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.

December Daily Prep - Embellishments

All the pretties!  My favorite part of making my DD album has been choosing all the embellishments that I want! I went a little crazy buying some great supplies, but I imagine that some of it can be used for other projects.

Washi Tape, glitter tape, and glitter snowflakes -- I am not a fan of ribbon anymore. Washi tape it my new addiction.  Somehow I narrowed it down to five rolls of washi: gold chevron, black stripe, red polka dot, green design, and red stripe (in another bag right now). In addition to regular washi tape, I had to buy some great glitter tape. I ended up with silver, gold, and red.  A late addition to the stash was this package of glitter chipboard snowflakes from Michaels.  Love the sparkle!

Die cuts, sequins, and punch outs -- Buried in that pile is a few packages of die cuts that coordinate with some of teh paper.  I also punched out a ton of trees and ornaments from the leftover paper stash.  Oh course I had to include the gold sequins and snowflake shaped sequins to the stash.  You can also spy a "Christmas" word flair and a bag of small star, ornament, and tree punched out pieces.  I think I'll use those piece for a confetti pocket... Plus, I have a bag of numbers for the main bulk of December.  I didn't want to adhere them to the paper right away.  I like to have options of switching things around during the process. 

Stickers, alphas, enamel shapes, extra paper, and journaling tags -- I pulled a ton of supplies from my regular PL stash but also bought some new holiday themed stickers. These piles are huge, but I love having options.

Stickers and Alphas -- Lastly, I have a few 12x12 sheets of stickers and alphas that coordinate with the paper collections i bought. This alphas are the perfect size for titles.

December Daily Prep - Base Pages

After much debating, I decided to do 12x12 pages and put them into my regular PL album.  I'm just not a mini album kind of lady. Without further ado, here are my base pages. I used a hodge podge of papers and cut aparts to create the bases. As the month progresses, I will add the embellishments and journaling spots. Other than the first page, I won't decided on the order of the pages until I start documenting. Right now I'm happy to have the paper done...

December Daily Prep - The Big Plan

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...

December Daily Prep (Gift Albums)

I finally decided to do it! I'm going to join the December Daily craze this year.  I pulled out my entire Christmas supply stash (a ridiculous amount) and started sorting through.  Along the way, I realized that I really didn't want to do a mini album.  So I will be adding December Daily into my regular PL spreads.  I'm in the process of laying those out so check back for progress. While sorting, I uncovered two mini scrapbook albums that I forgot I had. Then I had a crazy idea. What if I made December/Christmas memory albums for my mother, grandmother, and MIL?  They would play off of December Daily, but not necessarily be chronological. What a great, if crazy and time consuming, idea! To help with the crazy, each album with use one supply collection. I might add some bling, but I don't want to overwhelm myself with too many supplies to choose from.

I started with my MIL's album. I grabbed the green Stampin' Up 6x6 album I scored on clearance last year. Her album will focus on just Arthur, hence the title. I pulled Fancy Pants' "Oh, Deer" supply collection to use. Right now, each sleeve has a base page and sometimes a border. As I complete the album, I have more paper, stickers, die cuts, and photo frames to use. I also punched out some tree and ornament shapes from the patteren paper stack.

Next up was my mother's album. I pulled the PL 6x8 black leather album to use.  Originally I was going to use this one for my own DD album.  That was before I decided to just add DD Into my big PL scrapbook. Her album uses Echo Park's "Reflections Christmas by Lori Whitlock."  I cut apart some the pattern paper to use as bases for the pockets. I still have some paper and a ton of stickers to use to embellish events. I'll probably also add more journaling spots.

Finally I tackled the 8x8 album for my grandmother. I ended up pulling the "Cozy Christmas" collection from Simple Stories to complete her album. I didn't have enough large sheets of paper, so I added in some solid colors with layered pattern paper to help fill the album.  Her cover page also features a random tree chipboard sticker and sentiment dimensional sticker from MME from my stash.  The supply collection still has a ton of die cuts, chipboard stickers, and cut aparts to use.

I may be a bit overly ambitious, but I think these will make great Christmas presents if I can keep up with them...