Let's December Daily: January 2015

Weeeeell, all said and done for another year of December 'Daily-ing' for
2014

Our Design Team shares their thoughts....

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

learned,

un-learned,

wise words,

not so wise words.....

what we will, won't, maybe, do again

and might have planned....

for 2015

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This year I worked both my December Daily and the 30 Days of Lists idea together.
It was an experiment to see if it was possible, or if it could be combined in some form.
I loved the idea of the Lists book because it encompassed everyday things that I'd go about and do in December which were mostly overlooked in the December Daily. The December Daily pretty much always contains bigger events or centres more on my girls so including my days too would be a bonus for them in the future - like a 'what goes on behind the scenes' account to our Christmases.

The Lists book was a great idea in the beginning and in the middle, and towards the end when things got busy, I found I kept creeping towards repeating myself in two books and stopped short of it happening, and it got chunky from the added tags each day and the little embellishments etc.
so would I do it again in this format ? - probably not...
It's pretty though!! And I do love it!

HOWEVER, if you were ever short of time or wanted to keep things simple and don't think you'd be able to create a December Daily for some reason, or a first timer - the Lists book is a GREAT way to do it! It was simple and it was quick and it also gave opportunity to add heaps of details too. And recycle these wonderful books! Breathe new life into them!

So for my December Daily... weeeell, I love its blue cover, and very much loved working from a vintage Christmas book. I think this is 'me' more than any other December Daily I've done

I loved working with the aged pages and my favourite thing to do was creating with transparencies inside.

So whats next? Weeeeell, as much as I'd love to do another vintage book, I also need change. I thought for 2015, I'd like to combine the Lists and the December Daily in someway. At a recent sale, I managed to pick up a heap of '7 Gypsies' long envelopes made of beautiful quality paper, and thought combined they would make a fabulous December Daily! This way I could include the lists in some fashion inside each envelope along with other bits and decorate the outside with dates and photos.... AND there's a couple more effects I'm planning on...*wink wink* we'll see in November LOL... nothing like a little suspense!

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Here is my finished chunky "It's a tweet Christmas" album.

After doing my 4th December Daily, I have come to the conclusion that what ever way I decide to do my albums, they are going to be on the chunky side - it's just the way that I scrap.

I am surprised that I managed to stick to my colour scheme all the way through my album except for two occasions where I created a blue and white page as well as added in a yellow title. I just love how using the mixed size inserts, there's a sneak peek of what was to come, see-through panels and peeks from all sides of the main layout when flicking through.

Once again I had an issue with running out of ink and photo paper and needed to go out and top up on both in the middle of creating.

As for any thoughts of what I will do for my 2015 album, well I think I may try and do a paper bag album. When cleaning out of my scrap area I came across old circle journals that were created years ago made from paper bags, so maybe..... I might give that a try.

Anything that will contain my chunky scrapping is the way to go!

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When I first made the decision to go with an "art journal" December Daily, it was for two reasons.....to get some practice in art journalling using a variety of techniques (tick) and to have something different from my previous December Dailys (tick again).

I didn't want to do what I have done in my previous albums - "take a photo everyday" type of thing as I was finding, for me, this was becoming a bit repetitive as I was taking similar photos each year. Instead I wanted to try to create a relevant page in an "arty"sort of way. The photos DID creep in however....probably more than intended, but overall I am super happy with how my 2014 December Daily has turned out. As you can see it's a little chunky-er than I had first thought it would have been.

I was a little concerned at first that I might have "bitten off more than I could chew" but I surprised myself at how easy it was to create an art journal page every day.
Here are a few of my most favourite pages although as I flipped through the book, there is no page I'm not happy with.

My photo extension page with Santa up the tree.........loved creating this one.......it really was soooo easy and lots of fun.

