Write. Click. Scrapbook.

give.away.day. featuring ALI EDWARDS & BPC

(to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer)

You know Ali is awesome and teaches great classes.
They're online at BPC with full worldwide access.
But do you recall?
the name of the her latest at all?

Yesterday & Today
is Ali's latest BPC class.
Helping you make connections with your life and with the past.

Each week there'll be a project.
Perhaps you'll scrapbook photos old.
Or maybe you'll think of the stories
that you wish your parents had told.

You'll explore the memories,
what you want to say.
Talk of times that challenge you,
and how to get them scrapbooked too.

Ali will help you closely.
With video and audio, too.
And we realize it's almost Christmas, 
so there's ten percent off for all of you.

Ten percent for all of you!!

We couldn't think of a greater gift to offer you than a pathway to gaining perspective and knowledge. If you would like to be considered for this generous giveaway, please leave us a comment telling us something you wish you knew about your childhood holidays. Comments will remain open until 8:00 om EST. One lucky number will be drawn at random at posted tomorrow. Due to the holiday, the lucky number will have until Monday evening at 5:00 pm to claim his or her lucky number by emailing us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com.

Please, all of you, enjoy 10 percent off this amazing class by using promo code: yesterdaytoday at checkout. Happy holidays!

In the Holiday Kitchen

from Rebecca

from Monika

from Elizabeth

Simple Albums, Year After Year

A Note from Erin

Every Christmas morning, I set up the tripod and take our annual family picture in front of our Christmas tree, a tradition started when Michael and I were first married. We’re always in our pajamas and always take the photo after we’ve opened presents. I love seeing how our family has grown, what the girls are wearing or which toy they’re holding. This year, I decided to use them in a mini album. It’ll be an easy way to see how we’ve changed year-to-year and also be a great album to display each Christmas season.

When creating the mini-album, I wanted to keep it simple. I’m using an American Crafts 6x6 Modern Album in Chestnut. (Sadly, the last one in my album stash.) I’ve used the new Jillibean Soup Chestnut Soup collection plus some border punches and number stickers. I’m going to pre-make the pages for the next, oh, 18 years or so, just leaving a space for each year’s 4x6 photo. This way, all I have to do each year is stick down the picture and I’m done.

6 x 6 mini-album | materials cardstock, patterned paper (Jillibean Soup) + journaling spots (Jillibean Soup) + letter stickers (American Crafts) + punch (Fiskars) + fringe scissors (Martha Stewart) + ribbon (Jillibean Soup) + pop dots

One thing I try to make myself do is embrace the imperfections. While this has not yet extended to my handwriting, when I make mistakes I try to make the best of them. I also don’t dwell on perfection, so things are often a bit crooked or not quite lined up. I say it gives my page personality.

If you look at the title page, you might notice that the album title is printed on strips of cardstock that is adhered to the journaling spot. Recall that line above about not embracing my imperfect handwriting? I didn’t like the title I wrote, and since I only had one of this specific journaling spot, I had to figure out a way to salvage it. That way was printing my title on strips of cardstock and using them to cover up my handwriting. Is it perfect? Nope. But it works, and I still get to use the “tradition” definition journaling spot on my title page.

Here's another album idea that you can set up once and just add to year after year:

Each year, my mom gets me, my sister and her grandchildren Hallmark Keepsakes ornaments. The girls and I (and soon Ryan) pick out an ornament for Michael. I wanted a way to both keep track of the ornaments, whose is whose and all, plus have somewhere to showcase them. I wanted to keep each year’s ornaments together. It’s a neat way to see how our interests have changed, as each ornament represents something we care about or are interested in.

Merry Christmas!

A Note from Jody D-P

Now that our Santa Photo days are behind us, I had 13 years of the boys on Santa’s lap. Time to put them all in an album. Luckily I had jotted down a few notes each year about our visit, so this really helped when it came time to journal plus these are the little details that are so easy to forget.

Merry Christmas from Australia!

[Ed. note: The Write.Click.Scrapbook. team would like to congratulate Jody's son Oscar, who recently passed his Australian exams and will be admitted to university to study graphic design!]

A special thanks to Jillibean Soup and SEI for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!
 
 
 

Simple Pages + Cards

A Note from Jody W.

If you’re anything like me, scrapping takes a back seat in the month of December. I was fortunate enough to be given the lovely Dear Lizzy Christmas line to play with, though, and coordinated products really do make it easier to get inspired at a busy time. The papers, rub-ons and ribbons were the perfect accompaniment to the photos I had chosen.

