December Daily 2015 │ Days 8 to 15

Well we successfully pulled off a pretty big surprise for my daughter. We flew her to Disneyland for 4 days to celebrate her birthday. My daughter has been reluctant to fly for the past five years and she recently started talking about flying again. After many conversations to gauge weather she was truly ready we decided to book the trip. The flight is only an hour so we thought even if it didn't go well, it would be quick. It ended up being a really amazing trip and she did so well that she is eager to take another flight. We are thrilled!

The flip side to travel in December is getting back and having so many days to catch up on. It was daunting to say the least but I sat down yesterday and today and got myself caught up.

Day 8

I didn't have a chance to work on this one before we left but I always try to get one good shot of our tree for the album. This was a quick and easy spread to put together just a photo and words. Which seems to be a theme this year. Simple. Simple. Simple.

Day 9

Its tradition that on my daughter's birthday I by her a big Mylar balloon but because we weren't going to be home on her birthday I did it a day early and made it part of the reveal that we were flying to Disneyland after school. I purchased the airplane balloon on line and had it filled at my local party store where I bought the giant number eight. As you can see I'm doing better about embracing her personality in the photos I snap and use. This one is so her and I love that.

I added in the envelope given to us at check in and adhered the baggage tags to the back side. The silver glitter alphas are from my stash and pretty old but I had all the right letters left, yay!

Day 10

I kept this super simple with just a few of my favorite photos from the day, my journaling is on the back of the pano pic of the tree. Thanks to a kind Disney photographer who took this one for me. He loved doing it and was very excited to see how it turned out.

We stayed at the Disneyland hotel this trip and the diamond postcard was in the desk for guests to send, I of course knew it would be perfect for this album.

They had some really fun and unique photo ops spread around both parks. This one for the Matterhorn was my favorite.

Day 11

Because it started on the right hand side I added in the transparency to help break up the days. As you can see above I added my number right on top of one of the circles on the transparency.

This elf was the cutest, her name was Cranberry.

We visited Santa and California Adventure and it was a brief visit but it was perfect and the message of what she wanted was delivered. Seeing Elsa and Anna was another highlight of the trip.

Day 12

Our last day in the park so just a few photos and some journaling about the last day. I was kind of disappointed in the holiday decorations this year. The castle is usually much more elaborately decorated but I think because its the 60th Anniversary the Diamond Celebration stuff is taking center stage instead. It was still lovely and the parades and fireworks were amazing, but to me it was just lacking the Christmas spirit I have seen and loved so much in the past.

Day 13

Our flight home and a simple picture and words about how well the flights went.

Day 14

Back home and back to school and boy was it cold. Well cold for us here in California.

I added in the screen grab of the weather I had snapped and it fit well on the back side of the tag.

Day 15

Our Christmas cards arrived right before we left so I didn't have time to send them out so I made sure to get them out yesterday.

Its become a thing for me to do something funny on the backside of our cards and this is what I did this year. I saw it on Pinterest so my friend who took our photos helped me make it happen. I created the text part of it myself in Photoshop Elements. It was super fun to work on for sure.

I'm so happy to be caught up again and hope that I don't have to work so hard and fast again this month. If you have any questions on what I used or anything else, please don't hesitate to ask below.

See you soon,

December Daily® 2015 │ Days 5, 6 & 7

I have some more pages to share today. I worked on these last night and I love how they came together. I wasn't sure I was going to use the 2" x 2" page protectors because I can never seem to make them work but I did this time and I love how they turned out.

Day 5

Here is another one of those days that actually happened in November but its part of the December Story so in it goes. I usually try to get this event the exterior lights and buying our tree in during the first week and as the project ramps up and I'm getting used to taking photos every day and making sure I have a story to tell, having these events in my back pocket to use really helps.

I bought this Santa Stops Here sign at Target this year and I knew it would be super fun to snap some photos with before it got hung up. As you will read below in my journaling it was a bit of an ah ha moment for me as far as how to approach and accept the changes in the dynamics of shooting photos of my daughter these days. She is growing up and is more eager to show her own personality in photos versus what I want her to do. A lesson that I am getting used to and learning to adapt to every day.

I sized the left hand photo of my husband and my daughter so that it would cover only two of the columns of the photos behind. I wanted some to peek thru but not all. The tab I used on this is from Ali's kit last year.

On the back was all of my journaling. I did end up purchasing the digital files of the paper and the cards for Ali's Main kit and used one of the papers for the background. I changed the opacity so the stars weren't too dark and also changed them to grey. The circle element on the top is from In A Creative Bubble I did recolor it and change the size.

I love these out takes and there were even more that I didn't use. They crack me up and I'm so glad that I have them and I know she will love looking at them in the years to come. I left one slot empty to add in my number and I like how that breaks it up a bit.

Day 6

It ended up working perfectly to have the back side of all of the 2" x 2" slots to hold lots of photos from our Gingerbread House day with friends. I kept is super simple and just added in a 6.5" x 4.25" photo on the right hand side and typed my journaling right on top. I added a little ribbon flag just because I thought it needed something three dimensional to keep it from looking too flat.

