December in Montana (post 1 of 2)

ETA: I won the "spotlight feature" at Once Upon a Sketch with this layout. 

Today I'm sharing two layouts in two posts.   Both layouts illustrate my husband's childhood Christmases in rural Montana.  The post you are reading now is about a layout called "New Winter Gear."  It was inspired by this month's Freckled Fawn color challenge and Once Upon a...Sketch sketch/journaling challenge.

Supplies: orange floral paper by Grant Studios; black/white patterned paper by Echo Park; kraft paper by Cachet; doilies by Royal Consumer Products; upcycled gold wrapping tissue; labels & all other papers by October Afternoon; large & small alphabet stickers & "berry" stickers by Bella Blvd; ribbon by Berwick Offray; stamp & chalk by Stampin' Up; ink by Hero Arts; orange paint by Plaid Enterprises; blue paint by Ranger; upcycled fabric scrap.

My journaling says: "Every year Scott and his brother got winter gear for Christmas gifts.  'Wasn't that too late?" I asked him.  'No,' he said, 'snow came later in Montana than it does here in Minnesota.'"

Above you see the inspiration image from Freckled Fawn.

And the image above is the sketch that I used.

I love that Freckled Fawn is so supportive of crafters who sell handmade goods.  I don't sell embellishments, but I do like to make my own.  So, I decided to make a few embellishments myself for this layout.  I made the flowers from gold tissue paper that I saved from a Christmas gift.  I lightly stamped on the paper, then I cut out circles of different sizes.  I highlighted the edges of the circles with chalk, then layered and shaped the circles to create flowers.  The flower centers are crumpled balls of the same tissue paper, also dabbed with chalk.  I completed my embellishment cluster with "leaves" and "stems" torn by hand from patterned paper, plus orange "berries" made from the circles that come inside Bella Blvd alphabet stickers like "g" and "p."

The little border beneath the photos (seen in the picture below) is made from extra collaged papers that I had left over from making an art journal page. 

Thanks for taking the time to look at my layout.  If you are interested in the other layout that I made about my husband's childhood Christmases, you will find it in the post above this one.  Have a happy 2013!