December Daily -- Days 7, 8, 9 & 10

I am back with more pages from my December Daily. Day 7 was all about shopping in my pj's online! I took a picture of my screen when I was on amazon.com. I used a kraft tag that I dressed up with some stamping (chevron pattern) ribbon and brad as the mat for my journaling card. I added other brads to the center of the flower and the postcard to form a visual triangle. Here it is:

On the Simple Stories postcard, I also stamped the tree and added the word stickers.

Day 8 tells the story of our Christmas lights and how the lights kept going out. I used a big picture of the house fully decorated and a smaller picture with most of the lights out. (Poor Sal!)

For this page, I typed the journaling on my computer. Here's the layout:

Day 9 completes the two0page spread in my album. For this page, I used smaller pictures of some of my favorite house decorations in our neighborhood. I added some glitter stars to the patterned paper for more texture and created a journaling strip on my computer like the one I did for Day 8. Here's the layout:

Finally, Day 10 tells the story of our Christmas wreath and how Sal and Melissa always go together to pick it out. The journaling is layered on a kraft tag much like the one I created for Day 7. I love the metal "numbers" for this page. The one from Tim Holtz metal numbers was the same size as the wreath from his metal charms set. Talk about scrapping karma! And, I didn't even fudge this. We really got the wreath on December 10th this year! Here's the page:

Ten down, fifteen to go! I will be back later this week to, hopefully, finish posting my December Daily!

December Daily -- Days 4, 5 & 6

I am back today with three more pages from my December Daily. I have to admit that I was very excited to make these pages since they are a little out-of-the box for me. (Warning this is a long post with a lot of pictures!)

December 4th was an ordinary Sunday. Sal and I both woke up feeling a little under the weather. We stayed in and I made a stew for dinner. Nothing earth shattering to scrap about, right? Except, every season, when I make my stew for the first time, I have to call my mother and double check her recipe which I have improvised a bit over the years. I decided that a layout was in order. Since this was a small story, I wanted a small foundation so I grabbed a transparency and matching page from the Basic Grey Basics Take Note set. On the front is a picture of my stew simmering on the stove:

And on the back is the recipe. You can click on the picture to enlarge it if you are interested.

Yes, my secret ingredient in stew is ketchup!

On to Day 5. The first Monday in December. Again, no holiday pictures since I still wasn't feeling well. Luckily, my niece Jennifer had sent me a copy of Thomas' letter to Santa. I used it as the inspiration for my layout about Mark and Melissa's Santa lists. I used a Hambly transparency as the foundation so that it is easy to remove Thomas' letter to read it. Here's the page:

Journaling reads: The older Mark & Melissa get, the harder it is to get them to write their Santa list. This year, Mark texted me his list and Melissa never finished hers! For the record, Thomas' letter says:

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good boy this year. Would you please bring me Cars Duplo? I want everything with Cars. Boost is my favorite.

Thank you Santa!

Love, Thomas

To create the envelope, I stamped a background and the word "Believe"on a Maya Road kraft envelope, sealed it and then slit an opening along the top. Here's a closer look:

Since I used a transparency on Day 5, I needed to match my Day 6 layout on the back. I used a free printable which was intended to be used for a spool calendar as the inspiration for my page. I added the names of the songs that Melissa had downloaded from i-tunes for us to listen to in the car. Yes, I know there is a lot of Justin Bieber on that playlist! I added some rub-ons along the top of the page and some patterned paper and letter stickers along the bottom. Here's the page:

Note that after I took the picture, I realized I got carried away with the "o's" in the word to. That's what happens when you scrap when you have a glass of wine while you scrap. I'm just saying. Anyway, the spelling was corrected after the picture was taken. Oh, and for the record, the Simple Stories letter stickers did not include punctuation so I turned an "i" upside down for my exclamation point!

Finally, here's a peak at how these pages look in the album.

I love seeing all of the bits and pieces peaking out from behind the transparency.

It's so different from my traditional albums.

For a full list of supplies used on my December Daily, check this post.

December Daily -- Days 2 & 3

I am back with more pictures of my December Daily.T o simplify things, and keep my posts short, I am listing all of the supplies on this post. If you have any questions about a specific product, please leave a comment and I will do my best to answer. I did try to use up my stash so some of the products I used are older. Okay now for Day 2.

