I really love the mini book in the December kit. It’s just so beautiful and the color isn’t a traditional Christmas color, but it works so well with all holiday paper in the kit.
I have been working on my own December mini book. What I’ve decided to do is create a book I can use for the years to come. I am putting in the photos of my kids with Santa this year (we went to see him twice!) and including a list of what they asked Santa for. Then, next year I’ll add the new photo and their Santa wishes … I think it will be fun to look back on how much my children have changed and grown years from now.
Here’s what Kim Whitten and Grace Tolman did with their December Mini Books.
Kim Whitten:
Kim's December Mini Book
“I try to think of new ways to utilize mini-books. This particular book was used in a very new way for me: a guestbook! My mother-in-law, whom we all call “Memaw”, turned 90 years old on December 16th and we’ve been planning a surprise birthday party for her for months. I wanted some kind of guest book for the party so she would have a record of everyone attending.
Enter: December’s mini-book!
I thought it would be cool to incorporate a guest book and a scrapbook of pictures from the party into one. What I did was set the mini book and a Sharpie out on the gift table. I added a note for everyone to write her a message but to please write on the right hand side of the pages. (Some people didn’t follow directions, but that’s okay too. I made it work!)
Of course, we took tons of pictures that day, so I scrapped those into the guest book using the awesome papers and embellishments from the December kit.
Some of the children even drew pictures in the book for “Memaw” which adds to its charm I think! 
Now, Memaw has an instant scrapbook which includes messages and sentiments from all her family and friends!”
Grace Tolman:
“First of all, I just want to say how lovely the Chatterbox mini included in this month’s kit was. I love the flocked cover and the pages have a dry embossed edge. I just think it’s so gorgeous.
So since the theme of the kit was Christmas/Holiday, it was just fitting that I focus my mini book to that topic as well. I printed some pictures from last year’s celebrations in 3×4 sizes, matted them and divided them into date categories.
I love the dry embossed edges of each page but I knew it would not show very well in picture, so to make it come alive a little more, I rubbed ink pad on it so it creates some dimension.
Another thing that I really liked in the kit is the big thick white lace. At first I didn’t know how to incorporate it in my project but then I realized that it should just take center stage and that’s what I did, using it in the front page of my book.
I used a simple design sketch for all the pages and added tabs made from various papers in the kit on top of the pages. I incorporated pictures about our Christmas baking, candy making, kid’s school celebration, family time and even our official Christmas card and picture in the mix.
At the very last page of the book, I added a chipboard quote that I thought summarized the book very well.
To dress up the very ornate cover, I just added some velvet ribbon, tied it to make it look like a gift and added a flower in the middle.”
RSS