I had a few requests to see what my December Daily™ album for 2010 actually looks like with the baker twine + ribbon binding. You can read the original post here.
In the photo above I simply opened to a random page and laid it on my desk – that’s what it looked like laying flat.
Here’s what it looks like when I pull the binding strings a bit tighter. That’s about how much give I allowed for when I tied the twine + ribbon.
2010 Process Reflections
I love this project. I still love it after five years of committing myself to doing it each December.
Here’s a few thoughts on this year’s process:
- I’m a definite fan of the all-one-size pages. That doesn’t mean that I won’t change it up again in the future but I loved the simplicity.
- I also really liked having the templates. They were simple and provided a nice solid foundation for all my content. I liked that I was still able to keep it interesting by mixing up different things in each of the areas (photos, journaling, papers, etc).
- I LOVE full page photo enlargements.
- The binding continues to be an issue each year. 25+ days of content means a thick book. Maybe for next year we can get someone to make a thicker album that can hold an album of this depth.
- This was the first year that I kept up every single day (except for getting the title page + binding completed). I really think that was because I set myself up for success by having all the pages printed and ready to go. It also helps that I post them here everyday.
- I can’t say what, if anything, I’ll do differently for December 2011. I’ll just have to see what I’m thinking and feeling when it comes time to start thinking about it actively again in October.
What I love most is pulling them out of storage each December (I pack them away with our Christmas stuff). When we pull them out the next year and the year after and look through each one and recall stories and see the images and laugh and sigh and enjoy seeing what the season was like in our lives in that particular year, it is just so great.
Again, thanks so much for joining me in 2010!
All posts about December Daily™ can be found here.
i really love your DD concept and i am in the process of completing my book. (schedule is so hard with work and family, i really hope i can find some me time soon).
thanks Ali. you truly inspire a lot of us to document our lives for us and for our family.
God bless!
Thank you for posting your thoughts for us. I learned a few things also especially this being my first year. Next year I will buy a bigger album, didn’t have enough room past the 25th like I had hoped. Seeing your full page photos was my favorite thing you did and I hope to do that next year too. It was so helpful and very inspiring being able to link up everyday and see everyone’s pages that’s what made me stay on top of it. Next year I might have it just be a December album without worrying about the dates. My family loves this album and it’s still being passed around for everyone to see. I will pack it away when it gets returned. Thank you again Ali for coming up with this great album and sharing the journey with us. So happy that I followed this year.
Oh Ali,
i really really like the finished daily. I’m finished mine yesterday and hat the same issues with the binding. I’m taking red twine insead of binder rings and it worked fine but looking for another solution next year. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Marit
PS: you can look my finished book here:
http://tagfuertag.typepad.com/weblog/daily-december-2010/
I just checked out your album. WOW you did an amazing job. I think it came out great the way it is. Thanks for linking it up.
I really like the size you used!! Great inspiration for next year! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for all the effort you made in guiding us(me!) through this process Ali. I still have the last few pages to finish. Today might be the day! =)
Perfect timing! I finished my 1st book today – woohoo! but also had to change from the rings to twine. I was just checking to see how you bound yours when I read your new post. This will help. Thank you. One issue I have had is the spacing of the holes. I followed your recommendations from the FAQs but I struggled getting the holes to match exactly from page to page, if that makes sense. I tried to measure and mark on the cardstock but had difficulty doing the same on the transparencies. I would love to know how you approached this. I understand that you probably want to be `done’ with this project, so if you can’t answer now, could you please consider addressing in DD 2011? Many thanks.
Kelly, I don’t know how Ali does it, but I put an already punched page on top of an unpunched page and after lining them up, I punch through both. This has worked great for me whenever I have to hand punch pages.
Kelly, I just did this for a similar album over the weekend. What I do is punch the holes with my Big Bite for the album covers (front and back usually made of chipboard) first. Then I measure the holes for my inside pages off the cover page with a pencil. I guess the trick is to have all your pages match the inside depth and punch the same. Mine came out all matching when I did this.
I don’t measure at all. I just start with the first holes and then I hold each page up to the first one and punch.
I’m pretty sure Ali covered this in her Q&A post. It’s at: http://aliedwards.com/2010/11/december-daily-qa-update.html
Thanks for your repsonses. I’ll remember that for next year!
