December Daily 2014: Days 3 - 6

Hello everyone. I'm back today with a few more pages from my December Daily. 

Day 3:

Sorry about the glare on the photo. I can't quite figure out the best way to photograph pocket pages.

Day 4:

The pocket cards for Days 3 and 4 are from the Be Merry collection from American Crafts. 

Day 5:

On this page, I used the Good Cheer collection from Elle's Studio. It's an adorable line. 

Day 6:

This cute paper is from the Oh, Deer! collection from Fancy Pants Designs. 

Truth in blogging: we made the ornaments last year, but kept them current for this year's December Daily with journaling that says: We love making ornaments. Cory and I made these reindeer last year and they are still our favorites. 

I think it's perfectly fine to use photos from previous holidays as they all contribute to what make Christmas special to us. 

You can see Days 1 - 2 on this post. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a holiday layout and on Friday with more pages from my December Daily.  

Well, hello December!

December does this every year:  I blink and it’s here! 

December is ushering in lots of exciting things.  The new issue of PaperHaus magazine is out and it’s amazing.  I’m excited to be a contributor. You can see the new issue here.  The PaperHaus blog is giving away 12 great prizes, one prize a day for the first 12 days of December. Be sure to hop over there and leave a comment. Today’s prize is from Prima.

December 1 also marks the day for sneak peaks for the new kits at My Creative Scrapbook. Below is a sneak at one of my projects.  The full reveal is December 5 and the Design Team has outdone itself.  The holiday projects are amazing and we'll have tips and tutorials on the blog every day this month.

Last year, I decided to document my family’s holiday season with a December Daily.  It was the first time I undertook the project and I’ll be honest: I didn’t finish.  So this is the year!  The year to finish last year’s December Daily that is.

I did journal every day last year and I put a post it note in my December Daily of what we did. So even though I didn’t finish the album, I have a good record of what we did and for most days, I printed the photos, and slipped them in the page protectors too.  But since I didn’t have all my foundation pages premade, I found I just couldn’t keep up.

So, this year on my blog, I am going to post each day of my 2011 December Daily. Some days will be pages I’ve already done and some will be new pages that record last year’s activities.   When I get to December 25, I will have completed my 2011 December Daily. Yay!  That’s the plan anyway.

I started my December Daily with a photo from outside the house looking in.  I used an Ali Edwards template for 6x8 pages and followed her general design. Every day except Dec. 1 has a foundation page on the left and a journaling/photo page on the right. 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your December is off to a great start!

The Days of December Daily

I’m having such fun with my December Daily and have surprised myself with just how much I am enjoying this process. It makes me smile to mark down a little something each day. Life with a toddler seems to pass by in a blur and it’s really refreshing to pause and reflect on the day.

Day 1 is the only entry that isn’t a two-page spread. Here I wrote a little note to welcome December and to say how much I’ve always enjoyed the holiday season. I added this little pic through our window from the outside looking in to literally give a peek at our life.

Day 2 tells the story of being just a little over-ambitious with the Advent calendar. My son, who’s 2, love blocks and puzzles and I thought the Lego City advent calendar would be right up his alley. Sure, the box said it was for ages 5 - 12 but I thought, how hard can a Lego project be? Um, turns out, pretty hard! Definitely not suitable for a 2 year old. I could foresee a meltdown every day: his and mine! So, we boxed that baby right back up and went to plan B. (See Day 4 for more on the story).

On Day 3, we went to the annual Christmas luncheon at church. I used the program as my page insert. It was a little too narrow, so I added a bit of pp down the side. On the right, I wrote down who sat at our table and journaled about the program. I added a couple photos I took with my iphone, including one of Cory outside on the swing set afterwards.

By Day 4, I had found a good alternative to the Lego advent calendar. Now, a small stuffed mouse and some candy canes are marking the passing days. This calendar is from 1987, I believe, and is one my Mom used when my youngest siblings were tots. I looked online to see if I could find more information about this specific calendar, sold by Avon, and was astonished to see several sellers on ebay asking more than $100 for this “vintage” item.

If you have a December Daily, feel free to link yours in the comments. I'd love to see it!

Supply list:

Echo Park: Holly Jolly - 6x6 pad, 12x12 collection kit, chipboard, stamps; Metro Dots and Stripes - 6x6 pad, 12x12 collection kit; Season’s Greetings 12x12 collection kit, chipboard, brads; Everybody Loves Christmas 12x12 collection kit.

American Crafts: Album

Ali Edwards: calendar overlays

Hambly: Transparencies

Bo Bunny: ribbon

Fancy Pants: ribbon

Cosmo Cricket: tiny type

Jenni Bowlin: letter stickers

Martha Stewart: kraft tags

The Twinery: twine

Making Memories: Buttons

My Mind’s Eye: Stamps

Ranger Industries: Ink

Sewing Machine: Bernina
Kit club: Studio Calico

December Daily Foundation Pages: Part 2

I'm back today with more foundation pages in my December Daily.  To see the first round of pages, go here.

I used a small American Craft album that came with the Studio Calico December Daily kit.  The page protectors in the album measure 6 x 8.5 inches.  I love this size.  It's such a fun little canvas to work on. The Studio Calico kit also came with patterned paper, but I put that aside and used Echo Park collections instead.

Each day (except Day 1) is a two-page spread.  On the right, is a calendar page (purchased from Ali Edwards) and on the left is a page I decorated using Echo Park.  I sewed a frame around each page on the left to mimic the border around the calendar page on the right.

Here's December 6:

I just love those snowflake papers in the Holly Jolly line.  I took both papers (the muted one and the colorful one) and quilted them together using a square punch and a zig zag stitch.  The snowman is from the Holly Jolly chipboard.  I followed Ali's lead and added a transparency divider between each spread.

December 7: 

On this day, I will journal about getting our Christmas tree.  Love this fun paper and that cute journaling card.  I never remember Christmas trees being $2 though!  I think I will include a receipt on this page for our tree as a nice comparison.

December 8: 

This is the "Glad Tidings" paper from the Holly Jolly line.  It spells out some of my favorite Christmas traditions:  present time, a cup of cocoa and mistletoe kisses!

December 9:

On this page, we'll post our Christmas wish lists. Ali had a good idea on her blog to list not only our kids' Christmas wishes but to list our own as well.  I'll journal those on the calendar page.

December 10:

Here, I'll document a favorite family tradition: hanging stockings for each member of the family. Most of our stockings are homemade and I loved seeing them overflowing with goodies on Christmas morning.

Do you have a December Daily in the works?  If so, feel free to link yours in the comments. I'd love to see your version.

Supply list:

Echo Park: Holly Jolly - 6x6 pad, 12x12 collection kit, chipboard, stamps; Metro Dots and Stripes - 6x6 pad, 12x12 collection kit; Season’s Greetings 12x12 collection kit, chipboard, brads; Everybody Loves Christmas 12x12 collection kit.

American Crafts: Album

Ali Edwards: calendar overlays

Hambly: Transparencies

Bo Bunny: ribbon

Fancy Pants: ribbon

The Twinery: twine

Making Memories: Buttons

My Mind’s Eye: Stamps

Ranger Industries: Ink

Sewing Machine: Bernina