Happy week-after-Thanksgiving everyone! Since Thanksgiving officially marks the start of the holiday season around here, I figured it was time to share my completed Holiday Faves Album foundation pages now that I have them all nice and pretty and printed.

As I mentioned before, I am using my Holiday Faves 5×7 Mini Album Templates to create a hybrid foundation for my 5×7 mini album which I’ll then be adding photos and journaling and memorabilia to the album as the holiday season goes along.

For my foundation pages, I mixed two fun digital kits: Tis the Season by Zoe Pearn and Kitschy Christmas by Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studios. Since I wanted to keep my album fairly flat at this point (I know it’ll expand as the holiday season progresses), all of the elements I added onto my pages are digital. The only exception right now are the transparency pages I printed, some stitching and some pocket page protectors I added at the back.

My Holiday Faves Foundation Pages

Here’s a look at my cover page. Right now it’s just printed card stock but I plan on adding a thicker chipboard cover as well to make the album a bit more sturdy. This page will then become the first page inside the album.

Here’s a look at the back of the cover page:

Right now it’s blank but I plan to add an intro for the album here. On the right side, I added one of the transparencies I printed over an accent page. I haven’t entirely decided how I want to use the transparency pages so for I may end up moving them around as I add stuff to the album.

Because I printed all my pages on double-sided paper (I used Epson’s Premium Presentation Matte Double-Sided paper), I have quite a few blank pages and spreads in the album like this:

For now I’m choosing to leave them blank figuring I will either add photos, memorabilia or patterned paper to them as I put the album together, or if I end up not needing those pages, I can simply glue the two blanks together to make a single page. Plus this gives me more flexibility if I end up needing to move pages around.

Here’s a look at one of the journaling spreads. I chose to leave the right page blank figuring I will likely add a photo/photos to it.

Here’s a look at one of the foundation-accent page spreads. I plan to add a smaller photo on the left page (either a 4×6 photo or some 2×3-ish Instax photos) and leave the right side as is.

It’s a little hard to tell in this photo but I also added some real stitching onto left page. So easy to do – I just ran the paper right through my sewing machine. I was worried it might be a little odd having digital stitching on the right page (the circles) and real stitching on the left but I actually really like the extra dimension the real stitching adds to the page.

Another look at one of the ink-jet transparency pages. Right now I have the majority of the transparency pages placed in front of the journaling cards with the idea that I’ll add a 5×7 photo in there, but I may end up moving them depending on how the album comes together.

At the end of the album, I included some divided page protectors that I plan to use as holders for some of my Instax photos. Since I’m not sure where I want to use them quite yet, I’m leaving them in the back of the album and will move them once I’m ready to use them.

If you’re wondering how I made the page protectors, the one on the left is an American Crafts 8.5×11 inch divided page protector that I trimmed down to 5×7 – I got lucky that the pocket size worked for the size I needed.

The two page protectors on the right side are both 6×12 inch American Crafts page protectors that I trimmed down to 5×7 and then stitched to create four pockets sized for my Instax photos (which are around 2×3 inches).

Here’s a look at all of the pages in my album:

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A Little Creative Team Inspiration

And if you’re wondering how the NettioDesigns Team Awesome is using the Holiday Faves 5×7 Mini Album Templates, here’s a peek at what some of the lovely ladies are up to…

Aly

 Brynn Marie

Crystal

Sherly

MissKim (See more on her blog here)

Inga (See more on her blog here)

I have to say I’m totally loving seeing all the different takes on these albums. It’ll be so fun to see the albums come together over the holiday season!

So what about you? Do you have your Holiday/December Daily album foundation pages all ready to go? Are you getting excited to start documenting yet? I’d love to see what you’re up to so feel free to link me up in the comments!

Psst…want to make your own Holiday Faves-style album? Pick up the Holiday Faves 5×7 Mini Album Templates here.

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