Heidi Swapp - 5 Ways to Make Documenting the Busiest Time of Year Easier

I look forward to documenting December every year! When it comes to preserving our family's activities and memories, nothing is better than the month of December! Our days are filled with special activities and traditions that make memories but that are easy for our family to do together! I think the same way when I go to prepare to document the month. Here are some ways I prepare for the busy holiday month ahead.

Pink Paislee - Countdown 2 Christmas Days 6-8

I have been having a blast with my Pink Paislee Merry & Bright album. I am making sure to have my camera on me at all times. My phone is what I am having in my back pocket at all times. Even with my Galaxy S5 I am having fun getting a few really great close up shots like of E's Star Wars Lego Advent. I can't help it... it is so fun!

Days 6 and 7 are one one page to give me more pockets for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The rest of the album has one page for each day. 

I left all the clear pages for a little artistic fun and some peek-a-boo pages. The deer on this page was copied from Day 10 and 11. I love that there is consistency in this album!

The page also includes one of our family photos. We went and had our family pictures on the 7th which I resized and printed them at 4x4 to fit into pockets through out the book. I love that I can include these whenever I need a spot for an extra photo!

Create Well: Keep things simple during the busy month by making pages alike in your album.

Pink Paislee - Countdown to Christmas Days 1-5

I can't believe it!!! I have been keeping up on my December album every day! Ha!!! Should I be so surprised? Maybe. I haven't finished every part of an album in years. I was looking at one yesterday with no journaling and another that the focus wasn't the photos so it didn't really feel like it captured our everyday life.  This is the first year that I am pleased that I have been able to print my photos right from home and add them to my book every night. It doesn't get much easier than that.

For Day 1, I tucked the extensive journaling inside the pocket and will need to add a little tab so it can be pulled in and out. Photos were taken in low light and usually when that happens I tend to go black and white.

I am making sure to pull out the DSLR for a lot of photos. I like that I have the freedom to use both my digital camera and phone to take pictures this year. I think my phone's quality and the way I take photos with my phone has changed a lot since I started doing a December album. 

Photos are a huge focus in this album. The more photos on a page the better. Journaling gets typed up about every other night. With these last couple of weeks I am going to have to do it every night because there is so much happening that I can barely remember to brush my hair in the morning. Seriously. I almost left the house with a wet tangled top knot the other day.

I am adding clean pages along with a few artistic ones. I like the clean look. I know what is the priority when I look at my album - it's the story. 

I added a Heidi Swapp Color Magic wood veneer and colored it with a Tim Holtz Distress Marker. I like the Barn Door red.

I kept the clear pages simple so that the other pages could peek through. As I have said before, I love to mimic the exact design on the opposite side of the clear pages so that no glue shows through.

 

I am adding lots of stars. Some have been saved for this exact purpose and some were a part of the Merry & Bright Ephemera Pack. I love them!

Stay tuned in as I have the next group of pages to share later this week! Hope you are enjoying playing along with Pink Pailsee's Countdown 2 Christmas! I know I have!

Create Well: Photos help you tell your story but if you do not write it down, who will be able to tell your story for you when  you are gone?

Pink Paislee - Countdown to Christmas Day 11

I am back up on the Pink Paislee blog today with today's prompt, "Surprise your neighbors with treats!" I share our family's tradition... it is special! Here I wanted to tell you more about how I created these pages!

I created a page to add to my album, mostly because this was my special blog post and I wanted it to stand out from the rest. I added more journaling to the page.

One think I didn't like from my past December Daily albums was that my photos seemed to get lost on the "artistic pages" I made. So, This time I made sure to just leave the photos in the pocket pages. They are protected there too!

Stickers were added to the top of the page protector to preserve the photo.

I love those layered pieces! I kept this pocket empty and just added a snowflake ephemera piece from the Merry & Bright collection. The pocket underneath shows through!

This year I added past photos in the album so that we can see how much my son has grown! It shows that we keep up on our family traditions!

Create Well: Add photos from past Christmases to your current album to visually see the change in your children!

Pink Paislee - Countdown 2 Christmas Day 10

I am up on the Pink Paislee blog today sharing my Day 10 Countdown 2 Christmas pages using the prompt "Holiday Playlist!" I love Christmas music! You will want to head over there to hear some of my favorite Christmas music memories!

Here, I wanted to show you my pages and share with you how easy it is to create several layers in your album. I love being able to see through to the other pages in my book and on Day 10 is a perfect example of that.

Day 10 starts on the page above with my pocket page. I have left the top left empty with a snowflake as an embellishment. This helps me see through to a clear page and our holiday photos! The top right pocket is a screen photo of my playlist that I created on YouTube.

On the right of that page is another clear acrylic page that I loved adding a We R Memory Keepers' stag die embossed with Darcie's embossing folder (1218-39) and Bazzill cardstock.

