Blogging Break

It's the Monday before Christmas so that mean's it time for my annual blogging break. I like to take the two weeks around Christmas to recharge away from the blog. I'll be back after the New Year with my 2014 wrap-up posts and new content.

December Daily Pages: Day 1-13

Read my first post here... I jumped into this project with little set plans. So far, this fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants approach has worked. Every few days I print some pictures and sit down with my travel craft kit. So far I've almost completed the first 13 days of December.

My favorite part of this spread is the panel below. I love this candid picture of Arthur crawling through the island at my in laws' house.

Obviously I am using a big assortment of papers and embellishments. My PL spreads don't feature only one kit or card set. Instead, I love mixing and matching. The same is true for my DD album. I pulled all my Christmas supplies to use for this project.

No pictures from the night mom and I saw The Nutcracker, but I had to include the event. I went with my ticket stub and these fun silver glitter letters. Love it!

Any cute candid pic of Arthur to include in the album. I even included a few heart stickers despite my more traditional color scheme.

The next few days I took a slightly different approach. Not much journaling, but I love these little pictures.

You might notice that there is a blank insert at the top middle. Somehow I forgot to print the picture of our Christmas tree. I'll print it on the next go round. I also somehow lost the #9 for the top left insert. Guess I will have to recreate it once i get home.

Another missing photo. I forgot to print my picture of my Starbucks red cup... Guess I will print it next week. Other than that, I dedicated the rest of the page to our visit with the reindeer and Santa at the Botanical Gardens. I love these pictures!

Favorite panel of the page. Just look at the look on Arthur's face!

Sunday Haul #24

I finally got my order from rukristin from her Black Friday sale. Actually it came last week, but I sent it to the in-law's house and they were away for a few days. So, I finally got it in my hands last night... So excited to start using the Currently stamp and post-its. And loving those little arrows.

Christmas Gift: DIY Calendar

Two years ago I made my grandma and mom homemade calendars. They were great presents, but pretty time consuming. Because of the move, I wasn't going to make these this year. Last minute, I decided to just do one for my grandmother. Before I left for Indiana, I raided my craft stash for appropriate papers and embellishments. In the end I ended up pulling enough supplies for probably 60% of the project. I packed it all up and got on the plane. Once in Indiana I hit up Michaels for the rest of the supplies and set to work making the pages. The idea is that each page has a spot for a picture to be added later. Once all the supplies were gathered, it didn't take me that long to actual make the project. Here are the completed pages:

December Daily Pages: Cover and Pre-December

As I arrived in Indiana on Nov. 24th, I decided that my DD album would start then... I didn't want to leave out the holiday related festivities just because they happened in November. My cover page isn't completed yet. I need to capture a good picture of my three boys to add in the bottom right corner. But otherwise, I love the fun little inserts I made. My favorite is the top right with all of our names.

The first real page documents the night before Thanksgiving fun. The city has a big event where they light all the decorations. The best part is the lighting of Santa and his reindeer. Arthur was in awe of it. The night was chilly but not freezing (a big change from some years). We even ran into my stepmom, sister, brother-in-law, and brother at the courthouse. My favorite embellishment is those glitter snowflakes I bought on a whim at Michael's. They really add to that panel.

Thanksgiving day we watched the parade, had dinner, and went to local hockey game. Just like we always do. It was a nice relazing day. My favorite panel is the pic I caught of Arthur and his Great Grandma Frances. Simple embellishments complete my page.

The last page for today highlights our weekend activities. The twins and I saw Big Hero 6 and we all went to Science Central to see the train exhibit. Arthur especially loved the water table. I wasn't going to use those reindeer in my album, but they seemed just right for the panel with Arthur's reflection. I'm especially loving the washi tape on this page.

Sunday Haul #23

A small week. I rerouted a few of my monthly subscriptions to arrive at my mom's in Indiana, but a few are going to the new house in California. I'll have to wait until I get back to play with those supplies. I did get my Paper Issues Swag Bag while here. The best part are the monthly cards. An entire pack of them! They will be perfect for my new monthly PL format.

