December Daily™ 2010 | Intro Page & Binding
Yesterday I took some time to finish up the last couple of things left to do with my December Daily™.
First up was figuring out what I wanted to do for the binding. On hand I had rings that were 2 inches, 2.5 inches and 3 inches (ordered from Amazon).
Here's a look at the 2 inch rings. They worked fine but I wasn't totally satisfied. I tried the next size up (the 2.5 inch rings) and they just looked way too big (the one in the middle is missing because I was hunting for it and couldn't locate it).
Here's a look from the side - you can see here that it's pulling a bit on the top and the bottom.
Other than the ring binding, I also wanted to try running some baker's twine and a piece of ribbon through the holes to see if I liked that better.
I did.
It takes a bit longer to get the ribbon + twine through all the pages but in the end I liked that option better.
Here's a look at what I did with the intro page:
In Photoshop I created a new canvas that was 2 inches wide x 4.25 inches tall at 300 dpi.
From my photo management program (Aperture) I dragged and dropped the images I wanted to use into Photoshop.
I re-sized them to either 2 inches wide or 3 inches wide and layered them one on top of the other to create the strip.
I printed them here at home and adhered it into my album. The intro page was a free download available here.
Again, thanks so much to all of you that participated this year! For those of you who are continuing to work on your project, you can do it!
Look for information about December Daily™ 2011 to begin sometime in October.
You can view all pages about the December Daily™ project here.
Looks great! I like the ribbon better too! This reminds me, I'm enrolled in the OLW and YT classes and while working on my YT last night, I randomly came across a (free) download of yours in a folder at home. I was wondering, do you have the downloads (like the DD one here) linked on your blog anywhere? Now that I'm dabbling in digital I will keep the files better organized!
Awesome! Perfect! Thank You!
I do - most of them are listed/linked on my welcome page: http://aliedwards.com/about-ali/welcome
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HI ali.
Thank you so much for your inspiration and guide in this project. As my first year I had a lot of fun, and I learnt alot during the process and I can't wait for this year to try it all over again. I know its very very early days yet, but have you had any ideas on what you'd like to do this year? I would really like to use the templates this year (as I didnt have a printer last year) and make it for 2011?
hope all is well, Beke x
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Another idea for binding is using cable ties. You can get very long ones and snip them off at the appropriate length (black and white are easily available but I have gotten colors). I used this method last year. It's a little sturdier than ribbon but very adjustable. When trying to get the size finalized,I always stick a marker or ruler in the binding to give me a little extra bulk while I'm adjusting and then I can just slip it out when I'm done.
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What's funny is that as I was making my book I didn't really like my pages. I thought they were to plain. I wrote all of my journaling because it was quicker that way and I only had about 5 or 10 minutes here or there to work on it so I didn't go into to much detail with the embelishments. But now that it's all finished and we were able to look through the pages together I simply love it! I imagined what it will be like a few years down the road when we look at this and it makes me happy!
It was my first year doing it and I"m so glad I played along! Yours is absolutely beautiful, btw!
Awesome Michelle - I think that's a big part of the process :).
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I love the photostrip for your intro page and absolutely love the ribbon/baker's twine for the binding.
I still have four more pages to go- the end is in sight!
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That's how I ended up binding my book, too! (It's linked on your Day 25 page - Jan Barlow finished book). My book turned out so fat, no ring would suffice! :)
And thanks for the reminder about the opening page! I was going to do a photo collage and totally forgot! I'll have to add that to my project list.
Thanks for all your info, resources and especially inspiration!
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perfect timing! my rings weren't large enough either, and i was frustrated because i want this project COMPLETED! i will try the twine and be done!! great way to finish this as we are snowed in in Atlanta! thanks, ali!
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LOVE your solution for binding!!
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Ali - Your book turned out so nice. I just love it. Which version of Photoshop do you use? I want to buy it and learn how to use it this year. I signed up for your classes in an effort to help me learn. There are four versions on the Adobe website. Thanks for the advice.
I use both Photoshop CS3 (which the new version now is 5 I think) and all my tutorials are done in Elements 6 (new version is 8 or 9). I think Elements is perfect for most of what you'll want to do with digital scrapbooking - you can always upgrade later if you get really into it (or designing products) and want to spend more money.
