Done By December | Special Guest Ingunn Markiewicz
Happy December Daily® season, everyone!
December Daily® is my favorite scrapbooking project (okay, maybe except for travel albums), but I will admit that I tend to start off super motivated and then just sort of…fizzle out as we get closer to Christmas Eve. I’ve participated in this wonderful project every year since 2015, but so far I’ve only completed three of my albums. I hope and dream that I will finish all of them at some point, and I hereby pledge, in front of all of you fine members of the Ali Edwards community, that I will finish my 2021 December Daily® album before December 2022.
Here's what I have so far:
Okay, so I have 9 pages done, out of what I’m planning will be a total of 27 (24 days of Christmas + intro + post-Christmas snow event + outro). That leaves 18 days. *nervous laughter*
In order to not feel completely panicked and overwhelmed by this, I’ve decided that I need some structure to this process. After some thinking & looking through what I have left of the 2021 December Daily® collection, I’ve decided on the following plan of action:
- At least three pages using the template I had set up last December
- At least three scraplifts of pages in my inspiration folder
- Three pages using the glitter phrases
- Three pages using the red pockets
- Three pages using the In a Creative Bubble cards I fell in love with
There might be some overlap in these pages, but this plan of action should have me well on my way to completing my album. Rah rah rah! Also, can you tell that I love the number three?
Now, onto a mindset change. I mentioned earlier that my motivation tends to fizzle out as we get closer to Christmas, and while this is natural for many reasons, I have come to realize that for me, this is mostly due to impostor syndrome. I was on Ali’s Creative Team from 2016-2021, but that didn’t stop me from feeling like my pages were too boring and simple every December when far more creative community members would post their gorgeous, interactive showstoppers every single day. But you know what? My style is simple, and that is totally okay. So for this project, I am going to try to follow the mantra that Ali let slip during a December Daily Instagram Live this year (and which I still hope will be available as a motivational poster): “Stick that shit down and move on.” Instead of moving embellishments around for 20 minutes and wondering if I should add more stuff, I’m going to trust my initial instinct. When my daughter looks through my albums, she spends all her time looking at the photos and reading every single word of journaling, and exactly zero seconds commenting on my design choices (unless I’ve included a particularly adorable bear somewhere on the page), and that’s what matters to me right now. At some point in the future, I might have the time and motivation to be more fancy and get my creative life fulfilled through that, but for now I just want the stories told and my album done.
If you’re still hanging in there through this blog post, thank you! I just want to end with three (of course there are three) final things I did to get myself ready and motivated.
- Thankfully I had kept a Word document on my laptop last year full of notes from December and plans I had for the different days of the album. The notes are somewhat chaotic, but I printed them out so that I can use it as a home for my sketches and ideas as I work my way through this project.
- I went through my products from previous years and only kept what I can truly see myself using. Given my simple scrapbook style, having a huge stash makes me feel overwhelmed FAST. Bonus: going through my products again reminded me of things I really want to use, like those glitter phrases.
- I went through a big box full of memorabilia from last December and divided it into four piles: holiday cards and postage stamps // kid art and letters to Santa // memorabilia from specific days (for example restaurant menus) // cute things I had collected that can go anywhere in the album. I find that the further removed I am from an event, I’m less likely to feel like including memorabilia, but at least it’s now easily accessible, and going through it made me remember some random little details from December!
Thank you so much for hanging in there through this post, and I hope some of it was helpful for anyone else who might be feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of catching up on such a huge project!
I’ll be posting updates on my Instagram account as I complete my pages, and will come back here to show you the finished product once I’m done! Let’s do this, #donebydecember friends!!
Good luck Ingunn! I know that you can be successful with your plan!
Thank you!
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I am in the only a few pages in boat too! I'm going to work to get mine done as well so I too will be just sticking shit down, ha ha! You've got this!
Yessssss stick that shit down!
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You can do it Ingunn!! Ps - I always loved your pages :)
Thank you!!
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You can do it! I think your pages are gorgeous. I’ve realized this year that my style is pretty simple…. Words and photos…. I look at some of the more creative pages and think they’re awesome, but I’m going to try and remember this year that I can admire them, but still do my simple style.
I love that the Product Play class this year is going to have different levels of difficulty, that way I can admire the fancy things but still get ideas for my more simple style!
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I love your design approach, and now REALLY like YOU after hearing you talk about your kids and their art! :) The Santa stripper and the pole, and the fart tree decorations.... HILARIOUS. Thanks for the inspo, all forms.
Bwahahaha I can't wait for the kids to see those drawings again when the album is done!
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These are really awesome ideas and fabulous motivation. I always always love your pages.
Thank you!
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I love the mention of imposter syndrome, but I can't disagree with you more. Your style whether it be travel, week in the life or December daily is consistent, modern and has a timeless design quality. I am your biggest fan and I think your projects are incredible, never boring! You're plan is great, so power thru and make it happen!
Thank you so much!
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I love your pages! I'm goin to be scrap lifting some of them.😉
That's the BEST compliment <3
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So interesting to hear your thought process, as well as Jess' a few days ago. Thinking through the project is sometimes the hardest part, but also the best as it helps to get pages completed. Absolutely love your pages!
Totally!! I'm going to try to go into DD22 with a plan of action as well.
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What a great start. There is beauty in simplicity. I have ideas now for my own album. I'm cheering you on and hope to see your finished album. Have fun. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!!
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I must reiterate what most have said - I LOVE your style. I am drawn to simple/classic/repeated styles. I follow you on Instagram and just love what you create. Please, keep doing "you"! You have motivated me to pull out my (unfinished) album. I can't wait to see what you do.
Thank you so much!! I am more and more drawn to albums with repeated designs, like in travel albums, so I'm really intrigued by taking that route with December Daily this year. When I saw Ali flip through her album of stories from past Decembers, I ADORED her repeated designs...
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These are great ideas! I’ve printed all my 2021 photos and have them (and non-filled-in cards in pockets for the entire album, but only seven or eight pages actually done. I’m hoping to get my album done before this December starts.
That's a HUGE start!! I'm rooting for you!
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Go, Ingunn, go! You’ve got this. I love seeing your simpler pages as I definitely get carried away and tend to end up making most of my album interactive. It is lots of fun to make but I go back and forth on if I actually enjoy flipping through those albums. It makes it much harder for our little kiddos (4 and 2) to look through the albums. Like you said, they just look at the photos! Whatever you end up doing it will be just perfect.
I think we also just have to acknowledge that some seasons are for fancy things and some seasons are for simple things, and whatever brings us the most joy (and least stress) in the moment is what's going to work for us!
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Love this Ingunn! Love how you wrote that your daugher spent "exactly zero seconds commenting on my design choices" - beacuse it's so true! Good luck, look forward to seeing your pages!
Love Birgit
Thank you! Her only critique was that my font size was too small, so I'm going to go bigger from now on, heh.
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“Stick that shit down and move on.” Best advice ever! "Stories told and my album done." I could not agree more. Fokus på bilder og tekst blir alltid bra! Heier på deg Ingunn!
Tusen takk!! Håper du deler flere av dine LOer også! Har alltid elsket stilen din <3
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Right there with you! Let’s do this!❤️
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I love love love every page you make! Boring... I can't believe it! Every page is beautiful and perfect and I can't wait to see more of your 2021 December Daily pages!
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YOU have imposter syndrome? Says the scrapbooker who made about 1/3 of the scrapbookpages in my ‘inspiration folder’ on my phone hahaha
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