Themed Albums Part 3: Holiday Albums

It's the most wonderful time of the year (in more ways than one!) Family, food and fond memories are in the forefront in December and most of us take more pictures than usual as we celebrate the holidays. Welcome to the third blog post in a series that has been focusing on the concept of a "themed" album! I've expressed my love for this concept in previous posts on Travel albums and Halloween albums, and that love is amplified when it comes to Holiday albums! They are fun, festive, and best of all you can finish each spread quickly and put them on the shelf with a sense of accomplishment each year!

Ideas for holiday albums are varied - some people love the idea of showing off all of their Christmas cards from family and friends, others like to devote a few pages a year to their favorite photos from the month of December, and some of us can't help but have an entire album devoted to each year's festivities, haha! No matter where you fall in the spectrum of holiday albums, I am hopeful that this blog post will give you some ideas about taking photos this month and how to start your own holiday album tradition.

The Annual Album

I am going to focus here today on the annual album, one that devotes a few pages to each year. So how do you get started on an annual album? Make sure to keep it manageable so as not to become overwhelmed. With three packs of refill pages a Creative Memories 12X12 album holds about 40 pages, or 80 sides, so if you want the album to span 20 years you can allow yourself 4 sides a year. This means you have to choose your very best pictures. Since about 5-6 photos fit on a page on average, you will need to narrow your selection down to about 20 or so best images per year (not easy but if I can do it you can too!) To fit more pictures on a page you can always crop them. If you send out an annual family card it is always good to save one for yourself to include, and of course you always want to make note of the year (I like to use ABC/123 letters to do that.) Here is an example of a layout from my annual Christmas album:

A two page spread in my annual Christmas album

Journaling on the page or in boxes is a great thing to do while the memories are fresh in your mind, and I like to adhere my cards to the page in a way that they can be opened (line them up flush with the edges of the jeeping then slide the page protectors over the open card before you fold the flap down.)

That didn't take any time at all! I am choosing the "blank canvas" route with a red coverset and white refill pages, but if you want to go even faster check out CM's Fast2Fabulous albums - predesigned, preloaded and page protectors are included

Which Pictures to Take?

Before you start to think about what supplies you need, it is important to think about which memories are best to capture in the month. Pictures with Santa and your family card are always great, but there are other things to think of as the month goes on. Be sure not to forget pictures of all the family, not just the children - through the years you will be grateful that you captured the grownups (and so will the kids!). Take pictures or favorite decorations, don't forget pets, and I even like to take a picture of the TV screen when we are watching an annual favorite! Did it snow? Did you buy a real tree? Did you go to the Nutcracker? Did you bake? These are all things that make fantastic pictures for your pages so keep them in mind as the month progresses. No tradition is too little to capture! While the focus is often on children and their spread from Santa, don't forget to capture the adults' gifts too - these memories are special too.

Supplies

To make a holiday album I would recommend the following at a minimum:

* A 12X12 CM coverset  in a festive color (or a holiday Fast2Fabulous Album - see the Christmas Joy below!)
* 3 packs of refill pages (white, natural or Spargo) with the page protectors (or two additional packs if you purchased a Fast22Fabulous album which comes with your first set preloaded)
* A tape runner with a few packs of refills
* A CM dual tipped pen

CM's Christmas Joy Fast2Fabulous album!

Beautiful predesigned pages in this year's Christmas Joy Fast2Fabulous album

If you want to do some enhancements on your pages, Creative Memories has some beautiful paper, stickers and slide in packs that are perfect for the holidays! If you have the Border Maker System, the new Evergreen cartridge makes great borders or decorative tags for gifts!

Fun with the CM Group's Border Making System and the Evergreen cartridge

Love the CM Group's Christmas Joy paper, stickers and slide in pack

An annual holiday album is easy if you just set aside a little bit of time each year to work on it! So in conclusion, take great pictures, save your cards, pick your best 20 photos and take the time to tell your stories. This is a fun and manageable project and one that your family will cherish for years to come. For even more fun ideas don't forget to check out our CM Holiday Blog Hop, happy holidays and as always, keep scrappin! Fran

  

Predesigned page in the CM Group's Christmas Joy Fast2Fabulous album