I've long been enamored with the idea of completing a December Daily, but I've never actually had things together enough to participate in the project. The closest I came was when I did Capture the Season at Simple Scrapper; here's an overview of my layouts.
After looking back through those layouts, I was inspired to give it another shot this year. Rather than completing a layout a day, I wanted something that would be more of a general overview of our annual holiday traditions. This way, I would be able to look back over the past 15 years with the girls and talk about how our traditions have evolved as our family has changed and grown, as well as reflect back on my own childhood holiday traditions.
DIGITAL SUPPLIES: I've selected Tiffany Tillman's Elegant Christmas templates for the foundation of my album. I love the ease of using templates, and this set gives me plenty of room to feature large photos, lengthy blocks of text, and simple accents -- all design details that I want to feature in my album. Using templates also allows me to vary the length of each entry; for days that require lots of photos (decorating our Christmas tree, opening gifts on Christmas morning) I can use additional pages with minimal fuss.
I've also selected Karla Dudley's Cheers digital scrapbook collection. I love the subtle color scheme and the variety of brushes and elements that come with this kit. Everything is designed for a more streamlined, graphic, modern take on the Christmas holidays.
PROJECT DESIGN: I decided early on that the easiest way for me to complete this album would be to make a list. Lists are my go-to method -- for brainstorming, for remembering, even for journaling. So I created a list (see below) of the traditions and concepts that I wanted to make sure to include in my album. Some of these things are connected to specific items in my calendar/planner. Others will just be general topics that, simply through the act of writing them down, will be in the back of my mind as I have my camera out through the month, so I'll remember to get shots of them then.
- Dickens Alley (a recreation of an authentic English alley at Christmas, held in downtown Murray)
- the Murray Christmas parade
- the Parade of Lights in Central Park and Mike Miller Park
- the lights at Opryland Hotel
- decorating the Christmas tree
- holiday baking
- winter weather
- Christmas Eve at my sister's house
- Christmas morning at our house
- preparing Christmas dinner
- Christmas celebration at Chris's parents house
- Christmas movies/television/music
- Christmas Eve girls' pajamas
- spending time with Christmas cousins
The plan is to have these pages all bound into a Shutterfly book, unless I find a great Christmas themed binder that I really like. I'm probably going to condense the templates down to 8.5x11 pages, but I won't make that decision until I actually start playing around with the design.
I'm excited to see how this turns out, and I'm really enjoying all the glimpses of December Daily that I've seen on blogs, galleries, and Pinterest. Here's to documenting your holiday season, in any format!
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