December Daily 2016!

This is a project I completed in September, but thought I'd save it til now to share with you.

A December Daily album is pretty much exactly how it sounds. I've seen people create the entire album before December begins, leaving a spot or two for a picture a day and glue the pics in at the end. I've seen it made each day, creating a page to go with the events of that day. And my method, haha, is to put it together after the month is done (or way, WAY after the month has passed...)  I've done a digital book in 2009 with this concept, a 12x12 Project Life/pocket page album in 2015 and now today's project. Christmas pictures are kind of overwhelming to me..!

In 2016 I bought this little album, and the Project Life cards & accessories Stampin' Up! had for sale that year, hoping for a quick way to get my baby's first Christmas easily scrapped. Well, it only took a day to get the book done, but it took me until September of 2019...!

This book is about 6x8. I've got 30 pages in it spanning from Dec 1-31. Fortunately I had this plan when the month began, so as I took pictures I put them in their own file (on the computer) by date, so I didn't have to figure that out when I assembled everything. I take a lot of pictures, in case you weren't aware, so every few pages I'd stick in a journaling piece that covered up to that page.

This is my title page...

Supplies:

Ink: Real Red marker

Paper: Whisper White Card stock

Accessories: Hello December 2016 Project Life Card Collection & Accessory Pack 

And the back side...

 Then you can see those journaling pieces that explain the photos up to that point.

The bottom pic on this first page is blurry, but that's okay- it shows my kids watching a Christmas movie with popcorn, which was our fun activity for the day!

And even with 30 pages, there are a TON of left over tidbits for more pocket pages another year, or for traditional pages whenever. Or even for some quick Christmas cards! Can't beat that!!!

This & That!

Ok, today's news is a new product line I am SOOO excited about!!!

It's called This & That. If you've seen or heard of SMASH books, you know exactly what this is, but this one comes with Stampin' Up!'s excellent quality and in Stampin' Up!'s exclusive and fabulous colors!

Anyone planning a trip of any kind? Around here we have Spring Break coming up, and then of course summer is on its way! This kit is a perfect tool to use as your travel journal! Tack ticket stubs, menus, receipts, or anything really, in with the fun washi tape, jot down funny things you see or do, and stick the photos in after you get home!

Are your kids still small enough to be spouting off hilarious bits of wisdom, sprinkled in with their funny and surprising random questions? Ever find yourself wishing you could write that down before you forget it? Keep this in your purse, and write down whatever they happen to announce, right when they say it! Take random photos of them at "this" age and stick them in the book later! What a handy photo journal to look back on in years to come (you know, when those sweet chubby cheeks become less-than-hilarious, sulky teenagers...)!

This product literally has so many possibilities! I am so excited to get the bundle, but if you only want a little of this or that (ha! no pun intended but it sure worked!) you can buy each piece separately! The bundle is only available until April 30, so order this now and be ready for whatever life brings! *The products will be in the new catalog, sold separately.

131268	Epic Day This and That Journal	$10.95
130814	Epic Day This and That Designer Series Paper	$10.95
130133	Remember This and That Rotary Stamp	$5.95
131271	Epic Day This and That Designer Stickers	$4.95
131269	Epic Day This and That Designer Washi Tape	$4.95
133350	Epic Day This and That Bundle (15% off!!!)	$32.08

And guess what ELSE? Stampin' Up! is offering a giveaway trip for 2 to San Diego to one lucky winner, and they'll toss in a This & That bundle for the grand-prize winner to document their trip! Ten other winners will get a This & That bundle too! Check that out HERE!

As a side note, few years ago Stampin' Up! sold a similar art journal as the one you see with This & That, and I have turned it into a {work in progress} Traditions book, to document the way we spend our days. Here are few pages....and yes, This & That would work great for a project like this for you!

 

(all supplies long retired)

Mini Books for Mom....

I have been busy enjoying Fall Break with my kids the past several days, and not stamping at all. So now I'll share some of the scrapbooks I've made with/for my mom in recent months.

