~ dec. daily - 1, 2, 3 ~

I was finally able to complete a few pages of my December Daily album, at least enough to post.  I think it is possible that some pages may continue to get tweaked here and there, but for now...let's go!

the cover page

I would like to do something fun with the left side, have a few ideas, but nothing is quite working at this point!

I'm finding myself using a lot of kraft (the book that I'm using from Elise Blaha's etsy shop has some, and I've added some with embellies, letters, etc.).  But there is also some traditional red and green.  I like it!   The cover page lists some of the things I would like to do in December.  Cricut for numbers, Martha Stewart letter punch for alphas.

day one spread

Day one -- Highlighting a new tradition in our house (the 25 wrapped books), and a trip with Daddy to Menards.

Thickers "one", EK punch on photo mat and more help from my Cricut for the tag!

One of the things I was waiting for in the mail was the cool Hambly Transparent Sheets that Ali Edwards is using.  Although they came in a timely fashion, I was late to decide I wanted them, so I had to wait.  They were worth it!  Here is one dividing my two stories for day two (Bea taking pictures, and packages beginning to arrive on our doorstep)...

day two spread - left

day 2 spread - right

I added the paper on the right.  The paper, along with the letter stickers on this spread are from Memory Works- 25 Days of Christmas 6x6 paper pad that I purchased at my local scrapbooking store.

Day three we decorated the Christmas Tree!  For this one I had a bunch of photos (none of which were THE PERFECT PHOTO), so I created a collage in Picasa and printed it as a 5x7.  Then, cut and adhered it across the two pages.

day three spread

t{h}ree -- get it??? 

Day four and five are half done, and day 7 only needs a spot of journaling and a number.  I have photos printed out for all pages through day 13, and most of the rest are picked out, just not printed.  This past weekend we had one family Christmas celebration, so I have many to choose from for that day -- and not so many on others.  I am going to try to allow myself to not get hung up on exactly what day something occurred (at the encouragement of Ali Edwards).

On another note, I signed up to do One Little Word 2012 with Ali Edwards, through Big Picture Classes.  Let's see, One Little Word, a 365 +1 group and a 52 weeks group on flickr, plus my family, job and other crafty fun...what am I thinking??? Oh, and this blog that no one reads!  :-)

Geez, do I worship Ali Edwards?  I've mentioned her a lot today!

One more thing...cool app...needed by all.

~ whew! ~

Crazy days!  My holiday book came on the 7th!  So, I've been working on taking, uploading and printing photos...and a little bit of scrapping here and there.  Unfortunately, I don't have even ONE day finished!  I have several days almost completed, but none to show here yet.

I have been using Picasa lately and loving it!  Since my December Daily book is only 4x6, I need photos in various (small) sizes -- and if I want to get more than a couple on a page, it seems that the collage feature in Picasa is necessary.  If you haven't checked it out, you should -- it's handy.  I like it better than the {free} version of Picnik for collages and I use PSE for anything I can't do in Picasa.  

I've had to go to my local scrapbooking store as well as order a few items online as I'm working through this book.  This has been part of the reason for the delay in a complete day or two to show, but I love it!  It's fun!  Here is a sneak peak at a few of the photos I've been working on.  I still don't know for sure which ones will make the final cut, but here are a few from the last week or so (in random order).

~ all about pink ~

Tonight after work I took B. to Menards while Daddy jogged.  One of the items on my list to look for:  pink Christmas lights.  B. has been so unbelievably into pink these days -- even her favorite book is Pinkalicious.  I have this skinny pencil tree that I haven't decorated for a few years.  I thought it might be fun to decorate it this year and put it in B.'s toy area downstairs.  So...it needs pink lights!  We found them!  And pink beads.  And a few pink ornaments that are not supposed to shatter (since she has already broken at least three since Saturday)!  ALL on sale at a good {cheap} price.  It was a good idea!  She loved it!

After Daddy got home we went out to eat.  She was a talker the whole time!  Man!  Good thing it was a very casual place!  When we got home we still needed to open up our book for the day, which she promptly did (Eve Bunting's Night Tree).  She made some sort of moderately appreciative comment, then tossed it on the ground and with perfect timing said, "Let's read Pinkalicious".  I will continue the 25 books project, but I don't think she is appreciating it as much as I am!  :-)

STILL NO DECEMBER DAILY ALBUM IN THE MAIL!  Argh!!

Day One:::Day Two, Three and Four