Here you can see the photos a bit better on a white background. I think they are getting a bit lost above when photographed in the album.

Day 7

I had the backside of the 6.5" x 4.25" photo to play with and because I had purchased the digital files of the cards and papers from Ali's main kit I was able to manipulate this card a bit to fit in my space. I just typed up the journaling below, leaving a bit of room for the tiny strip of washi tape. I stamped a sentiment from one of Ali's old December Daily stamp sets and added a tiny gold star to dress it up. I cut down my number to rest on top of the washi strip and I love how this turned out. The photo on the right is sized to 4" x 6" and I opted to leave it plain for now. I might add a tab once I know what is going on the back side.

I'm hoping I can get to today's story and get it posted but we have really big plans this coming weekend so there will be a delay in my posts. I'll be back soon to share those pages once I get them all done.

Have a great day!

Hero Arts Blog Hop │ My Monthly Hero Kit featuring Kelly Purkey

EDIT: Hi everyone, when this post and this kit went up for sale yesterday the Hero Arts website was blown up with eager customers. Because of that the site went down for a bit. The kits are still available and because of the issues yesterday Hero Arts is going to give away 3 of the My Monthly Hero Kits with the winners being selected from all of the blog hop comments. So make sure you leave comments below and on the other blogs for a chance to win. The contest closes Sunday, December 13th at 11:59 EST. You can read more on this post here.

Hello Everyone! I'm so excited to be participating in a blog hop today in celebration of the latest My Monthly Hero kit from Hero Arts. This kit was designed by Kelly Purkey and its a great kit for starting the coming New Year off right.

The full kit contains two 2.5" x 6" stamp sets, 3 mini neon ink daubers in pink, yellow & orange, 4 badges designed by Kelly, all packaged in Kelly's 4" x 6" wallet insert. The kit costs $29.99 and it is available right now today Monday, December 7th at Noon EST time on the Hero Arts site. You can find the kit right here and its only available for a short time and once they are gone, they are gone. I will tell you that they usually sell out very quickly so make sure you act fast. Here is a detailed shot of the main My Monthly Hero kit this month, I mean how cute are those little mini ink daubers! 

There is also an add-on 3" x 3" stamp set to purchase separately for $5.99 which is perfect for creating your monthly budget.

Because I love to set goals for myself, especially in the new year I made myself a little tracking sheet that I can insert in my planner or keep out on my desk so I see it every day. 

I started with a blank piece of 5.5" x 8.5" white paper, I like to use 32# paper when I make inserts for my planner. Its a lot thicker than standard copy paper and it holds up really well to daily use inside a planner. Because its a bit thicker ink doesn't bleed thru to the back side so you can easily make this double sided and still be fine.

One thing I like to do when I'm making something like this is adhere it down to my work surface so it doesn't move around. My work table has a mat on it that has measured 1/4" grid lines and I can use the grid lines to line everything up as I stamp. Keeping it secured down really makes sure everything stays true and square.

Once I had done that I just started at the top and worked my way down adding the stamps in as I went. I used the two stamps sets that come in the My Monthly Hero kit for this and only added in one other stamp set, Kelly's outline alpha stamp that was released awhile back. I used this to stamp the year. I added in a strip of washi tape to help separate the section and got to work stamping my check off circles.

I love this stamp and I love that the tiny days of the week fit inside perfectly. I used two shades of grey ink so that the circles were faint but the days of the week were a bit darker. When the time comes my plan is to use the ink daubers to mark off the days that I actually accomplished my goals. To eat healthy, to exercise, to craft and to have fun!

I added in the labels for each section and then had fun dressing up each section with some of the cute phrases. I loved that there are some really cute ones to compliment the goals. I think the Eat More Donuts is my fave.

At the bottom I added one last strip of washi tape stamped in one last sentiment and a few stamped stars. I can't wait to see all the circles fill in as the weeks progress and when its full I can just make another one and continue on my journey to meet my goals. 

I hope this gives you and idea of what you can do with these stamps, I for one cannot wait to see what the other amazing ladies have made so make sure you continue on the blog hop and see all of the other projects. Here is a list of all the blogs so you can check them out.

Hero Arts

Kelly Purkey

Krista Wells

Yana Smakula

Barbara Picinich ← this is me 

Suzanne Dahlberg

Libby Hickson

Remember that once these kits are gone, they are gone and will not be restocked so make sure you act quickly!

I'd like to thank the folks at Hero Arts for asking me to participate in another blog hop, it's always super fun to get to create something like this and working with this kit was no exception.

Thanks for stopping by!

December Daily® 2015 │ The Beginning

Its that time of year, December Daily® time! I'm a little late getting started this year because I was busy on a really big project that I'll share more about next week. That being said I didn't start any work on my album until December 3rd. I'm okay with that because for the last few years I haven't done any foundation pages in advance so I knew I would be okay but it just didn't feel right watching the days tick away and not working on this project. I sat down this past Thursday afternoon and made myself start. Its always super hard to start but by the time I had the second day done I was feeling the groove come back.

