Counting Down to Christmas with Simple Stories

 Before I begin, I must share the question that has been racing through my mind for the last few days, "How the heck did December get here so fast?"  I feel like the year is careening out of control and if I don't get my shopping, baking, mailing and cleaning done in record time, the world around me may just fall apart.  Anyone else having mild panic attacks?  Just sayin'...  So knowing this about me, I thought it an interesting challenge to try to create a December Daily album with the rest of my life in warp speed.  My album is more like the rambling thoughts that go through my head at this time of year.  Here goes...

Along with Simple Stories gorgeous 25 Days of Christmas collection (seriously, this is one of the prettiest collections on the market right now), we received some wonderful goodies from Maya Road.  This tabbed chipboard mini album was the perfect beginning to all of the madness that is my life in December.  I used the 25 Days of Christmas 6 x 6 patterned paper along with the Maya Road Sheer Calendars and really like the effect.

Look how perfectly these velvet flowers from Maya Road match the 25 Days of Christmas collection.  I think they are a match made in heaven.  I also love the vintage pins and striped ribbon and how well they blend with the 25 Days of Christmas cardstock stickers.

We have been getting a lot of snow in the past couple of days and when we have a really good storm, that is what the door to our garage looks like.  We had such a mild November and then "wham" December opens the month like a lion in winter.  However, where I live, snow is a great thing that drives our economy - so life is good.

Love the combination of cardstock stickers, pop dots and ribbon.  It makes a fun little cluster in the corner of the page and makes Day 2 jump off of the page.

I'm not what you would call a strong baker, but I do have a few favorite recipes that usually turn out pretty good, the first of which is my Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Macadamia Nuts.  It's practially sinful - LOL.  Then of course there are the lists of gifts to purchase and organizing that is weighing on my mind and even though I can get 2 Day shipping from amazon.com, there is still a lot of pressure to get this done.

So I have to admit that I will go back and add a small photo or some kind of journaling to day 6.  I was really more fascinated by the beautiful flower cardstock sticker than by what I might like to journal - kind of like the "Squirrel!" syndrome.  Anyway, it blended beautifully with the sentiment on day 7 which I know I will have to stop and think about, mostly because I have literally made it through the 1st week of December - phew!

I have to say that these chipboard flowers from Maya Road were the perfect compliment to the poinsettia design in the 25 Days of Christmas papers.  I just added cardstocker stickers with pop dots and Maya Road leaves to dress them up.  Isn't the houndstooth paper decadent?  I LOVE how sharp and beautiful this collection is.

Got a little bit creative for days 8 & 9, because I know that my two children will start hunting for the gifts my husband and I have hidden around the house, so I thought it would be a good idea to show them these pages so they know that someone is keeping track.  I wrote on the behavior descriptors with eraseable pen, just so I can change it around (not really, but you get the point).

The 25 Days of Christmas 12 x 12 Expressions Cardstock stickers have every kind of letter and number you could wish for.  Here I added the 8 from the stickers and put it on top of a scalloped chipboard shape from Maya Road which I used a red marker to color.  My daughter's name is with the Expressions tiny alphabet, which comes in three colors.

Below is a visual product list to see what I used to put together my mini ablum.

25 Days of Christmas Products

Maya Road Products

5 Ring Chipboard Album

Mixed Blossom Mini Chipboard Set

Velvet Point Blossoms - Red and Green

Leaves

Trinket Pins - Vintage Pearl

Sheers - A Year to Remember - Black and White

Tags Mini Chipboard Set

Trinkets Ribbon in Poppy, Sand and Forest

I'll be back next week with the next round of rambling thoughts about this holiday season.

Please see the details below about how to win some fun prizes from both Simple Stories and Maya Road

1. Leave us a comment on this post at the Simple Stories Blog.
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Thank you for stopping by today!