December Daily 2010 | Simple Tips + Thoughts On The First Of December

December is finally here!

I'll be working on my Day One page this evening and sharing it here tomorrow.

For today I wanted to share a four thoughts on this project:



  • My goal is one story a day. Might be short (even just a photo), might be long. I'm not trying to capture every little thing minute by minute. I want to capture a sense of the season and include stories from our life right now.


  • Individual pages matter less than the whole. This is actually a really big one. Don't judge any single day on it's own...it's the whole that really counts.


  • It's completely normal if your album feels "disjointed" in the beginning. Do not stress about this. Your own photos and words will tie it all together.


  • Have fun. Savor this time of year and take this opportunity to capture a piece of your life.


Ready, set, go!



REVERB 10


A cool thing I came across yesterday (via Tracey Clark on Twitter) is a December prompt series called Reverb 10. The tagline is "reflect on this year & manifest what's next." You can sign up to receive a free daily prompt via email. I looked at the prompts from last year and they are GREAT jumpstarts for storytelling this past year. The prompts from 2009 are listed here.

I love this idea. Even if you can't play along in December the prompts would be awesome as a list to work-through for your own personal scrapbook pages or journaling.


TODAY'S POST IS SPONSORED BY | Cocoa Daisy
Cocoa Daisy is a monthly scrapbooking kit club that will fit all your creative needs. We offer monthly subscriptions as well as one time purchases, add-on kits and special project kits. We pride ourselves on offering the latest mix of product from top manufacturers, inspiring you with our amazing Design Team and providing you with personal customer service.

Related Posts

Sign in or sign up to comment.

98 thoughts

  1. Louise Rafael says…
    12/01/2010

    Hi guys, yep...my first DD too...Have seen them done in the past and every year it's the same...nope, no time. Sometimes we just have to think about the wonderful things that are given to us in our lives and we have to appreciate the small things...I've read the OCD story and I know that it's very hard to cope with somebody that glooms your holidays..HOwever: keep your spirits up and love all the good things..from a fellow scrapper....

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Tweets that mention December Daily 2010 | Simple Tips + Thoughts On The First Of December | Ali Edwards -- Topsy.com says…
    12/01/2010

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gayle and MC, Glue Dots. Glue Dots said: RT @lainehmann: It's December 1! Hints on #decdaily from @aliedwards: http://ping.fm/oMieu [...]

    Reply 0 Replies
  3. Tammy B says…
    12/01/2010

    Is it weird to take the pictures for December daily but to not actually make the album?! I took some pictures today of my son, home sick (way to start out the month) but I have not been working on any type of album at all. I wasn't sure I wanted to do this this year but I started gathering things so that I would be prepared for next year. I've never done DD before so I thought I would trial run the photo side and then make an actual album next December.

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. Kelly says…
    12/01/2010

    I'm so ready. Have my foundation book done. I'm doing Tracy Clark's photo class and I'm so excited about DD. This is my first year and I love the holidays so this will be so cool. Thanks Ali.

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. madeline St onge says…
    12/01/2010

    Ali I love you response to Steph. made me see a lot of things in a different light. Thank you so much, I guess we all have our challenges and really don't need to make our projects downers
    {{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}} to all who are facing these hard challenges

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Barbara says…
    12/01/2010

    Starting late, but excited. Putting something from each day in, but also going to feature one thing a day, so I will also have my 25 favorite things of Christmas. Not sure if that makes sense. I hope to slow down a bit and savor one thing each day - even if it's just my favorite Christmas movie.

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Emmy says…
    12/01/2010

    Thank you, thank you Ali Edwards. My BFF and I have had a blast getting this project ready. She has a son with pretty severe special needs and he has really been struggling. Every tues for the past month we have worked on our albums. She just called to thank me and tell me how therapeutic it has been for her. She is an amazing person. Now i am thanking you! I love your attitude and projects. You are an INCREDIBLE writer. Throughtout this whole process,we kept saying to ourselves...embrace imperfection, keep it simple,keep it real. Thank you for your inspiration. Welcome December!!!

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      12/01/2010

      That's so awesome Emmy.

  8. Deb Rymer says…
    12/01/2010

    Ali - I love the idea of one story a day. That really helps me to structure my approach. Thank you!

