i make things

DECEMBER DAILY: 2015: DEC DAY 19 - 25

Christmas season is 2 months away. I'm starting to get ramped up for the holidays already...so I thought I'd post some pictures of my 2015 December Daily Album that I neglected to post last year. Whoops. I try to scrap during the season but there always seems to be so much going on that I fall off the wagon. I end up doing it later in the year or right before the next season, which is what happened with 2015.

I hope you enjoy. I also will post a video walk-through as well. If you have any questions on what product I'm using or how I did something please leave comments and I'd be happy to answer them or even post tutorials if there is enough interest.

Enjoy!

 

Yeah...I went overboard, didn't I? I had so many stories to tell and so many pictures that I just couldn't leave out.

Day 19: Gift: This Story

I did a pop-up so I could get the story told and be able to put in the pictures I wanted to.

I wasn't sure how I was going that tann-ish, brown colored cardstock and pink deer antlers but heck yeah I found a way! OHHHH YEAH!!! I get the cheapest thrill out of that.

Day 20: STAR WARS!!!!!

I knew I had to do this page. Totally not December-related but it had to be told. I also knew I had to use black, stars and silver, just cuz, you know that to me says Star Wars.

I used Ali's two different star papers as backgrounds and used my silhouette to cut the angled Star Wars title out of black cardstock. (Star jedi font from dafont.com) I also used silver stickles on the 20 to make it super glittery.

Day 21: Cookies!!!!!!! All about cookies! Several pages in fact, all about cookies. I gotta say I couldn't just do a page on this. I probably spent a good full week just on making desserts, treats and cookies for Christmas so I went all out on this days pictures and journalling.

I added one of Ali's tags to use for the date. When you turn it I used some patterned paper from the kit to make a pocket to hold my 3x4 journaling card.

I used one of the packages from an Ali Edwards Story Kit to house the details of my cookie making exploits including costs, schedule, what cookies I was making, ingredients, etc. Figured later on in life that would be interesting to see.

Turn the page and you get even more pictures of cookies and desserts and a 3x8 page protector with journalling.

I used a png file from Ali to make the Cookie Boxes circle. I used my silhouette to print and cut on the dotted background patterned paper.

The picture on the right is of the cookies boxes that I made and distributed. I made so many cookies that I decided to make cookies boxes and sell them only to recoup some of the costs involved in making that many cookies. Turns out I recouped some of those costs but not all. It was fun. I didn't have to try very hard to sell boxes either. People at work, friends and family bought them. I was kind of in shock.

Day 22: Presents

I made this 2-page spread where the top picture flows across one page onto another. I believe the size I printed was 12x6. I wrote my journaling in the black space on each side which was actually my black pants.

On the bottom two pictures I converted them to black and white then erased that b&w from specific pieces of those pictures like my red shoes, the presents we were wrapping. I did that because the coloring on the pictures wasn't that good and I didn't want them to overshadow everything else.

I had a lot of fun with this page. It took some extra work because at first I wasn't sure what I wanted or how to use those pictures together but eventually it worked out and this page is one of my favorites.

Day 23: Learning how to make a traditional Czech dessert: Rohlicky.

An experience that I will never forget and ended up repeating the next year. I love learning new recipes, especially one that is a family recipe and something I learn from my Aunt.

This layout is different than a normal layout. I have the main front page but then in between this and the last page is a small file folder book I made to feature the details and give me the ability to have several pictures in the album. I admit I went a little crazy but I just couldn't not go overboard on something this special.

The file folder album was created using my silhouette.

This is an Ali Edwards psd file that I converted to fit my rohlicky making efforts.

Day 24: Part 1: Cookies.

Um...if you've been following I already have a day or two about cookies. So yeah, I love cookies and I scrap about them A LOT! but, well, I have no excuse...I did more than one page about cookies. Hope you like. :)

In order to get more pictures in Day 24: Cookies I used a couple flip pockets. I kinda like using them. They don't add too much bulk but you get more pics in. Not to mention it's fun to add an interactive element. I feel like when I have that in my albums, other people seem to slow down and really read the pages instead of just breezing through the album.

Day 24: Part 2: Christmas Eve

In order to get all of the pictures of Christmas Eve with my extended family I knew I had to get creative and do something different. I was watching a class of Ali's and saw her do this fold-out and thought, oh yeah, that's what I'm going to do. I LOVE how it turned out and I so have to do it again.

