Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Welcome, February!

Our new gallery is live! The theme this month is Music. Please enjoy the layouts. And we would love to hear from you if you love them!

 

Sadly, we say goodbye to Clouds. Her clean and simple, yet artistic style will be missed. Thank you for all the technique tips, Clouds! We wish you the best.

Happily, we have two new members of the family! The adoption papers are in and it is official! Please put your hands together and welcome, Diane Payne and Emily Spahn.

We are so very excited to have them in our write. click. scrapbook. family and are thrilled for you to get to know them more. Their pages are happy, colorful, thoughtful, and incredibly well-designed. We feel very lucky to have them!! Please leave them a quick hello and then race off to check out their bio pages and to see their work in our gallery!

Thank you for stopping by! February may only have 29 days but it will be jam-packed with love and inspiration so please stop by each and every day!!

In Review

What a great month we have had! Join me as we take our final stroll through the January gallery and then put it all together for one last layout!

Francine: I love this layout for its groupings. Francine is a master of the collection. I love, too, how the photos seem perfectly placed. Like a well set table.

Karen:  I love how her layouts make me feel. She made use of my happy colors which tells me immediately that the title is not a mournful one, but cheerful. This layout reminds me to take pictures of things (and not just people and food) that make me happy. I have notes that have touched my heart that truly belong in my scrapbook. You, too?

Aly: The first time I saw this layout, I immediately wanted to rewind time to a time a few years' back when we were loaded in the car off to somewhere. Nigel, my oldest, never went in the car, unless we had a big destination. He had the luxury of staying inside. My littlest? She has been hauled about since she was small. At three weeks we started out to tennis in the cold midwestern winter, and we have not stopped since. Aly's layout made me realize I haven't take pictures of some of the more mundane activities. Add it to the checklist!

Celeste: I remember a winter as a child where the snow went halfway up our back door. We had to shove and shove to get the screen door open. But of course, there are no pictures. Celeste's layout is a reminder to me to keep my camera handy and take photos of those weather-related memories.

Marnie: Do you know that I purposefully took my camera along one day on our adventures knowing that I had this layout due? Do you that I am so glad that I did? I love to be a good student, and scrapbooking assignments help me to stretch just like school ones used to.

Erin: I love Erin's honesty. Sharing with us that her photos were taken for the Week in the Life album that never was. And how she didn't let them go to waste. Have you photos leftover from a particular purpose that might fit on a page of a different kind? Let Erin's example be your permission to get them on a layout!

Christa: Military wives are such an amazing lot to me. I am always impressed by how they roll with the punches, even when the changes are huge. And moving around the globe seems pretty huge to me. Wow.

Alexandra: Alexandra can take the simplest things and make them look beautiful. Have you taken a minute to finish up your December daily album? It's nearly February. Perhaps this weekend you could get it out and finish it up before the memories run cold?

Lisa: I love the linear beauty of Lisa's layout. And the little grouping of three at the bottom? Awesome! You know that our eye loves threes and fives best right?

Lisa: If you were to sit down and create a layout about today, what would a recounting of your schedule tell you? The changes in my own schedule over the past few years have been significant and annual. Join me in a pact to promise to record this before the memory of the madness fades?

Amy: For the past few years, Costco has offered free calendars with their holiday cards. I recognized this one, and think this is a magnificent use of one! Amy is so clever.

Marnie: I used to be so good at taking headshot pictures of my kids. Now we all seem too busy. So I was happy to find this one amidst my white balance practice photos. Plain headshots like these are permission to journal whatever I want. I love that.

Vivian: Do you ever read people's journaling and realize just how amazing they are? I loved reading Vivian's journaling. And I love how she introduced her daughter to this opportunity to serve our world. And you know what? It taught me that Vivian is a thoughtful person who is aware of others. And now I love her even more, not just for her great pages. Scrapbooking. It is so much more than paper and glue.

Ann: This photo will be a family treasure forever. When I used to teach at CKCs we would take polls on how many photos people took over a Disney vacation. 5000 was not unheard of. How does one begin to scrapbook that many? One at a time. Choose a favorite, just like Ann did. And what a favorite this one is.

