Working on the December issue of the magazine has had me in the holiday spirit for the last several months. (We started working on the issue in July!) Now that holiday music fills the airwaves of Salt Lake City 24/7, that holiday feeling is getting even stronger.
That’s why I couldn’t help but do something festive for our inside look at the December issue of Creating Keepsakes—and the 12 days of Christmas continually came to mind. But rather than spread out this post for nearly two weeks, you get all 12 gifts in one post—a sneak peek at the 12 favorite layouts from our editorial staff. To add even more festivity to the post, you can always listen to this while you enjoy reading the reasons we love each layout so much!
Oh, and be sure to check out all the exclusive online articles for December we have waiting for you here. You can even enter to win a free advent calendar personalized with your own family members!
Without further ado, here are our team’s favorite layouts from the December issue.
“Holiday Home” by Ali Edwards in “Studio A”
“This layout from Ali Edwards makes me want to capture every holiday detail in my home—and I’m going to!” —Joannie McBride, assistant editor
“Ornament a Day” by Amanda Probst in “Monthly To-Dos”
“Amanda Probst has a great eye for fonts, and I can’t stop looking at her title treatment on this layout. The colors stand out. The fonts look great together and are readable but unique. It’s so clever how she uses a snippet of conversation to frame her title and photos on the left page of her layout.” —Lori Fairbanks, product editor
“Happy” by Jennifer McGuire in “Tools & Techniques”
“I love Jennifer McGuire’s simple design, nice color scheme and great photos on this layout.” —Janice Barfuss, art director
“She Says” by Lori Anderson in “Computer Tricks”
“This layout is so sweet and sassy. I can’t get enough of Lori Anderson’s adorable pictures and cute use of type.” —Neko Carrillo, senior designer
“Kitschy” by Cindy Tobey in “Tips & Tricks”
“The tree accent is so unexpected. Cindy Tobey made kitschy work for her! I love it.” —Erin Bayless, creative director
“A Few of Our Christmas Favorites” by Deena Wuest in “Festive Techniques for Trimming the Tree”
“Deena Wuest’s clean and simple design balanced with the clever tree made of photos is so fresh, festive and innovative.” —Jennafer Martin, editor-in-chief
“Playing with Snow” by Suzy Plantamura in “Mandy’s Challenge”
“Suzy Plantamura’s title treatment is so clever—she cut her letters by hand and then stamped on them with the letters ‘S,’ ‘N,’ ‘O’ and ‘W,’ respectively.” —Brittany Beattie, online senior editor
“January” by Kelly Goree in “Instant Gift Albums”
“I love how the design of this layout fits so many photos without sacrificing room for embellishments. Plus, each accent Kelly Goree used enhances the feel of the photos.” —Lori Anderson, online managing editor
“Christmas Bliss” by Jill Marie Paulson in “Seasonal Solutions”
“I like Jill Marie Paulson’s simple design with the focus on the photo.” —Brenda Peterson, editorial assistant
“Christmas Morning” by Julie DeGuia in “Seasonal Solutions”
“I like how Julie DeGuia fit so many photos on her layout and still kept it clean. I always take hundreds of photos on Christmas and then wonder how to scrapbook them all.” —Lara Penrod, senior editor
“Roll with It” by Kayleigh Wiles in “Reader Gallery”
“Kayleigh Wiles’s page has great flow despite how the focal point is in a small space. Plus, the beautiful script at the bottom adds charm to the flow.” —Dorathy Gilchrist, associate editor
"2008 Review" by Maggie Holmes in "Scrapbook a Year's Worth of Memories in One Night"
“Maggie Holmes managed to capture an entire year’s worth of memorable events on one layout while still creating a clean, easy-to-follow design—not always an easy task. I love how the white space balances out the fun patterns and whimsical details while still keeping her photos the focus.” —Megan Hoeppner, creative editor
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Prize Giveaway
What would this holiday celebration be without a gift? Leave a comment by Monday, November 16 at 9:00 a.m. EST, and let us know what your favorite layout is from the December issue for a chance to win this prize package or other December-related goodies.
—Brittany Beattie, online senior editor
I really like the use of colors including but not limited to red/green for the Christmas layouts….the mixes are inspiring. My favorites…mmmm….probably Maggie Holmes because I just love the photos! And that’s the reason we scrap isn’t it??
Merry Christmas to all~
Gotta love Ali’s Holiday Home. Love the muted tones.
I love Amanda Probst’s ornament a day layout. What a great idea, and a great way to record this fun event!
I love Jennifer M’s LO, i love using circles on my pages and hers in great!
I also love Ali’s layout. I love how she really makes the most of her beautiful decor and preserves that for her family.
This is so hard! I love them all–but I love the colors from Christmas Bliss and I also love Jennifer Mcquires and Ali’s layouts–I guess I go for the simple and clean sorta look.
My favorite layout is Jennifer McGuire’s. It’s so cute. And though it may have been simple to put together, it doesn’t look it.
Wow, stunning layouts but my FAVE is ‘Christmas Bliss’ by Jill Marie. LOVE how she has included lots of photos but they don’t look cluttered and the focus stays on the pics and not everything else. Great work!
