On The 10th Day of Christmas

Welcome to the 10th Day of Christmas with the ATDML Design Team!

In my last post I wrote about my concerns about how productive I actually am when it comes to seasonal photos! I buy the stash, I take the photos but all to often the process stops there! Another of my bad habits is starting layouts and never finishing them, especially when it comes to scrapping at a crop.

Last year I taught a class at Ann's Christmas crop and I made a start on a snow layout (well actually I completed one and started a second) True to form I left the second half done because I knew I had some more embellishments at home which I wanted to add... Fast forward a FULL TWELVE MONTHS and that layout was still in my part finished pile!

So as part of my efforts to vanquish the Ghost of Christmas Past I dug it out, added some stickers, some bling and some pearls added some journaling and a bit more bling and finally it was done!

I used the lovely "Winter Wishes" collection from Echo Park - it may be a year old but it is still gorgeous :)

This was my last slot in the Christmas build up so I wanted to wish all our customers and blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Be sure to stop by the ATDML store for some bargains in the sales after Christmas!!!

On the 8th Day of Christmas ..............................

I give you a Christmas present! (with apologies for the bad light photographs)

I taught a variation of this exploding box at Ann's Enfield crop on Saturday and this one was made as a 'prototype' to make sure it worked ok. 

I used the remaining bits and pieces of Websters Pages that Jill and Mel sent me to work with in December.  I cut all the elements out on my Silhouette (can you tell I love that little machine).

Once it was finished decided it needed something extra to make it special and so added the little Christmas tree complete with bling 'lights'.

If you have a Silhouette and would like the cutting files for the box I can email them to you along with a link to the files ( which you will have to buy for the store) for the tree and bow.

Denise will be back on the 17th with the 9th Day of Christmas - I can't wait!

On the 5th Day of Christmas...

Another day of festive fun with your design team - I hope you have enjoyed what we have been sharing with you so far. Along with Denise and Katherine I too have been playing along with December Daily and am doing a couple of days at a time so I am not constantly printing!

In true keeping with the 5th Day of Christmas and "Five goooooold rings" (admit it you sang that didn't you?!) I have featured a fair amount of GOLD in my album and I wanted to replicate the large gold letters that came with the official Ali Edwards December Daily kit.

I found some shiny gold cardstock locally (I think Bazill make it) and wanted to make the most of it so it would stretch through my album. I did this by first cutting it into 3" lengths. I then knew each letter or number I made with it would be 3" tall so fit nicely in the 3x4 pockets I have within my album. I trimmed down my first piece to just 2 1/2" tall so I could add the red letters to make a Jingle all the Way card and each letter started out 1" wide. I then cut them by eye but you could always use a cricut or silhouette or print off on a printer and cut around to use as templates.

Here's how my large gold letters fit on the whole page for the 6th of December. A few more pages from my December Daily album below.

As you can see I am mixing up page protectors with full pages and the gorgeous shaped pages from Simple Stories Cozy Christmas which can be found here in the shop.  Hope you are enjoying the season and from me have a very Merry Christmas.

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

...I am haunted by the ghost of Christmas past!

I love Christmas, I love Christmas scrapbook products but I always feel that I have not scrapped the season well.

I decided that for todays post I was going to dig out a photo from a previous Christmas and scrap it. I have (as always) indulged in some of my favourite papers from this years Christmas ranges. I have a nice selection of Websters All That Glitters and Kaisercraft Basecoat Christmas and I used the latter for my page.

I really like the appearance of texture on the Kaisercraft pages and the wood planks and hessian \ burlap textures really made me smile. Once I had made the page the top right seemed a little empty so I used some of the round stickers along with some punched circles to create a little group of baubles to add interest to that top corner.

After I scrapped this page I decided to check back and see if I am *really* as bad as I think I am at getting Christmas photos scrapped. On reflection it seems that although ghost of Christmas past was paying me a visit I do have quite a few Christmas layouts of years gone by! Here are a few of my favourites:

Perhaps now the ghost of Christmas present will come to visit and remind me that I am TOTALLY not ready for this years festivities!

On the 2nd Day of Christmas

Good morning all. I decided this year to really make an effort to do a December Daily/Journal my Christmas type project. I started the book back in November using some fab Simple Stories supplies from the shop. These are custom made and really make the job easy to have your base pages ready to go They are also great if you want to make a start and haven't got hours to spend !
The album I have also came with some Project Life type pages for slotting your photos and journaling cards in-perfect!
Here's the front cover - again using supplies from the shop. Webster's All That Glitters which I loved but sadly for some odd reason they have discontinued it. I think there may be a few left in the shop

I actually had something quite exciting going on over the past two days, a very different start to December for me. I was doing some telly shows on Create and Craft and met a couple of friends up there which was lovely. Normally I don't have much to report at the beginning of  December but this was definitely something to record to look back on in the future !

 

As you can see the Simple Stories cards and stickers are perfect for this project and has made it easy for me - I'm really enjoying this so far.
Is anyone else doing December Daily or Journalling their Christmas ?
Check back on the 5th for more festive sharing from Katherine.

On the 1st day of Christmas

Welcome to the first day of Christmas inspiration from your ATDML design team. I'm kick starting the inspiration today, the first day of advent and the day in our house we start the official countdown to Christmas.

 

Having seen many a variety of projects using these Ikea frames I decided to have a go myself. They are so inexpensive at just £1 and with a ring (or two) to hold your pages at the top you can make an easy countdown to Christmas paper craft project.

 

My pages were a mixture of Kraft and White cardstock and each measured 3 1/4" wide by 5" tall.  I decorated them with a mixture of Christmas papers but started with this paper from Websters All That Glitters collection. I also used matching washi tape (as it is light and not too thick) and a set of wooden numbers from my local shop. 

This paper is also fabulous for this project and features a variety of coloured numbers you can cut out and use. The reverse again is a good neutral background colour.

As the frame isn't particularly wide my pages are double sided so you count down from 24 days to 13 days to go, then flip the frame around to countdown from 12 to 1 day to go. You cannot tell from the photos but I gave my frames a gentle spray with some spray sparkle too! The back of this paper is a good small pattern that works well on the pages too as show below. I cut the bottom right image of the frosty bauble into two to cover two pages.

Denise will be back with you on Dec 3rd with another festive project for you #feelingfestive

12 Days of Christmas with ATDML Design team

We know that December brings with it the busiest of times for all of us as the festive season draws near but surely you can fit in some festive inspiration?

The 12 days of Christmas traditionally starts on Christmas Day and the 12 days and nights that follow are celebrated in varying ways around the world. Some give gifts only on Christmas Day, some only on Twelfth Night, and some each of the twelve nights and that is what we have in store for you.....BUT!.... we can't wait until Dec 25th! 

We will be sharing 12 days of Christmas inspiration here on the ATDML blog with the design team from Dec 1st through 24th.  Every other day one of the design team with share a project with you to enjoy over the holiday season. Sound like fun? See you then crafty elves!