Monday, December 24, 2012

December Daily 2012 - The beginning


Hands up who is doing December Daily?  Who even knows what it is?  Admittedly, I hadn't heard of December Daily until last year when I stumbled across it on the Ali Edwards blog.  If you would like to learn more about it, I suggest you check out this very talented lady's approach.   This wonderful project is going to be a much loved tradition in my household for many years to come, such a lovely way to document the excitement of Christmas.  Click here to see what the December Daily project by Ali Edwards is all about.

Anywho, I have just received my Sn@p album, page protectors and some paper pads that I intend on using to put my album for 2012 together.  I chose not to go with all Christmas themed papers as everything I looked at seemed too wintery.  December in Australia consists sunshine, balmy nights, bbq's and swimming not snowflakes and cosy fireplaces lol.  I wanted something colourful and fun that reflects how I feel Christmas in my family is.  Besides, I have a huge stash of Christmas scrap stuff already so I'm sure I can put some of that to good use too.


Here are some of my Sn@p goodies that I will be using from Simple Stories.  The album size is 8"x9" in size and the binding is covered in red material (quite fitting for Christmas).  It holds 6"x8" in pages and comes with 10 page protectors and other Sn@p pages included.  I purchased them from Craft Online which have a sale on the albums at the moment.  I decided to purchase another 2 sets of assorted pages protectors so I have plenty to include the 25 days of December.




I have signed up for the Studio Calico 25 Days class and am still waiting on my bonus kit (which has apparently now sold out).  So I am sure I will have more than plenty of yumminess to fill my album.  The online class looks fantastic and I think this will help me keep on track with my album each day.  Nothing like a bit of inspiration and motivation from some amazingly talented scrappers to get your butt in gear!  Check out the content here.



I can't wait to get started and see my album fill up with lots of Christmas memories over December in such a lovely keepsake.  I have relatives visiting from Scotland too so I'm sure my album will be jam packed with bbq's, family catch ups and lots of fun photos.

I have a bunch of pins on Pinterest for inspiration which you can find here and I hope to update my blog with my progress.  I also have my Personalised Santa Letters that I am working on again (mustn't let the kiddies down) so that is going to keep me ultra busy too. Our Elf on the Shelf that the boys have named Jack will be coming to life in a little over a week which I'm soooo excited about.  So, all in all December is going to be C-R-A-Z-Y and I hope to have fun with every second of it.

But now I'm off to take my pooch for a stroll in the sunshine :)  He's been quite ill and we're waiting on some results that we're hoping is good news.  But that's a whole new post and I really don't want to shed any more tears at the moment . . .   Trying to stay positive and give him lots of love and cuddles.

Take care peeps and I'll be back soon with photos of my cover, wish me luck ;)

Kye
xo

Friday, November 30, 2012

Project Life 2012 - Week 44



Where is the time going?  I can't believe that I am sitting here with our Christmas tree up and already decorated (yes we did it early this year) and now I am getting ready for our Elf On The Shelf to come to life tomorrow night . . .  So much for being all caught up with my Project Life so I can concentrate on my December Daily!  Pfft  I should know myself better by now and accept the fact that I love the chaos and thrive on the insanity it brings me!  LOL  ;)  Well, at least I can laugh at myself and the fact that I have a trillion projects all going on all at once, gotta love how women can multi-task hey?


So week 44 is where I am at . . .  Unfortunately I am still waiting on my page protectors to arrive so I am just adhering my photos and journalling cards to 12"x12" cardstock and inserting them into page protectors for now.



Monday, November 26, 2012

December Daily 2012 - Album Cover




I have started my December Daily album cover and am pretty happy with how it is looking so far.  I seem to always play around with colours, papers, embellishments, etc for quite some time before I actually decide on anything and this cover was no exception.  It took me ages to finally come up with something I liked . . .  As per usual lol ;)

I have used the Simple Stories Summer Fresh 6"x6" paper pad for my banner and flower.  The rub-on text on the tag is by Christmas Carnival Collection by Kaisercraft as is the bottom stars and patterns with some Ice Stickles for a little bling on the bauble.  The 2012 numbers are by Amy Tangerine and the the banner is mounted with double-sided foam tape to add dimension.

The inside cover is a page included with the Sn@p album by Simple Stories with again my own handmade banner and Amy Tangerine Thickers for lettering and tape.  The paper for the banner is the Dear Santa Collection by Kaisercraft and the 'daily' wording I printed onto a tag from the Simple Stories Summer Fresh 6"x6" paper pad.

The green flower is made from a Hot Off The Press flower template that I cut out and adhered with tape.  The red underside of the flower was punched out with a Fiskars circle border punch.

I didn't want to open the album and jump straight into day 1 so I searched the web until a quote/poem caught my eye and was suitable for an introduction to my album.  I found this Christmas Manifesto wording on a blog and the link is here; it was perfect!

I still want to add perhaps some ribbon to the binder and a label on the spine, not sure what but definitely something with some hanging trinkets.

So this is where I am at for now with my album . . .   I think I will do each page as I go throughout the month.  I previously decided to do my foundation pages beforehand but now think that I will just limit myself if I do that.  I would much prefer to see what photos I have for each day, what events took place and then decide how I will do each page.

Getting excited now, not long at all and the fun begins (oh and Jack comes to 'play') lol ;)

Cheers peeps,
Kye
xo

Items Used

These are the links for the items I could find on Amazon.

     

Thursday, November 15, 2012

My Very First Day Book


Okay, so I admit that I have been a little lost in the Project Life world and paying very little attention to my traditional scrapping and my first love, mini-albums.  Today I felt like I needed some comfort, you know that feeling of an old friend, a favourite hoody or pair of worn out slippers. . .  Something that you're used to and it 'feels like home'.  So this afternoon I turned to my old favourite creative pastime of mini albums.

As you might have all guessed I have fallen in love with everything Amy Tangerine and her recent visit to Spotlight stores all over Australia has left us scrappers in an Amy frenzy.  This highly talented lady has motivated me to jump on the mini-album making train and create my own 'daybook'.  They are simply an album that is used to record journaling and photos of a particular event or day.  They are all the buzz at the moment and everyone seems to be having a crack at them.  I have seen some that are just simply amazeballs and have really gotten my creative juices flowing!!!  There are no rules or limits just do what you like and have fun with them.  Here is a link to some that are on Amy's blog that were created by the Studio Calico team and they are just divine.

This week I received an order from the wonderful Polka Dot Creative with lots of pretty yumminess and haven't had a chance to play with any of it.  But today I sat down with my collected visuals of daybooks and my flowing juices and here's what I've come up with so far . . .

Front cover

Inside first page 
Inside cover

So there you have it, my first attempt at a 'daybook'.  Now I'm all keen to fill it with 'random facts about me'.  I'm planning on using al the Instagram photos in it and filling it with my own handwritten journaling, lots of pretty tags and cute stuff from my own stash.  So stay tuned for my next instalment, filling my daybook!  One word PUMPED!!!  I think I'll be making quite a few of these little beauties :-)  I definitely have the mini-album making buzz again lol!

Big hugs,
Kye
xo