December Daily 2015

This is the third year that I am trying to put together a December Daily album.  The 2014 album is in the basement - all the pages are done and it just needs photos (maybe a project for 2016).  The 2015 album is on my desk and just needs to have a few pages done (definitely a project for 2016).  But I think this is the year I will finish an album during (or close to) the holiday season.

I think one reason I struggle with the project is because I don't really do much pocket scrapbooking.  I have a hard time acheiving balanced pages.  So this year I decided to do a two page spread for each day - a 6x8 layout and one pocket page.  I am hoping this layout will make the process more comfortable for me. 

I also took the time to make foundation pages ahead of time (starting with Thanksgiving and ending on January 1).  The idea never made sense to me since I didn't know what we would be doing each day.  But I thought I would take a lesson from the experts and give it a try this year.  Maybe that is the secret to finishing the project.

So that just left choosing an album.  I originally wanted to use the pink and gold album from the SevenPaper Clara collection - but I couldn't find page protectors.  So I bought the Studio Calico South of Market handbook from a few years ago - I thought the grey herringbone design would provide a great canvas for a fun cover.   In the end I had both albums and couldn't choose.  My family was split. 

I finally went with the pink album because I thought it would be harder to use on another project.  The gold deer is from Heidi Swapp and the acrylic title and stars are from Colorcast Designs .  (You have to check out their website - seriously drool-worthy). 

So now I just have to make an effort to take and print photos regularly - if I do that, this album should finish itself, right?

If you have any tricks for finishing a December Daily album, I'd love to hear them.  I'll be keeping you posted on my progress this month.

Thanks for stopping by.

December Daily-ish - Finally Starting

 Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Now that I've bored you silly all week with talking about how I picked supplies and how I am storing my supplies, I am finally going to share a page.  I chose a page protector with 12 2x2 pockets for my title page.  I wanted to be able to do something fun and use a variety of supplies to set the tone for the project. 

I star

I started by cutting 5 2x2 pieces of paper and used the oversize gold alphas from Pebbles to add the letters in the word "merry."  Then I started to pull embellishments to the different pockets.  Here are some highlights:

• The gold glitter tag is also from Pebbles.  I added the year with some small alphas for a custom look.  It is stapled into the pocket.  I left the string sticking out the top for now.  I am thinking I might have some other ribbons sticking out by the time the album is done, but if I don't I will trim the twine later.  And I glued a snowflake wood veneer on the back of the tag so it's pretty on the back side of the page too.
• Those puffy gold stars are scraps from trim that came in an old Studio Calico kit.  They are stapled into place also.
• That black plastic strip that says "celebrate" came in the November Studio Calico card kit.  I used adhesive to attach it to the top of the page protector.  And I put a corresponding piece that says grateful on the other side of the page protector in the same place.  Since Thanksgiving will be on the other side of  this, it should work perfectly.
• The sequins are from my stash.  I started with some of the red stars from Studio Calico - one of the embellishments I chose for my kit -- and added others from my stash.  I mixed sizes and colors.  And since I don't have a sewing machine, I used glossy accents to glue the pocket closed.
• The chipboard frame is from Crate Paper and the little wood heart is from the Atlantic collection by Studio Calico.  They are both attached to a small transparency square that slides in the pocket.  And another frame and another heart are attached to the back side.
• The wood veneer star is just floating in the pocket for now.  If it doesn't want to stay in I will staple it, but for now it works.
• The last square is a piece of white card stock that I covered with different washi tapes placed randomly.  The tape with words is holiday masking tape that came in one of the November scrapbook add ons from Studio Calico.

The back side of the page serves as a foundation page for Thanksgiving.  I will use patterned paper and small photos in the pockets that don't hold embellishments.

 I think I will use a full 6x8 page protector on the page opposite. 

Don't forget to leave a comment for an entry into my holiday themed giveaway.  This is the last day to enter.

Thanks for stopping by.

December Daily-ish - Getting Organized

So now that I've pulled all that pretty paper and all the fun embellishments out, I need a way to store them.  I know lots of people use pretty trays with little bowls and I love that idea.  But the only place I would have to leave the tray is on my desk and this isn't the only project I will work on over the next month or two.  And I love the idea of using muffin tins - vintage or new - to sort embellishments.  But again - where am I keeping the muffin ins?

So I needed a solution that would allow me to put the project away when I wasn't working on it.  I looked at an empty iris box in the basement, but it wasn't big enough and I wasn't sure how I would keep the supplies organized.  And, to be honest, I am always looking for an excuse to by organizing stuff.  So off to Michaels I went. 

