One More Seasonal Tradition: Scrapbooking Holiday Cards

I'm a keeper... I actually have kept all of the cards I've received since graduating from college (about 10 years). For the holiday cards.... I write the year on the back. I also clip the address off the envelope and tape it to the back, too. For now, I keep all the cards in a basket in my study... maybe I'll have to change in the future, but I'm happy with it now. Since I started making my own holiday cards, I try to keep one of those too, so I know what I did from year to year.

when my best friend was shocked to find out that i did not keep her christmas card from year to year, i was shamed into following her lead by making this
(scroll through post to see photo) http://heatheremans.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/so-far-it-feels-like-january.html i plan on making one every year and putting them in a basket during the holidays for people to flip through.

I do what you do! Ever since I saw your solution I have copied it...just finished mine for 2009 last night and I love it. I really love looking thru the old ones to see how everyone has changed. I am now thinking of keeping them in it a separate album!
tammy t

I really love the gift tags idea :)
I used to cut the non-photo cards that were blank on the back and use them for my grocery list.... but I think from now on I'll save them for gift tags :)

Hi Ali,
I'm fairly new to scrapping and am really enjoying it. I'm still trying to figure out how I am going to organize all my layouts and what I am going to scrap. I'm curious to read about how other people do this and what type of albums they are working on. For example one a year, one album a child, all christmas in just one album, etc. I know there are many ways to approach this, but was looking for people's thoughts...is there a discussion thread somewhere on your site? Thanks so much for all your wonderful ideas!

Great idea Jennifer! Thank for sharing!

Here is what I ended up doing a few years back with my 10 year collection of holiday cards.
http://kellylynncreations.typepad.com/photos/holiday_cards/album.html
I ended up putting together our annual card/letter along with a collage of the cards we received each year into the album. So each year typical has 4-6 pages with coordinated colors for each year.
It has become one of my favorite albums. It is really fun to look through and see how everyone has changed (including us!).

What about the larger pictures you receive, we got some this year that are like 3 x 5 and if you cut out a square with a punch, you cut out 3 of the people? I'm thinking bigger squares but wanted to see what others do.

I've always put them on 12x12's with a lot of white space on them - a few pictures per page. I love this idea and will certainly use it. I plan on taking one picture off the wall at a time and putting them directly onto a page. That way they don't end up in piles like the last few years in my scrapbook room! Thanks for your continued inspiration. What a treat!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this idea! I put together little photo books of the cards intact from year to year..bust those out at Christmas time and page through them to see how everyone has changed. I love this idea a lot better. We know who the cards are from so no need to keep the whole thing (I'll upcycle the rest - see below) and make these...page through these instead of the individual pages. Can't wait to get started! Thanks Ali!
I upcycle my non-photo cards into new ornaments from one of Martha's tutorials here: http://www.marthastewart.com/good-things/holiday-card-ornaments

What a fabulous idea. I don't know why I don't remember seeing this idea from you before. Thank you so much! I often look at beautiful cards and think I can cut the face off and use it again but never have done that. Thank you so much for sharing the different year's too! Quite a treat! I recognize some of the same cards I have received!
Aloha, Kate

oh and the other thing I worry about is that we may over the years (many many years from now I hope) forget some of the people in the pictures. I was thinking of putting them on a little flap, so you can lift it up and know who they are and how you knew them. Thinking about the things I want to know some day. Just this Christmas I brought out my parents pictures and asked my grandmas who some of the people were and they had forgotten. So important to record those details!!

I use a few cards as patterned paper for December daily then create this punch layout since your CK article years ago. I place the punched pices on a 12 x 12 layout since my Dec Daily is already so full. Do you make this for the Dec daily or your 12 x 12 book?

Sorry about the repeat of messages. Not sure how that happened.

This is for my 12x12 albums.

Sometimes some of the people do get cut out - I usually play around (looking at the bottom of the punch) to see the most people I can get. Or I aim for the people I spend the most time with :).

I make a layout with them - now that I've been dabbling with ATC's and LFB squares, I'll probably save most of the bits for making them. Simply can't throw them away!

Hi Wendy - you should check out the posts listed in this series: /adventures-in-organizing-.html

What a creative project.
Since I hadn't told you before, I loved your December book. Kept up with it everyday.
Happy New Year and thanks for another year of inspiration.

I think I probably should label them in some way - maybe some small printed labels. Need to think about it :).