Here's to going with the flow and being flexible with these albums. Just because I make them in advance does not mean that I'm "stuck" with what I set up for myself. I still love the process of setting it up in advance but am thankful that I always have a choice in what to do each day. Tis the season!
DAY SEVEN
I love these tabbed pages.
Originally I had a different page set up for Day Seven. Here's a look at the original:
As I started working on the last few days I decided that I just wanted to use this cute photo of Anna that my friend Kim took. I thought about printing it out and sticking it in the pocket but that wasn't really what I wanted. I thought about just adhering the photo to the back of Day Six and then adding something else to the pocket or using it for Day Eight (except that I had already done Day Eight…yep, I do them out of order sometimes too) but decided to keep it simple. For me, keeping it simple today meant going with just the photo and simply pulling out the canvas pocket page. It might show up again somewhere else in the album.
I went with big, smilely face Anna for Day Seven:
SUPPLIES : American Crafts Letter stickers (turn the "I" on it's side to make a line separating the letter and the number)
DAY EIGHT
Day Eight is a page protector page. For this one I wanted to play with one of my layered templates (this one is from Volume One) and go for a hybrid page (Cathy had a great video tutorial on her blog yesterday about working with digital elements to create hybrid layouts – definitely worth checking out if you are interested in this approach).
Before printing I added the photos, one pattern, and a couple numbers to the template (resized to 8×8 from 12×12). Here's what the page looked like fresh off my printer:
After printing I trimmed the page to 8×8, added my journaling by hand, and placed a circle accent from American Crafts in the center. I did need to open up the page protector (I had stitched it to the back when I added the number originally – see photo below) and then slipped the finished page into the page protector. On the date tag (on top of the page protector) I added part of my shopping list.
SUPPLIES : AE December Daily Layered Templates Volume One; American Crafts Circle Embellishment; "merry" card from Elles Studio; Michelle Martin Noel Paper (coming to Designer Digitalsthis weekend); American Crafts Precision Pen
Here's the original:
On the back of Day Eight I created a continuation of the front by adhering an envelope onto a piece of pattern paper. Inside the envelope I tucked a couple tags from things we picked up at the store.
SUPPLIES : Art Warehouse Script Pattern Paper; Paper Source Envelope; Making Memories Tiny Alphabet; American Crafts Letter Stickers.
This post is part of a series documenting the month of December 2009. You find out more information and view all the completed pages of my album here. Share your work in the Flickr gallery here. 
Very cool! I need to do another “day in the life” sort of album. Like these new ideas to provide a twist on that concept. Glad to see everyone’s doing well at your house. Cheers!
~ky
The big smiley face Anna was the way to go on Day 7, no doubt about it! Love her smile and how sweet she is!
I Love the pic showing the back of Anna & big brother in the distance. Very neat!
Thanks for all your wonderful sharing Ali.
Happy Holidays!
I love your “go with the flow” attitude, it helps *me* keep things in perspective, so thankyou so much for that!
This is the first year for me participating in the December Daily and I am enjoying it SO much. Exactly like I thought I would, thankyou for the inspiration Ali!
Your daughter is soooooo cute!!! I love her photos!
I LOVE these pages – it really is about the everyday stuff! I love your being adaptable too, that’s really what it’s all about – going with the flow and doing what makes sense at the time. I’m really enjoying taking this approach with mine this year. Thanks for all of the inspiration!
love these pages too, only thing is I have no idea what to do with my day seven – was waiting to see how you were going to use it!!! Any ideas?
Today was recycling day here so I had to put out our recycling last night. My plan would have been to go through the things I had put in there and slip some in the pocket – catalog pages, holiday themed mail, etc. I actually went looking around the house to see if I could find some random papers to stick in there but I had already put it all outside (and it was already gone from the curb).
I love seeing what you are doing with your book…thanks for sharing. I ordered a little mini book to work on my Dec. daily this year and I am loving it…never done a mini book before. I am too just going with the flow…changes the flow of the pages and working with the pictures I want. I wish the book was a little bit bigger, but that is okay…less of a page to fill.
