Scrapbooking supplies for Journal your Christmas
With albums covered, the other big choice for preparing a Christmas journal is choosing the papers and embellishments. Thankfully we are spoilt for choice with plenty of good Christmas ranges in a variety of styles. Just like yesterday, I’m going to start with specific ranges that are available, then cover some general tips for what you might need throughout the Journal your Christmas project.
Above is the Dear Lizzy Christmas line from American Crafts. It’s crisp and light-hearted without being overly cutesy. I’ve ordered quite a bit of this range for my album. I have a lot of last year’s American Crafts Christmas collection (Merrymint) and the two do mix and match quite well. I want to sit down with my stash and last year’s album so they will be sure to have a different feel. I used a lot of the Merrymint last year but it was a big stack of paper so I’m sure I have duplicates of everything!
If you fancy something a bit more traditional, the Noel collection from Making Memories is a good bet. Lots of rich reds and greens and plenty of different embellishments. I’m not sure how it would work in an album but the Noel Advent Calendar is quite cool. There’s also a Bo Bunny Noel collection that coincidentally would coordinate quite easily!
BasicGrey’s Christmas release is called Jovial. I ordered this in the 6×6 stack so I can use it as accents rather than full backgrounds. I love BasicGrey designs but I don’t like to cut them up quite as much as other papers because they tend to have lovely shading at the edges which is lost when you cut a 12×12 down to a smaller size. So we’ll see if the 6×6 is useful in this case. (I’m on a 6×6 kick at the moment having rarely purchased them before. I bought one in a line not long ago purely because the 12×12 collection pack was sold out. Turns out I’ve used nearly the entire stack of papers and I never do that with a 12×12 collection pack, so I’m thinking perhaps I should pay more attention to the 6×6 sets, as they can be a good price too.)
If you love vintage style, your best bet is Tinsel and Twig by The Girls’ Paperie. Seriously lovely collection with reds and greens balanced with white and cream, and a look that feels cozy like a favourite quilt. The Girls’ Paperie sticker books are a great deal – you get a ton of stuff inside – and there is one for this collection too.
Echo Park has two Christmas collections – one in traditional deep reds and greens and the other in brighter tones, plus a third collection that is winter (but not necessarily Christmas) themed. I ordered some individual sheets from the bright collection and it will go well with the Dear Lizzy Christmas.
Crate Paper released Snowy Days for Christmas and it’s in jewel tones rather than traditional colours. I like it! Crate Papers are always excellent for cutting and layering. Again, I ordered this in the 6×6 size. (I did say I was on a kick!)
I lovelovelove Cosmo Cricket papers. Mitten Weather is a great collection of reds and the less traditional colours, so I think this will pull together everything else I’ve chosen.
If you’re a fan of clean and cute, go for Doodlebug’s Happy Holidays collection. I love to look at this range but it’s not the right tone for my album. To me, this is collection is very Christmas-with-children and well, that’s not Christmas in our house right now! But it might be for you.
Okay… now to figure out what you actually need to get ready. I rarely use just one collection in my scrapping – for me the fun is mixing all the different looks together. So when I go through that list and tell you I’ve ordered a little something from most of those collections, that makes it sound like you need a huge stack of supplies. You really don’t. First off, I know I have ordered too much. I can say that because it’s all over my table right now and I’m thinking um… did I really think I would need all that? But also I plan to do way more than just my Christmas journal with those supplies so I hope that will put more of them to use. I’ll have plenty for regular 12×12 scrapbook pages but also cards, gift tags, paper garlands and so on.
What you really need is enough paper to do between twenty-five and forty entries if you would like to make a page each day (obviously it depends on how many days you want to continue in your album). Unless you’re working at 12×12, it’s unlikely that you’ll need a full sheet of patterned paper per day. I love patterned paper possibly more than should be legal in most regions of the world so I know I will use more than forty sheets because I want to include more than forty patterns, but I will end up with tons of scrap pieces left over. (I have a basket for scraps like that next to my table, so it’s easy to gather the left overs and use them for something else.) When assembling your supplies, I would ask yourself how much you love patterned paper and figure out what fits your style. If you like everything to match, pick one collection and stick with it. If you like to vary things, then gather a bit from various collections. If you have plenty of stash on hand from earlier years, then make a goal to use it up this year and don’t buy anything new! In general, use one pattern per day as your rule of thumb: if you really love patterned paper, up the number to more than one pattern per day; if you’re not a patterned paper fan, chop that number in half. Got your number? Then collect that many different sheets from your stash or your order and create the base of a kit for yourself. (I’m not ignoring solid cardstock – I just think it’s easiest to sort that with your album so you can cut everything to the right size, etc, before you get started.
