Odessa Reichel's Blog Posts

11.22.18

Odessa here with some more December Documenting inspiration! This time I am using Simple Stories Freezin’ Season to document some of the bold and cold stories in my album. If you missed my other posts I’m using Freezin’ Season, Vintage Christmas and Merry & Bright to document last Christmas with each collection being perfect for different stories in my album. This one is perfect for winter fun!

This page ended up being about coffee. I used some letter stickers along with some simple embellishment stickers from the collection on these pages to keep it simple but add some fun. I love the super cute toque and eyelashes card on the left side!

This page combines a regular 6x8 pocket page on the left with one of the 4x6 vertical pocket pages on the right. I love those smaller pocket pages to add in a focal square picture.

The playful palette and graphics in Freezin’ Season go great with bold titles. One of my favourite things is to use larger alpha stickers to make a bold title and then layer a small phrase sticker over it like I did here. I added in a chipboard tree sticker to fill in some negative space.

I used the vertical 4x6 pocket page to highlight a photo for that day in my album. Underneath the 4x4 pocket are two small 2x2 pockets. I filled them with some cut down paper from the collection with embellishments on top. I didn’t really have more story-wise to tell so I decided to make it cute! And that penguin really is the cutest. As with most of the tags in my album, I folded down some of the Freezin’ Season washi to thread through the hole in the tag to add a little more to it.

This page is all about bold colour! I love colour and the saturated fun colours Freezin Season make me so happy. On the left is a pocket page with some journal cards from the collection that go well together and with my photos on the page. My photos are pretty neutral so they’re balanced perfectly with the red and blue cards. On the left is a 6x8 layout with a bright photo on one of the quieter papers in the collection. It’s a great contrast to the pocket page.

I used some of the great stickers from the collection to fancy up  my pocket pages but overall kept it pretty simple to maintain contrast with the right side where I embellished quite a bit more. The phrase stickers in the 4x6 sticker pack are winter perfection!

On the right side I used a circular photo (which was easy to cut with the photo crop circles) on top of a cute tree print from the collection. I added a layer of vellum in the middle to make the photo pop a bit more. I added in a tab and some phrase stickers and some song lyrics that always get in my head when I am Christmas baking!

Here’s the last page I am sharing today. On the left instead of journal cards I cut down some papers from the collection and used them in a couple of different ways. I added a big chipboard snow globe (ADORABLE) to the paper with all of the snowy houses. I left the all over print paper plain because I really like how it looks cut down. I added some stickers to my photos to quickly finish off this page, I really like how quickly this page came together while still looking super fun. On the right I used some journal cards from the collection with a bunch of stickers. I even got some journalling in. I couldn’t resist another snow globe!

There are some really great stickers in the 4x6 sticker pack. I really like the one I used on this photo, it’s the perfect size! And I bet you’re humming jingle bells now!

The way the pocket with the paper full of houses with the chipboard snow globe on it might be my favourite in all of my pages using Freezin’ Season. I added a phrase sticker for a final touch.


The penguins in Freezin’ Season are the cutest ever and I need a million. Or at least one per page. Hope you enjoyed this peek into my December album!

Supplies
10.31.18

Hi everyone! Odessa here, bringing you some more December documenting inspiration! When I opened the Simple Vintage Christmas products I was all heart eyes. If you know me, you know I’m usually more into bold and modern styles, but Vintage Christmas is the right amount of vintage that makes it perfect for capturing memories and traditions. I’m mixing a few different Simple Stories collections in this SN@P! album of pictures from last December and I’m using Vintage Christmas for just that. The collection is PACKED with embellishments. I love the layered chipboard frames and date tags.

This spread has a couple of special things going on that went so well with Vintage Christmas. On the left, a story about making a stocking for our tiniest family member and the right a Christmas memory of mine. I added a few fun elements - I glued one of the chipboard layered frames right onto the outside of the page protector on the left page and used a photo flip on the right side to add some more journalling.

On the right side I thought that my 2 photos would look great in one of the Insta Pocket Pages. With all the cute 2x2 cards in the Vintage Christmas SN@P! pack it was easy to fill in the little squares on the page. I added some simple chipboard and stickers to make this page come together in a snap. 

Once I got working on this page I realized I wanted to add some more journalling. I liked how everything looked together and didn’t want to change to a different page protector to make room so I added a 3x4 photo flip for some hidden journalling. There were some tab stickers in the 4x6 sticker sheets that were great for hinting at the page’s secret. The number tag fit in one of the 2x2 pockets perfectly.

Under the Photo Flip I have some hidden journalling embellished with some stickers to finish off the page. The phrase stickers in the 4x6 sticker pack are SO good!

Here is another layout I did with the Simple Vintage Christmas line. This one is from St. Nicholas Day, a tradition I grew up with and continue with my kids today. Our biggest thing is getting our stockings ready and making Christmas Lists to go in them.  I used a variety of embellishments form Vintage Christmas - I love that chipboard Santa in the top left corner! He’s so traditional looking.

Here I used one of the number tags on a 4x6 journal card for a mix of journalling and embellishing. Throughout my album I add some faux ribbon to the date tags using some of the Vintage Christmas washi tape. I fold the washi in half, thread it through the top of the tag and trim them to the perfect length. It really finishes off the tags nicely while matching everything else so well. No need to search for the perfect ribbon!

I wanted to add some more extra journalling on this layout so I brought out the photo flips again. I used some more of the tab stickers from the 4x6 sticker pack- it really adds a nice touch to the flip. 

Underneath is some journalling and a picture from Christmas List writing. I am just loving Photo Flips while working on my December album. I can fill a page full of pretty pictures and embellishments and have some sneaky journalling underneath. And more pictures. I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into my album!

Supplies
10.08.18

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!

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