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned papers, letter stickers, buttons (American Crafts-Dear Lizzy Christmas) + circle punch (EK Success) + twine (Martha Stewart) + pop dots (Therm O Web) + font (Georgia) + jewels (unknown)

It’s an annual tradition to pose with the Santa hat in front of the tree. When we are done posing, the hat goes to its rightful spot on the beautiful carousel horse my father-in-law carved for us in our foyer.

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock, patterned paper, rub-on, ribbon, and glitter letter stickers (American Crafts-Dear Lizzy Christmas)

I added jewels to the rub-on to mimic the jewels in the floral ribbon. I used a photo of my girls from last Christmas, I love how our Christmas tree sparkles in the background. Add a coordinating paper for the bottom, add the date and  *voila* a simple holiday page.

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock, patterned paper, letter stickers, rob-ons (American Crafts-Dear Lizzy Christmas) + corner punch (EK Success) + pop dots (Therm O Web) + font (Arial)

And now another simple holiday page…I don’t know about your kids, but mine enjoy goofing around while having their pictures taken; this time my husband got in the act.

A Note from Vivian

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper, rub-on, dimensional stickers, and tag (American Crafts) + baker's twine (The Twinery) + border punch (Fiskars)

My solution for what to do with all of the holiday card photo outtakes? Collage them together for a quick and easy layout! I love using the free downloadable PhotoSheet program, as it allows me to collage photos together very quickly. For this layout, I created two 6-photo collages on 4” X 6” photo paper (collaged and printed in under five minutes!) and lined them up across my layout. I added patterned paper and embellishments to create a quick and easy layout capturing the silliness that developed during our holiday card photo shoot.

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket) + thread (Coats and Clark)

Letters to Santa capture so much: your kids’ spelling and handwriting at the time, their interests, and, if they add a picture, their artwork. Even though letters to Santa are not photos, they are definitely worth recording on a scrapbook page! This simple design highlights the letter my son wrote to Santa in 2007. (Interestingly enough, three years later he is still completely obsessed with Star Wars and Legos, and even more so with Star Wars Legos.) I scanned the reindeer Eli had drawn on the front of the letter as well as the text he’d written inside. I cut and pasted the scanned images into a Word document so that I could cut the letter out as an 8” square. I printed the document on white cardstock and trimmed it down to 8” X 8”. I adhered the letter to the center of a 12” X 12” sheet of dark green cardstock. A row of punched stars stitched with red thread embellish the top left of the layout and a tag embellished with another punched star, a brad, and a Santa handcut from patterned paper embellish the bottom right and provide a place for journaling.

cards | materials patterned papers, three-dimensional stickers, rub-ons, and buttons (American Crafts) + (baker’s twine) The Twinery

What to do when you’re in a pinch and need a quick holiday card? Use one of these five easy (under five
minutes!) design ideas!

1. Arrange 10 buttons in a triangle shape and measure the length of each side of the triangle. Cut a cardstock triangle to size and adhere buttons to the triangle. Attach the triangle to a card base with foam adhesive. Add a star embellishment above the triangle and a rub on greeting below.
2. Tear the edge of a piece of patterned paper and adhere it over a card base in a contrasting color. Add a horizontal strip of cardstock embellished with a rub-on greeting and a three-dimensional sticker.
3. Adhere a 2” piece of patterned paper to the bottom of a card base and adhere a strip of ribbon just above. Add a three-dimensional sticker in the white space above.
4. Cover a card base with patterned paper in a small-scale print. Add a rub-on greeting to a small tag, tie it with baker’s twine or ribbon and adhere to the card base at a diagonal. Add a three- dimensional sticker overlapping the top of the tag.
5. Cover a card base with text-print patterned paper. Adhere a patterned paper image (or a piece of cardstock with a rub-on greeting) across the card. Finish the card with a three-dimensional sticker placed to connect the text paper with the image.

A Note from Katrina

Having a stash of simple holiday note cards is so helpful at this time of year! I love using coordinated collections to easily pull together cute cards.

4 x 6 cards | materials card bases (American Crafts) + patterned paper, rub-ons (Kaisercraft)

A Note from Jody D-P

For a quick and simple handmade gift, gather smaller pieces of paper to create a collection of cards!

Package them in a clear bag with a matching topper for a special finishing touch!

A special thank you to American Crafts, Cosmo Cricket, Kaisercraft and SEI for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!

Menu

photo by Karen Grünberg

Weekend Projects You Can Create With Kids

A Note from Autumn

I love finding fun things I can do with my kids during the month of December, but it can be hard to come up with new things to do each year. We have some traditions, like gingerbread (graham cracker) houses, that we do every year, but this year I found a few new projects to get us into the holiday spirit.

