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Christmas Layouts with Dimension

Christmas Layouts with Dimension
To make your special Christmas layouts stand out among the rest of your album, try accenting your pages with rich dimension and texture. Shauna created lots of dimension on this “Christmas Morning” double-page spread by layering a clear vinyl tag on top of a photo, then added a real fabric pocket and lots of 3-D frames. Festive ribbon borders finish off the layout with tons of playful texture, dimension and color.

Christmas Morning
By Shauna Berglund-Immel

Supplies:

Instructions:

For the Left Page:

  1. Use one sheet of the green plaid paper as the background. Trim 1/4” off the left side of the background paper to allow room for the ribbon border when placed in a page protector. Cut a 1/2”x12” strip of white cardstock, then adhere it to the back of the left side of the green plaid paper to reinforce the edge for the ribbon border. Starting at the top of the paper, use a 1/4” hole punch to punch seven holes down the left edge of the paper, spacing them 1” apart. Cut two lengths each of green and ivory gingham, green grosgrain and red and white striped ribbons. Starting at the top, run one length of ribbon through the first and second holes and tie the tails into a knot on the front of the page, trimming the tails at an angle. Continue down the edge using all six ribbon lengths.
  2. Cut a 9”x8 1/2” piece of red scuff paper and ink the edges with black. Mat on white cardstock, then trim the mat to 1/16” and ink the edges with black. Center the matted paper on the background paper, then punch a 1/16” hole in each corner of the red scuff paper and add one white mini brad to each hole.
  3. Use the two large gingham frames and one medium words frame to frame three photos horizontally, trimming the excess photo even with the edges of the frames. Use foam mounting tape to secure the frames on the red scuff paper.
  4. Attach the fabric pocket in the lower left corner of the red scuff paper. Computer journal or write the word “wishes” onto white cardstock, then cut into a tag shape. Ink the edges of the tag with black and punch a 1/16” hole at the top. Cut a 4” length of gold thread, then run it through the hole at the top of the tag and tie the ends into a knot. Loop the thread around the button closure on the pocket, then use foam mounting tape to secure the tag on the front of the pocket. Cut a 4” length of ribbon words and fold in half. Secure the loose ends of the ribbon behind the bottom left edge of the fabric pocket to create a tab.

For the Right Page:

  1. Use the remaining sheet of green plaid paper as the background. Trim 1/4” off the right side of the background paper to allow room for the ribbon border when placed in a page protector. Cut a 1/2”x12” strip of white cardstock, then adhere it to the back of the right side of the green plaid paper to reinforce the edge for the ribbon border. Starting at the top of the paper, use a 1/4” hole punch to punch twelve holes down the right edge of the paper, spacing them 1” apart. Cut eleven lengths total in a combination of green and ivory gingham, green grosgrain and red and white striped ribbons. Starting at the top, run one length of ribbon through the first and second holes and tie the tails into a knot on the front of the page, trimming the tails at an angle. Continue down the edge using all eleven ribbon lengths.
  2. Cut a 10 1/4”x5 1/4” piece of red scuff paper and ink the edges with black. Mat on white cardstock, then trim the mat to 1/16” and ink the edges with black. Remove the ball-chain from the vinyl tag. Crop a photo to 3 1/4”x4 1/2” and place it behind the vinyl tag. Apply glue to the vinyl tag behind the words with a large green area around them like “warm wishes”, “cheer” and “blessings” so the glue will not be visible, then secure on top of the photo. Mat on white cardstock, then trim the mat to 1/16”, ink the edges with black and secure on the right side of the red scuff paper. Mat a horizontal photo on white cardstock, then trim the mat to 1/16”, ink the edges with black and secure across the left side of the red scuff paper. Secure the red scuff mat across the upper portion of the page, about 1 1/4” down from the top edge. Position a 1/8” hole punch over the pre-punched hole on the vinyl tag and punch a hole through all layers. Punch another 1/8” hole directly across from the first hole in the top right corner of the horizontal photo.
  3. Computer journal or write the year onto white cardstock, then cut into a tag shape. Ink the edges of the tag with black, then punch a 1/16” hole at the top. Cut a 3” length of gold thread, and run it through the hole at the top of the tag and tie the ends into a knot. Run the end of the ball-chain through the hole in the vinyl tag, then around the backside of the background paper and up through the hole on the photo. String the loop from the computer journaled tag onto the ball-chain, then fasten the ball-chain on the front of the page. Use foam mounting tape to secure the tag in place.
  4. Use the remaining medium words frame to frame a photo vertically, trimming the excess photo even with the edges of the frame. Use foam mounting tape to secure the framed photo in the bottom left corner of the page.
  5. Computer journal onto white cardstock, omitting the first letter of the journaling. Crop the journaling to 7”x3 1/4” and ink the edges with black. Mat on red scuff paper, then trim the mat to 1/16”, ink the edges with black and glue to the right of the framed photo.
  6. Computer journal the first letter of the journaling and the numbers “2” and “5” onto white cardstock in a size larger than the font in the journaling block. Crop the letter and numbers to 1/2”x1” and ink the edges with black. Punch out the centers of the small frames and mount one letter or number vertically onto each center. Glue the mounted letter at the beginning of the journaling block and the numbers side-by-side at the end of the journaling block. Computer journal the phrase “our family” onto white cardstock, then crop, ink the edges with black and glue across the remaining frame center. Glue in the top left corner of the large horizontal photo.

Shauna’s sophisticated, shabby-chic style comes through in this layout with inked edges, accented journaling and lots of textured ribbons. To see more of Shauna’s layouts plus tons of tips and techniques, check out Shauna’s Secrets of Scrapbooking.