This is the first year that I made the album and I love how it turned out. Last year I took pictures but having the actual completed album is awesome. Thank you for the inspiration. Thanks for keeping up and posting your projects too – that helped me keep up!
hi ali! this is the first year (i’ve done DD with you since 2007) that i’ve finished the album in jan. woot! i’ve completed the prior years in nov, july, etc. and i think the simplicity of this years book made such a difference! with two little ones and working full time, much like you, i needed it to be easy this year. even with fewer embellishments, i still just love this album. and this year i journaled more, which i also love. also love the full page enlargements. may be addicted to that concept now…
binding was an issue for me too, although i am going with the 2.5 inch rings. really love your thought about someone making an album just for DD (talk to those house of 3 girls: that canvas album they make is awesome!).
have a wonderful day!
beth
perfect thanks;) wonderful job again for 2010!!
thank you for a month of motivation, incouragement and inspiration.
that would be encouragement
thank you for the extra info, it is always helpful. Loved this years simplicity, it stayed fun, not just another project that needed completing before Christmas.
I too undertook DD for the first time this year and am totally in love with my bulging album which I finished last week. I used a 7″ x 9″ D-ring file folder which I purchased at my High Street stationers, it coped beautifully with the first 25 days of the month but struggled with the last week and I had to create a closure from an old leather belt! It is groaningly full but I love that it is, it’s chock full of memories and photos and is sure to be something that I will enjoy looking through in years to come.
I’ve enjoyed my DD so much that I have decided to start a new album capturing the highs and lows of 2011 month by month. Thank you for giving me the inspiration!
Karen, your album is beautiful!! I just bookmarked your site for future inspiration. Can you show a picture of your finished album with the belt you talked about? I would love to see how thick your album turned out. I also used a similar size and used a D ring binder. It worked out pretty good! Thanks so much for sharing!
I posted the final pages of my album onto my blog today at http://www.totalpapercrafts.blogspot.com and am so pleased with the finished project!!
You make great points. I like most nº6 – wait and see.
Looks great Ali. I would love to see a thicker book (maybe Teresa Collins whose stuff I love) and more consistency as you had this year. I am very happy with mine but used varying pages and it was very labor intensive. Used your 6 x 8 page overlays but had to attach them to background sheets to fit my pages. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next year. Thanks.
that would be great if someone could come up with an assortment of d-ring binders built to fit an album of this size. i love this size. it is what i have done for all these years now.
i always say this, but i mean it, thanks for the inspiration, ali. our family loves these books so much.
I loved seeing your December Daily pages each day and what you were doing and photographing along with the other links were helpful. I truely think it is a very precious memory and as you say will look forward to seeing it next Christmas and see how much the kids have grown. Thanks for inspiring so many of us. It’s fun doing these things together even if it is remotely and most of us will never meet. There’s support and encouragement out there and it makes the project fun.
I didn’t do the DD, but i followed along with you. I love the way you finished up with your reflections on the whole process — that is project management at it’s best!
Ali, you always inspire me so much. I finished my DD album pages every few days and it was completed by the end of Dec. Like you I had a hard time with the binding. I am going with some Christmas “rope” I found. I don’t mind this type of binding so that’s okay. I do plan to do it different next year but wanted to combine your DD idea with Stephanie Ackerman’s Countdown to Christmas kit. It turned out great. I need to take pictures and put them out so people can see it.
Your page templates made this year so much easier and I love the clean look and the versatility of the pages. Finished my book yesterday and love it. Looking forward to next year. Thanks for the inspiration!
I would LOVE to see 24 and 25…
and I guess I will jump in and try pages all 1 size next year!
Here’s the link: http://aliedwards.com/2010/12/december-daily-2010-day-twenty-four-day-twenty-five.html
Darling! I need to start hunting for some vintage wallpaper…
Hi Ali. This was my very first try with the December Daily and it was a great experience. I did it ALL digital witch made it easy to stay on track and make a page a day and by january 2nd I ordered my photo book. That was the plan: one story and one page a day – only two days had two pages – and I kept on through all of december. I was easy because of your templates they made it easy for me.
) Thanks for sharing and keeping up posting every day.
Also a wonderful thing to follow how december turned out “around the world”
I took a normal photo album (with 2 4x6landscapes and the little ‘journal spots’) And just slipped in 2 photos every day or some “paper stuff” … I love it! It was so simple and the small journalling space made me really have to work to keep the story simple (or Photoshop the journaling on the picture.) It was such an easy no-prep way to do it. In fact, I got the album on Dec1! The only thing I had to watch, was that any stuff I put in could only be paper-thick. But it worked out wonderfully! Thanks for all the inpiration!
I have just posted my finished album on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deeanncummins/sets/72157625844945466/
Above is the set, but if that doesn’t get there, the album is the last pictures uploaded at
http://www.flickr.com/deeanncummins
Thanks for looking if anyone does!
