It’s been about a year since my last post (December 2023). Much has happened in that year but 2024 wasn’t the most crafty year other than my Christmas cards for the Blind Spot Animal Sanctuary. This past year I sent out around 200+ cards. I will continue to make and share those cards on this blog and, hopefully, via YouTube videos. I’m hoping to make 2025 a much craftier year. I will continue to make Christmas cards throughout the year but will now include a bunch of thank you cards (explained below) as well as getting back into scrapbooking!

I have been inspired to get back into scrapbooking after learning about a craft company called Elizabeth Craft Designs (“ECD”). ECD promotes all kinds of scrapbooking but seems to specialize in scrapbooking on a smaller scale. Instead of the 12”x12” size format, ECD uses an A5 Journal size and I have to say I really enjoy the size. It’s a very manageable size for me and doesn’t take up near the space my old 12”x12” scrapbook albums. The A5 Journals are about 5” x 9” and the actual pages are only 4.75” x 8.25” and are within the A5 six-ring binders. ECD also uses other smaller sizes beyond the A5 but I really like that size. Each scrapbook page is basically the size of a half a US Letter page. I’m also trying to do a weekly scrapbook page so that at the end of the year I will have 52 pages capturing what I’ve been up to in 2025. Below is the cover page I created for my 2025 journal/notebook. I hope you come along with me on my new scrapping journey! Week One (1) is below too!

The Cover Page below uses paper from Reminiscence, The Book (#8) where I cut out some sentiments included in the paper pack. I distress all the edges with my Black Soot Distress Ink too. Another good way to use up my supplies that I’ve been ignoring (apologies Ranger). I also create a band around the center that uses various stamp sentiments from the Family stamp set using my black ink. I’m also mindful of the fact that I can’t add too many layers to these pages or my journal/notebook will turn into 4 notebooks per year. My plan is to keep 2025 captured in 2 journal notebooks…26 weeks each…keep following and you’ll be able to see if I can follow through with that goal.

The cover page above is the first page in my 2025 Journal. It will be followed by monthly dividers and a single page per week. Below is Week One (1). In that page I show off a couple of thank you cards I made for Blind Spot donors. I will now be sending out monthly thank you cards to donors along with their donation receipts. And yes, it wasn’t until after I completed the layout that I noticed I used the “may” instead of “my”. Ugh. That’s life…I’ll figure out a fix later….

The paper used here is exclusively from Beautiful Bounty. I think that paper matches the coloring in the photos “beautifully”…ha! I distressed all the paper with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The elements on the tag are pulled and fussy-cut from the Beautiful Bounty paper as well. I cut the number “1” from Stitched Letters & Numbers. I added some stamping using Playful Textures making the distress tag look a little more worn. I added the Crafting bar code stamp from Craft Studio 2 to fill in the space below the tag. I’ve also added some cute hearts to jazz things up a bit. By the way, all supplies will be listed below with a place to purchase them if you are so inclined. I hope you stay with me on this new scrapping journey!

Supplies:

Stamps: Family (CS195), Magical Moments (CSD381), Craft Studio 2 (CS302), Playful Textures (CS386) (ECD)

Ink: Black Soot Distress Ink, Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger)

Paper: Reminiscence The Book #8, Beautiful Bounty (ECD) Basic Black (Stampin’ Up)

Dies: Reinforcer Variety Pack (1736), Stitched Letters & Numbers (1863), Sidekick Essentials 2 - Original You (1766) (ECD)