Paula: This is your reminder. Get your family together and take a picture of all of you and then create a layout about today. I love how Paula's journaling becomes the vertical column. Clean and easy and purposeful. Perfect.

Celeste: One of my favorite features of Celeste's layout is the thick'ish black borders around the photos. It really helps ground them. And then I seem to notice each of them, rather than just a group of photos. Celeste's pages have such a definitive style, too. Don't you agree?

Celeste: Did you notice how Celeste makes use of a visual triangle on this page? But there is a bit more magic than just the triangle. The photo cluster on the left is the same width as the journaling space on the right. This makes it look like a missing puzzle piece, thereby adding an additional sense of cohesion. It is subtle design elements like these that can transform your pages.

Kelly: Kelly is becoming a hybrid master! With her date doing double duty as the title, the scene is already set for the photos and story. 12.26 conjures a sense of calm and laze for many of us. Choosing to have so much subtext in a title helps to strengthen the message of a page.

Marie: Speaking of dates, how does one not love the date 1.1.11? and to have a baby born on that date? Well, that is pretty special. As a design tip, study Marie's choice of placement for her photos. When you are creating mosaics, make sure you don't have lopped off limbs leading into other limbs, and other such follies. Keep moving things around until they look right. You will know it when you see it.

Donna: I love the celebration of the everyday in Donna's layout. When I saw this, I wanted to run around my whole house and snap photos of all the clutter piles. And then I realized I didn't have hard space enough to record them all!! Teasing. Though I am not teasing about how much you will look back on photos like these and love how transported you will feel into times' past. Please remember to add these pictures to your list!

Celeste: Do you have a lazy day at your house? Or perhaps you have a day that has a regular routine? Have you captured it? Your photos don't need to be display worthy, remember you just want them to remind you of these days that are passing us by. If you do go on a photo field trip, perhaps keep your camera the same angle (up or sideways) for all the pictures as a means of linear bliss.

Keshet: I remember when Nigel was little and I wanted a photo to tell the whole story. And I couldn't figure out how. Well, silly, just add a blackboard! This is such a clever idea. If you check our Pinterest board you will see other examples of blackboards being put to good use, too.

Emily: Favorite part of this layout? The armchairs. Don't they just tell us a little bit about the story? Do you try to reach for embellishments that are purposeful? Don't you find when you do that you love them on your page? Me, too.

Marnie: This silly layout could have not been done and my children's lives would have been perfectly represented. But this page represents my love of learning and my efforts to continue to learn and grow and become every day better at something. And that is a page worth having.

 

The theme this month, Today, offered much inspiration for journaling, and photography, and our gallery was ripe with inspirational design. I took the challenge to document my right now with a new kid photo, stretched the journaling theme of everyday messes to include a messy photo, and added in one of the pieces of the printables page. Putting it all together, I came up with this. My new favorite layout.

I hope you felt inspired to make a new favorite as well!

We {heart} Adults

Happy Friday! I'm back for one more day to talk a bit more about scrapbooking the adults in your life.

Isn't that a great photo of my hubby and me? We had them taken this autumn, along with some of our whole family. It had been a long time since we had any photos taken of just the two of us - three kids will do that to you! So as I thought about including more "adult" layouts to my albums, I got right to work:

I collected a handful of photos that span the fifteen years we have been together, and made this double-pager. I was in a Valentine mood when I put it together. Here's a close-up photo:

How about some more "lovely" layouts?

Here's a nice, clean layout from Lisa. I love her use of white space that puts the focus on her sweet photo.

 

Here's a great one from Celeste:

I totally agree with her that it is the friendship that carries us through the rough spots in any relationship. Love this journaling!

 

Christa tells the story of how she fell in love on this fun page. What's your story?

 

How about the relationships you have with other adults in your life? Who do you hang out with? Who have you met through your hobbies, your work, your adventures? I was thinking about this when I ran across photos of my Ragnar Relay team from last spring. If you have never spent two days in a van with five other runners, you are missing out on one of life's great adventures. We ran, we ate, we laughed, and we pretended to sleep. It was a crazy weekend! Here's the layout:

And yes, I even talked my hubby into running on my team! He says we are retired...we'll see!

