December Daily~Days 9-26

Today I’m wrapping up my December Daily posts. I had to finish one of my pages over the weekend and now the album is complete. Glad to be done and oh so very happy about how this album turned out! My favorite so far!

Warning: This is a very long post with lots of photos of album spreads, so if you’re not into that, feel free to skip it.

Day 9

Today I kept it simple and added our holiday card. I add our card every year, so I knew this would be one of my pages at some point.

Day 10

Today I was inspired by Ali Edwards. I didn’t have a story today, so I followed her lead and took a photo of our tree during the day. I’ve actually never done this before, so I was happy to include it in the album. I love the tree at night, but I was really loving it during the day this year too with the curtains hung behind it. I also loved how Ali added sequins to her page. I was already using sequins throughout my album and planned to do a full-page with some and I thought it would work great over the tree shot. Then I sewed the top closed.

Day 11

Today I met up with a friend for coffee at Starbucks and couldn’t resist taking photos of the sentiment on the door that I’m loving so much this year. I didn’t get a photo of us, but I did get one of our treats, so I added that.

Day 12

Ali shared a prompt that she used for today; 12 blessings on December 12th, and I thought it was such a good idea. I added my 12 blessings of the season, some of my Christmas wrapping paper ( deer paper from Target and the coolest wrapping paper I’ve ever bought!) and decided it would look cute to stitch around each one. Love it! Once again, simple, but awesome!

Day 13

We had our picnic by the Christmas tree today. It’s one of the activities from our Advent calendar and the kids just love it. I took a bunch of photos that I wanted to include, so I decided to create a collage in order to fit them all in.

Day 14

Today I added letters to the kids. I’ve done this every year and really like being able to go back and read them. It feels a little silly writing them, but I think it’s a great way to tell the kids a little bit about themselves at the time. I hope they like reading the when they get older as much as I do. I’m pretty sure I’ll continue to write these for every album. And on the right side of the spread I added different patterned paper to each pocket, as well as the date and some embellishments.

Day 15

This was the day we decorated our graham cracker houses. This is a favorite activity for the kids and me and my husband. It’s so much fun and really simple to set up. This is our third year making them and it’s fun to look back at old albums to see how different they are each year. I took a photo of each person’s house for the left side and then added an enlarged photo of the candy tray, which I lightened the opacity of and added journaling on top.

Day 16

I was a little behind on my pages, so I added this journaling page today using the prompt loving, and then added a list of all the things I’ve been loving throughout the season. An easy way to catch up or a simple story to tell if there wasn’t much happening that day. I love the green patterned paper!

Day 17

Today was a very quiet day around our house. Both kiddos were under the weather with colds and I was really tired from being up most of the night with Harper. I ended up simply taking a photo of my morning view and adding a bit of journaling about our day. It turned out to be one of my favorite pages.

Day 18

Today the kids got emails from Santa with personalized videos. We do this with them every year and they love it. I don’t think I added it to my album last year, but wanted to this year because Harper was able to understand it so much more and actually got excited about seeing Santa and her pictures in the video.

One the left side, I included the emails and a little journaling. On the right side, I included photos of the kids watching their videos. I took the photos with my iPhone after it was dark out and the quality wasn’t the greatest, so I decided to make them B&W. Not what I planned, but I’m happy with how the spread turned out.

Day 20

Today we had Hudson’s preschool program. I couldn’t wait to watch him and be able to add this to the album. He looked adorable in his wise man costume!

On the left I added a photo of him during the performance and then a 4×6 journal card which I created lines on using gold washi tape. On the right side I added an enlarged photo of Hudson taken after the program. I can’t get over how big his crown was on his head! So adorable!

Day 21

Today we took the kids on a drive to check out all the Christmas lights. They love this as much as we do. It’s always fun. I took a few photos and decided to create another collage to be able to add all of them. Sometimes it’s just too hard to choose just one of two photos.

Day 22

Today we had Jeremy’s family over to celebrate Christmas with them since we were going out-of-town on Christmas. I loved this photo of Jeremy and Harper and knew I wanted to include it, but I also wanted to include a photo of all the grandkids. In the other pocket I added some paper and journaling.