December 2nd found me at home taxiing the kids while Sal was at his company Christmas party. In all the years we have been together, spouses have only been invited one time. I asked Sal to take a picture with his cell phone and when that one didn't turn out well, he brought the camera to work and returned to the Roosevelt Hotel to take a picture for me. It's so nice to have a husband who supports my hobby even though he laments the space it takes up! Here's the layout:

That beautiful red glitter snowflake was actually a tag I found on clearance at Bath and Body Works in 2010. I only paid $0.10 for it! Needless to say, I bought more than one. You just never know where you can find embellishments! Here's a close-up of the journaling:

On Day 3, we took a little road trip to West Chester University to hear my niece sing in her school's choir. This is the second year we have attended the concert and it has fast become one of my favorite holiday activities! Here's my layout:

The Simple Stories journaling card had the word "traditions" on it. I customized it by stamping the word "New" using Technique Tuesday's Initially Yours "N" stamps. Here's a closer look at the number:

That's it for today. I will be back with Days 4 through 25!

Christmas in February!

Even though the calendar says February and the temperatures in the Northeast feel more like April, it's Christmas on my blog! Yes, I am finally getting close to finishing my December Daily so I thought I would start to share it.

I am using an 8.5" x 11" American Crafts album. Most of the pages are going into page protectors but I have a few that were done on transparencies. I built most of my pages on Recollections cardstock but if I had to do it all over again, I would use a higher-quality cardstock with a heavier weight. I found this cardstock difficult to work with. It tore when I pulled pieces up even though I was using repositionable adhesive. And, although my pages aren't loaded with embellishments, this lighter weight cardstock seems a little warped in the corners on the heavier pages. You can't tell the difference when I put the pages in the page protectors but I don't think the cost savings outweigh the negatives. I'm just saying!

Now, for the pages. The first is my title page. It uses a picture of a nursery that I literally stumbled upon when I took my mom to buy a grave blanket. I could kick myself for not having my camera with me but I couldn't pass up this beautiful scene so I used my phone. It's not the best picture but I think it captures the grandeur of the poinsettias and works as a good opening page. Here it is:

Throughout my album, I use December Daily journaling cards from Pretty Little Studio. On this page, I layered the card on top of a Maya Road doily that I misted with Calico White Mister Huey and stamped the title using Technique Tuesday's Studio AE stamps. Here's a close -up:

Another element that I used to tie the pages together was the red velvet paper from SEI. I used a 3/4" strip on most pages. Multiple uses of Authentique Diction word stickers and Simple Stories Countdown Stickers also help unify the pages.

For Day 1, I took a picture of my Advent Angel. Here it is:

Journaling reads: Hanging the Advent Angel is a sure sign that the Christmas season has begun! When Mark and Melissa were small, each wanted the coveted job of moving the star on Christmas day. Using their birth years as a guide, I developed a system to make it fair. Mark moved the star on odd number days when the year ended in an odd number, and Melissa did so when the year ended in an even number. Now Mark doesn't care so much and Melissa moves the star ever day. We will see what happens on Christmas morning.

Here's a close-up of the countdown sticker embellished with rhinestone stickers which I layered on top of the journaling card.

Well, one down and 24 to post!

Album Supplies:

Patterned Paper: October Afternoon (Good Cheer); Simple Stories (25 Days of Christmas); K& Company (Yultide); My Mind's Eye (Lost & Found; The Merry Days of Christmas); Little yellow Bicycle (Christmas Wishes).

Specialty Papers & Transparencies: SEI (Rouge Velour); Hambly; Fancy Pants; Basic Grey Basics (Take Note).

Stickers: Authentique (Wonder Diction Words); Simple Stories (25 Days of Christmas); K & Company (Yultide); recollection (Rhinestone).

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Studio AE -- 25 Moments by Ali Edwards; Celebrate the Seasons by Ali Edwards; Believe by Ali Edwards; Initially Yours -- N): Hero Arts (Magical Background)

Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Stampin' Up! (Ripe Advocado; Riding Hood Red; Crumb Cake); Tim Holtz Distress (Antique Linen; Persimmon); Mister Heuy (Calico White; Overdue);

Punches: Fiskars (Scalloped Sentiment, Upper Crust); EK Success Edger Punch (Postge Stamp);

Misc.: Pretty Little Studio (Journaling Cards); Maya Road (Kraft Doilies; Die Cut Kraft Doilies; envelope) Recollections (Stars); Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collection (Numerals; Christmas Adornments; Mini Paper Clips); My Mind's Eye brads (Lost & Found/Union Square); Making Memories felt stickers (Tinsel); Little Yellow Bicycle Epoxy Chipboard (Christmas Wishes); Me & My Big Ideas misc. embellishments and rub-ons (Noel) Creative Imaginations rub-ons (Hollyberry); Imaginisce Poinsettia Vendetta (Cinnamon).