by ambere | Nov 30, 2017 | Christmas, December Daily, Family, Mini Albums, Scrapbook
My December Daily (DD) 2012 album is definitely my favorite of all. I used products from my once-favorite scrapbook company, October Afternoon, which sadly doesn’t exist anymore. (Insert Sigh). They had the best embellishments, buttons, label stickers, alpha stickers and every line seemed to coordinate with the others. Oh, its just too sad to think about. Luckily, I had a pretty good stash by that I’m still digging into for this year’s DD album. So, back to the 2012 album…the embellishments (buttons, tags, snowflakes, stickers and doilies) really help it shine. And then, to take it over the top, I used my sewing machine on every page. Boy, was it time consuming to do that extra step! I remember having trouble getting through all of my layers, but it was so worth it!
This album is 6″x 8″ and has a corrugated-cardboard front and back cover and the middle pages are white textured cardstock, held together with jumbo binder rings.
Each year the kids get an ornament from Grandma and one from Mimi, and the DD is the best place to keep both a photo and the special note they received in the mail.
I haven’t done a family photo Christmas card in the past few years, so coming across this one again feels extra special!
This was definitely the cutest snowman we’ve ever had! What’s better than getting enough snow on the first snowfall to build such a big snowman?! And that drawing…their adorable puffy snow pants! Too cute!
(more…)
by ambere | Nov 28, 2017 | Christmas, Family, In the studio, Mini Albums, Scrapbook
Long before I started my art business, my creative outlet was scrapbooking. I especially love making mini-albums. When I came across the idea of a December Daily (DD) album about ten years ago, I was SO INSPIRED. The idea is to take a picture each day during the month of December and scrapbook it. Since then, I’ve made six December Daily albums and I’m about to embark on my seventh. Looking back through these books, I can see what a true gift memories these albums contain. Each one is filled with everyday moments, like playing a board game and capturing Ella’s delight at winning, or the giant bump on Cohen’s forehead before a Christmas concert (because he fell face-first on the ice right before walking in). Each album contains little treasures that may have been considered trash on an ordinary day: movie tickets, a hand-written note from the mailman, ribbon from a gift, pre-school paper ornaments, even our Christmas card mailing list. Many of these things would have been over-looked and eventually forgotten. Now, these albums are run-back-inside-a-fire-worthy of saving!
Last year, I didn’t make one and the year before, I abandoned it before I even printed the pictures. I am SO making one this year! But before I start posting about this year’s DD album, I’m going to post a few past ones. It’s so fun to see both the changes and the consistencies of my style. Each album is unique in size, some are simple and some I’ve paid attention to every single detail. I enjoy the details. I enjoy collecting and preserving. I enjoy the time it takes to put it all together. But, that’s just me. The most important part isn’t about making it pretty or using the newest, most trendy products out there. It’s simply about preserving your family’s memories. Anyone can do this- even if you just collect the tid-bits, print the photos and toss them in a box labelled “Christmas 2017 Memories,” you will be so grateful 10 years from now that you did. Just imagine the delight of re-discovering memories you didn’t even realize you’d forgotten!
