Magazine Monday – Tag, You're It!

P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Magazine Monday! It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Even though we’re still a few days away from Thanksgiving, a massive snowstorm blew in this weekend reminding us that Santa Claus will be here very soon. Luckily, a few of us magazine editors are well-prepared because we just swapped Christmas tags at our monthly card group.

Our little group (which just celebrated its one-year anniversary!) met at Jennifer’s house on Saturday. Since there’s always so much going on in December, we deliberately don’t meet this month – which means we swap Christmas tags in November. We each made 12 tags of the same design, swapped them with our fellow card group members and took home 12 different designs. I know I’m a little bit bias, but I think our tags are gorgeous!

Here's all of our lovely Christmas tags...just waiting to be swapped!

After we swap cards/tags, I like to have some crafty activity prepared for us to do. In the past we’ve paper crafted calendars, wooden picture frames, recipe books, gift bags, magnet boards, treat containers, etc. Since we’ve been meeting for a while now, it’s getting harder and harder to come up with new activities that are not only fun, but can be completed in a couple of hours. Lucky for me, I stumbled across this inspiring blog post from designer Lisa Johnson. Her little holiday planners immediately put me in the Christmas spirit and made me think, “Let’s make these in card group!”

Lisa Johnson's holiday planner was all the inspiration I needed!

The icing on the cake is I just happen to stock up on composition books during all the back-to-school sales. I found them for 53 cents a piece! What’s great about this project is you can adapt it for so many occasions. In addition to holiday planners, these make great journals (pregnancy/weight loss/travel), sketch books, appointment books, etc.

Once again we gathered in Jennifer's cozy dining room to unleash our creativity.

I had everyone bring their favorite Christmas-themed paper and I provided the “Christmas Lists” title and the stamped envelopes that said “Coupons” and “Receipts”. (Just paste the envelopes in the front and back covers!) And it was so fun incorporating a pen into the design of the planner. Who doesn’t need a pen when they’re making their “naughty” and “nice” lists!

Here's Brenda and her festive holiday planner.

Sarah and Brandy show off their cute planners and Brandy's baby bump!

The Three Musketeers (Jennifer, Beth and Tracy) proudly display their planners.

Megan arrived a little late to the party, so she missed our fun activity. She kindly agreed to stand up with me to show you the "before" and "after" look.

So there you have it…November’s card group is in the bag! If you’re itching to do a fun project, I highly recommend these cute holiday planners. Why not make a whole bunch and give them away? Tis the season, after all!

Happy Monday!
Kelly

P. S. It’s time to announce the two winners from my Freebie Friday – I’m Thankful For… post!

1. Kellie B. (Nov. 22, 12:43 p.m.)
2. dahlhousedesigns (Nov. 21, 5:27 p.m.)

Congrats, winners! You each won Reminisce’s Autumn Forest collection! I’ll be contacting you shortly to get your mailing addresses. Thanks to all who left comments!

P.P.S. There’s still time to upload your holiday treat containers to our November Gallery Challenge! Three winners will receive a 1-year subscription to Paper Crafts (or a special issue of their choice) and be featured on this blog on Monday, Dec. 7. You better act fast…this challenge ends at midnight (MDT) tonight. Click here for the details!