Happy Saturday, everyone! We are so excited to kick off a month of Document December preparations posts today with Junell Kruzel! For 10 days this month, we will feature ideas and tips from our design team to help you make the most out of your creative time to prepare for the merriest project of the year: Document December! Let’s hand it over to Junell to find out how she is getting ready!
Hello, Elle Studio friends! Confession time: I do not prep for Document December in the traditional sense. I am a “go with the flow” and “wherever the spirit takes me” type of scrapbooker. Planning and prepping pages zaps the fun out of it for me and I know for others as well. No rules, right?! But, there are some actions I take to make the Document December process quicker and easier during this busy time of year. Here are the steps I take that might help if you document like me.
First, I start by purging any product from last year that does not speak to me anymore. Too much stuff clutters my space and my mind. I offer it to friends or the kids in my life to create with themselves. Using only products I love leads to pages and an album I love.
Second, I lay out what I have left and then do two things: 1) I take everything out of the packaging! This is a great time saver when you only have a few precious minutes to scrap. 2) I place everything into categories: stamps, paper, tags, alphabets and numbers, stickers (puffy and cardstock), chipboard, and other items like ribbon and wood veneer. I always place like with like and then put it in a container. I’m using tiered trays from Target and 6 x 4-inch Iris cases.
The next thing I do is to look for inspiration and ideas for layouts I might like to create. I think about design, titles, and products. I look at old magazines, my saved ideas on Instagram, classes I’ve taken, and I even go back to Christmas blog posts from the year before. I keep a notebook to list and sketch ideas and also note where I originally saw the inspiration.
Another thing I do to prep for Document December is to look at my calendar and schedule blocks of time to sit down and create. Placing it on the calendar makes it official. For me, it’s usually Friday nights. Lastly, I stock up on essentials like photo paper, ink, page protectors, adhesive, and white cardstock—the not-so-fun stuff!
Hopefully, this list will help you prep for Document December, even if you’re not a prepper like me!
