SHARED FROM CTMH'S BLOG...
Capturing YOUR Days in Calendars AND Scrapbooks!
When we talk about memory keeping, it’s natural to think of documenting the biggest moments or occasions—weddings, graduations, new babies, major milestones—but it’s just as important to chronicle the smaller, everyday moments that happen outside of the spotlight. After all, these moments make up the bulk of our lives, and looking back on them can often have as great an impact as memories of more momentous occasions. Holiday traditions, date nights, days at the park, quiet moments at home, and even just random moments that bring you joy, for any reason—these can be just as meaningful and just as worthy of being kept close to your heart.
We love providing crafters with the opportunities and resources to commemorate all their special moments, and a hand-crafted calendar or an album full of thoughtful scrapbook layouts can be just the way to catch the special occasions as well as the everyday happy memories! After all, every joyful moment we capture is a smile that can be saved and cherished later!
On display today as a vehicle for capturing those smiles is artwork featuring our These Are the Days calendar and layout kits, and trust us, there’s a lot to love here! The These Are the Days kits are created with our Cut Above® format, making them an ideal springboard for both beginners and more experienced crafters. All kits designed with this format come with all the pieces and die-cuts pre-cut, and even some pre-printed pieces as well! Having all the cutting and a good portion of the printing already done allows crafters to complete their projects in no time, so it’s possible to create even more in one sitting. (For those of you who are familiar with our Craft with Heart™ subscription program, the card and scrapbook kits available in each subscription box are all created with the Cut Above® format. Check out our current kits on my Close To My Heart website!)
The Cut Above® pages included in the These Are the Days kits were designed and created with paper patterns from the Four Seasons collections in our 2022–2023 Core Products Catalog. These seasonal papers are available in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter options. (To see the Autumn collection in the spotlight, check out our blog post from a couple of weeks ago!) The Four Seasons paper collections come with their own individual 6-sheet paper packets, sticker sheets, and coordinating cardstock packs. These mini collections are ideal for all sorts of seasonal creations, and it’s incredible to see how well they all fit together in the These Are the Days layout and calendar kits! By utilizing the Four Seasons collections in the These Are the Days kits, it was easy to design an entire year’s worth of pages, themed specifically for each month or change of season as the year progresses.
For those of you who want to create a memory keeping project with a twist, try out the These Are the Days calendar kit! This kit still allows you to create 13 12″ x 12″ scrapbook pages , but instead of putting them into an album, you get to incorporate them (along with your favorite photos) into a 12-month calendar, complete with its very own cover! Since the These Are the Days Cut Above® kits come with the materials to create 13 pages, you’re left with one for each month of a calendar year, and one left over to put on your calendar cover! This kit also includes a blank base calendar, so you can further personalize it by adding your own colorful reminders of important occasions or week-to-week happenings. It’s literally a blank canvas, just waiting for you to fill it in!
It takes no time at all to create a full calendar to commemorate all your important dates and capture some smaller, everyday treasures, too! It’s a beautiful way to celebrate the memorable occasions and fun impromptu ones alike, and it’s a project we know that any crafter will love!
If, however, you are a die-hard scrapbooker and creating albums is your jam, These Are The Days is still the perfect project for you! These Are the Days is unique in the fact that it can be used for a dual crafting purpose! Since these kits are designed as 12" x 12" Cut Above Pages, it's easy to create a calendar, or to reserve the pages for a scrapbook album to document a whole year! Because the These Are the Days layout kit includes 13 STUNNING PAGES, the kit allows crafters to create an entire year's worth of pages in a single crafting session.
To further illustrate the scrapbooking potential of the These Are the Days kits, we've even created two additional pages to show off just how easy it is to create pieces that coordinate with the These Are the Days kits! Since we know the These Are the Days pages are designed using the Four Seasons patterns, we have an easy resource for creating seamlessly coordinating pages by using matching designs! This allows you to turn the These Are the Days kit pages into FULL 2-PAGE LAYOUTS! Take a look at the extra pages we created as inspiration for creating your own!
For our springtime layout option, we’ve selected the April page and created this “Keep Blooming” page to coordinate with the “Hello Spring” one from the Cut Above® kit. This beautiful page sports a simple design, using a patterned Four Seasons—Spring paper for the base page. From there, we’ve attached a strategically torn piece of Avocado cardstock in the center of the page, about halfway down, with the torn section facing toward the bottom edge of the base page.
Once our torn piece was in place, we took a rectangular piece of White Daisy cardstock, positioned it over the Avocado piece, and added three Ballerina cardstock photo mats on top of that. From there, it was easy to select and attach our photos!
To finish this page off, we selected a few stickers from the Four Seasons—Spring sticker sheet to add our title, a small pennant line across the upper left-hand corner, and a small layered feature at the top right corner of our White Daisy piece. We love how quickly and easily this combination of simple elements completes a gorgeous coordinating page to complement the These Are the Days Cut Above® “Hello Spring” page!
Our second coordinating page on display today was created to pair with our December “Joy” page. Like our “Keep Blooming” page, this “Most Wonderful Time…” page is simple enough to replicate in a just few steps.
This page starts off with a matching base page from the Four Seasons—Winter paper collection, and incorporates a few ½” zip strips from this paper packet, attached horizontally across the middle of the page to match the Cut Above® page. From there, we layered a piece of Toffee cardstock, and a slightly smaller piece of the Four Seasons—Winter wood grain paper centered over it. From here, we mounted two 3″ x 4″ photos and one 4″ x 6″ photo on Pine photo mats and attached them to the base page, as you can see below.
For our title piece, we took a piece of Toffee cardstock, attached a Four Seasons—Winter border sticker, and dovetailed the ends. Our “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” title sticker was centered in the middle of this accent, and the whole thing was centered and attached to our base page.
To embellish this page, we’ve created a couple of layered sticker clusters to create additional interest around the photos and title section. As with the patterned papers and title sticker, these accents all came from the Four Seasons—Winter Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet and are a quick and easy way to add polished embellishments.
It’s incredible to see how simple it can be to design and create your own coordinating scrapbook pages to go with the These Are the Days Cut Above® options, and it’s a beautiful way not only to preserve your memories, but to look forward to making new ones!
We hope you’ve enjoyed our look at the possibilities available through the These Are the Days calendar and scrapbook layout kits, and we wish you a happy year to come as we approach the start of 2023 in just a few short weeks! What’s your favorite memory of a small, everyday moment you’ve preserved? What’s a more momentous occasion that you’ll never forget? How would you use the These Are the Days kit to document these memories? Tell us your stories and how you’d preserve them in the comments below!
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