Christmas Cards received...

What do you do with the cards you receive?

I'm a Christmas Card Collector. Well, mostly the pictures. I love, love, love the holiday cards we receive each year. When we moved into this house I started lining the cards up the bansiter. I used to wrap the base of the banister with holiday ribbon and attach them with these cute little red clothespins (not sure where I got them...container store maybe?). This year I decided to wrap the banister with garland and lights like my mom used to. So I just started clipping the cards to the garland. I love to look at all the family and friends as I walk up and down the stairs!

(ETA: Brenda does something similar that I thought was really cute, too. Great minds think alike, huh?)

And ever since we were married, once I take them down, I've kept them in my Christmas album.

Each year I save the photos and sit down with my Christmas album. The last few years I've done this at an annual girls weekend. We get away the second weekend in January and hole up in a friend's house in the snow. For a few hours on Saturday I sit and fit the photos together in a simple layout and then plug the space with scraps of Christmas paper. So easy and so fun to sit and gab with my girls while getting something crossed off my to do list.

(circa 2005...I went a bit crazy with the paint borders, huh?)

Someday I'll share my whole Christmas album wtih you...but for now here are some layouts I've done over the years. These were quickie photos, so I apologize ahead of time.

(this was 2007...I used a Sharpie white pen to label the families)

Now sometimes I save the whole card if it was really cool.  I don't do that often, and even if I do...I include in on the layout. But my friend Eve likes to bind all hers together with a Bind it All. Isn't that cool? She stores them in her decoration boxes so the next year she pulls them out and has them like mini albums. I love that idea!

I see that Laura Vegas likes to do layouts of her Christmas cards too. And I'm pretty sure that Becky Higgins does it too. I'm telling you...no new ideas in scrapbooking, people. :)