December Daily in July
[ images from Janet @ thedailydigi.com using my 25 Days of December Photo Overlays ]
Inspired by a post about the December Daily project on The Daily Digi (the post is a great example of using digital supplies for paper projects, also called hybrid), I thought that today would be the perfect time to bring up the topic of December Daily for 2009.
Although I am totally not ready to be thinking about the holidays just yet, I love the idea of getting this project started even earlier than I usually do. I am especially interested in starting earlier since my Big Picture class will be running from October through December (my goal with that class is to make it simple to follow through the busiest season of the year for most people - look for more information and registration in mid-August). Even though that class will be happening during that time I will definitely be doing a December Daily again.
If you are new to my blog you may be wondering what in the heck is December Daily? Here's a post from last year with a good amount of information and here's a Q&A with even more information.
Basically it's daily documentation & celebration from December 1 through December 25 in the form of a minibook or small album. Some people like to do it from Thanksgiving through New Years, others the whole month of December, and others just a week or so in December. Those details are entirely up to you.
One thing you might consider if you aren't ready to work on the album just yet is to take some time to organize your holiday supplies. I store my Christmas papers and embellishments in one of these Art Bin boxes. I have found that storing them all together, separate from my other supplies, makes it really simple and easy when it comes time to work on holiday projects.
My initial thoughts for 2009: I think I am going to use one of Donna's canvas albums which would be a fun way to mix things up. The album comes with both page protectors (with a really cute zig zag stitch along the outside edge) and canvas pages and I think it will be big enough to accommodate all the days.
GET INSPIRED: Molly's version from 2008 is still on my mind. What I loved about her album is the simplicity of the design, the emphasis on words, and how she enlarged the photos and spread them across two pages.
Did you start one last year (or the year before) and not finish it? Was it because it was just too much to take on over the course of the month? Was it because you didn't get it ready in advance? Take a bit of time to assess what kept you from getting it done and potentially use that as inspiration for thinking about how you might approach the project this year.
Did you put together an album last year? Feel free to link it in the comments.
Just putting this post together is getting me excited for this project - I need to focus on some other stuff first but I hope some of you are inspired enough to get a head start and participate this year!
What a coincidence that you wrote about the Dec. Daily album! I've been thinking of how I'd like my 2009 album to look. I absolutely loved Molly's when I saw it last year! My album last year was very eclectic, no rhyme or reason. I'm going to try something with a little more simplicity & have at least one consistant element on each page. Thanks for your continued inspiration, Ali. Merry Christmas! ;)
Here's mine...sorry it's in different links:
http://im-up-for-the-challenge.blogspot.com/2009/01/december-daily-album-update.html
http://im-up-for-the-challenge.blogspot.com/2009/01/more-december-daily-pages.html
http://im-up-for-the-challenge.blogspot.com/2009/02/december-daily-album-update-4.html
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OK I am GOING to do this. No really, I am.... I mean it. This year I am going to do it. There. I said it. ~ Looking forward to it. :)
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Funny that you post this. We've been doing Christmas in July at Scrapgal and I started my December Daily as one of the blog projects. This year will be my 3rd year doing one, I love choosing a different size/format each year. This year I went with an AC 6x6 D ring album and a mix of stuff I already had in my stash. Love that my album's "bones" are already in place, waiting for December 1st to arrive.
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I did my first December Daily last year 2008. I did it very simply mostly because I wanted to get it finished. Even though I would have liked to have had it a little more "fancy" I'm very happy that I put it together and that it is finished and on display and not in some box somewhere waiting for the time for me to make it "perfect". The other day I was thinking about this project and thinking if I did it up ahead of time I might be able to do a little more with it. Thanks for the reminder. ;D Here's the link to last year's: http://jencropable.com/all-quiet-on-the-western-front/
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I did this last year! It was fantastic to capture these moments..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lsnjd/sets/72157615212999650/
But it was a lot of work! This year I may focus on a week...
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I cannot wait to start working on this again! I totally enjoyed it last year when I did this project for the first time.
Thanks for the reminder about this project - I'm going to start looking around to see what I want to use as the "book" for this album!
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So glad you brought this up. I started putting one together last year and time got away from me. I think I'll pull it out and finish getting the pages together so all that's left come December is photos and journaling.
