Day Twenty - Hey! What happened to Day Nineteen?

Happy Boxing Day! I was very good today, I stayed home and didn't go to any sales. (Well, I did go out looking at new TV's with my sweet husband, but that was to be a voice of reason, and to help avoid an impulse buy. Lucky for us, he got me away from that plasma TV before it was too late!)

Instead, I worked on my December Daily, finishing Day 20. You may be wondering what happened to Day 19. I was composing my page on Day 20, intending to glue it to Day 19, and before I knew it, I had it all secured in place - on the wrong day! Oh well. This page uses a Tim Holtz die and that new translucent tape. The butterfly is one I made like the green ones, only it's blue.

So now I am working on Day 19, on what should be Day 26. I seem to be falling behind rather drastically. I'm not sure if this December Daily is going to make it to Day 31. I have another project (or 2, or 10) waiting to be completed. Oh dear.

Until next time.....

Day Eighteen - Feeling Angelic

Ah, how I love this paper (Graphic 45). There is a pocket behind the angels, and I have a journalling tag hidden back there. The ribbon is secured with glue dots.

NOTE TO SELF: IF I ever do this again, I will NOT be gluing down the dates ahead of time. I can't tell you how much time and agonizing I have done trying to remove and then replace the reindeer and numbers.

Well, this is just a short post, as my dear husband I have a little shopping to do tonight, and he is loitering in the background, waiting for me to put up this post.

Until we meet again.....

Days Sixteen and Seventeen - Keeping up as best as I can!

As I write this, my dear husband is baking cookies. This is his first time ever. We decided we would bake Christmas cookies together this year, and it has been very nice. We didn't even fight over the measuring spoons!

Day Sixteen is a little trip down Memory Lane for me. These two tiny ornaments were on my Grandparent's tree when I was a little girl. I have no idea where they came from, or how old they could be. They are at least 45 years old (that's how far back I can recall). They are fragile and kind of tatty, but I love them dearly. Or maybe I just love the memory dearly. The paper is from Graphic45. I embellished it with Stickles. It opens up like a door, and I used some book making tape that is actually hinged. I got it years ago, knew I'd use it someday. The letters are punched out of cardstock and, yup, covered with Stickles. (Confession: They were supposed to appear on Day 13, but they were too big.)

Day Seventeen is actually a card I made at class on Friday using Copic markers. I'm still trying to get the hang of shading. It's slow going, but there is nothing better than colouring to calm your mind. Lucky for me, the class used more Jovial paper, so it fits right in. (We won't get into the part where there was a 20% off sale for class participants, and what that meant to my chequing account.) The flower is fussy cut and layered.

Update: I've replaced my shoes and gym clothes, and now am hoping that the person who took mine had a real need for them. I haven't forgotten, but I forgive you.

Until next time....

Days 14 and 15 - Behind as usual.

I know we all started this December Daily book with GOOD INTENTIONS, and I think I did pretty well for the first week. But I am finding the closer we get to "the Big Day", the harder it is to get my pages done. And having to go to work isn't helping, either. Plus the printer ran out of ink, and I haven't had a chance to get out to get a new cartidge.

Which explains the lovely "photo" on Day 15. I don't have the picture yet for this day, so I drew one. This picture explains why I never did very well in Art at school (I like to think that if scrapbooking was part of the art process, I may have done better).

Today has been a difficult day. My hubby and I were out to coffee, and I accidently left my bag of exercise clothes and shoes at the coffee shop. I realized what I had done about an hour later, and went back, hoping that someone had turned them in to the staff (who'd want my old gym shoes, anyway?)

But it appears there is no Christmas spirit in Maple Ridge, as some Scrooge thought they might like to keep my stuff.

It's not that I can't afford to replace the clothes and shoes, or that getting a new tag for the gym is a huge problem. I just feel violated. I don't like thinking that someone is wearing my clothes, looking thru my bag, with not a care as to whether it would have been a hardship for me to lose those things. This is not the first time I have had something stolen. I felt the same way last time too.

Christmas seems quite far away today....

Day s Twelve and Thirteen (AWOL!)

I've had a busy past few days. There was that hockey game, and then I decided that I was going to get those Christmas cards out NMW (translation: No Matter What), and then there was the tree to contend with.

