living artfully

december scrapbooking classes

At the end of this week we will be welcoming in December and another beautiful holiday season. For many, it's a time of year filled with festivity and tradition. It's a great time of year to consider making a mini album, participating in a photo challenge, or doing something else special to document the month. If you're new to the concept or are just looking to shake things up a bit, here are some ideas for holiday classes this December.

 

For the ninth year in a row, Shimelle Laine is offering her popular Journal Your Christmas class. I'll be following along with JYC for the third year in a row and it's easily one of my favorite classes. Shimelle provides 37 daily PDFs filled to the brim with journaling ideas and inspiration layouts from class participants. And my favorite part of all? Once you purchase the class, you are invited to join year after year at no cost. Talk about an amazing value!



Also a great value, but with a little less structure, is the December Daily concept by Ali Edwards. At no cost to you, on her blog Ali provides ongoing inspiration throughout the month of December to scrapbook a page per day. There are no rules about size or content, so you can turn your December Daily album into whatever works best for you. I'm also taking inspiration from Ali this year by using her kit from Studio Calico and by including day-to-day happenings in our album.

 
If you want inspiration from lots of big names in the industry, Big Picture Classes is repeating their 12 Days of Christmas workshop. This 24 day-long class is taught by 12 BPC instructors, including Amy Tan, Stacy Julian, Kelly Purkey, Wendy Smedley and Elizabeth Dillow. For $24 you receive 12 daily emails from the 12 instructors for the 12 days leading up to Christmas with a photo prompt and instructions. Then in the 12 days after Christmas you receive instructions on how to turn those photos into beautiful layouts.


Studio Calico is also offering a class this year, entitled 25 Days. If you need more stucture to complete your December Daily, this $19 class will give you tips & tricks, finished page samples, and a bonus PDF from Ali Edwards with 25 prompts of stories to look for in December. This class has an exciting list of contributors, including Maggie Holmes, Amy Tan, Kinsey Wilson, and Marcy Penner.


Lastly, I love the idea of following a photo-centric course like Tracey Clark's Picture Winter e-course through Big Picture Classes. This is a self-paced instant download for $30 that gives you 30 daily inspirational emails. This class will help you focus on the wonders of winter, while also leaving you inspired to keep your camera in hand for the new year.

Do you have any specific plans for scrapbooking this holiday season?

hugs, sharyn 

2011 layouts: oct-dec

I finally just started scrapbooking 12x12 layouts for our 2012 album. I've been so focused on creating Jude's scrapbook, which I will be sharing soon, that I haven't taken much time to work on our 2012 family album. My crazy and probably impossible goal is to finish up our 2012 album by 2013 so I can focus more on scrapbooking in real time. Here's hoping!

Here are my much belated layouts that close out our 2011 album. As with the rest of the album, I took a lot of inspiration from sketches and my scrapbooking pinterest board.










sketch by page maps




sketch by sketch support 

Can't wait to make some serious progress now on our 2012 album!

hugs, sharyn 

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 

10 things

On the tenth of every month, Shimelle Laine invites bloggers to share ten things. Doesn't matter the topic, as long as it's ten things. This month, here are my 10 must-haves for scrapbooking.



1. Craft knife: I almost never use a scissors or a paper trimmer. Instead, my go-to for all my cutting is a hand-held craft knife (with a ruler if I need to make a straight edge). I find it's the most precise and never creates those fuzzy edges I'd get from a dull paper trimmer. 

2. Tweezer Bee tweezers: If you don't already have a tweezers in your scrapping toolbox, these would be an awesome addition. I keep mine by my side at all times to position tricky alphabet stickers and other small embellishments. And they're the best tool for lifting misplaced embellishments that you've stuck down in the wrong place and want to move.

3. Kraft cardstock: My favorite layouts, and those that don't require loads of thought, are those that have kraft cardstock as the foundation. Kraft is a great neutral base for mixing and matching patterned papers and embellishments. 

4. Border punches - Circles Large, Embossed Curve Large, Threading Water, Apron Lace: These are the four border punches that I'm hopelessly addicted to. I have quite a few more, but none are as versatile as these.

5. October Afternoon letter stickers: It would be hard to scrap without alphabet stickers. So of course I have tons of alphabets, but none are more loved than the mini market alphas from October Afternoon. They're not too big and not too small and come in the colors I use most. 

6. Journaling cards and tags: My layouts aren't heavy on embellishments, but I do love to layer in little journaling spots. They might hold my journaling or title, or just float off the page as an embellishment. I love that journaling cards are a quick way to give a layered and coordinated look to my pages.

7. Digital photo clusters: Ever since I bought Photoshop Elements 5 many years ago, my style has evolved from 2-page layouts with lots of 4x6 photos to 1-page layouts with clusters of smaller photos. About half the time I rely on digital photo clusters (my favorites are by Katie Pertiet). They help me create the perfect little grouping of pictures so I can easily fit 6+ pictures onto one layout without it looking crazy.

8. Washi tape: I'm not a super trendy scrapbooker, but one trend I do love is washi tape. I have a small collection of tapes from Studio Calico kits and Freckled Fawn. They remind me a bit of the massive ribbon collection I grew, but I find washi to be far more usable than ribbon. 

