Planner: Feb 24 - Mar 1

Planner: Feb 17 - Feb 23

Planner: Feb 10 - Feb 16

Planner: Feb 3-9

Project 12 Scrapbooking Project: March

I think Dozen Day should be a monthly celebration of what you have accomplished so far in class, and whether that is completed pages or curated stories or simply a stronger connection to your digital images and a feeling of can-do in the realm of creative process then there is reason to party! I would love to see you do some deliberate sharing on Dozen Day. So, gather friends and family and let them touch and feel and hear what you’ve documented and then see what additional sharing grows out of that effort.

 The 12th of each month might also become the perfect time to focus your efforts on page making, so that you maximize the potential you have to be and feel productive.

Twelve Photos:

1. What you drive
2. Breakfast
3. Something Green
4. New
5. Hands
6. Faith
7. School
8. A favorite Appliance
9. Tuesday at 10:00 am
10. Pajamas
11. Family
12. Art

Twelve Page Ideas

1. You:  Take a picture of yourself at work.  Narrate what you do, an how you got there.
2. Holiday:  Scrapbook St Patrick's Day and Easter
3. Places:  Create a one two page layout of pictures from your favorite vacation
4. Everyday Life:  Create a layout with the Title "Relax."  What are your favorite things to do to relax.
5. Rituals:  Scrapbook a ritual that you no longer practice.  Do you miss it?  Why did you stop participating in the Ritual?
6. People:  Scrapbook a favorite relative.
7. Inspiration:  Using your favorite product, create a layout
8. Personality:  Scrapbook your best friend's personality page
9. Things:  Create a page showing the 5 things that defines you
10. Family:  Tell the story of someone's birth
11. Seasons:  Find a picture of your Mother or Grandmother at the same season that you are currently in.  Write a list of questions that you have for her.
12. Fun:  Paint on a page.  Don't plan, just paint.

Project 12 Scrapbooking: February

Picture Themes for today:  So get you camera out and document these everyday things.
1.  Front Door
2. Time
3. Holiday Decor
4. Dirty
5. Someone's Occupation
6. Paper
7. A Pet
8. A favorite blanket
9. A favorite book
10.  Something you won't have in 5 years.
11.  Waking Up
12.  Money

Scrapbooking Layout Designs:
1 You:  A picture of you at a young age.  What where your favorite things, what do you remember?
2.  Holiday:  A Picture from this year's Valentine's Day and one from years ago:  What is the same, what is different?
3.  Place:  Scrapbook your kitchen.  Favorite cupboard, favorite tools, what you like, what would you improve.
4.  Everyday Life:  Take at least three pictures of things that happen everyday. 
5.  Rituals:  Tell a story of something that you did everyday as a child.  Does this ritual still exist today?  Why or why not?
6.  Neighborhood:  Who are the people in your neighborhood?
7.  Creative:  Document a website, that you visit often for inspiration.  Why?
8.  Personality:  Take a picture of a person in your household along with a food they don't like to eat.  "I don't do...., because......"
9.  Things:  Scrapbook an event or activity that you were recently apart of.
10:  Family Stories:  How did you get your name?  How did you decide on the name of your children?
11.  Seasons:  Document signs of Spring
12.  Fun:  Use crayons on a layout.

Project 12 Scrapbooking: January

Photo Ideas:

1. Your Kitchen Sink
2. A mobile device
3. A flower
4. An appointment
5. A friend
6. A gift
7. A tool
8. Organization
9. Tired
10. Errands
11. Progress
12. Weather

Scrapbooking Layout Ideas

1.  You:  Scrapbook a personal mission statement or mantra that guides your life or actions
2. Holiday:  Scrapbook photos that you have not completed yet
3. Places:  A place where you eat.
4. Everyday Life:  How and when you clean and what products do you use.
5. Rituals:  A Spring time ritual or tradition.  Take a new photo and compare the two.
6. People:  a fictional or imaginary character
7. Inspirtation:  Use a paint strip or design color scheme for your pages.
8. Personality:  Scrapbook someone you love, doing something they love and sacrifice time for.
9. Things:  Scrapbook a book that you read over and over again
10. Family Stories:  How did you come to live in the State or City that you now live in.
11. Seasons:  A sporting season or event that you or a  family member participates in.
12. Fun:  Use a line from a song that makes you want to dance and incorporate it into your page.

Project 12 Scrapbooking: December

Photos:

1. Chilly
2. Gift
3. Hug
4. List
5. Shopping
6. Favorite Decoration
7. Looking Up
8. Something Silver
9. Somrthing ROund
10. Little Hands
11. Christmas Cards
12. Tradition

Layout Prompts:

1. You:  a story you remember from Christmas when you were a child
2. Holiday:  Take a group of pictures of one of your favorite Holiday treasures
3. Places:  Scrapbook your place of worship
4. Everyday Life:  Create a layout about something "mundane", something that you do everyday.  Making the bed, unloading the dishawasher, etc....
5. Rituals:  Scrapbook a daily ritual...getting ready for bed, work, etc...
6. People:  Santa Claus, what does he mean to you, what traditions does he partake in, etc..
7. Inspiration:  Pinterest -- how does it effect your life?
8. Personality:  Scrapbook a toy and it's owner, young or old.  What does it say about them?
9. Things:  Take pictures of your Christmas ornament.  The oldest, your favorite, the ugliest, etc.....  What traditions do you have around your tree ornaments?
10. Family Stories:  What story from 2012, will you be sharing in 2022?
11. Seasons:  DOcument one aspect of Winter that you have been looking forward to.
12. Fun:  Use wrapping paper on your layout.

