Hi guys! Happy Scrappy Christmas in July!!!! Join scrappylikeafox Tracey Fox and a bunch of us at the ScrapGals Facebook community to work on some Christmas projects this month!!!!

I thought I might go back in time to 2011, the very first Christmas Alan and I were together (awwww!!) and make an album for that December. I have photos, although they are not *daily,* and of course lots of stories to tell from that year. Today I am creating the album itself, and for the next two days I will share that complete process with you.

Creating this album for some reason ended up being quite the process, as you can tell from my video! Eventually we will make it to this as the cover:

But first, the process. I said it several times in the video but let me write it here as well: I want us all to feel free to try, and then try again until we get it the way we want it, no matter what it is. It is part of the artistic process and I know we get so caught up in the final product sometimes, that we forget the trial and error that happens first! And as a designer who creates to share, I will freely admit I am often afraid to share the whole trial and error process, because I too am afraid of judgment or failure.

My design concept for this album began with three chipboard pieces that are designed to make up a mini album. I know that I want to add transparencies as a cover, along with patterned papers for the binding.

I punched my holes (three times in all to get the dimension right!) using this older tool by a scrapbook company from way back when (2004-ish!) called Making Memories. It’s a grommet and eyelet setter and it came with different size punches and a tool to set your grommets with. This was back before the Big Bite or the Crop-A-Dile, and yes, it is fun to pound out your holes with that little hammer!

Once I had my holes punched, I adhered my transparency pieces to the patterned papers using redline tape. The transparencies are sandwiched in between the two papers and this creates the structure of this cover.

And this is what the album looks like at this point. Tomorrow I will share with you how I selected all the papers and page protectors for each page inside the album, and then I will share how I embellished the cover for the album!

Also, because I love you and want you to have fun making this album (if you decide to!), here is a simple sketch showing my actual dimensions of the final, functional album!