living artfully

christmas album kits

This week my husband and I had a conversation regarding how soon I could put out our Christmas decorations without looking like a total weirdo. If you're a long-time reader, you know my love for Christmas and inability to have any patience for starting my holiday preparations. There are only 68 days until Christmas, which means December will be here before you know it.

If you're planning to do a December or Christmas album, now is the perfect time to finalize your plan. As I mentioned last month, I will be using the Studio Calico December Daily kit from Ali Edwards. 



The Studio Calico kit is now sold out... so if you weren't able to get your hands on it but still want to use a kit, there are other great options out there! 

Stephanie Howell recently announced that she's co-teaching a December Daily bootcamp through Gossamer Blue. Class starts on 11/5 and uses the month of November to help you pull together your album and plan. And look how gorgeous the class kit is!



Or if you're style is more modern and bright, Citrus Twist is offering a beautiful December Daily kit. While other DD kits can cost nearly $100, the Citrus Twist kit is a great affordable alternative for just $38. Amazingly, that low price also includes PDF instructions for the album and daily prompts.



Scraptastic is offering a December Daily kit called Stocking Stuffer. The colors are similar to the SC kit and they appear to have some overlap in papers, but the Scraptastic kit seems to be a bit more traditional. The price of the kit also includes two classes: one for the album, plus a card class, too. 



I'm also excited to see what the crazy-talented Kelly Purkey has up her sleeves. She recently posted this sneak from her soon-to-be revealed December Daily kit. I love the girly modern aesthetic and can't wait for the full reveal.  



Or if you want something really unique, a search on etsy for "december daily" generated almost 300 results.  This is a great route for a hand-collected feel without all the work. Or if you need just a little something to supplement your existing supplies, there are great embellishment kits to be found on etsy. I love the look of the kits being offered by baersgarten.

How do you plan to scrapbook the holidays this year?

hugs, sharyn 

christmas album

I know it's only September, but I totally have Christmas on the brain. What pushed me over the edge was the reveal of the December Daily kit by Studio Calico and Ali Edwards.

 

I've made a December Daily album every year since 2008 and it's become a tradition that I love. With this being Jude's first Christmas, I want to make sure the album is special... but also doable. So I went ahead and pre-ordered! I'm excited about the Studio Calico kit being a 4x6 size. I've traditionally done 8x8 and think the smaller 4x6 size will be easier. And of course having the kit should save me the time of obessessing over what supplies to use.

Before settling on the kit, I was planning to pull together supplies on my own like I've done in the past. When all the manufacturers were introducing their new products for CHA Summer 2012, my favorite lines to look at were the Christmas / winter collections. This year my favorite is Studio Calico's Wonderland collection.



I also think the Sleigh Ride collection from Crate Paper is GORGEOUS. But I'm not sure it's the feeling I'm going for.



Maybe I'll have to pick up a few items from Wonderland to mix into the kit. At the least I still need supplies to scrapbook Christmas for our 12x12 album, right?! 

In case you weren't watching the Christmas / winter papers during the CHA reveals this summer, here are links to the lines by some of the top manufacturers:
American Crafts: Kringle and Co
Basic Grey: Aspen Frost 
Cosmo Cricket: Jolly Days
Crate Paper: Sleigh Ride
Echo Park: This and That Christmas
Fancy Pants: Home for Christmas
Jillibean Soup: Winter Tortellini and Spinach Soup
Lily Bee: Christmas Cheer
Making Memories: Believe
My Mind's Eye: All is Bright
October Afternoon: Make it Merry
Pink Paislee: City Sidewalks
Studio Calico: Wonderland

Confession time... My 2011 album is not done yet. I've been itching to work on it the last week or so, and plan to soon. I'm a firm believer that it's okay if things take a while; years from now no one is going to care or know that I didn't keep up with the album in real time.  Maybe working on my 2011 album will help hold me over until the Studio Calico kit arrives :)

Are you planning to make an album this December? Have you started thinking about supplies?

hugs, sharyn 

december daily - journal your christmas: 17-31

The snow is just finally melting away here in Wisconsin. And as the last signs of the season disappear, I finished up my Journal Your Christmas album. There were a number of things I decided to change this year from my previous albums, like following JYC, keeping a consistent page size with flat embellishments, and including December 26th-31st in the album. The verdict? I loved it!

Here are my pages for December 17th through the 31st...

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I waited to bind the album until it was complete, so I could add photos and embellishments all the way to the inner edges. So glad I made that decision; I love the full page photos and couldn't have done this if the album had rings from the beginning.

 

 
click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"
for all december album posts, visit "december daily / jyc"

Is it crazy that I caught myself wishing for snow and Christmas again?!

hugs, sharyn

december daily - journal your christmas: 12-16

Between the baking and holiday parties this weekend, I found a little time for my December album. The more I add to this album, the more I love it. I love flipping through the pages and seeing what they make as a whole. 

Here are my pages for December 12th through the 16th...

 

 

 

 

 
 
click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

Fingers crossed that I can get in a little more crafting time tonight and tomorrow night!

