December Daily® 2014 | Day Twenty-Four And Twenty-Five
Welcome to December Daily® 2014 | Days Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five.
Thank you for joining me on this adventure again this year. I'm always excited to begin and I'm always excited to wrap it up and move on to the new year - most often moving on to think about my new One Little Word® (I'll share my new word tomorrow).
I hope this project helped you to connect with joy in your own life this December. I know for many people, December can be an emotionally challenging month for a million different reasons. My hope with this project is that it's used as an opportunity to connect with what's real and beautiful even in the middle of struggles (both big and small). It's definitely been something that has helped me as I've experienced changes in my family over the last few years. I'm ending my album this year with a strong sense that this was really a very happy Christmas for me - it was full of old traditions and family and open hearts and new beginnings ( regardless of what comes next). If this holiday season was hard for you, I'm sorry. I hope that working on this album was a path to joy for you - a way to literally see the things that are good and true and awesome.
If I've learned anything over the last few years it's that those things exist even in the middle of pain if you are willing to look.
Here's a look at my Days 24 and 25:
Christmas Eve for me this year included waking up to the biggest storm I ever remember experiencing on the coast, a long-lunch with Aaron before leaving the beach, stopping at a grocery store on the way home when I decided I had to cook pot roast on Christmas Day, driving home to Eugene, wrapping all the presents, heading back over to Aaron's and spending the rest of the evening with him while he wrapped presents and we got ready to see the rest of our families on Christmas Day.
It was a year of new experiences, of changing traditions, of being open to what it is right now and being thankful.
For Christmas Eve documentation I decided to use the photo of it storming at the beach and hand-write the journaling directly on the photo.
I adhered the large gold 24 and then stitched the plastic "December" on top.
In between the 24th and the start of the 25th (which spans a few pages) I included the printed transparency with the tab from my foundation pages.
For the beginning of my story of the 25th (spans a few pages) I printed out a 6x8 photo of my tree the way it looked before Anna and Simon arrived home.
I cut the top off of the photo to reveal the red and white pattern paper from the back of the next page in the album. I tucked one of the gold foil circles in between the two and then added the 25 chipboard circle on top. I also added three red plastic hearts using silver mini-brads directly to my tree photo.
That gold foil 25 page was waiting all month to be used. I knew I wanted to use it here.
On top of the 25 I layered the plastic heart + the tree + a red star + a silver mini-brad.
The words repeated over and over in my head on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were give love and as I was putting this page together I knew I wanted to include them in a big way.
I used my Silhouette to cut the words "give love" from vellum. I laid them on top of a 6x8 transparent sheet (cut from these 12x12) and then slipped the sheet inside the pocket. Over the top I stitched two lines to keep everything in place.
Behind the transparent page are two photos from Christmas Day + gold foil labels + plastic stars.
This photo was really, really bad in terms of color and overexposure. I used RadLab to convert it to black and white before printing.
For the last spread in my album I added another photo with all the kids included and wrote out the story of the day.
#chooselove and #givelove
Bring on 2015.
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Such a beautiful album. Would love if you could share your Project Life 2015 plans/thoughts for the upcoming year. I need to get motivated again.
Hi! I won't be doing it weekly this year - at least I'm not placing any expectations on myself that I will do it weekly. I want to loosen it up and give myself a bit more freedom to focus more on stories vs. weekly documentation. I'm not sure how that's going to manifest itself yet. I'll share as I get started.
Will miss your week in the life posts weekly.....
Unfortunately I didn't come close to doing it weekly this year - I think I did 19 weeks. Lots of catching up to do and I'm ready to have a different overall approach to my memory keeping.
That's exactly how I feel Ali, I think I'll be doing the same :) #bringonthestories
This past year I did a 12x12 album for PL and I felt overwhelmed with the "bulk" of getting it done. I'm still working on it and I WILL finish it, but this year I've decided to switch to a 6x8 format and do it in monthly form. If I learned anything from DD, it's that I'm more of a 6x8 kind of person!
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Thank you for all of the inspiration this year Ali!
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Thank you for the lovely look at your tender album. It's beautiful. So many changes that all mesh together into treasured times...so many of us going through changes of all sorts that can well relate. I choose to surround myself with "in person" and "virtual" lives that always look for the good, and you are high up on that list. Reading your blog and taking your classes is what I do for me to relax and connect both creatively, spiritually and socially...and you have given so many means of making that happen. May your 2015 be bright, light and filled with delight!
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My favorite photo is the one of your tree. It is sooooo pretty!
Can't wait for one little word. Mine came to me today
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Aww, so sweet. Glad it was a Happy Christmas for you!!