Cutting the Crazy Out of Christmas: Christmas Recipe Memories

Most of us have five senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. I found it funny that you can have your mind on something and be totally pre-occupied with a task, but then out of nowhere your nose smells something wonderful, and before you know it, you’re walking down memory lane reminiscing about the moment you last remember that smell.

Well today, I want you to think of Christmas smells…those smells that just make you feel all warm, fuzzy, and (for today’s project) HUNGRY. We’re going to be focusing on the Recipes and Menus section of our planner. Do you love the smell of fresh out-of-the-oven gingerbread cookies or the smell of the breakfast quiche cooking as you open presents on Christmas morning? I want you to ponder these memories as you start compiling your cherished Christmas recipes to add to your planner.

Now that your stomach is grumbling, let’s get started with our Recipe Memories!

Step 1: Gather your Christmas recipes by finding your cookbooks, recipe boxes, or files that have the recipes you use during the holidays. Don’t worry if you don’t have them all – remember the beauty of our planner is that we can always add to it! If you run across a recipe you forgot, you can easily slip it in later.

Step 2: As you start pulling together your recipes, grab some sticky notes and jot down the feelings and memories that come to you as you see each recipe. Stick that to the recipe and move to the next one. If nothing comes to mind or if you find yourself saying, “I can’t stand that recipe,” put it aside in a separate pile.

Step 3: To start your recipe section, type your recipes on your computer or copy them on a copy machine and insert them into page protectors. OR write them on one of the cute recipe cards available. Note: You will probably want to print out extra Recipe cards for future use.

Step 4: Now rewrite the recipes that bring “good” emotions onto your Recipe pages. If possible, try to keep your recipe on the front side of the page so that it is easy to follow as you cook.

Step 5: Before I give you the next step, I am adding this disclaimer: I realize you may not be able to accomplish this project right now – maybe not even this year. But it can be completed over time. In this step, I would like you to find pictures you have taken that show the special recipes (like photos of your toffee or photos of you baking cookies) and keep the photos with your Recipe Cards. Now you see our need for the disclaimer first: I don’t want you cooking and photographing each of these recipes now just to be able to finish this step of instruction. Remember – we want to Cut the Crazy!

Step 6: Here’s the fun part – we’re going to journal (no moaning!). I want you to record the reason this recipe means sooo much to you, why it’s something you insist on cooking each year, or how you remember the precise way Grandma cooked it. This is where those sticky notes you scribbled on are going to jumpstart your journaling creativity. Each recipe reminds us of precious memories that we want to preserve and document.

Layout on Back: Keep your layouts very simple. By placing the recipe on one side and the scrapbook layout on the back. By creating your layout on the back you have more room for pictures, journaling, and fun Adornit products.

Step 7: Now, insert each of your Recipe pages into your planner. If you have a stack of recipes that you put in the separate pile, decide whether they are recipes you want to keep with your Christmas recipes, and if they are, that’s great! You can put those into page protectors as well; you just don’t need to go to the work of adding photos and journaling to them.

Your Recipes & Menus section is now an archive and ‘scrapbook’ that you will refer to each holiday. This section will make your planner an heirloom that will be treasured by the whole family.

Journaling About Christmas

Use this list when you are stuck, or when you need a new perspective.  It is geared towards Christmas but can be easily adapted for any holiday or celebration.

1. A favorite Tradition:  When did this tradition start?  How do you prepare for it?  Why is it your favorite? Is it a family, friends or culture tradition?
2. Do you have a tradition related to ornaments?  Do you buy a new one every year?  Does the kids have their own stash already?  Take a picture of each family member with their favorite ornament.
3. How do you decorate or celebrate with lights?
4. Is your tree real or artificial?  Why?  Does it hold a place in front of the window for everyone to see? Or is it in a corner somewhere?
5. Holiday Cookies:  Are they homemade?  Do you give them as gifts? DO you have favorites that you make or buy every year?
6. Presents:  Is there a theme this year?  Have you been shopping all year? Or are they last minute?  Where do you shop for them or are they Homemade?
7. Holiday Parties:  Traditional?  Work or Organizational related? 
8. Celebrations:  Where are they held?  Who is there?  Is it traditional? orlast minute?
9. Holiday Movies:  Which are your favorite?  Do you have ones that you "have" to watch every year?  Why are they a part of your celebration?
10. Meaning of the Holiday:  is it culture or religious?  Is it family or friends? How do you express the Holiday?
11. What brings you Joy?
12. Do you write a Christmas letter every year?  What do you include?
13. Who do you spend the Holidays with?
14. If you work on the Holiday (police, fireman, hospitals, etc....) How do you celebrate?   Or do you take a treat basket to those that have to work on the Holiday?
15. What is your Holiday Card this year?  Why did you choose it?
16. Holiday Symbols:  What are the items that you place out every year that reminds you of the Holiday?  Traditional? Personal?  How did you receive this item?
17. Stockings:  Do you hang them on the mantel with care?  Does everyone in your house have one?  How was that particulat stocking choosen for that particular individual?
18. What are the colors of your Holiday?  Do you celebrte with a theme or is it hodge-podge?
19. Food:  Traditional?  New?  Themed? 
20. Holiday Clothes:  Dressed Up or Casual?  How do you decide?
21. Seasonal Activities:  What are they?
22. Holiday Reading:  Do you read a particular book every year?  Do you read the newest Seasonal novel?
23. What type of gifts do you like to receive?
24. Are there Community based activities for the Holidays?
25. How do you get ready for the Holiday?  How far in advance do you prep?
26. What about the Holidays get you excited?
27. What is your favorite Holiday treat?
28. What is your favorite activity during the Holiday?
29. What brings people together at this time of year?  Unity?
30. How do you bundle up?  is it to keep warm or to cool off?
31. Do you have a favorite Holiday Character?
32. How does music play a part in your celebrtion?

