Believe- Berry Bleu Pages And Tags December 1st Reveal

It is time for the December reveal over at Berry Bleu Pages And Tags and Michelle from the DT is hosting the December Challenge. The challenge is to use the sketch that she provided:

and to use a tag in the layout. I used one of the stunning Christmas Tags from Berry Bleu. If you would like to check out all of Marivic's tags for yourself you can do so at: http://www.berry71bleu.com/apps/etsystore/

I decided to create a Christmas layout to go with my Christmas themed tag. This layout features a photo of my DS, Draven when he was around 5 1/2 years old. I just love the magic of Christmas, and all of the traditions surrounding it. It is my favorite time of the year with my family, and this particular year, David, my husband had met a man who plays Santa Claus, and was just adamant that we were going to have this guy come play Santa to our son and 2 of his friends for Christmas. Santa contacted me and I described the kids to him, with their names, and a couple of things that each of them had asked for. Well, he arrived and as you can see, he looks just like you would expect Santa Claus to look. His wife hand made his suit, a friend carved his cane and yes, his beard is real. He was amazing, he called the kids by their names, knew what they wanted for Christmas, and even had a driver's license with his name on it-Santa Claus. I am telling you by the time he left there, even us grown ups were convinced that he was the real thing. That event made for the most magical Christmas I had ever experienced, and was one of the best things we ever did while our son was that sweet, innocent age. I will never forget it, and wanted to share a little piece of it with you.

I created this layout using a Bo Bunny Kit called Holy Joly Christmas, along with some handmade, and stash pieces. I flipped the sketch upside down, and the base layer is a distressed and stained piece of Tim Holtz pp. I then took some of the BB pp and punched it to make the bottom strip and then used 2 different pps from that paper line, inked and distressed the edges and layered them on.

I then added the photo of my ecstatic son on Santa's lap on top of one layer with foam tape and then layered in my stunning, Berry Bleu tag with foam tape onto the other pp layer.  I just loved the old fashioned look of the tag and it matched my subject matter perfectly. 

 

Next, I fussy cut the ornament piece out of one of the papers, painted the ornaments using glitter paints, took a piece of seam binding and hand died it to match the color of the seam binding on the tag, tied a bow and added it to the top. I cut out holly leaves and berries with my Sizzix, painted the leaves with multiple colors to match the pps, and then glittered up the holly berries and glued them all down. I then took foam tape and layered it on to attach the whole piece and add lots of dimension.

 

Next, I painted a chipboard flourish, using the same multi color, and layering technique that I used on the leaves, cut out 2 snowflakes with my Sizzix, glittered one white, and one red, layered them on top of each other and added some Prima bling to the center and to the flourish. I took a coordinating tag from the kit, and added a Kaisercraft rub on, then tied on a Tim Holtz metal charm with my title "Believe" with some of the hand died seam binding. 

I cut a flourish with my Sizzix and misted it with some TA mists then added some more of the chipboard holly and berry pieces and attathed it over the tag. I then took a chipboard piece from the BB kit and using the KaiserCraft Rub Ons added the sentiment:

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold everything is softer and more beautiful.   Norman Vincent Poole

I hope you take the time to enjoy some of Christmas's magical moments. Me and my family have created some that I never will forget-so precious. I wish you a wonderful Holiday season filled with magic, laughter and love! ~Renea