I always save any silver glitter stars I might find through out the year for my December albums. They are a favorite. These Recollection ones that my sister bought me layered perfectly under the red Merry & Bright ephemera. I added some trim that is oh--so-cute on the antlers. (You are getting a peek into Day 11's page here.)

The trick that I love to do in decorating any clear page or pocket is repeat the same on both sides. That way you do not have to hide glue or embellishments. See how easy the clear page was below.

Then, let the next page peek through! Think about your placement on the next page so that it looks good and you are not hiding anything  you don't want to.

Here is the back side where you can see Day 10 peeking through! Darling.

This year I plan on adding QR codes where I can. I can scan this and it will play my playlist from YouTube! I just love that!

Make sure to check back tomorrow because I am back up on the Pink Paislee blog again with Day 11!

Create Well: Crank up the music and let's celebrate Christmas!

Pink Paislee - Countdown 2 Christmas!

I am so excited to be a part of Pink Paislee's Countdown 2 Christmas event on their blog! If you haven't heard all about the ways you can win along with daily free printables go to their blog and read about it here and here!

I wanted to share with you my cover and title page before diving into my daily pages!

The album comes with a brilliant sequins star on the front. I decided to doll up the front with a diecut of a stag using Silver Foil Cardstock by Bazzill Basics. I then embossed it with a winter embossing folder by Darice! I love how it turned out!

Before I prepped my pages, I pulled out all my December albums and looked at them. I mentally made a list of what I liked inside my pages and what I didn't! Some of my pages in the past looked pretty messy, stuff was falling off of them, and my pages were a little bent from sitting on the shelf.

This year I plan on keeping it simple making photos the focus. I am using a hot glue gun on everything - including all the stickers. And creating a flap in the front of my pages with chipboard to help keep my pages from falling forward while sitting on a shelf all year.

Here is how the flap turned out. I love it!

The album comes with canvas, clear dividers, and pocket pages. I used one canvas page to create my title page. Now, let me tell  you a funny story. I wanted to cut down my canvas page to let the other pages peek through. Don't do that. It frayed and I wanted to stop the fray so I used a lighter across the edge. The edges started to burn and I thought, "Wow, this is a kind of old school technique" right before the thing engulfed in flames. HA!

All these embellishements come in the Merry & Bright collection by Pink Paislee! I just added a little stamp, star that matched and rhinestones. Everything looks better with a bit of bling.

Create Well: Taking a lighter to your project isn't always safe. It is usually recommended to not light paper on fire unless you are using it to stay warm in a fireplace. 

Heidi Swapp - December Daily Album Cover

December is in full swing at my house. Today my son told someone that the best thing about this week has been every day's advent. Do you do an advent? We have a cute little advent with doors where I can place a treat and a note of a special activity we will do every day up until Christmas. These activities are what I love to record in my December Daily. That way when he gets older he can see how special this time of year was to our family.

This year I knew I wanted my album to be a hardcover with a lot of room. What better way to do that than with Heidi Swapp's Chipboard Embossed Album. I painted the cover white.... I love white and red during the holidays. It makes me so happy! 

I then added a Banner Delight as my trim. The glitter just pops! Afterwards, I placed the rub ons from the Memory File Kit. They went on like butter! 

For a last touch, one of my Epiphany Crafts charms didn't have a bale in the package. It was the perfect embellishment for the binding! That way when it is on the shelf, I know what is inside!

Create Well: Give yourself plenty of room to tell your holiday story. 

Heidi Swapp - December Daily Preparations

I am so excited about being ready ahead of time for my December Daily! This year I am using Heidi Swapp's Chipboard Embossed Binder Album. To prepare the pages, I used the 3x3 photo sleeves that came with the album. The rest I pulled out to use on another project. I then gathered Becky Higgin's Project Life photo sleeves and cut them to size.

I found papers and embellishments from Heidi's Believe Collection to use in the album that I knew I couldn't live without.  I placed white paper in places I knew I wanted a photo, that way I could tell what pockets I wanted transparent.

I used my Xyron Creative Station to turn the Believe Ephemera velum pieces into stickers. I then placed the sticker on the inside of the pocket to protect it.

Most of the papers in the pockets are from the 6x6 paper pad because the patterns are small enough for this size! Plus, I got most of this album created with only one paper pad! Now that is impressive!

I knew I had to include the tabs inside the Ephemera Pack! They are too cute and look great sticking out of the side of the album.

I have a problem with ending my album without enough space for pictures for Christmas Day. Ha! So, I made sure there was plenty of space for that!

I can't wait to share the cover with you, which is one of my favorite parts of this album! If you would like to visit my previous years' albums, click right here.

Create Well: Use a 6x6 paper pad for your December Daily pocket pages as they have the perfect sized patterns and the design work is done for you!