Day 25: Christmas Day!

I used Typewriter Font to put my journaling on the 4x6 card. I measured the borders of that card and set up a canvas in photoshop elements with those borders and typed my journaling inside that box then printed it out.

 

I wanted to put at least one picture of each of my family members and this is how I accomplished it. I created a canvas in photoshop and added 3x2 pictures to it.

On my canvas I added this small title using a paislee press digital kit and Ali's puffy heart stickers from a previous DD kit.

Day 25: Part 2: Joy: Present Opening

I love this spread. It was so much fun to do. I got the idea when I was looking through present opening pictures trying to figure out how on earth I was going to cull out the pictures and find just a few for my album. After perusing through the pics and constantly seeing pictures of joy I thought, "Hey, I'll just do some 2x2's and then journal on the opposite page.  This is probably one of my favorite pages.

Day 25: Christmas Day: Part 2

Nothing special here because I just wanted to put some pictures in and be done with my album.

 

 

 

December Daily 2015: (Nov) Day 27-Day 30 and (Dec) Day 1 - Day 18

It's almost the Christmas season! aaaaand I'm just working on finishing up last year's December Daily. You know...I don't care so much. As long as I get it done I'm happy. So instead of posting 18 posts for 18 days I'm doing a 1-18 post. As these pictures are posting I'm working on the second half of the album. In year's past I only had one album but it ends up being so big and thick that I need two. I could probably condense down but I honestly don't want to. I tell the stories that need to be told and occasionally I use more than one picture. p.s. I'm from a HUGE family so it's hard not to keep it to one picture.

For my December Daily I use Ali Edwards' 2014 and 2015 kits as well as some of my own stash. If you'd like to know about something specific please let me know and I'll post a link to the product.

Here's my album: part 1: I believe this design is by Jasmine Jones.

Cover page with gold embossed wooden numbers, large red chipboard and a rubber banner. This was so easy and simple and it makes a splash.

My Reason why: Ali does something like this every year and I never wrote an intention before but I kind of like it. It sets the tone for the season. It reminds me of what I want to get out of of Christmas. It makes me remember what's important.

Close up of each page:

Second page of the layout. I got to have some fun with product! Oh do I love to play with product and these small 2" square page protectors are perfect for it. Just enough to highlight embellishments without going overboard.

Day 1 which technically for me is Day 27. I decided to start in November with my December Daily because really for me that's when it starts. Right after Thanksgiving. This is the first year I've done it this way and I think I'm going to continue that tradition. Why not right?

Day 1: Black Friday Shopping!

This actually isn't in a page protector. It's a fold out spread I created using a couple sheets of paper. It's a flip up, so grab the bottom and lift up. Inside I have some spending on Christmas. I'm not going to post that picture but I thought you'd like to see the cover.

On the inside top cover I put my journalling and below the stores I shopped at, how much I spent and brief description of what I bought. I thought it would be interesting to see that information 20 years down the road.

Shopping with the sisters. Always fun and crazy. I bought an Instax today so these pics are the first ones. I had fun playing with it during the day.

Day 28 (Nov): Cutting down my Tree! Woohoo! my favorite and a family tradition. The left-hand page I cut out with my Silhouette. The cut file was a freebie. I can't remember whose blog I downloaded it from. If I remember I'll add a link. I loved that cut file because I felt like it was the perfect symbolization of picking out a tree. There are all these options you just have to find the right one.

The picture on the bottom is not in a page protector. I just added it directly to the album with a tab for easy flipping.

Day 29 (Nov)

The first full year having my homemade quilted tree skirt. I love it so much. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Day 30 (Nov): New Ornament. I like to document the new ornaments that I have for the tree each year.

The ornament on the left was cut out using my silhouette. I just love that green plaid paper. If feels very cozy and representative of the season and the northwoods where I live.

Day 1 of December! - December doesn't seem like December unless it snows and there is a fresh coat of snow on the ground. We were lucky this year and a nice storm fairly quickly.

The #1 is adhered to a transparency that has white dots that look like snow. It's beautiful and makes my picture look like it's snowing. It actually was snowing but it wasn't big flakes so it's hard to capture on film.