I found an Iris box that is twice as deep as the standard boxes I already have.  I liked that because I could close it up and put the box away.  And with the extra depth, I was pretty sure I could fit all my supplies.  But I still wanted to be able to sort embellishments.  So I was super excited to find a tray with adjustable dividers that fit in the iris box.  And storage was on sale and I had a coupon for 25% off my total purchase.  Those suckers were coming home with me. 

The bottom of the box holds my papers and large embellishments.  I also put in the container of leftover paint from my cover.  I can dig through those supplies easily and everything goes right back in.

I even used a box from a Studio Calico project life kit in the bottom of the box.  It holds the project life cards I pulled out and is easy to dig through.  And I don't have to worry about the cards scattering all over the box.

The tray fits on top of the supplies in the bottom of the box.  I used the adjustable dividers to create the compartments that fit my supplies.  I even divided up the die cuts so that vellum, acetate, and traditional die cuts so I can find what I want quickly. 

When I'm not working on the album, I close up the box and put it away.  And if I do want to go somewhere else to work on my album with friends, I can grab the box and go.  It's not as pretty as those trays with bowls, but it fits my needs perfectly.

Oh you may have noticed that the album itself doesn't fit in the box.  I put all the page protectors in the album and keep it on my desk.  I like to stand it up so that the cover is a little bit like having a decoration on my scrap desk.

Don't forget to leave a comment for an entry into the holiday themed giveaway.  And thanks for stopping by.

December Daily-ish - Embellishments.

Yesterday I talked a lot about the paper choices I made for my album.  Today I'm talking about embellishments .  As I thought about embellishments, I came up with the following principles to help choose embellishments:

• I wanted a mix of holiday and non-holiday themed embellishments
• I wanted a mix of textures and colors
• I didn't want to end up with a lot of things to put away when the project was done.

Again I looked at the different kits out there to see what appealed to me.  For instance I love seeing holiday words in script form so I was excited to find some heidi swapp holiday word stickers in my stash.  And I may well buy some cut files so I can play with this look more.

I also realized that I am going to work on my album here at home most if not all the time.  And my scrap room organization is about having things where I can see them since I use what I see.  But my holiday embellishments are stored in two Iris boxes and are hard to dig through.  So I decided to focus on pulling holiday embellishments and adding reminders of non-holiday themed embellishments to my kit rather than pulling everything I might want to use.  (Remember - I don't want a lot to put away at the end of the project.)

So here is a photo that gives you a feel for the embellishment mix I've chosen.

 Here are the items I've chosen:

• die cuts - a mix of traditional, vellum, and acetate pieces so I can add a variety of textures
• rub-ons - I love using rub-ons lately, especially directly on a photo since I don't have access to photoshop.  Those gold star rub-ons were from Chic Tags last Christmas
• bags, pockets, folders and envelopes - perfect for creating inserts to hold journaling and memorabilia
• trim - I pulled a mix of ribbons and twine
• tags - love those gold glitter tags from Pebbles
• flair - a mix of traditional flair, cameos from Webster's Pages that were in my stash and those Glitz giant gems.
• washi tape - a variety of colors, widths, and textures
• wood veneer - both painted (from Basic Grey's 25th and Pine collection) and unfinished
• frames - I love frames in pockets, on inserts and on top of page protectors.  They are a great way to add dimension.  I have a mix including Crate paper, Studio Calico and My Minds Eye
• That fabric tag from an old Basic Grey collection was in my stash.  I added it specifically for the texture.
• Stickers
• Enamel dots (I found those gold and silver ones from Teresa Collins at JoAnns but have easy access to lots of colors and sizes)
• sequins - the stars from Studio Calico's Magical collection are in my kit, but again, lots of colors and sizes are in easy reach
• stickers - these are from the 25 days class kit but I have other holiday themed stickers in my kit also
• buttons - the holiday themed ones are from Fancy Pants, but my button bowl is right by my desk.

And of course, every album needs some alphas.  I pulled a few I was pretty sure I would use, but will likely go to my stash also.  And I did by the Gossamer Blue plaid alphas just for this project.  Swoon.

And while I am not much of a stamper, I am really working to use my stamps more.  So I pulled my holiday themed stamps out to store with my kit.  Some of these are from the November Studio Calico kits also.

And finally I went through my stash of project life style cards and pulled some that fit with my colors that I thought I might use.  (Since I store my cards by color this was pretty quick to do.)

So by now you should be sick of hearing about my kit.  But just in case you are still interested, I will share a bit about kit organization tomorrow.

Don't forget to leave a comment for an entry into my holiday giveaway.

Thanks for stopping by.

