December Daily 2014: Days 8 - 12

Hi everyone.  Today, I have more pages from my December Daily album. I am really enjoying this project. I am using a mix of pocket pages and 6 x 8 pages. 

Day 8:

Here I used a 4 x 6 photo and two 3 x 4 cards.  It's really quick and easy to put pages like these together. Love that!

Day 9:

I used the Cozy Christmas collection from Simple Stories for this page about our visit to Barnes & Noble. We always knock out part of our shopping there!

Day 10:

Day 10 is about every day life: putting together a puzzle with Pop Pop. I used Be Different from Fancy Pants Designs for this page. 

Day 11:

Another pocket page. This one documents watching the local Christmas parade.

Day 12:

We don't do something holiday-oriented every day, so those days are the perfect time to to catch ordinary life. Here, I used the Public Library collection from October Afternoon to document my son's love of books and reading. 

That's it for today. Only a few days behind in my December Daily. Not too bad for the busy holiday season!  Wishing you a wonderful week!

December Daily 2014 - Day 7

Hello and happy Friday!

Today, I have Day 7 from my December Daily Christmas album. 

I'm using 6 x 8 pages and pocket pages for this album. I love this size. The pocket pages make it fast and easy and the 6 x 8 pages give me more flexibility. I love combining the two. 

The journaling here says: When we spent the night with my parents, Mimi made Cory pancakes that spelled out his name. This kid is spoiled rotten!

Sometimes December Daily is about the little things. I like including everyday life in my album. I'm so blessed that my parents are alive and well and dote on Cory. I want him to always know how much they loved him. 

I have pages 8 and 9 completed too but it was too dark to shoot them. I'll be back with those - and likely more pages too - on Monday. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

My Elf: American Crafts

Hello, everyone!  I'm back today with my last layout from the December kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

I took this photo last year at my son's preschool Christmas party. The boys wore elf hats as part of the program and they looked so cute. 

I added a little dimension to the Deck the Halls card by pop-dotting the candy cane and holly leaf on top of the stocking. 

I loved this elf sticker that came with the kit. I sat him on a grove of trees at the top of my layout. He perfectly played up my theme of my son the elf. 

One more look: 

This layout only uses a little bit of patterned paper: the red Merry Christmas paper and the dark brown border.  Everything else is a pocket card, sticker or cardstock. I'm personally partial to a "clean" layout, so I quite like how this one turned out. 

Up tomorrow:  more pages from my December Daily. 

December Daily 2014: Days 3 - 6

Hello everyone. I'm back today with a few more pages from my December Daily. 

Day 3:

Sorry about the glare on the photo. I can't quite figure out the best way to photograph pocket pages.

Day 4:

The pocket cards for Days 3 and 4 are from the Be Merry collection from American Crafts. 

Day 5:

On this page, I used the Good Cheer collection from Elle's Studio. It's an adorable line. 

Day 6:

This cute paper is from the Oh, Deer! collection from Fancy Pants Designs. 

Truth in blogging: we made the ornaments last year, but kept them current for this year's December Daily with journaling that says: We love making ornaments. Cory and I made these reindeer last year and they are still our favorites. 

I think it's perfectly fine to use photos from previous holidays as they all contribute to what make Christmas special to us. 

You can see Days 1 - 2 on this post. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a holiday layout and on Friday with more pages from my December Daily.  

Meeting Santa Aboard The Polar Express

Last year we took a ride on the Polar Express, popularized by the book and movie, and it was magical. The best part, of course, was meeting Santa. 

Santa signed our copy of the book, The Polar Express, and gave Cory a silver bell. It was such sweet moment. 

I scrapbooked these photos using the December kit from My Creative Scrapbook. The kit featured the Be Merry collection from American Crafts. I started by creating a base with a large photo mat at the top of the layout. 

After I added the photos, I added a title tag at the bottom. 

Then added an embellishment cluster to balance the page. 

