Azzy's 1st Visit to Santa Claus

While scrapbooking everyday life is my favorite type of scrapbooking, I still enjoy creating holiday layouts - especially layouts with the “iconic” and expected photos, such as a baby’s first visit to Santa Claus.

Poor Alexis had to make a couple attempts to get this photo! On the day she planned to take Azzy to the mall, Jim had to drop her off at the babysitter's. Alexis carefully laid out the outfit she wanted the baby to wear and made sure we had the bow. When Alexis got to Santa’s village that night, he was just leaving to go back to his workshop! Two nights later she tried again and got there just in time!

Although Azzy is very photogenic she wasn't too sure about this Santa guy and did not really smile - but at least she wasn't crying! Either way, I love this photo and thought it deserved a very special page in the scrapbook.

Scrapbooking Tips

On “special” layouts I tend to use an Allison Davis kit. I love to emulate her style, but she has a way of adding those extra special details that I cannot seem to envision on my own. That's why I gravitate towards her kits for those extra special photos. This layout was kit I purchased at We Create two months before Azzy's first Christmas and knew immediately that the picture I would use would be one of her and Santa.

I always like to take away tips and tricks when I use a kit, and here are some of the techinques I learned putting this layout togather:

I love how Allison designed this Letter to Santa layout with a focus on letters. She created this gorgeous cluster in the bottom left corner of the layout with letter, postage stamp and mailbox stickers. She carried the Mail theme with using a border that looks like a postage stamp. I love the subtle detail the shaped frame adds to the overall look of the layout.

Another thing that caught my eye the way she placed the stickers over the striped border. There is one heart sticker on each side. Then she placed peppermint stickers strategically near the “empty” three corners of the frame. The small snowflake stickers were scattered throughout.

Allison liberally used Cloud 9 Nuvo Dream Drops in her sample layout, and I copied her here. She dotted the centers of the snowflake stickers and randomly around the frame. Nuvo drops add a great pearl effect and also add dimension.

The last detail I really appreciate was the white she added to the center red square. The kit called for a thin white photo mat which helps make the photo stand out from the red and she added a simple white backstitched border around the red center square. I typically do the stitching as my last step, and in all honesty the layout look good without it. But once I added the stitching it really helped center my eye on the true focal point of the layout - Santa and Azzy.

The beauty of using scrapbook kits is you do not have to follow it exactly, and sometimes I don’t. But this kit was so eye catching I followed the sample down to its last detail. I take every opportunity to learn from other scrapbookers. I truly feel that no matter how much you know of any topic, there is always more to learn. I make it a goal to learn new tips and tricks all the time. It helps keep this hobby fresh and exciting. I also like the challenge.

Supply List:

We Create Layout to Go from Scrapbook Generation

Nuvo Dream Drops