December Daily Album : Part Two
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Now comes the fun part: selecting + organizing + numbering pages.
One of the things I aim for in this album is variety: sizes, textures, colors, edges, etc.
For this album I cut a bunch of pieces 6 inches x 9 inches and arranged them inside the album (or as close as I could get with some circle + die cut papers). You will cut yours to whatever size makes sense for the book you are using. After putting them in I did other things: tearing, cutting smaller, creating decorative edges with the Fiskars Threading Water Punch, etc.
Next, as you will see below, I added numbers to each page.
For me, this book is less about decoration and more about documentation. What that means is that when the time comes in December to add my words and photos I will not spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I want to add product-wise. I don't have any plans to spend more time each day than it takes to upload and print a photo (here at home), write up some journaling, and adhere it into my book (and maybe add one embellishment or a couple word stickers). I don't want this album to take up more time than necessary during the holiday season. Again, I want to be present and experience the season and do a bit of documentation as we go along.
I like to do documentation as we go along, rather than after the holidays, because I find that I have a tough time remembering what were the specific important or poignant or endearing or special parts of the day months after the fact (sometimes they are comments in passing or very simple things that end up meaning the most). Instead of "we went to see Santa today" I want the journaling to be more personal and real: how did Simon react, what was special about the moment, did he say anything silly or wonderful, what made it unique from last year, etc.
Those are the things I want to capture in this album.
As you will see below this is all about keeping it simple. Don't spend too much time deciding where to put the numbers or journaling blocks. Get it done. When December rolls around you will be working with what you have in front of you rather than starting from scratch. Making it work is a creative task in and of itself.
Day One:
[ Clear Scraps XL Deco Acrylic Page (cut in half + used the second half for Day 18); Ali Edwards December Daily Photo + Journal Overlays ]
Day Two:
[ Scenic Route Kraft Photo Mattes; random playing card tucked behind the tabbed photo matte ]
Day Three:
[ Art Warehouse Mistletoe Ledger; Ali Edwards December Daily Photo + Journal Overlays; Fiskars Threading Water Punch (for decorative edges) ]
Day Four:
[ Hambly Climbing Vine Antique White Transparency; Tree: Art Warehouse Noel Epoxy Sticker ]
Day Five:
[ Baseball card page protector cut to size; Every Jot + Title Red Circle Numbers ]
Day Six:
[ Creative Cafe Dark Red Polka Dot Felt; vintage circle 6 card; American Crafts Ribbon #57604 ]
Day Seven:
[ Paper Source Red Envelope; American Crafts White Subway Foam Thickers ]
Day Eight:
[ Art Warehouse Mistletoe Transparency; #8: Every Jot + Title Red Circle Numbers ]
Day Nine:
[ Heidi Swapp Overlay Dots; Ali Edwards December Daily Photo + Journal Overlays ]
Day Ten:
[ Art Warehouse Mistletoe Dot Die Cut Paper; American Crafts White Subway Foam Thickers ]
Day Eleven:
[ Making Memories Flocked Vellum Snowflake Paper; still needs a number ]
Day Twelve:
[ Making Memories Flocked Dot Papier Rouge Paper; #12: Every Jot + Title Red Circle Numbers ]
Day Thirteen:
[ Random Chipboard Piece; Scenic Route Berkley Red Letter Stickers ]
Day Fourteen:
[ Heidi Swapp White Moments Clock Overlay; #14: Every Jot + Title Red Circle Numbers ]
Day Fifteen:
[ American Crafts Bushels of Fun; Jenni Bowlin Studio Boy Icons Printed Journal Ticket; American Crafts Black MOMA Remarks Letter Sticker Book ]
Day Sixteen:
[ Paper Source Pocket Envelope; Scenic Route Berkley Red Letter Stickers; Tree: Art Warehouse Noel Epoxy Sticker ]
Day Seventeen:
[ Unknown Music Paper; American Crafts Mumbo Jumbo Black Letter Stickers ]
Day Eighteen:
[ Clear Scraps XL Deco Acrylic; Ali Edwards December Daily Photo + Journal Overlays ]
Day Nineteen:
[ Making Memories Skinny Stripe; Circle Sticker: Art Warehouse Christmas Cardstock Stickers; American Crafts Black MOMA Remarks Letter Sticker Book; "Merry:" Unknown ]
Day Twenty:
[ Jenni Bowlin HOME Bingo Card (may be replaced with one from her holiday collection coming soon); Circle Stamp: Savvy Stamps ]
Day Twenty-One:
[ Baseball card page protector cut to size (end up with four pockets); American Crafts White Subway Foam Thickers ]
Day Twenty-Two:
[ Art Warehouse Die Cut Mistletoe Text; Ali Edwards December Daily Photo + Journal Overlays ]
Day Twenty-Three:
[ Heidi Swapp Overlay Dots; Tree: Art Warehouse Noel Epoxy Sticker; American Crafts White Moma Remarks Letter Sticker Book ]
Day Twenty-Four:
[ Making Memories Artisan Solid Die Cut Paper; Scenic Route Berkley Red Letter Stickers ]
Day Twenty-Five:
[ Art Warehouse Dear Santa Hollyberry Paper; Scenic Route Berkley Red Letter Stickers ]
These albums get more stable (vs. just a piece of patterned paper as a page) when photos are added. Some photos will cover the entire page, some will be cropped and arranged on top of the patterend paper, and others will be added in as pages themselves. Most of that will depend on what happens on that particular day. Take a look at last year's album to see completed examples.
