Mandy's 2013 December Daily .....

What a journey I've been on with the start of my December Daily!

                I have NO idea whats going to 'really' be behind those doors....  - its a journey.....

 Right from the get go, I fell in love with this BoBunny 'The Avenues' Mini Album. 

  The minute I clapped eyes on it quite a few months ago, I knew this would be my December Daily.   What will I  do with it????  Weeeeell, I have no clue, but as usual- would just go with the process and see what happens.   The worse that could happen??  I'll just paint over the whole thing if it doesnt work out!

 I love the colour, the little tattered type and shading on it... but... kept asking myself, 'do I want to keep this look?'

 

Here are the 'inside doors'...  I'm not sure if they are staying ....or going???

The flip side of the doors...  isnt it just the best mini-album

 Okay.... decision time.....

Yep thats black! hee hee... weeeeeell actually its 'Payne's Gray' by Reeves.  I love Reeves paint.

And the colour is not quite black - but that great 'blackboard' gray-black!

 I had this vision in my head to paint all the edges (every single one of them black) and was praying it would NOT turn out a big mistake!  Its a big risk on such a lovely cover already... so held my breath!

 On goes the first coat of white....

And then the second coat....

 Then sanded it back to reveal the black edges underneath...

That part finished!

The door knob wasnt painted over...still not sure if I'm going to leave it as is, or put hardware there in its place???? 

Onto the wreath....

Winding some twine...

Measuring to make sure the dimension is right

 This is a prima vine... isnt it gorgeous... but I dont want all of it...

Snip, snip.....

Now wrap those little snipped pieces around the wreath and add a bow....

(this is soooooo much fun!!!!)

 Time to start embellishing...

washi tape, glitz design roller, ink and stamps....

 Down the bottom of the door is a gap that just didnt look right...so with a bit of a Fancy Pants 'quickcuts' transparency... - soon filled it in (and added some extra sparkle)

Sooooo, filling in the scene behind the door... I fiddled with each of the doors to see which created a complimentary look.... and the blue and cream look pretty good (for now- for the end photo.....) 

I even added (its just sitting there/not stuck down)  a little Christmas tree transparency in one of the doors behind to give a hint of peeking into a Christmas room scene...

So thats the start.... maybe a transparency behind this cover door might work out too....

thinking thinking......

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After a gread deal of thought and a week or so later... we now have....

TAKE TWO on the Door Cover.....

Just wasnt sure what to put behind the door, but liked the blue and cream one underneath....

  

Soooooo, going with the transparency idea.....

this Fancy Pant's Quickcuts seemed perfect....

Cut it down to fit the door and punched some holes for the jump rings....

 Snap decision..... couldnt figure how I could possible fit any journaling or photos etc on the door behind without it taking away from the look of the front cover (didnt really want the Dec 1st page showing though ...

 Sooooooooo decided to stick the transparency in between and  adhere both the doors together to make one solid door- much like a sandwich!

 Then flipping that over... still have the high 'windows' and those patterns are not staying!

 I really want that little top of the Christmas tree peeking through...

And at this stage dont know if that brown shuttered back door will stay yet???

Its just placed there...........because .... it was there LOL!

So the solution for pages for each day will be to add in little envelopes, both solid and wax paper ones...and patterned paper etc measured to fit from the bottom of the doors to the bottom of where the windows begin... problem solved ...and the little Christmas tree transparency can still peek through!  There are more doors that can be fitted in yet (if it works out) so this is not the front and back cover here... the Christmas tree door may very well be  in the middle of the album with many pages still to come after.... we'll see how it turns out as we go along in December.

Here's the cover properly finished this time around

(I've added a lovely little trim down the bottom too)

Its still very much a journey of what might happen with this little album... making it up as it goes along is total fun....  any set plans usually set by me, undoubtedly get tossed out the window somehow...

Soooooo have long given up making any!  hee hee

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DAY 1

I had to have Paige at the airport by 8am this morning... so that gave photo opportunity early!

Plenty of time to get it scrapped for Day One!

Here is the inside of the cover - before and after it was gesso-ed!

Had to get that pattern down a little (wink) but didnt want to lose the panelled door look.

She has gone to help out at many charities for the underprivileged:

A happy Angel...

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DAY 2 & 3

And for these two days , I've used a vellum pocket and some Christmas Washi Tape for front and back..

 Because the vellum pocket is fragile, framing it with washi tape reinforces it.

