January/February 2022 New Product Blog Hop

Close To My Heart keeps cranking out amazing products with each of our idea books, and the January-February idea book is no exception!  Everything featured on this blog hop is available for this two-month cycle, so be sure to grab your favorites before they are gone!  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Kim's blog.  From here, you'll visit ScrappinKaty's blog next.)

When I saw the Sweet as Honey collection, I knew that it would be perfect with our daughter's college graduation photos!  She got her cap and gown and diploma in the mail in May of 2020, but Oglethorpe held a graduation ceremony for her class the day after the in-person graduation for the Class of 2021.  She was very excited to get to walk across the stage and receive her hood!  We are so very proud of her!  (After working for a year as planned, she is now in graduate school working on her Master's degree.)

Here's a close up of the left page.  I based my layout on one of the layouts in the current Smitten workshop guide.  All of the papers are from the Sweet as Honey collection.  I did spritz the background of both pages with Gilt gloss spray.  I actually made two almost identical layouts- one for her and one for me.  Her layout says OU 2020 with the white alphabet foam stickers, but mine is a little shorter because I ran out of 2s.  I created the mortarboard out of cardstock of my own design then added gold embroidery floss for the tassel.  I embellished the page with black enamel dots, black acrylic stars, and black acrylic arrows.  I also used a white gel pen for the faux stitching.

My photos definitely determined the layout of the right page.  In addition to the aforementioned supplies, I also added a Sweet as Honey sticker embellishment.

I had so many photos that I will be using a flip flap to show them all- which also gives me a journaling spot to write a bit about her special day.  (I need to remember to add that the photos of her receiving her hood were actually from my parents, who were watching the livestream feed from home!)

Thank you for letting me share a Sweet as Honey layout minus the bees to commemorate our daughter's graduation.  Please leave a comment before you hop to the spectacular ScrappinKaty's blog next to continue the January/February 2022 new product blog hop!