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Rosann Santos-Elliott says…
    12/01/2010

    great idea. i was a little stuck today but i'm going over to sign up for the daily prompts right now. thanks for the recommendation

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Sue says…
    12/01/2010

    I have so enjoyed the Flickr site and all your wonderful comments. I just have a different perspective about the DD. This is my 3rd year and as a mom of grown children I wasn't sure of the "value" of doing this as the cute activities were long gone from my life (and I mourned for the loss of the opportunity to have preserved these). Yet after year one when I mentioned that I might not do this again I was pleasantly surprise at the reaction of my kids. I am so grateful that I have pictures and journaling about some precious parts of my life that are now gone. Sure I have pages dedicated to those time honored traditions yet I am finding as I look back that its the small unexpected snapshots of general holiday life that I am enjoying. The good, the challenging, the frustrating. I am looking forward to the challenge of finding a little Christmas daily even if its a picture of dog tired shoppers! Life and holidays move fast-document it. Happy cropping all!

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. TracieClaiborne says…
    12/02/2010

    Ali - thank you for your "one story a day" idea. Our day was boring and I felt kind of panicky that I didn't have anything fabulous to include. I did take a great picture of some yummy homemade soup I made so I think I'll just use that and journal about how I love comfort food during December! I took some pics at church tonight too....not sure how I would tie those two things together! LOL I'm on pins and needles to see your first page. You rock!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Linda Trace says…
    12/02/2010

    Hi,

    Wow there are some amazingly supportive people on here!

    i think if you want to include your husband's "issues" with Christmas, then do so. You don't have to be overly negative about it (which you don't seem to be by the way), but if you dont want to gloss over it completely, then dont. It doesn't have to be an entire journalling block about it, but why not mention it in passing?

    My husband has no OCD issues (quite the opposite actually!) but he hates presents. He LOATHES getting them and becomes very stressed and almost panicked at the thought that people will give him something (even his birthday is a big issue-we are not "allowed" to celebrate it at all, he prefers NO mention of it). So I understand, in that sense, what you're going through. Having someone dislike the season or what it brigns, can be difficult for someone who loves it.

    Is there something that he loves to do with your children that he does each christmas (i.e. read a christmas story to them every night) or something like that?? Perhaps you could take an image of him doing that and write about how the fact that he finds other christmas 'events/occurances' stressful, but this has led him to find a beautiful tradition of his own? Maybe even write about the fact that you take down the tree on the 26th? Make that your entry for the day of the 26th??

    Like Ali said, none of us have perfect lives (i know I dont!), despite the fact that we'd all love to have the house/car/job/life in the movies (especially the one in Under the Tuscan Sun!!), it simply isn't real--that's why we love movies!

    Thank you by the way, for brigning this up. It alerted me to my husbands 'issues' with gifts and it reminded me that it's something important to add to my Dec Daily.

    I love my husband to death but the fact that he hates presents, drives me crazy. i just dont understand how he can't like it when someone randomly thinks of him when they see something in a store and get it for him to make him happy--its madness! I LOVE presents!! but he doesnt'. and that's fine. He doesn't expect me to start hating them too, and I dont expect him to start loving them. But he's the best dad and husband--that's why I love him and THAT"s what I'll be including in my DD.

    Merry Christmas :)

    PS My Birthday is Dec 29 and I used to insist my parents keep the tree up till mid-January!! Now, on the 26-27th, I"M the one to rip it down :) I'm with Ali, by that stage, i'm onto other things :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  13. Caryl Hope says…
    12/02/2010

    Today, our story revolves around our new tradition... the elf on the shelf.

    Having attempted the December Daily in the past couple of years and failing at completing it, I am on the fence at jumping in this year.

    So, while I "make up" my mind, I am sharing our December stories at my blog... not sure if it counts... but I am still hoping our stories will end up on a mini-album someday. :-) I have great admiration for those you have completed it.

    Thanks Ali for being such an inspiration.

    Reply 0 Replies
  14. December Daily « min/min says…
    12/02/2010

    [...] year I wanted to participate in Ali Edwards‘ December Daily project but either didn’t find out about it in time, or forgot to get started. I also felt a [...]

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. Michelle’s December Daily: Week 2 | I Scrap, U Scrap says…
    12/13/2010

    [...] I didn’t feel there was anything “scrapworthy” about the day. But I thought about Ali Edwards‘ advice to tell just one story for the day, and then I was able to pinpoint something I [...]

    Reply 0 Replies
  16. diet pills green coffee says…
    06/16/2013

    Get as much exercise as you can that feels good without letting it interfere with your work or family life.
    Individuals may reduce body weight through simply adjusting unhealthy diets to nourishing nutritional regimens.

    Even the so called natural diet pills and herbal diet pill products
    have effects on some people, bad ones.

    Reply 0 Replies

Sign in or sign up to comment.