Wrapping Up 2015

As 2015 draws to a close, I am sharing a few pages and thoughts from my December Details 2015 album.  Although I had painted and embellished an album that I had left over from last year, when I received the gold Becky Higgins 6×8 album as part of the No Peeking add-on kit I purchased from Felicity Jane Studio, I knew I wanted to use this one.  For the cover page, rather than clutter it up with details from this busy month, I typed the numbers for each day and after embellishing, added the gold star and flair badge to the outside of the page protector.  In addition, I tied a tiny jingle bell and tassel with a shiny, gold cord as another tactile accent.

In the past, I have made several failed attempts at completing a daily December album and have learned that this daily approach does not work for me in my current season of life.  So this year, I changed my approach, and it’s been fun and breathed new life into my pages.  I am using the December Details numbered list of prompts available as a free download from Felicity Jane Studio.  As a mom of a teenager, I appreciate that these prompts do not just apply to those with small children.  I included the list right in my album as a reference and then trimmed a page protector down to eight 2×2 squares and filled them with gold polka dot vellum and sparkly embellishments sealed with the Fuse tool.

Another change I made this year is the use of my vintage typewriter to add journaling.  I purchased this typewriter in the Spring, and it has become a tool I use each time I work on memory keeping projects.  In my experience, it is faster than typing in PSE and printing and is also therapeutic to type on a real typewriter.  I spent hours playing with a typewriter as a little girl so this has brought an element of play back to my scrapbooking.

The prompt-based approach has encouraged me to take photos that I otherwise would not have taken.  For example, I captured the view out my window of the neighbor’s holiday lights and a favorite red scarf for the “view from my window” and “something red” prompts.

Another favorite detail is stitching with red thread.  I don’t often change out my basic white thread in my sewing machine, but switching to the red thread for the holiday season will be a new tradition.  I love the look and added a few stitched details throughout my album to lend a consistency.

As you can see in the above photo, school consumes much of our time in December around here.  My son is a junior in high school and is taking AP and college courses through the community college.  I captured one of the frequent study breaks, finger-boarding on the physics textbook.  That’s one way to learn physics, I suppose!  I stamped “Around Here” onto a label and typed some current tidbits about my son at this stage of his life.

One of our favorite traditions is to drive out to Fredericksburg, Texas to enjoy window shopping and dinner.  The red gingham card reflects the country atmosphere present in this small town.  I trimmed down a page protector to two 3×4 slots to include more photos.  I like the look of mixing color with black and white photos.

The tree cut file above is from iheartstudio, and I cut it on watercolor paper and embellished it with enamel dots for ornaments.  I love the way some of the typewritten journaling from the previous page shows through.

Finally, creating and caffeine go together for me, so what would Christmas crafting be without Starbucks Christmas blend?  I snipped the foil bag and wiped it clean to include in the album.

As this year ends, I want to wish you a Happy New Year!  May good things come your way in 2016.  As I have experimented with this blog since beginning it back in the Spring, I have learned that I enjoy interacting with the Scrapbooking community.  My plans going forward into 2016 include monthly creative team posts with Simple Scrapper projects sprinkled with regular Quick Tips which I have begun collecting to share.  I share regularly on Instagram as well, and would love to interact with you there.

My final project I leave you with until the new year is one that I created using a sketch from Simple Scrapper, and Studio Calico featured it recently on their blog.

 

Sketch Template from Simple Scrapper’s Premium Membership

 

Cheers!

XOXO Kathryn

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.