Cutting the Crazy Out of Christmas: Writing a Christmas Letter

My goal for this class is to help you create a memorable, meaningful holiday letter – without the stress!

Let me repeat that: NO STRESS.

How many things on your holiday list are pure fun, no agony attached?
I guarantee you that by adjusting your expectations, you can make this an exercise in creativity, not torture.

Let’s start here with a few ground rules:

Rule #1: Edit.
Just as you cannot include every photo you took in the past year on a single layout, you cannot include every activity your family took part in from the past year in a single letter. It is impossible! If you were going to create a year-in-review layout for your photo album, you would pick and choose, limiting the photos you select. The same is true for your holiday letter… you will need to pick and choose the events you select for inclusion.

Rule #2: Pick what is important to you and your family.
This letter is going to be a reflection of your family. If the biggest thing that happened to your four-year-old is that he learned to tie his shoes, that fact is worth including. It doesn’t matter if it pales in comparison to your cousin Avery’s daughter who is in advanced Calculus at age nine. This is about you and those you love, not impressing relatives you see once a decade. To make it fun, honest, and meaningful, you have to start with what matters.


Rule #3: Don’t be afraid to add a little personality.
My favorite holiday cards and letters are the ones with character – the ones with imperfect photos or quirky details about how the family all dressed up in costume to go see the newest Harry Potter movie. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Your family isn’t boring; your holiday letter shouldn’t be either!

Rule #4: Think outside the box.
We all have preconceived notions of what holiday cards, photos, and letters look like. Forget all that! Start from scratch and pretend you’ve never seen a holiday letter before. Freeing up expectations and boundaries is what is going to allow you to create something your family will love and your recipients will cherish.

Okay, now that the rules are out of the way, let’s get started!

Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and a gingerbread latte, and let’s get going… it’s time to make some notes!

Step One. Make a list.
Get out your day planner or calendar and write down everything your family did over the past 12 months. Ha-ha! Just kidding! You and I both know there is no way to complete that task. And you know what – it doesn’t even matter! Your holiday letter should not be a blow-by-blow account of what your family ate, wore, and did for 365 days. If people wanted that level of detail, they’d just watch old reruns of Jessica Simpson’s and Nick Lachey’s reality TV show.

Really, what people want to get in the mail is an entertaining and CONCISE glimpse of your family. They want a letter that will make them feel like they know you a little bit better when they are done reading it.

When you create a scrapbook page, there is typically a theme, a hook or angle of some sort, a unifying message that ties the page and its elements together. The same is true for your holiday letter; you want to identify some kind of focus around which the letter and its details revolve. So your first step – yes, even before you break out the calendar – is to brainstorm your hook or theme.

bigtip:
Think of your holiday letter as a scrapbook page – you will be making choices and editing your possibilities just as you would for a layout to go in your family’s album.

Quick – take five minutes and write down the things your family likes to do, however seemingly insignificant or silly. In fact, the more unusual, the better! Don’t forget hobbies, activities, destinations, food, games, events, television programs, etc. Everything is fair game!

Step Two. Interview your family.
Flip to a new page in your notebook and take an informal poll of your family members. Ask them their highs and lows for the previous year. What memories, trips, or events stick out most to them? What were their biggest accomplishments and failures? Don’t edit at this point – there will be time later for removing any embarrassing or inappropriate comments. And refrain from editorializing about your kids’ or spouse’s choices; this is their chance to say whatever comes to mind.

bigtip:
Don’t forget small children and other non-verbal family members! What would Sparky the hamster say was his proudest moment? What family trip did your two-month-old enjoy most? Put yourself in their mindset and get creative!


Step Three. Put it together.
Take a look at your two documents. It’s time to make some creative connections. Was “Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th wedding anniversary cruise” at the top of everyone’s list? Did all the kids make note of the time Dad fell in the swimming pool as their most memorable event of 2008? Take a highlighter and circle anything that stands out to you as particularly significant.

Step Four. Begin concepting.
This is the really creative and fun part of the whole exercise. Based on your lists, you can generate a number of different possibilities for your family’s holiday letter. To illustrate your point, I’m going to go through my family’s list and show you how to translate these interests, memories and annual highlights into a unique holiday letter. I’ll give you several ideas for each one to get your juices flowing!
Remember that these are all lenses or windows through which you can share the highlights of your year. None of them is meant to be complete – nor should they be.