I have followed Ali’s December Daily every year, but this is my first album. I loved making it. My boys are grown and this is my granddaughter’s first Christmas. There isn’t much journaling since she is so young and doesn’t have many activities. I took pictures on the days I was with her, filled in with the decorations at their house and a few photos my son took. I see many things I would do differently, but I really love the completed project.
Thanks, Ali.
This was my first year doing the Dec. Daily. I really enjoyed the ride. I can’t wait until next year. I didn’t do the transparencies this year but I plan on using them for 2011. In fact, I’m already collecting stuff for 2011 Dec. Daily. Thanks Ali for helping bring out my long lost creativity.
i love this project too…I have done it for 4 of those 5 years…
such a treasure to pull out each year…Now that all my kids don’t live at home i really value them even more…This year’s is so different…but it’s good…
thanks for inspiring me to do it!
loves…
m
I too LOVED the one-size, lol. Multiple-sizes in an album normally don’t bother me (I mix and match all the time) but for a theme album, especially one that had to be done each day, I needed the simplicity of the standard size. =)
I’d *love* to see these same templates in landscape for next year! It’d add a neat perspective I think. Also, these templates are awesome for just every day, you know? Like an album of Mondays or Saturdays throughout an entire year. Would you consider doing that, making the 6×8 available for each day in 2011? And maybe in landscape too? <— That's asking too much, isn't it. LOL!! But I really do love this template and the spaces it creates: Large (back side that's bank), Medium (the top part of the front), and Small (the rectangle next to the date). The trifecta! =)
Thanks for all you did for the project, and for the binding information as well. Those rings had me in fits, lol.
Ali – so did you do a December Daily in 2006? Is it posted anywhere on your blog? I thought 2007 was the first one. I’ve been looking at yours constantly because I’m still working on mine! I have all the pics in the book, just making it pretty/adding journaling now.
Thanks for the inspiration, Ali. I really loved my DD when it was finished and I sat down and looked through it all the way.
I finished my album yesterday and I am so glad it is done and I made it all the way to the end. I have let my scrapbooking fall to the way side but I try to do this project every year and I love it! Thanks for the inspiration Ali!
I finished my album today…and it is HUGE!!! I used zip ties to hold the monster together…(fence ties….plastic strips that you pull through a thingy to make a loop and it holds securely…Home depot had them in colors)
It works and seems stronger than the twine and ribbon…I just added ribbon and twine for pretty.
If you absolutely are terrible at punching holes…Office Depot places will punch them with their electric punch and they are nice and even…the nice lady did not even charge me because she asked so many questions about how to make this project she felt that I owed her!!!
Loved the templates this year…my first hybrid project! I learned alot about digital this year.
Almost finished mine and this is the first year I have finished as much as I did and thank you a million times over for making that happen! I bought the daily overlays and that was super because it gave me a continuity but it also gave me a spot to get it all down…sorta like Project Life. So I don’t have to work on figuring out each page each day. I put mine in the red bound modern 8.5×11 album from American Crafts and it was marvy! Fit perfectly, held it all together and I got to make a groovy cover! Thanks Ali for the inspiration!
Ali, thank you for sharing your lovely pages, providing inspiration all month, and creating templates. My mother and I each made an album.. Well, she writer her stories and chose photos and then I used the templates to print her pages. It was so fun to do this project together! And then pass the albums-in-progress around the table over Christmas.
Thank you for all you do.
Your DD turned out so nice! I worked on mine today and I am almost finished. This was my first year of doing this album and I made my own book with a chipboard album I had laying around. I love the twine idea. I am pretty sure my rings will not work when I am all finished. I will be looking forward to doing another album this year!
Ali thanks so much for sharing your process along the way. This is my third year and I love this project more each time I do it. This year I loved the simplicity of the templates, the full page photos and yet still being able to add creative touches to make it mine. I love playing with my supplies – that’s what makes it fun for me, but having it simple so I can keep up but still get my creative fix- that was just what I needed! Thanks!!
This was the first year that I joined along with this project. I can’t believe I hadn’t done this before! I want to thank you for all the inspiration and bringing back the scrapbooker in me. Since we started I can’t stop scrapbooking. I am now doing your OLW as well doing Project Life plus extra scrapbooking. It feels so awesome to be freezing pieces of my families so that we could look back and enjoy and relive these wonderful moments so big thanks to you for being such a wonderful inspiration and source of learning. ( watching your videos you taught PSE MAN do I love it so!)
That is so great Ellie!
Love the way your book turned out.
Finally, finished this year’s book over the week end. Feels so good to put this project to rest…thank you! For all the encouragement to keep the project moving forward.