First, we *had* to re-do her wedding book. It used to be a simple album with slots for 5x7 wedding shots, framed with gold lines. Weeellll, lest you think my love of photos/scrapbooks is a new thing, I looked thru her wedding book so many times as a child that it was literally falling apart, thanks to me. The pages were no longer held by the binding, some of the vinyl covers were torn...it was in bad shape. She ordered an 8x8 album from one of our Mini Catalogs and we finally managed to put some pages together for her! Best of all, we went thru her whole stack of proofs and added in a number of smaller prints than the original 5x7's she'd used in her album!

This first page shows some of the little stamping we did... First we stamped this branch colored with markers, hanging off the page. (my mom's wedding colors were pastel pink, blue, purple, green, yellow and peach). Then we stamped it in Versamark, nearly right over the first time, and embossed it with Iridescent Ice powder to make it all sparkly. That's why it looks a little blurred, but its so pretty irl. (the photos are of my cute parents with my dad's brother- the best man)

See the bouquets in this picture? My mom kept them! We trimmed off some of the actual ribbon from the girls' bouquets and used it on the page below!

This page shows the ribbons, (which coordinated with the retired subtles brads!) and photos of my parents with their parents!

Isn't that fun?! I think so. We used a variety of embellishments and accessories throughout the book, all coordinating with my mom's colors.

The second book we made was an ABC book my mom has been hoping to make for years. In fact, the first time we went thru and planned a photo for each letter, my niece was going to be N- for New Baby...and she now has two younger siblings and another on the way! It was about time we got the book done!!
Since most of the pages are people's first names (for example, I am T for Tanya) I'm only sharing these two pages, but it gives you a good idea of what we did....

"D is for Darling grandchildren!"

 "Y is for Yellowstone!" (where we have gone at least 8 times as a family)

This book was a 6x6 album, and the page bases all come from the hostess 6x6 packs of DP that have been offered in recent years. We chose a photo to nicely represent the person or thing, then stamped the word in the coordinating ink. We have collected several alphabet sets over the years so I sort of randomized the sets for each "title".

Isn't it fun to think of the potential ideas for a small scrapbook? You can do a whole event or trip, or something like an alphabet book for a theme. Scrapbooking is truly a limitless way to preserve your memories!

A good project, a great idea.

So, apparently, back in 2006 is when Stampin' Up! offered this whole office style set. I bought the spiral punch, the Notations DP and this 8x5ish art journal (which is still available- as is the punch!) and I have saved the DP to use in this book. I put the cover together shortly after getting it all..... and that is exactly as far as it went. It has been moved from spot to spot in my office for what is that? five years??? holy cow...

Last week when I took my kids to the library I was on the hunt (as I always am) for a book we haven't read a trillion times...something new...something different.... this book caught my eye because of the vintage illustrations, which I am a sucker for.

But the thing is, its exactly the format I am looking for on that book I started! The story starts out with a little girl asking her "Granny, what was it like when Mummy was me?"* and the grandmother goes thru a long-ago year, month by month, only talking about the celebrations and the good times that were had. Presumably this is a typical year and it was put together in such a fun way... THAT is my next big project! Next time I print photos? it will feature our little family's traditions and share how we spend a year celebrating! Fun huh?? I am super excited!

*Book titled A Time to Keep, The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays, copyright 1977, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

A mini book!

So to kick off National Scrapbook month, I'm going to share a little family album...! I actually won this from Andrea. She made this for me more than a month ago (!!!) and it is fabulous and I feel bad that its taken me so long to get photos in it!!! THANK YOU ANDREA!!!!! Its an accordion style 6x6 book, with photos on both sides of almost every page. I decided to find pictures of us as a family and then print them all black & white. then I realized that if there is a family photo, there is usually a Christmas tree behind us! LOL! So take a peek...

I won this...

...fabulous paper-bag-scrapbook as blog candy from Jamie's blog HERE in March! Early in June I went swimming with my kids and the pictures are perfect for this book! So since I just got it all put together, I wanted to share! I'll do the journaling later when I can borrow a Brilliant Blue marker. In the meantime, if you love this book, you'll want to order the Jersey Shore designer paper! I'm sure it will retire in the next few weeks since it includes Wild Wasabi!