The holes have been punched for the rings through the washi (to keep it stronger), then folded down  the top edge and placed three photos inside.  

 

 There's journaling on the back of each of the photos

It's a great effect to see the photo through the vellum...

 Once the pocket had been turned over to reveal the back, all that can be seen is the journaling.

This needs covering up....

Nothing that a photo cant cover up and an old piece of dressmaking pattern paper
(of a Christmas tree- lucky!)

These also gives further reinforcement to the vellum.  

Yesterday Hannah and I found some packed away decorations as well as our Santa hats!

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DAY 4

Today is about creating a scene, and being resourceful (weeeell, trying to be!)

Dec 4th - it hailed....and even though the hail stones were little, there were a LOT of them...

Its the closest (here in Australia) to having a 'white' Christmas!  Squealing with delight with an idea, grabbed my little bottlebrush tiny Christmas trees, ran outside (in the hail) and planted them in the whiteness and took photos!  Must have been a silly sight!   'Only a scrapper' would do such a thing cowering over the little scene taking pics of mirco hail stones and little trees!  

Thank goodness it was in our back garden!

Look at what you might have around you to set a 'scene' especially if you arent sure of what photo or subject to do for a page/day.  I know I was extremely lucky and grateful for it.

It could be a Nativity scene, or if you can get your hands on holly, or mistletoe, and a little bird,

Dec 3 & 4

Having a full photo (6x4) so show the detail more meant I could do a plastic sleeve.. only thing was - I didnt have any that size....  had to get resourceful!

 Had plenty this size (12x12)

 So cut it down!  WORKS a treat!  

Dont worry on wastage, the left over will come in handy for any more smaller sized sleeves or see-through pockets - and the sewing machine (big smile).  At least this time I didnt need any sewing machine!

 I did have to repunch the holes, and in the scheme of things, no one is going to notice these extra holes when looking at the completed album (hopefully) they will disappear into the background!

Decorating the photo page....  Little sequin stars are placed on top of each tree

 The word 'believe' is really appropriate to place there.... all we have to do is imagine and believe the little scene!

Day 5

Ugh.. I dunno......(rolling eyes).... I've tried very hard to stick to my white, touch of black, red and a bit of gold..and before I've realised, when I look at the of the pages ahead in this post - I've subconsiously fallen into the Christmas traditional colours and changed the colour scheme!

I wonder if I can get back on track???   Anything can happen!  Hopeless I tell you!

Here is Hannah helping out backstage...she's fabulous to have around!

 Here's the start of the trouble.... A Becky Higgins PL card with some old Bobunny shaped journaling cards stuck on top... that forms the background.   I didnt even THINK of the colour scheme here!

Even bought some K&Co layered accents to go with this little page and still didnt click!

Day 6

Paige's 17th birthday

I've been busting to use these Simple Stories 'Cuts', picked the chevron one and punched some holes.

Threaded some ribbon, and slotted in a couple of photos

On with some washie tape and 'Say Cheese' balloons!

Day 7

Made this a big day - the end of our ballet year and the production over!

Because I really wanted to add quite a few photos... made a' concertina fold out'.

Here's how it looks folded in... let me explain....

The pink patterned paper is the back of Paige's birthday page,  so after folding the card...stuck one of the sections to the pink (to get rid of it!) and anchor the fold-out.

This is the flip side of the paper... LOVE it - this is Teresa Collins 'Santa's List' and my favourite Christmas collection this year

But it wasnt quite long enough, so added another section with washi tape...

So now there is four sections to foldout

Folded in, that beige section is for the heading..that will be seen no matter how many sections are flipped out.

Here's what is seen when the birthday page is flipped over....

and you can see where the title is...

Another page flipped over

Again, another flip out....

And the last fold out...  (really loved doing this extension!!)

So that gets us to the 'door' ( below...the one with the number '7' on it)

I've scrapped Paige onto this door (and for a while lost the traditional Chrismas colours in the 'fold-out'!!)  Once that door is flipped over - it will start a new week. The plan- to do a week in between each door. Remember originally, I didnt know what to do with all the doors or even if I'd use the extra ones?  Weeeeeeeeeeell, now I do know!  

Day 8  

Yep, flip over that door!  Yes there are two doors visable here. The one on the right - I have NO idea what to do with that yet, so we'll just ignore it for a while (lol)

That wooden coloured door has bounced me back to reds, greens and golds! 

 (ugh....where's my white!)