I love the little tab pages too…so much fun and different…using a lot of those too.
And I like what you did with the envelope…I am going to do the same!
Thanks for sharing!
I too have moved around a few pages in my album. In fact once I moved one I thought should move a few more so I basically shuffled it! I used magic dots to adhere numbers so I can accommodate such moves easily.
Thanks for the reminder that it’s about documenting your December, not trying to find something Christmassy in everyday. Yesterday we went on a little shopping trip and it didn’t even occur to me to take photos of it. Let alone include my list.
Thanks for sharing. Your album is coming together nicely. I love getting inspiration from your photos and ideas of what you’re including in your DD.
Yesterday, Day8, was all about shopping for me so I took photos of all the packages when I got home and plan to include my shopping list and maybe some receipts.
I, too, am adding non-Christmas stuff in my book. On Monday night I took dinner to a friend that recently had a baby. Since we didn’t really do anything “Christmas-y” that day I included the birth announcement we received along with a photo of the meal I prepared for the family.
Ok glad I’m not the only one taking pictures @ Target!! lol
Love your layout for the day I just want to gobble up Anna every time you post her pic!!!
I’m very inspired by the everyday ephemera you’ve tucked into this layout (shopping list, tags from items purchased). These things will have much more emotional weight in the future than they do now. So prescient of you to think to include them.
love how your book is coming along- i am so behind on mine- but i have the photos- ect, it is a matter of putting it together
anyways love anna’s blue sweater- it is so hard to find that color for a baby girl- & she looks good!
Anna really is such a beauty! And she is always SO happy in all the photos! What a great time of year this must be for you all. Thanks for sharing!!
Ali,
Your DD is inspiring. Love how you made these two layouts look classic and Ali-style.
I love how this project forces me to slow down and pay attention to the little moments that I probably wouldn’t catch otherwise. Thank you.
Me too – probably my favorite part.
Thanks so much for all the wonderful ideas. Since this is my first year attempting this book, I find I’m trying to include ALL our traditions and taking photos of everything Xmas related every day. I’m having a hard time choosing which activity to document when every day has at least 2 or more, some days 4 or 5. For example, Sunday the kids made their annual gingerbread house, we went to a town tree lighting, then we walked around town looking at outdoor lights, followed by some Christmas baking. Any advice?
Ali, thank you so much for being so open and sharing everything with us all! You have the cutest family and I really admire all your creativity. I absolutely love the pictures of your trip to Target, I take pictures like that a lot and I get a lot of weird stares from people! So I’m curious, when you take pictures inside a store are you using your digital SLR camera or are you using a smaller more compact one? Thanks!!
I just wanted to say this is my first time too and I and am finding this is the most enjoyable project I have ever done. I too am having trouble deciding what to include when we do more than one thing in a day – particularly the weekends – and the same amount of trouble when I have a busy day at work during the week and not much else happens! On those days I might do a page about my favourite Christmas Carol or Christmas story etc. On the busy days I am just going with including my favourite photo or photos.
I was actually using my phone
. I tried to make a couple of those larger but the quality was not good at all so I went with smaller sizes. I use an iphone.
How about making more than one page per day? I have done that in the past when I really had something I wanted to include on the same day (and had more to say about it than just doing a bunch of square punched photos – which I love too).
love these pages ali! you make me want to play with page protectors more!
i love everything about these pages, the pocket with the tags is so cute! may i ask how you load the photos from your iphone? i have one but never done that.
so fun to watch these albums develop!
Okay, I hadn’t seen that new tooth before. What a darling picture of Anna. I didn’t get my pages made before hand, but I had so much fun making 4 pages yesterday. I like it that not every page has to be in a protector. I like it to be “hodgepodge” or shall I say “creative”.
This is my first December Daily and I appreciate all your helpful instruction and pictures.
