Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Advent Calendars, Continued

A Note From Karen

One of the holiday traditions both my son and I look forward to each year is the advent calendar. He loves having something to open every day in December and I love watching his anticipation each day.

I'll admit that for the last two years, we’ve been using calendars that are store-bought and have a piece of chocolate behind each door. This year, I wanted to do something different. Something more personal. I know he likes the little treat every day and I am happy to still give that to him but I wanted to make sure he doesn’t grow up thinking that opening an advent calendar just means getting chocolate.

So, I decided to make a tag with pockets for each day. In each pocket, I put a card with a little message. Every night, he will take out the appropriate card and do whatever’s on it.

Here’s what one tag looks like:

My tags are constructed very simply. Since there are 25 days, I decided to pick 5 different color schemes for the tags and pockets and I repeated each five times. Here are the basic steps I followed for each tag:

1. Take manila tag, adhere to background paper, cut.
2. Ink edges with dark brown chalk ink.
3. Cut pocket, ink its edges using the same ink.
4. Stitch around the tag, stitching the pocket in place in the process.
5. Embellish.

That’s it. Simple as pie.

Here’s how they look altogether:

materials | papers and embellishments (The Girls' Paperie)

If you look carefully, you can see that the color combinations repeat but because I embellished each slightly differently, they don’ t look exactly the same.

Here is a closer look at each tag:




For the insides, I made a 2x2 square which says “ celebrate the season” in tiny font. (You can download it here. I then printed them out and punched out the squares. I stapled ribbon to the back of each
square.

Finally, I wrote each day’ s item on the tag.

Some of the items are purely for him (like the one in the photo) and others are family-related like “give your brother a hug.” And yet others are more community-wide, like helping a friend at school.

Here’ s what the tags look like with the papers in them.

I’ll admit that this project was a bit time consuming, but mostly because I spent a lot of time picking the simple embellishments on each tag. I love the fact that I can keep the same system year after year and even use the same squares, or change them around as my kids grow up. I can even put two squares in one pocket so each of my kids can draw one.

Flexible, simple, pretty.

Write.Click.Scrapbook. for the Holidays!

Welcome to the second annual WCS for the Holidays! We are very excited to present another month-long celebration of fun, practical, and clever holiday ideas from the write.click.scrapbook. team. Did you miss the excitement last year? Take a minute to click through our 2009 edition—we're sure you'll find an idea or two (or more!) that you might have missed! This year, we have ideas for simple pages, elegant décor, organization, mini-albums, and of course, a brand-new gallery to reveal on December 1 and our regular giveaways each Thursday. Every day has something new in store!

We'd like to thank some very generous sponsors for providing materials for many of the projects you'll see this month—Cosmo Cricket, My Mind's Eye, The Living Room Floor, Stampin' Up, Crafting Jewish Style, BasicGrey, SEI, KaiserCraft, American Crafts, Bo Bunny Press, Little Yellow Bicycle, Creativity by Crystal and Crystal Wilkerson, Jillibean Soup, and Webster's Pages—their products inspire great things in all of us!

Without further ado, we present...

A Note From Aly

materials | Candy Countdown Calendar kit (Stampin’ Up) + cardstock (Bo Bunny) + buttons (Making Memories, Creative Café) + pearls (Kaiser Craft, Recollections) + glitter brads (We Are Memory Keepers) + baker’s twine (Jillibean Soup) + snowflake punch (EK Success) + branch punch (Martha Stewart Crafts) + circle punch (Marvy Uchida)

I am so excited about this countdown using Stampin' Up's Candy Countdown Calendar Kit! I put treats, advent scripture verses, and some advent action items (like donating to toys for tots, taking treats to neighbors, singing carols to some local widows, etc). I think this will really help our family remember the reason behind the season. The kit was easy and fun to put together, and I was able to add my own touches to it.

A Note From Aussie Jody

Even with grown boys they still enjoy counting down the days to Christmas with a treat from the Advent Calendar. This year I purchased a kikki.K advent wall hanging and plan to fill each pocket with a lolly or chocolate or small gift. I have included a few pricier items among the treats instead of putting them all in the boys' Christmas stockings (spread the love around!).

Do you have clever ideas for advent calendars? We'd love for you to share them with us using the easy link tool below!

 

Thanksgiving

photo by Aly Dosdall

You can do it!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  So of course we want to document all of the fun things we do, places we go, traditions we keep... But it's also true that the next month will absolutely fly.  If we're not intentional, there's a good chance we'll ring in the new year with no layouts to show for all of the memories we've created.

So how do we fully engage in the season and still make time to capture those moments?

Here are a few practical suggestions--and resources--that can make it possible.

Use a sketch

This one is a no-brainer for a busy time of year.  Why stress over coming up with a design when someone else has already done the work for you?