Sports:
Create a “top ten” list of sporting events attended with a short sentence about each and why it made the • list.
Write the letter using sports terminology.•
Write the letter as if you are a sports newscaster or as if it’s a recap of a game or meet. (“In the third • quarter, Johnny drove to the hoop and scored a perfect 1600 on his SATs!”).

Ice Cream:
Document all the places you’ve eaten ice cream this year – and why you were there.•
List what ice cream best describes each person’s year (Rocky Road for someone who had a lot of ups and • downs; Bubble Gum for someone whose year was exciting, etc.).
Books:

Create a list of everyone’s top books for the year. •
As with the ice cream, choose a book that represents each person’s year (“A Tale of Two Cities” with the • classic “best of times/worst of times” line; “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” for a mom-to-be).

Write a fictional account of your family’s year using a famous children’s book format (Dr. Seuss is a fun and • fairly simple one to emulate!).
Icing on the Cake (this is our family’s favorite bakery!):
List of times we went there to celebrate a big event in our family’s life.•

Our favorite things to eat.•
What we like best about our town. •

Church:
For us, the church is the center of a lot of our social life, so we could create a list of all the things we • celebrated there (new births, weddings, the kids moving up to new Sunday school classes, volunteer work, etc.).

Travel:
All the places we’ve traveled this year and why.•
Statistics about plane trips, miles traveled, hotel nights, etc.•

YouTube:
Our favorite YouTube videos, including ones we’ve posted of sporting events, scrapbooking, etc.•

Movies:
List of each of our favorite movies.•
Contrast list of “now and then.” (Before we had kids, we used to go see grown-up movies at the theater a • few times a month, and tickets and popcorn cost under $50. Now we go to see one “kid” movie a quarter, and it costs us $100.)
Like with the books and ice cream, choose a movie to sum up each person’s year.•
Have each person write a review of the year from the point of view of Siskel and Ebert (or whoever those • movie reviewer guys are now). For example: “I’d have to give my year a double thumbs-up,” says Ben. “The action sequences on the ball field were particularly well filmed.”

Computer:
Make a list of each person’s favorite websites (Ben: ESPN.com, gaming sites; dad: MSNBC and weather.com • for the locations he’s traveling to; Callie: Sesamestreet.com; Mom: Bigpicturescrapbooking.com – of course!).
List what each person is doing on the computer (Dad: Work presentations and creating the batting order for • the next Little League game; Ben: California Missions report and gaming sites; Mom: Updating her blog and writing articles).

Food:
A menu with each person being a different “dish,” described in a way that fits their personality. (Callie, my • pre-schooler, would be a sweet dish of ice cream with little chunks of peppermint candy for spice. John is a sirloin steak, predictable and hearty. I, of course, am a fruit salad.  )
A list of the various restaurants we’ve been to over the year, from fast food to sit-down dining for special • celebrations.

As you can see, there are a number of ideas you can work with here – some better than others! Yes, some are specific to our family, but the point is to get you thinking outside the box. You do not have to recreate your family’s calendar for the year. In fact, tell yourself right from the start that you will NOT OT do that. Instead, force yourself to think creatively – many of these suggestions can work for any topic.

bigtip:
Don’t stop with the letter – carry your theme into your family’s picture! For instance, if you decide your “angle” is sports, have everyone dress in sporting gear or jerseys for the family photo. Doing the book thing? Everyone can hold up their favorite book from the year. Make it fun and memorable!

ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS
But what if I can’t think of a theme? Or what if I’m too nervous to try something wild and crazy?
Well, I know this can be a little scary. Change almost always is. But even if you like listing family highlights in a more traditional format, you can still mix it up a little bit and have some fun with it.

Try one of these ideas:

A letter to Santa• from your family, where everyone gets a paragraph to justify whey they’ve been a very good boy or girl this year.

A top-ten list• of your family’s accomplishments.

A “by the numbers” letter• where you share statistics that tie in with your family’s highlights (hockey goals scored, number of miles driven on carpool, hours on homework per night, etc.).

A crossword puzzle or word search• where the answers tie in to your family’s top memories (see the resource list for online puzzle generators).

A matching quiz• where you invite recipients to match the accomplishment or event to the correct family member.

A game of Mad Libs• where key parts of speech are omitted from your letter and the recipient fills them in him- or herself (see my example in the extra downloads).

A recipe booklet• where you all share your favorite recipes.

A family newsletter• where each person writes and illustrates (with pictures or drawings) an article.

Won’t this take a lot of time?

No longer than digging through your kids’ old piles of homework, trying to think of something to write about! Once you choose a theme and then give yourself permission to actually leave some things out (gasp!), you’ll find your letter falling together on its own. The hardest part is knowing that it’s okay not to include everything.

Won’t my relatives think we’re weird because we’re not doing “the same
old thing?”

NO! They will bless you for it! I cannot tell you how many people tell me they look forward to our family’s holiday letter every year because it’s always something different, something to look forward to.

You don’t have to go as far out as we do (in fact, few people do!).

The whole idea is to pick something that fits YOUR family’s style.

I guarantee you that your holiday greeting will stand out from the pack and leave your friends and relatives with a smile on their faces.

