Saturday, November 12, 2011

Ghosts of Christmas Past (and last call for Pass the Book)

Shimelle is hosting a Christmas Crafting Party for the end of the Pretty Paper Party, and one of her first challenges is to share a favorite Christmas project.  Here's mine - the photo albums in which I scrap the photographs we get in Christmas cards.  I've been doing it since 1988, and I'm up to Volume Three! The two kids on the upper right both have children of their own now, and the baby on the right hand side is a college graduate!  It's so much fun to see how people grow over the years.
Shimelle also asked for people to share their previous Journal Your Christmas or December Daily albums.  Here are mine:
I've done JYC three times.  The first time I did it as an art journal with 5x7 cards, stored in a metal box (that's the one in the middle).  You can see a slide show of the cards this link.  The second time I did it, I created the album on the right - it has an expandable spine, and I placed Tim Holtz tags in between the journaling. You can see my blog post about it here.  Last year, I took hipstamatic photos and made the album on the left hand side.  You can see my blog post about its preparation by clicking this link and see the completed version at this one.
I completed one other challenge today, too:
The challenge was to cut an image out of patterned paper. I cut out the camera on the upper right hand corner of this title page for a mini-album I made today. It's a bit of a surprise, so I didn't want to photograph the completed project.  While working on it, I experienced one of those really frustrating scrapper moments - I ran out of adhesive with just two pages left to complete! I took it as as sign from above that I should stop scrapping and switch to organizing and cleaning up.  Which I did. I organized all the layouts I've been working on in their albums, put away a bunch of supplies and found my desk top! And then I found some more adhesive.  Whew!
So, a very productive day.  What about you?
Oh, I almost forgot. . . If you're interested in receiving the book, "Raw Art Journaling" as part of Pass the Book, go to this post and add a comment.
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Today I am grateful for: the sights and sounds of my coastal town which helped me enjoy my morning run - including friendly runners saying hi, some pelicans watching fisherman clean fish, and towers of crab pots.

8 comments:

Amy said...

I think that is a big reason why I like doing specific projects like this one, they give you a snapshot of life that would otherwise be forgotten.
I've enjoyed seeing your projects past!

I've had one of those lovely weekends at home getting a few sorting and purging jobs done ... your morning run sounds lovely! :-)

Sian said...

Sending photocards is a tradition I love - and it isn't something that's done round here at all. Sometimes I do pop a photo inside a card I'm sending to old school friends, though, and I keep any I get back in a nice box. I think an album like yours would be even better. Might have to work on that!

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Wow...seeing all your past Christmas mini-books makes me feel a bit inadequate! Haha. I've tried a couple of times to "journal my christmas" or "do a daily" but I've never completed one.

I love the book you have with the old photo cards. Very clever and what a fun thing to look back on!

Margi said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE your journals and to put a Christmas card journal together is such an awesome idea. I never know what to do with those cards and pics after I get them. I have them all in a couple of shoe boxes. Might just have to break those babies out and cut them up!

Anonymous said...

Love your Christmas album. Wish I had thought of that years ago; it's such a great idea! I'm busy decorating for the holidays because when we get back from the west coast, December will be just one day away. Our book group comes on the third, and I want the house decorated for Christmas. I also cleaned (really cleaned and purged) our basement. I started a few days ago, and finished yesterday. It feels so good to have everything organized and clean (as clean as you can get in a 80 year old basement!)

Becky said...

The albums for the photos received is a great idea. I tend to just keep the photos I have received over the years with the letters which came with the cards and they are all stored in a tin in my desk! Perhaps that is a project I need to start - another one!

Terry said...

So many things I wish I would have done when I was younger and before my kids were grown!! Not the time then, too busy working and little time to play! This little albums are fantastic! Hope you have a great evening!

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

I went looking for my old computer case Saturday and ended up cleaning & purging my whole closet.
Never did find the case but the closet looks so nice!