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Last year was my second time with Daily December and I can't wait for this year. My favorite time of year documented daily. Loved it.
http://secretlakediaries.blogspot.com/2008/10/december-albums-ready-to-roll.html
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The past 2 Decembers my intent was to do a December daily and life gets in the way and they never got done. Thanks to the inspiration of getting it together now, I might actually get one done this year. Thanks for thedailydigi.com
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Dec 2008 was my first Dec. album. I learned so much and enjoyed it so much too. The intereaction with other people doing albums on flicker was amazing. I think I'll do a different size this year. Last year's was 6x6 inches.
You can see it on my flickr pages
starting on page 16.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16932110@N04/page16/
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Ali: I participated in the December Daily album last year and loved it! It sits on our piano year-round for others to enjoy. I really enjoyed it and am thinking about another one this year. I love the idea of creating the album NOW so all you have to do is document and take pictures later. If I can get my scanner up and running, I will post a link to my book.
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I LOVE this project! I did it last year and it was the only album I finished, so it's much cherished. :) Thanks for the reminder to start thinking about it!
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Hey Ali! I didn't have time to devote to the project last Dec, but completed my album for 2009 in January, so i am ready to go! Loved looking at all of the links-gave me even more idea's of cool pictures to take!
Thanks to everyone for sharing past albums! Can't wait to see how they all turn out ! )
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I love the Dec daily album! It was a must for me to have it pretty much put together before the holidays last year. Here is mine from last year http://kellylynncreations.typepad.com/photos/dec_daily_08/index.html
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It's a great idea begin December Daily album earlier. I made one last year for the first time and I intend to do another one this year. I love the idea to make one with canvas album. I'm anxious to work with this kind of album and it'll be great.
See my last year album in this posts: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scraparty.com%2Fscraparty%2Findex.php?s=december+daily&langpair=pt|en&hl=pt&ie=UTF8
They were translated by Google, so the English is not perfect, but I guess you coul understand the idea.
You can see it in Flickr too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/repacheco/sets/72157611573763570/
I/ve never worked with canvas, so if I choose it for my album, I'll be totally inspired by yours, OK?
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i finished mine: http://www.karenika.com/etc/decd_2008.html one of my all-time favorite minis :) thank you for the inspiration as always. canvas does sound like fun! i just ordered some canvas so maybe i'll try it out this year, too.
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I was able to get all my pages done before the December started..Yeah me. Then got through the first 12 or 13 days and was so pleased with myself. That is as far as I got *hanging head in shame and despair*. Life just got so super busy right before the holidays hit that the Daily was one of the things that got pushed to the side. My plan is to complete it before school starts Aug 19th. I loved the process and also the pages I did get finished. I am already planning for next years and trying to figure out how to stay on track. For me I think it boils down to planning. I get very little time to scrapbook, due to teaching full time, being a wife to a busy coach, attending grad school, and raising two little boys. Plus this year we are thinking we through a pregnancy into the mix...because things aren't busy enough, HA. Here's hoping this years goes better.
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December is such a busy, busy month for me, at work and at home. I've "meant to" participate for the past two years. Maybe working ahead of time is just the push I need. Thanks for the idea!
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I've made the December Daily 2008 a set on flickr now
here is the link
I so enjoyed this project!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16932110@N04/sets/72157621807962784/
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Thank you so much for this Ali. The weeks leading up to the holidays are extremely busy for me (law school finals), so planning this in advance would be great. When I get my break, I am so focused on just enjoying the moment that doing a daily book was so overwhelming. Starting now will really help relieve that. This has really enthused me! I wish I had done a weekly one for this summer. I think I'll do that next year. :-) Maybe it's not too late to start this year... hmm....
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There is no "hanging head in shame and despair" allowed around here. Life happens! We all do the best we can with what we have :).
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I did intend to make one last year. I bought the album and started gathering supplies but then got too busy. I hope to get a jump start on it this year! Thanks for the reminder.
I liked Molly's but the pages looked almost too perfect for my taste. Sometimes I felt like I was looking at a catalog. I think I would prefer doing something more eclectic. I'll be checking out everyone's links to their projects for some ideas!
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i have always wanted to do this...
but december comes around and well, so much of life happens and suddenly, its' january!
thanks for the early reminder...
now, where to begin?
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I did pre-make my december daily album last year, and boy, did that help! All I had to do during the holidays was just remember to take a photo everyday, then when Christmas was over, I just put all my photos and embellishments in the pre-made album. Here's how mine turned out last year.
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1482771
Amber Osburn
California
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What a fabulous idea! Thank you!
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