One major change this year is that we did not get our tree Thanksgiving weekend like we normally do. For some reason I just wasn't ready, I needed time. We have pulled all the Christmas bins down and we put out most of the house decorations yesterday. I'm so excited to really dive in tomorrow and jump into all things holiday. Our elf Twinkle will return tomorrow so that's exciting and my daughter will receive her advent calendar for the season. I'm looking forward to all of that fun and what I hope to be a pretty relaxed and chill holiday season.
I do want to share what my album and supplies look like this year. I'm using the Jasmine Jones grey 6x8 album this year. It's a complete departure from what I normally do and I'm excited about that. The grey merry's across the front are so pretty. I may do something small to the lower right side of the cover but I haven't decided yet.
For the cover page I used a digital paper from Paislee Press that I modified a bit in Photoshop elements to thicken up the line so I could add some gold foil with my Minc. Because I only have the 6" Minc I needed to mount it to a larger piece of paper that I layered an older piece of Studio Calico gold star vellum to add in some more gold. The twenty sixteen banner is from Studio Calico.
This base page is sized so that it will completely cover the pages underneath which is a style that I like to use in my albums. I don't like the page protectors showing when you open the album which is just a quirk of mine.
The only other decision that I have made for this years album is to use a wide variety of numbers to mark my days versus a consistent style of numbers like I have done in the past years. The main reason I decided to do this is because I have amassed such a large collection over the years I felt it was time to finally use them all up. I've listed the sources below but please note that many of these are pretty old. I'm sure I'll add in some other items as I go along but this is what I have pulled so far to use in my album.
one // an old flip calendar from Target - two // Kelly Purkey 2015 mini kit - three // Jasmine Jones 2016 mini kit - four // Kelly Purkey 2016 December kit - five // Ali Edwards 2016 main kit - six // Ikea - seven // Ali Edwards very first December Daily kit - eight // Studio Calico - nine // Studio Calico - ten // Studio Calico - eleven // Ali Edwards 2015 December Daily kit - twelve // Pink Paislee 2015 - thirteen // Becky Higgins
As far as the rest of my supplies goes, I have pulled out my collection and pulled out only the items that I'm currently loving. I've placed most of the larger items in this bin that sits on my desk. Its a mix of the current kits and older kits and other seasonal items from other companies. I'm super excited to really mix it up this year.
I also have this divided container for some of the smaller bits that I didn't want to get lost in the bottom of the other bin. Again this is a mixture of old and new items.
The last thing I have done is make sure my calendar is updated with key dates and things that we already have planned for the month. I usually keep a running list of what I have done and what needs to be done so I can plug in some generic stories as needed. In this blog post I listed out some of my favorite things to include in my album so I thought I would list that again for you.
- Documenting cooking and baking seasonal treats
- Our Christmas card and the stuffing and mailing of them
- Buying our Christmas Tree
- Decorating our Christmas Tree
- Hanging outdoor lights
- Around the house shots
- Shopping for gifts and the receipts
- Simone's gifts and the wrapping paper (I pick one just for her each year)
- A visit with Santa
- Simone's birthday
- Favorite Shows/Movies/TV Specials
- Starbucks and their yearly cup design
- Making a Gingerbread house
- Holiday lights
- A letter from me to Simone
- Simone's letter to Santa
- A self portrait
- a play list of favorite Christmas songs
- Simone's wish list
- My wish list
- Photos of new items we added to Simone's stocking
You can also peruse my blog posts from the past five years of albums by going to the list over on the right side bar and clicking on each category label.
Thank you Ali Edwards for creating this project, it just wouldn't be the holidays without it and I cannot wait to document another year!
Here we go Christmas!
Love seeing your set up! I am so not organized! I love that you made a list! Hoping to get to my desk this weekend! Cheers to Christmas photos and pretty paper!
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