December Daily® 2025 | Main Kit Ideas

Hello there. It's Kelly Ishmael here and I am delighted to be on the blog today to share some ideas and inspiration for using the 2025 December Daily® Main Kit.

Some of you may know me from my time on the Creative Team many years ago, but these days I am proud to be on the AED team behind the scenes. One of my favorite parts of my job is taking photos for our subscriptions and new releases, and this time of year is especially exciting with December Daily® release. I have so much fun playing with products and experimenting with different combinations for the styled shots I create. So today I thought I would show you a few of my favorite pieces from the main kit and how I might use them in an album.

My first thought upon looking through the items in the Main kit box was that the green felt DEC would make an awesome title page. I love the texture and dimension that it adds to the layout, and in the photo below I used the 10x8 album size and layered it with one of the frames and a die cut phrase. I set this little grouping on one of the 11x8.25 transparencies with the swan pattern paper (my absolute fave!) beneath it.

• Peace & Joy 11×8.25 Specialty Paper Pack

I tried something similar in the 6x8 album and layered the felt DEC with a chipboard number circle and a couple of stars on top of a patterned paper.

Since a title page is often one of the first things I think about in my album, I thought this giant wreath paper from the Main Kit would make a great opening page paired with a photo and some die cuts.

For a title page idea in the 4x6 album, I layered one of the vellum wreaths with a die cut and plastic star. (I really love that mixed font 'december' die cut if you can't tell. lol)

Next up I had so much fun playing with the green vellum library pockets included in the Main Kit. I love the subtle texture of vellum in contrast with the patterned papers included in the kit.

I love how they look as a standalone embellishment, but I also think they look awesome grouped togther on one page.

One of the really fun things about the pockets is that you can embellish both the front of the pocket and the library card insert. In the photo below I added some of the cute red puffy number stickers to the card to create a list.

• 4x6 Red Puffy Numbers

And here I filled the pocket by tucking in little tags from the Vintage Vellum & Die Cut Tag Pack. The options are endless for these fun pockets!

• Vintage Vellum & Cardstock Tag Die Cut Pack

Another one of my favorite embellishments from the Main Kit are these adorable oval scalloped journal spots. I love how they look grouped together on a page.

I also thought they looked darling when I embellished them with some small red flowers from the clear sticker sheet.

• Florals and Bows 6x8 Clear Sticker Sheet

And speaking of darling embellishments, these little plastic presents are so cute! I love the mix of shapes and colors and I thought they would be fun clustered together on a page. In this example I added a die cut phrase as a title along with a few red stars. I can see a layout like this as a home for a longer story or journaling.

I also loved the idea of creating my own journal cards using washi tape in the Main Kit. Here I slightly overlapped the two different strips and added a little die cut phrase banner.

Words and photos are truly the heart of this project, and the cardstock frames included in the Main Kit are a versatile option for creating homes for both.

• Cardstock Scallop Borders

I'm thinking of pairing a full size photo with one of the frames to serve as my introduction (or reason why) in my album this year. To test out my idea, I've paired a 4x6 frame with some vellum from my stash. I then printed out some text and slipped it in behind the vellum. As a final touch I added a tab sticker to the top of my text.

• Tab Sticker Bundle

I also thought these frames would look awesome as standalone pages in an album. Below I've used an attacher sticker in the 4x6 album to hold it in place.

• Attacher Sticker Bundle

Thank you so much for joining me today. It is truly a joy to get to play with these products and I hope this blog post gives you some ideas for using the Main Kit in your December Daily® projects. I can't wait to see all of your awesome creations.