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...