9. Studio Calico kits: This one may be cheating a bit, since it's not just one item. But month after month, I continue to love the kits that Studio Calico produces. 99% of my new supplies in the last two years are from SC kits and I have almost no need to shop for anything else besides adhesive. 

10. Zutter Bind-It-All: All my mini albums were bound using my zutter bind-it-all. Before having this tool, I never really made minis. And while it's not something I do that often, I love having a tool to bind them together and I know I'd never make minis without it. 

What about you? What are your must-have items for scrapbooking??

You can visit more bloggers sharing their ten things by clicking here. 

hugs, sharyn 

2011 layouts: sep-oct

In the last two weeks, I have shared my scrapbooking layouts from the first 1/4 and second 1/4 of 2011. Today I'm sharing even more layouts! Here are the pages from the third 1/4 of our 2011 scrapbook, which covers September through October.

This was a busy and exciting time of year for us! Within a month's time frame I travelled to Chicago, Atlanta, Charleston and Connecticut. And one of my dearest friends had her first baby: a beautiful little girl.  




sketch by supermomm 








sketch by unknown designer



If you're looking for more sketches and layout inspiration, check out my scrapbooking board on pinterest.

hugs, sharyn

2011 layouts: jul-aug

Last week I shared my layouts from the first half of 2011. I'm back today to share with you the next 1/4, which covers July through August. The second half of the year is always busier for us in terms of birthdays, holidays and events, so 3/4 of my 2011 album is July through December. 

I relied a ton on sketches and other layouts for inspiration. It's a favorite trick of mine to get layouts done quickly.  


inspiration layout by sophie crespy


inspiration layout by diane payne


inspiration layout by kelly noel




sketch by scrapping day


sketch by scrapbook and cards today



If you're looking for more sketches and layout inspiration, check out my scrapbooking board on pinterest.

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 

2011 layouts: jan-jun

You know that feeling of being "behind" on your scrapping? Yeah, no matter how much I try to tell myself that there's no such thing, my type-A, chronological, perfectionist brain can't stop thinking about what's not done. I'm usually scrapping events from about 6 months back, but it had gotten to be a year's worth of layouts to do. So early this year I set out to "catch up" on my 2011 book. 

I tried something new and scrapbooked 2011 backwards, starting with New Year's Eve and Christmas. Scrapping the events when they were recent was the jumpstart I needed to get me in the groove to scrap the older stuff. And this summer I was able to finish out the last of my 2011 layouts. 

I'll be sharing my 2011 layouts in 4 posts. These layouts cover January through June, which is a quieter time of year in terms of events and holidays. The next 3/4 of my album covers July through December.


inspiration layout by jen jockish


sketch by janna wilson




sketch by sketch support 


sketch by kinsey wilson 


 
When I have a lot to catch up on, I love turning to a sketch or another layout for inspiration. I just visit my scrapbooking board on pinterest to get started - it could not be easier! 

hugs, sharyn 

week in the life :: monday

With "Week in the Life" underway, I'm mostly focused on taking photos and writing notes to pull the album together. But I did take the time to put together Monday's pages in the album to get a sense of how the album is going to come together.

 

Last year's album was suuuuper time consuming to pull together. Lesson learned = if I make things too complicated, it may not get done. So as you may recall, the plan is for all hipstamatic pictures taken with my iPhone. For journaling, I'm doing a recap of each day, plus a spot for headline news. That's it!

 

 

My husband and I are NPR geeks; one of my favorite parts of last year's album is actually the news headlines so headlines are going on the back of the opening page for each day.

 

So far I haven't been gathering much paper memorabilia. A result of being at a cabin for two of the three days so far? Maybe? There are also more photos per day making their way into the album. So I guess this is the year of photos rather than memorabilia. I'm definitely okay with that.

Once the album is put together, I may go back and add some spray ink or more embellishment. But even if it stays as is, I do love how the photos and papers look together. So glad I decided to play along!

How is your week in the life project going?

hugs, sharyn

still lifting

Last week I mentioned that scraplifting helped get me back into the swing of making 12x12 layouts. Well I have a few more lifts to share with you! As I spend time catching up on my 2010 album, these scraplifts are helping me make quick pages, but still with designs that I love.

 
inspiration layout by Lisa Dickinson

 
inspiration layout by Nicole Harper

 
inspiration layout by Lisa Truesdell

The "28 Years" layout about my husband's birthday is seriously one of my most favorite layouts ever. I just love the colors and patterns in real life.

My scraplifting marathon has ended and I'm now in a stretch of layouts loosely inspired by sketches or dreamt up on my own. Gosh does it feel great to finally have some more layouts in my 2010 album!  Scraplifting has been good to me lately. I think I'll keep it in mind again for catching up on layouts!

PS - Today is the first day of Ali's Week in the Life. It's free to join and never too late to start documenting. So if you're thinking of playing along, you should! I've got my iPhone close by for lots of hipstamatic pictures and am excited to get started.

hugs, sharyn