Finally got to the little Christmas tree transparency and fix it into place.  I've had these a very long time. It was a K&Co Frame and Journing Pad... like years and years ago!

Anyway, I've use one frame in tact and then cut the Christmas tree out of the other for the reverse side of the window to keep its brightness and clarity

Otherwise the tree would look muted like the little skaters in the left hand bottom corner (which get covered up.

Day 9

This is the back of an envelope....  needed the envelope and its ability to hold more pics for tomorrow's page...

Didnt have anything happen much this day... so went with some special Christmas decorations my mum creates.  She is a master doll-maker.... very clever!

And somehow it just finished up matching the other side!

 

Day 10

Our special break-up scrappy Christmas Party with scrappy besties...

We held a little owl  each 'Speak no Evil, Hear no Evil and See no Evil'

The contents of the envelope...

Photographed the little owls seperately, cut them out, mounted them on foam tape and anchored them to the corner as an embellishment.... cute eh?  The far left little owl has a job to do.... hold down the flap to the envelope so it doesnt pop open - just have to slip it under the edge.

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If you managed to read my December Daily Journey, you might remember me saying 'I learn something new about myself every time I sit to create in a Dec Daily'

Weeeeell, I've come to another conclusion to add to the list

(which still may be renigged later on! LOL)

And that is.... I cant stick to a colour scheme! (frown)

With this Dec Daily, I started out with white, red with a touch of black and maybe gold...but as the album has progressed - thats gone completely out the window!  By the end of Day 17 here, even with some new decisions made on Day 17 (you'll see what I mean soon!), I'm highly doubting my ability to stick to any plans... this, I've also learnt.

One thing is for sure, I really wanted to use peek-a-boos, transparencies anything that could remotely be seen from one page to the next (very big smile) has worked a treat.

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Day 11

Here I made a shaker page, quite a large one! 

Suddenly by the 11th, December started to feel 'real'.  The long little photo in the middle is sewn down, and divides the shaker page in half which stops the sequin bits falling to one small area.  When doing something like a shaker page with a photo for instance, a matching sized one on the other side (or could be a journaling block etc) needs to be planned at the same time.  

Day 12

Flipping the page over, here's the corresponding sized photo, and through the shaker page, you can see the previous page... me and my scrappy friend Chris peeping through and a couple of little owls down the bottom and this time they look like they are giggling. ... why?... because last year in my new house move.. I couldnt find my 2009 December Daily,  and this year, I found it, but not the others!!!!  (good grief - just hoping to find an extra Christmas box 'somewhere'!)

Day 13

Made it to one of the doors! Signaling the end of the second week,

also has properties that have been planned with the shaker page.  When you saw that shaker page previously, it had been photographed with nothing behind it....

 Now you can see Paige, and also the little Chrismas trees down the bottom, what you dont see is........ (scroll down)

................the little car with the tree on top... so that does remain somewhat of a surprise until the see-through shaker page is flipped over!  The little car is Glitz Design,(mounted on foam tape) and I've placed another paper pieced tree on top for a more layered effect and added a bit of detail along the bottom of the car.  Car '13'  is for day 13.

 LOL.... we are not finished with the 'see-through' effect with this page yet!! 

There's more!   Its got to do with where Paige's face is placed towards the top of the door.  Scroll down again..........

  Remember the previous door on Day 7 with the Christmas tree transparency....

Weeeeeell, here's Paige's face now showing through the window which is lovely as the pic below is of her dancing.

Day 14

Finally up went the tree!  Luck had it on this side of the door, is the same colour of the wood panelling we have in our house.  I've used quite a few transparencies here... Fancy Pants St Nicks, and Heidi Swapp.  Because the page (door) is so long and narrow, and I wanted the Christmas tree to be shown in full - it was hard to get the pic including Hannah as it made it wider.  So the photo insert of Hannah shows part of the tree which fits into the the bigger picture quite nicely. It's also great now to scrap the entire length of the door as before this, there were windows to consider and shorter pages.

 The insert is placed on foam tape so it's lifted a little and highlighted a bit more by the underscoring of gold lace.

Day 15

Again swayed by the thought of transparency... it was time to experiment with vellum...

So started out with this Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Vellum... cut it down to the 'door' size and edged both sides with washi tape to support it and make stronger.

 

This is the flip side of the 'gold', and because it's Paige's Birthday Beach Party and not so Christmas-sy, it worked well to be more muted.  