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I don't usually comment but I wanted to get on here to thank you for doing this project and telling us step-by-step how you did yours. I'm almost finished with mine and although I wish I could have been more creative, this way was more do-able for me and I'm happy with how it's turning out. I love your binding solution too. I tried the binder rings and I wasn't happy with it either. I'll have to use your method when I get it all finished. Thanks so much!
You are more than welcome Melanie!
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I finished my December Daily album and have not been happy with the rings I used at all. I love the binder twine and ribbon idea. I'm going to do that.
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Hi Ali, I also ended up changing my binding from 3 rings to an A5 "lever-arch" file, which I'll paint.
Using this 6x8 format has taught me:
-I love the economy & availability of using a standard stationery file to house the pages.
-Full frame photographs can be printed at 4x6 or 5x7.5, eliminating the crop factor. Awesome effect of enlargements!
You mentioned that you would let us know how to adapt the "day of the week" on your templates for using in another year; this whole project was a winner, Thank you again!
Great feedback - I'll put that on my list to address in a future post too.
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Use a small crochet hook that will fit thought the holes easily. Make a loop (I don't tie it just make a loop with a long tail), catch it with the crochet hook and pull it through.......so much easier than trying to thread through all those holes. Maybe this is not new to you and maybe you have tried and didn't like doing it that way. Just thought I would pass it on.
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I don't like how the rings look either. I'll have to try the twine. I finished mine up this weekend. I did a summary page at the end with some reflections on doing the DD this year. Thanks for sharing this with us each year.
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My book just came in the mail from Shutterfly this weekend, and it warmed my heart to look at it all together. Thank you so much for the inspiration, and for bringing us all along for the ride. I absolutely love this album and look forward to making one each and every year!!
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Gorgeous! Love the binding, I might have to change mine to something similar because I'm not loving the rings. I finished mine yesterday:
http://gscrapbooks.blogspot.com/2011/01/december-daily-2010-cover-title-and.html
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I'm not near finishing yet but I'm happy to report that I placed my 2nd-to-last photo order yesterday (I still have some still-life shots I haven't taken yet!). My goal is to be done by the end of January. So far I am liking the size of the binder rings on my album, I just don't like how plain and utilitarian they are. I think I might try spray-painting them with a paint made for metal.
Love your album, as always! Thanks for sharing with us! :)
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Hello Ali,
Love the binding. Great.
LG Brooke
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This was my first year doing the album and I had problems with the binding size of my album, so I had my husband help me rip off the 3 ring part of it to just use ribbon. It was still really big. All I had to do was the journalling, but we had a house fire on thursday I it was a victim of the flames. I am disappointed, but everything lost was just stuff and everyone is safe. I am really looking forward to next year and getting the binding done right.
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My album was also too thick for rings. I resorted to red shoelaces. I figured shoe laces last for years in shoes so it should stand up well to flipping pages. My goal this year is to find red and white candy striped shoe laces for next year!
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I love the bakers twine and ribbon as well. Mine is digital, I just need to print the pages and bind it. I'm so glad I finally decided to do a DD album, it was so much fun! Thanks for all of your inspiration, you rock!
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Love how your album has turned out, but like you, I didn't like the bulging and how the 3 inch ring stuck out....then I had an internet friend tell me about her album which is thick but uses sets of rings instead: http://www.mousepotatodesigns.com/?p=3015
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Hi Ali, Great project once again. This is my second year doing your DD album and this year my album is so thick, about 5 inches. I will be trying to play around with ribbon to bind it. I think I prefer doing the album with pages that are all the same size. It looks neater to me, but then again, I am a clean linear kind of scrapbooker. Well I do have one question. What did you put on the inside of your front cover and the inside of your back cover? I think I will be pasting my day 25 page with the frames to the inside back cover, but didn't really grasp what you did with your front cover. Could you mention it in an upcoming post please? I know you are so finished your DD and are ready to move on, but I am a bit confused.
Thanks
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Another year that I did not do this project! I always have high hopes but they never lead to fruition! I'm not a digital girl so that won't work for me... Any suggestions for 2011? Would you consider selling a kit? I love the idea and love looking at yours! Thanks!
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I had so much fun doing this for the first time this year! Thanks for the inspiration along the way! I absolutely love our finished album. I ended up still using the rings that I started with and they worked just fine. That is a nice tip, to use the twine. I've used ribbon before and like the feel of it. Thanks again to everyone who posted their albums, you al provided so much inspiration and drive to finish my own! And thanks, Ali, for hosting and keeping this going!
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