Day 2: Twinkle lights! I absolutely love twinkle lights. I love trees that have lights on each and every branch. It's magical.

Day 3: Cookies. mmm.... I only did a one-pager here because, let's face it, I only needed one page. I like doing a mixture of larger layouts and smaller ones. I also like doing a mixture of handwriting and computer fonts just to mix it up. Usually if I am writing something longer or more complex I'll use the computer so I can refine it and get more of the story out.

Day 4: Hometown Holidays

I took this picture at night which is always difficult and then made it more sepia to fit the old-fashioned feeling of the Village of Yesteryear. It seemed appropriate.

Day 5: My nephew had a sleepover at my house so this was all about getting to spend some time with him. It wasn't necessarily about the holiday season but more about some time with my nephew.

Day 6: Movies. Christmas Movie Marathon to be exact. It's a tradition my family started several years ago. We all gather together on a Saturday and start at 8 or 9 in the morning and watch Christmas movies all day long. We make breakfast, go grab lunch and order in dinner. Sometimes we pick by drawing a movie out of a pillowcase and sometimes each person gets to pick. It usually will go in the order they got the the house. (usually Kimmie's house). It's a fun day. Usually people come and go. Some are diehards and stay all day. I myself usually try and bring my Christmas card supplies so I can make them while I watch movies.

I used my sewing machine to stitch on the glittery letters. They never seem to stay on very well but I love the look of them.

I wanted to put in a lot of pictures so I used the 2" square page protector so I could get more in.

Day 7: Pinochle Night.

Pinochle is a card game I learned when I was young and have continued to play since I was 10. I used to play with my grandparents and my great-grandparents and now I play with my aunts, my cousins and my sister.

Day 8: a Motley Crue Christmas. LOL okay not really but since the concert was in the middle of December I HAD TO put this in even though it isn't Christmas-y.

I added another flip out page on the bottom because I wanted to add more pictures.

I made the Motley Crue card using some really cool thick red paper that's glittery without the glitter getting all over. It's like it has a coating on it. It's awesome for people like me who love the look of glitter but hate using it because it gets everywhere. No matter how hard you try to stay clean. I used a plastic star with bokeh on it in the background, used an Ali Edwards circle star stamp around it and then used some black letter stickers. I also added a star stamp border. It was fun creating this. I used stars throughout the layouts with paper that had stars, I stamped stars on the Number 8, I embossed a red star on the piece of cardstock. Basically I was star happy!

aww me and my Bruce.

Day 9: Just a day in the life of me and my boyfriend. This layout was tricky for me because I had never used Instax images on a page before. So finding the right way to put them on the page so they didn't look like they were just floating on the page was tricky but I eventually

Day 10:  Winter Walk in Northfield, MN - this has turned into a tradition with a friend of mine. We go every year. It's a nostalgic and beautiful downtown area that definitely exudes the Christmas spirit. I chose pink because it's my friend's favorite color and it seemed appropriate for the layout.

I oftentimes will turn "busy" or lower quality photographs into black and whites. I think it's less distracting and especially with buildings it gives a nice sophistication to it. Plus I won't overwhelm the page with too much color meaning a lot of color in the photograph and a lot in the paper and embellishments.

I used some colored tree plastic embellishments. Not that easy to see but you can tell they are there and they don't distract from the picture they only enhance it.

Day 11: Christmas Cards. I like to do a layout about my Christmas cards. Cards I make. Cards I receive. Stuff like that. I think it's fun to see what it is that I made that year. I change it up each year. sometimes they are more complex and sometimes not. Just depends on my time constraints and how motivated I am.

I made an envelope in my silhouette that I could add in to the page that would contain my Christmas card list. I have never added that before but I thought that I should because it changes every year. A lot of times I'll add new people to it and take off old ones too. I rarely take off but that's the truth.

This is my favorite Christmas card that my mom sent out. She likes to get a picture of our entire family each year to send out on a card. I absolutely love this picture. We took it on thanksgiving. It was snowing outside. People were a bit cranky about having to go outside but I think it's one of the best one's we've done.

The top picture is of all of the cards I made for the year. I usually do 5 to 6 different designs and I create 10-15 cards per design. For me I don't like to do a mass production of cards. Doing about 10 is about enough for me. It's fun to try different techniques and create different types for different people/groups that I send to.