Day 12's photo is of my Christmas cards. It has glitter on it, so now there is glitter all over my kitchen table. I cut the birdie out with my Silhouette, and inked it with Distress inks (I figured what the heck, I have butterflies in this book, why not birds? Think I'll stop there... no bees!) It is saved from being too spring-like by having poinsettias around it. There is a tag that comes out from behind the photo, announcing how many cards I sent out (37), and a couple of the Christmas stamps Canada Post

Day 13 is just colouring with my Copics again. They sure are fun to play with. Then I added Stickles, which are addicting.

As I mentioned, the tree is now up. I must confess that I tried in vain to get rid of this tree. I just don't like it, it's not pre-lit, and it is too big for the room. I thought I could give it to my son and his housemates, but they informed me they were getting a live tree. I bought some new lights, hoping that would make me feel better about having the same tree again this year (this tree attacked me a few years ago, but that is another story). Then my dear husband came to the rescue. Why not just trim it, he suggested? Why not?

And so there he was, in his workshop (aka garage), sawing, trimming, etc to make the tree 6 inches shorter, and a smaller diameter, so that it actually fits in the space I have reserved for it.

Thanks, honey.

Now, about that pre-lighting......

Until tomorrow.....

Day Eleven - Green Butterflies? Why not!

Day Eleven was a very busy day for me. I worked til 5 pm, and then we went straight to a hockey game, (we lost, darn it!) with dinner at a fast food place. By the time I got home, I had no energy to work on this page. I haven't even started on today's page yet.

Now about those butterflies. I really like butterflies, and I decided that winter or not, I was going to have them on my page. And they were going to be green, with music on them, and sparkles.

Christmas is a special time, a time when magical things can happen. I remember my mother telling me when I was little, there was a story that animals could speak at midnight on Christmas Eve. One year I managed to wait up til midnight, but the dog didn't say anything of interest.

Hoping you are having a magical day.....

Day Ten - Recycling Snow

We don't have any snow at our house, and I am glad of it. Here on the south coast of B.C. snow is an infrequent event. When it does snow, there is usually great trouble on the roads, because we don't get much practice to drive in the snow, unlike the rest of Canada.

I love snow. Well, the idea of it anyway. In my dreams, there is walking thru snowy forests, sleigh rides, sitting beside a roaring fire and drinking hot chocolate, watching the snowflakes fall.... In reality, there is shovelling sidewalks, the perilous drive to work, the mushy mess that happens when the rain starts again (and here, rain follows snow like night follows day. It's inevitable).

This page uses recycled snow. The snowflakes are from a Christmas card I got last year. I save all those cards, they are just too pretty to throw out. The letters are punched out from the back of the card.

Until next time.....

Day Nine - Oh Joy!

There is not much going on at our house that is Christmassy. Mostly we're just working, and doing the normal things we do every day of the year. There are no sleigh rides, no rocking around any Christmas trees, and definitely a lack of chestnuts on an open fire. It's a good thing I have this journal to remind me that the holidays are on their way! (Not to mention the box of Christmas cards sitting on the kitchen table, waiting to be signed, addressed and sent out. I gotta tell you, I'm not looking forward to the line ups at the post office).

After the incident on Day Seven, I bought (oops) some letter stickers. It was purely for self-preservation, I didn't think I needed another cut on my fingers.

(I will admit, the ribbon and paper I also purchased were strictly on impulse).

Hopefully you're managing to find Joy in the everyday activies we all have to do, holidays or not.

Until next time....

Day Eight - Wishing you Peace (and Quiet!)

Confession - it was all I could do to get this page done. I thought I was getting a jump on the holidays, but apparently I am not. I suddenly realized my cards are not done, the tree is safely tucked in it's box in the CLOSET OF NO RETURN, the gifts are not all wrapped (or purchased)yet, the Christmas menu is still in the mystery stage - and I felt very overwhelmed.

And then I thought, I just need to Peace Out. (Is that a saying? I think it could be. Or at least it should be.) I made this a simple page, no photo, no journalling, just a peaceful sitting, cutting up pretty paper and gluing braid and flowers onto the page. I felt better after this, and I thought, " So what if the Christmas cards don't get mailed til New Years? Okay, gift bags are a viable replacement for fancy wrapping paper. And if the tree doesn't get put up this year...." Alright. That's one thing that must happen!

Wishing you a Peaceful day, with a Silent night (in our house, that means no coughing - someone has a nasty cold). Until tomorrow (or the next day, depending on how things go).....

