Create!: Christmas Card Album * Part II

Christmas Card Album * Part I

So now - moving on.  Once I gathered all my Christmas cards - I like to organize them.  I like my album to have some semblance of order. My need to organize, or the way I do it - won't pertain to everyone. Use whatever method best suits you.

That pile in the top row - that's our immediate family, meaning mine and my husband's brothers and sisters families. 

Next Row - Our first cousins, from L to R:  Laakso's (my dad's people), Tormanen's (my husband's father's people), Eskola's (my mom's people) and Pennala's (my husband's mother's people)

Next Row - Finland friends, Illinois friends, lower Michigan friends, upper Michigan friends and Minnesota friends

Next Row - Scrapbooking friends and miscellaneous cards that I want to use as separators.

The rows are how they will go in my book, but the order of the rows is not definite.  I tend to wing it at that point.

So beginning with the immediate family - I begin adhering photos back to back.  Some notes:

• I only adhere the outside edge - the inside will be held together well enough with the binding
• I tend to go in age order. ie: I began with my husband's oldest sister and then went down to the youngest
• But only if that works out the best with the back to back card size. His family cooperated greatly and all sent the same size cards that year.  Thank you kind family. 
• If one card is slightly larger than the other - I match it up on the outside (the side of the book you would flip) and trim the inside
• Sometimes they will be very different sizes - and that's okay. I try not to twitch too much about it.

• Another note - sometimes the photo will be on the binding side, and sometimes the sentiment.  I don't worry as much about continuity as I do about chopping heads or names/greetings with the binding. I treat each card individually, and whatever works best for that card is what I do.

I lay them out, adhere, and lay them just like I would a book.  And as per my notation above - the card on the left has a lot of room on the head space, but didn't have a lot of room on the sentiment space - for that reason it is going in the book facing out, rather than in.  Again - I treat each card individually - whatever works best.

The last immediate family photo (nieces and nephews fall under immediate family) fell on the left, so for a spacer before the next section, I'm inserting a standard greeting. These are chosen somewhat randomly (but I'd have to confess to choosing the one that best went color and size wise) and I keep the card intact. The binding will still allow the corner to be peeked open on it if I want to read the greeting. 

 

Next, the first cousins. In no particular order - I chose to do my mom's side of the family first. If I had to say why, it would probably be because they seemed the most size consistent and easiest to do when my family was rushing me to clear the table for dinner. 

My mom has three siblings - so I separated those families into three separate piles

 

I decided to start with Barb and Bill's family simply because the oldest in that house kindly had a card that was the exact same size as my spacer. This is rare - and I enjoyed it. I adhered this card directly to the back of the Happy Holidays greeting in the photo two above (are you following all this?)

And please excuse the out of focus photo.  My husband got home an hour earlier than I expected him and my family really was rushing me to hurry up and clear the dinner table.

 

Continuing on then, I went thru Barb and Bill's families cards and adhered them back to back, matching as well as I could, until they were done

 

Barb and Bill's family completed - I moved on to Jim and Ann's family - the five cards above the album. Jim and Ann have four kids and again - look how kind they were - they all ordered the exact size card. Easy peasy - AND - they line up with the last of Barb and Bill's.

Adhere
Flip
Adhere
Flip
Adhere

 

Next up - Rick and Judy's gang. Rick and Judy's gang ordered cards of all sizes - and that's okay.  Instead of going in any age order - I went with what worked best back to back size wise - but put Rick and Judy's card at the front of their family, just as I put Jim and Ann at the head of theirs.  I'm slightly OCD.

 

And this is where it is right now.  As soon as I post this portion of the lesson - I'll finish stacking and adhering right through the rest of the cards and then post what I do next.  It might be tonight - it might be tomorrow - we'll see how things go around here.... it's never predictable. 

to be continued.....

Comments

[Jill Sprott]

This is such a great idea!