Hot Chocolate

For my oldest son's pre-school Christmas program last year they sang the song "Hot Chocolate" from Polar Express.  I wanted to use chocolate tones in my layout to highlight the lyrics of the song.  Quite awhile ago, in a moment of weakness, I had bought this gorgeous glitter paper.  I then saved it for more than a year (mostly because I didn't know how to use it).  This simple layout seemed perfect to me.  I stretched myself a bit by using my own handwriting around the mat of the photos.  I printed the lyrics to the song.  AND I made an error in the order of the lyrics, which is why I hesitate to hand write things on my pages.  Even so, I like how the border turned out.

I usually scrap many photos, and struggle to find layouts with room for enough pictures.  In this case there were only a few key pictures I wanted to use, which allowed for a simple square layout centered on the page.  For the larger photo I used a 5x7 and the two smaller ones are 4x6s.

I made this page soon after I got my Cricut and downloaded the Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0 program with the new trace feature.  I was so excited to try making a mug and steam.  I did a google image search for a mug and found one I liked.  Then I opened SCAL, clicked add image, choose the mug pic from my desktop, and clicked trace.  That was it!  The image was now in SCAL ready to be cut.  I sized it and cut.  I then found some swirls I liked, to use as steam.  SCAL also has a shadow feature so I was able to create slightly larger swirls to add some depth.  To finish off the mug I added some Glossy Accents product.  Due to the size of the mug I had to let it dry overnight before adding it to the page.  I had never tried Glossy Accents before and was unsure how it would turn out.  I LOVE IT!  It gave the mug a nice ceramic look.  I think the mug and steam embellishments are my favorite part of this spread, and I made it myself!  I'm excited for the money saving possibilities with paper piercing my own embellishments.