Let's December Daily 2013 Design Team's....Completed Albums - After thoughts....

*Edited in*
This blog is 'asleep' until the 1st of November this year when it will 'wake up' again for the start, motivation and preparation of our 2014 December Daily journeys!
Bookmark us/become a follower...... and be sure to join the December Daily journey too!!
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Weeeeell, all said and done for another year of December 'Daily-ing' for
2013

Our Design Team shares their thoughts.... 

what they have.........

 learned,

 un-learned,

 wise words, 

 not so wise words..... 

what we will, wont, maybe,  do again.... for 2014

 

Mandy's December Daily 

and December Daily Journey

What a journey my 2013 December Daily became.  I think I really managed to do quite a few things I really loved to do in this one.... like fold-out pages, the use of acetate with LOTS of see through pages,  quite a few sparkly things like sequins and glittery bits and loved the use of the 'doors' this BoBunny album afforded.

One thing I have learnt is that I need complete change every time I attempt a December Daily...and am really hankering to do a vintage book for my next one.  I'd love to do a 'blue' Christmas....BUT.... I've learnt that I absolutely fail in keeping to set colours!  I just forget to! Then merrily (pun LOL) set off creating before I realise that I have one off in a different colour direction!

Another thing I've learned also as I watch friends and relatives leaf through this Dec Daily... is that some things I've included are a bit fragile... like this doily pocket or the flip-out being refolded back in.
 
Non-scrappy people (especially children and teenagers) arent as gentle replacing things in and out... and I've held my breath as pages/photos/flipouts have been pulled, pushed, shoved, flipped and closed hard... all unintentional by all means...but it does make me wonder how these fragile bits will hold up over time... and 'maybe' I should put a little sticker on some things saying 'Be gentle with me, I'm fragile'?  It's definite food for thought to make 2014  more hardier! Another lesson learned!
  But, having said all that, ...for me... its also about the fun of creating it, and once the beginning of December is over (on holidays from work).... luckily I do get time to plan, play and create as well as preserve the memories.
Its been a total joy and will look foward 2014 with as much anticipation!  

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Julie's December Daily 

and December Daily Journey

This is my third December Daily and  my favorite so far.

Being able to contain my lumpy and bumpiness in the box has made the end result look more finished off than my pregnant brick from last year.

As for what I have learnt from this year. 

- I totally am not good at sticking to a colour theme. 

- Although I enjoyed scrapping all of 'Hoots' adventures and antics, it did take up more time to scrap two things for each day.  So next year I am going to rethink how I record what Hoot gets up to.

I've had fun and am already thinking of what to do for this year December Daily!

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Deb's December Daily

and December Daily Journey

This being my 3rd December Daily, it is probably my favourite so far now that it is completed............that is to LOOK at, not so much the creating of it if that makes sense.  I love how it has turned out but think the pastels will be a "one off" as I really did miss creating with the more "traditional" Christmas colours especially red although red is not really a colour I scrap with a lot in everyday scrapping.  There are a couple of the things I did this year that I will probably do in my next December Daily...........Handmade dated circles and some handmade embellishments.  I mainly did this to fit in with the pastels theme this year but really enjoyed pre-making these in the lead up to Dec 1.  Also the inclusion of some plastic sleeves (divided pockets) throughout the album.  I think it has added some interest to my album.

So, my thoughts for my 2014 December Daily...................

*Maybe try a different look other than the rings on the outside holding it all together.  This is what I have          done for all 3 December Dailys.

*Also my first 2 were portrait orientation and this one was landscape and I think I prefer to work with the portrait orientation.  The size was good to work with.

*Definitely no pastels (well at least not for a few years).

*Start collecting bits and pieces right now for my 2014 December Daily so that I have a real mix of things as I think I prefer the "bit of this and bit of that" rather than one particular line of papers or a particular colour scheme.

*Totally loved Mandy's use of acetate and her little peek-a-boo pages in her 2013 December Daily so will keep this in mind for my next one too.

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Bec's December Daily

and December Daily Journey

This December Daily was my 5th and I loved it just as much as the excitement and eagerness as the first AND this was my 1st December Daily in a Project Life style.  But with that, there have been 'what ifs' and do's and don'ts that I have come across with this album as with all my other albums.

