Scrapbooking the holidays with Laura Vegas!

Hey everyone, it’s Laura Vegas here! Do you have certain subjects or themes that you avoid scrapping, for one reason or another? I have two main ones. First off, sports. Which I will continue to avoid for the time being, because I just can’t begin to wrap my head around dealing with 13 years of soccer photos for two different kids. Secondly, Christmas. I always feel terrible when I say this, but I honestly don't enjoy scrapping Christmas. Not sure why, but I just don’t. I mean, I do create Christmas layouts here and there, but it's only when totally necessary.

I got this weird urge last week to work on getting all of our Christmases documented and in the albums. I am focusing mainly on layouts that document the actual holiday. Christmas morning with our girls and family get-togethers specifically. Because that's really what the bulk of my Christmas photos revolve around. My goal when it comes to scrapping holidays and events is to get the entire celebration on the page. I am not one to do a large number of layouts every Christmas, with a single photo, or maybe two or three photos on a page. If I'm going to take the time to scrap Christmas, I'm going to use ALL the photos at once, and "get it done". That just sort of goes in line with my style and how I like to scrap.

Once I had a good idea of what years and what photos I needed to get into my albums, I started creating photo collages. LOTS of photo collages. I had a plan to get all of these photos, from 8 different years, scrapped quickly and without much fuss. And that plan heavily revolved around photo collages. It's the best way to get LOTS of photos on your pages, in a neat and organized way. I like clean looking pages, and photo collages are great for just that. I thought I would share the first two layouts that I’ve created. Both have the same basic look and feel, and they’re a good representation of what many of my other layouts will look like.

Supplies: Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned paper: Simple Stories; Die Cuts: Simple Stories; Brads: My Mind’s Eye; Tags: My Mind’s Eye; Mists: Studio Calico; Die cut machine: Silhouette; Punch: Stampin Up; Photo templates: Kerri Bradford Studio

On this first layout, I got a total of 18 photos on my two page layout. When I have lots of photos to include, I will often create a 12x12” photo collage for one side of the two page spread. I then create a smaller collage to include on the opposite page of the spread, which still gives me room to include a bit of patterned paper, my title, journaling (if I feel it’s necessary), and a few simple embellishments.

Knowing that I wasn’t going to have room to add a ton of product really helped narrow down my choices as far as what I wanted to include. I stuck to 3-4 patterned papers for each layout. My first choice for my titles was to die cut them with my Silhouette, although I am open to mixing in some stickers or chipboard alphas if I decide I need them.

When it came to embellishing, I kept it simple by using brads, buttons, and a few basic punches. I also have a stash of Christmas themed embellishments, both old and new, that I may pull from if they coordinate. 

My go-to choice for photo templates is Kerri Bradford Studio, as she has such a wide variety to choose from. I print a lot of my smaller photo collages at home, but anything larger than 8.5x11” I send to Costco for printing, which is super convenient for me as it’s only two miles from my house.

Supplies:  Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned paper: Heidi Swapp, Studio Calico; Glitter paper: Fancy Pants; Chipboard alphas: Target; Brad: Little Yellow Bicycle; Mists: Heidi Swapp; Die cut machine: Silhouette; Punch: Fiskars; Photo templates: Kerri Bradford Designs

On my second layout, I used the same 12x12” photo template as I used in the first layout, but used a slightly different template for the smaller collage on the first page.

I added two individual photos right above the smaller photo collage, for a total of 20 photos on this spread. But that wasn’t enough, as I still had leftover photos that I wanted to include. So I also created two 6x12” photo collages, which I am including in a 6x12” page protector that will be inserted between these two pages in my album, for a grand total of 29 photos.

I used a mix of die cut words and chipboard alphas for the title on this layout. The silver chipboard alphas were from the dollar section at Target last year. I’m pretty sure I bought about 14 packs of them, so it felt nice to actually use a few of them! Instead of adding a simple strip of the black text patterned paper along the top of the page, I used a scalloped edged banner punch to create the fun row of flags across the top of the page.

Personally, I have no problem with having layouts that look very similar in my albums. Usually, these layouts don’t end up next to each other, so it’s not going to be super obvious that I used the same basic page design. This is especially true with Christmas layouts, since they’re a full year apart in the albums.

I figure if using the same basic design, some of the same elements, and even the same photo templates helps me tackle something that I’ve been avoiding, then it’s all good. I would rather create quick and easy pages and “get it done” … then to keep pushing these photos and memories aside, all because they’re subjects or themes that I either don’t enjoy doing, or am too overwhelmed to dig into!

~  Laura Vegas

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Comments

[barbara macaskill]

Great layouts!! LOVE the collage look! TFS!

[Cindy K]

Wow! This was really perfect for me today. I was just thinking about the last few Christmas seasons at our house that haven't been scrapbooked. Now I know what to do! Thank you!

[Kathy P]

What a wonderful way to get lots and lots of photos into albums! Love how this collage looks!

[TracyM #6773]

What a brilliant way to scrap events with lots of photos - THANK YOU Laura!!!
I confess that I tend to take a gazillion photos when we have get togethers and it is so hard to choose which ones to use when there is something in each one that I want to include :)

[Tina Campbell]

I love the way you did the layouts just a fantastic idea!

[Stacia Brandt]

I often avoid the holiday scrapping. I think I have about 3 years of Christmas pages to do yet :(

[Carolyn E]

Love Laura's simple, lots of pictures style!! I have a few of Kerri's collage templates, which I'm utilizing now to catch up on my 2011 December Daily album that needs to be done!

[Jeanette]

thanks for the great layouts with lots of pictures! It would help to get more of my pictures scrapped!

[Roxanne]

I would love the opportunity to win! Love, love, LOVE your pagemap ideas!

[Stacie D]

Love these collage pages! Great job, Laura!

[maria f.]

Love your approach to Christmas LOs.