Christmas in October?? Why not! When I got the Simple Stories Christmas collections I was so excited. I had only done a couple of pages of my 2017 December album so I decided to start fresh! I’m using a combination of Merry & Bright and Simple Vintage Christmas depending on the feel of the story I’m telling on my pages. They’re both so beautiful. Merry & Bright is perfect for more fun stories and Simple Vintage Christmas is perfect for telling stories about cherished family traditions.Today I’m sharing some pages I’ve done with Merry and Bright. I’m using the Merry & Bright album. It coordinates with the collection perfectly, has some fun add in pages and a wider spine to make room for all of the December goodness.

I decided to start with my cover page. I took one of the pages of 2x2 squares and filled them up with fun things. I used a combination of 2x2 SN@P! cards, chipboard stickers and bits and pieces, all from Merry & Bright. Simple and cute! 

This is my favourite part of my album so far. I had a black and white 8x12 photo of my boys that I took at the garden centre where we had gone to see Santa. I decided to turn it into a flip out page which was SO easy with the 6x8 paper pad. I cut the photo down the middle and then used washi tape on the back to attach them together. I then glued down some 6x8 papers over the backs of the photo which covered the washi tape. I cut a half inch off the end and hole punched the other side. Easy fold out photo!

I added a little tab from the Carpe Diem Planner Tabs sticker tablet (seriously, I use these SO much in my albums, I love tab stickers!) and some red reinforcements to balance the embellishments I added on the other side. It’s a great way to add one of my favourite landscape pictures without having to put it to a protector sideways.

Throughout my album I’m using some of the big numbers from the Merry & Bright collection. They’re in the same great colours as the rest of the collection and slide perfectly into 3x4 pockets. On this page I printed a photo on vellum to slide in behind the number. This page goes with the fold out photo from our trip to the garden centre to see Santa. The Hello Santa card is perfect. I also added some phrase stickers (the ones in the sticker set are so perfect!) and puffy stickers to accent my photos. I wanted to add a bit more journalling without losing the feel of this layout so I added in a photo flip!

I’ve been really into photo flips lately to add more journalling to my layouts. Under the wreath picture I wrote a bit about out trip to see Santa and another Santa journal card. Interactive elements are so much fun! 

I have a few full paged photos throughout the album. I printed them with the giant numbers in mind. The 7 fit perfectly on this page and I kept it simple with a cluster of stickers. My December albums can get so busy so it’s nice to have a few calmer spots.

One more spread from my album to share. These pages were about baking and doughnuts with lots of warm colours. I decided to keep the warm colours going and focus on reds. I added in some journal cards on the left side with various stickers, puffy stickers and bits and pieces. On the right is another large photo with a big number on it. Christmas Eve doughnuts!

Merry & Bright is just the right balance of whimsy and tradition that works so well with all of my photos, from Santa visits to baking and winter coffee shoe-fits. I really like the florals throughout. I can’t wait to see what other people do with it!