DOCUMENT YOUR DECEMBER: Géraldine's Hybrid Christmas Album | Part One

I am really excited about this BEAUTIFUL hybrid album Géraldine is making to document her Christmas.

Excited and proud because she told me it was my Counting The Days DYD products that inspired her to make it!

In this album Géraldine will be documenting the whole month of December. Of course that means all the Christmas stuff like the Christmas preparations, the tree and the presents but apart from that she will also include other December activities like maybe making a snowman when there's snow.

I was in awe with the photo's she showed me and I asked her if she would be willing to let us follow her in her process of completing this album. Lucky for us she agreed and we both hope that this will inspire you to Document YOUR December or maybe another event in your life that you find is worth saving in such a special way.

Before starting on this album Géraldine worked out the structure of her album on paper. She decided what the setup would be, the size, what things she wanted in there, etcetera.

For example: The last page will be a compilation of December highlights [small pictures with small squares of papers and journaling like a patchwork].

Then she cut different pages [format 15 x 15 cm which equals approximately 6 x 6 inches] and dividers [15 x 5 cm]. The Dividers will separate the different topics of her album.

Once that was done she decorated the front cover.  She told me that making the cover is a very important step in the process for her because the way it looks, the elements, the colours and materials used on it will be the guideline for the rest of the album.

front cover

After the album cover is done, the rest of the pages and dividers are decorated. She pre-printed and cut several journal cards, papers and elements. For this album she is using kraft paper, white paper, thin black wire, wooden hearts plus papers and elements in red, white, black and orange colours from Pink Reptile's Counting The Days products. Graphically she decided to combine circle and line patterns.

decorated divider

Normally Géraldine adds her photos while she's decorating. Binding her album is the last step because she finds it easier to work on single pages and doesn't have to work around the binding that sometimes can really get in the way.This album however will be decorated and put together before the photos are added. This way it will be ready and waiting like a daily journal that is created while December an it's events unfold.

decorated divider

She used a Cuttlebug machine to cutout snowflake shapes and leave shapes [Brands: Kesi'art and Stampin'up] and finally a glitter alphabet by American Kraft to add a "magical" touch to echo the magical time of December. A girly touch!

decorated divider

Géraldines love to cluster so of course both front and back covers have lots of layers that give volume to her album.

She doesn't like it when her creations are too "neat". That's why she chose to use black wire and added a few drops of black ink here and there.

back cover

Coming up and writing down the specifics for het album plus scrapping the covers, pages and dividers took her approximately 4 hours. She guesses that she will need another 2 hours to add the photos and make the finishes touches of adding some more embellishments and make the whole album come together.