(Now, if I could just figure out why this darn blog isn't spacing my paragraphs.....)

Day 7 - The Blood-letting

I decided that for yesterday, I was going to colour a stamp I recently bought (a further deviation from my rule about NOT BUYING ANY NEW SUPPLIES). Yes, I carefully coloured it with copics, added dimensional snow and glitter, dusted it with chalk, and edged it with ink - it looked great. But, it had to dry overnight, so I finished it this morning.

Thinking it looked kind of plain, I dug out my Quickutz to punch out some letters to make a title. All was going well, until I somehow cut myself on the die! After washing the cut and dressing it, I returned to my mess, I mean desk! to finish the page. I then realized I had BLED ON THE PICTURE I HAD SO CAREFULLY CREATED!

I won't tell you what I said, because it wasn't very nice. I had to think fast about how I was going to hide the blood, which was a good sized splat. Unfortunately, I don't always think fast, so this ended up taking some time. And that is why there is a label above the reindeer's head. If anyone needs my DNA, there is a sample in this book.

Until the next time....

Day Six - Remembering my Dad

A little departure from Christmas, today's page is dedicated to my father, Ken, who passed away in 1979. He has been gone for many years now, but I still think of him often, and wish he could have known my husband and family. December 6th would have been his 91st birthday.

Paper choice today was Basic Grey, and Graphic45.

Until next time....

Day Five - Santa's Little Helpers

I was trying to get a bit of wrapping done... 2 little helpers arrived, and the present presentation took a lot longer than it should have!

Let me help you untie that ribbon!

Assisting in paper selection. I like the ones with the claw marks.





Present? What present?





Exercising the bows. Doesn't that adhesive taste great?

The tags on the page are removable, and I could journal on the backs of them. I haven't, but I could. If I wanted to. If I had time!!! The tags were cut with my Silhouette, coloured with Copics and inked with Distress Inks. The paper is Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses.

The last couple of pages I have had to remove my little reindeers and their numbers, further making me realize that I made MORE WORK FOR MYSELF by trying to save time. What I should have done is just prepared them, and then glued them on day by day.

Until tomorrow...

Day Four - Lights, Camera, Action!

We were very clever this year, and put up our Christmas lights on a dry day in November, avoiding the damp and chill and numb hands that come with a December house lighting session. And on December 1, the Christmas lights were turned on, and it all looked great. Until yesterday. Suddenly, one string decided to go out (and I don't mean on the town, either).

Now I'm all for new technology and saving enery, but I must tell you I don't really care for these new LED Christmas lights. They're not as bright, and the indoor ones make my eyes feel funny if I look at them for too long. And, if the lights don't work - well, you just throw the whole thing away and buy a new one, because you can't change the bulbs! (Somehow that seems wasteful to me..... aren't they supposed to be enery saving?)

So yesterday I went out and BOUGHT A NEW STRING OF LIGHTS, and here is my dear husband taking down the old strand and putting up the new.

This is a pretty simple page, but I must admit this paper was NOT IN MY STASH, I got it a couple of days ago on a little shopping expedition. Couldn't resist, and I'm glad I didn't. The foliage part is fussy cut, embelished with gel pens and stickles, and layered over top of the background and photo. I was very brave and actually journaled on the background.... I practiced this a couple of times before I did the real thing! I was also contemplating a title, maybe something like " Rigging up the lights" but the jury's still out on that one too.

Until tomorrow.....

Day Three - Knit Wit (or, Evidence of Procrastination)

While I was sorting through paper, etc, I came across these fingerless gloves that I started making for my daughter Emily for Christmas - last year. Ah yes, another project started with GOOD INTENTIONS that may never get finished.

I must tell you, it's not completely my fault. First, there was limited time to work on it, because it seemed Emily was always around when I thought of knitting. Then I got almost to the thumb gusset (more about that later) when I realized the pattern had an error in it, and so had to begin again. I restarted a second time when I thought I could mix a visit with a friend of mine and follow a complicated (for me, anyway) pattern. Not. Restart. And then, I got to the thumb gusset, confusion set in, and I haven't knitted a stitch since.

I should have known when I saw that this pattern involved using 4 needles. Imagine that, 4 needles for 2 hands! Impossible!

But I am very proud to tell you that although I needed black brads, I DIDN'T GO OUT AND BUY THEM. I used silver ones and painted them. (Did I tell you they take a very long time to dry?)

