December Daily™ 2012 | Foundation Pages

Welcome to December Daily™ 2012.

If this is your first year I invite you to check out my December Daily™ page that includes links to all my previous albums. Some years they have been much more decorated in advance using a wide variety of products and other times they have started simple.

Just as in years past, these pages are just a beginning. This album will be built over the course of the month as I fill it with photos, words and products as the month progresses.

As with all projects I embark on, December Daily™ can be anything you want it to be. Make it work for you. I've gotten into a routine the last few years using printable daily pages that has simplified the process for me. I love having a structure set up in advance that I then build upon during December and add as little or as much glitter as I want.

I'm starting even simpler this year.

In past years I've included overlays for each day - this year I decided to skip that step.

For 2012 I decided to go with a 4x6 album (included in the sold-out kit from Studio Calico). I wanted something smaller this year, something to mix things up.

Here's a look at how I'm starting things off for 2012:

On the spine of the album I adhered a wood veneer tree (embossed with silver glitter Zing) and stamped "celebrating December" using  staz on black cherry ink and the 2012 December Daily™ stamp set.

I repeated the same tree + stamp on the inside cover.

My first page in the album is a clear transparent page (included with the kit). You could totally use any overlays for this, including ink jet transparencies or if you are lucky you might still have some awesome Hambly printed overlays in your stash.

On both sides of the transparent page I adhered a Heidi Swapp Disco Star and ran it through my sewing machine a couple times with red thread. Around the star I added some silver jewel embellishments (again on both sides of the transparency).

You can see the back is a repeat of the front here.

For the next page I used one of the chipboard pages included with the album. My plan is to add more of these chipboard pages throughout the month when it makes sense with the story I'm telling.

I used cream paint on top of the chipboard and then used the long number and sentiment stamp from the 2012 December Daily™ stamp set to create the diagonal pattern. I alternated Colorbox Silver Chalk ink and white opaque Zing and red glitter zing with the stamping. The outside lines were created by running the whole thing through my sewing machine.

The back of that page is blank for now. Most likely I'll cover it with a photo at the start of the month.

As an into page I used another of the clear transparent pages.

I used the "hello December" stamp + red glitter zing onto white cardstock and cut around the outside. I then laid that onto the transparency and cut around the edge (if I was to remove the red arrow you'd see a transparent arrow underneath).

On the transparency I created dots by painting on top of a 12 x 12 Doodling Template (Swiss Dot) from The Crafter's Workshop.

On the back I cut another arrow using green pattern paper and added a joy badge on the top.

For my foundation pages this year I designed a new set of 4x6 overlays that can be easily printed or added on top of a photo before printing.

I've been doing foundation pages using printables for the last few years and what I love about this is it takes some of the guess work out. I establish a base foundation and I build from there. Some days I just print a photo, add some text into the pre-printed 4x6 card and call it good. Other days if I feel like doing more I have space to play - add letter stickers, pattern paper, multiple photos, etc.

The 2012 4x6 December Daily™ set includes two designs - a top and a bottom (I mixed them up in mine) and printable PDF files in black, red, gray, and green.

The 6x8 and 12x12 versions will be available later this week. Please note that the 12x12 version does not include PDF files. The 12x12 can be easily re-sized to 8x8 or 6x6 if that is the size you are choosing for this year.

Here's what the PDF looks like when you open it:

I printed them out on white Bazzill cardstock (both gray and green). Even if I don't use them all I could slip some into Project Life.

Here's a little map that might be helpful if you are going with the 4x6 size too:

Here's a look at a few different ways you can bring these together:

The package includes PNG files that can be added on top of a photo before printing. It also includes a blank file (no days or dates) that I used in the above image to just stamp a number line.

Most days I imagine my pages will look something like this:

4x6 card in one pocket - most likely for journaling with a photo on the facing page. I most often do a spread but like having the option to do just one page too.

Above you can see that blank card again (included with the 4x6 set) where I just stamped the numbers. Lots of options here.

And here's a look at all the 25 days I've set up in advance, mainly using a combination of washi tape, strip stickers, small embellishments, strips of pattern paper and ribbon:

Again, a super simple way to set myself up for documenting December. Here's a quick video overview:

December Daily™ 2012 from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

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