My December Daily album

Hello to you today my fellow crafters!

I mentioned yesterday that I'd post my December Daily album.

I also mentioned yesterday that it took a lot of time to put together.

What I didn't mention yesterday was that I really enjoyed the time that it took. I watched Christmas movies, chooked around and enjoyed the quiet time it gave me in the busy season. That was kinda fun.

Here's the front cover. I did it last. I always do the covers last because they set the tone for the book. And if I haven't done the book, how do I know what the tone is?

Book first, find out tone.

Cover last, using found tone.

Does that make sense?

It comes from doing the cover first a few times and realising it didn't suit the book in the end. I would plan the book and then it would go in another direction.

The photo on the front is of my favourite ornament find of 2008. He's a cute Santa, don't you think? I hunt for an ornament or two each year, but there's no rule that I have to find one. I'm not into rules when things are supposed to be fun. Where's the fun in having to buy a new ornament each year?

This whole book evolved. I put the Santa on the front and then had to put something on the inside front cover to hide the adhesive because the front cover page is see-through. Had this tag on my desk - it got stuck on!

(Photo above is us in the movie theatre waiting for Australia to start. Have you ever taken a photo of yourself in the theatre? So funny. People look at you weird, but who cares? As a scrapbooker you just take your shot and don't worry about what people think. You do the same in Bunnings, in Woolworthes, in the shopping centre...)

To make the actual book - I grabbed all my Christmas papers (some old, some new) and started making pages of all different sizes.

12 x 12 folded in half was a popular option.

Any size was a popular option!

It's easy at this stage to make pages of any size. It's fun, and I liked doing it.

What made my book harder to work with was then I had to get the photos developed at different sizes. I really don't like the photo-developing part. Never have.

If I do a book this year, all photos will be 4 x 6, or 6 x 8. Large is good. Large I can handle.

Actually, that's a good idea. Decide on photo sizes then design the book to match them.

Ah, some of you will recognise that card. I sent them out as our personal card last year. And you can see the Christmas bunting hanging on the lights too.

See why the different sized pages can be fun? They peek out and you see different bits and pieces as you flip through the book.

I used a lot of acetate. Also a lot of music paper. I love music paper, it's one of my very favourites.

That music paper on the left is sandwiched between two pieces of acetate and then the corners are sewn using red thread.

Things you can include in the book:

Dates for each of the pages

(Making Memories brought out a piece of paper with the numbers 1 to 25 on it last year, so I used that)

Pockets

Acetate

Glitter

Tags

Journalling blocks

Papers with different edges like the label one and the scalloped one above

Different sized photos

Photos as the actual pages

Ribbon

Buttons

Ali uses envelopes

Another Ali idea - page protectors (see 4 x 6 page protector below)

Anything else you want to include! That's where the fun is, using stuff and making it up as you go.

We visited the night markets at Petrie one night. See that stand there at the bottom with the scrolly legs? Bought it for 10 bucks and was going to give it a fresh coat of paint...

Yeah, right. It's been painted a couple of times, but the project's stalled. Honestly, why do I do it to myself? 2009 has been the year for realising I'm done with furniture restoration. But I will finish it. I'll make myself do it - maybe this summer.

On Dec 22 we went to Southbank for dinner and then watched the fireworks. One of my favourite things about summer is the warmer nights where you can be out and about enjoying things like markets, fireworks etc. Nice.

We had a chat about the Christmas activities we wanted to do - different types of markets, fireworks, movie night, light spotting etc and then put all the activities in the diary. Worked really well actually. I'd do that again.

Here we are at the end. Ali goes to Dec 25, but I went to Dec 31. This was how we spent the day - at Sandgate with Rustee. It was so hot and muggy - wow.

(Some sad news - Rustee had to be put down last weekend at the age of 13. We're all very sad. She was such a good dog and lived a good life. She'll be remembered with a lot of love, that's for sure)

Lastly, the back page/cover. It's a pocket and inside are about three typed A4 pages of other things I wanted to mention about the season. There were lots of stories I wanted to write down, so they went here.

One story? My mum and sister-in-law came to do some Christmas crafting and it became very apparent that our Christmas music selection was very limited. Like, very. It became a bit funny like things do late at night... Later in the season Mum gave me some new music and we had a chuckle all over again.

So, that's it. That's my December Daily for 2008.

Will I do one for 2009? I'd like to...

What about you? Is it something you'd like to try?

Have a great day!

:o)