 

Here are a few more layouts about friends, loves, and cherished adults in our lives:

I'm not sure what "Ninja Palooza" is, but I want to go! We'll have to ask Celeste if we can join her.

 

And if you read the journaling on this page from Christa about her amazing mother-in-law, I know you will want to meet both of them:

 

This one is a bit of a cheat, because it does have some kids in the photos, but it features two families we are close to in our neighborhood. We all went on a trip together last summer, and it was a nice change to have other adults to hang out with on a family vacation!



Now it's your turn! Get to work creating some pages and layouts that are a bit more "adult!" I have to share just one more before I go, because I love the photo on it. My pop has always had a great eye for photography, and he snapped this of my mom and me when I was just a baby.

I've had a great week - thanks for all your comments! Have a fabulous creative weekend!

Capturing "Adult" Stories

Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope you were inspired yesterday to start thinking about who you are and how amazing you are. But what about all those other amazing adults in your life whose stories need to be told?

Let me give you an example. My kids will never get to meet three of my grandparents, and one of their grandmas (my husband's mom). They all passed on before my kids were born. But I want them to know how incredible these people are, and how much they contributed to the people my husband and I have become. So a few years ago I started an album containing simple layouts featuring some of the people I love who they haven't met. I want them to put a face to "Grandma Huff," or recognize why I loved "Grandpa Tucker." Here are a few of the layouts:

This is my mom's mom, LaRue Huff. She was a great woman who loved the color peach, always had pretty soaps in a dish in her bathroom, and re-stocked her candy dish regularly for all her grandkids. I spent lots of time at her house when I was little, because I only lived a block away. I found the great photo of her as a young-married lady, and included a photo of her with me on my wedding day. I also made a page featuring her husband, "Shorty" Huff:

Grandpa Huff always had a good story to tell, a JellyBelly or mint in his coat pocket to share, and he played a mean hand of Slap Jack or Old Maid. He also loved to take us all on bike rides around the neighborhood, either on the back of his bike or alongside us on ours. He loved to plant marigolds and grow tomatoes. I also made another page with this great photo of him with some of my cousins:

 

Here is a two-page layout I created about one of my husband's grandparents, Grandpa Don. He died a few years ago, and we miss his spirit, his smile, and his habit of doing the dishes at every family party! My husband's cousin is a photographer, and she captured him perfectly in the photos:

Whose story do you need to tell? Let's check with a few of our talented WCS members to see who they've been featuring on their pages:

Lisa used a simple design on this page to feature someone she loves. The buttons are a perfect accent that doesn't detract from her story and photo.

 

I love how Francine talked a family friend into posing for this photograph at her son's birthday party. What a great shot of blowing dandelions!

 

And now we come to perhaps the best thing you can do for adults you love: give them their own story. I included a teaser yesterday in the form of a note that Haley wrote about never scrapbooking again. Haley is my sister. This year for Christmas, the siblings in my family drew names, and we encouraged each other to give something homemade. My sister, who has never done any scrapbooking, decided to make me one for my gift! She gathered photos of me from birth to adulthood, and made me a history of me!

There's me, as a baby, in a photo that my mom has always said makes me look like I'm dead, not just sleeping (but I love it anyway, as I am in my christening dress).

 

I can't tell you how touched I was that she would take the time to make something like this for me, even though she ran out of glue and burned her fingers setting tiny studs on the pages with a heat gun (that's why she left the note on the title page indicating that she would never scrapbook again!). I love it, because there are a lot of photos in this album that I don't remember, and a lot of stories that I realize I still need to tell. Think how happy you could make some of the adults in your life if you took a moment to tell their stories?

Your challenge today is to choose someone whom you love and appreciate, and make a layout devoted to them. Tell why you love them, why they are an important part of your life, how they have contributed to your story. Think of it as an early Valentine!

Click back here tomorrow for a great giveaway day, and join me Friday to see a bunch of layouts about the relationships that enrich our lives. Think love, think friendship, think appreciation, think possible layouts!