 When working with vellum, the other side has to be planned at the same time, so placement of photos and any alpha etc needs to coincide and match.

Day 16

The 'gold' side.... and all lined up to match Day 15

Catherine and I have been friends for decades.... and in true form laugh a lot...

mostly I think we are naughty but all in good fun!

Can you see the Christmas tree and the big star from Day 14 through the vellum?

Day 17

Here's where the wheels fall off the wagon....

Colour!

Before I came to the conclusion that I cant seem to stick to a colour scheme, I had been discussing with Bec, Julie and Deb about what I'd like to create with next year regarding Dec Daily's, and I thought BLUE!  I've never really scrapped anything Blue for Christmas before... AND I'd like to scrap with a vintage book..., so making my mind up on that and with a little spare time up my sleeve.. I searched online for any ideas in second hand bookshops, - (giving a little plug here) came across

The Brotherhood of St Laurence  (Australia)  typed in 'Christmas' and found three delightful books all about $6-$10 each, AND if you order three... postage is free!  So what the heck - ordered them!

That was Monday afternoon... by Tuesday morning 8.30am - they arrived!!!! Talk about prompt!

Not only that, there was a lovely gift of a lycra stretchy book cover (to fit any sized book) which Hannah loves!  HOW COOL is that!  

Three books to choose next year's December Daily - but not before I read them! (and they look great on the shelf anyway if this plan doesnt come to fruition!)  

So what happens... I scrap this...  no prior thought and a mind of its own....

YES, it turned out blue!

 

 

Do I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally think I can stick to a BLUE colour scheme next year after this page in my 'white/red with a bit of black' intentions this year?

                    

                                      I doubt it.........

                                               

                                         ........but at least the cover will be blue!

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Day 18

 Somehow the 'blue' stayed from the previous page.. must be stuck in my mind!  I loved this paper (thought more fitting for animal subject) but was rather busy... soooooo with some cream coloured paint gave it a lift, and also busy-ed-it -down so the photos and words didnt get lost in the patterned paper....

The effect of the pom-poms when the book is closed....

Day 19

Back to play with transparencies.  I love the old Fancy Pants ones as they are wonderfully festive and good sturdy quality for a page.  When you plan to use a transparency, it kinda affects 4 pages, the one before it ...both sides of the transparency, and the one after it.   I try to consider them all.  Its a challenge and something I really love to figure out and hopefully smile when its done!

So I'll try explain in pics....

this one is the the first side of the transparency with nothing behind it...(afterall..behind it hasnt been created yet lol)

Here it is again with one of the 'doors' (as its coming up to the end of another week) behind it - with nothing yet created on the door.... (thats day 21)

The stuck on sequins and the gold lace under the photo only need be on one side, as its seen through the other side quite clearly (big smile).  The baubles are great to decorate.

 And  when placing photos on this side... it has to be matched for the other side.....

Day 20

The great thing is that the transparency baubles show through the other side and although a little more muted still can be decorated and in the case of the date - put a circular '20' sticker in its place to back the previous page.  You can see the sequin stars and the gold lace clearly from the other side.

Placed in the album.. it fronts onto the beach page.... which now takes on a more 'Christmassy' affect 

Gotta love that!   You can see now the plainer- scrapped transparency pages seem to be more complex once placed into the album when the other page shows through....

Day 21

We've reached the end of another week and scrapped on one of the 'doors' in the album..

This page was also planned with the previous transparency page in mind.......

 And just to flip back to the transperancy page before......

  you can see through to Paige and Hannah, the bauble covers the '21' date so not to take over from the '19th' page....  the word 'joy' is seen and leaves an essence for both pages...

And again, the more plainly scrapped page is now looking more complex

 The date underneath the red bauble...

Day 22 and 23

Day 22 is a rather plain page, but there is a reason for the two white pockts....as Day 23 is a transparency.......

 First we'll look at Day 22

It was a really big day for us - and early Christmas Lunch with dh's side of the family as we all had other sides of families for Christmas Day, and in the evening - a bbq with friends.   There were a number of photos I wanted to add to both events. 

 

 (lol, the pic above with all the Santa's was  so random...on our way to the bbq, a group walked past  so grabbed the camera...I dont know who they are or where they were going...but made a great pic!)

 To hold the photos....two pockets... tested to place strategically......

Now secured into place with washi tape tabs

 

The extra washi on the doily is also to strengthen the parts where the photos will be constantly pulled in and out over time as its fragile paper....the photos corners wont have so much of a damaging effect.

