Christmas Elf

Supplies: watercolor paper by Strathmore; watercolor paint by Angora; pearlescent paint by Ranger; doilies by Royal Consumer Products; dotted paper by Basic Grey; journaling spot, die cut pennant, & chevron paper by Fancy Pants Design; Christmas die cuts, snowflake rub ons, packaging, and flair badge by October Afternoon; tape & fence stickers by Simple Stories; large & small alphabet stickers by Authentique; notebook paper by Sanrio; ink by Stewart Superior; pen by Zig; ribbon by Berwick Offray.

Now that the school year is underway, life is slightly less busy.  It's great to have a little more time to participate in challenges again.  It's been soooo long since I've played along at CSI.  The layout you see above is for CSI case file 37.  And, since CSI is teaming up with Once Upon a...Sketch this month, I'm also entering this layout in OUAS's September Challenge #2.

This layout is called "Christmas Elf," and the journaling reads: "When December brought colder temps, A. wore hats indoors.  He looked like a Christmas elf."

The color palette for this CSI case file included a gorgeous, bright sky blue color that perfectly matched a cake of Angora watercolor paint that I own.  So, I decided to do a little mixed media work for this challenge.  I trimmed a piece of watercolor paper down to 8.5x11" and used the sky blue paint to create a watercolor wash.  I saved a strip of the watercolor paper that was left over from trimming down my page, and I used it in my layout.  The fluttery edge that I tore from the spiral binding of my watercolor paper pad added some fun texture to the layout.

Once the watercolor paint was dry, I blocked out my basic design.  Then, I used a French curve as a guide for adding swirls of Liquid Pearls. 

One of the product lines that I purchased last week was "Holiday Style" by October Afternoon.  The line came with a sheet of red snowflake rub ons, and many of these snowflakes made their way on to my layout.  Some of them adorn the spiral-edge strip of watercolor paper, and others adorn the painted areas of the layout.  I love the contrast between the bright blue and the deep red.

One of the technique suggestions for this CSI case file was to use product packaging on the layout.  I used a piece of Holiday Style packaging as part of the layered photo mat on my page.

I hope you've enjoyed meeting my little Christmas elf!  Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

PS--I just realized that although I listed my evidence & testimony on the CSI site, I neglected to list them on my blog post.  Here they are:

For EVIDENCE I chose: 
*  stripes & dots (diagonal stripes on the banner piece; dots on the photo mat, tape, and fence)
*  use product packaging (the Flower Sack packaging, as mentioned above)

For TESTIMONY I chose:
*handwritten journaling