 

"Adults Only" Week: Who Are YOU?

Hello, again! I hope you are as excited about this week as I am - it's a chance for me to spend more time with grown-ups. Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom. But sometimes, it's nice to be known as Kelly!

I've met some really dynamic people lately - the kind who draw others to them with some mysterious force. The type of people who you want to be around, because they seem to live a charmed life of fun and adventure and witty conversation. The more I think about these people, the more I realize I want to be like them because they are comfortable with themselves. They know who they are, and they aren't worried to let others see. I want to be more like this, don't you? Then let's get started thinking about who WE are. And along the way, let's make some great looking layouts.

The easiest way to begin this is by making an inventory, or a list of things that define you. What do you like to do? What are your quirks? What wouldn't others guess about you? I love lists, quizzes, and all things like that. I make lists every day. So it's natural that a few years ago I gathered some random photos that I found in my box of photos and started a little book about me with a list of my loves:

The repetition of the starter, "I love..." made this list easy. I started at the top of a small sheet of paper, and ended when I got to the bottom. I didn't write my list in any particular order, and I chose random items that came to mind. I could have added to my list, but this was sufficient enough to give my reader a glimpse into my life. Here's the front of the album:

Love that permed hair!

 

How about some more layouts from WCS friends who know who they are:

I absolutely love Celeste's layout here. It's got a fabulous photo, great color, and very meaningful journaling. I've always admired Celeste for her clarity and fun designs.

 

How about this one from Francine?

Francine is proud to say that she loves math, no apologies. I wish I loved math a bit more than I do! This layout has some great symmetry, and some beautiful elements. Those flowers are great "additions" don't you think?

 

Christa also sent me a fabulous layout about herself:

The journaling here is reflective, and tells us who Christa is at heart. Don't you wish you were an optimist, too? I try to be, but sometimes it's tough!

 

Another easy way to showcase your personality is by sharing an experience that gives a glimpse into your psyche. Let your audience play armchair psychologist. What can we find out about Celeste from this:

I'm glad she was brave enough to take this awesome self-portrait! Take a cue from this and design a layout about something that has scared you, or challenged you, or taken you by surprise. What can you learn from these experiences, and how can you share it with others?

 

Here's one more great layout from Francine, about one of her passions:

Simple design, yet it tells us something about our friend. Great stuff!

 

Your challenge for today is to think about YOU. What makes you who you are? Have you included this in your scrapbooks? I know that it sometimes seems silly, but these personality-based layouts can be therapeutic. You will realize that you are happy being yourself. And then you will discover how dynamite you are. I promise.

Click back here tomorrow to find out who Haley is and why she wrote this:

Love you all!

Scrapbooking for "adults only"!

Happy Monday, everyone! Did I catch your attention with the title for this post? As I was thinking about my week here at WCS, I took inspiration from Amy's great week about scrapbook pages featuring teens and thought we should focus on adults this week. But let me tell you, we've had some fun joking about the term "adults only." Why does it always imply something a bit naughty?

As I looked through scrapbooks I've compiled over the years, I realized that there aren't many pages that feature the adults in my life. I have a few pages that have pictures of my parents, my grandparents, and my adult siblings, but they are mostly afterthoughts. This isn't a terrible thing, because I mostly scrapbook with an eye for holding onto the memories my family is making right now, like the funny things my kids say, or the way they look right now, this very moment.

But an important element of my "story" as a mom, a wife, a person-who-sometimes-works-but-is-mostly-home, is the interactions I have with people other than my kids. For example, I don't think I have any layouts about my husband, and he is a huge part of my life! He appears on some pages, mostly with the kids, or on vacations. But would anyone really get to know him that way? I have some work to do! Do you?

So my challenge this week is to show you some ways to add pages about adults to your collection. I'll leave you with a funny layout I made a few years ago, and a challenge. First, the layout:

My mom gave me a huge envelope that contained almost every school portrait I ever had taken, from Kindergarten clear through high school. I loved looking at how much I changed over the years, but especially the many ways I chose to do my hair for picture day. I have lots of hair, and I remember never quite feeling like I knew how to handle it! I took the photos from junior high to high school, and one final photo from my 30s to show the full evolution of my hairstyles. It's so funny, and so fun to look back on this and see how my attitude has changed. I think I finally have a handle on my hair!

