December Daily 2014: Moments 11 through 20

Moment 11: Not sure what I’ll put here, but it will go inside or on top of the bag…loving the blue/gold/wood veneer combination.
Moment 12: will likely put cards/notes from my students in the bag or possibly a photo/journal card for a separate moment…lots of flexibility within the album.

Moments 13 and 14: I plan to add photos of the boys’ class parties…

Moment 15: the boys’ handwritten notes, drawings, and words really complete the album for me. I have incorporated cards in order to keepsake their thoughts/memories…

Moment 16: more of the boys’ artwork/words…

17: space to journal/add photos…not sure what will go here quite yet.

Moment 18: space to add a photo and journal what we are doing “currently”…

Really inspired to use my washi tape stash for this project and loving the outcome:

Moment 19: will likely use for the boys’ schoolwork and/or Santa Letter. You can also see the backside of the confetti pocket. I found it a lot easier to use an Exacto knife, slice along the top border, place the goodies inside, and use washi tape to close. Half the time it takes to hand stitch a pocket closed and almost the same final look.

Moment 20: entirely devoted to the boys’ artwork and words.

December Daily 2014: Moments 1 through 10

I thought I would take some time to share my December Daily foundation pages. For the most part, beyond the placement of the numbers and pocket pages, I have no real plan set in stone. Instead of daily moments, I will focus on overall moments throughout the month: if one day produces three moments, awesome, if another produces zero, that is okay as well.

My opening pages focus on my WHY of the project:

As you will see throughout the album, I am using a mixture of pre-made journal cards, the ones that came with the Ali Edwards December Daily Kit and handwritten, list/journal type pages. For the opening WHY page, I loosely made lines with a pencil. Journaled my why, erased the pencil lines, and added embellishments. Simple but love the outcome.

I started to list all of the items/photos/moments I hope to capture in December. As I was doing so, I decided to turn the list into a filler page. A fun, colorful, alphabet page followed…

Moment 1: will focus on our tree. Ty’s drawing will serve as a reminder to take a black and white photo of our set up. I will use the drawing in the album elsewhere in the end.

Moment 2: will focus on the boys’ multiple lists and letters to Santa. I will place them in the bag…

Moment 3: undecided. Will be receipts or tags maybe? They will go in the bag with possible journaling outside…

Moment 4: love how the boys’ wrap each other’s gifts. I plan to incorporate photos of their wrap jobs here.

Moment 5: a good example of the loosely penciled in lines. I didn’t want them perfect. I will journal and then erase them. I plan to list our favorite holiday shows and movies here.

Moment 6: undecided, but this year’s December Daily inspired me to finally use up some of my washi tape stash…

Moment 7: forgot to photography…will add later.

Moments 8 and 9 will focus on the boys’ basketball. The 9 is adhered to a clear Project Life page divider. Loved the hint of green it offered to keep with the blue/green/red color scheme of the double page layout.

Moment 10: another list, this time our favorite family holiday books.

December Daily 2013: Part One

I swore up and down I would absolutely NOT do December Daily this year after making it through day three last year. I will NOT BUY A December Daily Kit, I said. NO, NO, NO. And then the kits came rolling out. And it became, maybe I’ll buy ONE kit this year. JUST ONE. Heh. For the most part, I stuck to the one kit purchase. I am really hoping THIS is the year I FINISH my attempts at a Daily December album. Hold it to me people.

COVER Page:

Day 1: I am more or less keepsaking moments versus days. In the little bag, I had the boys write down their hopes for the season, and I did the same. Having completely dropped the ball on family photos this year, I had Jake draw a family portrait. I kind of love it more than an actual photo…

Day 2: I lost an envelope of pictures somewhere. I have no idea where they are. I have ordered second copies and am waiting for them to finish this page…

Day 3: Decorating our tree…

Day 4: A Thanksgiving Break tradition, our third year doing it, making our Salt Dough Advent Calendar. The boys did most of the work this year. These ornaments are always my FAVORITE.

Day 5: Our Elf on the Shelf made his annual appearance. Magic for the boys, many EARLY MORNING panicked wake ups for ME- did I move the elf??!!

Day 6: The beginning of the boys’ Christmas Lists. As of today, Christmas Eve, they’ve penned about five different versions of their list…

Day 7: First real season of basketball for Tyson. So much fun. So different watching him play a sport where he is truly SELF motivated…

Days 8 and 9: The calm before the December Crazy storm. Trying my best to stay ahead of the game. And a fun, mid-week birthday party…

Days 10 and 11: More fun with Victor, our elf, and an ice skating adventure with my boys…

Days 12 and 13: Will trim black and white photos to place in the cut out letters of “favorite” and I had to keep Tyson’s last list. I know that all too soon his list will no longer reflect little boy wishes…sigh.

Half way there!! Chugging along…