December Daily 2013...hello AND goodbye!

It occurred to me recently that I didn't really mention here on my blog that I completed a December Daily for 2013...much less showed any photos! How slack is that!

Each year that I've been doing Project Life, I question the need for making a December Daily album. After all, how much documentation does one need? Each year, however, my elder daughter convinces me that I should do it...she's very persuasive :)

I decided to change to pocket style scrapbooking and a ready made album for 2013, as it gave me a good excuse to buy a Simple Stories mini album (wink) and also some Christmas themed Project Life-style goodies... aannnnndd I was also aiming for a quick and simple solution ;)

I spent a bit too long on my title page, but loved how it turned out.

I mostly stuck with elements from December Documented by Simple Stories, and some of the Becky Higgins PL Merry and Bright mini kit, with a few extra embellishments along the way.

Wood veneer bits and pieces from Studio Calico added some extra dimension to the plain journal cards, and I scattered them throughout the album.

On the spur of the moment, I ordered a DD mini kit from Polkadot Creative, mainly for this cute little Christmas confetti pocket ;) I stapled it straight into a pocket, and embellished with a clear word from Heidi Swapp's Believe Collection (leftovers from the class I went to in November)

I covered the back-to-front letters on the reverse side with another Heidi Swapp leftover, this time a banner.

Of course, once I started with the Heidi Swapp goodies, I couldn't resist adding more and more :) LOVE these enamel stickers!

I wanted to include a couple of larger photos, and managed to achieve a fairly good quality enlargement from my iPhone photos of Christmas lights...surprising, but great! I added a couple of stickers to jazz them up a bit.

Each year I've done A December Daily album (which is quite a few now!) I include a pocket at the back for my Christmas cards that I received. I've never liked throwing out Christmas cards, but even more so now that they are becoming smaller and smaller in number. Not many people send them these days, and it is SO nice to find them in my letterbox in the weeks leading up to the big day!

Anyhoo...I didn't have any of the correct sized plastic pockets left for the Christmas cards, so cut down a larger one, taped it all together with some festive washi tape, and stapled on top for added strength. It's holding together very well so far.

So there you have it...a little sneak peek of my December Daily for 2013. The stickers on the front of the album are more Heidi Swapp...we received SO many goodies in that class, I will be using them up forever I think :)

I probably should admit that I didn't keep up with it AT ALL well in those busy weeks before Christmas, but managed to pull it all together before the start of 2014 (only just though!). The pocket page format made it very achievable, and I would definitely consider doing that again...especially if there are cute new albums to be bought ;)

Thanks for hanging in till the end!

TTFN xxx