This brings us to the challenge for today: Look in your scrapbooks and ask yourself who is missing. Is it you? Is it your parents? Is it your best friend? Take an inventory of some people whose stories you would like to tell, and let's find ways to bring them into your pages. And if YOU are missing, ask someone to take a photo of you, right now, or take your own. I had my kids snap one of me today:

If you look in the mirror behind me, you can see my nine-year-old photographer! You can also see the clutter of my house in the background, but I can always crop that out!

See you tomorrow, with more ideas for adult scrapbooking!

Welcome, January!

Our new gallery is up! Our topic this month is, Today. We hope you enjoy our layouts and are inspired by them to create your own!

2011 Highlights!

As the year draws to a close, we are grateful for a year filled with new additions, a new look, and new features. We hope that you have loved everything we have created for you! As a finale for the year, we brought back a few fan favorites!

What a terrific year it has been. We can only imagine what next year will bring... Thank you, dear readers, for being here every step of the way!

scrapbook!

Gallery Walk

I have the pleasure of loading the gallery each month, which means I get sneak peeks of all the layouts as they come in. And then I get to spend some time with each project as I post it and edit the materials' lists. But even still, when I pull open the gallery as a whole, my knees swoon, just a bit.

Like every month, there is something in each project that catches my eye. Let's go in order of appearance.

Lisa's canvas: First, I love red polkadots. And tiny ones remind me of my favorite swiss dot dress when I was little. But my favorite part is Lisa's ingenuity in decorating a stamped doily. I would have been tempted to buy an actual doily, which would not have had the same simple glory that Lisa's stamped doily attains.

Aly's layout: Such a brilliant use of cards. I love how some of the circles are names, others photos, other designs. I think the mixture provides such good balance. And helps us to see how eclectic gatherings help tell stories.

Christa's layout: My favorite part of Christa's layout is how she used border punched paper to create shelves for her pictures. This subtle tie in to her subject unifies her story and photos and design. So clever.

Aly's layout: First, the pictures are perfect. I have had three small children and this very same situation, but never thought to bend down and snap a picture of the ornaments on the floor, or the giant grin of the culprit. Times like this I remember how important it is to visit our site often for reminders of all those photos we don't want to miss!! (Such a shameless plug!! teehee!!) Second, did you notice Aly's use of the photo corners? A quiet means of defining the photos as a whole.

Celeste's layout: One of Celeste's greatest strengths is her design strength. She flexed her muscles for us again this month. Notice how everything about her layout is linear: the squares, the even spaces, the white space. And then, there's the photo. Tilted just so. Thereby drawing our eye in. And with tilt, the ninja's eyes become horizontally even with the squares, thereby providing one more bit of balance and symmetry.

Aly's layout: Did you read the journaling? It talks about a moment of quiet. I find most of my quiet holiday moments are spent staring at the lights on my tree. I feel a layout coming on!

Lisa's layout: Aside from the scrapbooking side of things, I might need some of those cookies!! hee hee. Lisa has such a way with her photos. (My favorite might be the kitty next to the elf!!) It's not just the photos she takes, but her angles, her lighting, and the details. Oh, the details.

Christa's layout: First, do you see how unseasonal the colors in this layout are? Not very Christmas-y,but really lovely all the same. And can you spot the triangle? The bottom of visual triangle is the left hand side of the layout (top to bottom). The apex of the triangle is the photo of Jed. This triangle wouldn't work without the tape at the bottom of the page in the lower left hand corner. Cover it up, for just a moment, and evaluate the difference. See? I told you Christa was clever!!

Kelly's book: I love the idea of a page or two representing each year of celebrations. I have made similar birthday books, but never thought to do it for Christmas. This is so very smart. And how fun to look at each year as it grows. Thank you, Kelly, for such a terrific idea!

