December Daily 2014 - [1-5]

This year has been the hardest to keep up with this type of scrapbooking.
Between sending the photos to print at Costco, to getting them picked up, to not having much space to really spread my supplies out, to being sick... it has been tough.

But today I come with a little bit of good news.  I am feeling a little bit better.  I caught hubby's flu right before Christmas and was feeling so blah.  And today I was able to catch up and am ready to document Days 24 - 27... soon as I get the photos from Costco... lol.

I really like this style of documenting.  Using plastic sleeves and or extras to create mini layouts and have them all collect into one album.  It's my favorite and I have done it so far 3 years.  I keep telling myself I'd make it easier the following year, but then September rolls around and I start seeing all the cute craft kits available and go nuts.  I literally have enough to make 2 more DD albums, but I just can't get enough of those cute embellies.


I decided (stealing the great idea from @TeriBeri2ig), to include Thanksgiving in my DD.  I didn't want it to be extensive, just enough documenting and photos to capture the moment.

Another difference in this album, from the other 2, is that I wanted the colors of the "Good Cheer" not to compete with the colors in the photos.  And since I really don't care to remember what color shirt I wore on a certain day, I figured I'd make all the photos black & white.  I love the look of "stillness" and "peace" in the b&w film.  Looks modern and classic all at once.

Day one was a hot mess.

Seriously!

I didn't know what style I was going for.  Clean or Smashy.  So this looks smashy.  Later on in the book I get into a groove and try to blend both clean and smashy styles, but this first page is all smashy.

I used elements from Elle's Studio "Good Cheer" collection for this entire album, plus other pieces from Pink Paislee, October Afternoon and American Crafts.

I was able to purchase a set of Freckled Fawn wood veneer numbers (1-31) during their Black Friday sale, which is a good thing because I was involved in a swap that went very bad.  So I thank GOD that I went with my gut and purchased that set.  I had planned to emboss each and every number with Recollections Silver Tinsel embossing powder that I found at Michaels, but didn't think it would be that hard of a task til I started working on my album.  But once I started, I had to continue with the running theme.

For day 2, I tried to keep things more clean.  I did some stamping and added sequins, diecuts from the "Good Cheer" collection and a flair that I was able to personalize from a very nice and talented lady that sells them in a Facebook group.

Day 3 came together quick.  I cut down a scratch piece of paper where I tested the colors and technique for the last Christmas card in my series (you can see that here), and added an embossed number 3 wood veneer.  I plan to add Giovanni's letter to Santa, which I have misplaced.  But I left that silver page on the right blank behind that "Dear Santa" 4x6 card so I could put his letter.

Day 4 and 5 were pretty eventful they each had 4 pages.  

I like mixing things up, which is why I added a cute starry silver acetate sheet in the middle of the 2 layouts.  The tricky part was trying to cover things on each side of the acetate that wouldn't look weird on the other side.  I had fun with the colors in this layout and by the end of Day 4 I was ready to go back to clean.

Day 5 came together quickly also.  The photo on the right was backed with another photo behind.  I added a strip of "Good Cheer" cardstock to the side of the photo so that I could punch holes and it wouldn't get washed out.  The colors are so vibrant and fun.  This collection is my absolute favorite!

The flair on the left is from last year's Cosmo Cricket "All Bundled Up" collection and worked perfectly to hide that odd white circle coming from behind the photo.  I thought it would be ironic to post a photo of palm trees, to show that these are the trees we look at during the winter months... not branches with snow on them.  How I miss looking at snow!

For that top right photo of Gio trimming the tree, I used a printed acetate 3x4 card that came with one of the "Good Cheer" sets I purchased.  It was the perfect match with that photo!  

I was hoping to have at least the first 10 days ready to share in this blog, but the battery on my camera was almost dead and the photos came out a little blurry upon review.

So I plan to create a few more posts (in 5 day increments) until I share my entire album.  And I will link each one at the end so you can easily get to the next.

Thanks for checking in and I hope you had a lovely Christmas.

Santa surprised me with a new camera!  Boy am I excited to take more photos now!





You can click here to see the cover (with a mini tutorial) of my 2014 December Daily.

You can click here to see what I did with Days 6 - 14 of my 2014 December Daily.

You can click here to see what I did with Days 15 - 23 of my 2014 December Daily.

You can click here to see what I did with Days 24 - 31 of my 2014 December Daily.