Edited: Feel free to leave questions in the comments today. I will address them in a post tomorrow.
Am I skipping Thanksgiving?
Someone asked in the comments yesterday if I was going to do anything for thanksgiving/November/gratitude-related and the answer is YES. I am hoping to have more information and details on a great project for you soon! I mainly just like to get this one out and done with early on as I have lots more projects planned for the lead up to December (you can see the holiday projects I did last year here).
This is part of a series of posts on creating a December Daily Album. All posts can be found here.
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148 comments
Hello,
Thank you so much for all your ideas and so lovely work. I am french and I receive your newsletter by Bloglines and it is each time a pleasure. Please continue and have a good time before Christmas time.
Best regards.
Florence.
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WOW! Each page is going to be such a treat! Thanks for the wonderful inspiration, you have a serious rockin knack for putting things together! Guess that is why you're you! :)
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Love this album. I nodded my head about being in the present. I need to keep it simple. So Ican document and complete it. What other albums would work? Jess
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Help! If you set up your book ahead of time, how do you know that you'll have a horizontal photo that will fit on say December 2nd and a vertical on December 3rd?
To clarify: if on December 2nd, you take a vertical Santa photo but it won't fit on your pre-made December 2nd page, what do you do? Just put it on a different day?
Thank you!
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Hey guys - just a note that I will answer questions in a separate post tomorrow.
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Gorgeous book, Ali, super fun too! Now you have me all excited to get started on this project, but I really should finish my other projects first...I'm trying to work on Christmas presents and do Cathy Z's DYL class and...
So much to scrap...so little time :)
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Thinking about those with no kids at home, this a a great album because there is so much during the holiday season- family and friends you don't normally see, grown kids visiting, college kids at home, office/workplace decorations & parties, cooking, baking, making & wrapping gifts, writing/recieved Christmas cards,making decorations & decorating, tree buying, shopping, decorations around town, snow and outdoor seasonal photos. It really works for everybody.
M
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What an amazing and wonderful project! So it looks as though you start out with one page per day... but end up with multiple pages per day. Do you make extra, non-numbered pages ahead of time, or do you do some extra pages each day of December, so that you know they are the correct format? Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful album idea!
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Great album!!!
Can't wait for your other projects!!!
TFS
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Hi Ali,
Loved your inspiring December Daily album! I was wondering what kind of adhesive you use for vellum and the Creative Cafe Dark Red Polka Dot Felt. I'm looking forward to creating our own December Daily album and thanks for the nudge.
Susan
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PEE MY PANTS EXCITING!!!!! THanks for sharing! I'm SOOOOO inspired! I just wanted to go get all my stuff out and put it all togehter somehow! But wait; i don't have anything Christmas around yet...BUT NOW I WILL!...soon:)
THanks again for sharing!!! :)
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Thanks for sharing this, Ali! I am planning on starting my December Daily album real soon. I have the cover and the embellishments planned. Just need to decide how it will all go together. I am excited about this! Your album is beautiful. I can't wait to see the finished product.
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I'm so agree with TERRI's question...how do you know if the pic will work out? just wing it? cut it down?
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I love this album. I just moved to new house so this year will different decorating. Do you put photos on the back of tranparency pages or just back photo with pattern paper?
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Ali, thanks so much for the inspiration!! Not only am I making one for myself but also for my sister-in-law and best friend. And what's even better is I am using stuff from my stash.
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For your pages, are you making them front/back for each day, or just putting stuff on the front of the page? I noticed that you have a new number for each separate page instead of putting the next day on the back of the previous page. Does that make sense?
I'm so excited to play along....still trying to decide on the album and pages too. As always, thanks for the inspiration!
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Hi, Ali! Thanks for posting your albums...they are so inspiring. I have a question. What type of adhesive do you use to attach your papers back-to-back? Also, how do you utilize this adhesive? By that I mean, do you use the adhesive all the way around the edges, or just every so often?
Thanks!
Nancy
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Looks great! I love it!!Fun; Have a great day!
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Beautiful!!! As always. I already finished my December Daily for this year (I don't use numbers, as some days I have 5 photos I love and other days I just don't have any.) But now I'm thinking of giving the one I've already made to my sister in law and making a new one for myself...I love the transparent overlays from last year and this year. Thanks for the inspiration!
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This is great Ali!! You have me wanting to do one now. Why do you have to have such good ideas girl? LOL!! Great composition of this album. Did you order the Clearsnaps acrylic online? Also are the journal ovrlays availabl somewhere to download? The Ali Edwards ones.
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