Keshet's layout: Oh, food shots! What's not to love? I have taken photos of the neighbors' and teachers' treats in the past, but rarely seem to get them on a layout. I love how Keshet's layout show a close-up photo and then one in full packaging. Perfect.

Paula's layout: Paula's photo grouping is just perfect. And did you know that you can have this too? She used a digital photo cluster to put it together. These can be used for paper layouts, too by adding your photos, printing it out, and then trimming the edges. Adding the notation on the bottom of the photos makes it even more purposeful. And the layers on the title? Lovely.

Cheryl's ornament: Only Cheryl could transform a dollar store ugly plaque into this darling little creation.

Cheryl's plate: Or a plate into this? And if you try this at home, be sure to add shadows to the layers so that you can tell who is in front. It's the same as if you were using stickers. One on top, one below.

Francine's layout: The title is terrific and tell so much of the story. Good titles are so effective. I have been keeping track of the books we have checked out of the library on Pinterest and I know that a layout like this will be a perfect capture of our visual list! Something I love about Francine's layout is how the title is big and bold, and the flourish is big and bold, and the photos are just so tiny.

Lisa's layout: I love this one for its content. Have you a similar book? A place where you keep all your ideas together? Have you thought to photograph it and add it to your scrapbook? These items that make up our world are so fleeting. And yet, so basic for us. Perhaps you could look around your life and see if there's something you do often that hasn't yet made your scrapbooks!

Lisa's layout: Did you notice the texture of the blue ribbon beneath the photo? and how the ribbon isn't completely adhered, thus providing even more texture? The velvety softness adds to the warm glow of the lights. And again, Lisa's photos are well-composed so that the twinkle lights glow softly.

Marie's layout: The visual triangle on this layout is more like a pyramid, coming up and out of the paper. The stacked layers make the photo rise up and out of the page, catching your eye before anything else. And Marie was right on target in getting down level with the baby to shoot the photo at the appropriate perspective.

Monika's layout: Monika's design is one of my go-to designs. It works seamlessly for horizontal 4x6 photos. I probably have more than 20 layouts with nearly the same design. And, no, that's not lazy, just practical!! Further, did you notice the woodgrain tape? So hip!

Emily's layout: For a layout about a santa collection, Emily's layout is remarkably and delightfully void of santas. Rather, the title is the story and the photo is the evidence. The trees prove the season and the colors lend a cheer. Especially helpful with a black and white photo. And have I mentioned how real Emily's pages seem? And always have a twist of wry humor.

Donna's layout: Donna chose to use two patterned papers as her backdrop, though not in equal proportion. When she added her photographs, she put the narrow photo on the wider pattern, and the wider photo on the narrower strip. This slight adjustment creates flow from the vertical base of the visual triangle (the left hand side of the layout) up and through the triangle to the middle of the page on the right side. With the edge of the landscape photo crossing over onto the patterned paper on the left, the layout becomes cohesive and level.

Amy's layout: This is a wonderful reminder to get our memories on paper even if it means we must wait for the photo. And if you know what size it will be, you can create an whole layout and even place it in the proper album. Who said layouts need photos?

Amy's layout: Being a fontophile and a stickerphile, I have always wanted to create a layout like this, but have never been able to determine how to do it. Now I know who I can ask! I love the boxes and how she hand drew them. And I wish we lived close enough to visit my mom and help her decorate!!

Alexandra's tags: Such a clever way of documenting our homes. Tags relieve the pressure of having a particular number of items and are fun little canvases to decorate. And once we get some snow or put up some lights, I am totally taking Alex's suggestion to document our outside homes.

Thank you for going gallery walking with me. I hope it was helpful to evaluate the little things that make the layouts work so well.

 

Saturday Sketch

This week you have a chance to recreate Donna's layout. She put together a sketch for you that is also downloadable as a layered template. Enjoy!

Thank you, Donna! From all of us!

 

Printable

School ended for us yesterday. Which means Thursday was spent elbow deep in white chocolate popcorn. Having 16 teacher gifts to put together, I thought it might be easiest to print tags. So I made tags.

In case you need them ...