My melting snowman..........this was one day that I had to put my thinking cap on as to what was relevant to that day.........it was a nothing sort of a day but it was HOT.
So a melting snowman was born.

and this one is probably my most favourite of all.........it includes some drawings from my grand children and that's pretty special. I still have a giggle at the angry Santa looking at his list. lol

I'd have to say this has been the most enjoyable and rewarding December Daily in the four I have now created. Would I do this again for a December Daily? - ABSOLUTELY but maybe not for 2015. So what plans do I have for this year? (Yep it's this year already and I'm thinking about it lol) .......something different again. On our journey this year, I have been very inspired by Mandy's little book of lists and also by Julie's use of fabric to cover her album. So at the moment I have "FABRIC" and "LISTS" in my head. We'll see where that takes me.
I have quite a few more months to think on it.

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Well, another year over, another December Daily done.
Boy did that time fly!!! But it was fun.
Here is my finished album..................................

I enjoyed making my album binder/cover this year. I had made it to suit my personal needs and wants and loves. It was a challenge I had set myself and I am very happy with the outcome of the final product.

My final addition was the year in the little metal frame on the front.

Now it's complete........................

I still enjoyed, and found practical, the Project Life style as last year was the first in 14 years that I worked full time. Christmas is our busiest time at work and I still had time to complete my album.

These edgings on the pages I loved. But would make sure that I had a substantial stock of them pre made before December 1st so I wouldn't run out like I did this year.
Lesson learnt #1

I really wanted to do more of these list type cards but didn't have time. Next time I would have the ideas already and then have the cards chosen for each list so all I have to do is write on them.

Lesson #2 learnt

I wish I added more of these individual cards as a page, emphasising a special photo or day or moment.
Lesson learnt #3

I really LOVE these shaped pages and the added embellishments on top of the photos where I felt a little restricted with the pockets. So I would like to add more of these free pages but still have the Project Life pockets amongst them.

Again, I absolutely enjoyed my process of my album.

My children love it and looked through it several times already.

My plans for my next December Daily???....................... Not 100% sure if I'll make my own binder again. Possibly! Although there would be a few changes to my structure of the inside pages and the presentation of them. I am thinking of an incorporation of my past Dec Daily's and recent Dec Daily's. More feature pages, more interactive pages. (I can't believe I didn't make a shaker pocket like last year!!!)

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So with all these great last words from the LDD girls......

Thanks so much for coming along on our 2014 journey for the second year with us here at 'Let's December Daily'.
We four, 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 2015 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 2015) for everyone who visits to see, and visit your blog too....

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
Pre-Planned Pages
Completed Pages

We love seeing them!

I'm back to show you what I have done with the envelope that is attached to the inside cover of my art journal and also my finished December Daily outside cover. I had left both of these untouched until my December Daily was completed.

This is how it looked................

I've since decided to use the envelope for some cards and Christmas messages. I cut patterned paper to fit the front of the envelope and added a little corner of embellishments including some postage stamps.

Then it was on to my main outside cover........I left this for two reasons.......one because I thought it might get ink or paint on it as I was creating my daily pages and secondly because I had no real plans for a colour scheme/theme for my pages at the time, so thought it would be best to leave it until it was all done and then match the cover to the pages.

So this is how it looks now....................

The cover was painted with white gesso and "rectangles" were cut from scrap paper that either was used somewhere in the album or something that would tie in with the colours used. When the gesso had dried I glued these down on the front and back, leaving the spine.

I then went in between the rectangles, around the edges and down the spine with grey paint and then wiped it all back with a baby wipe before the paint had dried.

Add doodling around some of the "rectangles" in white pen, stamped stars, added stickers (holly, stars and title) and washi tape. It was missing the colour 'fushia' which I had used in the album so splattered it on with a mist.

The heart was part of a gift bag that I received, so thought it could be used here for some more pink. Attached with twine and I was done............

My album is a little more chunky than I thought it would be so I was very happy to have that elastic band to hold it together.

My December Daily is all now done for another year and I love how it has turned out. How is your album coming along? We would love to see them. You can share your creations with us HERE