Kid Project #1: Snowman Notecards

Since my boys are starting to get a little older, I wanted them to focus a little more on the gifts they are giving others this year (instead of just what they want to get). We made simple snowman note cards as a gift for their grandma using scrapbook supplies I had on hand and a couple packets of white buttons from the craft store. Originally I was going to add a stamped sentiment on the front of each card so Grandma can use these as thank you notes after Christmas, but I decided they looked cuter blank, and this way she can use them for any occasion she’d like.

To make these cards you’ll need: white cardstock for the card base, blue cardstock for the front, three white buttons for each card (try to find buttons that are larger than standard shirt-size), scraps of black and orange paper, and adhesive. If you use small buttons, you’ll also want some extra white cardstock to make a “hill” for your snowman to stand on.

I cut out the hats and noses, then let the kids go to town gluing everything on. We used Elmer’s to attach the buttons because that’s what I had handy, but I realized after the fact that glue dots would work better and cause less warping. But whatever you have is fine. Remember, this is a kids’ project, and it’s ok if the finished product looks like it was made by kids. Grandmas love this kind of stuff, and the kids will be way more proud of themselves if you just let them do their thing and don’t worry too much about making it perfect. My boys can’t wait to wrap these up and give them to Grandma.

Kid Project #2: Letters to Santa (and a quick layout)

Since my boys are starting to get older, I’m not sure how many more years Santa will be important to them as part of Christmas. I decided I needed a layout this year that preserved Santa letters—it’s going to be fun to look back and see what they wanted for Christmas, what their handwriting looked like at this young age, and how much they still love Santa right now.

So this project was as much for me as it was for the kids, but they still had a fun time writing their letters. I cut out 4x4 inch squares of cardstock in colors that coordinated with some Christmas patterned paper, let them each pick what color they wanted, and asked them to write a letter. Younger kids will probably need a larger piece of paper to work with, but I wanted to put all four letters on one scrapbook layout, so I stuck with a small size.

Once they were done with their lists (which took quite a while—there was lots of comparing and deliberating going on), I spent just a few minutes making this quick layout.



Kid Project #3: Photo Ornaments

For this project, you’ll need 3 ¼ in round unfinished wooden circles (I found them at Joanns), a circle cutter, photos, patterned paper, ribbon, adhesive, and a way to punch holes through the wood circles (a Cropodile works great, but a drill would work also).


We made these photo ornaments as a gift for Great-Grandma, so we gathered pictures of each great grandchild. The kids helped me cut the pictures and patterned paper into circles that would fit on the wood circles, then they glued them down (we used a very generous layer of glue stick because it’s easy for them to work with—but you can use whatever you’d like). On some ornaments we used a picture on the front and another picture on the back, and on others we used a picture on the front and Christmas paper on the back. I thought about inking around the edges of each ornament, but decided that leaving them unfinished would look better with Great-Grandma’s tree.

Once all the photos were adhered, all we had to do was punch a hole at the top of each ornament and thread a loop of ribbon through to make a hanger. Very simple and very cute.

Note: if you want to protect these ornaments from fingerprints, you could finish each ornament with a layer of ModPodge over top of the photos/paper. If you choose to use ModPodge, be sure the photos and/or paper are securely adhered to the wood with ModPodge or lots of gluestick—because once ModPodge covers the paper or photo, any parts that are not securely adhered down will puff up,
causing bubbles in the final project.

A Note from Monika

When my now 19-year old son was just a youngster, we lived in a townhome without a fireplace, and all kids know that Santa comes down through the chimney. Yep, he was worried. Mommy reassured him that Santa would find a way to get in and somehow Santa always left some gifts and ate his cookies!

When I saw the Santa page title dimensional stickers that SEI had in their Kris Kringle collection, this project came to mind. If you have little ones that are worried about Santa getting in the house, crafting this fun project together might ease their worries.

I had this door hanger in my stash from a project earlier this summer, so after inking the edges of the wood hanger and adhering my Snowball Fight textured cardstock from the Assortment Pack, I sanded the edges and then inked the paper edges. Add some SEI die cut accents and stickers and you are finished with your project!

Another idea would be to thread some ribbon through a key and attach it to the door hanger, so Santa has no problems at all finding a way to leave his Christmas goodies. Of course, make sure it’s not your actual door key...safety first!

Wishing each of you happy holidays and happy crafting, too, of course!

A Note from Beth

Buttons make anything cuter! Here I adhered them to Hershey kisses for an extra sweet holiday treat! This makes a super-easy, satisfying project for children to create—maybe as a substitute for traditional cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!

A special thank you to My Mind's Eye, SEI, and Little Yellow Bicycle for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!

 

Tags!