December Daily-ish - Choosing Paper (and a winner)

I've got it together now - I took my December Daily kit pictures over the weekend (when I had daylight), so we are good to go!  As I mentioned before, I am starting my album with Thanksgiving, since that kicks off our holiday season, and I am not worried about documenting every day. (Somedays it is about work, school and sleep at my house - even in December.)  Instead I am focused on capturing our holidays whenever they happen. 

Today I am  talking about paper.  I choose my color palette at the start of this project - if you've forgotten it is a light blue, soft red, black, lime green and pink.  To me it's a modern take on
traditional holiday colors.

So I knew those were the colors that I wanted in my paper choices.  And I've noticed that I am using paper that is not holiday themed for my traditional Christmas layouts more often than not.  But I love Christmas supplies, so I have quite a stash.  So I decided to mix holiday and non holiday papers for this project.  And I looked at the paper choices in the different December Daily kits to get a sense of what the experts chose and what appealed to me the most.  Here are my primary paper choices.

I tried to get a balanced assortment of the different colors in my palette, plus some prints.  I cut them all down to 6x8 sheets (the largest I will use in my snap album).  Many of the choices came from my scrap files.  But in most cases I also ended up with a 4x6 piece that I am also keeping with my kit.

 I know I am going to use gold as an accent through my album.  So I also wanted to choose some papers that added gold.  I love these papers because they bring a mix of textures to the project.  These are also cut down to 6x8.  My favorite might just be the gold glitter stripes from Pebbles.

And then there are some sheets of paper designed to be cut apart into project life style cards.  I left these whole for now since I wasn't sure how I would use them at this part.  But they are a huge value when working on a mini album.  Most of these are from this year's Websters Pages holiday collections (one of my only holiday themed purchases this year), but I've been hoarding that sheet from Studio Calico.

And finally some vellum (I love vellum!!!) - These sheets are from Webster's Pages also.  I've left them whole and will cut them apart when I know where and how I am using them.  That glitter vellum is amazing and that pieces that says "New Year" might just end my album. And while I haven't pulled any for my kit, I have some of the Brighton Pier gold star vellum in my stash and it might just find its way into this album. 

Sorry this got so long, but paper is near and dear to my heart.  Don't forget to leave a comment today for an entry into my holiday themed giveaway. 


Finally a winner

I almost forgot to pick a winner for the blog rebirth giveaway.  Sorry about that!  But this morning I put names in a hat and let my husband pick.  And he picked:

RebeccaNovember 11, 2014 at 8:39 AM

I follow your blog through an app called feedly. So it may not show up on your list of followers, but I am following!!!

Rebecca - please send me your mailing info so I can get this out to you! If I don't hear from you, I will pick a new winner on December 1st.

Thanks for stopping by. 

December 15th

I have one more December Daily layout to share - December 15th marked the start of my baking weekend.  I wanted a bright, happy page for this and was pleased with what I came up with.

 
I'm still trying to finish the shopping and the wrapping and baking.  How are your holiday preparations coming?

My December Daily and December 14th

Last Friday was one of the saddest days I can remember - every time I think about the shooting in Connecticut, I cry.  I came home from work and hugged my kids.  I even made those 6 foot boys give me a hug.  The horror, the loss of those lives and the impact on the families of those lost is incomprehensible.  And the impact on the survivors is beyond my understanding.

In church on Sunday our priest talked about the shooting.  Many people in the congregation (especially Moms) were crying with me.  And I keep thinking about it and I keep crying.

So This brings me to my December Daily - when I started the project, I committed to including the good, the bad and the ugly.  I didn't want to document a perfect holiday - I wanted to document our lives.  But I thought the bad would be a failed recipe, a missing gift, a broken ornament - or even our tree falling over.  I never expected to be touched by a tragedy in Connecticut.  But ultimately, nothing is going to color our holidays this year like the shooting in that school.  So I included it.

Here is the page I put together.  The journaling talks about the tragedy and how it helped me remember the most important things about the holidays - loving each other, hugging each other and respecting each other.

So I am going to keep crying and praying for those families in Connecticut and I am going to focus on what's important with my family as we gather for the holidays. 

December 10 - 13

We haven't finished shopping or wrapping or baking yet - you get the picture.  But my December Daily pages are up to date (its all about priorities) and I wanted to share a few more.

December 10 (Putting up the Old Tree) and December 11 (Elisabeth's school music program)

December 12 (Elisabeth is sick) and December 13 (our Christmas puzzle tradition)

Hope you have a great Monday.  We are shopping right after work today and hoping to get most of the way done. 

