Ten Projects to Put You in the Christmas Spirit!

The holiday season is upon us, and what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than with crafting? The teachers at Big Picture Classes have compiled ten unique and fun projects to help you capture the magic of the season! Photograph all your festive details this year with Kelly Ishmael in Capture Your December. Get organized while documenting your memories in a new format in Planning & Documenting the Season with Andrea Bethke. And create heartfelt, handmade holiday cards for all your loved ones in Mass Producing Holiday Cards with Eloise Blue. Try out all ten projects below to get the most out of the most wonderful time of the year! 

Photograph the details of the season. 

Capture Your December, Kelly Ishmael

I love the holidays. Between the lights, the decorations, the music, and spending time with family and friends, there's so much to see and do this time of year. So much so, that it's easy for me to get caught up in the hustle and completely miss out on the joy of the season. That's why the practice of taking a photo every day is so helpful for me. It forces me to slow down and to be more mindful of all of the magic that surrounds us this time of year.

Record your festive activities in a memory planner. 

Planning & Documenting the Season, Andrea Bethke

Once I started planning, I found that there were certain times of year—like for my birthday and for Halloween and Christmastime—that I enjoyed using planners particularly for projects where I would both plan for and document with photos. This is my favorite kind of planning and why I love it so very much; it's called memory planning! 

This kind of planning reminds me a lot of doing a mini-album. Only with a planner, there's the added benefit of staying organized in addition to doing your normal documenting. It's like the best of both worlds! And for Christmas, especially, I think you need this kind of a project! It's the best way to keep up with all that you have to do but to also appreciate it and keep a beautiful account of this merry and wondrous season. In short, I love memory planning for this time of year (and for other times of the year, too) because it helps me get ready for all the wonderful things I want to do, and also helps me truly appreciate it while it's happening and to remember it fondly afterward!

Create a unique winter-themed mini.

Polar Bear Mini Album, Laura Rahel Crosby

I'm super excited to be bringing you this awesome new mini album class here at Big Picture Classes. In this class, I'm going to show you how to make a gorgeous polar bear shaped mini album and inside, we're going to document your prettiest and best winter memories. This class is perfect for documenting winter-themed events like snow days or winter festivals, things about you like your favorite winter song, or your favorite hot beverage.This polar bear mini album is so festive and gorgeous—it's unlike any other mini album I've ever made for Christmas. I hope you love it just as much as I do!

Mass produce your Christmas cards for family and friends. 

Mass Producing Holiday Cards, Eloise Blue

To me, mass producing cards isn’t always about how long it takes me to make a set of cards. It's not about giving myself the challenge to make 10 cards in 30 minutes, for example. To me, it’s about using my time more wisely, thinking about how I can make cards more easily, and whether it’s worth it to make it several times while my supplies are out. If I can make four cards in two and a half hours versus one card in two hours, that’s a much better use of my time. And it gives me so many more cards to give! In this class, I’m going to share six different ideas to easily mass produce your cards. Mass producing cards around the holiday season is such an effective way to give out as many cards to family, friends, and co-workers as possible—without it taking you a ton of time of create.

Stay on top of your tasks this year with expert organization. 

Plan Your Christmas, Cara Vincens

It's the season of hour-long wrapping sessions, endless to-dos to get everything ready, rushing to yet another Christmas/holiday/winter performance and dropping into your seat with an exhausted sigh after dropping your child backstage five minutes late and getting one of "those" looks from her teacher as you try to comb her hair with your fingers and rub the traces of spaghetti sauce off her face with your thumb. Then, there is more wrapping, last minute bake-a-thons at 11 pm and careless gift purchases to replace that perfect, well thought out, meaningful hand-knit cardigan in your sister's favorite color that you only got ⅔ finished.

Hi, I'm Cara, and I've been there, done that, and bought the reindeer antlers. Stressful Decembers suck! You can learn from my experience, and enjoy the Christmas season instead of simply surviving it. I want you to really celebrate the season instead of only concentrating on getting it all done in time. With careful planning, simplifying, and starting early, the Christmas season does not have to be a big, stressful rush.

Add a personal touch with creative gift wrapping. 

Wrap It Up, Kelly Purkey

'Tis the season to be jolly! The holidays are literally right around the corner, so it's time to start thinking about getting crafty for December. I think I enjoy the gift wrapping part of gift giving more than the shopping, so it was fun for me to put together five ideas to share with you. These use some of my new favorite stamps from my Clearly Kelly line in collaboration with Hero Arts. Let's get stamping and wrapping!

Get the most out of your stamp sets by creating both birthday and holiday cards.

Double Take, Lisa Spangler

This is the third class in my year-long birthday series where I show you how to get MORE from your stamps and supplies by repurposing them in different ways. Since Christmas is right around the corner, I'm going all out in this class and sharing TWO takes on each card—one for birthdays and one for the holidays! I just have to tell you that this topic is near and dear to me. You see, my birthday is December 17th (not saying the year, LOL!), and I discovered that Santa didn't exist when I noticed that my birthday presents and the ones Santa delivered were wrapped with the same paper! I guess I was a paper nerd even back then. (Don't let this tragedy happen to any kids you know!) :)

Get tips for documenting your holidays in pocket page format. 

Beyond Everyday | Holidays, Beshka Kueser

I take a lot of photos during the holidays. Often, the Project Life® dilemma is that we either don't have enough photos or we have too many photos. When it comes to holidays, it's almost always the latter for me. Too often, those photos compete with my weekly photos, and I end up having way more than I can use on a regular spread. I really love those holiday moments and want to showcase them in my Project Life® albums by creating spreads that focus on specific events. This lets me celebrate and document those big moments without compromising my weekly spreads with those everyday moments and keeps me from having to create a whole other album. Instead, I can keep all my memories in one spot in the format I love best. Over the next few lessons, I'll show you how I'm making this happen in my own Project Life® albums so that you too can get more out of (and into) your albums.

Make time for crafting with fun project ideas.

Christmas Crafting "Yule" Love, Ashley Horton

We all know that there is so much to do during the Christmas season, but there is also so much to document, and if you're like me, you need that time in your craft room.  In each lesson, I'll share ideas with you that can speed up your crafting experience and get you at your craft desk, without missing out on any of the holiday festivities.  The ideas in this class can be translated into several crafting projects, whether you're working on layouts, cards, daily December albums, gift wrapping, and more!

Record your family traditions in a mini album.

Christmas Traditions Mini, Carson Riutta

For this class, I was able to realize an idea I’ve had for a while now to document our family’s holiday traditions in mini-album form. December is such a busy month for all of us, and I've always had a hard time managing my memory keeping during this hectic time. Even remembering to take pictures can sometimes be difficult with everything else that has to get done. Needless to say, I’m not the best at keeping up with a December Daily®-type of project. What I really wanted to document in December is not the day-to-day but the meaning and the tradition that we as a family have developed over the years and are continuing to develop going forward.

In this class, I will give you the tools and inspiration to create your own traditions mini album. No matter what you celebrate or how you celebrate, you'll be able to capture the "why" and "how" of your family traditions, and most importantly, you’ll be able to convey the heart that goes into them every year—past, present, and future. 

Are you excited to jump into some holiday crafting? Join these BPC teachers in the classroom and start today! Remember, as a member of Big Picture Classes, you get access to our entire library of classes. Sign up now and start exploring!