Oh what fun! | Joyful Collection | Raquel Bowman

Hi everyone, it’s Raquel here sharing a layout with you that I created using the new Joyful collection. This was the first time I have played with this collection and boy, it did not disappoint. I decided to look back at some of my favourite memories from our 2020 Christmas and chose to document a series of three photos of my kiddies all dressed up and ready to get their Santa photo.

Here is the layout I created:

As I mentioned above, the subject of my layout was my kiddies. These photos were my chance to snap a nice photo of the kids together and dressed up. As you can see from the pics, with these two, it can be tricky to get a photo of them both together when they’re both looking at the camera. I printed these slightly smaller than 3×4″ and in black and white. This helps with coordinating my photos to the new collection.

I added a patterned border to the photos using the paper pad. I love that the paper pads patterns are slightly smaller and also that you get some similar prints to the 12×12 but in different colours. The photo is adhered to the page with foam tape that has been doubled over. I wanted the photo to stand out a bit more than the cut file.

The ‘jingle bells’ cut file is from Cut to You and is a main focal element to this layout. I used a combination of patterned papers to back the file including some gold glitter paper that I had in my stash. I love the finished effect of the bells on this layout. It brings such a Christmas element of fun to the layout. A challenge with using feature cut files is to ensure that the file doesn’t take away from the main focus of the page: the photos. To do this I try and make sure to embellish the page in a visual triangle so your eyes move around the page from the top left, to top right, down to the journaling in the bottom right and back up again.

I created clusters of embellishments on either side of the photo. These were fussy cut from the ‘Tis the Season’ paper and layered to create interest. I finished the clusters with small puffy stickers like stars and leaves and also stars from the ephemera and chipboard packs. I just adore the colourings of this Christmas collection.

The cluster to the left of the photo, again contains more fussy cut flowers, stars and leaves from the stickers, ephemera and chipboard. I finished that little cluster with a cute little Reindeer puffy sticker and an ‘oh what fun!’ banner. The Reindeer matched my photos perfectly as the kids were wearing Reindeer hats that Santa gave them.

I journaled using my fave technique of strip journaling and adhered this to the bottom corner to balance out the top heaviness of the layout.

I finish the page I framed the entire layout in the ‘Making spirits bright’ paper, this also tied into the colour of the bow on the bell.

Thanks so much for stopping by the CVS page today, I hope that this layout has inspired you.

Raquel x