My December Daily Preparation

Happy December all, Niki here with my preparation for December Daily. I’m going to start with how I chose my kit as that can sometimes be a daunting task. I started off with the absolutely GORGEOUS gold 6×8″ Project Life album – it is beautiful and there is nothing more I need to say about that.

Next I chose my papers. I was looking for non-traditional colours (my December will be spent in a hot climate again this year) and I fell in love with the Christmas Wishes collection by Pink Fresh Studio so I picked up one of each of the papers. I did have some concerns that some of the patterns were better as whole 12×12 sheets and I wasn’t sure how they’d work cut down to 6×8, so I also got the 6×6 paper pad. I also wanted another collection and went for Joyful by Elles Studio.

And then I moved on to embellishments. So of course I went for a lot of the embellishments that were part of the two paper collections I had already chosen but I also couldn’t resist a sheet of chipboard stickers from the My Minds Eye Cozy Christmas collection, I love the glittery red! And not pictured is the Fancy Pants Wish Season collection – I came across this collection late in the day but there were a few embellishments that made their way into my kit (listed at the end of this post).

So kit chosen, purchased and stroked – it was time to start my base pages! I do find that pre-making base pages is the key to a sucessful December Daily project or whatever Christmas project you do. Personally I document the whole of December rather than just up to Christmas Day but I don’t go into January too. I also use it as a diary or journal and I really record what we’ve been up to each day rather than looking back to my previous Christmasses. There are several variations of a December or Christmas journal to choose from so just choose the one that is the best fit for you. But try making your base pages in advance – I find that this makes the documenting super-easy.

I have made a different page for every day – I haven’t followed a particular format for each page (I don’t like to make things too easy for myself lol!) but you could simplify things significantly I also don’t get hung up on what size my photos are going to be. On some pages I’ve added a photo mount but other pages don’t have a specific place for a photo or journaling, they are more free flowing. When I’m choosing my photos, I’ll just work with whatever orientation photos I have and make it work.

Are you ready: lots of photos coming up!!

If you are wondering why there is a blank page next to Christmas Day, that’s becuase I plan to have a full page photo for that day.

I also wanted there to be some additional inserts in between my pages for added interest and texture. Some are just smaller page protectors, so there’s a couple of 6×6 pages (they are just blank at the moment and I will use them for extra photos or journaling), there is some acetate, some tags and journaling cards and a couple fold out for lots of extra space! There’s even a page protector that I’ve turned into lots of little confetti pockets using my Fuse tool, with space for a photo or journaling in the middle. As for the placement of these pages in my album, they are just randomly inserted at the moment but I’ll move them about depending on where I need the extra space for photos or journaling.