December Daily® 2016 │ Days 10 thru 13

Still cruising along with my album. My pace seems to be about every two days with making pages and that seems to be working for me. I have four days worth to share here so lets get too it.

Day 10

My daughters birthday is always a big deal and its an even bigger deal since its in December and gets to be included here every year.

Because the previous day was only one page I needed to separate the two spreads some way. I opted for using an old transparency that came in one of Ali's previous kits. It was either last year or the year prior I can't remember. I added in large silver numbers from Studio Calico and some old glitter foam thickers from American Crafts to decorate the front.

The blue thickers helped enhance the color of my daughters birthday balloon. I started leaving these balloons for her to find every morning since she was 6 and its become a fun tradition. I love that they now offer the blue since its her favorite color.

There are some more pictures and some journaling on the pages behind but I'm keeping that portion private.

Day 11

SANTA! I really wanted to find a more homey Santa experience this year and a friend suggested we hit up our local Historical Society. It ended up being lovely and the historical house they have decorated was really pretty. I'm so glad we did this and Simone's private visit with Santa was personal and special. He really spent a lot of time with her and with us visiting. I know she really appreciated it.

I added in some journaling cards from In A Creative Bubble to help tell the story. I love the red and green and how it works with my daughters coat.

This postcard is from Urbanic and I bought two at the beginning of the year. I added in some Ho Ho Ho washi that I bought from Michael's to help dress it up. The washi is a huge disappointment because it wasn't sticky at all. I had to apply adhesive to the back side so I hope it lasts, it may end up falling off which is too bad. I added in a tab at the top to help turn it.

My daughter wrote and left this letter for Santa but I snapped a pick before it hit the mailbox. It might be the only one she writes this year and I wanted to make sure to save it somehow. They even let me snap my own pictures with Santa for free which was really nice.

Days 12 and 13

I made simple half pages for these two days and love how the colors ended up tieing in nicely.

Ever since my daughter was small I started wrapping her gifts in special paper that is only for her. As she has gotten older she now picks the paper herself. We make a special trip for it and I always put a piece of the paper in the album. I love what she picked this year, its really pretty and it even has glitter on it! I made the photo into a Polaroid shape and added in a simple line of text and then stamped the date using Elle's Studio new date stamp. I really love this stamp set, its a must have for sure. I used Ali's new gold ink for the first time and love the color gold. It worked well stamped on photo paper but I did hit it with my heat gun for a bit to help it set down. I opted to put the backing with the wrapping paper inside the page protector and attach the photo outside of the page protector and used foam tape to lift it off. That added dimension really makes it pop and I love things outside of the protectors.

I knew I wanted to get a photo of the new wreath that hangs on our front door and wanted to make it something special instead of just a large photo or a square photo. I made the circular sheet with the attached tabs to add in to the album with my Silhouette Cameo. I also did a print and cut of my photo from my Cameo too. That way I knew it would be the perfect size and I can't be trusted to cut circles by hand.

I made a backing sheet to hold my journaling using a digital file from In A Creative Bubble. I then did another print and cut with my Cameo so it would line up perfectly.

I really love how this circle page looks in my album and if you are interested in making one yourself, you can download the cut file right here. Please make sure you share pictures with me and give credit if you use the file. Its for personal use only and should not be sold to or shared with anyone.

Today is wrapping day so I'll be back soon to share more.

Featuring Kelly Purkey │ November release

I cannot believe I almost forgot to share this layout that I made! I absolutely adored the Potterhead stamp set from Kelly Purkey's November release. It was perfectly timed since we had just got home from a trip to Universal Studios Hollywood. My daughter was in heaven and we spent the majoring of our time in this section of the park. It was simply magical and the frozen Butterbear was tasty!

Now I know that this stamp set is sold out but I did hear that Kelly is try to bring this one back soon if she can. No guarantees but watch her socials for updates. That being said, this layout can easily be adapted to use with any other stamp set that you love.

To make the layout I did a print and cut from my Silhouette Cameo to cut my photos into tag shapes. I grouped them and laid them out across my background making sure to leave room for some smaller tags from my stash to add in the stamps from the set. One thing you could do is leave one tag blank and type up your journaling if you wanted to add in more text. I'll probably slip this into an album paired with a pocket page of more pictures from the trip which is why I didn't add in a lot of journaling. I know it will be covered elsewhere.

Kelly also added this adorable Crafty Lady tote bag to her shop last month and its the perfect gift for all of your crafty friends. I know its on my wish list.