Donna Jannuzzi created a quick and darling Christmas layout using this sketch by Jenn Olson.

 

I would be failing you if I didn't mention that Donna herself is an amazing sketch designer.  If you pop over to Ella Publishing's blog, you will find all sorts of sketches by Donna as well as fantastic tips on how to use them.  You might even discover that she's written a book about it. :)

Here are a few more great sources for free sketches:

• page|maps
• Pencil Lines
• Allison Davis
• 4x6 Photo Sketch Blog
• 52 Sketches 52 Weeks

Use a digital template

Just plug in some pictures and journal a bit?  Sign me up!

I hope you all followed along two weeks ago when Ann Costen covered digital scrapbooking and how to use templates. If not, I highly recommend going back and reading, especially if you are relatively new to digital scrapbooking.  This post will link you to three templates that she designed for download. 

While they aren't templates, these holiday elements created by Karen Grünberg would be a fun addition to a digital page. (Click each image.)

As far as other digital scrapbooking freebies, the list is far too exhaustive to even begin to cover here.  But Hand Picked Freebies is a great place to start, since she compiles them from all over the web.  Lots of quick pages there.

Blog about it--and then make pages later

I love Marie Taylor's system.  She pre-plans a photo for each the twelve days leading up to Christmas, uses her blog to record them, and then transitions them to paper later on, when the pace of life is more normal.  She'll be sharing details next month, so watch for her post!

I hope these suggestions have given you hope that you don't have to set aside your hobby until January, but can instead manage to scrapbook a few pages over the course of this next month with minimal time and effort. 

 

P.S. You'll want to be sure and come back on Monday when we launch the 2nd annual edition of WCS for the Holidays. Ideas, inspiration, eye candy... I can't wait!

Now where did I put that recipe...

Can I be honest?  Today's topic has to do with food, and I can barely bring myself to talk about it.  That's because more than five hours after our Thanksgiving meal, I'm still full!  But I'll take one for the team and forge ahead.

The past two days were a good reminder of why I wanted to cover this topic in preparation for Christmas.  We all have our favorite recipes that we return to every year as well as ones we would like to try.  I don't know about you, but I am terrible about keeping them in one place.  So each year, it's the same routine: waste time searching for my recipes and then print off the ones that are online... again.

I would really like to change that scatterbrained tendency of mine, so I went looking for help.

I love how WCS team member Donna Jannuzzi gathers her holiday recipes.  This fall, she used a  Martha Stewart tutorial to make a simple but cute envelope recipe book to hold her favorite pumpkin recipes.  Then she created one for her family's favorite cookie recipes, just in time for Christmas prep.

 

 

Donna shared, "The instructions call for the use of book binding tape, but I didn't have any and I didn't have time to order any (or drive to Paper Source, which is a bit far for me, to buy some).  For the book I made for Christmas, the cover is made of paper and for the binding I used adhesive-backed fabric.  You can also make the book entirely out of paper.  The project I made for my pumpkin recipes uses entirely paper.  Basically, by saying that you can make the book entirely from paper I'm trying to emphasize that you don't have to buy any special materials to make this book; you can make it from items in your stash (saving both time and money)."

And that's what we're all about this week!

Another idea for organizing your recipes in physical form is to use sheets that can go into a binder.  These free printables from Organized Christmas are perfect for recipes that may be located in a variety of places, especially cookbooks.  There's even one to keep track of recipes you would like to try.

  (By the way, I'm a little embarrassed that I missed this site when researching for Monday's organization post. You simply must check out all of the free Christmas Planner pages that are offered there!  I had to pull myself away to finish this post. ;)

And then there's the technological approach.

I recently discovered Evernote.  It's a way of capturing and organizing information such as web pages, screen shots, photos, handwritten notes, etc. It even has the ability to recognize printed and handwritten text within snapshots and images, so everything is searchable.  Plus there are versions for mobile devices, so if you are at the grocery store and realize you forgot to add  ingredients to your list, you can just look up the recipe while shopping.  Isn't that slick?

I think I may create a notebook for each holiday/season and add my online recipes, handwritten recipes, and recipes I've scanned from cookbooks so that they're all in one place.  And searchable.  Love that searchable feature!

Another great online option that is specific to recipes is Key Ingredient.  There, you can create cookbooks and share your recipes with others if you choose.  What a great place to keep all your family favorites!  There's also a great Flash-based widget for adding recipes to a blog.  Here's an example using my favorite sweet potato recipe.  Click on the tabs to switch between info.

 

Online recipe collections may seem very impersonal to some, but the huge advantage is that they are (at least in theory) permanent.  Just over three years ago, my brother and his family came home from a camping trip to find their house burned to the ground.  As we helped them in the days that followed, the first thing my sister-in-law asked for--after pictures--was recipes.  They don't just involve something to eat.  They're about family, friends, tradition, and comfort.

