I started this mini album on December 26th, thinking that the sooner I scrap the photos, the more details I would remember. I focused on key stories only. I realized it is easiest to do it this way. So, for future occasions, I might just scrap the photos as soon as I can – I hope I have the time.

For this one, I used mainly the Studio Azul December kit. I still have a couple of papers and some scraps left over from my 12 x12 layouts. Here are the materials other than what’s included in the kit:

Mini Album – MM Cheeky Mini Album (Dot White); PPS – Cosmo Cricket (First Gift, Cocoa w/ Peppermint – I just used scraps for the tags); Stickers – American Traditional Designs (Dear Santa Vellum Stickers), Sandylion; Rub-Ons – Crafting Studio (stitches), Imagination Project (Battery Pack Alphabets); Ink – Brilliance by Tsukineko; Pen – Staedler Triplus, Uniball Signo, Artline Calligraphy Pen, Sakura Aqualip

Here’s the Mini. You can see the 1st page through the cover.

1st Page. I used the Studio Azul stamps here. Note that I used Valerie Salmon’s sketch for the Kaya December Challenge. I wasn’t able to make a card so I used the sketch for this mini album.

Page 2. The album is in chronological order. I started with our Christmas Tree.

I wrote about our 3-year old tree which we bought really cheap at Divi. Every year, we’d buy new ornaments to add to the old ones. There’s still space for a lot more.

Page 3. Here are some photos taken on Christmas Eve. For the first take, Ariel sneezed just as the shutter was released (I used the timer and the camera was on a tripod). We had four more takes after that. I decided to make the 1st shot the main photo for this spread. I even encircled Ariel’s sneezing face using the rub-on included in the kit. I wrote the journaling on the photo itself.

Page 4. This page is about the gifts Ariel adn I got for each other. Took us a while to decide what we want and finally bought Charriol bracelets on Dec. 23rd. We had them wrapped so we could put them under the tree. We both wanted to wear them right away but decided to open our gift on Christmas eve along with the rest of the family.

Page 5. Here’s a photo of us opening our gifts and one that shows us wearing our bracelets. I love those Daisy D’s Rub-ons! I’m so glad that was part of the kit.

Page 6. I included a page with photos of our parents who joined us on Christmas Eve.

Page 7. These are photos of my sisters-in-law and my nephews. My brother couldn’t make it on Christmas Eve as he had to work late.

Page 8. Christmas Day. Ariel and I wore matching shirts – my idea of course (he didn’t like it but he eventually relented).

Page 9. Every Christmas Day as far back as I can remember, my mom’s siblings and their families would always come together at my grandmother’s place for a Christmas feast. We kept the tradition even after my grandma died. When Ariel and I build our house in Kawit, Cavite, everyone thought we should change the venue to our place.

I journaled about the lunch. We decided to eat out in the garage on banana leaves. We ate with our fingers and feasted on grilled bangus and pork belly, grilled veggies and green mangoes with alamang, fish sinigang, buttered prawns and steaming white rice.

Page 10. New Year’s Eve. I documented that this is our 7th New Year. No matching shirts this time.

Page 11. Our Media Noche feast. Nothing fancy. We had almondigas soup, lechong kawali (though cooked in the turbo broiler so it’s not deep fried), oven-grilled chicken barbecue, lumpiang shanghai, grilled hotdogs (for the kids at heart) and rice. For dessert, we had apples and grapes dipped in chocolate fondue.

Page 12. No New Year celebration would be complete without fireworks. I doodled a bit here. And I used those cute buttons from the kit.

Page 13. A photo of myself and Riley – my 7-month old nephew – who joined us along with his parents (cousin Jojo and wife Richel). My cousin Jo-Ann and her hubby Alfred also joined us, as did my brother and parents.

Have a great 2008!

Written by Alby Laran

    1 Comment

  1. Christine January 8, 2008 at 1:19 pm Reply

    Alby, your mini-album looks awesome! I wish I could jumpstart mine! Thanks for the inspiration 😉

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