Final words.
Especially at this time of year, we need to move beyond the idea that there is one “right” or “perfect” way to complete the tasks on our to-do lists. After you’ve worked through the steps above, you’ve likely come up with a letter that is truly a reflection of your family. It won’t be perfect – and it shouldn’t be! Take it for what it is – an attempt to connect with your friends and relatives and share a bit about you and your loved ones.

And isn’t that what the holiday season is all about?

Project 12 Scrapbooking: November

Here is the Dozen List for November.

Photos:

1. Bundled Up
2. Tradition
3. Puzzling
4. Conversation
5. Dessert
6. A Newspaper or Magazine
7. Special
8. Lamp Light
9. Purchases
10. Reality
11. Grateful
12. Large

Scrapbooking Layouts:

1. You:  Record a story related to school or work
2. Holiday:  Create a layout without photos in anticipation of Thanksgiving
3. Places:  Create a layout using three photos taken at the same place that you have been to at different times
4. Everyday Life:  Document a project or everyday activity that you have worked on this year.
5. Rituals:  Document a beauty ritual or a self care ritual
6. People:  Pay tribute to a Grandparent
7. Inspiration:  Play with a new tool or product.  Scrapbook what you have created and how it was done.
8. Personality:  Gather pictures of each of your family members on their birthday this year.  Describe them in five words or less.
9. Things:  Browse through your pictures.  What was something new to you this year.  Document one or more of these things.
10. Family Stories:  Ask an older family member to, "Tell me a Story."  Document this story
11. Seasons:  Scrapbook a season of intense learning.  A time when you came away with a new perspective.
12. Fun:  Create a shape on a layout using brads, rhinestones, studs or buttons.

Project 12 Scrapbooking: October

Take a Photo of Something that is....

• Harvested
• Colorful
• Something Simple
• A Stranger
• Soup
• How You Write
• A Reminder
• Ten Things
• Masked
• Independent
• Tall
• Historic

Twelve Layout Ideas:  

1. You:  How do you feel about preparing food and/or a meal?  How much time do you spend in the kitchen?  What do you remember most about being in the kitchen as a child?
2. Holidays:  Create a layout celebrating Halloween.  What are your traditions?  Stories behind the costumes?
3. Places:  Document your Alma Mater, or your resume
4. Every Day Life:  TV... What do you watch and why?  How is it different today, then it was 5 or 10 years ago?  Compare your favorite cartoons, with that of your child's.
5. Rituals:  What are some of the events that you plan to do every Autumn? 
6. People:  Scrapbook family friends, the family who you are not related to, that you seem to spend the most time with.
7. Inspiration:  Revisit a scrapbook or creative idea book that is gathering dust on your shelf.  Pick a project and complete it.  Document the process, if it is not a scrapbook page.
8. Personality:  Compare and contrast the personality of two family members whose personalities are very different from each other.
9. Things:  Scrapbook your closet...the clothes that you wear most often, uniforms to work?, favorite shoes, etc...
10. Family Stories:  Document a funny family story that is often told around the table at family gatherings
11. Seasons:  Have you experienced a Season of ill Health or helped a family member or friend through theirs?  Document your experience.
12. Fun:  Create a layout of the family doing an Autumn activity together.  (Raking the leaves, visiting the cider mill, etc..)

Cutting the Crazy Out of Christmas: Perspective: Preparations, Recipes, and Stories & Poems

This week we are focusing on three sections of your planner – the Preparations section, the Recipe section, and the Stories and Poems section. Your planner will really begin to take shape as you download the pages for these sections, write on them, and add them to your planner.

The first section you’ll work in is Preparations.
These are your “work pages” each year. You’ll fill them out as the season goes on. We want you to remember the following sentence as you add these pages to your planner: “Control starts when you know what’s ahead and plan for it.”

All of these pages will help you in the Cut the Crazy process. I want to reemphasize that, part of the purpose of this class is to help you evaluate your holiday celebrations. Think about what you love, what is meaningful and what you want your Christmas to be. I am not telling you what is good or bad: that’s for you and your family to decide. The point is that you consider these suggestions in advance.

This week, you will think about what you love about your decorations, your traditions, and your recipes.

DECORATIONS:
When you open your boxes of Christmas decorations, there are probably certain items that make you smile and bring warm feelings to your heart. Maybe there are others that evoke negative emotions or bad memories. Maybe you have decorations that you don’t care for, that are out of style, or that are simply worn out.

You might want to simplify your decorating, go through your decorations and decide what you love and want to keep. Then decide what decorations you’re no longer interested in and give them away! Just think, if you give your unwanted decorations to charity today, someone will discover them and have ‘new’ decorations in time for their holiday celebration!

In this section of your planner, put any ideas you see in magazines (tear them out) or ideas online (simply print and place in this section of your planner). You could also make a decoration “wish list” here. It’s always really easy to wish and want material things, but I am on a budget. At Christmas time I especially have a difficult time because I love to decorate my home. I often find myself getting caught up in the moment and buying more decorations just because I think they are cute. I want to share with you a lesson I learned from my grandmother - her ‘wish list display.’ My grandma would rip pictures out of magazines of things she liked and wanted to buy, but maybe were not in her budget at the time. She would tape them up on her wall in her basement (we could put them in our binders of course), and if she still liked them a few weeks later, then she would work out her money accordingly. She found that by doing this she saved money because she did not impulse buy and would later realize that she really didn’t want some of the items. Since seeing my grandmother’s example, I realize how many times I buy things that I turn around and don’t really want later on.”

TRADITIONS:
Traditions are the activities that make you want to go home year after year…or make your family want to return home year after year. Traditions create a sense of security and continuity. And hopefully, they’re fun! Some people have too many traditions, some not enough. We encourage you to think about your traditions this week.

You can have ‘quick and simple’ traditions – things that are almost spur-of-the-moment. One family focuses on random acts of kindness such as leaving an extra big tip at a restaurant. You can have elaborate traditions, for example, giving gifts to a neighbor.

A fun exercise: Ask your family to list your Christmas traditions. It’s interesting what their perception is compared to yours. A friend of ours, who works on creating and keeping family traditions more than anyone we know, listened in shock as her teen-age daughter told a friend, “Well, I don’t think our family really has any traditions.” When she laughingly tells this story, she also shows the list their family made as a result of that comment of all their traditions.

Evaluate the joy you and your family find in your traditions and eliminate certain traditions if they’re not working for you. (But be sure everyone is in on the decision – maybe the holiday activity you want to get rid of is the tradition that brings the most meaning for your husband. This is tricky territory and you must communicate openly.)

Also, remember that you don’t have to do every tradition every year. You can go to the Nutcracker Ballet every three years – just put it on your Traditions List so you won’t forget it!

RECIPES AND MENUS:
The recipe section of the Christmas planner is everyone’s favorite. It’s such a great idea to keep all your holiday recipes and menus in one place! And since we’re scrappers, of course we want to tell the stories of our most special recipes. That’s what you’ll be doing in your project this week.

Christmas is NOT the time to try new recipes and menus (if you’re trying to cut the crazy!). If you really want to simplify, then you will use the same recipes and menus for any traditional dinners that you have. “Use the same menu for Christmas Day dinner every year? WOW!” Also, have the same people bring the same items year after year. If you know what you’re serving waayyy in advance, you can buy the ingredients early, make sure the serving dishes are clean, even cook the some of the food in November and freeze it. Write your menus in your planner on the Holiday Menus page. It will help you this year and in years to come!

If you do not feel that you can take control of the menu, tell your mother-in-law or sister or friend that you are taking a class about simplifying Christmas and you’d like to try out the idea of planning ahead this year. They may catch your enthusiasm and want to join you in simplifying the holiday menus.

STORIES AND POEMS:
The section called Stories and Poems is at the back of the planner. It’s a section that will expand year after year. Use this section to save any stories, poems, essays, or even quotes that are special to you at Christmas. These can be things you tear out of magazines or print off the internet. Don’t save the whole magazine for one story – just add it to your planner! You’ll have a great collection after a few years, and you’ll always know where to find them.

Project 12 Scrapbooking: September

Here it is Dozen Day again, the year is almost up.
I hope this has been as helpful to you as it has bee nto me.

Twelve Photos:

1. Today
2. A Teacher
3. A computer that you use frequently
4. Your mail
5. Reading
6. Something golden
7. Something that reminds you of your childhood
8. Something just for fun
9. Crunchy
10. Preparation
11. An Appliance
12. Where you shop

Twelve Page Ideas

1. You:  What do you love to learn about.
2. Holidays:  Are there any holidays specific to your personal faith or believes that you celebrate?
3. Places:  Favorite Fall Places
4. Everyday Life:  Something you are studying, learning, homework,......
5. Rituals:  What you like to do on a Friday or Saturday night
6. People:  Someone that is famous and admired by you.  Why?
7. Inspiration:  Stop on the Candy aisle and purchase a special treat that you can gin inspiration from.
8. Personality:  How do you make a decision?  What is your process?
9. Things:  What was your favorite childhood game or pasttime?
10. Family Stories:  How did you find your job?  Choose your occupation?
11. Seasons:  Favorite Fall Photos from over the years
12. Fun:  Choose  new font and use it in your layout.

Cut the Crazy Out of Christmas

Remember that a change of attitude can be as effective as a change of action. This week we are going to talk a little bit about ATTITUDE. This is an important part of the philosophy of Cut the Crazy out of Christmas.

Obligations: Much of what we do at Christmastime we have no choice on. (Now, we know we’ve told you several times, “Only do the things you love,” but remember we also said, “within reason.”) So yes, we have control over many things, but other things we just have to do whether we like them or not.

If we can’t control certain situations, we can control how we react to those situations. This is a basic ‘positive attitude’ principle, but it is especially relevant at Christmas time. So, pretend you’re on your way to a party that you don’t want to attend. You’d rather be scrapbooking or doing just about anything else. But you have no choice, you have to go. Decide in advance how you’re going to act. You can be cheerful and pleasant or grumpy and ornery. You will make that choice and it will determine how you feel the rest of the evening. Instead of focusing on your miserable self, try to forget yourself and reach out to someone else. Hey, maybe they’re even less happy than you. Consider that how you act can be your gift to the people you interact with. Just decide to be pleasant. Teach your children this principle, and it will pay off in years to come.