I would love to hear from you if you have other projects or tips you have tried for keeping your holiday recipes organized.  If something today motivated you to action, please share!  And if you end up making a sweet envelope recipe book like Donna's, we would love to see it in the WCS flickr gallery.

I'll see you back here tomorrow for some layout ideas that will help you capture the Christmas season and traditions with a minimal amout of time and no stress. :)

 

 

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Happy Black Friday! Today is the craziest shopping day of the year. To our non-American friends, we envy your normal day as ours is filled with shopping that begins at 3:00 am, fighting to stay awake in lines longer than the stores, or online shopping bags that just can't check out with such heavy traffic.

Or, you can ignore it all, and stay snuggled up all day watching snow fall (anxious to hear from Melissa to see if there was even more snow for her today), or fires flicker and revel in the feelings of gratitude that yesterday brought.

Your comments were incredible. We have the kindest readers. Your depth of soul and compassion is tremendous. Scrapbookers are a wonderful sort, aren't they?

But just one number had to be chosen, and so it was. Congratulations to

Amy, we hope you enjoy your class (from our Amy! teehee!!). Please shoot us an email to writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com so that we may get your registration started!

Melissa is back next with maybe more snow (egad! could there really be more for her??) and many more helpful hints for staying organized and relaxed. Stay tuned!

give.away.day. featuring AMY SORENSEN & BIG PICTURE CLASSES

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we celebrate those who were brave enough to travel miles across an ocean to be able to live with the freedoms they desired. We celebrate familes, we take time to be grateful: for all that we have, all that we are, and all that helps us feel so loved.

A Thanksgiving giveaway needs to be more than just something fun and colorful. This week we wanted to help you celebrate your gratitude.

For our

today, may we present The Gift of Words. Taught by our own Amy Sorensen, a seasoned BPS teacher, we know this class will touch your heart and help you learn how to give to others from what you already have: your memories.

My Big Picture class, The Gift of Words, is one I hold close. It's built on a philosophy I completely, utterly, irrevocably believe: words themselves make for the best gifts. Yep, even better than jewelry or perfume or even that new camera lens you've been lusting over. Telling people how you feel about them, or why you are grateful to have them in your life, or even how your favorite memory of them is something important to you—these are things people want to know. But let's be honest: it's hard to just come out and say them!

That's why I love The Gift of Words. In the class, I walk you through the process of writing word gifts—small or large pieces of writing that help you express something true to someone you love. Whether you're writing greetings inside your holiday cards or a long, personal letter, the class will help you get past your writing inhibitions (you know, things like "I'd feel too silly" or "I don't write well") so you can create a memorable gift that will be cherished longer than anything you could buy.

If you would like an opportunity to be considered for this week's giveaway, please leave us a comment telling us someone you would love to write to express your gratitude. On this day of gratitude we can't think of anything as sweet as the whip cream on pumpkin pie as learning to use our written words to say thanks to those important to us. Thank you, Amy, for helping us learn how.

Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. One lucky number will be drawn at random and posted tomorrow. Please remember to check back as it is your responsibility to claim your lucky number by emailing writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com before midnight Saturday.

22 Card Pick Up

I was just reminiscing this weekend about Christmases past when I spent hours making our cards by hand.  I was especially marveling at the process I went through the first couple of years before we had kids.  Stamp, clear embossing pad, gold embossing powder, heat gun, ribbon, hot glue...  I even made my own envelopes one year!  It exhausts me just thinking about it.

I did continue to make my own cards even after the kiddos came along, but I kept trying to simplify the process.  At one point, I ended up asking myself what I most looked forward to when getting other people's cards in the mail.  I truly enjoy a pretty handmade card, and I really love reading the yearly newsletters, but my very favorite thing is the pictures!

So I rejected the pressure and went digital.

It used to be that the only choices were those offered by the photo processors, but the sky is the limit now.  You can use templates or even design your own if you're so inclined.

Since this week is all about simplifying and saving money, this post is going to be all about the free templates.  I tried to include a nice variety of styles so that each person can find one that suits her family.  And so we don't all end up making the same cards this year, heehee.

Note: If you would like to use a template but feel a little lost as far as how to plug your picture in there, please refer to Ann Costen's instructions for using clipping masks.  It sounds scarier than it is.  I promise.

 

{via The Crafting Chicks}

*this link will lead you to all five templates*

 

 

 

 

 

{via Manda Girl}

 

 {via Summertime Designs}

*four templates which can all be accessed here*

 

 

 

 

{via Becky Higgins}

If you want to be really clever and efficient and fit lots of photos on your card, you could do as Elizabeth Dillow did last year.  She used the mosaic maker at Big Huge Labs and then uploaded it to Shutterfly as a 4x6 to have it printed.  Simplest card she's ever made, most photos she's ever featured, best feedback she's ever received!

