Christmas is over? SAY WHAT?!

Ummm...yea. I guess I didn't quite get the blogging bug during December. I missed a whole Christmas season worth of fun things to share! However, I did do more of my picture sharing on my Facebook page. Short and sweet. Things just seemed way too busy to be wordy, and for some reason I feel like I can't make a blog post without being wordy. Interesting...

So, now that Christmas is over and all the decorations are down (except for a few snowmen here and there...I'm still hoping for SNOW this winter), what happens next?

One of my first "crafty" projects of 2011 that I would like to accomplish is scrapbooking my Christmas photo cards I receive from family and friends. I blogged about this "way back when" (January 2009 to be exact...seems forever ago!). Here is a sneak peek from that post and click on the picture below if you want all the details. (pssst...can I confess something? I haven't scrapbooked my photos I received for Christmas 2009 yet. Eek! This will definitely be a goal of mine for the month of January to do TWO year's worth!)

{a sample 2008 page from my Christmas album}

This year I hung my Christmas photo cards onto ribbon and put them in the window of our kitchen. By the end of the month, I had so many cards that I could have made a second garland, but didn't get around to it (geez...what's new?). I'll remember that for next year! I used mini clothespins that {for next year} I plan to decorate to make them a little more festive. This year, I just knew that I wanted to get them UP!! And, if I kept waiting to get the clothespins decorated, they never would have gone up, so I just did it and that added little touch will just have to be a "must do" for next year's Christmas planning!

What do you do with your Christmas photo cards, letters, and Christmas cards after Christmas? I'd love to hear!

Be looking for a post (soon, I hope!) to show you my accomplishment of getting both 2009 & 2010 scrapbooked and ready to share!

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I realize Christmas is already over and it's probably too late to share my decor for this year, but let's pretend it's still Christmas for just one more day! ;)

Hope you all had a
Merry Christmas!!

i got bit by the bug!

Ugh. I thought I could use my super mom powers and escape the sickness that's going around, but no super powers here! Now the girls in the Boos household are a little (a lot) under the weather, and the boys seem to be out of the woods. In fact, ironically, Austin seems to be the happiest of the bunch which has been so the opposite over the last few weeks. And, can I just add that I have a SUPER husband! He took care of the kids today while I basically slept the day away and shuffled around. He is one amazing man!!

Thankfully, before I got socked with the cold/flu (and possibly pink eye!), I was still able to have a lot of fun with friends on Saturday at the Scrapbook Convention. I was starting to feel a little bit sicker as the day continued on, but it was fun and exciting enough that I wasn't bothered by the scratch in my throat too much.

During the convention, I took four different classes and really enjoyed them all in their own little way. We made some fun and different projects that helped to inspire my creativity with my scrapbooking! I even won a door prize!! Free stuff is always good.

After the convention, some of us met up to do a little more scrapbooking at a local scrapbook store, and I decided to finish up a few of the pages I had started in one of my classes called Photos First instructed by Simple Scrapbooks (Creating Keepsakes). The concept for these pages were to use a lot of pictures to create a specific look. This is right along my style because I like to have a lot of pictures on my pages. Although I took the concept/idea of the class, I made these my own with picture placement and color.

Layout #1

Layout #2
(not quite finished...
I plan on putting some journaling in the blank white space you see)

Layout #3

Off to bed. Time to get a little sleep and hopefully wake up feeling much better. We have MOPS in the morning and I really don't want to miss it! Thankfully I have a great leadership team that will run my job just fine if I'm not there.

Hope you all had a great weekend and that you are staying healthy!

scrappin' it up!

I have a fun tackle to share for Tackle it Tuesday!! I have been meaning to finish my son's pre-birth/birth scrapbook. I've had half of it finished for awhile, but I needed to add my journaling and finish up some loose ends to make it feel complete. This last Friday, I had the opportunity to go scrapbooking with friends, and I was able to get even closer. And then yesterday I was able to finish up the journaling. So, now I can say that I have officially tackled it (minus only one page that needs a little more thought into the journaling part of the page).

**Warning: Lots of pictures ahead,
but hopefully inspiring ones!**

here's the page that I need to finish...see that blank space?

There you have it!
A fun tackle, but one that took longer than expected...
Now I'm on to Austin's first year...we'll see how long that takes.
Have I mentioned that Austin's 17 months now?

For more Tuesday Tacklers, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

preserving Christmas greetings

During the month of December, I love going to my mailbox. I look past the bills and junk mail, and on most days I get at least one Christmas card. Once Christmastime is over and the mailbox seems a little empty, it's not so much fun anymore.

About 3 years ago, I came up with a plan on what to do with all of the photos and photo cards we get for the holidays. Since I love to scrapbook, I decided to start a scrapbook just for these photos. As much as I wish I could include the Christmas letters and cards in my scrapbook...there's just not enough space. I do, however, keep them in a special box. I think it will be fun to find them later on, but for now they are tucked away.

In the picture below is where all the cards "lived" during the holidays, but next year I think I'll find something where I can display them a little better. I have something where you can hang the cards, but it's too small to hold the many cards that we receive. One of my friends puts them on the back of her front door, which I really like.


Creating a Christmas Scrapbook

Step One:
Look through your greetings and find all of the cards with pictures. Trim the pictures from all the photo cards and photos. I almost hate doing this because then it doesn't preserve the actual Christmas card (which for a photo card designer, is kind of ironic). Unfortunately, I just have to think more about the space and it works better to crop out just the picture.

Step Two:
Find some Christmas-style background paper. I like to alternate each year and try to pick different colors/styles. That way each year can have a unique look so you can distinguish the years as you're looking through the book.

Step Three:
Make sure all your photos will fit by laying them out on the paper.



Step Four:
Put a backing on each picture with coordinating colors.


Step Five:
Add simple embellishments and names for each picture. I don't like a lot of stickers and extra embellishments for this particular scrapbook because there are so many pictures that I want to be the focus. I print the names of the family or person in the picture off the computer and then trim them, back them with cardstock, and glue them next to the picture. I also include the year on the first page for that year.


The Finished Product:

Starting with the title page...

2003

2004

2005
2006 (& part of 2005 on the left)

more of 2006

2007 (& part of 2006 on the left)

more of 2007

2008

more of 2008

I love looking back over this album and seeing growing families each year and how big the kids are getting. Since 2003, I have had to keep adding pages each year because of the growing number of photo cards and photos we get. I love it! I also really enjoy the letters, so keep those coming friends. It's so fun to read your family updates each year.

One tip would be to wait a couple of weeks after Christmas before making pages for that year. You never know if you'll get a stray card in the mail. It's happened to me two years in a row. You think I should learn my lesson!

This is what works for me in preserving memories of Christmas greetings from friends and family.

Find out what works for others at Rocks in My Dryer.