December Daily® 2015 | Day One
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Welcome to December Daily® 2016 | Day One.
I always really start to fall in love with this album as it begins to come alive with the addition of photos and words.
One of my biggest pieces of advice (t hose of you who were in the workshop this year heard me say it over and over again): this album is not about any single story rather it is the sum of all the parts. Remember that as you go about your days and give yourself permission to make it work for you. I aim for a mix of short and long stories that come together in the end to make one big story of the season. Stick with it, even on the boring and/or busy days.
Also, one thing I hope to do on some days this year is include step-by-step videos. I was able to do one for today that you'll find at the bottom of this post as well as on my YouTube Channel. Hope you enjoy the peek at my process.
Here's a look at Day 01:
Today I decided to go outside the page protector and I printed two 5
inch x 7 inch photos, adhered them back to back, and added them to my album by punching holes using a Crop A Dile.
On the front photo I added a #1 from the Emily Ley Mini Kit, a "merry" from the cut files in the Storytelling With December Daily® digital package (cut with my Silhouette & kraft cardstock), and "deck the halls" from my main kit (popped up with foam dots).
When you flip the card over you see the second image - looking down on
Anna and all the ornaments. As you take photos this season, think about your perspective: look up and look down vs. straight on for a different view. I love Christmas morning shots like this too.
My large green ornament boxes are made by a company called Sterling Pair. I bought two from Amazon a few years ago when I was looking for a more sturdy option to hold our ornaments and they have been awesome. This year I also bought these grey twill ornament boxes with zippered lids for each kid that are just for their own individual ornaments (they are made for mugs but work great for ornaments - we wrap in tissue paper and then you can put multiples in each cubby). I had my own box growing up that my Grandma Cathy (Mom's Mom) made that I now have here at my house with all my childhood ornaments included. It was a big part of our family traditions when I was growing up to put your own ornaments on the tree and sit around and talk about where they came from (we had lists that documented who gave them to us because that's how my Mom rolls).
On the page opposite the 5 inch x 7 inch photos I added a "memories" sticker to the Tuesday cut with my Silhouette.
On the 4 inch x 6 inch card below I covered up the original design with the star pattern paper and added one of the circle label stickers + "before december" added with an electric typewriter that Katie found at a local thrift store a few years ago. On top of the label I added some gold stars from my stash.
Underneath I wrote my journaling by hand that talks about what we did on Sunday when we put up the tree and how it felt a little like Christmas morning bringing all the stuff in from the garage.
Here's a look at the pages outside the album:
DAY 01 | STEP BY STEP
SUPPLIES
Old Typewriter (Smith Corona Electric)
Cut File from Storytelling With December Daily® workshop
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32 comments
Love , Love LOVE seeing your pages and stories come together Ali. Always so full of light and life. And you know each year while doing my December Daily pages I still listen to your 2013 Spotify Christmas mix. Every single night as I put that days stories together. I really want to thank you for that too as it is by far my most favourite Christmas Mix Tape ;-)
Replies to petrac
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Gorgeous! :) I love your photography and stories. Can't wait to travel through December with you and these lovely memory keepers again.
Replies to beckany
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Your ornament collection is beautiful. I had a similar tradition growing up. Some of my childhood ornaments go on our tree every year, some are 40 years old. They're like small time capsules. Anyway, I love the silhouette cut file in the kraft. I really want to do this! I love this. Next year. Definitely. Thanks for sharing. Michelle t
Replies to mtercha
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Great start (of course)! I also love that you include a linky. I really enjoy seeing so many Decembers documented so many ways.
Replies to achristian
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Love your Day 1! I'm torn on what story to start with, had several to chose from. Question: do you print your photos at home? What printer do you have (I love how vivid the colors are)? Having to send your photos for printing will slow this process down, but I'm excited to start.
Replies to nashonne
I do print at home :). I listed my oversized printer in the supply list above - it's an Epson R2000 (usually I use it for anything larger than a 4x6). I have a second printer I use for anything smaller - an Epson PictureMate. I used to have the PictureMate Show (which I LOVED forever until it finally died after a lot of use) and now have an Epson PictureMate PM-400 which is a new printer and I'm liking it so far (it can actually print up to 5x7). So far so good.
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I love it! Very cool. I think I'm going to talk about how last week we put up all the decorations at work and yesterday almost every person who came in commented on how cool they looked. Thanks for the reminder that it's about the sum of the stories and that not every story has to be super interesting.
Replies to eleanormharte
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Love it!!! I have some photos from cutting down our tree this past weekend that I steal your idea and do the exact same thing for the first page!! Love your photos of Anna!
Replies to cdnmom
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Love the video! Looking forward to more of those throughout the month. Fun to see you putting it together.
Replies to elli
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Beautiful Ali! It's so exciting to follow along with you and to create with you. This year has been extra wonderful!
~Theresa Moxley
Replies to larkindesign
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It's beautiful Ali!!! Watching the video now before I go to work!
Replies to Kellysill
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Love the pictures of Anna and your ornaments included in the above shot. Love that she is reading the Elf on the Shelf story. Our Elf arrived yesterday so that was our story for the day. This is our first year for him and my grandson named him "Red"- He is 3. He loved him and the book.
Replies to RhondaN
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Great start Ali! I was already planning to do a page about how we put our tree up early this year. I was also wanting to find ways to have things outside the page protectors. So I plan to "scraplift" liberally from this. Thank you for the inspiration.
Replies to KellyK
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I like how your mom rolls :-) Each year I take a pic of my daughters ornament and write the story of how we selected it. Each year the ornament represents something that year that was memorable or a milestone. Girl Scouts, learning to read, first trip to Disney, first year of school, etc. And our elf Cupcake Cherry is visiting again this year too.
Replies to kcp_
Cupcake Cherry- that's awesome. I love that.
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I just love your pages and the pictures you capture. The one of Anna in the reindeer ears reading standing up is great. I really need to get a photo printer do I can print each day-would make it so much easier!
Replies to Jeannew
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So excited that DD has begun! And thanks for the video. I'll be watching on my lunch. Love to see your process. Thanks also for the links to the ornament storage! I've been looking for something (our "system" has been a horrendous mix of tissue-wrapped ornaments just piled in a cardboard box, ugh) and just ordered two of those twill boxes. They look awesome and hopefully will fit nicely in our plastic totes for extra protection.
Replies to nicolernorman
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The annual start of this makes me so happy! It makes me feel closer to you, friend. Hugs.
Replies to carriecolbert
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Man, your photos always convey so many feelings. Perfect, candid shots of your life. Love this!
Replies to smultringunn
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Ali, I am wondering how you go about choosing a story for the day? Do you capture several potential photos and in the end decide on one or the other? Or do you know ahead of time which story to go after and just photograph that one idea? What if a story doesn't present itself for that day at all?
Replies to cinback
There is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS a story. ALWAYS something - a thought, a feeling, a memory, something someone said, something I saw, something I remembered. I don't have a set method for choosing one - I just pick ONE that speaks to me and I go for it. I take photos jut like I usually do and am watching and listening for which one speaks to me most. That's the super short answer :).
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Beautiful first page Ali - wonderful inspiration. I love the "looking down" shots as well, but i often find myself climbing up on chairs and counter tops! How do you achieve these? I'm considering a selfie stick for such shots?
Replies to andrialarson
It could be because I have a longer lens? I use a 24-70 lens that can get pretty wide.
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Awesome start to an awesome DD2015!!!
Replies to Bsthlf
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