The Picinic Basket: December Daily® 2017 │ Days 20 to 25 and the end

I'm back to share the last of the pictures of my 2017 album. This album as always was a total joy to work on. I enjoy the process so much and love the finished albums. One thing I felt like I was super conscious about this year was coming up with new ways to document the stories in this album. Seeing as this was my 9th album, I really didn't want to repeat myself too much so coming up with new and fun ways to document the season was something that was always on my mind. Because I also do pocket page projects throughout the year I find that when its time for this project I want to use the actual pockets less and less. That's one of the reasons there are so few pockets in this album. I find that irregular shapes definitely helps keep it fresh for me. I did managed to add in a few new stories this year and that made it super fun for me too. I was also thinking it may be time for me to switch up sizes. I've done 6x8 for so many years now that this may have also helped fuel my "I'm in a rut" feelings as I was creating. Its a decision that can wait for now but its definitely something to really think about for next year. Enough about that, lets get to the photos.

Day 20 was one of my favorite festive days this whole season. It had two distinct stories and I didn't want to choose between the two so I decided to tell both. That meant I would need more room so I created another one of my fold out envelopes. I used the same method that I shared in this post to create the base. I used some Kelly Purkey papers to line the outside of the envelope and left the inside white.

The large black chipboard numbers from Ali were so great this year. The size and the impact of the black is exactly my design choice so they fit in so well. I'm kicking myself for not getting two sets. I really hope she brings them back next year.

Inside the envelope I typed up the story of both events and attached it to the inside. The word art is from In A Creative Bubble. Its one of her 3x8 cards I just made it small to fit the space. I got asked a lot about this font when I posted my photos and its called Marista is you are curious. When I got it, it was the only script typewriter font I could find but now I see there are a few more available when searching online. I really love this one though, and I use it a lot. There is also a paid version that includes an italic version that is really nice too.

On the right side is the pocket and it houses all of the images from the two events. I printed four from each and could have stuck them back to back, but I had the space so I left them separate. I added in a rubber banner and a gold star to dress up the pocket. I adore how this turned out and if you have never thrown a holiday party for your friends and made a hot cocoa bar, it was so much fun and I'll do it again next year for sure.

Day 21 was the story of a new pillow I found in the Target Dollar Spot. The idea of believing in the magic of Christmas is something I hold dear so when I saw the pillow I knew I needed it. My mom added the white pom poms to the corners for me and it was exactly what it needed to make it more festive. The magical card on the left was from a planner addon from Studio Calico and I loved it. I bought it during one of their sales specifically because I wanted to use that in my album.

I don't remember where that fa la la transparency came from but its not from this year. Maybe one of Ali's past kits? I added in some word strips from Tim Holtz and one of Kelly's letterpress tags on top of one of Jamaica's kit cards. I really loved her square color block cards.

I tend to to these kinds of transparency pages when I need more room to add in a story, but I love the look of the clear pages laying on top of photos. The journaling card is from In A Creative Bubble and I used it mainly because it had a check box for Believing. Love.

The chipboard Daily Life was from last year I think.

Day 22 was the day we built our Starbucks gingerbread houses with our friends. We did it last year and it was so fun and we were so happy to see they made them again this year. This years design was super cute and the girls loved putting them together.

On the right side I printed out a photo of the box and used it as a base page and clipped the story and a few more photos to the edge. The sticker on the journaling card came from Starbucks this year. I loved the graphic of that sticker. Clipping photos to the edges of pages was definitely a favorite element for me this year.

What I typically do is glue the clip in between the back to back pages so they don't slip out. That helps keep them in place and also keeps the clip from showing on whatever story is on the backside. You'll notice below that you can't see the clip on the other side.

Day 23 was a tradition story that seems to go in each year. The journaling card is from In A Creative Bubble enlarged to fit the space which also allowed for more story. The chipboard piece is from Tim Holtz.

Day 24 we ended up spending Christmas Eve with our friends making cookies and having dinner out. It was a super fun time and I loved spending it with them. I used a sheet of paper from Kelly's kit to add in my journaling in list form. It was a fun way to do it and kept it fresh. I also liked that it had a big impact since my pockets were all filled with photos except for the one slot. The chipboard piece was from the Paislee Press mini kit. She had a few pieces that I really wanted to use so I made sure to find space in the last two days.

I cut down a four pocket page to get some more slots and it was just the right amount of space. I added in a tab and used two of the Tim Holtz word strips inside.

Day 25, the big day! Over the past few years I've used the same template on the 25th in order to fit in all of the photos I wanted to use. This year I had it all set up and printed and just couldn't do it. I needed something different so I sat on it for awhile, digging thru my supplies for something to jump out at me. This other Rifle Paper Co. card jumped out at me. I loved the colors of the card and it worked so well with the pink and green and it fit right in with the colors this year. I decided to make it a little book to hold the photos and words from the day and loved how it turned out.

I also always get asked about these little tabs, they are from Basic Grey, they were called Attache Me stickers and they are discontinued. But, you can still find some for sale online if you do a search.

For the inside of the booklet I used thick vellum for my pages, its 35# and its the perfect thickness while still allowing for stuff to show thru. I used a journaling card from In A Creative Bubble but I modified the color so it was more of a army green than the Evergreen her original design had. I used two cards to hold the story and placed them back to back on the front page.

I used the same card as my title page and paired it with a card from Studio Calico. I loved the pink! I also used one of the rubber pieces from the Paislee Press mini kit that I hadn't used. Since it was dated I had to get it in the album somewhere so in it went.

I love that you can see the back of the Studio Calico card thru the vellum and used it as base for a simple die cut that was from Heidi Swapp as I recall. I did end up using the collage I had made, I just shrunk it down to fit inside my little booklet. I love how this turned out!

At then end of the album I like to share photos of what our Elf does each season and its always fun to come up with fun ways to share the photos. This year I made a waterfall page to house all of the photos. I did dress up the back of the Rifle card with a tree from Push Print Studios. I thought the colors paired well. The card on the right was from Studio Calico this year. I knew I would use the card here because our Elf's name is Twinkle.

The waterfall was pretty easy to create I first came up with the size of my photos which was 5" x 3" and laid out a template in Photoshop Elements. I cut 5" x 3/4" strips of card stock and scored them 1/4" from the edge. I attached the photos on that 1/4" edge so that they were right up against the fold. I then used the remaining 1/2" of paper to attach it to the backing page of cardstock one of top of the other. This allowed the photos to be bent up as you flip thru.

One the inside of the front flap I typed up some journaling. I also used the little black tab numbers from Jamaica's kit to label the day of each photo. I shared a complete flip thru of all of the photos on my Insta Story and have it saved in my profile if you want to see it you can find me here. I'll also do a complete flip thru when I film the video walk thru.

On the inside back cover of the album I attached the gold envelope that came with the card I used on the 25th. Inside I added in the notes that Twinkle left for my daughter along with the Christmas letter we never got around to mailing to Santa.