Each year, I look forward to December and a chance to revel in — and document — another holiday season. The Hip Kit Club December Documented kit makes the process jolly good fun!
If you still haven’t shaken the early-pages nerves or haven’t yet reached the “fun” stage of the holiday album process, you can get there! Here’s how.
1. Play with bits and pieces.
Cut apart those daunting full sheets of paper into pages for your album, and devote the remnants to colorful mosaics. As you document your December highlights and traditions, set aside the scraps that you might otherwise discard and, when you have a bunch (you will), cut them by hand and assemble them into stitched mosaics (as this tutorial shows). This playful cut-and-paste approach will have you feeling nostalgia for the Kindergarten days when everything was a masterpiece (and you ate glue without guilt).
2. Embrace the B-sides.
When stitching the A-side of a paper, the stitching also shows up on the B-side, which you may have the impulse to cover up when you are ready to start the next page in your album. Don’t be so quick to cover up that lovely texture — instead, place a cut file over it (as I did with the negative space left behind after cutting a tree file, a subscriber freebie), and let it peek through.
3. Make a list.
Not every bit of journaling needs to be composed in paragraph form. Have fun with different forms, like quizzes or family quotations or lists. One of the first pages that I make each year in my album is a list of holiday resolutions or intentions. I think back to the previous year and the lessons that I have yet to learn, and I try to get my head into the right place as the holidays begin. Then, the following year, I list them all over again and pretend that I’m actually going to be different this time around. It’s tradition!
4. Paint it.
Remember when you were a kid and your teacher announced that it was time to paint, and all was right with the world? Grab that brush and chase that thrill again! Altering papers, letters, and other elements to add pops of color and make them work with the color scheme and vibe you have in mind isn’t just okay — it’s wonderful.
5. Create clusters.
There are little wonders aplenty in the December Documented kit, but to notice them, you have to really LOOK. Create little clusters linked by color or theme or both, as I did above, and work these gatherings into your album. You’ll have fun while creating them but also while staring at them adoringly.
There you have it — five ways to get that album started and to feel good about the process. There’s also one more thing you can do to make the process more rewarding:
6. Share the love!
We’d love to see your pages over on the Hip Kit Club Facebook page!
