December Daily 2010 | Q&A (the questions)
Tags:
I know lots of you out there have started putting together your album foundations for December Daily. I'd like to try and answer any questions you might have at this point in the process (knowing that some of you haven't started yet and some may already have albums all put together). Feel free to leave questions here and I'll answer them in a new compilation post later this week.
For a full list of 2010 December Daily posts click here.
Comments
Sign in or sign up to comment.
121 comments
Hi Ali, You've used lots of transparencies this year. Is the plan to make them identical front and back? I just struggle with using transparencies as album inset pages unless I plan to mirror image them sandwiching the transparency in the middle, mostly for the pics cause I don't like the backsides showing.
thanks,
Susan
Replies
i'd also like to know what you're going to do with the overlays...i started to put my DD together & don't think i'll be using any because I have trouble with overlays too!
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Can't wait for seeing the Q&A, even though I have no question by now.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Are there any kits out there? I don't have a stockpile of supplies to draw from and I'm not really interested in having lots of extras kicking around after December...
Thanks, Ali!
Replies
Go www.etsy.com and search for "December Daily album" lots came up. Hopefully you can find something you like.
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali,
Are you going to insert any extra pages in your album as you go? Specifically I'm wondering if you'll be using any of the December Daily digital templates that you've released in the past. And if so, have you thought about how you'll do that? This is something I'm thinking about doing since I think I'll need more space to document the "what we're doing" of each day and journaling. Do you have any 6x8 sized templates in the works?
Thanks for the inspiration to start my 1st December Daily project!!
Sarah
P.S. Happy Birthday on Thursday...we share a birthday. :)
Replies
Me too -happy birthday to both of you, and me!!!
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Do you keep track of ideas/inspiration for finishing the page that come to you as you make your foundation pages? How do you remember these things? For example, if you have the vision to put a picture in a specific spot while creating the foundation page, do you mark it somehow so that you will remember it when you come back to it in December? I think I remember seeing you put post-it notes on pages last year - do you have any other tips? Or do you let it go and let the creative process re-inspire you once December rolls around?
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Have you decided what will go on the back of the daily journal pages?
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Do you plan to have a cover page at the begining of the book to explain anything?
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
it's my birthday today. my husband is watching the kids for an hour later today, so that i can work on my december daily. i'm going to record that right into the book - i have a page set aside for little things to remember about the 'preparation' of the album. just thought i'd share that. :)
Replies
What a great birthday present. Most of the time we need something personal like time off or time together instead of "things."
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Ali-
I am also using the KI Memories numbers "lace" in my album, but how do you plan to include that in the binding? Since the numbers are so random I am afraid it won't line up right to get the jump rings through it. Perhaps a little strip of cardstock mounted to the back just wide enough for the rings?
Thanks!
Replies
Totally butting in here, but just wanted to let you know that in her Walk Thru video, Ali showed that she adhered the "lace" cut-out paper to a Hambly Clear Screen that she cut down to 6x8.
Another idea: I actually just sewed a cut-down-to-size (6x8) plastic 8.5x11 sheet protector to slip the KI lace numbers into. I sewed one new side and then sewed along side the "plastic stitching" that was originally along the bottom and spine side of the page protector. I trimmed off the original spine side edge that housed the ring holes and just punched new holes into the sheet protector. A more readily accessible and more affordable option than the Hambly option.
Note: Place the cut out 6x8 section of KI lace that you want to use inside the 8.5x11 sheet protector to get a more accurate idea of how the lace will fit in it. In other words, you need to leave a little extra room for it to slide in easily and not pucker. (The good thing is if you mess up, sheet protectors are way cheaper to do over!-lol)
Another option: Use a plain transparency from an office supply store and adhere the KI lace to it for support.
Butting in as well, but just thought that I'd add that I used a spray adhesive to adhere the number paper to the Hambly transparency. My word of advice is that it only takes a little bit -- on my first one I think I sprayed on more than I needed to. A quick spray will apply enough to make it stick.
I was unable to find the clear transparencies, so I cut four squares of the lace numbers and put them into baseball card pockets. I cut the sheets down to four squares, punched new holes and placed them in the book. I also did this with squares of leftover transparencies for pages where I ran out of full sized-ones. I can pull those out and put something else in if I decide to later.
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Do you have any advice for making sure you add something every day? This is my first year doing this, but as a college student that has finals in the middle of December, I'm really worried about adding things every day. A few days just might say "STUDYING." But I know this is about marking the mundane as well. So I guess another question is about how to make the mundane "fit in" with the exciting "Christmas Stuff"
Thanks Ali!