This is my first year as well. Since my home printer doesn’t do well with photos I’m just blogging the text + photo each day and think it is working very well. When we reach the 1/2 way point this weekend I’ll print the photos thus far and do some quick assembly (she says optimistically). Just thought I’d share as there are many methods that could work for people. I am really enjoying it and enjoy see Ali’s work and everyone else’s too!
Ali
Lovely pages, I really like how you pull thing
all together and make it work with style. I
can see the joy for your family through your
albums.
Sandi N.
Ok, that is the cutest kid ever!
Not sucking up.
3 boys, love them!
Never wanted a girl but she is a treasure for sure.
Happy holidays.
That’s what I like about the mixed up album with rings. You can take things out and move them or whatever you want to do. Anna is a doll. I really would like to have the chance to meet your kids. they are so beautiful and huggable. You just want to love on them.
Harry Potter- check!
This is so cute! Love your project! Thank you for sharing!
Anna is so stinking cute
Ali, Your work is truely amazing. I love looking at your stuff! Anna is gorgeous too! =) I’m enjoying seeing the process of your December Daily and the finished pages. Thank you!
Ali,
Love the pages you have been creating. I have been trying to incorporate more digital elements into the album this year. Really like the Day 8 look you had, so I purchased the template at Designer Digitals and was trying to get it to work in Photoshop. Figured out how to resize, how to remove the circle from the middle – but what I can’t figure out is why, once the picture is in place, my picture does not print/fit in with the inside corner of the template. It prints as a square. I know I am probably missing a very easy step. Looked at Designer Digitals help section and can’t locate a tutorial. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks.
You have a beautiful daughter! I love the laughter in her eyes…
Love that smile and the simplicity of the page.
Love, love, love the idea of taking shopping pictures and keeping the tags of the things you bought! Now I wish I had thought to take out my iphone when I went to the mall yesterday and watched my little one playing with all the toys at Pottery Barn Kids. Next time, next time. (and I’m sure there will be a next time.) Thanks for all the ideas.
I TOTALLY Love the photo on Anna for pg7
and that is the greatest idea to use the “I” sideways to make the line–THANKS!
I love creating these albums every year. Thanks so much for the inspiration! I’m a bit behind this year because my daughter was in the hospital with pneumonia last month and is still recovering. But I’ve still made it a point to work on this because I just love the concept. My daughter even decided to create her own December Daily. See, you’ve inspired a whole new generation of scrappers
I put some of her pages on my blog here: http://meandmyscraps.blogspot.com/2009/12/december-daily-kid-version.html
We’re both having a lot of fun with it
Gorgeous. Thanks so much for the inspiration. And the kiddos are such cuties. =)
thank you for sharing your pages, ali. all of them are so wonderful and such inspiring in every sense… just a silly question that perhaps you´ve answered before but i didn´t find… which paper do you use for printing those hybrid pages, like day 8? photo paper or simple cardstock?? i find that photos look better on photo paper but handwriting is easier on cardstock…
thanks again!!!
Anna is so darn cute!! She must melt you all!! And she looks so much like you… Simon looks so much like his dad!! Thanks for sharing so many photos of your adorable children… especially to women like me who are just dying to be a Grandmother!!
I just caught up on my December Daily and posted it on my blog today. Being current makes me feel so comfortable and relaxed. Now I just need to stay current. I do need to go out and take some photos of our blizzard from yesterday… but it’s 5 degrees and I haven’t been able to put my foot out the door… yet! But it will happen!!
Thanks for all the wonderful inspiration day-after-day!!
Joni
Hi – I am using photo paper
.
Just goes to show you what a flexible system the December Daily is! Nice work as always!
smiles,
Dianne
That photo of Anna is TOO cute!
Thanks! We have way too many paper thingies around here I could use. Am running way behind on my book, am thinking of putting in some big picture pages so that by the time you post a day, even if it is days behind, I can immediately work from your ideas. Since I find that is what I want to do anyway. Am having fun following along and trying out your ideas in my own way
were did you get the silver gromets for the holes in you clear pages? Are they nice looking on both sides? I used regular scrapbook ones but they do not look so nice on the back side.
Thank you
Carol Marsh