 It's an easy way to store a few photos

 Day 23

The Transparency....

Oh GOSH, I love them!  But they do require some thinking out.... and (lol) I do hold my breath in hoping they do!  It worked a treat.  Here I printed the photos straight onto acetate....the slight book  print seen through behind is the back cover - thats yet to be scrapped upon :)   Using a bit of washi tape in the middle of the photos both back and front, I've been able to write on it without it being seen through the other side..  The washi tape around the border isnt on the acetate.. will explain below....

So happy with how it turned out.

It wouldnt be right not to include Miss Maggie Mae, and Blackie in a page!

Quite a while ago I bought a box of printable acetate (for an inkjet printer - laser printers use a different kind) from an office shop.  There is a textured side that the images are printed on, and a shiny side,  the shiny side is up in the pic above - and the photo is actually reversed.

To print, I copied and pasted the photos onto a word document and placed them in the formation wanted...... printed on white copy paper... cut of a piece of acetate and stickytaped it across the top and re-fed it through the printer.... worked a treat!

Because I'm not to sure about how well the printed side will go rubbing against embellishments in future pages so am putting a extra page of vellum (used baking paper!) behind.  It also will help keep the images clearly seen from what may end up behind.

 edged in washi tape....

 Aaaaand, getting back to those strategically placed pockets on Day 22 - they were purposely choosen white to help see the images when the transparency is flipped over.... because just against the blue door underneath, the images disappeared.

And just to add on a little something further... (this was an after thought but oooh it works!!)

I just needed to do something to add to that vellum backing page - it was driving me crazy to see it blank!   - some words that would be placed in such a way that it would enhance the transparency....

Add some words....

And now with the transparency - it sees through the photo images perfectly!

Day 24....

The page has been placed down onto a coloured background (not the best colour!) just so you can see where the acetate is..

Cut this part from a 12x12

Cut a doily unevenly in half and attached it to the back of the paper strip

Again placed on the colour background so you can see the now attached acetate ...

Just below the bottom doily, it was lifted and a santa rub-on was added.  He looked like he was peeking around.  The page was the 24th - with the words 'T'was the Night before Christmas' and the pic is of Hannah asleep in her bed.....

I'm always hesitant with rub-ons... but they do work a treat on acetate being seen from both sides.

Day 25

I've created a few pages for Christmas Day ....weeeeeell, because we did so much and had so many friends and relatives over for breakfast, lunch, and tea!

Found another great strip on a 12x12 (MME) and sliced it off to back the 'T'was theNight before Christmas' strip.  It had this really cool sticky tape and doily affect in it- perfect! And the remainder of the 12x12's used will great for 10x12's etc, so nothing wasted. This side will be fully acetate other than the strip. 

 Even the rub-on Santa looks great on the reverse side and also perfect for the pic I had in mind

 A quiet moment of Hannah with a gift....

The next couple of pages are diecuts,doily adhered onto cut acetate.  The acetate just gives it that little more stability.

The quiet before the rest of the family arrive....

The reverse side... with some of the family and lots of strewn paper and laughs

Hard to see the acetate on the white in the next few pics, but it is there......

 This gold doily is also backed with acetate (again hard to see...should have used colour behind it). It does give it stability.  More family members......

 The reverse side....  LUNCH!  Outside in the beautiful sun... and lovely light cool breeze...

On the bottom is a little washi tab... these become useful when a heap of acetate pages are closed together....to chose a tab to open the next page.

 Last but not least..... the Washer-Uppers!

A tidy kitchen!

This was on the last door of the album, gessoed to quiet the print and the yellow design underneath.

Using a red glitter scalloped strip, adhered it to the edge of the album just to extend it a little more and to finish it off.   I've finished my album this year on the 25th and what better way with the washing up all done! LOL

Soooooo, now to see the pages in their peek-a-boo positions....

with what can be seen behind and through...

All finished now...

and really happy to attach the trims and trinkets

 to the jump rings of the album

 Little Prima locket and crystal

The back cover is all washi tape strips..... to make it more festive

Pom Pom trims are always fun and adds a great dimension to any project..

All done ready to put away for another year!

Click below to find Mr linky and link up your 

Covers

Completed pages

2012 December Daily's or earlier

(We'd love to see them!)

We have had some great projects being shared. 

If you do share could you please mention and link 'Let's December Daily' in your blog post.