 

Perhaps you don't own photo editing software (or else own it but haven't yet learned how to use it!).  The HP Creative Studio site does the work for you when you upload the photo(s) you want to use. You can even print at home! Here's a small sampling of their templates.

 

Or perhaps you prefer a more traditional paper card.  If so, here are a couple of free downloads in that category.

{via Creativity Prompt}

 

{via Greetings Island}

Customizable!

And even some thank you notes for later.

{via Monika Wright}

(By the way--if you happen to use a freebie that you find online, please leave the designer a note on his/her site.  That simple courtesy means so much!)

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving full of gratitude and time with those you love.  Take a moment away from the pie to enter tomorrow's giveaway, and I'll see you back here on Friday.  (No, I will not be out shopping the Black Friday sales.  Remember?  Frantic is a joy-killer. ;)

Brown paper packages tied up with strings...

I'm starting to detect an unplanned Sound of Music thread running through this week!

(Speaking of a few of my favorite things, we have even more snow now.  However, as I type this (on Monday night), there's actually a blizzard warning in effect through Tuesday morning, with a predicted wind chill of -10 to -20!  Brrrr!!!)

Don't you love receiving gifts that are wrapped up all pretty?  Sometimes I'm just as thrilled with the packaging as I am with what it contains.  And I feel so loved when I see that someone took the time to foofify my present when she could have just tossed it into a gift bag with some tissue paper.  (Like I typically do. *Blush*)

Today's post will be a blitz of printables practically guaranteed to produce that warm and fuzzy feeling when the recipients of your gifts see that you took time for the foof.  The best part?  They won't cost you any more than the paper and ink required to print them. 

Simply click on an image to be directed to the appropriate page. 

 

{via Creature Comforts}

{via designworklife}

 

{via Fresh Picked Whimsy}

 

{via Creativity by Crystal}

 

{via Worldlabel}

 

{via Miss CutiePie}

 

 

{via My Sweet Prints}

 

{via Eat Drink Chic}

 

{via HP Creative Studio for Home}

 
{via our own Monika Wright}

 

(via our own Karen Grünberg}

.

{via Mae}

There!  A few things checked off your list.  See how organized you are? :)

 

Take a deep breath...

Good Monday morning! 

Am I a bit too chipper for you?  The truth is, I love Mondays and I love snow, and today the two make quite a striking couple from where I sit.  

I'm feeling very grateful and content, which is an ideal way to approach this Thanksgiving week and beginning of the Christmas season.  And it's also a great way to start off my focus for the next few days: creatively chasing the joy-killers frantic and broke from the holidays.  My goal is to send you off with all sorts of free and easily-accessible resources that will save you both time and money as you move forward with all of the things you want to accomplish over the next month.

This is a busy week, so I'll try my best to keep things short, sweet & simple. Here's the basic outline:

• ORGANIZATION
• GIFT PACKAGING
• CHRISTMAS CARDS
• RECIPES
• LAYOUTS

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A-B-C, when you plan you begin with O-R-G...  Okay, cheesy.  But admit it--you were at least tempted to sing along.

If you're not organized to some degree, there will be no avoiding frantic and broke.  So I would like to share some ideas and printables that you can use to get plans down on paper and keep track of all the details.

This is a mini accordion file I decorated and labeled last year to help me keep track of gift receipts.  There's a section for each member of my family and one in the back for everyone else. This was a lifesaver.  Notice that I didn't put a year on it.  I will reuse it until it falls apart.

 

And this year I'll be printing off a few of these to tuck inside, courtesy of Atypical Type A.

 

Remember last Monday's WCS feature by the sisters of eighteen25?  On this guest post at Under the Sycamore, they offer a free download and step-by-step instructions for how to put together this cute and practical planner.

 

Giver's Log offers a very thorough Ultimate Holiday Checklist (both a filled-in and a blank version).  Jump in on Week 4 and fight that tendency toward procrastination!

 

If you're anything like me (i.e., you consider organization to be a worthy form of recreation), you may swoon at the sight of the Christmas planning ebook and slew of printables over at Life...Your Way.

 

Forget plain white scratch paper.  Allsorts gives us a much more cheerful way to create our to-do lists this year.

And team member Celeste Smith not only offers a free to-do list download, she explains how to make those sheets into a pad!

Perhaps you have the desire to do Ali Edwards' December Daily, which is very feasible now that you're taking the steps to plan ahead ;)  That link is full of information and resources.  And our own Karen Grünberg provides this free download of adorable Christmas tree days which can be used as layered templates.

I hope you're inspired to get a handle on your plans as you utilize some of these free resources.  Please leave a comment and let me know if you do!