Christmas Joy 1-2-3 Layout

Thank you all so much for the great feedback on the ideas I've shared so far. I'm so glad that so many of you liked what you saw and took away some inspiration!

You can probably tell that I've been making such good use of my Christmas Joy products lately. So far I've shared ideas for a simple Advent Calendar, December Daily Pocket Pages, Cards and a Christmas Layout. Because I've still got lots of Stickers, Slide-In Cards, paper scraps and a couple of full sheets of paper left, I figured I had enough to make a few more projects.

One of my favorite ways to get mileage out of a single sheet of paper is to design a 1-2-3 Layout. These are two-page scrapbook spreads that use 1 sheet of double sided patterned paper, 2 sheets of solid cardstock and are created using only 3 cuts! They are fast and easy to make, and make great use of your patterned paper. I also like to make sure there's room for lots of photos, and this one has space for seven - three horizontal 4x6 photos, three vertical 4x6 photos and one 4 inch square photo.

Here's What You'll Need:

• 1 piece double sided patterned paper (I used the Ornament/Snowflake paper from the Christmas Joy Paper Pack.)
• 2 sheets cardstock in colors that coordinate with the patterned paper (I used the second darkest red from the Shades of Red Designer Cardstock Paper Pack) or 2 scrapbook pages
  
• Stickers or other embellishments (I used the Christmas Joy Stickers and Slide-In Cards)
  

• Tape runner/adhesive
• 12 - inch Straight Trimmer 
• Three horizontally oriented photos, three vertically oriented photos and one photo that will be cropped to a 4 inch square. 
• Layout Sketch (You can download a copy of the Layout Sketch here for easy reference)
  

• Cutting Guide  (You can also download a copy of the Cutting Guide here for easy reference)
  

Let's Make It:

• Cut your patterned piece of paper with the 12-inch Straight trimmer as shown on the cutting guide. Make the first cut at 8 inches. Set aside.
  
  

• Make the second cut at 3 inches. Set aside.
  

• Make the last cut at 1/2 inch.
  
  

• You should now have four pieces of paper - 8x12, 3x12 and two pieces of 1/2x12.
  

• Turn the 3x12 piece and one of the 1/2x12 pieces over to reveal the pattern on the opposite side.
  
  

• Adhere the paper pieces onto the cardstock as shown on the Layout Sketch or the picture below to form the basis of your layout.

• Arrange and mount photos as shown in Layout Sketch.

• Add a title, stickers or other embellishments, and journaling to finish off your layout. I used one of the Christmas Joy Slide-In cards as a title, but you can use letter stickers or handwrite a title. I added a couple of Ornament stickers to the care and notched the corners with the Two-Way Corner Rounder so the shape matched the shape on some of the word stickers I chose.
  
  
   

• For the journal box I simple cut a rectangle from scrap of white cardstock and notched the corners on that as well. I like to pencil in guidelines very lightly, handwrite my journaling and then erase the lines completely. CM's Dual End Pens are such amazing pens for journaling...they dry quickly and do not smear...not to mention they are photo safe and fade resistant, so your stories will be readable for a long time!
  

• Finally I added the Christmas Tree sticker and two word stickers - "Noel" and "Merry" - to finish off the layout. The whole thing came together so quickly and easily...it only took about 15 minutes once I had assembled all the materials and photos. I love designing these layouts so you can save time and get a great look with minimal waste.

If you'd like to see more of these 1-2-3 Layout examples, check out these posts I've shared on my blog.

And, I'd love to hear your thoughts...what are some of your tips and tricks for creating super fast layouts? Please feel free to leave a comment below to share!

Happy Scrapping!