Violets & Sunshine: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas….

Hi All! This is a bit of a bittersweet post because it's the last time I get to play in the Rose Blossom Garden. Head gardener, Brenda Rose, has decided to change things up a bit and the Rose Blossom Garden will be closing down at the end of the year. On the bright side, Brenda and all the gardeners will still be providing lots of inspiration on their blogs, so I'm providing a list for you at the end of this post in case you want to start following any or all of them.

Now on with the project. It's December so that can only mean…BEACH THEME! Okay, just kidding…It's CHRISTMAS TIME! Bring on the tinsel and flurries! So, in keeping with the theme, I pulled out my Cricut, popped in the Artbooking cartridge and created a (sort of) mini album. (It's 10 inches high, so I'm not sure it counts as a mini….) Anyway, let's take a look:

I cut the album at 10 inches (as recommended in the cutting guide). As usual, the cartridge did all the math for me. (Love that!) The covers are cut from chipboard and covered with Close To My Heart's Frosted paper. I cut the covers from chipboard as standard pages and then cut four pages to cover them--one for each side of the chipboard. Super easy! I inked around the edges of the covers pretty heavily using Saddle Exclusive ink. To decorate the cover, I cut 2 snowflakes cut from Colonial White cardstock using the Artbooking cartridge (I left my setting at 10-inches), and then used my favorite snowflake punch to punch out Frosted and tan glitter flakes. I used more glitter paper, a scrap from Frosted, and part of a sticker from the Frosted Stickease assortment for banners, and then cut out "Merry Christmas" twice at three inches using the Artiste cartridge. "2013" is cut at one inch using the font on Artbooking. I used Colonial White cardstock and Frosted paper for both parts of the title. I also added Almond Glitz Glitter Gel to "Merry Christmas" to make it sparkle. (It matches the tan glitter paper perfectly!)

I used bookbinding rings to bind the book and added Slate Satin Polka Dot Ribbon to each ring to make them a little more fun. To make the rings even more festive, I added some jingle bells from my stash.

Here are some close-ups:

And here, again, is the cover:

I also used Artbooking to cut the inner pages of the book, but more on those tomorrow.

I hope you enjoyed a peek at my Christmas Album for 2013! And I hope you've had a ball playing with us in the Rose Blossom Garden. We sure had fun hosting you! Remember, for more inspiration and just plain fun, visit my über-talented and slightly wacky (in a fantastically fun way!) fellow design team members:

See you tomorrow with more of the mini!

Merry Christmas!