Category: mini books

Simple Scrapper’s 2012 Holiday Kit Part Two

This past week I finished my December/Holiday mini book using Simple Scrapper’s 2012 Holiday Kit. (I first shared details about the kit and my project last week.) Click on any of the images for an enlargement.

One of my double-page spreads focuses on our tradition of sending greeting cards each year. For this spread, I created the journaling circle in Photoshop. The Pink Paislee tag and the Elle’s Studio number tag are both part of the kit.

JMMiniAlbum-5

One of my favorite pages in the album documents our tradition of going out to see Christmas lights. I stamped one of the kit’s Pink Paislee tags with an Ali Edwards Technique Tuesday stamp. The “Merry & Bright” tape strip is from Crate Paper and is also included in the kit. For the most part, rather than add the Crate tape strips as I went along, I waited until I was done and added them to pages for a little extra spot of color.

JMMiniAlbum-12

Another double-page spread documents our family’s letters to Santa. I have letters to Santa from my mother (written in 1933 with my grandmother’s help), a letter written by me, and several written by my sons.

JMMiniAlbum-9

For the center of this spread, I punched one of the Pink Paislee tags to which I added a photo of Santa. On the back, I journaled about our various Santa “sightings.”

JMMiniAlbum-8

I scanned and printed a couple of my sons’ letters to Santa. I also scanned the letter written by my grandmother for my mother and put it into the envelope included in the kit. The envelope is just behind the Santa card. I liked being able to personalize the book with these extra additions.

I also used a double-page spread to write about our stockings. This page includes a rare photo, taken by my brother-in-law, of my husband and I together after the stockings were stuffed.

JMMiniAlbum-3

I wanted to have a dedicated page talking about my husband’s aunt’s Christmas angels. These are more than ninety-years-old and have a special place in our annual decorating.

JMMiniAlbum-10

The album wouldn’t be complete without a nod to the soggy, stormy weather that we have this time of year in the Pacific Northwest. In the same manner as the aforementioned Crate Paper tape strips, I used the Cosmo Cricket word stickers from the kit to add subtitles to the pages. The “keep calm and carry on” sentiment was the perfect addition to a page documenting a three-day power outage.

JMMiniAlbum-4

Because my album documents many previous Christmases, it is definitely heavy on journaling. If I were creating an album for a specific year, it would be primarily photos with brief captioning.

I’m thrilled to have this mini album as part of my memory-keeping library and look forward to seeing the various approaches scrappers take to creating mini albums this upcoming December.

Simple Scrapper’s 2012 Holiday Kit

For the past week, I’ve been creating a December/Holiday mini book using Simple Scrapper’s 2012 Holiday Kit.

Rather than create an album specific to 2012, I’ve captured memories of the holidays past with room to include memories from this holiday season. I used the kit’s number tags, from Elle’s Studio, for twenty-five different categories of memories. To some extent the memories are organized chronologically for the month of December, as in I have Christmas Day on December 25 and I have a page about advent calendars near the beginning.

I have a variety of page design foundations based on the size and number of photos I used for each of the pages. (You’ll notice mini clothespins on some of my pages. I used those to attach embellishments while I was still working on my page spreads. They are not part of the final design.)

I’ll start with the end – Christmas morning. For this spread page I kept it simple, using a full-page photo with added embellishments from the kit.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

For the cover, I chose to use a single word “Magic” with one of the kit’s alpha sets. I embellished it with die-cut stars created from an extra sheet of paper from the kit.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

While we haven’t made any gingerbread creations for a few years, they were a huge part of our celebration when my sons were younger.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

To incorporate some memories for which I don’t have photos, I journaled with lists. This page, that I printed on my inkjet printer onto cardstock and titled with the kit’s other alpha, lists some of our family’s favorite holiday songs. Just creating the list got me into the holiday spirit! I love having this resource at my fingertips.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

A relatively new tradition, although one that my husband’s family celebrated when he was young, is to go to one of our region’s fabulous nurseries to get poinsettias. We’ve already discussed which weekend we’ll go this December.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

Using the kit’s tags from Pink Paislee I created a few titled dividers. At the back of the book, I’ve got a section for this December. On the flip side of the card, I affixed a December calendar with some of our activities already penciled in.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

I have a few double-page spreads in the book, including this one documenting a trip to the “Make Way for Ducklings” statue in the Boston Public Garden. I incorporated a stamped image from October Afternoon on the journaling side.

Simple Scrapper's 2012 Holiday Kit

I have just a few more pages before the book is complete, at least for the “past” memories! Looking forward to adding pages from our December 2012 activities as well!

Simple Scrapper’s First Mini Book Kit

Jennifer Wilson of Simple Scrapper has just opened the Simple Mini Books shop. I had the honor of creating a mini book documenting my grandmother’s life with the Everyday Sweetness 6×6 Scrapbook Kit. Be sure to check out the inspiration in the trailer – the kit lends itself to a wide variety of themes and styles!