Expectations: Most of the time, we go along with our lives accepting our circumstances and coping as best we can. Some women are in difficult circumstances – emotionally, financially, health-wise, or relationship-wise. It’s amazing how strong and resilient women are as they deal with the challenges life hands to them.
BUT – for some reason at Christmas, some women expect some kind of magic to happen and things to be better or different. We encourage you to TRY to have realistic expectations. We want you to BE AWARE if you are having unrealistic expectations. If you can be realistic, you can control your reactions and disappointments during the holidays.

IDEAS AND HINTS:
In this section of your planner, file any magazine or internet articles you find that are of personal interest to you. Maybe the magazine has a list of “Quick and Easy Dinner ideas for December,” or an article about how to set up a gift wrapping center in your home. Just tear the article out and put it in your binder! This is also the section where you put the downloaded page titled “Suggestions for a Simple and Joyful Christmas.”

“The Suggestions page is my favorite page in the planner. I don’t need any hints when I start my holiday planning other than the ten suggestions on this page. I complied this list from all my reading and talking about Christmas over the past several years.

Actually, doing the suggestions takes discipline. Suggestion #5 says to take care of ourselves by eating right, exercising during the holidays, and getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep seems to be a universal problem. One December I wrote an entry in my journal titled, “People Are Yawning.” I had noticed as I stood in a long line in the grocery store that all around me people were yawning. Christmas is a time when we often stay up later and get up earlier. It’s hard to maintain our seasonal jolliness if we’re exhausted. SO read through the suggestions and take heed!”

CHARITY & HELPING OTHERS:
For many of us, helping others is one of our top priorities during the Christmas season, but it often ends up at the bottom of the to-do list. To have a meaningful holiday season, most of us we want to reach out to others, yet the busy-ness of the season seems to make it more difficult than usual. How many times have you walked through a department store during the week before Christmas and noticed that there are still Sub-for-Santa ornaments hanging on the tree waiting to be picked?

If you long to do more acts of charity during the holidays, but are simply out of time, we encourage you to do something on the spur of the moment – a random act of kindness. Keep some cash in your wallet that you specifically saved to give away. Leave an extra big tip when eating at a restaurant – I mean a tip that will move your waitress to tears. And if it’s a waiter or waitress who “doesn’t deserve a tip,” leave a big one anyway. Your charity doesn’t have to involve money. Have you ever been in a line at a store cash register and had to wait while the cashier requested a price check? Have you ever smiled and said to the cashier, “That must be so frustrating for you to have a long line of customers staring at you while you wait for help from management. I feel for you and hope your day goes better.” That alone can be a kind of charitable gift. Hint: be kindest to the grumpiest cashiers and waiters.

GIFT LISTS:
This is also our week to start making gift lists. We have conveniently divided your gift lists into one list for your immediate family and one for everyone else. Even though it may be stressful to list every gift you have to give, it will help you be realistic and motivate you get started sooner. There’s nothing like crossing something off your list!

And now, our BEST HINT of all. Put an envelope to hold your receipts in the back of your binder. Just get a manila envelope (the 6” x 9” size works great), punch two holes in it, and place it in the back of your binder. As you shop, place your receipts in the envelope.

They will be there when you need to make returns or exchanges or when you need a receipt for a warranty. Make this a habit and you will be organized through the season and after Christmas as well. Remember as you make your gift lists that it’s important to be a “smart shopper,” but it’s even more important, especially at Christmas, to be a “heart shopper.” In other words, the loving message behind the gift is as important as the gift itself.

Cutting the Crazy Out of Christmas: Saving Your Sanity through the Holidays

Holidays are such a treasure and filled with magical memories of family, friends and even a bit of fantasy! It is everyday life that begins to roll forward and like an avalanche destroys every good intention that was put forth into making certain that no detail was forgotten during the holiday season. Don’t get me wrong, everyday life is great. It is the idea of adding more, or something extra like a holiday, into the mix of everyday life that can rev up the anxiety and cause a bit of insanity.
Stopping the insanity is the first step to enjoying the holiday season more this year. Having a place to keep your ideas for the holiday season is the first step to stopping the insanity!

Organizing Ideas
As I plan for the upcoming holiday season, I write a lot! I write a to do list. I write a list of supplies I might need. I jot down ideas for décor projects and gifts. I also write down ideas for how I’d like to document and scrapbook the holidays for this current year. Writing helps organize what needs to be accomplished in a given time period. It makes sense to have a specific place to write down all of my holiday ideas.

I use a 5” x 7” lined notepad to keep my ideas organized. It is a small notebook that is easy to drop into my purse if I am running errands. It is the perfect size to write and sketch ideas on while snuggling on the couch with my kids as they watch a movie.

I have a few simple steps that you can take to label this inexpensive pad of paper and customize it to fit your needs.

Step-by-step Instructions for Putting it Together
Adding a cover to a pad of lined paper is quick and simple.

1. cut a sheet of cardstock to measure 8 1/2“ x 5”.

2. score the paper in three places: 7 1/8”, 8” and 8 1/4” and fold on the scored lines.

3. adhere the scored section over the top of the notepad and staple to the pad binding.

4. Embellish the cover of your holiday project notebook by adding strips of patterned paper, and a title.

Add an elastic closure to the bottom of your note pad.
5. punch two holes 1 1/2” up and 1 1/2“ in from each side and bottom edge of the back of your notepad.

6. cut a 5 1/2” piece of 1/8” elastic.

7. place the end of the elastic in one of the holes and then add an eyelet to the same hole. using a Crop-a-Dile or Anywhere Punch, secure eyelet in place.