 

december daily - journal your christmas: 07-11

Can you believe next Saturday is Christmas?! We're staying calm and festive around here. And I'm still very much enjoying my December album. This weekend I'm working on the pages from the past week. In the meantime, here are a few more completed pages...

 

 

 

 

 

click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

Tonight, we are off to a party at one of my dear friend's houses. Each year she hosts an "ugly sweater party." It's always an excellent time and it's become a favorite tradition to find the ugliest Christmas sweater possible. Here's a little sneak at what I'll be wearing tonight ;)

 

Hope you are enjoying your pre-Christmas festivities!

 

december daily - journal your christmas: 02-06

Can I just say how much fun I'm having with Journal your Christmas?! I love how the prompts are helping me to approach each day in a new way. Don't get me wrong; I also love December Daily. I think the combo of the two has been the perfect blend of themes and daily memories. At first, I wasn't sure if I should sign up for JYC but I'm so glad I did.

Here are my latest pages for my album, December 2nd-6th. It's fun having a few pages already done to flip through...

 

 

 
 
 

 

click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

How are things coming along with your December album? I hope that you've been enjoying the process so far!

 

december album foundation - part 2

It's getting so close to December! I'm extra excited for my album this year because I'm following Journal Your Christmas and December Daily!

Yesterday I posted the first half of my December album. Today, I'm excited to show you the rest...

 
day sixteen: cream patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), journaling spot (Making Memories), 16 (Elle's Studio)

 
day seventeen: polka dot paper (My Mind's Eye), journaling tag (Katie Pertiet for designerdigitals.com)

 
day eighteen: green graph paper (Basic Grey), date overlay (Ali Edwards for designerdigitals.com)

 
day nineteen: polka dot paper (Basic Grey), journaling tag (liv.e designs for jessicasprague.com), santa (Making Memories), 19 (Elle's Studio)
day twenty: green patterned paper (Making Memories), journaling spot (Making Memories), 20 (Making Memories)

 
day twenty-one: brown hounds tooth paper (Making Memories), journaling spot (Making Memories), 21 (Making Memories)

 
day twenty-two: ledger paper (Making Memories), journaling spot (Creative Imaginations), scalloped circle (Making Memories), 22 (Making Memories)
day twenty-three: snowflake paper (Making Memories), date overlay (Ali Edwards for designerdigitals.com)

 
day twenty-four: sheet music paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), journaling spot (Creative Imaginations), 24 (The Girls' Paperie)

 
day twenty-five: polka dot paper (Making Memories), journaling tag (liv.e designs for jessicasprague.com), 25 (The Girls' Paperie)

 
day twenty-six: reindeer paper (Basic Grey), journaling spot (Making Memories), remember this tab (October Afternoon), 26 (October Afternoon)
day twenty-seven: green patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), journaling spot (Autumn Leaves), 27 (Elle's Studio)

 
day twenty-eight: reindeer paper (My Mind's Eye), journaling spot (Making Memories), 28 (Elle's Studio)
day twenty-nine: snowflake paper (Making Memories), journaling tag (Katie Pertiet for designerdigitals.com)

 
day thirty: sheet music paper (The Girls' Paperie), journaling tag (liv.e designs for jessicasprague.com), 30 (Making Memories)
day thirty-one: green patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), journaling spot (Making Memories), 31 (Elle's Studio)


I'll be watching my inbox for the first prompt from Shimelle!! See you in December!

 

december album foundation - part 1

With the long holiday weekend, I finished the foundation to my December album. Now that the album is set, I can't wait to get started on filling it up! This year, I'm following Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class, with Ali's December Daily added in, too!

This will be my third December album and I learned a lot about the process and my personal preferences from my last two albums. Some key things for me this year...

cohesive color scheme = trying to go for a color scheme and style that makes the album come together despite having so many different supplies.
unified page shape = the last two years were an assortment of shapes/ sizes/ edges. It was fun in a way, but I'm ready to try something different.
journaling= larger journaling cards so there's plenty of room for words.
flexibility = everything is only lightly adhered at this point, so I can still move items.
room to grow= I'm using temporary jump rings so I can still add full-page photos and other items all the way to the edges. The Zutter binder rings won't be added until December is over.
more pages= the biggest change for me this year is that I've got pages set up through the 31st. With the JYC prompts, I want to be ready to keep going after Christmas in case I'm still inspired.

