finishing december daily

Sometimes it can be scary starting a long term project, to wonder if you will or will not finish it. This is the case almost every year with my version of December Daily. Will I keep up with it? Will I take enough photos throughout the month? Will it actually be completed before the year 2020?

days 8-25

So I am a little tickled to say that I did indeed finish this year's book. It was a bit of a need for me to do so. But I did not keep up, however. The first week went very well. Here is a look back at how that came together: december daily week one.

But after that I fell off a bit.

Some days I would just forget to take any photos. Some days I wondered if I really was happy simply documenting the every day. Some days I just felt so behind in my everyday life that the spirit of the project left me.

But then I would remember. And capture a photo like this one of my 12 year old above. And I would remember the other december daily books, with a photo just like this one...only she was smaller...and the sentiment would take over and I would think..."i have to keep up with this book! i have to remember these fun little moments that are slipping past me so quickly." And then the joy would return.

Joy would spill over into other parts of my life, and things would become the priorities that they should have been. Like this family night taking a little road trip to the capitol. We had to schedule this night out three different times!!! I have older teenagers who are having their own lives too, gosh darn it! But when this night rolled around...

...and we ate out at our favorite dive together...and gobbled up massive amounts of chili cheese dogs together...and laughed together...and talked together...and were amazed together...it made making these efforts, as well as the effort to record that moment in time (that even as I write this I get a lump in my throat remembering how great this time was) more than worth it.

And when it came right down to it...
and the joyful day arrived...
I was ready to complete the celebration of Christmas that took place in my heart all month long.

 I was up very early Christmas day.  I sneaked this shot in while all were still sleeping. I relished the quiet but anticipated the joy soon to be in all my family gathering and sharing their gifts and generosity with one another.
And I can touch all these emotions one more time, because I took the time to take the photos. Print the photos. Write the journaling. And gather them all together in what we all lovingly call our December Daily.

december daily 2-7

we all know how busy december can be.
it's quite the juggle balancing what is needful versus what we can get caught up in.
the activity of december daily seems to keep me mindful of that balance.
especially if i have the time to stay caught up,
yet mindful to take the photos i want to remember.

today i am sharing pages 2-7.
these pages were done early leaving me only to need to add photos and words as i was able.
the left upper card is a home made journal card using Gold Lame' Color Shine, the 6x6 stencil and then a word die cut. liked how that turned out.
the kids tree is highlighted on this page and is layered over a piece of Believe from the 6x6 pad.
on the right is a Color Magic Page Tab that you should still be able to find at Michaels. I made a card that holds more photos the same as the home made journal card. I like to repeat elements on a layout as it gives cohesiveness to the page.

A tab page in the Chipboard album was covered with the music side of Jingle All the Way . The rest of the page is made of up my stash. I appreciated Maggie sharing the 1 inch circle elements here and I will be adding them throughout my book.

As you know I am also playing along with the #heidiholidayfotofind scavenger hunt. I am finding some of those photos making their way in to my album as well. Which is fine. Some days I only get a single photo and moment captured, and that is what I will go with for the December Daily as well.

Day 4 is pretty simply arranged. The opposite side of the tab page is covered in a sheet of Luxe from Pink Paislee. The right side is a fold over flap of a page that hides another photo and journaling. I designed the notched number banners for the Sizzix eClips machine and love how those are working out.

Day 5 is home to one of my favorite pages to play with, and that is the photo page protector that is already included in the Chipboard Album. I added 3 photos of what I titled "around here'. Seems I always forget how I decorated around the house, so I wanted to add those.

There is a pocket of confetti and found objects, and a space for the day and then a vellum pocket with the die cut.

Day6 is on the opposite side.

My past books always have pamplets and flyers and invitations and church bulletins included. 

Day7 shares my Christmas brunch I had with friends recently that our church hosted.

So I added several of the elements from that morning as well as a photo of the 'crowd' as that happened to be that days #heidiholidayfotofind.

Now off to find more memories to share.

Will be back with more December Daily next week.

till then...

hello december...

and hello december daily...

last week i finally was able to take some time to 'shop' my stash for this year's december daily.

silver and gold have been on my mind for a long time...

and is the inspiration behind this year's book.

this activity may or may not have caused me to be a little giddy...

because december daily for me was the first project life...

i love recording these days and slowing them down a bit.

to pull the books out from year to year and read and remember and reflect is so deeply meaningful to me.

this year i chose to use the Chipboard Binder from Heidi Swapp.

i covered it with white acrylic paint and then a pearl acrylic to give it some sheen.

the confetti stencil was used to add some bubbles...which remind me of champagne.

pink paislee's glitter numbers came in handy for the date title.

