Hello and Welcome to December Daily for 2014. If you're new here, December Daily is a memory keeping project in the month of December created by Ali Edwards. Each day, I record one story (photo(s) + Words) and add it to an album creating an overview of this very special season. I endeavor to keep it simple and not over thing Last night I kept repeating that as I worked on a first day that didn't go quite as planned. Below are a few intro pages and Day 1. I'm not quite happy with my cover yet (although it does currently remind me of an Oklahoma sunset). I plan to blog daily, but sometimes I do a couple days at once if we're particularly busy. Welcome to the fun!
I chose to begin my album with this calendar from Ali's Kit. I added lots of glitter glue, number stickers, and more. My "plan" is for this to act link an index and add a note on each day of the subject of that day's story (or stories). The gold dates are roughly when we'll be having celebrations.
This year, Ali suggested a "reason why" type intro page. It is a similar concept to the Journal Your Christmas Manifesto I've don previously. It was a great way to start, for me, as it allowed me to reflect on why I am doing this project and why I like it before I began. The facing page is a large piece of paper from the kit with a little star and glitter tape. I loved the phrase (remind me of a hymn and our general need for more peace) so I wanted it at the outset.
The page design uses a free pdf from Ali's blog . I actually used the same decoration pieces she did as I liked the simplicity and sometimes over do on my own. (See, keeping it simple!) I am actually not showing the back of this page at the moment as it is our Christmas card for the year and as many of the recipients read this blog and I haven't mailed their cards I"m going to keep that piece secret for now.
The next page is this see through transparency printed with stars and a small tag-- again this is Ali's idea, but I really like how it "began" the album after the introductory pieces and how it looks over the pieces for Day 1.
My Day 1 is nothing like Ali's. Day 1 was kind of a rough day here as Brent & E were sick and my Grandpa is also. I was very tired from being up with E and handling all the parenting while Brent tried to recuperate. There were good "firsts" too though -- it was the first day of LEGO Advent Calendars, B's first Spanish lesson, which he loved, and my first day with my new laptop. Technically it is my Christmas present, but we agreed to open it early so I can use it for this project! The writing is all about the firsts (both 1st ear infections and positive firsts) . I only took four pictures all day so this one of M with her beloved LEGO Friends calendar seemed great. Late on the 30th I realized I had no advent calendar for the nearly 2.5 yo E who is now old enough to know he is missing out. I've been cobbling together little somethings for him and next year think we'll move back to one advent calendar for everyone.... problem is the big kids love these so much. We may try to DIY a LEGO Advent Calendar like my friend Chrissie.
Crafting notes - the journaling card is a printable from Ali, I added red stars from SC and filled in the "1" with gold glitter glue. The "Noel" card seemed good for all the language lessons around here. I stamped it in red in on paper from the kit and added these two transparent pieces with redline tape. I possibly should have just glued them as you can slightly see through it. I wanted a transparent/see-through element so I added the "december" word art and then bits of veneer shapes and sequins from my stash. They move around nicely and are currently taped in with washi tape. I did staple the "december" right where I wanted it as it gets burried in the sequins and becomes hard to read when floating.
Most of my foundation pages so far are very similar to Ali's, but not in the same order. I've moved things around based on what I know of our plan for the month and added some pages here and there or changed page configurations. The above is one example. I love this glitter "tree" from her day 2 plan, but it won't work for my Day 2 set up now. I just moved it back towards the back and I'm sure it will find a good home later in the month.
I'm going with the flow and hoping to stay relaxed and keep searching for stories as we move through December. It is a great exercise in experiencing fully each day as well and training for finding the stories I want to tell the rest of the year too. This project is time consuming and sometimes feels huge, but ultimately I love it and the resulting albums. I so glad it is December Daily time again!
I chose to begin my album with this calendar from Ali's Kit. I added lots of glitter glue, number stickers, and more. My "plan" is for this to act link an index and add a note on each day of the subject of that day's story (or stories). The gold dates are roughly when we'll be having celebrations.
Crafting notes - the journaling card is a printable from Ali, I added red stars from SC and filled in the "1" with gold glitter glue. The "Noel" card seemed good for all the language lessons around here. I stamped it in red in on paper from the kit and added these two transparent pieces with redline tape. I possibly should have just glued them as you can slightly see through it. I wanted a transparent/see-through element so I added the "december" word art and then bits of veneer shapes and sequins from my stash. They move around nicely and are currently taped in with washi tape. I did staple the "december" right where I wanted it as it gets burried in the sequins and becomes hard to read when floating.
I'm going with the flow and hoping to stay relaxed and keep searching for stories as we move through December. It is a great exercise in experiencing fully each day as well and training for finding the stories I want to tell the rest of the year too. This project is time consuming and sometimes feels huge, but ultimately I love it and the resulting albums. I so glad it is December Daily time again!
2 comments:
I love that you used the calendar chipboard. I did too and I put the red 25 chipboard on it also but I never even thought to use it as a index. Such a great idea! TFS
It's beautiful!!! I love watching your album take shape every year! And I absolutely adore what you wrote for the Reason Why. I absolutely want to do this too now!
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