With my life being so much busier than my previous 4 albums, this Project Life style was sooooooo much simpler and easier to keep on top of. I'll definitely be doing it again with an even busier lifestyle this year.

But the changes I would make for my next album would be:

* Pre make more title cards, decorated cards, shaker pockets, words etc. I found this was the main thing that held me up, but with having some of the cards, embellies etc already done, was a great help and very efficient with being so busy.

* Not being so hard on myself if I forgot about "Tinsel", our elf every night and not remembering to take a photo. I was regularly taking pics at the start of the month, but as it was getting closer to Christmas, I was struggling to remember with all the things I had to do to get ready for Christmas Day.

* My past albums I have loved the full page or larger photos in my album. So my next album I want to include some full page photos cut down into 4 pieces to fit inside the 4 pocket pages.

* Sticking to a colour theme. - What made it easier was having ONLY my "christmas" coloured embellies, cards, ribbons and paints in a bowl all together. I'll definitely be doing that again.

* Deciding on a "colour theme" early on was a great help. Having those colours that I had chosen, readily accessible from the start made it so much easier. I didn't have to think to hard and waste time thinking about the colours when the focus was on the photos and the important journaling and memories that I wanted to record before I forgot them.

* Not worrying so much about what everyone else is doing and how AWESOME everyone else's albums look. I did this for me and my children and they LOVE it!! So thats all that matters. Once you start worrying about everyone else's gorgeous albums, then time is being wasted stressing about how you 'wish' yours was looking. I spent too much time doing that and forgot to focus on why I was really doing it and it's main purpose. Enjoy the process and the memories. 

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And with these great last words...

Thanks so much for coming along on our 2013 journey with us here at 'Let's December Daily'.
We all had a different outlook, end result and purpose.

Its been both a joy and pleasure,

The blog is now going to 'sleep' until the beginning of November this year when it will 'wake up' again for our 2014 December Daily journeys!

In the meantime, we are sure this site will be used as a wonderful resource especially towards the end of the year along with your contributions in Mr Linky (only open for your submissions till the end of January 2014- so get in quick!) for everyone who visits to see....

Dont forget to become a follower and put us in your bloglists so you know when we will be back up and running .....November will return sooner than we think!
It seems to be in a 'blink of an eye' these days!

You can find some more information with our members and visitors sharing 

with Mr Linky below

Covers

Completed pages

2012 December Daily's or earlier

Mandy's December Daily Finishing Touches...

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!

You can find some more information with our members and visitors sharing 

with Mr Linky below

Covers

Completed pages

2012 December Daily's or earlier

Julie's December Daily Card Box...

Now that I have finished scrapping for this years December Daily,  I bet you are all wondering just how it will go all together as there are no holes in sight to use rings or ribbons on.

Here is the pile of cards.

Cards not pages you say?  

That's because this year my December Daily is not an album this year.

The reason for all those little numbered tabs at the top of  all my cards is because I decided to make this year's December Daily a card box instead.

Here is what the cards are going to be housed in

Pretty plain looking - but soon solved that issue and started to wrap up my card box.

Every present needs a bow. . .

So that is where I started. A twine bow to help keep my card box closed.

Making it look pretty, started by adding in some ribbon. 

So that I could see just where the ribbon needed to go and the title card could be seen under it, I kept it in place with clip, then some more twine.

Finally  added in some trim.

What is a present without a tag?

And seeing I had to cover up the back of my card box where all the trims met, that was just the place for this present's tag.

 I cut a scrap of kraft to fit. Punched out a heart then finished it of with some doodling and a few word stickers before adding it to my present.

Adding some flowers.

 Flowers are my favorite embellie and using them in last year's album turned it somewhat into the pregnant brick. This year I resisted the urge to use flowers on my cards. I managed to use just one and thought that having a flower spray on the front would finish it nicely. My present already had a bow, so used some washi tape to attach my flower.

Here is the finshed card box with the cards inside.

Closed.

Back

 Those paper bag envelopes at the back hid the last of Hoot and Holler scrapped antics.

