Today Scrapbook Update welcomes May Flaum as guest blogger of the day.
May Flaum has been published in numerous magazines and is the co-author of Paper + Pixels: Scrapbook Layouts
May is currently preparing for her next Big Picture class “Adventures In Scrapbooking: Using Kits” as well as dreaming up her next wild project ideas. You can find her blogging most days on her website, and you can find more information on her latest on-line class at Big Picture Scrapbooking.
With Fall settling in and the holiday season fast approaching, the tell-tale signs are showing up in all my favorite crafting spots. While it is tempting to grab up every cute sticker, paper, and themed embellishment that I like, both years of crafting and a much tighter budget have me re-thinking my purchases.
I have a drawer of old themed stickers, papers, and embellishments I will likely never use because they are either not my style or just items that don’t work on my pages. I am trying very hard to eliminate those kinds of bad purchases – after all they waste both budget and precious space. Today I’d like to share with you my picks for this season, some tips, and some layouts that I’ve created with product that is new this year.
First let’s talk about the neutrals. I’m a fan of inks, paints, buttons, alphabet stickers, small print patterned paper, cardstock, and other embellishments that don’t have any theme. Neutral items such as these can be used on any layout. Since they are so versatile I’m much more likely to get them used, and that makes them great purchases. Like a little black dress or great pair of jeans, these items never go out of style and come in handy when you might least expect them to.
I like to purchase mostly items that fall into this category that suit my style and tastes. Then I can flex my creative muscles to get the most out of the product, and highlight my photos and memories to the best of my abilities.
To complement my basics, I like to selectively bring in supplies that are either just so “me” that they must be purchased, or things that I believe will fit my crafting needs. When shopping for my holiday product, I have to be very selective. I fall in love too easily and I have fallen trap to buying cute things that have no business in my home.
On a recent trip to Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley, CA I found myself stunned and overwhelmed by the selection of Christmas, Autumn, Halloween, Winter, and other holiday season goodies. Once upon a time I would have filled my cart to the brim, but no longer. I take the time to think about the selections I make, and I find myself happier for it. Before I share products that have become favorites this season, I’d like to offer my tips for shopping for holiday (or any theme) product:
- Look for product that is useable for other (non-holiday) layouts in some way. A double sided paper with a small or neutral pattern on the back, embellishments that don’t scream holiday, and other themed items that can be used elsewhere.
- It should work with my photos. My rule is that you shouldn’t buy product that would clash with the holiday elements sure to show up in your photos. For example, while I may appreciate very graphic or modern designs, those types of products work with the nostalgic, traditional, and sometimes whimsical photos I take.
- “So cute” doesn’t cut it. If it’s an item I won’t use, it’s over priced, or it’s just not my style no matter how cute – I leave it for someone else.
- Step away from the stamp sets. Unless you are doing cards, tags, and other paper crafting re-think that stamp set even if it is really cute. If you’re just making layouts, how many times will you really want to use it?
- Go online to your favorite companies and check their websites before you go shopping. Finding out if they’ll be releasing lines you love first will help you make sure you choose the best papers and embellishments.
- Put it in your basket, then when you’re done shopping go back and look again. See how much you could put back and not mind, and see if you’ve purchased items that are too similar.
Taking the time to both think about what you will use, and to re-think potential purchases, will save your budget for things that will be more useful and therefore a better value for you.
The assortment of product lines out for the holidays is staggering. From graphic to vintage, from bright to muted, there is something for everyone these days. The one trend I’m seeing and really appreciating is manufacturers putting out paper that is double sided. They make one side themed, and the other neutral with some kind of solid or small print. When I see this I’m more inclined to purchase because I know if the theme doesn’t work out I can put the paper to use in other ways.
I really like American Craft’s Merrymint line (pictured above) for this very reason. It’s themed in a way that allows not only beautiful Christmas pages, but also other fall and winter seasonal pages as well.
Many of the papers and accents are festive, yet neutral enough to be put into play any number of ways. Just to prove my point – I’ve created this layout about a pumpkin patch with the Merrymint line.
supplies: American Crafts cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, brads, alphabet stickers, and glitter buttons; Fiskars punches, Smooch ink, Tattered Angels glimmer mist, mom’s typewriter font, unknown vellum
A line that I fell in love with at first sight is Pink Paislee’s Mistletoe & Co. (pictured above) The denim blue and red combo is one that I really like, and the slightly off classic feeling of the line seems highly useable to me. I love that all of the patterned papers could easily be used for non-holiday layouts, and the fabric and transparent embellishments are favorites.
supplies: Pink Paislee stickers, fabric, letters, and paper; Prima pearls; Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist; unknown button and holly leaf
Not having green in the paper line except for a few details may seem odd for a holiday line, but it’s great as far as I’m concerned! Now my Christmas tree will stand out even more, and my photos will pop thanks to the complementary colors used. I stitched the fabric embellishment down, but I’ve found that brads or a strong dry adhesive work fine as well.