A Note from Kelly

gift tin | materials patterned paper, stamps, ink, punches, felt snowflake (Stampin' Up!) + twine + bells + ric rac

A friend of mine ordered these metal tins for me (you get a great discount if you order in bulk; find similar www.papermart.com ). They measure about 5 1/2 inches by 3 1/4 inches, and are just the perfect size for mini cards or gift tags. I decided to use stamps and make a gift tag kit to give as neighbor gifts.
I added a divider to the bottom of the tin to make it a bit easier to separate big tags from smaller ones. The divider measures 6 3/4 inches by 3 3/8 inches, with a "mountain fold" (an origami term: score three lines about1/2 inch apart and fold the center one up to make a mountain) just off center to make two
compartments in the tin.

Who needs to buy tags at the store?

A Note from Katrina

 4x6 cards | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper, stickers, tape (dear Lizzy for American Crafts) + heart punch (Fiskars)

I had the privilege of meeting Katrina Kenison this summer, and absolutely ADORE her book—The Gift of an Ordinary Day. I decided that it would be the perfect gift for a few moms in my life. I dressed up the books with these simple book cards—no wrapping needed!

A special thank you to American Crafts for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Thank you Ella, for allowing us to write for you, and for letting us address a topic so pertinent to our readers. Thank you, ladies, for stopping by and taking the time to visit our site during such a busy time.

Our lucky numbers today are

Congratulations to all of you! Please email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com so that we might get you your Ella coupon code.

Up next, more holiday frivolity with some tag ideas!!

give.away.day. featuring ELLA PUBLISHING

(to the tune of I Heard the Bells)

We often hear from readers true
You'd  like us to two-pagers do
We listened yes
Then did our best
Double-Page Design's here for you.

Twenty-one layouts you will see
With photos more than one sev'n'ty
To help inspire,
to give you fire,
Double-Page Design's here for you.

All of the layouts are two page
The photos start with five then range
up to thirteen
(Feel free to scream!)
Double-Page Design's here for you.

We think it might be just the thing
To add to your Christmas stocking
So leave the clue
Be clear, it's true
Double-Page Design is perfect for you.

Ella Publishing is kindly offering a free copy of our newest book, Double-Page Design, to not just one, but three of you today!! Ella rocks!! If you would like to be considered for today's giveaway, please pop on over to their blog and read Marnie's post about our new book. Then come back and leave us a comment telling us how much fun that was to read (teehee!) and more importantly, what your favorite animal is (and why, if you have time). Ella loves the elephant best, how about you?

Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. Three lucky numbers will be drawn at random and posted tomorrow. Please remember it is your responsibility to claim your lucky number by midnight Saturday!

Christmas Scrapbooking On-the-Go

 

A Note from Donna

Last year my family traveled to New Jersey to spend Christmas with my in-laws. We were all very excited about our trip—my husband because he hadn’t been home in a few years, Gabe because there was the possibility of snow and I was looking forward to all the lovely Italian-American food we’d be eating so characteristic of where my husband grew up (like cannolis, real cannolis. I planned on having way too many cannolis). While we were there we did our best to get the most from each day. We had an amazing time and my husband and I agreed that it was one of the happiest Christmases either of us had
ever had. When I got home from our trip I was inspired to put together an album of our trip. And then, can I let you in on a secret? I never did. I did make a few layouts from our time there, but the album I imagined in my head never came to be.

This year we’ll be traveling to New Jersey again, and this time around I’m coming prepared. I’ve made a very simple 4x6 album in advance so that I can record the details of our trip as they happen:

The album is broken into three tabbed sections: family, food and fun. I’ve left the pages blank and included spaces to record journaling. On some pages where the paper is more decorative I’ve placed a journaling spot, a tag or die-cut:



On the pages where the paper is plainer I stamped journaling lines:

Finally, I also included a couple of envelopes in my album to store ephemera from our trip such as receipts, tickets or business cards from the various places we plan on visiting:


Once I get home all I need to do is print my favorite photos from our trip and place them in the album. I won’t need to worry about forgetting the details of our trip or about making a big elaborate album—if I don’t want to. And if I do want to tell more detailed stories through layouts or make a larger album later on I’ll already have journaling and memorabilia for my stories.

With that taken care of I’m ready for our trip—bring on the cannolis!

Merry Christmas!!

A Note from Jody D-P

Want to keep Christmas memory-keeping simple? Make a basic album ahead of time—this is just a $1.00 album that has been dressed up with patterned paper and space for minimal journaling. They make great gifts for friends who might be traveling for the holidays, too!

Slip one of these in your suitcase or carry-on and you'll be set to jot down memories as they happen!

A special thank you to My Mind's Eye and SEI for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!