Day 12: DUV which means Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War but I shorten it so it'll fit on this page.

My cute little nephew that I got to cuddle with for a bit.

Loved pairing the black and white colors with gold. I had never done that before but it was fun and very classy.

Day 13: One pager about me and Bruce and our weekend breakfast tradition.

Day 14:

My friend Lynn doesn't like her picture taken so I blurred her slightly so you can't see her. Plus I didn't get her permission. :)

I love this page. It's so simple but fun. All about making cookies and friendship. It doesn't get better than that at Christmas.

Day 15: Cookie Breath!

oh it's a thing. My boyfriend was teasing me and said I had cookie breath after kissing me. It was hilarious. It cracked me up so I HAD TO do a page on that one. Another cookie page. I think I have about 4 cookie pages maybe more?

Day 16: Ugly Sweater Contest at work. Super fun and an awesome way to use that sweater paper.

Day 17:

Christmas music - concentration on a certain song. One of my absolute favorites and what it means to me. I had considered doing a layout about what new songs I added to my itunes account but ended up going with a concentration on a specific song. I can always write in my new tunes next year.

I put the lyrics to the song in a 3x8 page protector. I like doing those smaller protectors because I think they add an interesting size and they are fun to work with.

I loved using the triangle sideways to get the "play" symbol similar to what you would see on your ipod.

Day 18: Work Christmas Party

Loving the teal mixed with silver glittery embellishments. So fun and festive!

Okay that's about it for now. I'm working on the rest of my album and will post it once I get it done which I"m hoping is soon. :) Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

 

Dec Daily: 2015: Cover & Reason Why

HI!!!! I'm baaaack!

I have a quick post of my December Daily cover and reason page.

If you've never heard of December Daily then you're probably not alone. It was started by the incredible Ali Edwards. The gist of it is you record what's happening in December each day. A very quick and easy layout about the day. It can be holiday related or just about life in general during December or your life at that point.

The big deal about it is you record your life. It doesn't have to be fancy and it doesn't have to take hours. You just have to record it. So...just do it. Grab an album, some holiday themed papers and embellishments and some pictures and go to town.

Write down your stories. Don't be afraid. Just do it. Don't worry that it isn't enough. Just you writing it down is enough. In 10 years nobody is going to care if you used this cute embellishment or that. They'll be excited there is a picture and a story.

So do it. Document your December. :)

Yes...I'm being my bossy Type A self. Sorry...well, no, I'm not sorry. Not sorry for trying to encourage you to write down your history. I can't be sorry about that. I can be sorry about being bossy. It's the passion for my hobby that makes me this bossy. :)

Anywho, here we go! I'll try and post everyday but I can't promise this. As all of you know December is busy and sometimes I just won't be able to get to it but I can promise to post as often as I can. :)

Here is my front page!

I love it. It's bold and simple. My fav. I perused a lot of pinterest pages and facebook posts for inspiration and this is the result.

I picked a word that I wanted to focus on during December. JOY. Joy of the season. Joy on the faces of my loved ones. Joy. Joy. Joy. 

I can't speak for everyone but I know that the holidays can bring upon a lot of stress. I know it can for me. I want to make sure that I focus on the happiness of the season not all the running around.

For this page I used Ali's basic December Daily Kit from 2015 (joy, & rubber sign) and 2014(2015 wood #s) and paper from the One Little Bird add-on kit. I also stamped and embossed some white stars using a couple of her kits. I'm loving the gold I decided to add to the wood numbers (2014 kit).

Next up "my reason why"

I got some inspiration from a pinterest post. I wish I could remember who it was but I loved her approach and mirrored by page to hers.

Note: It's okay to take inspiration from others or to even flat out copy what they did (unless you are making money from your creations, then it's not okay, that's plagarism). Using inspiration can save you time. You don't have to think up the entire concept. You can take something existing and work with it.

Supplies:

• Paper - DD Kit (Jasmine Jones)
• White Cardstock
• Remington Noiseless font
• my reason why - png file from Ali Edwards
• Wood star - One Little Bird DD add-on kit
• Red puffy heart - 2014 DD Kit - Ali

I hope you like the start to my album.

If you'd like to check out last year's posts click here: December Daily

Have a great day!

 

December Daily | Day 25 | Xmas DAY

All about Day 25.