Working on getting mine finished today. Was my first time & I will make it more simple next year. No numbers on pages & no embelishments on the pre-prepared book. Had fun but is feeling a bit like hard work to finish it so I keep saying keep it simple, it is ok, do I really need to do that?
thanks for the inspiration each and every day on the december daily journey. This year I succeeded to make a book of my own (completely digital, which was the success for me to keep it up). I hope to do it this year again. thx.
Hi There
A quick comment on December Daily. Last year I was all into Christmas. I baked Christmas pies, made mini jeweled Christmas cakes, looked for carolling opportunities, showed the children the Santa tracker online, etc. And I made a December daily journal. I loved the season.
This year, not so much. And there is no reason, I just had other things to focus on. We had an advent calendar, but that was it. I never even got around to setting up the Christmas tree. (In my defence, we spent the actual Christmas weekend at my parents’, so we had their tree for the Christmas weekend.) And I did not do the December Daily. I do not know whether the one influenced the other. Or whether this whole, did not feel like doing a lot of Christmas things, also meant that I did not feel like doing a Christmas album. Will do one again one day. Will have a very Christmassy December again one day too.
i ran into the same problem i was not in the Christmas spirit/mood, we were traveling for the holiday and would only be “home” for 19 days. but i forced myself to do DD and it really helped me reflect and recenter on what really matters, my family and my Lord.
yes. who do we need to email to request a binder that will fit all our pages? i do love the uniform size. 6×8 was perfect for me. the templates made it so easy. i did not feel like i had to re-invent the wheel each day. thank you for streamlining this process. picked up some clearance Christmas stuff today…already preparing for “next year”. ps sometimes JOAnns and Michales has their 12×12 textured cardstock on sale. this year I only paid .20 a sheet. that is a big deal when you have to buy 13!
Last night I was thinking about binder options for December Daily pages, and I remembered the Franklin Covey storage binders I have. Mine (compact size) aren’t big enough, but the classic size measures 8.5″ W X 9″ H X 3″. They are shown in black or burgundy for $9.95 on the Franklin Covey website.
I love this project too!! I am going to have to remember to stock up on printer ink & photo paper in October to have it on hand & ready to go
This was my first year following along… with nothing more than good intentions about a DD of my own. I thought I’d just gather ideas and use all the examples out there as my “research” then have one prepared next year. Well, everything out there was just so inspiring! I just had to jump in there and try it! I’m still putting mine together, but I journaled every day, and even designed lay-outs, so it’s not taking as long as I’d thought. I ended up waiting and ordering all of pics at once, since I don’t have a printer at home for photos. I’m now piecing together the “stuff” I collected through the month, transfering my journaling, and getting those pictures on the pages. I made my own page templates by borrowing Ali’s idea and using my PC’s word program to draw a table, then broke the square up into those 3 pieces, and just typed the dates (and I also typed the day of the week) in a font I chose. I then just printed out on cardstock. I used 8.5 x 11 pages and for now and using a 3-ring binder that I found… I might end up keeping it becuase it has a cute red pattern and it’s growing on me… I used one page layouts for most days. If I wanted to add more pictures or other goodies, I just added a divided page protector. I also oriented the date/day on the left if it was a left page, and on the right if it was a right page. I’ll have to take pics and post a link as soon as it’s done. Anyway – thanks to all who shared – so inspirational! Oh, and by the way, my son’s birthday is December 25th – and this year was his first birthday. I’m so so so glad I did this. Thanks again!!
Its great to have a catch up post, thanks for this, I have finally finished my contribution to the December Daily project, if you are interested you can see my pages on my blog, I just added a whole bunch of photos too. http://scrapbookprintables.wordpress.com/
This was such an enjoyable experience I have started ordering stuff in the sales to put an album together for next year. The process for using this size of page was fantastic, the full page photos weren’t overwhelming and I didn’t struggle to find stuff to document.
Sorry here is a better link to all my DD entries http://scrapbookprintables.wordpress.com/category/december-daily/
thanks Louise
I finally finished!!!! But I’m so sad to see that the links to each individual day are no longer active. Now that I’m done I’d love to be able to look at others’ completed albums as well. Please help.
Here is my completed album. I just got it in the mail from Shutterfly and I absolutely love it!
Thanks Ali for the inspiration. I suppose I should get to work on the Yesterday & Today class now since I’ve fallen behind.
http://sleepyhead922.blogspot.com/2011/01/december-daily-is-finally-done.html
There’s no spine on this album right? Mine doesn’t have one either. I am using chipboard for the front and back covers, and I was thinking about binding it with rings, but I like the twine idea. Any tips?
Yes – last year (2010) the album had no spine.