Until the next time....

Day Two

Day Two is all about my Christmas Village. I am happy to report no extra supplies were bought to create this page, and I managed to do it in one day!

In my CLOSET OF NO RETURN, I have a box labelled Dec. 1. It contains the deocorations I put up early in the month - the advent calendar(s), Christmas card holder, and my Christmas village that I always put on the fireplace mantle.

Until this year. This year Gracie, one of our very naughty cats has taken to jumping onto the fireplace mantle. I can just envision her doing this when my village is assembled, and my little houses and trees falling onto the fireplace below, bursting into flames and causing unimaginable disaster.

So I have moved to Plan B, which is assemble the village on a small table in the den. This was not without it's problems either. I caught Gracie chewing on a tree, and William (her accomplice) with his paws under the tablecloth, searching for I don't know what. Hopefully my village survives the season!

Last night I finally figured out how to print pictures with my printer! However, I'm not really happy with the colour saturation or clarity, so I probably am going to have them professionally done, unless I discover a MAGIC BUTTON that says "Press here for really great photo printing".

Until we meet again...

Day One

Day One - the Advent Calendar!

I know, how could this page have taken me so long to make? (See previous post). Well, there was a fair amount of agonzing over font choice, and flower placement, not to mention ink decisions and should I or should I not use ribbon (the jury's still out on whether or not I should have a bow attached to the ribbon somewhere!).

Until tomorrow....

Get ready, get set.....

Over the last few days, I have been quite busy (read: obsessed) with what exactly I am going to put in the December Daily book. Photos, journaling, some stamped images colours with my new Copics, die cuts - the list goes on and on. I've been sorting my Christmassy stuff (my room looks like a cyclone went through it) and getting lots of ideas. More than I need, likely. Oh yes, I've cut out swirls and journaling tags, practiced tying ribbon into bows, fussy cut more flowers - I'm ready and waiting for December to greet me tomorrow!

And now, I have a little confession to make. Okay, it's a big one.

I'm almost finished Day One.

There, I said it. It all started out quite innocently. I thought to myself, "Hmm, I wonder how long it will take each day to do a page?" Then I reasoned I'd do a practice run, so I'd know how much time I need to set aside each day. Three days later, Day One was just about done, all it needs is a photo and some journaling.

I admit I feel a little guilty, but I'm glad I did it, because I had a hunch each page was going to take me more than one day (this is related to my OBSESSING OVER MINUTE DETAILS, and simple ideas EVOLVING INTO SOMETHING MORE). It is going to be a real challenge for me to keep myself in check, and on schedule to finish this book by Dec 31. Otherwise, it may not get completed until next summer!

I'm not going to tell you about my shopping trip last week and the paper and stamps I bought... one confession a day is enough!

Until December 1st....

The Herd is Complete!

Here they are, my little deers -

Over the last 2 days, I have been cutting, inking and stickling these 31 little creatures. I've had a lot of time to think about things, and the prevailing thought has been that I must be crazy. It's one thing to prepare one deer, but 31?

I also stamped my white swirl on the pages, it's quite subtle (TRANSLATION: it only shows up in certain light, or if the page is tilted just so), if you look you can see it in the third picture. This turned out to be more time-consuming that I first thought. Pigment ink takes a very long time to dry. I couldn't dry the images with my heat gun, because the pages were already glued to the chipboard, and if there's one thing I've learned, its heat guns + glue = warping. (I have a set of encyclopedias from 1967. No one reads them, I just keep them for pressing things, like warped pages).

So the foundation pages are now complete, I have 8 days to bide my time until I can start my daily decorating. This should be ample time to figure out what I'm going to put on page 1. I hope.

Until I decide to embellish something else...

Oh Deer, and other things I have said

I was pondering how I was going to number my pages (and I swear I wasn't trying to think of ways to make MORE WORK FOR MYSELF), when my eye wandered over to the pile of Basic Grey "Jovial" paper, and I saw the cute reindeers on the Nordic sheets. I could just imagine them on the corner of the page, with a number on them, and maybe some white swirls behind. Fantastic!

Well, fantastic idea or not, I wasn't really thinking about how much fussy cutting, inking and gluing (those spindley little legs are a bit of a pain, I have to tell you!) those deers were going to take. And then I had to take it a step further and add Stickles onto the wreaths and bows....