Day 23

Today was the day I finally finished and gave the kids their Christmas pillows. Wow, was that an undertaking, but so, so worth it! They love them!

Day 24

For the day I created a kind of cover page using Studio Calico sequins that I just love and some patterned paper with twenty-four stitched onto it. Love. This is our big day when we have a chili dinner and open all our gifts from family, so I wanted to make this spread special. We also had some extra family members in town, which was even more special.

I added a photo of our tree with all the presents on the left side. It is almost ridiculous how many gifts there were! Then on the right side I added a photo of my uncle and cousin from Dallas, some journaling and a photo of Hudson and Harper sitting among their giant piles of presents.

This is the back side where I added a few more photos from that night. I just love the photo of Harper and her cousin Emmy playing in Emmy’s new tent! I also wanted to include a photo of Jeremy and I, as well as a photo of the kids with Santa’s cookies.

Day 25

I didn’t take a ton of photos today. It was mostly about just enjoying time with family. I added a couple of photos of the kids. The one of Hudson just kills me! He had just walked out to see that Santa brought him a balance bike. Priceless. I also love that Santa paper.

Here is the back side with just includes a photo of movie tickets and then the actually tickets in the other pocket. Jeremy and I sneaked away for an afternoon date to see Catching Fire while the kiddos were napping. We don’t get very many opportunities to go to the movies and my mom insisted, so we took advantage.

Day 26

Normally I don’t add December 26 to my album, however, we drove back to Omaha on the 26th and the kids got to see what Santa left for them in their stockings, so I wanted to include that too. The weather was also extremely nice for this time of year, so the kids got to get outside and ride their new toys. I had to document them outside playing without coats on December 26th! That never happens!

So there you have it! My completed December Daily album. I love it so much. I couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out.

Final Thoughts:

I’m so glad I used a smaller sized album this year. The 6×8 size worked out perfectly for me.

I really like how some pages are extremely simple and others are much more embellished. I think the mix works well.

I like the mix of different pocket pages. It added so much character to the spreads.

I’m glad I chose to add the see-through, sequins pockets. They’re a fun addition.

I think having some days consist of just one page and others filling two or more made it easier to keep up with the documentation. In my previous albums I sometimes had a hard time filling up two full 8 1/2×11 pages and it became a little stressful at times. Some stories simply don’t need two full pages.

These albums are amazing keepsakes. It’s so much fun to look back at previous years and reminisce. I started making these Harper’s first Christmas and plan to continue until I no longer feel that I have stories to tell…although, I highly doubt that will happen while the kids are still living with us. It takes some focus and work to complete these, but it’s so worth the time and effort.

If you have any questions about any of the supplies I used, feel free to leave a comment.

December Daily~Days Six, Seven & Eight

I’m back with another day of December Daily, and I’m really loving how the book is turning out. Day eight is my favorite!

Day Six

Today we went out to dinner, which doesn’t happen all that often, so it was sort of special. I decided to make that my story and kept the page really simple. I wanted to use one of my page protectors with the two 4×4 slots, so I turned two photos from dinner into Instagrams, printed them, and then added some journaling right onto the photos. Easy.

And you can see that there is a thin pocket on the left side. I simply cut a piece of the star screen print. I knew whatever I used would be seen on the other side and that’s what worked the best.

Day Seven

Today we took the kids to see Santa at a cupcake store. Hudson was super excited, but Harper wouldn’t even go near him! They were offering Polaroid photos for $5, so we got one of Hudson. It turned out great! I still plan to try to get one of Harper this coming weekend. That’s why I left the bottom pocket open. Fingers crossed!

I love this cute paper for pages with the kids! It’s a little more cutesy than I would normally use, but it works for this album.

Day Eight

It snowed today!! The kids were so happy! We didn’t get to stay outside very long because it was bitter cold, but they made the most out of the time they had. I can always count on big hugs!

I wanted to add something really special today because I had extra time to work on it. I came up with the idea of using a coin pocket page. This definitely isn’t a new idea, but I’ve never done it in a December Daily before. Oh man, I love, love, love this page! I added different things to each pocket and spelled out the word snow with big silver glittered letters. I also added our first initials to a pocket and eight silver stars, four in each pocket. I also added a paper clip from two years ago, some red sequins and a flair button from aflairforbuttons on etsy. So fun!

