December Daily -- Oh my! I've wanted to participate in documenting our holiday season for years now, but it always seemed just too far out of reach. Last year, I switched over to Project Life and thought, maybe this year? But a 2 month old baby made it very difficult to prepare and think though the project. So I scrapped that idea. Going into this fall season, I started to seriously think about doing some type of DD album. By September, I was determine that this project would be part of our holiday season. Now on to the hard questions:
Dates
Most people do their DD album from Dec 1st to 25th. But I knew I would be back in Indiana from Thanksgiving on. And we have a ton of activities the night before Thanksgiving (hometown tree lighting), the day after (tree decorating), and the weekend after (activities with the twins). I didn't want to limit my album to just December. So I've decided to run my DD album from Nov. 24th (when I fly to Indiana) to Dec. 31st. To me that time period is the holiday season.
Size and Format
Most people go with a mini album (6x8 or 6x6). I pulled out a 6x8 PL album I had bought on clearance awhile back. It could work... But as I started planning out the other aspects of DD, I realized that I am not a mini album type of person. I didn't want to be looking through our family PL album and then have to switch over to the mini album for Thanksgiving on. I ultimately decided that I would just dedicate regular 12x12 pages in our PL family album to DD. I'm planning on featuring four days per page protector (two on each side) plus on one page for Thanksgiving activities. Plus I want to do some type of cover page. Nothing super fancy, but just a little introduction to that section of the album. I planned it out and they should all fit into our 2014 Volume 2 album. When I get back from Indiana, I'll be all ready to start my 2015 Volume 1 album.
Paper, Embellishments, Stamps, and Washi Tape
Now on to the fun part... I started with gathering my Christmas supplies, but realized that I wasn't in love with most of it. This led to a huge shopping spree online. Some of those supplies ended up being dedicated to the three Christmas memories albums I am creating for mom, MIL, and grandma. But I did keep a fair amount just for my album. I was going to included stamped images (I have a fair amount of Christmas stamps), but that would require hauling them all to Indiana with me and I already have two suitcases full of crap. Ultimately I decided to stick with journaling, stickers, and other non-stamp embellishments. I did make sure to pack my washi tape!
Deadlines
I'm not going to stress out about getting every day done every day. Instead, my goal is to be 80% finished by the time I fly back to California. I want to do all of the journaling, but if I don't get to the embellishments right away, that's okay. I do want to have all of the pages finished by the end of January. I think that's doable...