Hold On To The Holidays

Patterned paper in red and green, details of shimmery gold, little star-shaped embellishments and stamped holiday greetings — it was the 16th of January but the workshop table was covered in Christmas cheer! This was how Craft Party PH opened the year. In partnership with Life Documented Manila and with Anna Ignacio as instructor, we held a holiday-themed memory keeping workshop entitled, Hold On To The Holidays, where participants learned how to document their beautiful Christmas and New Year celebrations while still fresh in their memories.

Mia and I thought it would be a great way to jump-start a scrapbooking hobby and a perfect activity to start the year with. We invited Anna to teach because, first, we love her clean and simple scrapbook layouts and second, as a wife and mom, we thought she was someone who has experiences most of our followers could easily relate with, therefore, have the proper documenting tips to give. Then, we brought in LDM to help us put together the right tools and materials to make it a great scrapbooking workshop.

It was very timely too, because LDM was, then, about to release new products in their online shop and have been thinking of ways to introduce them to the public. So, when we asked for their help, they excitedly obliged and proposed to include our event in a pop up they had been planning to do. We thought it was a good idea so we held our workshop side by side theirs at The Open Space in Jupiter Street, Makati. Other avid scrapbookers, some of which I only know of from Instagram, dropped by to shop and it really was nice to get to chat with these lovely people face to face.

It was also a pleasure to have finally met Christine Herrin, one of the founders of LDM, in person. She’s a designer based in San Francisco but was in Manila on vacation. She had brought stocks of her newly released products and sold them that day.

So the kit… (this part makes me sooo giddy!) Our participants used 4×6 Simple Stories binders, which are brand new LDM shop items. Since they’re meant to make holiday themed scrapbooks, LDM included the Becky Higgins’ Deck the Halls Project Life journaling cards to their stash, together with some blank white cards and embellishments. LDM also threw in their original design Paskong Pinoy card set as freebies.

Apart from their kits, there was also a craft supplies buffet filled with alphabet stickers, thickers, stamps, washi tapes and all sorts of Christmas themed paper, embellishments and clear stamps, which workshop participants had unlimited access to during the session. As you can see in the pictures, it sure was a scrapbooking feast!

And what would a morning of crafting be without some coffee? Thanks to Shophouse Coffee Co for giving us our caffeine fill with their Bright Vanilla Cold Brew!

During the session, Anna, very clearly and thoroughly, taught how to create beautiful pocket page layouts. She showed how easy it is to scrapbook the Project Life way, but she also demonstrated how putting in something extra can really make the storytelling more interesting. She gave a number of different layering and embellishing techniques, such as how to make your own journaling cards using stamps and how to make cute little pocket shakers. It was very informative! I absolutely loved all the tips she gave. I see myself using them in my memory keeping throughout the year!

 

It was lovely to see the workshop desk strewn with photos of families, friends, children, presents, parties and traditions. Even lovelier to see were the finished layouts they have created. Everyone seemed to have had a really good time documenting their special holiday moments, playing with the many different tools and materials made available to them. Now, they can look back at their Christmas and New Year celebrations fondly not just through a screen but in a way they can hold on to and literally share to tell a fuller, more detailed story of those precious times.