December Memories 2013....album cover & inside cover page

Tis the season to get our holiday crafting in order, folks.  There's about 2 weeks left until December and then the hustle and bustle will be upon us.  One of my favorite projects is coming up, the December Daily.....or for Gossamer Blue, we're calling it the December Memories album.  This year I chose to use the GB December Memories kit to pre-assemble all of my base pages.  If you signed up for the December Memories Class at Gossamer Blue, you will see my base pages + all of the other DT pages in the gallery.  Plus there's a month full of inspiring posts to keep you on track with your holiday album.  

I've already shared some of my holiday crafty storage in previous posts so I'm well on my way to being organized for December.  Today I'm going to start sharing my December Memories album & the base pages.  I'll wrap up these posts before December so that I can dedicate that full month to making and recording the holiday memories.

So here we go with my album cover.  We decided to use this Studio Calico handbook this year for the album and I love it.  Perfect size, lots of page and very fun to work with.  I'm not one for painting or altering album covers much so I was very excited that this album had a little window.  I was able to add a few embellishments to give it a decorative look but then was able to focus on the inside of the album more.  

The Pink Paislee Snow Village collection offered some of my favorite embellishments in the GB December Memories Kit this year.  The dimensional chipboard pieces are probably my favorite item this year.  I even ordered some additional items to add to  my personal stash.  Here I used a base ticket piece layered with a vellum tag...then topped that with the chipboard sticker.  You'll see lots of gold and gold foil in my album this year.

I just finished up the spine plate last night.  I typed on a tag, trimmed it to fit the metal plate then added a little notched flag and some wood veneer stars.

 I love the album. Simple and clean and it definitely says "Christmas".

I'm also sharing the first page of my December Memories album which is a cover page.  When I started this page, I wanted to set the entire tone for my album + I wanted my family or anyone who looks at this album in years to come to know what the album is and who created it.

In a nutshell I captured the essence of my album pretty well.  I knew I would be using lots of earth tones and traditional holiday colors combined with fun colors like the aqua.  I knew I would be using lots of gold and gold foil and this year's kit didn't disappoint.  There was lots to choose from + I've added in lots of gold goodness from my personal stash. This year I'll be using gold metallic machine stitching on all of my pages.  Last year I used red stitching and I just loved how that brought a cohesive look to all of my inserts.

I'm so excited about this project this year.  I'm one of those who can get very overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.  I prefer to stay at home and cuddle up by the fire so all of the extra traffic and shopping and hubbub tends to get to me.  I can honestly say that by doing a holiday album, I feel more focused on my family and I am reminded of the moments that really matter.  Those are the memories that I hope to capture this December.

So please check by often as I'll be sharing all of my base album pages along with my completed pages as December rolls around. I'll also be sharing my thoughts on how I'll be doing Project Life during December, my best tips for how to approach pre-assembling your holiday album and how I plan to keep it all organized.  I'm also hoping to squeeze in fun holiday posts on my baking and some new things I want to try in the kitchen, some holiday decorating, cards, holiday planners...I better get busy!

I'd love to hear about your holiday crafting.  Are you doing a holiday album?  Are you pre-assembling your pages or just waiting to start in December?  Let's chat.