Christmas Cards for Days!!

Receiving Chrstimas cards from friends and family is definately one of my most favorite traditions of Christmas.  My husband and I try to beat each other to the mailbox each day so we can open the mail first! If more than one card comes sometimes we'll share the joy of opening them... we love it!

What do you do with all of the Christmas cards that you receive? Do you display them? Keep them in a fun mailbox or container? What do you do with them when it's time to pack up Christmas or take down all the cards you have hung up?

I'm a Christmas card collector!  For sure.  Are you surprised?  In the 11 years that my husband and I have been married I have save each and every one.  We always put them up in a wall, door or some kind of display and then around February-ish I take them all down and put each on in our Christmas card scrapbook.

I have one (well just started our second last year) scrapbook for our Christmas cards.  Each year I create a one page layout with our card and include all the  cards from friends and family in layouts to follow. I generally carry thru one element from my main layout each year so i can easily tell which year cards are from.

This is my 2015 title layout, our card fit on the photo mat. This year was the first that I used PML memory pages to keep all the other cards in. This worked really well - I usually trim the cards down to just the main photos to make it all fit.  I also carried the element of the trees throughout the other pages.

This page was created using Rustic Home fundamental paper, City Sidewalks paper, City Sidewalks washi tape as well as white enamel dots. The trees can be created easily from rectangles. Make the rectangle the height you'd like the trees and the width you'd like. Once you have your rectangle, find the midpoint of the top, make a cut from that point to the bottom corner on each side. Hello, Christmas tree!

Wishing you peace, love and happiness!

Oh Deer! Scrapbook Layout

It's Christmas week!!! Christmas means many different things to different people. I love Christmas time!  Every bit of it... the hustle and bustle, the glow of lights, the gatherings and celebrations, the magic, the hope and gift of love, Christmas Eve service, picking out the perfect gifts, taking time to smile on the memories I have of family watching down on us and think about the blessings in my life.

I take so many pictures during December to document our days and traditions and I look forward to documenting Christmas in my albums each year.  I have a layout ready to share with you each day this week to celebrate my favorite time of year! 

This layout was created using Oh Deer! papers.  I love this paper and love the natural look you get when using with with kraft paper.  However, you'll notice I added some gold glitter paper to bling it up!  The title Christmas is cut using the CTMH Christmas Thin Cut. 

 

 

 

Christmas Layout created using Oh! Deer paper collection

Wishing you peace, love and happiness!

Sunday Paper: It's Tradition

This is one of my most favorite family projects ever.  During the month of November we take time as a family to talk about what we are thankful for, daily.  We usually have this conversation during supper and then we each take our turn recording what we are grateful for in words or drawings.

 

The beginning of the month, each year, seems to be similar - the biggest influences in our lives are identified first.  The days of November are some of my favorites because as a family we take the time to identify all that we are thankful for from the ordinary things of everyday life, the littlest things that leave impressions on us to moments that help us to learn life lessons.  This family projects encourages us to see all that is good in our life and remind us how blessed we are. 

There are no right or wrong things to be thankful for, no rules to our collection of gratitude.  If you are grateful for something, record it.  When the kiddos are too little to write we trace their hand and then brainstorm as a family things in their daily life they would maybe identify as being thankful for.  Their tiny handprints on our poster is one of my favorite things.  I usually write a little note or quote the kids' words under their drawings when they are old enough to make pictures and draw.  I love words that are misspelled and other things that show their age/development.  It's so fun to hear all the ideas our kids come up with on a daily basis!  It's also interesting to hear their answer when asked, "Why are you thankful for ____?"

Every member of our family participates!

Our Thankful Poster sits in our kitchen all month long.  Sometimes I just walk by, pause and reread all that is written and smile because when you take a second to look around this life is pretty darn awesome!  Of course, I keep each years artwork to look back on - I LOVE looking back and am so thankful for our families recorded memories! 

Maybe your family does something similar?  I'd love to hear how your family focuses on the blessings in your life!  If you're looking for something, give this a try - you won't regret it!