Here are the foundation pages for the first half of my album. I'm excited to share the second half with you tomorrow...

 
cover: acrylic cover (Zutter), reindeer paper (Basic Grey), calendar (Jenni Bowlin), journaling tab (Creative Imaginations), border sticker (The Girls' Paperie), alphabet (Basic Grey), 2010 (October Afternoon)

 

 
day one: green patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), journaling spot (Making Memories), 1 (Making Memories)

 
day two: cream patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), snowflake paper (Making Memories), journaling spot (Making Memories), 2 (Elle's Studio)

 
day three: brown hounds tooth paper (Making Memories), journaling spot (Creative Imaginations), 3 (Elle's Studio)

 
day four: polka dot paper (Making Memories), journaling tag (liv.e designs for jessicasprague.com),  4 (Making Memories)
day five: sheet music paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), journaling spot (Making Memories), 5 (Creative Imaginations)

 
day six: snowflake paper (Making Memories), date overlay (Ali Edwards for designerdigitals.com)

 
day seven: reindeer paper (My Mind's Eye), journaling tag (Katie Pertiet for designerdigitals.com)

 
day eight: green patterned paper (Making Memories), journaling spot (Creative Imaginations), 8 (Elle's Studio)

 
day nine: reindeer paper (Basic Grey), journaling spot (Autumn Leaves), 9 (Creative Imaginations)

 
day ten: green patterned paper (October Afternoon), journaling tag (liv.e designs for jessicasprague.com), 10 (Basic Grey) 

 
day eleven: green patterned paper (Making Memories), journaling spot (Making Memories), 11 (Jenni Bowlin)

 
day twelve: polka dot paper (Making Memories), journaling spot (Creative Imaginations), 12 (Elle's Studio)
day thirteen: sheet music paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), journaling spot (Making Memories), 13 (Making Memories)

 
day fourteen: reindeer paper (My Mind's Eye), journaling spot (Making Memories), 14 (Elle's Studio)
day fifteen: green patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), date overlay (Ali Edwards for designerdigitals.com)


Just two more days until we get started!! Are you making a December album? Please share links if you are; I'd love to check them out!

I'll be back tomorrow with the second half of my December album :)

 

green + cream

So excited to have my papers and color scheme for my December album...

 

Last year I used red and kraft; and I really liked how focusing my colors made the album feel cohesive. So this year I'm going with green and cream.

Left to right:
- Basic Grey jovial - nordic
- Making Memories noel - green snowflake
- Making Memories noel - brocade
- My Mind's Eye holly jolly - reindeer fly
- Little Yellow Bicycle christmas delight - christmas morning
- Little Yellow Bicycle christmas delight - merry mint brocade
- Making Memories paperie - geometric window greenhouse
- My Mind's Eye lost & found - cherish
- Making Memories mistletoe - icon dot
- Making Memories houndstooth
- Making Memories noel - green glitter dot

 

For accents, I'll be using die-cuts and journaling spots from the new Noel line from Making Memories, plus green journaling spots from last year's Noel line from Creative Imaginations. And of course, lots of other things I have on hand.

The one thing that has me truly stumped is how to do date labels. Last year, I found about 4 different sticker sets that had number stickers for days 1 - 25. This year, I couldn't find any in the stores, and just one option online: Elle's Studio vintage number tags. Thank goodness they're cute because they might be my only choice! How are you doing your dates?

And I have to say thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on album classes for December. You're very convincing! I'm all signed up for Journal your Christmas and can't wait!! 

 

christmas classes

Christmas is still on my mind. Early last week, I was dreaming about Christmas decorations. Well, I just couldn't resist temptation. So yesterday, I enjoyed a peppermint mocha from Starbucks and this went up...

 

Too early for most people, but feels perfect to me :)

The other holiday item I've been thinking about is my December scrapbook. In 2008, I followed Ali Edwards' loose December Daily structure. And in 2009, I followed Jessica Sprague's free Holidays in Hand class. I really liked how my 2009 book turned out, having prompts to follow... especially for those days when we didn't do anything especially holiday-like.

Without a question, I'll be making another December album this year. They are so much fun to pull out and remember the details of the holiday season, which otherwise could blur together year after year. And with a little prep in November, they can be totally manageable in December. So my dilemma? Which class to follow this year.

Ali Edwards is again taking us through her December Daily approach. There is no fee, so all you have to do is visit her blog for inspiration and tips. Generally, December Dailys involve designing a page per day with photos and words in mini-book format. There's also an active Flickr group for sharing your pages. Even if I follow prompts from a different class, I think I'll still be borrowing inspiration from the December Daily concept.

 

I'm also looking at Tracy Clark's class for Big Picture Scrapbooking, Picture the Holidays. This class gives you daily photo prompts for all 31 days of December. The downside is that there isn't as much of a focus on words, but I do like the idea of being challenged to photograph the holidays in new ways. Instead of capturing nearly the same images as last year, I think Picture the Holidays could really help me see things in new light.

 

And of course, I'm also looking at Shimelle's Journal your Christmas class. I've never spent money before on a class to organize my December album. But I do like that once you enroll in Journal your Christmas, you have permanent access, including access to years past plus all future years. This class gives you journaling prompts as well as a photography focus = best of both worlds! And in addition to the prompts, there's the message boards, a digital kit, an online party, a workbook for bloggers... gosh too much to even list! Go read about it :)  As you can probably tell, I'm super tempted to join in, but the practical side of me is saying I can make this album without paying a class fee. What to do?!

Any recommendations? And did I miss any other great holiday classes? I would love to hear how you're approaching your December album as well as your suggestions!