Vintage Christmas Daily
Christmas is my favorite time of year and for many years I have documented this time of year is some sort of “December Daily.” It’s been such a fun way to remember how we’ve spent each year during this time. When I first started out doing this kind of thing it was a bit overwhelming and I felt stressed if I couldn’t keep up with the traditional way people were doing these kinds of December Daily albums.
Over the last few years if you’ve followed our blog, you know I have fallen in love with the Traveler’s Notebook system though. It’s refillable, it’s easy to carry with you and it gives you the ability to insert an endless type of journals. Believe me, you can use the Traveler’s Notebooks for so much more than just travel! Because of this, they gave me the freedom I was looking for in journaling because it wasn’t so structured. It allowed me to enjoy the process and be able to do it when and where I wanted to. I didn’t have to have a huge “stash” of supplies, I didn’t have to have a big space to create in and I could take it with me in one small 8 x 4 package that I could easily fit in my purse!
Those are just some of the reasons I teach how to use Traveler’s Notebooks and why I love using them at this time of year to quickly and creatively document our Christmas, as well as my own personal time with the Lord during my morning devotions. I hope you’ll spend a little time with us this month as I blog each week about the process and give you some tips and inspiration for your own “December Daily.”
So for our “Vintage Christmas TN Kit” I am using our Christmas Green Traveler’s Notebook (we have 2 left in stock) and all these fun new and vintage finds we gathered together for all of you from around the world!
Besides all the fun goodies in the kit, we have included 2 inserts: a blank journal and a weekly journal. The blank one I am using for a December Devotional that I’ll share in a little bit. The weekly journal will be where I document what we do each day and add photos and things from the kit. Here’s an example from my first week:
Yes, we had In-N-Out today! It’s a super big deal in my house because we just moved about 2 years ago from California where In-n-Out is in every city, and now we get to have In-n-Out in Colorado… and it was SOOOOO good! Here’s close up of the first week in my weekly journal with some of the items in the kit, plus my Instax photo of Paris from last year. (Yes, I believe we will be back there next year…)
If you haven’t heard of the Instax camera or printer, let me clue you in on a little secret… this is a MUST HAVE!! We originally bought the Instax Camera by Fuji, but the quality of the camera isn’t that great. So when they came out with a printer that prints these “polaroid” type of photos, we were sold! You can hook it up to your phone via an app and print your own camera’s photos, and in much better quality. You can find Instax Camera and the Fuji Instax film on Amazon. I don't have any affiliate link to them, but wish I did… because I’ve told all the ladies who have come to our retreats about these (and we bring them with us to use in our class) and they all love this fun toy!
So now let me tell you what I am doing with the blank journal insert. I usually use those for my devotions each morning throughout the year and it’s basically what I am doing for this month as well. I like to write down a bible verse at the start and then I usually journal my thoughts or something I feel the Holy Spirit has put on my heart each morning after I’ve read the Bible. Last month I bought Ruth Chou Simons “Advent Cards” and as I was starting on the first one, I realized that that would be a great source to add to my devotions this month. So if you don’t have these Advent cards, don't worry… I would recommend going onto Pinterest and finding an Advent devotional or Bible verse challenge that you could follow along with and write in your journal. Or you could read one chapter of Luke each day and journal one of the verses that touched you the most.
This is my December 1st devotional page. I wrote out the verse from the Advent card for the day and then journaled on the other side of the page. It’s somewhat personal, so I’m not sure I will share all of my pages on here, but I wanted to show you how easy I make this on myself. It doesn’t have to take a ton of time. The artwork was just a very quick watercolor tree scene and some white paint pen on top. I’ll probably do something quick and easy with watercolor or add some fun embellishments from the kit throughout this devotional journal. I leave it pretty open each day and if I can’t do every day, I really don’t worry about it. I know life gets in the way of our creative time, and our devotional time. This is supposed to be fun and special, so in a way I really have let go of the “have to” of it and embrace the “get to” about it. When I can take the time to be creative, I do. But to me the more important time is starting my day in God’s Word and writing down what He is showing me. That doesn’t need any art… just an open heart.
As I mentioned above, we only have 2 Traveler’s Notebooks left in stock, but we will be getting more sent to us in the New Year from our friends who make them for us in Bellagio, Italy. We also only have 5 Vintage Christmas TN Kits left in stock, so if you still want one of those you can order them here.
We really want to thank each one of you that has ordered from our new shop! It has been so much fun to get it going and see all of the orders come in! That was such a sweet gift to us to see all your support.
We will have more beautiful things coming to our shop next year but we wanted to let you know that when an item sells out, they most likely won’t be restocked. We want to make sure we curate beautiful and unique items for our kits and we want them to be special for those that receive them. Just like in our old “kit club” days, each month that we brought a kit to you, it was unique and one-of-a-kind. So these “Italy in a Box” kits as well as our Traveler’s Notebook Kits will be just like that, and we hope you will love that we want to create something unique, just for you!
We are busy shipping out all our orders this week, but we want you to know we still have some items left and can ship them out at any time for you. They make great Christmas presents, but they can be bought for any occasion. We have a few “Italy in a box” mystery kits left of each kind and we’ve found a better shipping rate for the boxes that is reflected in the shipping details when you check out.
Next week I will share more of my Vintage Christmas TN kit and how I am continuing to use it throughout the month.
I hope you enjoy this TN Christmas kit. We would love to see photos of what you do with it! If you would like, you can send us an email via the Contact page and show us your creativity!
Also, if you receive one of our Italy boxes, we would love to see your “reveal” or any photos of your unpacking the kit. Let us know if we can share it on our IG so others can see it too!
Have a GREAT day,
Laura McCollough