Open

That's my December Daily all wrapped up for another year. I think after doing three this one is my favorite so far.

Bec's Dec..... Adding in extras........

With my album now finished and Christmas over, I wanted to add in the Christmas cards that we received using the same method as I had with adding in the letter from Tinsel. 

I first cut strips of paper or card (card would be stronger) about 3/4" wide.

 Then I cut the strips into about 2" long and folded them in half.

 When folded over I punched holes through them, remembering to keep them about 5mm away from the folded edge. If they are too close to the edge they will tear and rip easier therefore your cards or whatever you are attaching will fall out of the album. 

 I collected all my cards and put them in the order I wanted. (I put the cards from my family and closest friends first.)

 Opening up the folded pieces exposing the inside of the tabs, I placed double sided tape (small pieces) on both sides of the tab, near the outer edge of each side.

 Take the piece of paper off your double sided tape and stick one side down along the folded edge of the card.

 And fold down the other side to attach both sides to the back of the card. 

 Do this for 2 tabs (remembering to space them at equal distances to fit on the rings) and then you have your card inside your mini album. 

I have loved being able to add in my cards to my album this way. It's all together with my photos and in one album.
I hope this have given you some idea of adding your cards along with your Christmas memories all in one album.
But you can add in anything that you don't want to go into a pocket that is still able to be opened and read.

Deb's completed 2013 December Daily.........

My December Daily for this year is all done and I'm very happy with the end result although at times I did find the pastels for Christmas a bit of a challenge.

To the rings I have added some torn fabric strips and some blue spotty ribbon (although you can't really see that it is spotty) bows, a little bell charm and a couple of small baubles that decorated one of my Christmas presents this year.  One was silver and the other gold and I thought the gold would look ok but I wasn't happy with it.  So I painted over the gold one with some of the blue paint I had used through my December Daily and when it had dried I covered them both in some blue stickles for a bit of sparkle.

Another view.......you can see the little bits extending from the pages peeping out from the side and

at the top.............

Then when it was done I decided to add this stretchy tinsel to pop around the album.  It was on another one of my Christmas gifts and thought it was too cute not to use.   I've tied on a couple of little charms (a tree and a star).

So there we are.............all done for another year.  I've had fun and have loved being able to share this year's December Daily journey with you.

Julie's Days 19-25

Wahoo, I have finally finished scrapping for my December Daily this year. All I need to do is some minor finishing touches and I am all wrapped up.

Day 19

The letters that I used here are some older Prima ones that I found had lost some of the stickiness and were falling off after I had taken this photo. Not wanting to glue on each individual letter, placed washi tape over the top with a see-through effect.

 

Day 20

  The photo on the right was taken inside an inflatable snow globe.

Day 21

The last of my Christmas shopping.
Tried to keep to the red, black and white, the colours of the bags- like the Target bag in the photo - I used the cap off one of my mists dipped in paint to make the circles.

Day 22.

 Yum.

Day 23.

A quick and easy banner using washi tape

Day 24

With the chevron being so bold, toned it down with some paint and added in some washi tape.

Day 25.

Christmas morning snapshots after breakfast.
The front is actually a flap that can be lifted to reveal more photos underneath

Lifting the flap shows photos of the Christmas tree, Asher and her presents.

Quite a bit of journaling to include here, so ended up typing it out to place on the back of the flap.

Hoots Adventures

Day 17 of freedom

It was time to hang up their stockings- mini ones that I borrowed.

Day 18 of freedom

Hoot tucked up in a Christmas hat reading a Christmas book to some of Asher's Christmas bears.

In a pack of embellishments, there were several bow ties and I wasn't too sure if I would use them, but trimmed, they made a perfect banner.

,

Day 19 and 20 of freedom

Day 21 of freedom

Hoot taking time out to crush some candy.

Day 22 of freedom

I had started sorting out some stuff that I needed to take with me on our

Christmas day rounds and found Hoot and Holler in there one morning.

Day 23 of freedom

Hoot and Holler had babies

Day 24 of freedom

Hoot and holler head down in the basket of presents checking to see if Santa had left them one.