 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my album!

December Daily~Day Five

I’m back with day five of my December Daily album. We had a very low-key day yesterday. It was freezing cold outside, so the kids and I stayed in our comfy clothes and didn’t leave the house all day! I got out Hungry Hungry Hippos for them in the morning and they played it all day long. That almost never happens! They had so much fun playing together and not only did they play together, but they were nice to each other. It was awesome! I knew that had to be my story for the day. It doesn’t have anything to do with the holidays (except that they were playing close to the tree!), but it’s our real life right now and that’s what I want to remember. Here’s a look.

And this time I kept it to one page instead of a two page spread.

I made the journal card with cardstock and glitter tape cut into strips. Simple.

 

P.S. I love how Hudson is wearing mittens! That’s so him! Ha ha!

I’m planning on posting today’s and Saturday’s pages on Sunday if you want to come back and check them out.

Have a great weekend! Stay warm!

December Daily~Day Three & Day Four

It took me all day to finish day three yesterday with both kiddos running around and me not being able to decide on the layout, but once that was finished I was able to knock out day four quickly. I love it when I know exactly what the story for the day will be right when it’s happening. That’s not always the case, but yesterday’s story was easy. So here are days three and four.

Day Three

Not much happened around here, so I decided to go back and add a page about decorating our tree. We changed it up a bit this year by doing it in the morning instead of in the evening and it worked much better for the kids. I had a lot of photos that I wanted to add, so this time I made a collage and added an Ali Edwards digital file.

I like having both typed and handwritten journaling throughout the album, so I just pick and choose which to type and which to write. If I plan on writing a lot then I typically type it out for a cleaner look, which is what I did this time.

I also added the sleeve from my Starbucks coffee to the layout. I always love their holiday designs…although I have to say, I’m a little disappointed that they don’t include a holiday phrase this year. That’s always my favorite part!

I used another one of Ali Edwards digital files on my journal card. I’m happy with the way it turned out.

 

 

Day Four

After dropping Hudson off at preschool, I took Harper to the post office to mail their letters to Santa. This is new to us (they’ve written letters in the past, but never mailed them) and I’m really hoping that we get letters back. I’ll keep you posted.

I let her put them in the mail box, but I grabbed a photo of her before she dropped them in. Love it! I added the day four December Daily overlay on top of the photo and then put the silver “H” sticker in the corner.

The opposite side holds one of the sequins pockets I made awhile back. Loving those in the album. I made a simple journal card from white cardstock and a tag from last year’s Evalicious pack.

At the bottom I added some Christmas paper, but I’m feeling like it’s too boring and may go back and change it when I have some time. I had picked up a coffee before going to the post office and took a photo, so maybe I’ll print that out and slide it in there. I’m not sure yet.

 

 

I’m definitely keeping things simple as I document each day because I know there’s always time to go back and add things if I want to. I’m just trying to document the stories first and build upon them when I can. No stress, just fun!!

December Daily~Day Two

We spent a lot of time outside today, including writing letters to Santa, so that is today’s story.

I kept the spread pretty simple and let the photos tell the story. I found the cute paper at Archiver’s and thought it would work for a kids spread.

 

 

I took a photo of their letters because we plan to send the off to the North Pole, but Hudson did write out another one during Harper’s nap that I think I might add into the center of the spread. It’s very similar in to the others, but it’s designed for older children that can write out the letter. He wrote his name and then drew pictures of the things he wants. It’s pretty awesome. I’ll probably just punch holes in it and add it without a page protector.

Day two is in the books! Love this project!

December Daily~Day One

Yesterday was the first of December which means it’s time to start documenting the holiday season with my December Daily album. I was so excited to start this project.

Today was all about getting things done outside the house. The weather was really mild, so Jeremy cleaned the gutters, cleaned up the leaves in the yard and put away all the patio furniture. I hung the Christmas lights and Hudson raced around on his bike and did lots of running. Harper slept through all of it! She was a tired girl. It felt good to get things done.