The third line of product I’m really looking forward to playing with is BasicGrey’s Eskimo Kisses (pictured above). The pinks and purples in this line will be so wonderful with all of the winter photos I take of my daughters. So often I have to stay away from red when scrapbooking winter photos simply because of the clash with their outfits – this line is going to get used a lot here!
supplies: Basic Grey paper, journaling transparency and paper, border sticker; American Crafts letters, Making Memories 3-d flowers and stick pins; unknown buttons and rhinestones
Something I like about this line is the floral swirls on the packaging. I already able to use them in this layout, and I do like packaging that can be utilized at least in part. Adding in aqua or green is no problem with this line – another selling point for me as I love those colors.
I hope that you’ve found my take on holiday scrapbook shopping helpful, and that I’ve given you some ideas to think about. Before I sign off, I’d like to share with you several of my other favorite new holiday lines.
Autumn Product Picks:
Festive Holiday Lines:
- Mistletoe collection by Making Memories
- Jolly by Golly from Cosmo Cricket
- Home for the Holidays by Webster’s Pages
Some of my favorite (not really themed) products perfect for this holiday season:
- American Crafts has a wide array of items from brads to ribbons that I consider essentials to my scrapbooking, but right now I especially find their cardstock in Autumn and Christmas to be great values. While the color palettes are meant for the holiday season, they’re simply rich and beautiful colors and at a price I couldn’t pass up.
- Jenni Bowlin memo pads are great for journaling, using for punching, as accent paper on layouts too. The red, and brown are especially great, but the green is my favorite.
- Smooch pearlized accent inks are my newest discovery – and I’m in love! The pearlized finish adds a rich touch that would be wonderful on holiday pages.
- Tim Holtz Filmstrip ribbon will work for most anything, but I can’t help but think how great it would be on a layout about a holiday gathering with lots of photos.
Happy Crafting!
Supply list for the holiday items pictured in the beginning of article:
(papers clockwise from top left) Graphic 45, Webster’s Pages, Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, Making Memories, SEI
(embellishments left to right) Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey, Making Memories, American Crafts
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Interesting commentary. I also love double-sided papers and small print patterns. Only cardstock now, I hardly ever buy paper that isn’t cardstock now. Personally, I wasn’t in love with Merry Mint, the colors didn’t work for me. I do love the Halloween layout you made with it, though. But it has been selling well at the scrapbook store I work at. Pink Paislee’s line, however, has not been selling well, and generally it seems like people don’t like that it looks so different from other Christmas papers. We’re still ahead of the full on Christmas shopping though, so maybe that will change. I do love Eskimo Kisses and so does everyone else, it’s hard not to love anything Basic Grey puts out. I haven’t seen the little Bling It Tree, that is adorable! I disagree with your recommendation about stamps though, stamps can add a touch that other embellishments don’t have, and you can create more personalized embellishments with them. I also always love to add more stamps to my arsenal of stamps, so I have a good selection to choose from at all times. Another thing I really appreciate about stamps is that many of my favorite stamp companies (Unity Stamps, Hero Arts, and Stampendous are ones that I know for sure) manufacture their stamps in the US, whereas many scrapbook papers and embellishments are manufactured in China. Little Yellow Bicycle manufactures in the US, so I love them for that. I like to buy American when I can, there’s too many people out of work right now.
Good article, thanks for sharing. One thing I really didn’t like this year is that some of the companies released two holiday lines! It’s hard enough to decide what to buy, without each company having two lines. For this reason, I may not buy any holiday stuff this year. How can I choose?
[...] You can see the whole article (and layouts) here: http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2009/10/29/choosing-holiday-scrapbook-supplies/ [...]
Great article, May! Love the layouts, too. I’m not quite to that NOT filling the basket to the brim yet though. LOL!
Emily thanks for all your feedback – and I do think in the right hands themed stamps can do good. For me, a sheet of rub-ons is a smarter investment as I won’t re-use those cute stamps much at all. Perhaps we need to talk about how I can get my stamps out more often!!
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Jodee I’d suggest picking 2-3 papers or embellishments from each line that are your absolute favorites. So often holiday lines can be mixed/matched – why not combine some together for a great look?
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Thanks Slammie- and I know, oh I know how hard it is to resist!
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I love your layouts. It is really hard for me to resist the tempation to buy everything cute in the holiday lines. But I do like the idea of buying items that I can use for non-holiday as well.
Thanks for some great (and timely) tips!
Happy creating!
