a Kaisercraft X'mas with Aaron.......

yes, i know what you are thinking............it is Valentine's day, and here i am posting a Christmas layout!! what is wrong with me??? well, it is like this..............my PA's mother decided to venture into Scrapland. she lives in Pretoria and LOVES techniques. she has only one friend that also wants to scrap, but this friend is now at the SHOPPING stage ( you know the stage where you WANT to scrap, but all you do is shop for the goodies for the layouts you are GOING to make?? well, poor tannie Julina is there now. she wants to scrap, but Tania, the friend, wants to shop. SO, two weeks ago, i challenged her and Desiree in a spur of the moment, moment, to make a X'mas layout! well, i lose by far - i am a week late - in my defense, i did start to think about it, but i just had a few busy days (no excuse) and then it just did not happen!! BUT - better late than never!

for the base i used doublemates cardstock - i have alot of it - thought it was a good idea two years ago when i was at the SHOP for FUTURE layouts stage. ( i almost bankrupted myself - BUT i have not had to buy cardstock in almost two years!!!!) and Kaisercraft patterned paper. the main papers are from one of their 2009 Xmas ranges, and the green and red is from 2008 ( i think) i have been keeping the paper for that special layout (yip, i know what i am talking about when i judge other scrappers ( i am first in line)) and i have decided to start using my papers. all of them, for everything. anyway, i picked 4 standard 4 x 6 inch photos of my sister in law's oldest son, Aaron. he is a beautiful boy, with a wonderfully expressive face. these pictures were taken at my parents in law's house, Xmas eve, 2008. i really wanted his facial expressions to be the main focus. i actually did not realise that i had taken so many pictures of him - only when i started looking for faces in Picasa, did i see all these. of course some of them had other people in as well, but Picasa automatically crops the faces (in the faces folder). (some useless info for you)

after i had glued all the main pieces down, it was time for embellishments! recognise MM's Falala holly's? also been saving those. i handstitched with golden thread here and there and added a few buttons randomly - and to hide a smudge on the dark paper!!

gold UTEE that was stamped into with a scroll stamp and some handmade flowers (technique by Jowilna) and the title cut with my Slice - plain white cardstock, painted with Golden Fluid Acrylic, and then cut with the Slice. tried it the other way around - first cut then paint, but that was a bit of a bugger up. i also stamped with Galaxy Gold Brilliance my new Tim Holtz scroll that i got from Ibis, directly onto the CS - don't know if you can see it really well here.

some more UTEE and a handmade flower (LOVE it)

and some more detail where i stitched! all in all, this was actually a very satisfying layout. i have been putting it together for a week now - a minute here and there, and was toying with the idea of adding some bling, more flowers etc, but i think it is ok like it is.......i might add some journaling later - i am not sure...............let me know what you think!!