Documenting December - It's a Wrap!!!

I was pretty darn excited to finish my December Daily album last month. Between prepping for the album, scrapping each day as it happened and blogging about it, I was done. Love December, lurve Christmas & loved my first December Daily album, but I was pretty over looking at it come mid-January.

And while things are still fairly fresh in my mind, I wanted to wrap up my album with a few notes to myself so that when November (kidding, really October) hits this year & I start to get all gung ho again about DD I can have a reference point. Mostly a reminder not to go too overboard, as per usual.

Last year I was incredibly fortunate to be selected as a Documenting December team member for The Stamp Spot. Michelle from The Stamp Spot is fabulously talented and also a wonderful person. It was such a pleasure working with her great kits. For my album I used the main kit which was gold, white & kraft.  I also purchased the teal & red add-on kits. They were all divine & the quality was outstanding.

For the album I used a Snap! 6x8 with a variety of pocket protectors. My trusty sewing machine also helped to alter the protectors too.

Okay, notes...

Will I do December Daily again?

Yes, absolutely. I loved it, however there will be some changes.

Album size...
I'm happy to go with a 6x8 again with the pocket protectors. And that's a bonus because I have so many protectors left over! *bazinga*

More of...

The stories & traditions. I got so caught up in the daily aspect that lots of the little (but oh so important) things were missed - or I just didn't have the space.
One story/photo a day. Make them work for my album and spread it over the month.

Less of...
Everything!!!! Hahaha. Mostly kidding. As you can see from the photo, my album is BURSTING at the seams. So this year there will be less photos, less of the daily - that stuff is for my PL which will be up to date **don't ask me how I'm doing on that!!**.  Less of succumbing to my own crazy notions that I need to document it THAT day.

Will my album be less full this year?
Unlikely!!! But the really important stuff will be in there.

Major note to self... Read this post again in October!!!

Documenting December: Days 18-25

This is it! I'm FINALLY blogging the last of my December Daily album. I finished about a month ago but haven't managed to get around to putting it up on the blog... mainly due to that little thing called life! But today I.AM.DOING.IT! 

And I'm doing 8 days in one post so WARNING - it's going to be photo heavy - especially since we had 2 Christmas days in that time. 

A quick refresher - I was a part of the fabulous DT Documenting December for The Stamp Spot. Michelle created some gorgeous kits for this project and I used the main (gold, kraft & white) kit and also purchased the teal and red add on kits. 

And for those that have stumbled across this post and are wondering what the heck is December Daily - well, it's a concept created by Ali Edwards with the idea being to create a special, usually mini, album dedicated to capturing the spirit of your Christmas - including traditions, special events and other memories. Be sure to check out Ali's blog for more info.

Some of my favourite pages are:

Day 19: This page protector started as 2 4x4 pockets and 1 8x2 pocket. Out came my trusty sewing machine to alter the 8x2 pocket into 4 2x2 slots which I filled with sparkly goodness from the kits.  I also machine stitched on the number card to create a triangle shaker pocket - totally inspired by Michelle's kits.

It's Day 20 & Santa has been! What??!!! I hear you ask.  Well, my husband does FIFO and headed to work on the 22nd so a special request was sent to Santa and he very, very kindly agreed to visit us early. Yay!

The balsa wood in the top pocket is from the main kit. I used a tree die cut before gold embossing the outline, adding a star sticker & also drawing gold stars with the gel pen from the kit. 

Day 20 was really, really busy in my album and there was just no pocket space for journalling - even after I added a Heidi Swapp mini memory album for  more photos. So I solved that problem by writing on an acetate sheet with my trusty black sharpie. It took a couple of days for the ink to dry but was worth the wait.

Day 23 - our church held Christmas carols at the local winery. I know... how good is that? Right! I just love this picture of Hannah with her friend singing merrily. Hannah's job was to jingle the bells & Stephanie's was to turn the pages on the singing book - because she's at school already & can read, of course!

In the top left pocket, the foil came as part of the main kit. Again I used the tree die cut and then a star embossing folder. The 'joy' is from Heidi Swapp was cut on my Silhouette from gold foil paper. 

Day 25 - the standard day is here. No, Santa didn't visit twice, much to the kids disappointment. He did however swing past to collect our elf and also to leave a lovely letter for the kids. However, the day was not without presents. We celebrate lunch & dinner at my sister's and there were kids, gifts & food galore.

I used my trusty Silhouette again to cut the 25 from gold foil card. I created a flip card to record my journalling.

The finish... Being my first year of December Daily I wasn't quite sure just how to finish up my album. Day 25 is my last day and the last pocket is a reminder of everyone's favourite memory for December. They are all different and interestingly enough, neither of the kids actually listed presents.

This final card uses washi, stickers & a flair from the main & teal kits. I also added a gold foil heart die cut.

Now for the other pages:

  

  

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you did a DD album for 2014 I hope you too have been able to finish it.

Cheers,