A Whole New Look at Themed Paper

What do these 3 pieces of paper have in common??

Absolutely NOTHING...

unless...

you add this piece of chipboard to the equation.

Now I have an interesting color pallette and a whole new way of looking at these Christmas themed papers.

I love mixing and matching paper lines.  I also love using paper for ways in which it wasn't intended.  Remember the THIS page and THIS one ??  Both use Halloween themed products for pages totally unrelated to Halloween. The result is often very unexpected, eye catching and also kind of rewarding to think outside the box a little bit. 

Which takes me back to my new favourite page: 

"My girls have taught me..."

Supplies: Paper (Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker), Transparency (Creative Café), Chipboard (Basic Grey), Letters (American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin, Rose Moka), Flowers & Trim (Prima), Ribbon (Pebbles Inc.), Cardstock (Prism), Brads (Queen & Co.)

What makes this one my new favourite?  The photo for sure. It was taken on Mother's Day and I still can't believe sometimes that I have three children. I also love the bird holding the banner.  It relates to the theme of my girls teaching to me look at the world through their eyes.  I also like the "Name" detail on the top of the background paper.  It allowed me to integrate the two names the girls have for me.  Callie always calls me "Mommy" whereas Julia always uses "Mama". I have no idea why, but those are the names they use.

Ribbon Design Tip:
I really like giving my ribbon some texture by folding it and making a ruffle. The only problem is, I rarely have enough of one single pattern or color to get around my entire shape.  What I have been doing lately is using two ribbons that have different patterns, but the same color.  And you know, I don't think anyone notices the difference.  Take another look at the Itchy Itchy Spider page.  I ran out of dotted ribbon and made a last minute substitution.  Can you find it?  Check out this detail shot to spot the two ribbon patterns on this page.

I'll leave you with that for today.  Don't forget to take another look at your themed papers and see what you can do to breathe new life into them.

Cheers,
Tracey