I Brake for Pinecones...

Hello peeps!

so 2 weeks ago, as we approached the new year, i decided to get out my scrapbook and figure out how far behind i was...well it was ALOT.  i sat down and went to the photos where i had left off and began going through them to get them printed and ready to scrap.  i had ended sometime in 2009 DOH!!!!!  too make things even more exciting I began printing my photos off and was just really not happy with how they were looking - the photo printer was a really old one.  so this led to hubby and i researching photo printers and looking for the one we wanted and getting it and setting it up...so wow not fun.  BUT we got through all of that and because my hubby is freakin' AWESOME he got me the one i wanted and have been wanting for awhile - the epson artisan 837.  prints amazing photos AND has a separate ink cartridge for EACH color.  i know the last thing hubby wanted to do on his day off was spend it doing more computer crap!  but he did it for me and then i printed off ALL of the rest of the photos i need to scrap to complete 2009.  i told hubby i was going to do it in a weekend - i got the one eyebrow.  that's what he does now when he thinks i have lost my mind.  no matter how insane OR theatrical i get - i get the one eyebrow.  i guess he has gotten used to me after 9 years :P  needless to say it didn't happen  BUT i am pleased to say that i now have ONE page fully complete to share today AND all of the other photos are on their pages awaiting only journaling and embellishing!

so here is today's scrapbook layout for you:

I ALWAYS use a page sketch - it helps keep me from getting stuck on what I want to do.  i use Page Maps almost exclusively.  when i was printing out my photos i would look at the ones i wanted grouped together and then go through the page map sketches to find one that would work well with it and then i edited and resized my photos to fit the sketch.  i love the freedom to do it this way.  however, I don't always have the exact same number of photos as the sketch - stamps to the rescue!  Since this layout was all about my daughter's Christmas tree the Pinecone Background stamp from I Brake For Stamps was perfect!

I stamped using Versamark and then I brushed across the image with Luminarte Primary Elements shimmering powder in Mallard Green.  To set the powder I gave it a light spray with Workable Fixative (hairspray also works.)

This gives my photo replacement piece a subtle pattern with LOTS of shimmer! 

be sure to check out ALL of the amazing backgrounds available at IBFS!  They are stamps you will use over and over again!  and remember if you use my code - SAVE10MARTI - you will get 10% off!