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Ali,
I posted a generic thank you on Instagram with my final DD picture but I wanted to formally thank you here! This year I was so much more reflective during the Christmas season. My kids are 1 1/2 and 4 years old and boys so we are busy and active all the time. I experienced a lot of change, disappointment and grieving in Sept - November so I was excited to begin the Christmas season. I used my DD album to each day be appreciative and cultivate gratitude in the present moment. And some days just plain sucked! (I even spent on in bed crying for an hour for no specific reason). But I am so grateful for being a part of the process. To reflect on the true meaning of the season and the watching the magical experience through my kids eyes. I also recognized patterns in our lives and how I want to change them or embrace them. One is my mother and her constant all about her drama a few days before Christmas. As a note to myself, I will not allow her drama to spoil my celebration next year as it has put a damper on things the last 10 years!
I am OH SO excited for OLW 2015 to start and to hear your word. You work is a blessing to all of us and I hope we can encourage you to continue to be AWESOME!
Cheers DD 2014 and welcome 2015!
Casie
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Fab finale to your album Ali, thank you for sharing your December and providing a place for us all to share. December and Christmas in general has been tough since loved ones passed away and this project helps me remember the joy and honour those loved ones. Yay for OLW and Story themes and every other Project you orchestrate, here's to an awesome 2015 Ali, I'm all in!
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Lovely beautiful pages. Especially love the GIVE LOVE vellum and transparency. Thank you for sharing your pages throughout December. Such wonderful inspiration xo
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"My hope with this project is that it's used as an opportunity to connect with what's real and beautiful even in the middle of struggles (both big and small). " You nailed it for for this year with that statement. I had a case of the grumpies, which were probably really trivial. We put so much stress and pressure on ourselves as wives, partners, mothers, daughters and friends to get everything just right. Doing DD this year made me refocus, more than once, to let go. The words that played in my head were "let your heart be light". This project helped me work through those grumpies, and accept life for what it was during these special December moments: beautiful, magical and a blessing. Thank you for this project. I almost didn't do it this year, but Im so glad that I did. I stayed up last night and finished the last three days and this morning, when I looked at it, my heart was happy. Peace and love to you in 2015.
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So beautiful. I can feel your joy in the words and in your album. I am really happy for you. Happy New Year to you. Michelle t
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This is the first year that I've actually finished this album and I love it! I'm working on finishing my WITL album now too. Thank you for sharing your album Ali - its chock full of inspiration. I've enjoyed seeing how you've used the bits and pieces of this great kit. Happy New Year!
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Thank you Ali. My first year of DD, and I am so thankful and grateful I chose yours, You have been a true inspiration and I love my finished album and its stories!
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Your album is so perfect. Every single page. Love it. I was just wandering what are you going to use for the spin label?
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Lovely Ali, glad you had an awesome day :)
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Thank you for sharing your December with us and for all the inspiration you provided.
This is my second December Daily but my first time using your kit. It was a big (all at once) splurge for me but I have to say that it was worth every single penny. Every day that I work on it, I fall more in love with the project and the process.
My month was rough. Had a case of the Bah Humbugs most of the month (self-inflicted....have a lot of work to do with not letting others steal my joy) but working on this project throughout the month and seeing that it wasn't all that horrible really helped with perspective. And, since I go through the the 1st with my DD (still have family gatherings to document!), it's been helping with my post-Christmas funk.
I'm so glad I learnd about this project last year...it has been a game changer in how I approach my December and has helped me really take back my Christmas.
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Thank you for such a lovely project! Just wondering what you did with the spine label....?
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Thank you for the wonderful December daily inspiration and also the gift you sent us.I loved it.going up on my wall soon.thank you.have a joyful new year
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Okay, that shot of the tree? YES. Love the lighting and the color and the composition and the little peek of paper in the top corner. love, Love, LOVE!
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where oh where did you get the hop scotch rug?
I think that was from CB2 or West Elm (it's over 5 years old now I think).
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Doing this project for the very first time this year and looking back, I did indeed look for and feel the magic of Christmas more. The tree page and the clear Give Love is all kinds of awesome :)
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Beautiful, inspiring work as always. I am almost finished with both my DD and WITL albums for this year, thanks to you! Just wondering what you did for the bookplate/spine of your DD album? Is it possible you might release a PDF like you did for the WITL album? Thanks so much!
I was hoping to know this too!!
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awesome, as usual! thank you once again for devoting a chunk of your precious holiday time to sharing such a wonderful project with us, what a fabulous gift! ♥
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Beautiful album! What font did you use for the GIVE LOVE? it's such a great blocky font! Thank you again!
Hi - that's Bebas Neue.
Thank you!
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Hi Ali! I love your December Daily album so much. It must be great to have it to flick through and relive the memories in years to come. I was wondering if you would be (or if you could) post a video of going through the album like you have previous years? I love seeing how it has all come together. xx
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Ali your album is beautiful and a true inspiration! Would love to know- what do did you do with the spine of your album?? Thank you!!
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