An entire 6x8 just about Day 25.

Loved this huge 25. I used Remington Noiseless font (a typewriter font)

On the first page I wanted to concentrate just on me. That might sound a little selfish but I honestly don't have many pictures with me in it. I've been doing my darndest to remedy that going forward.

So the first page was about me.

The two embellished 3x4 cards. I used a couple different christmas kits from the one on the left. The one on the right is almost entirely using Ali's December Daily kit...with the exception of the "Santa".

Spread 2 is all about my family. I tried to get every single one of them on there. I don't want to leave anyone out.

I love the left side. Doing 2x3 pictures in a row and adding a couple journalling blocks seemed to work just fine.

I took a page out of Ali's book and cut out part of the left-hand side of the block to add an embellishment. Although I didn't quite use a big enough circle so I improvised and just put the heart on part of the circle.

The kiddos. Had to have one of the kiddos in their Christmas pj's. Notice how 4 of them are matching? Yep, those were presents from Grandma.

Left to right: Jacob (who for some reason DOES NOT want his picture taken lately, the little turd. I tried bribing him with ice cream but that didn't work.), Lucas, Grace, Korby, Clara, Jack and Ashton.

I HAD TO use the large gold letters and what better way than to plaster LOVE on the last day of the year because it really isn't about the presents but about getting together. The love we share for one another.

Last page all about winding it down, doing a huge puzzle together and peace and quiet afterwards.

Thanks for reading this post. Please check the navigation bar above for more posts on December Daily or other crafts you might be interested.

Jen

 

December Daily | Day 23 | Gathering

Day 23 is here!

I decided to do a page all about pictures of my nieces and nephews throughout the holiday season. 1 kiddo = 1 pic.

I very consciously make sure that I include a picture of each and every one of them in this album. I make sure that I spend time with each and every one of them during the season. There are 7 of them so sometimes it's hard to do.

They are all so  unique in their own way. I don't want to leave any of them out and I think this is the best way to do it. 1 day = all the kiddos.

I was digging through my stash trying to come up with a plan and I saw the page protector with 12 pockets (2"x2") and knew it was perfect to hold all of the pictures I wanted to do.

Then I kept digging because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to put in the extra pockets. 12 pockets - 7 kiddos - 1 Auntie = 4 extra boxes. I knew I needed a focal point so I picked the second row from the top to put my title and then found those adorably cute gingerbread die-cuts from Pebbles. OMG they are soooo incredibly cute and soooo incredibly perfect for this page.

Honestly that entire die-cut set is incredible I'm so glad I bought it and stuck it in my stash for this album. Cutesy without taking away from the page.

The tag in the middle is from October Afternoon - Make it Merry Doo-dads.

The "gather", "this is us" and hearts line are stamps from Ali's Gatherings Story stamp kit. I've been using it a lot because that particular stamp set has fit so perfectly with the feel of Christmas and togetherness. I LOVE IT!

The square on the bottom is a stamp from Ali's Dec Daily 2014 kit and one of the plastic red stars also from that kit. I just stapled it on with a Tim Holtz  Tiny Attacher. p.s. I use Jet Black Staz-on ink because it goes on dark and dries very quickly.

If you look closely you can see that I've put their names on each square.

This pic is so cute. He was being a stinker and pouting but his dad started picking on him so he turned around to smile at him.

Ashton. He's getting so big! He had about 4 teeth but he still tackled that piece of pizza. I was shocked that he managed to take it down.

This is probably one of my  most favorites just because of the expression on Jack's face. So determined to break open that shark for his birthday and he did it.

Little Clara just staring up at me. Right before this she was fussy and crying. All it took was for me to lay her down. That's it. She just wanted to not be held. Okie dokie girlie.

Onward! Here's the other half of the layout. I decided to do a nice red color because it would show up nicely against all the pictures of the kids and help draw you in to the page (or so I hope...let me know if my plan worked.)

This page is solely journalling and a couple 3x4 cards. One is from Ali's kit (gatherings - story stamp) and the other is from...um...dang it. I can't find the brand I just have the cards. Anyway it's cute and I loved the gray with the red. I covered up mistletoe because it didn't really fit (used a tag from Ali's Dec Daily kit)

I printed the journalling out on some graphed paper using Remington Noiseless font (if you've been reading my December Daily posts you'll notice that I've been very consistent using this font for the album...you're probably sick and tired of me mentioning it. :)

"Ah, Family" and the hearts at the bottom are from Ali's gatherings Story stamp kit. I colored them in with a red Le Pen.