December 4 through 9

Just a quick post to share some December Daily Pages -

December 4  and 5 (St. Nick early when Stephen was home) and Taffy's Tree (the tree in the kitchen)

December 6 - St. Nicholas Day

December 7 and 8 - Not sure what is going  on the 7th and our trip to the tree farm

December 9 Putting our tree up and having it fall down (another experiment with transparencies)

I finished pages through the fiftteenth today and will share more later this week.  How's your December Daily coming along?  Hope you had a great weekend.

December Daily - November

How's your December Daily coming?  I wasn't going to do foundation pages because I felt like my paper and embellishment choices should be connected to the pictures.  But I realized that printing pictures every day wasn't going to work for me.  So I've compromised - i am doing foundation pages as the days pass and will print pictures just a few times.  But I'll just have to stick them on the pages and add an embellishment or two when I get them.  I'm even doing some of the journaling as I do the foundation pages. 

This seems to be working pretty well for me.  It's also allowing me to think about which days need one page and which days need two pages.  My foundation pages are done through December 8th.  Today I'm sharing the November pages. 

November 22 (Thanksgiving)

November 23 (journal about Elisabeth's Excitement and Black Friday shopping)

November 24 (22nd wedding anniversary)

November 25 (the tree in Elisabeth's room) and November 26  (Taffy and Sally)

November 27 (Dave's Office Decorations) and November 28 (?)

November 29 (My new scrap desk and the SC secret santa)

November 30 (?)

I'm keeping a list of some things I can fill in with for days when I don't have anything specific.  So far, I'm pretty happy with my pages.  I've had some trouble adapting to the 6x6 format but am getting the hang of it. 

Have a great Monday!

December Daily -Stuck Already?

Saturday night I met a friend from teh Two Peas chat board at ARchivers for a crop.  We had a great time working together, and it was wonderful to make a new friend.  But, I have to admit, I wasn't really in the mood before I went - I didn't know what to take to work on and wasn't really feeling very creative.

So I packed up my December Daily "kit" and album along with my other Christmas scraps and embellishments.  I was going to work on DD pages so I could just drop in my pictures.  Once I got there, I made a huge mess,but couldn't really get started.  So I decided to do something with the inside covers. (Not part of my plan at all)

First I decorated the inside back cover, adding a pocket for extra photos and those photos of friends that come in the mail at the holidays.

I always struggle with what to do with those pictures and now I have a great place to store them so we can look at them in the future.

And then the inside front cover.

I love this Dear Lizzy vellum with the big gold polka dots!

After I did the covers I finished foundation pages through the end of November, created the December dividing pages and figured out how to incorporate a transparency for the first time ever.  All in all, it turned into a productive night.  And here are the lessons learned:

1) When you don't feel like packing up for a crop, it is worth it to go.  Chances are you will enjoy yourself, find some inspiration and get more done than you would at home.

2)  When you're stumped, just start with something - even if you weren't planning on doing it or end up taking it apart later.  Making the first cut and sticking the first thing down will get you going.

I was really glad I went Saturday - I made a new friend and got lots done.  I'll share some of those pages later.  Hope your Tuesday was good and that Wednesday is even better.

December Daily - alphas and trims

So for alphas and trims, I refused to buy anything.  I have a huge stash and really need to use up some of what I have.

So here are the trims I pulled. I tried to focus on both colors and textures (and things I wasn't sure I'd use.)

And for alphas, I raided my stash and pulled those sparkly thickers I buy and then don't use.  (And some not so sparkly for a little variety)

I will use my xyron with the turquoise thickers to make them sticky again.

And for one of my favorite trim products these days - washi!

I feel like I pulled a good variety from my stash to keep with my DD kit (and can always go back to pull something else if I need it for a particular page.)

And now for confessions - I cheated.  When I was at Archivers to get my album, I did buy an alpha that I am keeping with my kit.I just couldn't resist.  What scrappy goodness have you bought despite your best intentions lately?

December Daily - Embellishments

I had big plans - I was going to go through my stash and pull embellishments for my DD - and only use those (or at least mostly).  But I've made several passes and can't seem to edit my choices effectively.  So instead I thought I'd share some things I have pulled that I plan to use - and then we'll see how well I edit

Wood veneer

 

Die Cuts

 

Stickers


Chipboard


Sequins


Shipping Tags


Flair

Miscellaneous Stuff

See - eclectic at best and way too much stuff.   And that's not everything I pulled.  But trying to edit is getting really frustrating and the goal is to complete the project, so I'm going to start and see where I end up.  Are you making a December Daily?  What are some of the embellishments you are thinking about using?