Replies
How about your class schedule showing finals schedule? Or the package from the "No-Doze" you take to stay up and cram? It's my first DD year, too, and I'm writing ideas now so I can remember to document them when the time comes.
or perhaps a picture of you books, or coffee cup, or you school r backpack? I also like the idea of the schedule.
If you want it to be Christmasy, you could take a picture of
the books, you studying with Christmas coffee cup or if you
study at someplace like starbucks or bookstore, take a picture
of you under some Christmas decorations studying, etc.
I'll second (or 3rd) the idea of including your schedule. Other ideas: a tuition bill, blue book, your final paper... Take a photo of your favorite place to study -- why do you like going there? Even the "mundane" today will be fun to look at years from now -- do you have a favorite route to class/shoes/winter coat/outside of your apt/neighbors/bouncer/technology, etc. (I'm totally dating myself but wish I had a pic of our giant answering machine and landline right now! LOL!). I am now living in the same city where I went to college and some of our favorite hangouts have been remodeled or demolished ... wish I had a few wide shots of some of these places, inside & out, for comparison.
I'm in college, too, and last year when I was writing some ideas on how to document school/exams, I came up with these (just to give you a few more to think about)
- I really wanted to document my bus ride to school. I took the same bus with the same people all semester, so I wanted to document that whole part of my life that is just so "everyday" we don't really think about it
- I also wanted to get a picture of my desk while I was studying (it can get crazy!)
- The coffee cup picture is a good one. I also wanted a picture of the menu of my favorite coffee shop near campus. I love when they put the holiday flavors on the board!
- Lastly, I wanted a picture of all the DVDs I wanted to watch once I was finished with exams and could relax. I knew that this could be done any day because I wanted to journal about all the things that I wanted to get done - not what I actually got done. I think documenting your plans and then seeing what actually happens can be just as informative and memorable as documenting your daily activities!
I didn't end up doing my Dec Daily last year due to some unforeseeable circumstances on the first few days of the month. I'm excited to use these same ideas this year!
Last year alot of myplans got scuppered by illness so I have a photo of baby nurofen in there which records all the parties we missed, teething and croup all in one photo. I also have a photo of my husbands briefcase for his last day at work before the holidays, a positive pregnancy test, our backyard under snow and on days where there were no photos, I recorded a Christmas memory, fav Christmas poem, song etc. Hope that helps with some ideas.
Sign in or sign up to reply.
I know in some of your other albums you have inserted tags, receipts, and school papers. Will they be part of this album?
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hey Ali, thanks for sharing your concept. I'm new at paper crafting and love the concept. I also Love the transparencies for your foundation pages but I could not find anything comparable in my local scrapbooking supply shops - not too many in my neck of the woods. I'd love to know where you got yours, were they preprinted? If not, how did you print on them? finally, what adhesive do you use to adhere things to them? On my end, I improvised with my current project, using the thick transparent binder dividers I picked up in a office supply store, which I cut down to size. It works but doesn't have the same artistic look and feel. Thanks for responding.
Replies
Just wanted to let you know that I also enjoyed Ali's transparencies and bought most of mine online at www.scrapbook.com and I also picked some up at Michael's. Hope that helps.
Sign in or sign up to reply.
HI Ali,
I have my chipboard cover (the red one you sampled for us) and have purchased my Daily templates that I'll be printing on white Bazzill.
I'll be downloading them as PDF pages. Can I type into those if they are PDF? (I don't really use PSE for scrapbooking) so I rely on other ways to get my scrapbooking created.
thanks,
Sheri
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali,
I'm curious about the transparencies. I really like the look of them. You mentioned getting them at an office supply store. Do you buy them plain - or printed? I've looked all over for things like that, & am a little confused about the process. I'm not into the digital aspect too much - that may be my problem? Help.
p.s. Thanks for sharing about the different "weights" of the pages - that is helpful as well... ~Sally
Replies
Whoops - I just listened to the video again, and realized you said NOT like the ones from an office supply store. Okay, I am now googling Hambly transparencies.... =)
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali,
Thanks for giving us a chance to ask questions and to help us get our albums together. I have all my supplies just can't seem to find a album. The LS stores nearby don't have anything special so might have to drive out to Archivers to look. I would really like to make something homemade if I could though, any ideas? Also on the days you have the baseball card protectors are you making a note ahead of time to take extra pictures that day to fill in all that space? I'm worried my pictures won't work. Do you use every picture on that specific day or do you mix them up a little to make it work in the album? Thanks again for all you do.
