the first Xmas layout....

i decided to unveil the christmas collections i had ordered for the shop the first week in october. unfortunately customs decided to take a look at all the papers first, so when i wanted to do a layout last week for Xmas, i had no new papers to work with! so, as i sat waiting for telkom to come and do some work on the line at home, i made the three flowers to practice the new flowers i learnt, made the leaves, and then wondered why Xmas layouts always had to have holly and pointsettias. why not roses? i started digging through my Xmas folder and found every single piece of Making Memories Falala paper that i bought in 2008, and NEVER used. why not? because i thought it was too pretty!! LOL! how sad can you be! anyway, i colored the brads using alcohol inks ( just mixed a few drops of the colours i wanted in a baggie and dropped the brads in) then i printed the photo, stamped Merry Christmas using Galaxy Gold Brilliance on the photo a few times ( Desiree said it looked like a recycled Xmas card - thanks for that -)and then stamped the bunches of stars. three stars with gold UTEE on it - love the bubble effect - and the journaling spot is a stamped image double stamped and cut out. hope you like it! this has been a very busy week at the shop - we captured and priced and unpacked all the items ( over 600 in total so far). tomorrow i am getting the whole My Mind's Eye Lost and Found range and all the Silhouette goodies! then hopefully we can rest for a while..........the shop has been CRAZY busy - (thank you, God) - and time is just flying! i can't believe that in less than 8 weeks i will enter my first December at the shop. i am so loving it, and i am so grateful to Gail constantly and to God for trusting me with this business. i have a dream and i have so many plans of a place of escape and happiness and creativity that i want to create. i do hope that everyone who comes there has a good time. that is all that matters..............i have been watching some videos that Gina K makes on Stamp TV - she is so CLEAR and everything she does looks so simple. i want her heavyweight cardstock in the shop and also Neenah Solar white and a scor buddy and some new nestabilities and that martha stewart punch and the ek success one with a silhouette machine and the whole range of bo-bunny's noel and two weeks to just be able to SCRAP and make CARDS...................LOLOLOL!! a girl can dream...............