NEW!! December Memories Album and classes

A new start, that’s what we are going for here. I know I have said that before, but here we are! I have recently resigned my job as an engineer, and I am going to be focussing on Deep Blue Crafting and my family for a while at least. So what does this mean for you? More posts here, more inspiration, and CLASSES!!!

To start with I am going to be holding some December Memories classes. As I have shared previously, I create an album each year, where I capture the month of December, and all that we do throughout the lead up to Christmas. A lot of people have admired my albums, and expressed an interest in wanting to make their own, but without really knowing what to do. Which is where these December Memories classes come in!

If you would like to participate in capturing your December Memories, but don’t think you know what to do, I am here to tell you that is is completely possible! You don’t even need classes to do it – so why am I offering classes?! They are not classes in the traditional sense, but more of a weekly gathering at my home, with drinks and snacks, and access to my vast array of crafting goodies! There will be 5 classes, running from the last week in November to the first week in January, with no class during Christmas week. (Mainly because everyone is usually rather busy that week!!)

Class Details:

When? Wednesday evenings 7:30-9:30pm

• 28 November 2018
• 5 December
• 12 December
• 19 December
• 2 January 2019

Where? Deep Blue Crafting Headquarters, Beggarwood, Basingstoke
Cost? £5 per session, or FREE when you buy the £30 album bundle as shown below
Commitment? Whatever you want it to be!

So what will this involve?

If you buy the album bundle, you will receive a pack of “Memories and More” cards in the Santa’s Workshop design, a 6″x8″ album and 2 packets of 6″x8″ photo pocket pages to put inside your album.

The 6″x8″ December Memories bundle looks like this (with two of the packs of pages, here I only have one pack shown):

You will need to print your photographs out to add to the album – I usually do this at the end of the project, and get them all printed together using an online printing service. But I make a note of which photos are going where as I work through the album. You will also need a pen or two, to write the stories to go with the images, but I am sure we all have some of those (if you want a “specialised” pen for the project, then those are also available with your album bundle, just speak with me about that).

As far as December itself goes, you just do all of the things you would normally do, capture the events and photographs as you normally do, though with perhaps a little more intentionality with this project in mind, and come and be sociable for a while each week to work on our albums together! I always find that this project helps me to capture the fun and the magic of the season, instead of letting the cold, dark and “busyness” of it all overwhelm me. I usually add in more fun and seasonal activities, so that I can add those memories into my album each year…

Album Bundle:

In your pack of cards, should you choose to go for the album bundle (and remember you get the classes/ social evenings for FREE if you choose this option!) you will receive a total of 50 double-sided cards, 6 single-sided glittered speciality cards, and 4 sticker sheets! There are stickers for each of the 31 days of December, as well as glittered, phrase and image stickers. You obviously don’t have to use all of the date stickers, but it is a lovely option to have them all included.

The pack of pocket inserts for your album includes 12 pages in 5 different designs, so in the two packs you get 24 pages for your album. Additional packs of pages are available at £5.50 per pack. The page designs are shown below:

These are my two favourite page layouts – they have one horizontal and two vertical pockets each. The large pockets are 6″x4″ (a standard photo print size) and the small pockets are 3″x4″. The Memories and More cards are sized to fit these pockets, and it is easy to print your photographs to fit as well. (I have a “trick” to getting 3″x4″ photo prints, which I will be sharing at the classes! So come along to at least 1 if you want to learn how to make that bit easy!)

These next two page layouts have the same pocket sizes as the first two, but in different configurations. I find these good for stories with either lots of photographs, or lots of words! But they get used a lot in my albums. Finally, you get a full 6″x8″ page which is fantastic for a title page, or to house things like programmes from shows, or enlarged photos from special events, that sort of thing. This can be seen in the photo below showing all the 5 layouts together:

(They were very hard to photograph to show the layouts without having glare!)

Sign Up!

So how do you sign up to the classes or to buy the album bundle? You contact Katie! You can email me, call me, contact me through this site, see me at a craft club or other event, or just let me know any way you have to get in touch! I will need the payment when you order, to guarantee your place on the classes, as there are only 6 spaces available for these at the moment. (And there are already people who I know are interested in this opportunity and are waiting for ordering to “go live”!) There may be an additional session added at another point in the week, but as it stands the Wednesday evenings are my December Memories sessions. Obviously far more people can buy the album bundles than can attend the classes – I currently have no limit on this, but it can depend on the number of packs of cards available through Stampin’ Up! These card have already been incredibly popular and have been on back order for a while. I am anticipating being able to get sufficient numbers to fill these orders, but it pays not to delay getting your on order!

If you do happen to miss out on getting the class space you want, then please don’t think that I will leave you in the lurch with no help to achieve your December Memories plan, you just won’t have ready access to all of my additional crafting resources including stamps, dies, ideas and more.

So I shall leave you for today with this thought – Get your class space booked and your album bundle ordered as soon as possible if you would like to join me this December to create your very own amazing December Memories album! Anyone can do it (including your children) and it adds a lovely element of appreciation and focus to what can be a stressful time of year.

I look forwards to receiving your order and to working with you on our albums!