i tend to keep the covers real clean and simple as they get handled so much.

there are a few pages pre-done already. 

my goal is to do them ahead in groups of five and keep them simple enough to just add photos as i go.

more stenciling is used inside with gold metalic paint.

i always have a front pocket to sort of summarize the season as i see it at the time. it is layered with some Believe Paper and Buzz Word.

day one is always a family photo. i know that does not exactly tell the story of december 1, but it tells the story of what our december daily is all about. it starts with our family. it is memories for us. in many ways it is a personal book but open to share with anyone.

this year's album will follow this sequence of pages:

1. clear page

2. half tab page

3. full tab page

4. page protector

5. folded page

this will be repeated over and over again throughout. 

it is simply easier for me if i have a pattern to follow. i don't have to recreate the wheel every time i make a page. i simply do it again. 

page one is a bit more elaborate then the rest will be. this one starts with acetate clear paper, and is layered with a gold doily, scallop ribbon sprayed with tinsel and gold lame, a few Believe Banner Delights, a Pink Paislee luxe star and glitter words spelling HELLO. all that is layered on a Color Magic Note colored with gold lame and one of my designs a notched banner number. i painted it with modge podge and then glittered it.

so have you ever done a december daily before?

have you started this years?

it is never too late to start.

i invite you to take this journey.

keep it simple.

keep it doable.

print those photos.

and tell your story of december.

till next time...

december daily 2011

welcome to the 2011 edition of the pate december daily.
this project is now in it's fourth year.
and it brings with it such a wonderful tradition of story telling and moments to remember.

this year i am so very eager to use RhonnaDESIGNS as the base of this year's book.
so far the use of the christmas junque kit+the number junque kit is setting the stage for the design.
the cover makes use of 7gypsies book board covered in canvas.
an old label chipboard shape from jennie bowlin dabbed in silver frames a swatch of christmas junque background paper.
the 'noel' is an ornament found at hobby lobby.
the number stickers are making memories.
the front cover is kept simple on purpose. i love how it invites you in.

corrugated chipboard is found on the inside covers.
hoping that works...it is already making the book a little thick.
the first page is printed out Christmas junque background paper+christmas junque pieces.
using a sewn doily, jenni bowlin crepe paper, a felt snowflake, and a ruffled book paper trim, the opening page sets the stage for what i hope is a bit of a whimsical book celebrating our christmas traditions.
heck...i'm just thrilled i get to finally use a bit of blue in my christmas this year...

details of that sweet little bird and his hat!

the pattern:
the foundation pages go as follows.
1. embellished page.
2. page divider. sometimes this will be on a transparency. sometimes not. you see the number junque #1 is layered on music paper that is attached to a 2 1/2 by 8 piece of transparency.

the other side of the page divider.
3. digital paper page will house photo(s) or journaling.

 4.a ledger or notebook page for additional photos or journaling or what not from that day.

then the process starts all over again.

this is just the first two days.
eager to share more.
hoping you will stop by again as i continue putting this together.
and i hope you are inspired by RhonnaDESIGNS as it is her work is what is making this a fabulous book.

also...if you did not stop by yesterday to check out creative team tuesday on rhonna's blog, hope you do today. the creative team is at it again with all kinds of creations.

dec daily 4&5

so very much enjoyed putting these pages together. they are more story driven than they are photo driven, but that was my original intent. to put words to these quickly passing days of december. and again, this is not program interupting news, but what i would not give to know what was going on in my days as a young child and the simple dailyness of our lives.




have a productive & lovely weekend...

more dec daily...

am posting a few completed, and a few incompleted photos of my dec daily. so thankful to have come upon this idea of ali e's a year ago. the 2007 edition is all digital. enjoyed that concept alot. accept for a few digital journaling spots, this is all paper, and am daily enjoying journaling and adding photos and stuff to the pages.
(and yes i know dec7 is missing, but that is just going to have to be okay.)

the cover is bazzill string of pearls. has a very pretty shimmer to it. the scallop frame is from stampin up. the '25' is american crafts that i painted in mm cranberry (love that color). and epoxy sticker is mm.

most of the papers and the epoxy stickers are from the november 2008 zany zinnia deck the halls kit.

got to play with my new stampin up scallop border punch...that is a great tool.

and there are some left over numbers from everyjotandtittle etsy shop that i picked up last year.

december daily's

am faithfully working on my december book. i agree with ali e...it's so great to have something already in place and simply ready to journal or add a photo or two. the days are already moving by so quickly...and it's not that stellar, earth shattering things are happening in our days. it's just that there is a need to remember even the daily-ness of life, because that is the sum total of life.

hope to post more photos before the week is out...as well as change up that banner...

have a wonderful thursday...it's snowing here...