... you may download them here.

 

Thank you for stopping by and spending some time with us! We appreciate you and hope you are doing well on your holiday preparations. Next week will be filled with more December Dailies. Can't wait to see you here!

Writing the Christmas Letter

Happy Holidays everyone! Kelly here, with a few excuses, a few tips, and a few holiday wishes (in that order).

A little backstory: I've always loved to send out Christmas cards, and at one point in college I actually made each and every one differently, by creating collages on the front of each card. After I got married, I didn't have so much time to make every card unique, but I would write something different in each one. Now, years later and three kids happier, I have established a Christmas card routine that works for me: we order photo cards, and insert a holiday letter in most of them. I still take a few minutes to write a personal note on most of them (sorry if you get one without!).

But the problem for me now is finding even a few minutes to write that holiday letter, AND make it sound entertaining, meaningful, and humble. I mean, I can't help it if my kids and husband are the most awesome people I know, right?

So here are the excuses, or projects that I have been doing instead of writing my letter:

1. Making a banner for my Christmas tree. I simply printed the words to one of my favorite holiday songs, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," on this cool onion-skin paper I found at Grandma's house (it's probably 40 years old, but I'm sure vellum would work), and then cut it in strips and taped them together on the back side with transparent tape (my fave tape - magic tape is so not magic!). Here's another view:

I used the "toy camera" setting on my Canon Elph to make this photo look a bit more vintage.

2. I made these fun twine balls with my kids, by blowing up small balloons, covering them in twine, and then coating the twine with watered-down glue. After the glue dries, you simply push the balloon away from the twine (so it's not stuck), and then pop the balloon. This is not a great photo, but you get the idea:

My kids loved this project!

3. I made a handmade birthday/Christmas card for one of my favorite aunts, to whom I owe a lot of my creative inspiration. I used an idea I saw in a Christmas magazine, and used different circles of fabric and paper to make a tree on the front of the card. Then I decorated it with buttons and other fun stuff I had lying around. I sent it off before I got a photo of the finished project, so you'll have to go see my Aunt Em for the after shot:

I promise that one of my New Year's resolutions is to learn how to take better still-life photos. Maybe for my next post...

So after all that, I finally wrote my Christmas letter. I always try to organize it so it is easy to read, and doesn't take up someone' s whole afternoon to read it. I like to include:

• A title, like "Happy Holidays 2011!" or "Season's Greetings from the Jeppsons!"
• A brief intro that tells about something we've been doing recently, or a clever quip from one of the kids. Last year, I wrote about Josie singing the wrong lyrics to "Deck the Halls." She sang it as, "Change the season to be jolly!" and I thought that was appropriate. There was also the memorable year that every one of my kids was scared of Santa, and I had to sit in on the annual Santa photo. That's all good stuff.
• A paragraph about each kid, highlighting only a few of their accomplishments from the year. I try to include just the best stuff, that doesn't sound like I'm bragging. No one likes that, but they do want to hear that Luke won a 175-pound pumpkin from the grocery store, or that Josie lost her first tooth, but promptly swallowed it.
• My hubby and I share a short paragraph at the end, because aside from a few things, no one really cares how many bulbs I planted in the yard or how many fish Jared caught. But I did run my first half marathon, and that's pretty cool. I put that in.
• I like to have a closing line at the bottom, like, "Life is good here, so come and visit us soon!" Sometimes, if I have space, I insert our email addresses. I think this year I should write, "Friend me on Facebook!"
• I like to keep my letter to a size that fits on half an 8 1/2 x 11 printed sheet, so I format the page in landscape and then divide the page in two columns. This makes a nice size to insert with cards.
• If I'm feeling extra fancy, I will stamp on my letters after I print them, using a subtle background stamp of a snowflake or star. If I'm crunched for time, I skip this step and print them on green paper!

I just bought stamps today, and my letter is finished. So I should probably start licking envelopes. I think I will enlist my kids to help. I know there is a discussion of self-addressed envelopes versus printing labels. I go back and forth. What is your opinion?

Merry Christmas! Hope your holidays are merry and bright!