8. repeat this process on the second hole.

9. wrap the elastic around the front of the notepad to secure the cover closed.

10. Cover the inside back over with cardstock.

Now you know that your notepad will stay closed if you toss it into your purse or backpack.

11. Adhere five divider tabs throughout your notepad. Leave enough blank pages between each tab to write your notes!

12. Label each tab: supplies, to-do, project ideas, gift ideas, page ideas

Supplies:
Create a list of supplies you will need for each project or gift.
Code your supplies for those you have and those you need to pick up.
Designate a place to keep all of your supplies together, so that they are easily accessible when you are ready to begin your project.

To Do List:
Label each to do list with a specific task.
List everything that needs to be done in order to complete the task.
Add a deadline to each task.
You may need to estimate the amount of time will be required to finish each part of the task.

Project Ideas:Write down any idea you have about a holiday project that you would like to create.
Ask yourself specific questions about your idea.
What is the purpose?
Where can I use it?
When do I need it by?
Who is it for?
How can I make this?
Why do I want to do this?

Gift Ideas.
Write down any idea you have about a holiday gift that you would like to create.
Ask yourself specific questions about your idea.
What is the purpose?
Where can it be used?
When do I need it by?
Who is it for?
How can I make this?
Why would this be a good gift?

Holiday Pages:
Write down any idea you have about a holiday page you would like to create.
Ask yourself specific questions about your idea.
What is the story I want to tell?
Where do I want to store this page?
When do I need to take the photos, or do I have them already?
Who am I telling the story to?
How many pictures do I want to include?
Why is this important?


Let your idea percolate in this notebook and revisit it when you have more time.

Planning Starts Now
Now that your notepad is complete, take some time and make some notes about ideas you have for this holiday season. It’s okay if you don’t know where to start, because as we work through this course you will be given LOTS of ideas to get your creativity flowing!

You are now prepared to begin saving your sanity one simple note and idea at a time! You are ready to begin making plans for this holiday season and that is the first step towards saving your sanity.

Cutting the Crazy Out of Christmas: Planning Ahead for the Holidays (Or anything, really)

We often hear people say, “If I could only find the time to…” and any number of words can fill in the end of that statement; words like create, design, clean, organize and make are some of the commons ones.

I am here to tell you that you will NEVER find the time to do anything unless you MAKE the time to do it. Yes, you must make the time to accomplish whatever it is you want to accomplish, it is a simple choice, but there are a few things you can do to make the choice even easier.

1. Plan Ahead
It is hard to do anything at the last minute. So, start thinking about the holidays long before they arrive.

2. Make Time
When you plan ahead you are able to make time here and there throughout the weeks prior to a holiday to actually have time to work on a project.

3. Take Action
I like to countdown to a big holiday. Maybe this is because I am still a little kid at heart, or maybe it is because I have found this method to be very helpful to see how much time I actually have left before a major deadline. All I know is that counting down works for me.

Calendar Countdown
I created a daily calendar that allows me to focus on one day at a time.
This calendar allows me to slide in a new card to change the month, and has pockets to let me slip in a card to count down to the actual holiday. Plus, I can write what needs to be accomplished and slide it into the pockets as well.

This calendar is all about inspiring you to stay on time and get things done.

Cut the Crazy out of Christmas: Assembling and Decorating Your Planner

THis can be a fun thing to do.
Decorate the outside of your binder with the pictures and/or items that remind you most of family and Christmas.

Your Binder will be divided into 7 sections.

1. Preparations
Deck the Halls Decorating Information
Our Family Traditions
Party Plans
Helping Others


2. Gift Lists

3. Recipes
Holiday Menus
Baking List/Shopping List
Recipe Cards
Recipe Layout Page

4. Hints

5. Cards

6. Journal

7. Memories, Stories, Movies & Poems

You might come up with more areas to divide your planner into.
Remember this is your tool, Add to it as you like.

(This post is not complete and I will continue to add to it, as we go along.)

Cut the Crazy Out of Christmas - Supply List

Cut the Crazy out of Christmas
Georgana Hall and Debbie Raymond | Master Supply List

To prepare for Georgana and Debbie’s class, please gather the following:

• one three-ring 8 1/2” x 11” binder – 1” or 1 1/2” view binder with clear pocket on front cover.
• clear plastic page protectors.
• assorted Christmas paper and accents from your stash. We used the Adornit Holly Jolly Collection. You may purchase Adornit scrapbook supplies individually or purchase the exclusive Cut the Crazy Scrapbook Kit.
• computer with word processor.
• printer and color ink – note: We will be printing our entire Christmas Planner, so be sure to have plenty of ink cartridges.
• printer paper.
• pens you love – in red and green, of course.
• photos from past holiday celebrations.
• If you’d rather conserve ink and not print all the classroom downloads, you can purchase the original Cut the Crazy out of Christmas planner! Text is the same as your class download pages, graphic art is different.


Now that you have your list, here’s what to do!•

First, shop your stash! At Big Picture Scrapbooking, substitution is encouraged!
We hope you’ll adapt this supply list to make use of what you already have on hand.

Support your local scrapbook store!
If you need to go shopping, take this printed list with you
(after you’ve crossed off or marked everything you already have at home, of course).