Christmas Scrapbook

Written and Created by PaperCraftCentral Susan

A Christmas scrapbook is one of the most fun albums I have made. This holiday is the one where my family and friends come together most often. I love making mementos of the time we share during December.

Does this idea appeal to you? Is it too hard to think about though, since the season is such a busy one? Do I have an idea for you? You bet!

Say hello to the December Daily Album!

TIP: This album came to me in a raw state, ready to be embellished. I decorated my album cover with a my favorite seasonal heat embossed image and later added ribbon, sequins and a gold memento from a Christmas cracker. You could cover the buff color with designer series paper, dry embossed elements, wooden elements, etc.

Or get out your paints, crayons, stencils and other colouring tools to decorate it your way.

Why not involve any young ones who will share this time with you this year? I'm thinking handprints, drawings, Christmas cracker jokes, little Christmas tags or anything that comes to mind for your family.

My December Daily Christmas Scrapbook

My December Daily album is such a pleasure for me to look through. I easily forget the good times and how it felt to be together with everyone unless I have a visual reminder and a little bit of journaling to read.

It's hard to do traditional scrapbook pages in December / January though. I needed a simpler solution that I still loved. Enter Becky Higgins!

Becky Higgins is a crafter who made it simple for me to put together a great little album that tells the story of the whole month of December. Her system is called Project Life and she has partnered with Stampin' Up! to make kits in their colour palette in the past. (The partnership has now ended but the ideas remain!)

I was immediately attracted to Becky's idea as I knew I would have plenty of cardstock and designer series paper in my stash that would automatically match and Stampin' Up! Project Life kit available at that time. That meant I could extend a kit very easily! That got me a little excited.

I liked the look of the picture of some of the accessories for the kit in the Stampin' Up! 2015 Seasonal Catalogue. Here's some of what I saw:

What is Memories and More?

Becky Higgins moved on to create other partnerships, so Stampin 'Up! developed their own range of scrapbooking and memory products called Memories and More but it has since changed to Memory Keeping. You can find all sorts of lovely scrapbooking supplies and kits from Stampin' Up! these days, largely thanks to us adding Close to My Heart designs and talent to our range. 

The product offering I used for my December Daily album included Pocket pages and prepared cards and embellishments to fit into those pages. You could just slip a card in here, a decorative element there, a journaling spot or a photo wherever you want on the page. The pockets are crystal clear so you have the same spaces on the back of the page to tell more stories. So I would buy a current album and kit to get started.

Here's how to create a December Daily album: The idea is to put your cards in the album before December, and to embellish it too. Just leave spaces for your photos. That way, you just have to remember to take a photo and write a note each day in December.

After you have lived your December memories, after all the excitement of the Christmas season has passed, just print your photos and  slip them in your album.Write your notes so you remember what the photo is about and your album kind of makes itself. 

Here's an example of a December Daily album. I made this my first page:

I continued to add cards, journaling spots, and little bits I knew I wanted to include. The pages even without their photos looked good to me. 

Maybe you would like to see more about the process of making a Memories and More Scrapbook? I just happen to have a Stampin 'Up! video available that will show you how!

Remember to click on the Stampin 'Up! catalog icon to see what Memory Making products are currently available.

I was also thinking that this kind of album would be a great gift, especially for a busy new mother wanting to preserve their baby's first Christmas, new crafters, elderly hosters of events, or your best crafting friend. If you know the person well, you could even add the photos and journaling for them to make a long lasting memento of a special year.

Here are some other Scrapbook ideas to investigate:

• Scrapbook Theme ideas 
• Baby scrapbooks
• Pet albums

And if you have an album idea, especially one that can help save time and effort, I'd love to hear about it. You can send me your idea to share with everyone by filling out the form below. 

Thank you in advance!

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