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!
Oh my goodness......talk of the December Daily Album 2009. I must confess, I haven't finished mine from last year, though, I have documented every day, have all my photos are printed and everything is stored in a special box just waiting. My biggest downfall was how to construct each page. I love the look of different type of pages etc.
The lesson I have learned is to have the album ready BEFORE December. I am determined to finish last year's album and when I do........the whole world will hear about it. LOL.
Cheers, Irene
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QUESTION ALIE -
You may have addressed this previously. When you print your digital pages, do you use your own computer or print online somewhere? If on your personal computer, do you worry about the archival quality of the inks? If online, where? It seems you (and others) use a lot of irregular page shapes. Do you just print on larger paper and cut to size?
Thanks for addressing these questions if you can.
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I mostly print outside of my home. I have found two places that do top notch developing and since I am really pciky about developing, I stick with what I know works for me.
I think that the biggest barrier for me in completing anything is time and making priorities. This has been a year of learning what is important. It is a slow process to get it together but definately is a progressing in the right direction!
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I gathered all the supplies and intended to do a December Daily last year but never found the time to complete it during the month. In fact I never made it past the gathering stage. But to pre make the album when the Hot Summer sun is making me long for the Holidays- I can do that!!! Major inspiration!!
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My friend Laura and I both did it last year and we LOVED the project. Here's a link to mine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/autumnwind/sets/72157610572792563/
Thanks for the inspiration!
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Looks like so much fun! I just have to say, Ali, that I LOVE that picture of you in your header. I love your outfit so much! So cool.
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Getting a jump start on this would be great! Thanks for the boost of inspiration. I've already got ideas for our album.
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I love the album and so will my family! I have not done one before, at least not one for Christmas. I don't do anything digital--that's not true. My pics are and some of my journaling I type but for the most part I am afraid to try--And that's not true! I'm really SCARED to try! I have made cards and scrapbooked for about 5 years and love it. I love looking at your blog, Ali and I have your books and some of your stamps. I have made several small books from ideas you have sparked and this will be another. Can't wait to start!
HO HO HO......a punching and a stamping and a journaling I will go!!!!
(this is the first time I have ever commented on a blog!)
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Hi Ali,
I did start my Christmas 2008 album - I have all the pages done and all the photos and the words - they are just not quite together as finished pages yet! I did enjoy the idea of recording what makes Christmas special for me and my family though. And I wil finish it - I am having some holidays soon so hope to get back to it then. Thanks for the advice on the digital stuff too. I think I just need to bite the bullet and buy the software - hopefully it will make sense then!
Judith (Adelaide, Australia)
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Hi Ali,
I'm getting really jazzed up about your december album. So many ideas, and as you say and so many ot
hers... there is no wrong or right way, just my way!!
Holly
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Great timing with this post. I just now got to putting my albums together from last year. I love the concept of the daily documentation, but have had a hard time actually doing it. So the album from 2008 is not a daily. I will try again this year.
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If you are interested in looking at mine from last year. I combined your and Shimelle's Christmas class and went through Christmas Day. It was FANTASTIC but overwlehming. THinking I want to do something a little smaller scale this year. Not sure yet... but I definitely like having the little memory put together and the detail/memory from going on in "real time" is unbeatable!
http://doublehdesign.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-cards.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18572605@N02/sets/72157610615891430/
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Love that the December Daily Album is one project I can count on getting done every year. :)
http://www.myscrapbookart.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=118433&ppuser=123
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i pre-made a December Daily album, but didn't fill it in because i gave it to my new SIL for her December Birthday. She LOVED it. It was really cool, and i hope to make another. Being in an inter-religious marriage, we celebrate almost all the holidays (Hanukkah, Christmas, Winter Solstice, New Years), so it's a VERY busy time in which we have many different stories.
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How funny! I've just come back from a scrapbook 'weekend away' with Scraptacular in Melbourne, Australia (what a great group of ladies and a fabulous store!). ANYWAY, I spent Friday putting together my December Daily Album inspired by your 2008 posts. Last night when I got home, I checked your website, and Voila! The new December Daily 2009 post. And they say great minds think alike ................................
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I assembled an album in two hours this morning. Very excited. I used envelopes for the cover and materials I had on hand.
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I made Ali's December Daily 2008 album and as we hosted a New Year's Party, I extended the album all the way to Dec 31st. I finished a number of the pages in January and didn't let myself feel stressed that it had to be completed on a daily basis in December. I found that the greatest benefit in creating the album, was that it helped me to stay in the moment and to enjoy the whole month of Christmas preparation, instead of only focusing on the actual holiday. I found myself taking my camera everywhere and now have priceless pictures and journaling of the family shopping for Christmas food at the markets, taking coffee breaks from the Christmas rush and of teens teaching grandparents about their new electronic toys. I will definitely be making another one this year and on my trip to the States this month, I already started stocking up on Christmas products and a new album.
Thank you for your wonderful inspiration Ali!
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Did one last year for the first time, from a kit I found online. 4X6 chipboard bound with a giant binder ring. Simple and gorgeous. And easy to finish, even when traveling over the holidays. I realized though, that I have SO MUCH CHRISTMAS STUFF, that I have to put my own together this year, with product from my stash. Seeing everyone else's completed projects is so inspiring, and I would love to start now!! Thanks for the nudge!
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love your date tabs. this was a lovely book. i think next year i'll do december and july. (too late for now!) july is just such the peak of summer and my family has a lot of birthdays. it would be a good mid year glance.
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I did not do one last year, but this post inspired me to get mine together for this year! http://kellyspages.typepad.com/papercrafting/2009/08/christmas-in-july.html
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I finally uploaded my photos of my project to my flickr account and the December daily pool. I had so much fun working on this. Thanks for endless amounts of inspiration! Check it out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michellejacquemet/sets/72157621825987207/
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I love this idea. I had seen references to "december daily" on several sites without knowing what it was but now I'm excited to try it. I'm going to work on prepping my album this week!
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i loved this project, and after seeing this post it got me thinking about putting the pages together for this year. i think this year, i will do more digital pages...
here's a link to some pages of mine
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32965540@N07/sets/72157621938727984/
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I just finished My DDA for this year... It was a labour of love and I can't wait for december to begin!
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