Documenting December with Close To My Heart

As soon as the evening get a little nippy and the leaves start to turn my Pinterest feed begins to tempt me with December Daily inspiration. I start to feel the familiar little nudge to dig into my Christmas drawer and see what gems I have leftover from last year and to wonder what new Christmas paper will be available.

I wasn't at all sure what I wanted to do this year. I have done one album with traditional 12 x12 pages, one 12 x 12 pocket page album, one 10 x10 full of very simple traditional pages, one 6x8 album and finally last year I did an 8.5 x 11 album. I really enjoy the challenge of a new format every year so I toyed with the idea of a very small album focussing on only one picture everyday but then I found out my sister and her family are coming to spend Christmas with us this year. I knew I would have far too many photos to be comfortable pulling off a small album. Luckily I found the new Heidi Swapp 8x8 albums and I got excited because it was a new size and I could still fit a ton of pictures in it.

Of course I choose the gold glitter one because I still have so much gold left over from last year.

The next step in the December documenting process is to choose the paper you are going to use. I like to start with a co-ordinating collection and then match that with a few bits and pieces that I like from other collections. This year I also wanted to make sure that everything I used was easy to get, either through myself at CTMH or Michaels. Due to the ever increasing exchange rate, shipping costs and limited quantities I am not interested in doing any online shopping right now.

As soon as I saw the new Christmas paper collection from CTMH I fell in love and knew that I would be using it as the basis of my album this year. CTMH even created a set of Picture My Life cards to go with the paper that had the numbers one to twenty-five on them! I also love that this collection will still coordinate with last years set of which I still have a few cards left over.

White Pines paper collection

sticker and die cut assortment

White Pines badge buttons

PML cards numbered 1 through 25 and every card has the same design on the back in the opposite orientation

clear photo overlays in silver and gold

Fundamentals stickers alphabets, titles, labels, and icons

Fundamental Assortment iIncludes 6 wooden stickers, 6 paper bows with gold or silver foil patterns, 8 plastic clips, and a 6" × 6" sheet of glitter stickers.

I will also be using a few goodies cut out with my CTMH circuit cartridges using some of the new red and gold glitter paper!

I will also be making my own pocket pages this year using the new fuse tool (love this!) and of course I will use lots of flip flaps of all sizes to add even more pictures and pretty paper to my album. 

Stay tuned for pictures of my foundation pages.

My next order will be going in on November 1st if you want any of these items for your Christmas scrapbooking projects. 

True Scrap 5 A La Carte

 

Big day today -- the individual classes from True Scrap 5 in October are now available for purchase a la carte!

Each class is regularly priced at $12.95, but Lain has them marked down to $9.99 just through Christmas, 12/25. It is the perfect time to treat yourself while in the midst of buying presents for everyone else. Just picture yourself settling in to watch Heidi Swapp make the cutest journal while the rest of your family plays with their new toys over the Christmas holidays.

Each class includes:

-Project video

-Hour-long "like you were there" video (including Q&A and chat)

-Supply list

-Project photos and/or handout if available

Click here to see the whole line up of classes available.

 

These are some of my favourite classes from the event:

 

Don’t miss out on these amazing online classes at a super price!

The Rest of the LOAD

 

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Pink Paislee Indigo Blue paper line, family sticker by Heidi Swapp, CTMH wood veneer hearts, doilies from dollar store, wood veneer good times from Studio Calico

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I am so in love with this Maggie Holmes paper! Embellishments from Pink Paislee, Elle’s Studio, Amy Tangerine, CTMH, Maggie Holmes. The gold letters are from American Crafts.

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For this layout I used the CTMH Stella paper line, dollar store washi tape, CTMH embellishments and Simple Stories SNAP alphabet letters.

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CTMH Dream Pop paper, American Crafts letters, sentiment stickers from Simple Stories Vintage Bliss and Heidi Swapp.

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CTMH Dream Pop paper line, CTMH wood veneer arrows and stars, CTMH Pixie Glitter alphabet, CTMH washi tape and silver shimmer trim and Heidi Swapp letters.

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Another Indigo Bleu paper layout using a Shimelle sketch.

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This layout is going in an album I am making for my parents about a cruise they went on about 4 years ago. I used a Simple Stories travel line.

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Simple Stories Vintage Bliss and Echo Park Dots and Stripes for the yellow background. The little fox embellishment is from Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic. Letters are American Craft.

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CTMH For Always, silver glitter paper and Disney red glitter letters.

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This layout was created a few years ago with a special CTMH paper pack only available for a short time. It has been sitting in a binder waiting for the perfect pictures to put on it. For those of you who are skeptical that you can’t make a layout without having the pictures first – here you go! I don’t think you would have ever known that I made the layout years before I had these pictures if I didn’t tell you.

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This layout is going in my Disney album. I used the CTMH Surf’s Up paper line for this story about Hilary being transformed into a mermaid. The only product not CTMH is a Theresa Collins circle, American Craft Thickers and the digital stamp cameras.

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Another Disney album layout. I used a 4x6 CTMH flip flap shown open in next picture.

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This layout was pure fun inspired by something we saw late at night at the Calabogie Crop.

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This is a very old layout that I had never finished. I used the CTMH Game ON paper. Back of pocket page is in next picture.

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Another Disney album layout with a CTMH 6x12 flip flap.

I am going to put some information about our resort on the inside of the flip flap.

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This is a page in my childhood album using the Project Life Clementine kit.

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Today I got to play with my brand new Heidi Swapp paper from Michaels.

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This another layout for my Disney album. I used the CTMH Surf’s Up paper line again but this time I used it in Project Life pocket pages. I love how this turned out. I will be adding a flip flap insert to the page so I can include the brochure and some journaling about the day.

That’s it! I can’t believe I did all 31! Thanks for getting this far in the post and looking at my layouts, I really appreciate your interest.