The last HMITM layout

Some sad news, we have decided to stop the How Much is Too Much Challenge, because the last year the participant number has been dwindling. It is not a permanent goodbye, since we might revive it again in the future, but it is nevertheless very sad. It is one of the longest-running and oldest challenges and I played along in it long before I started being on the DT. I have had so much fun with challenges and used up a lot of stash in the process. Some of my favourite layouts were made for the HMITM challenge. The challenges are so different every time and it has been lots of fun thinking them out. I have gotten so much inspiration from my fellow team members and from all the people who have played along with us.

So this is our last (at least for now) challenge, and it happened to also be my turn to host. Here's the challenge:

Since it is December and winter in the Northern Hemisphere, I thought we would do a frosty and wintery challenge:

- Do a winter or Christmas themed layout
- Depict snow on your layout (here are a few examples: snowflakes, torn white paper hills, dry embossing, organza, paint, vellum etc.)
- Use glitter
- At least three shades of blue (but you can use other colors too)
- Something shiny or transparent
Here's my layout:

I knew I wanted to use these winter photos of the two cousins. Quite many shades of blue were used on the layout and I also added some white and grey. I love clear elements and cut off a third of the patterned paper and replaced it with a transparency. The transparency was stamped with metallic Stazon ink and a snowflake background stamp, a few rub-ons were layered on top. Ghost letters were used for the title and coloured with alcohol inks. It is always tricky to attach clear elements to a clear background, so I simply pricked holes and tied a string in each letter. Snowflakes were white embossed all over the patterned paper, then it was misted with Perfect Pearls and water and finally a flourish was stamped with Chipped Sapphire. The edges were distressed with white paint and the one edge was punched.

The patterned paper was stitched to white cardstock for stability. Snowflakes were die cut from watercolour paper, canvas, vellum and aluminium tape. They were coloured with Distress Stains and misted with Perfect Pearls. Some were coated with Stickles for glitter. Extra snow was added in the form of dry embossed torn strips of vellum, Stickles was added to the top. I also had to use this cute Frosty the Snowman stamp. The journaling is on a tag behind the top photo and is about how much fun they had together on this cold day.

It is hard to photograph a layout with so many transparent and shiny parts. On the first photo, I placed a white paper underneath the layout, the right hand section is clear in real life. Here it is with a kraft paper underneath:

And some close-ups:

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you will play along with us in our last challenge!

Supplies: Hero Arts Three Trees with Stars LP220, Artistic Outpost Frosty & Friends; Tim Holtz Stamper’s Anonymous Grunge Snowflakes, Fabulous Flourish; Distress Ink: Chipped Sapphire; Distress Stain: Chipped Sapphire, Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky; alcohol ink: Denim, Sailboat Blue, Stonewashed, Pool; Jenni Bowlin Weather Wane; Memento Danube Blue; Snow Cap Paint dabber; Spellbinders snowflake dies; Fiskar’s border punch; American Crafts and Making Memories rub-ons; Tim Holtz Sizzix Dot Matrix embossing folder; Diamond and Platinum Stickles; Tim Holtz patterned paper; Making Memories rhinestone brads; HS ghost letters; acetate; canvas; vellum.