December Daily 2009 : Step One • Gather Your Materials
Tags:
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.
Comments
Sign in or sign up to comment.
110 comments
Yay! So excited by December Daily. Bring on the holidays :)
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Ali, your blog has always been one of my 'happy places' to go...early in the morning with a cup of coffee..look at your precious family and enjoy your thoughtful writing...BUT, all the side bar flashing ads are ruining it for me!! any chance we can chance we can stop some of the peripheral activity? Just asking...i understand it means money for you...
keep up the great job!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Make it more difficult? Moi? As in, I went shopping over the weekend for supplies to make a book for myself, DD, and DDIL? DD moved back to Australia and DDIL moved several hundred miles away - both moves this summer. I'm going to do my best to not wallow in self-pity and instead use these books to encourage us to stay in touch during the busy month. Thanks Ali!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Caryl - thanks for the feedback - it is appreciated. I don't have plans to make any changes to that right now but will take it into consideration for future changes I may be making to the blog as a whole :).
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Love your last 2 sentences. I think I need to take a deep breath.
Last year I got my book all ready to go, then couldn't keep up with the journaling and getting pictures printed professionally. I have a photo printer now, but do you have any suggestions for the partly finished book from last year? Combine it somehow with a book for this year? Or am I making things too complicated?
Thanks for your inspiration!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Last year I just used some various tags and stuff around 3x4". I jsut journaled what we did that day that was Christmas-y. I would like to start my album in November and just write down the seasonal stuff. If we don't do anything that day, then skip it.
The reason I didn't include pictures is becuase I did a daily September album and found it was alot to keep up with. I had leave space for my photos since I have to get them printed in the city, when I get there.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
I am so excited to get started on this project. I wanted to do it last year but we traveled and I thought it would be too much to keep up with this project but this year I am ready!!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Last year I didn't do this because of just having a baby. However, this year I'm ready to try it out. Such a fun concept! (And you little comment at the end about already making it too complicated in my head--yea, totally me. I'll try to relax :) )
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
You're always an inspiration, Ali, and I'm sooo excited to do this project this year... so excited that i started it a while ago... lol
I've already posted the first part of my album (digi hybrid style...woot!) http://www.designsbymeganturnidge.com/blog/?p=503
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali,
Love the December daily!!!!! did it last year and can't wait to get it started this year. I'm also doing your Yesterday and today class, will I have time for both????
Keep it simple.....
Annette
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
I can't wait to start this...it will be my first year. I have never been a big holiday fan, but I want too. I thought this was a great project for me to try.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
I love the ironic timing of this! I just did a post about this exact thing the other day! LOL
http://doublehdesign.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-most-wonderful-time-of-year-almost.html
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali... another great project...
But I was wondering how do you get that line around the photos - with the writing like that... I am fairly proficient in photoshop but can't work out how you do that !! thanks
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Ali, I just started this last night! This is always one of my favorite things of the Christmas season (wait... I just started last year, but it's quickly become a favorite)! I can't wait to see what you do!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Wahou ! I discover your Blog, Ijust discover the december daily ! I really want to do it. What a great idee !
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Yay!I'm way ahead of you - I was so excited about doing this project that I made my album pages in August (mostly from last year's xmas stash)! I just have the covers left to do, which are going to be made from some repurposed cardboard packaging and some funky Michael Miller Christmas Critters fabric. Can't wait to see what you're going to make this year, Ali, you are such an inspiration!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
I'm really looking forward to trying to do this! Every year, I think I'm going to do something, but then life gets in the way. Taking baby steps each day seems manageable (or at least I think so today... LOL). But there have been tons of changes in our lives this year, and it is time to get some things documented.
Thanks for always being such an inspiration!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Ali, I love your site and visit it daily - you are such an inspiration! I've just started my own blog, but it's like learning a whole new foreign language (thank goodness noone is reading it yet! :) I don't know the rules yet so I wanted to ask if I can post a link to your blog and send friends there often? Can I mention what you're doing whenever you do new cool stuff? I will always give you credit if I ever borrow an idea or scraplift something you did. Would that be ok? I'll wait to hear from you before I post next (I wanted to link friends to your site for the beginning of December Daily '09)
Thanks for your consideration and for putting your life and family out there to inspire us to create!
Sincerely,
Marcy Grant
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Yay!!! I don't scrapbook, but watching your album come together has become a new happy part of the season for me. Can't wait to see what's up your sleeve this year.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
yay!! I've been really looking forward to this! Will keep checking back - you gave me so much inspiration last year :)
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.