Project 10~ A December Daily Album...

This is a project close to my heart.

For all the things which are made and packaged to leave the house at Christmas.....this one stays home.

It is a gift of remembrance for me.

I have been scrapbooking for 11 years, yet I only did this project for the first time last year.

I mourn that I did not think to do this years before when my kids were younger.

For each Christmas, I have a 2 page scrapbook layout completed in a scrapbook.

But this project digs deep....it's about celebrating the every day joy of the month of December.

Not just the one day of the 25th.
I am all too aware that in a few short years one of my children will be off to University.
And when that time comes, I want to remember what it was like to have kids in the house at Christmas.

The inspiration for this project comes from Ali Edwards.
I adore her blog.
 It was the first blog I started reading back in 2005.
And I still read it every day.
You can read about the process as described by Ali here:

 The idea is this: Make a scrapbook page for every day in December up to the 25th.
Sounds daunting, doesn't it?
I tried it last year.
It forced me to slow down a little and reflect~it was such a rewarding experience.
I used a 6x6 scrapbook album that I constructed before December 1st came.
Here are some Christmas memories from 2009 I captured from participating in this project:
December 5th~ the day we trimmed our tree:

December 6th~the day we ate peppermint ice cream before bed:

December 7th~ the day of our Christmas card photo shoot:

December 8th: The day a child gave me her Christmas Wish List~

December 9th: The day I finished up last minute shopping errands~

Preserving our Family Christmas letter for 2009~

December 11th: The day I mailed the last of our Christmas cards~

I am so glad I captured these memories.

December can be such a blur of activity...it is nice to look back and reminisce.

This week I am planning to build the December Daily Album for 2010.

So when December 1st comes, I will be ready!

This year, I will be sharing my December Daily Album as a guest post at passionatelyartistic.com

I hope you find a way to record your memories of Christmas, whether it be writing in a journal, or taking lots of photos or scrapbooking.

It is so worth the effort!

This post is linked to these parties:

Design Dazzle

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Project 9: Giving Christmas Hugs...

Today I thought I would share a fun & easy Christmas gift idea~Pretzel Hugs.
My kids first made these for gifts for their teachers in 2007...and we have made them many times since.

Pretzel Hugs are a simple kitchen project.

Even if you are not a baker, you can handle this easy project!

All you need:

Pretzels like shown.

Hershey's Kisses or Hugs.{we like the striped ones.}

M&M's in Christmas colours.

A cookie sheet and an oven.

Directions:

Have the kids can unwrap the kisses and place the pretzels on the cookie sheets.

Place kiss or hug on each pretzel.

Now place cookie sheet in oven at 250 degrees and let the kisses or hugs melt for about 6-8 minutes..if that long.
Then take the sheet out of the oven. While the kisses or hugs are still soft and melty, press an M&M candy into each one.

After they cool, they will look like this:

To package them for gifts, we placed about 20 in each baggy, and then I went to my computer to make the topper and printed it on white cardstock.

The topper reads, "some Pretzel Hugs made especially for you by..{have your child write their name.}

Merry Christmas!

Then we stapled the topper to the top of the baggy as shown.

We love to give these as little gifts at Christmas!

My daughter is 14 now and she can make cookies on her own, but my son still loves to make these.

I think that we will make some "Christmas Hugs" this year and clip on the clipboards we are going to make for my son's teachers.

I will be sure to share when that project is done!

I took some time this morning to remember our soldiers by watching the Remembrance Day services on TV from Ottawa. I have a sick little guy in bed today with a nasty tummy virus....so on his menu today is Gravol, Tylenol and ginger ale.

Hope your day is going better!

This post is linked to these great parties:

 







Project 8~ The Photo Tray Project....

I thought I would share with you what I did today...and show you  projects in progress.

I worked on some Christmas gifts today.

Photo Trays~

It was love at first sight for me these photo trays and me.
At first glance, I was swooning and weak in the knees.

When I saw them at the scrapbook store, I just had to take 2 of these bad boys home with me.

I find them positively dreamy!

{The emply slots are for photos~black & white photos of my kids.}

The first photo tray I  built had a colour combo of red, green & black....

I found this glittery butterfly at Micheal's...perfect for this project because I don't want it to look Christmas-y.

The second tray I created today had a colour scheme of white, grey & yellowy-orange.

I had fun playing around with accents....buttons, flowers, chipboard...

None of the accents are glued down just yet...I am still tweaking.

You can find these photo trays at scrapbook stores.

They are made by 7 Gypsies and are around $25-$30~Canadian.

This is what I started with before I added paper and accents:

{There are 6-4" x 6" slots to play with.}

Tomorrow I plan to finish these trays and then the hard part~getting my kids and puppies together for a  photo shoot!

I will share again when the photos are inserted.

Thanks for looking!

You can see the FINISHED Photo Trays HERE.