The other paper requirement is something for your writing! If you’re going to handwrite, choose a set of journaling cards or ledger paper or tags or something that will make the writing easy to include. Or include envelopes if you’re going to want to write more than will fit on a selection of journaling spots. Think of this element before you get to the embellishments and you’ll find things far easier along the way. In gathering your journaling items, remember you’ll need one for each day and you’ll also need a good pen. My favourite is the American Crafts Precision Pen in .03 in black or brown.
Now… with album, cardstock, patterned paper, journaling cards and pen sorted… then it’s time to collect the fun stuff. Choose your favourite embellishments – stickers, stamps, buttons, ribbon, die cuts, gems and so forth. If you use punches, you might want to decide if you want to punch things now or just keep your favourite punches out throughout the project.
Whether you need to pack up your crafting supplies during the holidays to make room for other things or you can leave everything out, I really suggest assembling everything into a kit for yourself and popping it into a basket or box to make things easy. When you’re making an entry with fifteen minutes for your sanity, you do not want to search through every sheet of paper you’ve ever purchased just to find the one you have in your mind. If you select everything now, you can make the rest of your stash out of bounds for this project. You can also be flexible and move to another room or take things on the road if you’re traveling during the holidays.
Add your scissors and your favourite adhesive to your basket and anything else that is a requirement for you, like a black/brown ink pad for edges or a clear block if you want to stamp for example. You might want a trimmer or you might not need one if you precut all your papers. Totally up to you!
And that is really all there is to it. Seriously, choosing the papers is what takes me the longest. There is too much loveliness to choose! So good luck with that hurdle… and from there, follow two guidelines: use what you love and create a kit so you’re not searching through all your stash every day!
Journal your Christmas is an online scrapbooking class for the holidays. It starts on the first of December and you are welcome to join us!
xlovesx
Read more about:
Next post: Make your own Christmas Cards
Previous post: Selecting an album for Journal your Christmas

4 November 2010, 18:55
Thanks for all the tips on getting what is needed Shimelle
4 November 2010, 18:55
Almost went crazy on twopeas last night. Cant wait to see what is in store at NEC. See you there! Exciting…
4 November 2010, 20:44
I’m using Joval & Fancy Pants Traditions because they’re similar in color tones. We’ll see if what I do works. I’ve already cut down the papers for the base of my album. The tags are where the work will be. I can’t wait for the prompts!
4 November 2010, 22:12
I get so happy when we start seeing all of the different companies Christmas collections! NICE!
5 November 2010, 12:38
Some beautiful collections here…would love to know about UK stockists…as shipping is so costly from the US.
5 November 2010, 13:50
I’ve just signed up for JYC 2010 and am really looking forward to it! Half way through True Stories, so all ready to put my new found writing skills into action.
I’ve got a red AC album in 6×6 and the Lily Bee Christmas Town collection of papers as base supplies. Hoping to be able to use up some lingering Christmas stash on the project!
6 November 2010, 07:54
Heavenly Christmas supplies! sigh
6 November 2010, 17:20
Most of the stuff I picked up is Basic Grey – 5 Jovial, a couple of Fruitcake/Fiigy Pudding and two Eskimo Kisses I couldn’t resist plus several Cosmo Cricket papers. I also have an 8×8 stack of the Docrafts Classic Christmas because all those deer and robins should tie everything together nicely.
I keep sorting through the papers and just petting them, it’s really unseemly….
16 December 2010, 23:43
i dont get it, you put some foam core letters on sticks?
30 March 2012, 03:08
You are so smart, I like it so much, thank you a lot for sharing it to us.