Along with the joy of the next few months of anticipation for Christmas day comes a fury of planning, shopping, cooking, celebratory events, and decorating. And maybe you even throw a little gift-making in there as well. No matter where your holiday traditions take you, having a way to keep all those gift lists, grocery lists, and little magazine clippings organized is a necessity if you don't want your joy taking a backseat to chaos.

With the advancements in electronic handheld devices and the abundance of holiday inspiration ideas on the internet, it is possible to keep all that information neatly compiled without the need for anything other than what you already depend on to keep your days organized. However, if compiling lots of scraps of paper is more your forte, having a method of keeping them under control is essential. With the help of some Fiskars punches and the beautiful vintage inspired products of Graphic 45 I've created my solution for this Christmas season. The Graphic 45 Kraft Envelope Album I used is created from a stack of nice-sized enveloped bound together with a spiral binding

After determining the placement of the stamps I chose from the Fiskars Accents, Vintage Christmas, and the Season’s Greetings Simple Stick™ Repositionable Rubber Stamps sets, I removed them and used a yellow mist on just flap of the Envelope Album.

After that I began layering papers, both cut with the Fiskars LED SureCut™ Folding Rotary Paper Trimmer and punched using a variety of the different types of punches available.

For the cover of the Envelope Album, I used the Large and X Large Cameo Appearance Squeeze Punches and the [ snowflake ] Seasonal Border punch.

Under the cover flap I used the Tag XX Large Lever punch, the Round 'n Round X Large Squeeze Punch, the X Large Cameo Appearance Squeeze Punch, the [ bell ] Seasonal Squeeze Punch, and the Effervescence Border Punch.

I kept the embellishment of each of the interior envelopes consistent in structure but used different papers for each one. I have in my Envlope Album for gift list.

There is a category for foods to make. This can include recipe cards I find in stores, recipes I clip from magazines, grocery lists, weekly menus, baking lists, or anything else related to food preparation I will be doing during the season.

There is a category for stocking stuffers. Stockings are a big deal in our house so I'm always on the look-out for gifts that are personalized to my kids' interests.

All of these were embellished using the X Large and Large Cameo Appearance Squeeze Punches, the XX Large Tag Lever Punch, and the Effervesence Border Punch.

Since I put a lot of layering into the embellishment of my Envelope Album, it turned out to be very dimensional, which I love in a project. But this leaves it prone to a lot of wear and tear when carried around in a purse and being heavily used, as an organizer should be! So I created this simple drawstring pouch to protect it.

It's made by cutting two 18 inch x 8.5 inch rectangles of fabric and stitching them, right sides together and using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, along one side of the bag. You can either neatly hem the top edge of the bag by folding it over 1/2 inch two times and then stitching along the length of the fold to hold it in place or, if you prefer a more worn look with edges that are unraveling, you can just stitch 1/2 inch from the top edge of the bag. This will allow the edge to unravel a bit for a nice frayed look but the stitching will prevent it from unraveling too much.

Next, cut a 16 inch x 1.5 inch piece of fabric. Again you can hem the long edges by folding them over 1/4 inch or you can leave them to unravel. You will want to fold each of the short ends over 3/4 inch to prevent them from unraveling. This will make the strip of fabric too short to reach both side edges of the bag and this is the way it should be. On the right side of the fabric (if you're using muslin and not sure which side that it, it's the side without the seam allowances), center the fabric strip between the edges and pin it to the bag so it is 4 inches from the top edge of the bag. Stitch along both the top and bottom edges of the strip. Do not stitch the sides of the strip down.

Fold the bag with the right sides together. Starting at the top of the bag, using a 1/2 inch seam allowance stitch the side and bottom of the bag closed making sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of your stitching. You can use pinking shears to trim your seam allowances and prevent them from unraveling.

Turn the bag right side out and string a length of ribbon through the casing on the bag. When you pull the ends of the ribbon you will see that you have created a drawstring bag for your Envelope Album. If you are an electronic organizer but enjoy creating with paper, this book would make a great holiday gift for a teacher.

Thank you to Graphic 45 for providing all of the materials (with the exception of the red letter stickers on the cover) for this project.