I used the red glittery tape from Ali's Dec Daily kit for the border. I love how it gives it a little something extra and there's a bonus. Oh yes. The glittery doesn't rub off and get all over. SCORE!

The card on the left-side is from Ali's Gathering Story Stamp kit as are the other stamps used: "hearts", "in good times and hard times", the heart, "this is" and "how we roll".

Thanks for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it.

If you have any comments or questions please leave them. I LOVE having questions and comments.

Have a great day!

 

 

December Daily | Day 22 | Minion Cookie Help

Day 22. In the home stretch. Almost done. Yeah, I know these posts are extremely late but hey, better late than never right. I always figure as long as I get them done it's a win. Even if I'm late getting to it, I documented my life. It doesn't matter that it took me a couple months. I did it. Score 1 for me.

I gotta say, this one isn't my favorite. It has a lot of pictures I wanted to put but I just didn't find what I needed like in the last couple of days.

but, that being said, it's okay. I documented it and realistically I can't come up with lovable pages every single time so I'm rolling with this one in hopes that the next one is awesome. Plus, I documented it. Score 1 for me.

Page 1: All about the kiddos coming over to help me make Christmas cookies. The one cookie that they love to eat and love to help make and it doesn't take long. Perfect trifecta for the kiddos.

They are called "Pretzel Huggy Goodness" (I just made that up.) I'm not sure what they are really called. A friend of mine calls them Reindeer n*pples and I haven't heard anything else so that's what I'm going to call them.

This page is super busy. All pics which is fine. None of them I wanted to leave out so I added thick borders in between each picture to at least get some definition.

Tis the Season is from Ali's Dec Daily Kit. The heart is from Ali's Digital "gatherings" story stamp kit.

While this layout is pretty crazy I still love that I have all of these different pictures in it: me hugging Jack, my sister sitting on the couch with the kiddos, the kiddos watching the dessert baking, the kiddos helping me make them. All of it I wanted to put on there and I did.

Here's the right side of the page.

This is a little less crazy because of the journalling. I used a 3x4 card from Ali's kit and typed my story of the day using the Remington Noiseless font.

In retrospect...being a monday morning quarterback...I should have added a title or something just to give it a better focal point. BUT...I say but a lot...well, I do, anyway, it's done and over. I've documented this. YEAH!

Top of the card.

Bottom of the card.

I hope you enjoyed this post and please come back to my blog soon.

As always if you have any questions or comments please leave them below. I LOVE COMMENTS!

Have a great day!

 

December Daily | Day 21 | COOKIES

I love to Bake! A LOT! and Christmas I go all out. I spend an entire weekend...and then some baking all day. This year I made over a dozen different types of desserts.

I knew I had to dedicate one whole day just to cookies (even though I spent way more than that making them).

Most of the products used on this layout are from Ali's December Daily Kit except the glittery foam stickers of "cookies" (american crafts) and the small tag under 21 were I wrote "mmmmmm""

Once I saw the chipboard piece with the cutouts I KNEW I would use it for a day about cookies. It was the perfect vehicle to show each of my cookies. Granted it took some time for me to make this page but I think it was worth it.

This is what the chipboard piece looked like bare. I added a couple coats of white paint to it. It didn't take long to dry. (I believe I used Martha Stewart's white craft paint).

In order to get the pictures to fit behind the cutouts I did the following (I will prepare a tutorial post on this later this week but for now here are the instructions.):

1. I scanned the piece of chipboard into Photoshop.
2. Use the magic wand to highlight each circle.
3. Inverse the image (everything else will be selected minus the circles)
4. Add all my images behind the chipboard layer (in photoshop) and resize them to approximately fit the circles.  This was a little tricky because some images overlapped one another. As long as they didn't overlap into the next circle I was okay.
5. Use the paint bucket to turn the chipboard layer into white.
6. Print your page.
7. Then adhere behind the chipboard and cut off excess with exacto knife or scissors...or whichever sharp implement you prefer. :)

Here's what it will look like:

I used a gray Le Pen to write the names of the desserts (mostly cookies LOL) around each oblong circle and added a red puffy heart (Ali's kit) and "Love this Tradition" stamp using a Staz-On Jet  Black Ink Pad (also Ali's kit)

Working on that page took a little bit more time than normal but it was worth it because the result is so cool!

