It’s done! My December Daily is done! It’s huge, it won’t close but it’s done.  🙂  I wanted to get a video up to show you the album but encountered some technical difficulties … So, photos it is!

As I explained in my intro post, I decided to use a pocket style album this year. It did not make my album any smaller than last year, but oh well! This year, I did really well keeping up with the daily part, until I ran out of printer ink on December 17. I could very easily have gone to get more but things were getting busy, since we were leaving for two weeks on December 23. I decided to keep detailed notes in my phone about which pictures I would use for which day and what stories I would journal. This turned it into a sort of “we did this on this day” album, which is completely fine. I do wonder, looking back, how the journaling would have been different if I had taken the album with me.

I have a few thoughts about what I will do differently for next year’s DD, before I bombard you with photos:
1) Simplify: Choose one stand out photo per day.
2) Focus on the stories that matter but don’t panic if days are simple.
3) Don’t order a ton of supplies. (This year worked out well supply wise, I have about four sheets of 6×6 paper, some journaling cards and stickers leftover.)
4) Relax! It always gets done before Valentine’s Day. (And, so what if it doesn’t?!)

Because I painted the album with black chalkboard paint, and the Simple Stories collection I used almost exclusively had chalk accents, I used plenty of black throughout. I used black tags to add small photos, repeated one of my favourite papers and inked the edges of layered papers. I added sheets of vellum, just to brighten things up and used the chipboard dividers to mark the beginning of the month, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

Here are some peeks of my pages:
(Yes, the pages are in the album in these photos; if you knew how full this album is and much work it was to squash the pages in and close the rings, you would understand.  ;))

Supplies include: Simple Stories album, page protectors, 6×6 paper pad, SN@P cards, SN@P pages, SN@P cuts, stickers, 12×12 paper, Elle’s Studio and Stampin’ Up! vellum, Little Yellow Bicycle paper, Prima chalk ink, Studio Calico digital files, Fancy Pants Designs buttons, label stickers and tape stickers, Recollections badges, Celebrate It burlap from Michaels, 30 Handmade Days printable, We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile, Martha Stewart crafts chalboard paint, Liquitex Basics gesso

Let me know where you are at with your DD. Done? Not done? Over it? Not sure? I’d love to know!