I made up the first deer, and in my excitement of how cool this was going to look, glued her in place, forgetting the part about stamping a white swirl behind. Oops. And that's another thing. I have white ink, and I once again told myself how clever I was to be USING UP WHAT I HAVE ON HAND, until I realized that the ink was dry, and I would have to break my rule again about buying supplies for this album. So I just bought a little ink, rationalizing I would be usuing it for other UP-COMING PROJECTS.

The numbers are cut using my Squeeze, and the "Eliza" font. I think the 2 looks pretty good. However, 1 is going to be a bit of a challenge. Depending on where I place it, the deer either appears to have a 5th leg, a very long tail, or has been speared. I'll have to work on that.

That's it for now....

Title Page

For some reason (that probably has its roots in elementary school), I decided that I needed to have a title page. There was just something about opening the book and landing on DAY ONE that didn't appeal to me. Also, I reasoned that I would end up with 32 pages in this book, or else a blank one at the end, and that would just be awkward. And besides that, I realized that no where on the cover had I indicated what year we were in.

So the Title Page was born. I was able to fussy cut some flowers (also from the Jovial line), play with some Stickles, plus I was able to further deviate from my rule of using what I have on hand to GO OUT AND BUY A NEW DIE! Yes, when I saw that reindeer (or whatever member of the deer family it is), I just knew I had to have that in my book. Do you see how things get out of control for me?

Until tomorrow....

Page Foundations

I have all the page foundations constructed now, it has taken quite a bit of time, because I have trouble making decisions.

First of all, I reasoned that I needed sturdy pages, as I was going to be adding quite a lot of bits and pieces on them. I used some thin chipboard that I recycled from the sheet metal (patting myself on the back, as I was USING UP WHAT I COULD FIND). Then I had to decide how many pages to make. 12? 25? 31? I settled on 31, because I thought it would be easier to do more now, than have to make more pages if I wanted them later. And of course, this made MORE WORK for me, which is another little issue I have - why do things the easy way?

The next delema I had was covering the chipboard. What paper to use? I have a lot of choices. My original plan was to use what struck me on the day, and just wing it. But like most of my plans, they evolve into SOMETHING MORE ELABORATE, and so I decided to use all one type of paper so the book had some consistancy. Paper of Choice = Basic Grey's Jovial.

And here is where the wheels fell off the cart, so to speak. I brought out my Jovial "snowball fight" paper, and discovered I didn't have enough for all 31 pages! So my little rule about USING WHAT I HAVE went out the window, and I found myself out at several scrapbooking stores trying to find this paper, which is apparently quite popular, because most places are sold out of it. I did find one store (and you know who you are, and I thank you!) which was willing to spare 3 sheets they were saving for an up-coming class, saving me from anxiety and more money spent on gas driving all over the place looking for this paper.

Once I had the paper cut to size, I inked the edges with "shabby shutters" distress ink, and then sewed around the edges. Now these pages look quite plain (it's truly amazing how much time it takes to create "plain" pages!), and I want that, because I have pre-made trip journals in the past, and have issues with picture placement interferring with embelishment placement. The only thing I am going to add is the date, and a title page, which I will show you later.

For now, here is a page:

More to come...

The Beginning - Creating the Covers

I am starting this blog to detail the progress of my "December Daily" book. I am not a regular blogger (thus the very plain looking blog!), I am not a designer for a paper, stamp or die company, I am not a teacher of scrapbooking or cardmaking. I am just a regular person, trying to make something pretty.



I have already begun my book, with the idea that I would USE WHAT I HAVE AT HOME. Besides being a regular person, I am one who enjoys collecting paper, stamps, embellishments, etc., always with the good intention of using them on an upcoming project (that more than likely remains in the "up-coming" stage indefinitely). So I thought this would be a great way to use up some the stuff I have been accumulating.



I had recently bought a Stampington magazine, Stampers Sampler, and saw a lovely idea for a mini album on the cover. I had some chipboard, some old sheet metal (that has been in my stash for about 10 years now) and an embossing folder that I could make do with. The album would have to be a 6" x 6", because I only had enough sheet metal for that size. I was actually going to USE WHAT I HAD! No trips out to the store to find just the right lace or emblishment, I sorted thru my stuff and found ribbon from an old project, lace from the sewing box, flowers and a metal frame that I had recently bought for other "up-coming" projects, and some Christmas chipboard pieces that I bought last year on a whim.

So here it is, The Cover -

To be continued...