Travel Craft Kit

I knew I wanted to take some crafting supplies with me while visiting in Indiana... but how to do it? After perusing some ideas online, I latched on to the idea of using a makeup bag. They are a great size. They have multiple compartments. And most importantly, they aren't hugely expensive! I went to Target and grabbed this cute Orla Kiely makeup bag with nice handles.

Then I went to town filling it will my supplies... First up was my tools and writing implements. I used one of the side pockets and filled it will markers, journaling pens, pens, paper piercers, knife, and lots of adhesives.

The opposite side pocket holds all my small embellishments and accessories. Packed in there I have sequins, washi tape, stamps (Paper Pumpkin for Nov and Dec), glitter glue, enamel dots, etc.

The middle section holds some post it notes (always handy for planning out my PL pages) and loose paper. I had some extra sheets for the December memories albums, so I put them in here for safe keeping.

Finally I added my few ziploc bags. One bag has die cuts for the December memories albums. Another bag has my December days numbers. And yet another holds some stickers, enamel dots, and more die cuts.

The bag barely closes, but that's okay! Most of these crafting elements will be used in the multiple December albums I'm creating. It should be a lot less full come January.

December 2014 Crafting Goals

A recap of last month’s goals:

30 Days of Pinterest Projects – Fail. Life just got away from me this month. I had too many other set projects (December Daily, Christmas cards, etc). Plus, moving required me to pack a majority of the house with a one year old in tow. I just couldn't spend any time or brain power to completing this challenge. Maybe in the spring...
30 Days of Gratitude — Success! I finished a card for each day. The last week's cards are ready to be placed in my album when we get back from Indiana.
Finish my Christmas cards – Success! I finished and sent them before Thanksgiving. Crazy I know, but it was the only way it was going to get done.
Catch up with PL before leaving for Indiana – Fail. I didn't get the last two weeks done. Thankfully I made some notes and left space in my album so I get these done right away in January.
Create a travel DD kit to work on in Indiana – Success! I took a makeup bag from Target and made a nice little travel kit. Love it! I'll have to share my kit organization next week.
Make calendars to give as gifts — Fail... well a 50% fail. I have one started and about 60% done, but I need to get a few more things to finish it. Thankfully I have all of next month.
Destash before Thanksgiving – Success! I do a great job at sorting through my craft stuff before it was boxed. Unpacking and creating my new craft space in January should be a breeze.

This month’s goals:

30 Days of December Daily -- First time tackling this project. I've got my travel kit of supplies and the base pages. Now to get moving documenting the days.
Finish grandma's calendar -- About 60% done at the start of December. I can definitely finish this one before Christmas.
Finish the December Memories albums -- Ambitious, but I want to give everyone their completed albums by the 31st.
Finish my year end posts before my blogging break on Dec. 22nd -- I will be taking a blogging break from 12/22 to 1/6, but first I want to get my posts finished for the start of 2015.
Create a 2015 blog plan and ideas list -- Always part of my blogging break activities. You won't see posts up during the break, but I am working behind the scenes.
Make a organization plan for my new craft space -- I didn't get to unpack before flying to Indiana, but I have pictures of the space and some ideas. Now to really think about and plan what I want. I forsee some Ikea items and maybe a trip to The Container Store.
Start/plan my PL journal planner -- Oh Life went out of business so I needed a different way of documenting daily activities to use for PL. I bought a planner that fits in the diaper bag, but right now it's unadorned and plain. I need to jazz it up and plan how I really want to use it.

30 Days of Gratitude: Days 26-30

For the first time, I'm participating in 30 Days of Gratitude. I even joined a FB group with other listers. While many use mini albums to document, I created a simple insert to my regular PL pages. You can see my prep work in this post. Once the month started, I realized that I did't really want the extra duty of picture taking, so I'm going strictly with journaling. I thought I would share my daily cards and a few extra decorative ones.

Day #26: Without modern medicine, I may not have had three healthy children...