Hard decision but my favorite is Jenifer McGuire’s. There were so many good ideas in the others I can’t wait to try them.
my favorite is “Happy” by Jennifer McGuire in “Tools & Techniques”…. love all about!
I like both Ali’s layout and Jennifer’s. They are both simple and clean…my fave.
Love Ali Edwards. Fantastic idea that i will certainly scrap lift!!
My fav. layout would be “playing with snow”, those white and blue flowers make the layout seems snowing.
I really love Ali’s layout. It gives me a great idea how to make photos of my house at Christmas-time.
Thanks Ali!
I really love Maggie Holmes’ “2008 Review” layout, and I’m now planning to do one of these myself!
I like “she says” – what a wonderful way to remember all the little nuances your child had at a certain age. Made me smile and plan a page like that when my 2 year old gets a bit bigger
“Under the Tree” is my favorite! (page 60) I LOVE the flocked trees with sequins and rhinestones! What a fun idea!
My favorite layout is on page 109 and is called Happy by Jenn McGuire but I really loved the whole December mag.FABULOUS!!!
I absolutely love every one of those awesome layouts and for different reasons. My favorite has to be Jennifer Mcquire’s because I just love the simplicity of her page and the colors are beautiful!! Her son is so cute as well!! I love this issue of your magazine!! It has truly inspired me this Holiday Season! Thanks for the chance to win!!
I love Suzy Plantimura’s “SNOW” layout. I want to try the same with my coordinations paper, so pretty!
I loved the 2008 in review! I am definitely going to try that one.
I like Playing with Snow–it has a lot of dimension and the photos are such a nice size so you can really see them. It was such a great idea to put a closeup of each girl on each side of the middle photo of both of them. Thanks for the chance to win.
I like all of them, but “Christmas Bliss” by Jill Marie Paulson in “Seasonal Solutions” is my fovorite! I love that it is a two page spread with multiple photos.
I loved Suzy’s “snow” page. I’m not a big fan of snow or anything cold, but looking at her page made me want to actually take more pics in the snow, and then scrap them.
But kudos to all the designers. I so admire all of them!
Cindy Tobey’s Kitchey is really cool! I feel it takes a lot of talent to make something like kitch to work. Very talented design team. Thanks for all the inspiration
I love the “Playing with Snow” layout the best. Great job on all the layouts!
I like “Playing with Snow” by Suzy Plantamura. Nice work everyone!
I like all of them but I think my favorite is Suzy Plantamura’s…the colors are absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for the opportunity to win!
It is so hard to make a decision when you know all layouts have been made with pride and awesome work. ROLL WITH IT is wonderful. It is simple but says it all. I will have to scraplift this one and also all the others. Nothing wrong with that.
Definitely Jennifer McGuire’s “happy” layout is my fave!
I love Ali Edwards layout Holiday Home and I also love Christmas Morning by Julie DeGuia they are both so clean and simple- Both are great and I will apply them to my holiday pages this year!! Thanks!!
It’s hard to pick just one, but I love Ali’s simple, no fuss style in Holiday Home.
I love all of them. My favorite is Christmas Morning Suprises.
My favorite is “Roll with It” by Kayleigh Wiles in “Reader Gallery”
“A Few of Our Christmas Favorites” by Deena Wuest
This layout is my favorite because it is all about the picture and that is what I think scrapbooking is all about.
“Christmas of ’08″ by Becky Higgins is my favorite layout.
Love the Playing with Snow layout. The pink is so sweet with the photos and I like that several were used!
I love Jennifer’s Happy LO. So many great ideas in this issue. THANKS!
I love Stacy Cohen’s “The Official Taste Tester” not only because I love the Cosmo Cricket paper but her story and fun candid photos really stood out!
I really loved all the layouts this month and to pick one is hard! “Christmas Bliss” by Jill Marie Paulson will be the one I will definitely scraplift because I always have a ton of pics of my children opening their presents!
I love Jennifer’s Happy layout!!
I adore the “Christmas Favorites” LO. That photo tree is just ingenious!
I want to be Ali Edwards when I grow up, so I’m going to have to go with her layout. Somehow everything she creates just captures me. Great giveaway! Thanks for a chance to win!!!
I absolutely love Julie DeGuia’s Christmas Morning. the lines are so clean despite the use of multiple photos. Our Christmas mornings are so busy and I love capturing each moment, but have never been able to do a layout with them cause I love them all. this way I don’t have to make a choice!
I like the layout January. Shows there is something good in an otherwise long, cold and dark month.
I love them all, it is too hard to choose just one fave.
My favorite was “Ode to Joy” by Megan Hoeppner. I absolutely loved the different ways she made her musical notes–how clever! I loved the colors too–not just black and white as normal note colors!
The Playing with Snow layout. Although they are all so wonderful it’s hard to choose just one!
Love the colors used on the SNOW layout.
Elizabeth Kartchner’s grabbed my eye this month on page 107. I like how she used the number stickers (thickers?) to start her journaling points.