I took my camera outside to snap a few shots of the action and Hudson wanted me to take his picture. He even posed. How could I not include it in the album. So here is day one.

For the journal card, I used a piece of white cardstock and attached a small tag from Evalicious (I actually got it last year).

I added a few star brads to the photo. I tried to use a metallic sharpie to draw stars and found out that they are not designed to be used on slick surfaces. Oops! It wiped off for the most part, but I needed something to cover up what was left behind. As it turns out, I like the look of the brads, so it was a happy mistake. Unfortunately, you can still see a bit of the marks, but it doesn’t bother me enough to waste the photo to print a new one.

It wasn’t a festive day, but there’s plenty of that to come in the next 24 days! And after looking back at my previous albums, it turns out that the days when I documented everyday life are some of my favorites.

If you’d like to learn more about Ali Edwards and the December Daily project click here.

Ten Projects-Project #3

I really wanted to add more see-through elements to my December Daily this year and knew I wanted to incorporate some shiny sequins.

So, for project #3 I decided to make my own sequins pockets to insert into my pocket pages throughout my album. They were simple and very inexpensive to make.

Oh my do I love how they turned out! I’m super pumped to use them!

I picked up three packages of sequins at JoAnn yesterday along with a package of clear sentiment stickers that were 40% off. I used some overlays that I already had and a chipboard letter D from a set from Target. I cut up an old 9 pocket page that was damaged in one spot and used those pockets. Hudson helped me add the sequins and then I sewed the tops closed.

I ended up using this one and updating the first page of my December Daily. It originally just had the D slipped into the pocket, but I added the gold sequins and four silver stars to represent the four members of our family. Then to keep the D in place, I stitched it across the center. Much better!

Here is how it looks now.

I’m planning to use this one as part of our holiday party spread. Love, love, love it! I think this one is my favorite.

I decided to start with five pocket inserts, but have a feeling that I’ll like the look so much once they’re in my album that I’ll end up making more.

This was a fun little project.

Now on to the next! I’m hoping to make a holiday wreath this weekend and finish up a project that was started last December.

Have a great weekend!

**If you have any questions about the supplies I used, please leave them in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer them.**

December Daily Album and Cover Page

For the past two years I’ve followed along with Ali Edwards and created a December Daily album which celebrates the holiday season by documenting one story a day through the month of December. I only document until Christmas day though. These have turned out to be my favorite scrapbooks ever! They are pure magic.

In the past I’ve used WeRMemoryKeepers 8 1/2×11 albums and Ali’s digital overlays and it worked well, but this year I decided to change it up and work with a smaller album. I picked up a red Simple Stories 6×8 album at Archiver’s. I’m so excited to work with the smaller size. I think it will make completing the album that much easier and I’ll definitely be using less ink to print my photos since I print everything for the album at home.

Here is a look at my album and the cover page. I plan to use Ali’s daily overlays again too, but haven’t had the chance to print them out yet.

For my cover page, I used the Allison Kreft Designs star overlay. I’m obsessed. I bought two of them to use throughout my album. I also used a glittered star that I purchased from Etsy.com awhile back. I’m not sure of the store. The “merry & bright” is a Tis the Season sticker from Echo Park. I’ll be using a bunch of those throughout my album as well.

Here is a look at the back of the cover page. I simply cut out a star to hide the back of the glittered star because the back of it was really ugly. I think it was made with a cereal box or something of the sort, so it needed to be covered. Then I added another work sticker to back the other. You can see the stars of the overlay so much clearer in this photo.

Just behind the cover page I added a page that holds four, 3×4 photos and I put a D (which I attached to an extra piece of cut up pocket page) for our last name in the top pocket and then used some scrapbook paper and number stickers to add the year to the album. I plan to remove the other two pockets, as I do want it to hide the first day.

I’ve only added a few other pieces to the book so far. I still need to buy some buttons and other embellishments, so I don’t want to do too much until I get those.

I plan to blog my pages daily this year in hopes that it will keep me on track, so look for that to start December 1st.

I love this project and am so excited to be doing it again this year!

If you would like to learn more about December Daily click here.