December Daily 2009 : Step One • Gather Your Materials

Yes, it really is getting to be that time of year again soon.
And yes, I know that we haven't even hit Halloween yet.
And yes, what you see here in my office is my December Daily pile.
And yes, that's my progress so far.  

WELCOME TO DECEMBER DAILY 2009.

You are invited to join me in what has become a favorite holiday tradition: December Daily. 

December Daily is an album project that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas. Many people start their documentation earlier and many people go longer. I have found that 25 days is just right for me. 

One of the keys to success in this project is getting an album structure set-up in advance of December so that during December you can enjoy the season & enjoy the process of documenting your days without having to be putting the entire thing together at the same time. It is not meant to be stressful. It is meant to be a way to creatively celebrate the season and document you special holiday memories in one album. 

If this is your first time reading about December Daily I highly recommend you read my 2008 welcome post. It will give you a run-down of the basics and give you a better understanding of what's happening. There's also a Question & Answer post that my clarify things for you even more. 

For the rest of you, let's get started!

STEP ONE: GATHER & ORGANIZE YOUR MATERIALS
Easy enough. Get all your holiday stuff in one location. Having it all in one spot and accessible makes the entire process that much easier. As you can see from my photo above I have it all in one place just not really in any order. My organizing for this project is usually just a box or basket - judging from the photo I might need a bigger box. 

While you are gathering your supplies it's also a good opportunity to purge things you might be ready to pass along to someone else (think school, church, retirement home, shelter, etc). 

Here's a look at my album before any December documentation was added last year: December Daily 2008. As soon as I have the bare bones structure for this year I will post it. Working on it a little bit at a time right now. 
 
There are so many different ways to approach this project:

• Some people make it a game to use what they have on hand (all those years of stocking up on holiday products and then making one layout is paying off). If this is you, your goal over the next week is to get all your stuff in one place. 


• Some people mix old products with new products (this is me). 


• Some people do all digital albums. 


• Some people do a mixture of digital and paper (this is me too)


• Some people do big albums and some people do really small ones. 

You're also invited to join the 2009 Flickr group which can be accessed here: December Daily 2009. 

A couple other things to note: 

• Katie Pertiet has a great digital album coming out this weekend at Designer Digitals if you are looking to do all digital this year. 

• 
  Cocoa Daisy will have a December Daily kit available on November 1. I coordinated products that I have been collecting with Tricia, including the Prima fabric album I will be using as my base. 

I'm here to encourage, celebrate and cheer you on along the way. I can't wait to see how mine turns out - I'm trying a couple different things this year (including incorporating some fabric for my cover) and still trying to keep it simple overall.

It's totally possible that you are already making this more complicated than it needs to be in your head. Take a deep breath and do one little thing at a time.