Santa Photo 2006 - Ruby Rock-It Creative Team

When organising my photos to send them to my daughter's house I found the very first Santa photo with my youngest, he is so tiny in this photo; I just had to keep it out and scrap it and Crafters Choice Festive Pop by Ruby Rock-It was the perfect range for scrapping this photo as it has those gorgeous summer colours and I can see by how sweaty the kids are it was a hot day.

Unfortunately I had kept the photo in the little cardboard folder the photographer put it in and it had damaged the corners.

If you have any photos stored in those folders I recommend getting them out asap.

I started by selecting some papers from the Crafters Choice Festive Pop 6x6 Paper Pad to go with my photo, I based my choices on the colours of my kids clothes as I wanted to draw attention to them.

I also pulled out some cardstock from my stash in colours similar to their clothes, starting with the pale blue of my baby boy's summer onesey.  Then pulling in a pink and a green.

The cardstock I chose works so well with the papers and between them it really helps show the layout is about the kids.












Next I started playing with the way my layers would sit on my page.

Once my layering decisions were made I selectively cut my papers so save some for later as I love these ones.  Adhering down with Helmar Acid Free Glue as I cut each layer.

Then I adhered my layers down without gluing all the way to the edge in case I wanted to tuck anything in.

One of the Santa die cuts from the Crafters Choice Festive Pop Die Cuts pack inspired me to build a scene as my embellishment cluster, the present paper in the 6x6 paper pad had appropriately sized presents for this so I fussy cut a few from it.

For the Tree I pulled out a Christmas Tree Charms Creations embellishment I got last year to help build the scene.

And when I saw this dog die cut I just add to add it as it looks just like the dog we had back then.  So it feels like Miffy is part of the story even though she couldn't be in the photo.

Given how hot and sweaty the kids look I thought this chipboard piece I had in my stash was perfect for this layout. 
I base coated it in White Gesso and then coloured it with Distress Inks in Spun Sugar on the heart, Brushed Cordoroy for the Kangaroo and a mix of Weathered Wood and Salty Ocean on the words.
I used a watercolour brush and applied multiple layers of the blue and pink, drying with my heat gun between coats so as to get a more effective look.

I adhered the chipboard down with Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to give it the lift it needed. 










I added a small piece of Santa Surfing ribbon under the chipboard. 
Later I added 2 heart stickers from my stash to this cluster.

I added some paper strips to the top left and bottom right corners and added a doodley border.

I loved my page and should have stopped here but I just had to add some journaling.

Unfortunately my journaling just didn't sit right so I had to add more papers to cover it and I just couldn't get them to look right, so I added more and then added a bigger title with some old pink alphas I had.
I didn't notice things were crooked until everything was fully dried but I am embracing the wonkyness, it can represent how we were melting in the heat.  ;)