For several years now I’ve wanted to make a December Daily album. I’ve admired them on Flickr, stockpiled ideas on Pinterest, and amassed an embarrassing amount of product for the sole purpose of creating my own. Last year I started an album…but I didn’t even make it a week into the process before giving up. My total and utter failure was due to two mistakes: 1) I didn’t create a foundation album but instead tried to build a page from scratch every day and 2) I thought I needed to have some momentous occasion to document each day instead of simply recording my life as it was. This year I’ve decided to go for it. I’ve made an album, put together a tray of supplies, and am focussing on the simple realities of my everyday life. For once I’m excited about the upcoming month instead of anxious and stressed. So without further ado, here’s a look at what I’ve got so far.
For the cover I used an old photo album I’ve had lying around (since high school – yeah, I’m a bit of a hoarder). I covered the outside with kraft paper and used vintage wrapping paper on the inside.
The pages are 4″ x 6″ – a mini album, for sure. Less page area = less pressure for me. I also chose not to number the pages. This way I can move them around based on what works best for each day. In other words, I can fit the page to the day rather than trying to make the day work with the page.
I included a lot of pockets & envelopes for all of the bits & bobs I’m sure to collect. And since the pages are so small, I wanted to be sure to have a place to keep all the things that can’t be attached directly to a page.
The pages are a combination of the 12 Days of Christmas collection from My Mind’s Eye and Dear Lizzy Christmas from American Crafts, as well as few vintage papers and others from my stash.
The above page is made from a piece of (Red) wrapping paper I bought at Hallmark several years back. Luckily I still have a few pieces left, so you’ll likely see it in future projects.
The pockets are made from a baseball card holder I cut down to fit. In the top pocket I put a little faux snow and the phrase “let it snow,” then I hand-sewed it shut.
I plan to include hole-punched 4″ x 6″ photos throughout the album, as well as add smaller images to the existing pages. Hopefully this will inspire me to take more pictures this month.
The doily page is just vellum I stamped using the Martha Stewart Crafts doilies stamp set and Staz On Opaque Cotton White.
I love this aqua & candy cane card! It was a late addition to the album; I just picked them up from the dollar section at Michaels earlier this week. Love that dollar section! You’ll see the coordinating red envelope as a later page.
Another baseball card holder sheet…I love embellishing these.
In the very back of the album I added an envelope to keep extra photos in. It’s actually the envelope you get with your receipt when you order from Anthropologie. I love it when I can reuse things like that.
There you have it! I’ll share the finished pages as I go, so stay tuned. See the list below for links to the products I used. And if you want to see larger images, you can find them on Flickr.
Supplies:
