strip at the right of the page.
14. Add title within grey strip at the right of the page as shown. Embellish with cut-out poinsettia leaves.
15. Add ornament stickers tied with string to the grey strip to the left of the title.
16. Cut a 2" ring of green cardstock and add to the left of the focal photo. Embellish with white snowflake diecut.

And just so you don't feel guilty scrapbooking when you should be wrapping presents or other assorted holiday happenings, after you're done with your layout whip up a few gift tags or gift card holders from the scraps - so easy when you already have your supplies out!

Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, BasicGrey paper, Sizzix embossing templates, jute, Ranger stickles, Uni-ball pen, ribbon, BasicGrey Notch and Die Tool

Gift Tags:

1. Trim grey cardstock to 2.5"x5. Round corners.

2. Trim a 1.5"x5" strip of white paper. Emboss and adhere down the center of the tag.

3. Trim two 1/8"x5" strips of red striped paper and adhere vertically down each side of the white strip.

4. Wrap bottom of tag with jute and tie in a bow.

5. Trim poinsettias out of paper scraps and adhere with dimensional adhesive.

6. Add red dots to the poinsettias with Stickles if desired.

7. Punch hole in the top of the tag and tie with ribbon.

Gift Card Holder:

1. Trim piece of grey cardstock to 3.75"x5.75". Fold at the .5" and the 3 1/8" marks. Fold into a tri-fold card.

2. Place gift card inside card and mark the upper corners with pencil. Notch paper with craft knife or Notch & Die tool.

3. Fold 1/2" tab over the front flap. Mark the center of the 1/2" flap onto the front flap. Notch a semi circle with a craft knife or Notch & Die Tool to create the tab to hold the card shut.

4. Trim a 3.75"x1.5" strip of white paper. Emboss and adhere across the front flap just above the notched tab.

5. Trim a 3.75"x.5" strip of red striped paper. Adhere just up from the bottom of the white strip.

6. Wrap flap in white jute. Tie in bow.

7. Trim poinsettias out of paper scraps and adhere.

8. Add red dots to the poinsettias with Stickles if desired.

9. Just add gift card!

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I hope your weekend was spectacular and here's to the start of another great week! Happy Monday!

xoxo,

kg