In addition to being a photographer, I am an avid scrapbooker.  The two actually go hand and hand together when you think about it. I enjoy the creative outlet that scrapbooking provides; photography is my passion, but also my profession, while scrapbooking is my hobby that I have the freedom to create whatever it is that makes my heart smile!

Each December I look forward to the magic of the holiday season – the special outings, family traditions, get-togethers, good food, and time spent in great company. I love capturing those memories all in one place and have been creating these “December to Remember” mini albums for a few years now to do just that.  Usually in late fall I begin planning and preparing by pulling together my favorite papers and goodies to create a “kit” for my album – I definitely like things to coordinate and have a loose theme.  This year my theme was a winter woodland and I chose to use a lot of mint green and red with wood accents.  Plus lots of the Woodland Christmas collection from Pretty Little Studio, I can not get enough of those die cut deer! Throughout the month of December I try to work on putting the album together as I can, although I don’t put too much pressure on myself if I get behind because I would rather focus on enjoying the moment and experiencing the fun with my family.  This means that I usually end up finishing my mini album sometime in January; this year I finally finished just this week.  I am so happy to share with you some of my favorite pages, and you can see the whole album and details in my gallery over at Studio Calico if you like.

I have to send my thanks to my friend Missy at MRB Photography for our super fantastic family photos; it may have been about 20 degrees out and our session only lasted 15 minutes, but they are perfect!

Meet our new friend Clement, our home made version of the popular “Elf on the Shelf” tradition. Avery and I sewed him using this pattern from CharlaAnne. 

My favorite thing our elf did was make a snow angel in flour on our kitchen floor 😉

Yes, I know, it doesn’t look like much snow, but it was snow! Had to capture that first dusting out back and tell the story of Avery getting all her snow gear on to out out and play in it. Maybe we will have a white Christmas next year.

I am just so smitten with these pictures. Sigh, brother and sister love, enough said.

We made a lot of our gifts this holiday season. There is just something so rewarding about creating with your hands no matter how simple the final project is. My favorite was probably the Dollar Spot Journals that I made using my friend Shanna Noel‘s tutorial.

This year when we went ice skating Avery decided she didn’t need any help, and she managed to do pretty darn good all on her own. She is growing up too fast. We also happened to be downtown the same time as the “Santa Con” event, which was quite the scene. LOVE love love the trees wrapped in sweaters by Pioneer Square.

Thanks for the chance to share my love for pictures+paper with you; join me right here each month for another peek into our life and my creative heart.