Here's another look at the completed layout:

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Merry and Bright: Capturing Everyday Life

Good morning! I have a Christmas themed layout today that captures everyday life of my then three-year-old. 

When my son was little, he carried this stuffed puppy with him everywhere he went but I had never documented that. When I was looking through old Christmas pictures, I saw this one of Cory with Puppy at the Tree Farm. 

I had already scrapbooked other tree farm pictures - with action photos of chopping down our tree - and had overlooked this. Cory's not looking at the camera, but I thought I could still use the photo to capture my son's love of his stuffed animal. 

I created the base of my layout and added a doily to serve as a photo mat. I printed out some strip journaling and made sure I had a space for it. Often I use hidden journaling on my pages, but on this particular layout, I wanted to be sure the journaling was easily readable. 

I added the strip journaling in the middle of the layout, clustering photos and embellishments around it. 

At the top of the layout, I hung some ornaments. I used my sewing machine to make hangers. 

Here's another look at the page. 

I made this layout using the December kit at My Creative Scrapbook. The kit featured the Be Merry collection from American Crafts. I loved this kit. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow with more pages from my December Daily. 

Elf on the Shelf: American Crafts

My family had such a good time last year with Elf on the Shelf. My son was 4 and it was the perfect age. He woke up excited every morning to see what the elf had done the night before and where the elf was hiding that day. 

Of course, I had to scrapbook the adventures of Sandy, our elf. 

For this layout, I used the December Creative Kit from My Creative Scrapbook. The kit included paper and embellishments from the super cute holiday line Be Merry from American Crafts. 

As you can see, we didn't use the elf from the book, but rather a different one. This guy, Sandy, was marketed as a tree ornament but worked just fine for our purposes. 

Sandy encouraged our son to be kind. Always a good reminder!

I wanted to journal about our experience with Sandy the Elf, but I didn't have room on my layout to add it. So, I flipped the layout over, and adhered my journaling to the back. As you can see, I had a lot to say!

I had actually forgotten most of this story. I couldn't even remember our elf's name, even though it had only been a year since he visited. While searching my computer for info I might have documented about our elf, I ran across a long email I had sent my mom. That email (slightly edited) is what is attached here. Moral of the story: I will forget. I must write it down!

This is the kit I used to create my layout. Loved it: stickers, die cuts, wood veneers, washi, ribbon and lots of holiday paper! It's one of my favorite kits ever!

You can see all the December kits from My Creative Scrapbook on their website.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

December Daily 2014 - Days 1 and 2

The holidays are here! This year, I am documenting them with a December Daily, a mini scrapbook on how my family celebrates the holidays.

I am following the general idea of December documentation popularized by Ali Edwards and am going to try to keep it simple. I am using a 6 x 8 inch "Daily Flash" album from October Afternoon with a mix of 6 x 8 pages and pocket pages. 

This is Day 1:

Here's Day 2:

As you can see, the first 2 pages are simply embellished 6 x 8 pages. Day 3 will be a pocket page and will include a journaling card. 

I am purposely documenting 25 days of December but not specific dates. In other words, a particular day, such as Day 2, may or may not represent what happened on Dec. 2.  Each day represents a December tradition or a part of our daily lives that month. 

I have done this project only once before - in December 2011 - with a more elaborate approach. That year, I made a double-page spread for each day and I documented what really happened on that specific day.  For me, being bound to a particular date made creating the album more difficult as I could not plan pages in advance. 

Making a double-page spread for each date also doubled the work. 

So far, I am really liking this new, streamlined approach!

December Sneak Peeks: My Creative Scrapbook 2014

December's here and I'm so glad. I love this time of year!

Working with the new December kit at My Creative Scrapbook had really put me in the Christmas spirit. It's such a fun kit full of holiday goodies! The reveal is on Dec. 5th but I have a few sneak peeks:  

I'll be back on Friday with the full reveal. 

Have a wonderful week!