December Daily 2009 : Step One • Gather Your Materials
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Yes, it really is getting to be that time of year again soon.
And yes, I know that we haven't even hit Halloween yet.
And yes, what you see here in my office is my December Daily pile.
And yes, that's my progress so far.
WELCOME TO DECEMBER DAILY 2009.
You are invited to join me in what has become a favorite holiday tradition: December Daily.
December Daily is an album project that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas. Many people start their documentation earlier and many people go longer. I have found that 25 days is just right for me.
One of the keys to success in this project is getting an album structure set-up in advance of December so that during December you can enjoy the season & enjoy the process of documenting your days without having to be putting the entire thing together at the same time. It is not meant to be stressful. It is meant to be a way to creatively celebrate the season and document you special holiday memories in one album.
If this is your first time reading about December Daily I highly recommend you read my 2008 welcome post. It will give you a run-down of the basics and give you a better understanding of what's happening. There's also a Question & Answer post that my clarify things for you even more.
For the rest of you, let's get started!
STEP ONE:GATHER & ORGANIZE YOUR MATERIALS
Easy enough. Get all your holiday stuff in one location. Having it all in one spot and accessible makes the entire process that much easier. As you can see from my photo above I have it all in one place just not really in any order. My organizing for this project is usually just a box or basket - judging from the photo I might need a bigger box.
While you are gathering your supplies it's also a good opportunity to purge things you might be ready to pass along to someone else (think school, church, retirement home, shelter, etc).
Here's a look at my album before any December documentation was added last year: December Daily 2008. As soon as I have the bare bones structure for this year I will post it. Working on it a little bit at a time right now.
There are so many different ways to approach this project:
Some people make it a game to use what they have on hand (all those years of stocking up on holiday products and then making one layout is paying off). If this is you, your goal over the next week is to get all your stuff in one place.
Some people mix old products with new products (this is me).
Some people do all digital albums.
Some people do a mixture of digital and paper (this is me too)
Some people do big albums and some people do really small ones.
You're also invited to join the 2009 Flickr group which can be accessed here: December Daily 2009.
A couple other things to note:
Katie Pertiet has a great digital album coming out this weekend at Designer Digitals if you are looking to do all digital this year.
Cocoa Daisy will have a December Daily kit available on November 1. I coordinated products that I have been collecting with Tricia, including the Prima fabric album I will be using as my base.
I'm here to encourage, celebrate and cheer you on along the way. I can't wait to see how mine turns out - I'm trying a couple different things this year (including incorporating some fabric for my cover) and still trying to keep it simple overall.
It's totally possible that you are already making this more complicated than it needs to be in your head. Take a deep breath and do one little thing at a time.
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110 comments
Made my album last yr and only did like the first 4 days! But no worries. I'm just gonna keep those 4 days and add 4 new ones this ye and go with the flow, hoping I finish this yr, but if not there's always next yr! I feel the important thing is that I'm trying and whatever memories I DO capture will still be fun to reminisce about in yrs to come, even if I don't get the whole 25 days :)
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woohoo! I'm excited about this! This year I'm actually ahead of the game! I have my album already! Thanks Ali!
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Last year I decided to make it as I went. Guess what . . .Yes, you are correct. I didn't complete the album. Did I learn from my mistake? Yes I did. I be starting 2009 this week. Thanks for keeping me on track.
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Hi Ali,
Can't wait to start the December Daily album but I still need to work on my Week in the Life Album! I remember you posting info that told how to alter the Week in the Life overlays so that journaling and photos could be moved around per page. Can you tell me where I can find that again?
Thanks so much for all the help and inspiration!
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Ali--I won't be participating this year as we are going to FL from the Northwest for 12 days in Dec and I know I won't have time. but I want you to know I mad a Wedding book called The Wedding details--documenting the journey. I mae it in Spring when we found out my daughter was getting married in Feb. I have been adding all of the fun details of planning the wedding as we go. I am using a lot of your DD overlays in it and have made all kinds of fun pages out of different materials. Just wanted you to know that December Daily has soooo many applications. I love that my book is all done and I just add things as we plan. you are the best Ali!
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My supplies are ready and waiting. . . working on the first pages of my base this week. My new idea with this is to go from November 25 (my birthday) to December 25. In most years Thanksgiving (hands-down, my favorite holiday) will be included as well. Last year I tried Dec 1-31, and really lost momentum after Dec 25. Hopefully 25 to 25 will be a magical and creative amount of time! Can't wait to see what sprouts up on the flickr group.
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Hurrah! So excited. Keeping my book simple again this year, as we are traveling.
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YEAH! My Mom and I are working on ours together! This is our first year to do it! We are both excited! I got my cover done this past weekend and I am thinking of ideas for pages, what fun and thank you so much for such a wonderful idea! Have a ceative week!
Staci
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I'm sad but, I think i'll be too busy for? I may end up with a journal however. That would be fun too :) Oh! I did a week in the life and I actually finished it!!! YES! If you would like to see it.. http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbid=2254844
Thanks for all the inspiration Ali :)
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I wasn't going to do this in 09, but I think I just got inspired.
I think I'm going to digital/regular. My goal is to get more comfortable with PSE and Copics through a set project.
Could you post a link to katie pertiet's kit...I can't seem to find it and didn't know what it was called?
Thanks Ali!
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Yay. I began gathering this past week. My pile looks similar to yours.
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I am SO READY to star documenting! I have have done a DD for the last 2 years, and I am so psyched to star my 2009 version!
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Hi Chris - it goes on sale this weekend. I will post a link next week :).
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Hi Amy - here is a link to the post that walks you through that: /2008/10/week-in-the-l-9.html
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So I've got step one already completed...Christmas is all together in one bin. I admit I never finished assembling last year's book. I need to decide if I want to get that baby done before I start yet another project, or if I want to go ahead and assemble this year's so I won't run into the problem of last year--not having it ready in time.
:)
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Last year was the first time I tried this. I was really surprised at how much I truly enjoyed the process. I can't wait to do it again this year and have already started gathering supplies as well! Thanks for the fantastic inspiration and super idea!
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I am so going to try this!
It seems to be harder with my son a teenager to do traditional things during the holidays....with him....so this year I have non traditional ideas......need to keep him involved....so need to document this....to see if it will be a success or failure...it will be documented. Thanks for doing this again this year.
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Woo hoo! I have been gathering for the last month and can hardly wait to start. This is my second year doing this. Last year's came out great and my family loves it! Thanks for the inspiration and encouragement!
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I have actually gathered and put mine together this weekend. I have it socked away with some other tidbits in case a page needs something extra. I ended up doing my pages from grocery bags ...sounds strange, but I wanted kraft colored paper and wanted to (well, HAVE TO, is more like it) save money. I figure it is a good way to recycle too. I have the holes punched for binding with my Bind it all, but not actually bound yet, I figure I will do that after I am finished. I have a feeling it will expand some!
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Hi Ali,
I did the December Daily album last year and I loved every minute of it. My kids LOVED it so much and it made our December so special. Thanks for the inspiration. Last year, I had already purchased a making memories mini album kit (Fa La La La), so I just made that work. This year I can't seem to find any kits similar to the one I did last year. Can you recommend some kits/products for me? I just feel like I need something like a mini-album kit that I can start with and then make it my own as I put the album together. Any ideas?
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