Great article, very informative and helpful. I have been guilty in the past of buying lots and lots of holiday themed items because they were just “too cute.” I have loads of that “too cute” items that I haven’t used. Now my style has changed, and I find myself giving lots away. I think there was a mentality for several years that you had to buy the latest stuff. I have gotten much more judicious in my purchases and hope to make a dent in my stash this holiday season.
Thanks for the great article!
Great article. I completely agree with your comments about not loading up your cart with goodies. While it is fun, one of my biggest struggles currently is trying to store all of the goodies I’ve already bought in a way that allows me to find what I need when I need it. Seems like a good problem to have, but it really slows down my work, as does the feeling of clutter and mess. I’m trying very hard to limit what I buy using the same criteria you talked about. Easier said then done sometimes though. I also agree about stamps. I love the way a page looks with a stamped accent, but I just wouldn’t use them enough to justify the cost. I usually just make a design element in Photoshop instead. I do like kit of the month clubs that include a small stamp each time. That way I do get a few that I usually love but wouldn’t have purchased. Thanks for the great advice and pages.
Great article – and I love your layouts as always. I’m not so in love with double-sided papers though; while I concur it’s nice to have the flip side option of side A doesn’t work out, I resent paying the higher price when most times I’m not using it in a way that requires a double-sided paper. If I love both sides of the paper and don’t know yet what I’m using it for, I end up buying two sheets anyway so I don’t really see it as a savings. It’s fine for some things; I just wish it wasn’t the trend. Although the result is I’m buying less paper, so perhaps that’s a good thing in the end!
I certainly agree with you on the AC cardstock; I just bought some recently and you can’t beat the quality, colour, texture and price. It’s climbing the charts in my heart, LOL.
Thank you Sudie
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Susan – yes! I have a drawer called “too cute” and I’m doing my best to use it or give it all away!
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Brenda photoshop (or even utilizing a word processing program like word) with a digital element or two is a great stamp replacement!
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Keitha I definitely see your point on resenting paying the higher price for double sided paper and feeling forced to pay for the unwanted pattern. Since they tend to be printed on a heartier paper (vs single sided) I really like that I can be more rough with them and they hold up better to my brand of paper torture (aka painting, tearing, distressing, cutting, stitching…)
I use so much cardstock that I don’t buy tons of paper anyhow (patterned) so it really doesn’t effect my budget that much. I almost never buy more that a single sheet – I cut everything to pieces!
Thanks for the comments – it’s good to hear your takes on holiday scrapbook shopping!
You know, Erin Lincoln’s book (I can’t remember what it’s called and I’m too lazy to step away from the computer to find it–Supply Savvy, maybe?) recommended only buying one sheet of a given patterned paper and forcing yourself to make do with that. Reading that totally changed my buying and scrapbooking habits. And a recent CK article recommended buying only three sheets of a coordinated line: one crazy cool pattern, one dot or stripe, and one solid-ish. Also genius. I get just enough of something (especially a themed, holiday line) to feel like I’m participating in the fun without looking back at a bunch of stuff I didn’t love, couldn’t use, or wasn’t my style and wishing I hadn’t over-indulged.
Thanks, May, enjoyed the article and am really looking forward to your BPS kits class. I like the double sided papers because I like options and often like to use the more subdued side with a bolder print (coordinate without screaming at each other). I’m also being more selective and trying to use up/get rid of stuff I just thought I couldn’t live without.
May, I really enjoyed reading your story. Love the lo’s you made. They are beautiful. Love your tips about shopping. I tend to buy too much, I’m just a want it all person. But with the holiday lines I’ve bought about 3-4 papers of the lines I really like (I sould warn you I loved a lot of lines). For me it was a bit easier because here in the Netherlands we don’t celebrate Christmas with Santa and we don’t have gingerbread cookies, etc. (we do have Sinterklaas and pepernoten at 5 december though, so don’t think we’re missing out on all the fun), so it makes it earier to choose and like you suggested I often took the ones that can be used for other occasions as well. There are a few exceptions off course
I have to agree that stamps aren’t used so much compared to the price (and here we pay more than you guys thats for sure) but hey if they really cute I’ll buy them anyway. Maybe I should learn how to create stuff myself like suggested. But I’m not a wizz with computers.
But I have to say with the economy still getting worse here, way too much stuff already in my room… I’m definitly gonna use your advice next time I’m shopping.
Thanks and have a nice weekend.
Bye Irene
[...] did May get you all excited about holiday scrapbook supplies the other [...]
Great review. I find that I think I must have all the new items, then don’t use them as much as I’d like. If you step away for a moment and think it through, you may decide against buying some products that you won’t ever use.
[...] Choosing Holiday Scrapbook Supplies (scrapbookupdate.com) [...]