Now, on to the left-side of the page. Usually I don't go right to left but I really wanted to start with the cookies...cause who doesn't want dessert first? right?

The left side is all about the journalling.

I used Ali's gray circles paper (cause it reminds me of the shape of a cookie), then cut a piece of transparency paper with red circles (cuz it reminds me of a cookie...is there a pattern here? LOL).

I ended up gluing down the huge 21 and stapling the transparency over it with my title because I needed the title to be big and have it lay even and flat. It worked out perfect plus it repeated the whole "circular theme" for me which I liked.

Then I added some embellishments (triangle, circle and "mmmm" on a tag) just to fill the space.

The journalling is using Remington Noiseless font (It's free to download on dafont.com). I've used this font throughout the entire December Daily because I like having a couple things that remain consistent in this project. I can change each page to fit the day but a couple things remain consistent which I think helps bring it all together.

Thank you for reading the post and I hope you enjoyed the layout.

Come back soon and if you have any comments or questions please feel free to leave them.

Have a great day!

 

 

December Daily | Day 20 | First Christmas

December Daily - Day 20 was one of the most nerve-wracking pages I did.

Right now I"m thinking, this shouldn't be nerve-wracking. I'm scrapbooking my life. As long as I get my story down I should be good. In 5-10 or even 15 years that's all that will really matter. It won't matter if I put 1 or 50 embellishments. I'll just be happy that I have the story. I won't even care that I used a heart chipboard embellishment. I'll just love seeing the pictures and reliving the story.

So...I should stop stressing that stuff and just get it done. (I need to refer to this post in a week when I'm working on something and stupidly trying to "perfect it" or "get it right" and wasting time futzing over embellishments or paper or what-not.)

Okay so I gotta say, it was nerve-wracking because I wanted to "get it right" because it was special and meant SO much to me. I wanted it to be "perfect".

It was so special because it was Bruce and I's first Christmas living together. Our relationship is perfect to me. It's not perfect in and of itself but it's perfect for me. The love we share is something that I've been waiting for.

Yes, I'm writing that for all the world to see. Jen+Bruce=True Love

The layout. It's a couple of pages because I had a lot to say and a lot of pictures to show.

 

 

I'm using the Firsts and Gather story stamp kit for the First and the heart stamp above. I used an old Authentique sticker for the Christmas. (I don't believe you can buy it anymore.)

 

I love this picture. It's one of my favorites. It was a bit crazy in color so I turned it into a black and white. Bruce was not too happy about posing for pictures (cuz he's note a picture kinda guy) but I sweet talked him into it.

I got to play with my new remote shutter which was SWEET! My brother gave it to me for Christmas (so I didn't really take these pics on the 20th but that doesn't really matter)

Second-half of the page. Used Ali's kit again for the tab sticker "magic", the wooden-ish paper, heart & #20 (heart is actually two hearts. One red and one a black and white bokeh). Used her Gather story stamp kit for "my cup runneth over"

Another favorite picture of mine. I colorized the picture using PW's actions for Photoshop Elements. The action took out some of the crazy colors and kind of muted it a bit better which seemed more appropriate to me. We aren't wild and crazy. We are salt-of-the-earth, down-to-earth people. Crazy color just doesn't fit that.

Flipping the page not quite like flipping a pancake. Maybe I should say turning the page instead...but flipping sounds more fun and scrapbooking should be fun, so flipping it is.

Second part of Day 20

Another fun picture and embelishment. I used all Ali's Dec Daily kit for this. (I am working on using what I have instead of searching around for "the right" product. I make this work and surprisingly it's faster for me and I don't waste as much time.) How do you like to use kits?

Love this. Was waiting for the right moment to use this bokeh ampersand and add J&B with the heart chipboard sticker. I got the idea from a layout I saw but for the life of me can't find right now or I'd link it in. I didn't copy it exactly but got the idea to do J&B in there.