My plan this year is that I have no plan. How's that for a plan! I decided at the 11th hour to change albums. Not because I didn't love the sequin Kelly Purkey album that I had picked out but because I found a Gold Studio Calico album that I really loved too. I decided to save the sequin album for another project and went with the gold. I couldn't wait to get started decorating the cover, like I love to do but man did it prove to be difficult. The metallic gold is super metallic and nothing I put on the front looked right. In fact what I'm about to share as my title page was originally on the cover but it just didn't seem right. It seemed like too much and this year I wasn't feeling like 'too much' was the right path to take. So I think that this years album just might be my first where the cover remains plain. As the month progresses I might come up with an idea and if things change I'll be sure to share it.

Enter the title page, that really does look that much better on a white background than a shiny gold one.

The cut file is from the Silhouette store, you can find it here. It comes with two layers, one to bend up and one to lay flat. I did enlarge the outer edge of the file so that the branch would be a bit thicker, I felt it would need more stability. I opted to glitter the edges of the top leaves and just a few of the bottom leaves. I used Glossy Accents to apply the glue and the skinny applicator tip made it super easy to get a precise fine line. The glitter I used is Champagne from Recollections at Michaels. The banner is also a cut file from Silhouette, it comes in this set. I scanned an old alpha set that I have because I loved the font and then re-cut it on my cameo in the size I wanted from red paper from my stash. The rubber December Daily Banner came with Ali's main kit. The woodgrain cardstock that I used for the back and the wreath is one of my favorites. Studio Calico used to sell it and you can find it here and there but this is the exact paper if you are curious.

Here it is full size front facing as it looks in the album. I LOVE it!

I then set out to make Day 1 and let me tell you, total and utter creative block. It happens every time I work on this project. Its numbing sometimes coming up with just the right way to start. I guess I feel like whatever I do on day one is going to set the tone for the whole project and I really want to make sure its something that I love. I know that is me 100% over thinking it but it is what it is and I can't change it so I just embrace it and know that day one is going to take awhile. 

Day one has historically been about her Advent Calendar and it typically always includes some sort of letter from me to her. I kept the rest of the spread super simple, just two photos, a number, the letter and a filler card from In A Creative Bubble. The gold alpha is from my stash and its a Thicker but I don't know which one. The red stars are from last years main kit. I decided to make myself a set of numbers this year because I like a uniform number set in this album and I didn't really get one from the kits that was what I wanted. I used this cut file from Silhouette. I cut them from a gold foil cardstock from Michael's and added a backing of vellum cut a bit larger because I wanted them to be see thru but not totally transparent. They are about 2" in diameter and so far I love how they are looking.

Day 2 was all about getting our tree which actually happened in November. Like I've said over and over in these posts I don't care that it didn't happen on the 2nd its part of the story and that's all that matters to me.

It was a beautiful day when we went to get our tree and the minute we walked in to the lot Simone wanted to take some jumping pictures. They turned out super cute and paired with the Be Joyful rubber banner from Ali's Main Kit it was perfect. I kept the rest super simple adding in a journaling card that I made using a digital stamp from Studio Calico Wink Wink kits and two photos.

Day three is super simple, the last day of my Mom's visit and the picture I took of them turned out too cute not to use. I typed my journaling right on top of the photo before printing which is always my favorite thing to do. I loved the song lyric paper from Ali's main kit and while it references friends it still holds true for family so in it went. I loved how this sheet of paper from the Ashley Goldberg mini kit paired with it. I added a few simple stars and a stamp from an old Kelly Purkey set and called it done.

Day four was one that I was really looking forward to working on. I'm a huge fan so when I heard this Christmas Special was happening my calendar was marked for the release.

I opted to make it a single page but wanted to include lots of photos so I decided to just clip them all together and make it more interactive. The giant gold clip is from Pebbles and the photos are all still shots I found online for the special and one I took of my hot cocoa. I added a simple bow with some red and white twine to add some color and typed my journaling and printed it right on to a sheet from Ali's main kit. I forgot to leave room for the hole punches so one word got punched over. If I end up buying the digital version of the papers and cards I will probably redo this but if I don't it will stay as is. I cut down the transparency sheet mainly because the hole punches don't line up with the album I'm using and because I liked the look of it a bit more narrow.

In order to keep the clip in place when the photos are removed for flipping thru I cut a little slit in the paper to slip the back of the paper clip into. I then adhered this sheet of paper to the back side of the previous day making sure not to to put adhesive in this spot. Now the clip stays put and I just need to slip the photos back in.

Here are all of the images clipped into the clip. The one of the mug is mine the rest are from the show that I found online, printed for my personal use only and I don't claim at all that they are mine. But I love them and I loved the show so I wanted to include them.

So that brings me up to date, such a relief! I'll post more as I make them sometimes daily if I have time and sometimes in batches like this.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season!