Replies
Hi Dawn- I'm totally jumping in here :)
for my album cover I used some plain chip board. It was a 12x12 sheet that I was given by my LSS owner. She received it as part of the packaging for an order of papers. I cut it down to size (6x8) and did a treatment similar to what Ali did on her red cover. So, you could check with your local store and see if they have any packing left over or see if they will hold some for you from their next shipment :)
I used cut-down chip board, too, then covered it in paper that's similar to Ali's white cover. It's going to be too cool.
I made my own chipboard cover too.
I used chipboard as well and decorated my cover to look like a front door. I punched out some green from an evergreen punch and arranged it in a circle and then used Ali's "25" circle in the center. I used a 7 Gypsies cranberry crystal door handle as well. Very happy with how it turned out. If you want to see it, you can check out my blog (which has sadly been neglected lately) where I have posted a picture of it. Not sure how to do a link here, so my blog address is terriporter.typepad.com.
Do you guys know that you can use non-scrapbooking chipboard, like cereal boxes? If you're covering them with paint or paper, you don't have to be too worried about the acidity, etc. When I want a heavier cover I use recycled cardboard like the USPS prior mailboxes (thank you Daisy Diva Anja!).
I made my own chipboard cover too--and use jump rings. You could also layer felt and stitch around the edges. Anything goes!
I found a green book at my local Goodwill. I ripped out the pages and then cut the spine out. I punched holes with my cropadile for the ring binders. The cover is very study and I love the worn book look in a Christmasy cover.
Lora, I love that!
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Do you have any plans for an actual digital album for those of us who are digital--sort of like the one you made for Week in The Life? Loved that one, bought it, and would be super excited if there was a December one too!
Replies
Ali has three different template sets for December Daily available at Designer Digitals. Here is this years: http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/10703
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Do you stress about the mixing of patterns and colors? Do you try and keep it all in the same tone on purpose? I have a tough time mixing up the colors and patterns. I try and push my design envelope, so I was curious if there was a way that you could help me out with the mindset of not having to have everything totally 100% match/coordinate throughout the album. Also, having done the binder rings and an album, I prefer the album approach. Do you have a preference between the two options? Thanks for taking the time for us!
Replies
On a similar note, do you keep a specific "style" in mind to stick to throughout, or do you intentionally mix it up? Or not care too much about it?
Sign in or sign up to reply.
What do you do on the days that you have not done something Christmasy?
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Have you ever tried to print your own transparencies? I used to do it all the time in my corporate job when preparing presentations. Could even print in colour. But, of course, the transparencies were probably quite a bit thinner than the versions you are using.
Replies
The challenge for me is that I had a color laser printer at work but only have a color ink-jet at home. The ink-jet ink never dries on the commercial transparencies, it just smears off. I guess you could spray it with fixative, if you have that around.
Hi Jeni I got some inkjet transperancies from an office supply store to print at home and they are amazing. They are thinner then the other transperancies but they have a smooth side and a rough side. They also have a strip up the top that tells you which side to print on (from memory it is the rough side) If you print them on the correct side the ink shouldn't smear off. I have also tried the laser print ones at work and they work well too. Hope this helps!
Yes, I too have used transparencies from my local office supply store and they do work. I think they are a bit lighter in weight than the Name Brand scrapbook ones though-but I don't mind because it allows me more creative freedom to customize my own transparency!
There is definitely a "right" side and a "Wrong" side to print on!
Hi! I made my own transparencies by just using staz on ink and stamps on a clear transparency. They came out fairly well for my 1st try.
The scrapbook stores also sell a thicker 12x12 transparency that you could cut down to fit in your printer. It's thicker than regular office transparencies but about the thickness of cardstock. HTH
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali, I LOOOVE your December Daily project. Made two last year (one for us and along the way made one for my mother-in-law who live a thousand miles away... maybe I should mention that she called and said she cried and laughed and read DD 5 times the first day and was ready to WALK that distance to see us...)
My question: is there a list of possible activities for December? I don't want my 2010 DD to be similar to last year. I want to include variety of pictures and activities, but I don't always have enough ideas for every day.
Replies
I just love the idea of making a copy of your DD for a long-distance loved one so that they can be a part of your life -- totally brought tears to my eyes when I read that. Thanks so much for sharing.
what a great idea,did you do it identical to yur one that you kept?
Sign in or sign up to reply.