Inspiration Elevator December 2013

Welcome to our December Inspiration Elevator challenge. Each month our group is challenged to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow. Be sure to check out our Inspiration Elevator Blog to see all of our previous challenges.

We are thrilled to welcome guest artist Christy Riopel to Inspiration Elevator this month. You may recognize her work as she is a regular contributor/writer for Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.

December's challenge for us and for you comes from the uber prolific Laurel Seabrook. Here's the challenge she posed: 

"My challenge for December. I love Christmas, everything about it. Decorating my house, making gifts, baking - I love it all. My challenge to you is what is Christmas to you? What is one thing that evokes special memories and truly brings out the Christmas spirit for you. It could be a decoration, photo, song, recipe. Perhaps it is a tradition that you did as a child and now your children do. Maybe it is in the 'special' dinnerware that comes out only at Christmas. Scrap it and tell us all about it. Now for those who don't celebrate Christmas, let's hear about a tradition that makes your celebration special."

There are so many different traditions that are a part of Christmas for me - baking cookies, our special hand-made Christmas stockings, our nativity set, special recipes used for Christmas dinner, going to Mass on Christmas Eve.  But one of my favourite traditions is giving our two sons a nutcracker each Christmas!  We love bringing them out each year and setting them up as part of our decorations.  The nutcracker brigade stands tall and proud and they add such a festive feel to our home!  I snapped a photo of them recently and this was the focus of my layout.

I worked with a Jillibean Soup circle placemat for my background.  It started as a 12 x 12 sheet of circles that I cut down to resemble a tree shape.

I then used Bazzill Basics Countdown to Christmas papers to fill in the circles! I love the punch of black that is in this line of papers and the prints are just gorgeous!  I hand-cut some of the stars from the paper to use as embellishments on my page.

A few sequins were added for some holiday sparkle and I did some stitching with my sewing machine.

A Heidi Swapp epoxy sticker was used for my title and I kept the journaling simple.

This was a great challenge and helped me to appreciate some of the things that makes Christmas special in our home.  Thanks Laurel!

Would you like to see what the rest of our designers, and our guest designer, created with this challenge? Of course you would, so here are the links to each one's blog:

Laurel Seabrook
Jodi Wilton
Michelle Hernandez
Ann Jobes
Laura Whitaker
Lisa Moen 
Christa Uttley
Cathy Harper
 Lisa Spiegel
Joanne Burton

Guest designer:  Christy Riopel

I hope you feel inspired to play along with our challenge this month, and when you do, please share it using the linky tool on our Inspiration Elevator Blog and/or our Inspiration Elevator Facebook page. We would love to see what you make!