The ABCs of Me, You, and Us Challenge January 2026

The ABCs of Me, You, and Us is a brand new challenge for 2026. The first ten months of the year will feature two letters of the alphabet for each month. The last two months of the year will cover three letters each. The monthly letters are a starting point to tell a story about Me (yourself), You (your spouse, partner, specific family member, or a special friend) or Us (you and your spouse/partner, you and a family member(s), or you and a special friend(s). You can use any word that starts with the specific letter to determine what story you want to tell. For example, a city, state, country, continent or area you’ve visited or lived that starts with the letter; a relative whose name begins with the letter; an activity or adventure that begins with the letter, or an adjective that describers the person(s) you’re writing about. You choose whether you want to make a page for just one letter from the month, or all of them. Use your imagination to choose your subject, and begin a new journey of scrapbooking this year. Katie will provide freebies for each letter as the year unfolds. You can this month’s freebie here.

Word Examples:

A: ancestor, Alabama, Arizona, Alaska, Austin, Anchorage, Australia, name of a person that begins with A, anniversary, the months of April or August, adjectives such as amazing, astounding, attractive, etc.

B: backyard, baseball, basketball, bathtub, bicycle, birthday, bride, brother, name of a person that begins with B, Boston, Bakersfield, Baton Rouge, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, etc.

Our Creative and Guest Creative Team Members have created vastly different layouts as you’ll see.

First up is Creative Team Member, Carol (carollee), who created a layout about her husband’s family tartan, Anderson. I love this piece of family history.

For her layout, Carol used Golden Season Solids Paper Pack, Winter Whites Solids Paper Pack, Torn Templates 02, Thin Classic Photo Frames 04, Peace and Joy TransfeNers 03, Banner Strips 01, Color Essentials Mango Ribbons and More, and Layered Bookshelf Overlays 01.

Next up is Creative Team Member Shannon (shannonr) who made this layout about her son’s love of airplanes. Her use of the layered Alpha Templates is perfect for her story.

Shannon used Alphabetized Album Layered Templates, Instant Artsy Arrows 01, Vintage Artistry Everywhere Sentiment Transfers 01, Far and Wide Sentiments Brushes and Stamps 03, Far and Wide Paper Pack, Far and Wide Element Pack, Hand Scripted Traveler Stamp Pack 08, Vintage Artistry Anywhere Ephemera, Layering Sentiments 05, and Tightly Kerned Titles Brushes and Stamps 05.

Guest Creative Team Member, Carol (oldbag165), used both letters on her page about the passing of her dog, who “wrote” the journaling on her page. Such an amazing tribute to a family member.

Carol used the Laurel Grove Collection, Chippy Foundations Paper Pack 07, Stamped Blocks Brushes and Stamps 35, Chippy Metal Plates 01, School Desk Layered Template 02, School Desk Layered Template 03, as well as the Freebie.

Creative Team Member, Rachel (myssp) created an amazing layout of herself and her husband. She featured the letter “A” on her layout as well as the letter “B.” It turns out the letters A and B are their “love check.”

Rachel used Alphabetized Album Layered Templates, Everlasting Remix Paper Pack, Everlasting Remix Element Pack, Love Lasts Brushes and Stamps, Spectrum | Gardenia Botanical Ephemera, Creators Workspace Layered Template 09, Toned Paint Masks 01, Hand Scripted Love Brushes and Stamps, Golden Pretty Element Pack, Hand Scripted Love Letters 01, Lemon Twist Printable Solids Paper Pack, and the Freebie

I, Valerie (nana_vg), found this photo of my husband when he was a Boy Scout. That and the word “brave” are perfect for me to describe how his boy scout experience impacted his future life.

I used Classic Frame Layers 01, Fabulous Fourth Stamp Pack 02, Clean Stitched Borders 03 White, Color Swatch Toast Paper Pack, Palette Textures Paper Pack 19, and the Freebie.

Now, it’s your turn to dive into this new challenge. You may decide to make random layouts for your albums, or as some of us will do, make an entire ABC album that you can put in an album or print as a photo book. You’ll find that both Shannon and I made separate layouts for each letter this month with the intent of making a complete ABC album. You’ll find our other layouts in the challenge gallery. So, look through your photos, check out examples of words you can use to get your creative juices flowing, download the Freebie, and post your finished layout(s) in the ABCs of You, Me, and Us Challenge Gallery as well as in the January 2026 Challenge Participation Thread. I’m excited to see what you create.

You can this month’s freebie here.