All Things CHRISTMAS... in JULY

I miss sleepingbooty and hope she'll be able to pop in and say hi at some point but THANK YOU joblackford for setting up a Christmas in July thread.

I haven't seen any Christmas releases so far that I absolutely have to have. And I have a whole drawer of paper and another smaller drawer of embellishments so...that's probably good.

As far as Christmas in July plans? I've already made a couple of Christmas cards (and I made a few last month also) and I had some already but more will be needed.

I should probably work on some past December/Christmas layouts. I finished the two years I did Dec Daily but the family albums have some December gaps.

I haven't started scrapping Dec 2023 in the big kids album and I think I've scrapped exactly ONE layout in our album for Dec 2023...not entirely sure I've even printed either of those so that might be my first task. Dec 2014 only seems to have ONE layout finished also and while I did some Dec 2013 layouts in June - I only got to the 23rd... Dec 2012 looks to be about 1/3-1/2 done. It would be good to get at least ONE of those Decembers done this summer.

I'm unlikely to do a Dec Daily this year UNLESS we end up going to VA for Christmas (as we had planned to last year before DH had the eye surgeries). I'm not an every-year DD person - I tend to just do Dec in the regular albums but if we do something out of the ordinary, then it can be fun. I did 2019 as it was the first Christmas since 2014 that all three kids were home for and then I did 2021 because it was our first Christmas in the new house.

At some point I would like to go back and scrap my childhood Christmases but that's not likely to be THIS year.

I haven't yet! I need to look through the kits and I might place an order! I have so much Christmas stuff, but I can't resist a good sale! 

blemon and joblackford - the two years I did Dec Daily, I also did regular December pages in my family albums also...there was some duplication of page themes (where I used 1-2 pictures in DD and a full 2-page spread in the album) but there were also stories I only told in one or the other. That might have been in part because I don't always do a DD so I included more of our traditions and the history/reason for them in the DD whereas the album was the more routine stuff.

I am enjoying it. I am not burned out yet but some months have been harder than others. June has been a breeze and a joy because there was so much in the kit to use. July I am dreading but hopefully the house reno will come to a point where we will be able to go camping so I can use travel supplies that week.

I know I will be flat out DONE by December.

I also know myself and know that if I stop now for a "break" it won't be a break. It will be a UFO forever.

I am actually pretty excited to work on this week. So much that my photos are already on my laptop and ready to edit and print. They are chosen and I made a little map of where they will go in the layout.

I will definitely be doing a December Daily project this year. Another year I used a junk journal for that and really enjoyed that, so that's what I want to do again this year.

I do not need any more Christmas papers at all. I could use a few new embellishments. So I'm likely just going to buy a few single papers here & there, but no pads or kits, and then I'll try to find some embellishments I think will work well with a lot of different papers I already have on hand.

I’m planning my 2024 dd album loosely some time soonish but I know it’ll be based on stash busting and using all the red embellishments I’ve collected over the years (I used green last year and really enjoyed myself!).
Have a couple of albums I could use but happy to invest in a new one if it makes me buy it 😅
So far I’m safe from buying any new collections or kits… so far…
And I’ll miss sleepingbooty keeping me up to date and drop boxing me with all the best pirate hallmark Christmas movies if she’s not around 🥲

Thank you joblackford for starting the thread. I tend to read and not post, but I want to participate this year.

I will officially start my "christmas in July" next week. I have some other crafty things I want to complete before then. It also aligns with me having a lot of alone time while DW is out of town later in the month.

I've reached max capacity on christmas supplies, so using my stash needs to be my only option. I recently organized christmas and in doing so, got to touch ALL the things. I'm very excited to play with it all!

I definitely want to get a head start on making christmas cards. I usually end up doing 90-100 cards (friends/family/peas) so I will just work towards that number. I also want to scrapbook some layouts. I have 2 years of holiday photos that I haven't scrapped yet.

I am undecided on doing a DD this year. I've only done it once, in 2014. I had intended to do one last year, and I bought Paige's collection & class for it. An injury made us cancel all our fun plans, so I cancelled making the DD, too. Maybe this year if we try to do all the fun holiday things again. Too soon to tell!

I just subscribed to Frndly for the month, so I'm ready for my Hallmark christmas movies fix!

lg, what a great idea! I pinned a bunch of card ideas this morning to use up some of my more random supplies and kit leftovers. I really like your plan, though. 

I love that Crate Paper collection, I have a few pieces from it.

I have quite a few Christmas projects from last year that I hope to finish up this summer - 2 Tim Holtz 3D projects, and my Ali Edwards DD  - I've never made a December Daily album using exclusively AE products, but I really loved the items last year so I bought most of it. I still have to put the album together, though. Last December was the last December that my family was together for the entire month, so I really want to document that. This year I'll only see my husband and son for a week at Christmas due to all of us working/attending school in different countries for awhile. That will be weird. I'm doing Stop The Blur so I'll document our temporarily separate lives in that this year.

This month I'll be doing SCT's Christmas in July card event, which I'm super excited about - happy to get a head start on my cards. I also signed up for SCT's Holiday event in November. Since my husband is working in the US this year, maybe I'll even sign up for the 2 Peas Christmas card swap using his US address - cheaper for everyone. Then he can bring all the cards home with him when he's back for the holidays. Might be too ambitious for me lol.

I'm tuning in to Hallmark tonight for some Christmas movies, I've missed the first two days so I hope tonight is a good one.

So today my big Christmas in July accomplishment was tea dying a whopping 6 pieces of paper, LOL. And this is why it's a good idea for me to create the base of my December Daily junk journal this far in advance.

As a bonus, however, my tea bags came in green & red wrappers, so I wiped those down and saved them to put into the journal, too.

I've been trying to remember what I might have here or there to add to it.  So, a tiny bit of brainstorming, too.  I know some people like to make "junk journal" style journals, but nothing in them is really junk--it's mostly new stuff.  But mine are definitely junk.  I tend to hold on to things specifically for the next time I make a journal, but it's stuff I could have just as easily recycled. 

Leftover planner pages, leftover pages in my kids' school notebooks, greeting cards I've received, tons of used or junk mail envelopes, some brown packaging paper, and so on.  BUT, it's finding where i've been stashing it all that's the tricky bit.  

I exclusively scrapbook "traditional" 12x12 layouts (stored in a 12x12 album with various size/format page protectors for extra photos/memorabilia/etc.), so no cardmaking, traveler's/junk journals, or mini albums, such as DD, JYC, etc. My only holiday task in July is to peruse new releases! 

Hmmm. Another great idea. I think I'll save the Christmasy "junk" this year and maybe make a journal next year?