Recording Your December

Hello, Practical Scrapper Alison here with some holiday inspiration!

I don't do Project Life as I just can't imagine keeping up every day with the mundane goings on of school drop offs, dance practice, soccer practice and commuting to work in rush hour traffic. Instead I choose to create layouts about special events and moments. However, for the past 3 years I've kept a December Daily - inspired by the great Ali Edwards! Okay, last years DD got put away unfinished when my hard drive crashed and took with it a lot of my December photos but ... one of these days ...

Do you do a daily album in December? Not sure what I'm talking about? Check out the link above for more info but basically you keep a daily documentation of the everyday and holiday goings on for the month of December. Today I want to share my 2013 album with you.

I am using a 6"x8" SN@P pocket page style album by Simple Stories - here's my cover.

My intro page - I talk about my expectations for the month and how we are introducing a new tradition in the form of an Elf on the Shelf.

And now the days that I've completed so far (I'm a teeny tiny bit behind).

December 1: 

For my pockets with only a photo I am endeavouring to embellish as if it were any other layout. Here's a close up of the bottom left pocket.

December 2:  

I had the privaledge of being a guest designer for Monica Bradford's Your December Inspired class and this was the page I did for one of my inspirational prompts - Scrap The Music. I created a cut file with my Silhouette to look like a musical score and then talked about some of my favourite Christmas songs.

December 3: 

It was unseasonably cold at the beginning of December so on this day I chose to document that as well as some of the fun we are having with our new Elf - Suzie McJinglebells. 

December 4: 

It was Parent Observation Day at my daughter's dance studio so I devoted one whole page to her.

Day 5: 

I love this giant picture of Suzie with her request for Candy Canes. When not a lot has gone on or perhaps the photos you took of the 'action' aren't as great as you'd hoped, choose something else to focus on!

Day 6: 

And then there are those days that a lot seems to happen! What to include? These pocket pages make it easy to include a little bit about everything. We had a Breakfast with Santa at our school for which I was on pancake making duty yet again. Plus Suzie was a bit mischievous with the dining room chandelier and some stickers she found laying about. And if that wasn't enough, my middle daughter lost a tooth!

Day 7:  

This was another busy day and I didn't even get to include photos from my husband's Children's Christmas party at his office (mostly because I wasn't there so the photos are on his phone!) but since the perfectly ordinary things like swimming lessons are still going on during the early weeks of the month, that was the story I went with.

I did also include a little pull out 'mini' documenting our wee Elf again. She got a bit cheeky and requested the girls clean their bathroom so she could take a bath and I felt that needed to be in the album!

 

This is the photo on the back of the journaling tag.

Then this and the photo below are back to back - this one shows Suzie with her note that was waiting for the girls when they got home from the party.

And then a close up of the note itself.

When you pull out this little insert you find this hidden photo.

Yep, that's my middle child!! Always pulling faces!

I hope you feel inspired by my peek and behind the scenes tips to documenting your holiday season. At the very least the fact that I am over a week behind should make you feel good, right? 

Have a wonderful week and Merry Christmas!!

November Layout Sketch

It's time for another Layout Sketch with the Practical Scrappers!  We hope that you enjoy this sketch and that you play along with us this month!

 

Here is the sketch that Liz created and that inspired us all...

 

 

And here is what our Designers created...

 

Practical Scrapper Patty

Practical Scrapper Wendi Robinson

 

 

Practical Scrapper Jessica Arrant

 

 

Practical Scrapper Cathy

Practical Scrapper Lee-Anne Thornton

Practical Scrapper Deborah

Practical Scrapper Kelly Jean

Practical Scrapper Alison

Thanks for stopping by today!  We hope that you ejoyed out layouts and will come back next week for some more crafty fun!

A Simple and Not-so- Simple Christmas Card with Video

Hi everyone! Practical Scrapper Alison Day here sharing a couple of Christmas cards I whipped up this morning for you. I had intended to create several simple cards but ... I got kind of carried away with one of them and it turned out to be not so simple!!

Ah well, it happens. Right?

I decided to film a video showing you my process on the simpler card as well as giving you an overview of what went into the more complicated card. You can check it out below. Both use supplies I already had on hand - something I am an advocate for. Don't get me wrong, I love to shop for new supplies but re-loving those older supplies is just as important!

Enjoy the video and then scroll down to see close up shots of each card.

Thank you. Hope I've inspired you today!

Fussy Cutting To Add Detail

Hi everyone! Practical Scrapper Alison here with a fun way to add detail to your layouts without having to buy fancy (and expensive) stickers!
I love the look you can get from those multi-dimensional stickers many of the manufacturers offer but I'm a bit too cheap sometimes to shell out for a pack of 5 or 6 when I know I will only use one, maybe two of them. Can anyone else relate to that? I don't know how many partially used packets I have cluttering my craft space!!

Anyway, my friends over at S.W.A.T had a challenge recently to create a project using fussy cutting. (That's when you cut around an image in your paper to add it as an embellishment.) so I decided to create my own dimensional additions! I'd been playing with some Bella Blvd papers and they are great at providing whole 12x12 sheets of images for you to fussy cut. After cutting out a couple trees, LOTS of leaves, some clouds and a couple other images, I created this ...

That's my eldest daughter 5 years ago! When she looked at it she thought it was my youngest! LOL! I guess the sisterly resemblance is strong with my girls. Anyway, it took some time to cut each leaf and ink them all but the effect is SO worth it! I usually add a fair bit more to my layouts but this technique, when allowed to shine, is all you need sometimes.

Here are some close up shots of those fussy cut pieces. 

In my stash I also found these flair like stickers. The sun had words in it that I didn't want so they were perfectly covered by this leaf sticker.

This pumpkin came with a separate little leaf. While the pumpkin is popped up with dimensional adhesive, the leaf is just adhered flat to the page. That way it is more interesting to look at. 

The 'Pumpkin Patch' image was a free one from my friend Ashley Horton. Go HERE to grab your own. 

And last but not least, the tree. The one in the background is adhered flat to the page and then I popped the second one up with dimensional adhesive. Another of those flair stickers at the bottom completes this cluster.

Well, there you have it. I hope you try this on your next project. It's a great way to stretch your supplies and have more fun with your layouts. Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Storage Ideas

Today some of our Design Team Members are featuring a few ways they store their crafting supplies.  Take some time to look around, we hope you get a few ideas for your own spaces!

 

Practical Scrapper Michelle James uses a spice rack to store her brads and flowers. It spins so it is nice to have close by. But, best of all she can pack only the colors needed if going on a weekend crop. It works well and looks pretty too.


Everyone has their own method for storing paper, Practical Scrapper Alison Day would like to share hers with you today.

She was fortunate enough to buy this paper racking off a friend for her 12 x 12 paper storage. On the left side is all her patterned paper sorted by colour.

On the right is all her card stock also sorted by colour. Right at the top of the rack she keeps her 12 x 12 sticker sheets including alphabet stickers.

On the other side of her "scrap cave" is a small book shelf that houses her 8.5 x 11 card stock, envelopes and card bases.

One last storage area is for her paper scraps. She keeps those all together in this drawer. That way she can easily grab scraps as she needs them and hunting through the drawer has led to many an unexpected but highly satisfying layout!

Practical Scrapper Kim Ryden uses Empty Wood-Mount Stamp Cases by Stampin' Up! to keep her Stampin' Up! embellishments organzied! Stop by her blog today to see what else she uses these cases for!