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Holiday Templates 2011 | Kit Goodies

Holiday Templates 2011 opened for registration yesterday but the workshop began behind the scenes months ago. July to be exact. Five months ago. That’s how long a class, such as this, takes to produce. Six months if you factor in the actual workshop — and even that is cutting it close. In the next few days, I’ll share exactly why with class peeks sprinkled between.

My first order of business was to check in with the template team. Many of them are class alumni and their they’re amazingly honest. We share the same scrapbook philosophy and, like most of us, document the stories of our lives using templates. I asked them what they’d like to see, how could the class improve, what would knock their socks off … and they opened up. Here’s a sampling of the conversation:

We want kits based on traditional holiday colors but with a twist.
And date stamps/stickers. Don’t forget the dates! I can never have enough dates.
And speaking of kits, we want a variety of products — some that fit all-occasion and others that are holiday to the extreme.
We want a classic and modern look too.
We don’t know what we want!
Can you get Liz again?
And Shen. Who is Shen?
She’s the product designer for creashens. Ohhh. Yes Shen!
We want word art and classy patterns. Neutrals, muted tones.
And dates. Did we mention dates?

I loved it and after a bit of brainstorming, I contacted my holiday queen supreme, Liz. Liz has dipped her hands into the template classes since 2009. She’s an excellent co-pilot who seems to know what I’m thinking before I think it. So with her easy-going finesse and after inviting Shen along (because we couldn’t do this without Shen), we dove into the second order of business: kit planning.

At 2 am EST, Liz, Shen and I sat down (digitally) for a Skype call. Yeah folks, two ay em in the middle of July to discuss December goodies. Dedication! All to look at this image:

Kit planning comes down to one thing: inspiration. Colors, texture, feel, connection. This image has nothing to do with the holidays but it’s certainly inspirational. From it, we pulled out a mix of luscious reds, natural greens, teal, neutral ivory and gray plus a bling of gold. Isn’t it weird how one single image can inspire so many ends?

 With colors locked in, the gals began work on their halves of the mega-giant kit in August. Liz with the classic modernist (if that’s even possible) set and Shen with her traditional twist. I love how one offers more cool tones while the other features warmer colors.

One daily lesson shares pages from my team using each kit separately and together. You’ll see the various options from the kit papers and embellies.

I took the creative team’s recommendations for dates to heart and made a pack of teal, brown, and green tabs to match. And I crafted journaling tags, cover art, and a few pieces of super-embellished titles too. All are included as part of the workshop. I’m not sharing all of the pieces because it’s a surprise. Day One will feel like opening new presents on Christmas morning. Isn’t that fun?

Once the kit pieces were connected, I spent what was left of August sketching templates and building the curriculum. We’ll take a look at those tomorrow.

Holiday Templates 2011 | Related Posts

• Registration & Workshop Information Page: includes a full list of the curriculum and additional samples.
• Intro + Seat Giveaway
• Kit Goodies + Color Swatch Inspiration
• Templates + Development
• Special Guests
• Q & A