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!

Featuring Kelly Purkey │ November Release

Hello everyone, its been a super crazy month and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Kelly Purkey's latest release is live today! She has moved her shop to a new home you can find it right here. This is her first release in the new shop and I think you are going to love the shopping experience there. Plus because its Cyber Monday everything is on sale!

I've made two things so far with the new release and I want to share them with you. This first layout is something I always love to do at the end of each year and while going thru my photo stream looking for the best of the best photo wise I decided to focus on my favorite selfies.

I combined two new items for this layout, the Best of 2015 mini kit and the Greenpoint Alpha. I'm a huge fan of grid layouts and for this one I wasn't quite sure what size to make the photos so I just went with 1.25" square. I printed out about 60 photos and ended up using 40 of them. I also added in a few squares cut from the mini kit cards and added in as many stamps as I could. The title was made using the Greenpoint alpha and I just opted to leave it black. I love the graphic quality of this font and its so simple it will be a favorite for sure.

I raised up the squares I cut from the cards so it added a bit of dimension and just like that it was done. I hope you try making a layout like this. Its so much fun to look back at all the crazy selfies that you take and its super fun to get them all laid out on a layout.

My second project also featured a card and stamps from the Best of 2015 set and the Greenpoint Alpha

This was a super simple and relatively quick layout to put together. The most time consuming part was cropping and editing the photos so they would fit inside the stamped boxes on the card. I love how this looks and it gave me a chance to add in a few more photos to this layout.

Adding in more of the Greenpoint Alpha for the title work and a few pattern paper accents and it was done. This layout will slip right into my Project Life® album and it can even be paired with a pocket page for the last week of the season. I still haven't completed that yet but I love that this is already done for me.

There was one last stamp set this month, the Hot Mess set that I haven't had a chance to use yet but its so funny and so sassy that I cannot wait to use it with just the right photos.

Kelly has also added in some fun new washi tapes and travelers notebooks to the shop so make sure you check those out too. This one is my favorite.

I hope you enjoy these new releases and don't forget to update your bookmarks to Kelly's new shop address at kellypurkeyshop.com.

See you soon,

Course Contributor │ Elle's Studio

I'm so happy to share that I was asked to be a course contributor for Elle's Studio this month. Each Month Elle's Studio launches a special kit and there is an accompanying course sharing inspiration from three different ladies. This month Emily Spahn is sharing a scrapbook layout, Jennifer Ingle is sharing cards and I am sharing a Pocket Page spread.

Included with the course are 9 pages full of tips, techniques, and fun ideas using the November kit and coordinating extras, with projects highlighting concepts that can easily be transformed to fit any type of project you are working on! This class comes as a downloadable PDF file and will only be available until November 30th, 2015, so don’t miss it! 

I just loved working on this spread and as you can see below the kit is super, super cute and covers not just Christmas but Thanksgiving memories too.

There are some cute extra items as well

And some super cute printables and digital files that I used on my spread.

I can't share the spread that I made but I can share this little sneak peek of it. I will say that this spread is definitely at the top of my list of favorites that I have made this year.

I hope you check out the Course and thanks again to Elle's Studio for having me as a contributor. Working on these types of projects is always super fun for me and getting a chance to work with new and different products always gets my inspiration flowing.

See you soon,

Halloween 2015

Halloween was down right busy this year and I have so much to share! Plus I haven't shared this type of post in a really long time and I have actually really missed it. Lets start with the day before Halloween when Simone got busy carving her pumpkin. This year she was determined to do it all by herself and she did. She just needed a little help getting the guts out and cleaning up the cuts at the very end. Her pumpkin came out super cute and its so totally 2015.

Heart eyes all around for this kid and this pumpkin. I love it so much I wish we could save this.

The festivities continued that night with an adult only costume party at our friends house. Larry and I got the ideas for our costumes a few months back it just took a little time for me to find just the right one and and for him to find an authentic traditional outfit on eBay.

Ziggy Zaggy, Ziggy Zaggy, Oi Oi Oi! This ended up being a really fun couples costume and the bonus was I didn't have to wear a wig or alter myself too much.

Of course photo bomb!

The next morning is when things really got busy. Simone had a super early soccer game and then a birthday party to go to and then it was time for Trick or Treating. The great thing was this year she had a friend join us and it was such a blast for the girls.

Simone dressed up as Evie from the Descendants, I think she liked the blue clip in hair extensions the best.

Simone and her friend, two pretty Disney girls.

Larry did such a good job with the webbing again this year, and at the last minute he had me pick up these black spiders to hang up. It was just the right amount of decorations for us. Simple but festive.

Our neighbors however, do an amazing job of decorating and setting the scene at their house, its always amazing and so much fun to see. Darren always dresses up and he scared the beejezus out of the girls, but then gave them a ton of candy so it all worked out. We went back again when it was darker and the projections they have on the front of the house are the coolest thing I have ever seen. Their house was the best in our area for sure.

I couldn't wait to scrapbook the cute girls so I made this quick layout using the Be Scary Halloween Set from Color Cast Designs.  I just loved the black bats and love how they look layered on the black background.

The mirrored Oct 31st piece is just so cool, it really shines and sparkles off the page. The little veneer sayings were just the right touch to add to my little bit of journaling.

I hope you had a great Halloween too! We are already so excited for the holidays that are coming up. I'm sure I'll be back soon sharing more of that too.