Kelly's next release is schedule for December 28th, Noon EST. Perfect timing to spend your holiday cash.

See you soon,

December Daily® 2016 │ Days 8 and 9

Loving the simplicity of these two days. I also really love the pop of pink that Day 8 added to my album. As you'll read in the journaling my daughter wanted a tree in her room and Grandma and Dad helped her make it happen while I was at an appointment.

Day 8

The photos my husband and my mom took were either square or horizontal which is not my normal picture taking routine so I had to make it work in a vertical space. Cropping this way and adding my journaling to the bottom white space is a easy work around. I added in some tiny silver stars from a past Studio Calico kit and called them done. I needed to fill the 6x4 slot and decided to make a card to hold journaling. I added in the white 8 from Ali's kit and it really pops against the pink. The pink Fa La La chipboard was from Kelly Purkey's 2015 mini kit and the rose gold label was from my stash.

Day 9

This page was a quick one to put together. We always hit See's candy for stocking stuffers so we popped in before it got too busy. The journaling card is from In A Creative Bubble, I modified it by using just the title portion for my needs and moving it to the bottom of the card. The base of my number slot is the bags that they give out for single pieces of candy. They are always happy to oblige with an extra bag when I ask. My photo was vertical so when I cropped it to 6 x 4 I lost a good portion of the background but I loved how the piece of candy was front and center. I added in a stamp from Kelly Purkey and a simple gold sequin star to finish it off.

My daughters birthday was yesterday so I know that that spread will take me a bit more time to work on. I'll be back soon with more to share.

Happy Sunday,

December Daily® 2016 │ Days 1 thru 7

One week plus into this project and I'm finally sitting down to share. Its been a crazy first week of December for me. My mom was here for a visit and that thru off my sharing game. We were just too busy for me to stop, make and share. I didn't make my day two pages until this past Tuesday so I'm playing a bit of catch up. I'm definitely totally okay with being a few days behind this year.

Day 1

Our elf returns on the first of December and I don't usually start my album with an Elf pic but I did this time because my photos of Simone with her advent calendar weren't that good I didn't want to make her redo them later. I blame the early morning light. The digitals here are all from In A Creative Bubble. The green stripe card is from Ali's main kit, the red number 1 is from Pink Paislee last year.

Day 2

 I have never been on a holiday home tour before and since this one was happening while my Mom was visiting I thought we should check it out. The weather was perfect to walk the neighborhood to see these six homes. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside which was a bummer but I snapped a few exteriors of the houses I really loved. The stamps I used here are from Kelly Purkey, specifically here Clearly Kelly holiday release. They are sold out on her site but you might still be able to find them out there. They are perfect for documenting holiday city adventures.

Day 3

This is probably my favorite day in my album all year. We always do a little photo shoot outside the day we hang our outdoor lights. This years came out so cute. The paddle sign is from the Target Dollar Spot and it says I've been naughty on the other side. The bring on the cheer digital is from Push Print Studio that I recolored to match. The text paper is from Ali's main kit, the green three is from Becky Higgins and the acrylic love is from Jasmine Jones' kit.

Day 4

This past year my daughter played on a competitive soccer team for the first time and the season ends early December. I was excited to have something new to add to the album and was equally excited to figure out how to fit in such a non holiday event. My solution make the large photo black and white and keep the rest of the spread black and white with some pops of red. The cards on the left are In A Creative Bubble. The joy background was created using a digital stamp from Kellie Stamps, the ribbon was from my stash and the red December sticker is from Studio Calico.

Day 5

We picked our tree in five minutes this year, we were not messing around. While it was being wrapped I snapped these quick shots and we were out of there. The digital stamp and journal card are from In A Creative Bubble. Are you sensing a pattern yet? Her stuff is AMAZING this year. I recolored a few bits to bring in some green.

Days 6 and 7

Our weather here in California is nothing more than cold and wet in December but we had two extreme days right in a row so I decided to make something of the two. Printing instax photos was something I wanted to do last year but never did. Vowing to pull out my printer more this year so I opted to use two here. The frosted acrylic alpha is from Heidi Swapp but was included in Kelly Purkey's kit this year. The number tags were from Ali's main kit last year. I backed them both with my journaling and added some silver embroidery floss which immediately separated the minute I cut it. The silver stars were from Ali's kit last year I believe. The ribbon was from her 2013 kit and that's the last bit of it, so sad, I loved it.

Well, that's as far as I've gotten so far. I'll be back to share more soon. I share as soon as I make over on my Instagram so follow me there for more immediate peeks. You can find me here.