 
Right-side of the page. I couldn't decide what pictures to  use so I ended up going with making my own photo strips and putting them.  Then stamping in the middle because leaving that white space blank was a distraction for me. Added the journalling on the right side with a big heart (Ali Edwards digital stamp) and the writing "so in love" and printing on the pink graphic paper.

 

These pictures were so much fun to take and now to look at. The first strip you can so see our interaction together: 1. Bruce not happy about doing pictures. 2. Me teasing him about it. 3. Him laughing and being shy. 4. Him getting into it. I just love the procession you don't even need words to follow it.

The second strip is similar except has more of us being goofy.

I hope you enjoyed my layouts.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them.

Have a great day!

December Daily | Day 19 | Gift Wrapping

December Daily - Day 19 - Gift Wrapping

Gift wrapping is a one-night job. I like to get it all done at once. I grab all the empty cardboard boxes that I've been saving all year; shoe boxes, paper boxes, shipping boxes, etc, my wrapping paper, bow, ribbon and tape and go to town.

Sometimes I wonder what my gift wrapping "regime" will be when I'm older. Will I use a table instead of the floor? Will I only have 3 rolls of wrapping paper instead of an entire rubbermaid bin? Will I stop using bows and ribbon? Will I use only one color? Will I be able to use only "3 pieces of sticky tape?"

My entire page. I only had one picture that I really wanted to showcase so I kept it at one.
 I had fun with this one. I added a bunch of embellishments to this one that I thought fit the "wrapping paper" theme. For instance, the red striped paper looked like wrapping paper to me.

The top of the page was lots of fun. I ended up using the huge gold numbers and added a bow to keep with the gift theme.

Left side of the top of the page: I used a couple different embellishments here: a circle die cut (I can't remember the brand) that I stamped with a stamp from Ali's kit, a "Do Not Open Before" tag, a plastic star from Ali's kit and a circle puffy sticker, also from Ali's kit.

It was so much fun to layer these embellishments together. I just happened to find something that fit together like a T and fit the page so perfectly.

I put my journalling directly on some empty space on the wall. Then I added an Ali stamp in the corner with a red-striped sticker with a red puffy heart in the middle (all Ali's kit).

I wasn't originally going to add anything on the page but the black interior of the cardboard box was distracting so I added some embellishments to it to fill the space.

I also ended up adding the red glitter tape to the corners (simulating ribbon on a package.

I didn't really intend on making the page look like a wrapped gift but it ended up going in the direction.

I love when that happens. I love when it all turns out and ends up being something that I think is cute and proud of.

 

December Daily | Day 18 | Card Night

December Daily - Day 18

CARD NIGHT! Pinochle night! A family tradition for YEARS! I was taught by my Aunt when I was 10 and I played with my Grandparents until they passed away and they played since they were young too.

So...card night has gone on for awhile and it's so much fun carrying on that tradition.

All 6 of us look forward to getting together and my mom and aunt ALWAYS watch the kiddos so my cousin, sister and brother can play. They never tell us no. They know how much it means to us.

I wanted this layout to look like a giant playing card...because quite frankly I couldn't think of anything else to do.

I happened to be perusing through my December Daily kit papers (Ali Edwards) looking for something I could use that would work for my pictures and I kept coming back to the "north pole" paper. It was loud and obnoxious but the colors were so pretty and I thought, "hey, I could use this. I just need to cover up the crazy parts. It kinda, sorta, looks like it could be the middle part of a playing card."

So I went with it. I added the pink border just to bring out some of the other colors in the patterned paper and try to not be so "one note".

Since the background was so wild I decided to put the three pictures all in a row (so they would fit) and turn them into black and white. Being color was way too much for the eye to see.

I also add the tradition plastic word because that was the whole point I wanted to get across on the layout and I thought it would be a nice focal point.

Tradition is attached with Tim Holz's tiny attacher. Which lately is one of my favorite tools. I've finally gotten over the idea that I don't want to put metal in my layouts. (because eventually when paper is squished together with metal it will warp the paper) by making sure I don't squish pages together and I keep my layouts upright.

I added the journalling on the bottom using some of the kit paper in the same color as the background using Remington noiseless font.

I added the 18 for the date in each corner making sure to flip the bottom upside down just like a real playing card. The puffy hearts are from Ali's kit as well.

I really had fun with this one. It isn't a traditional layout for me but I think it turned out so neat and I'm glad I finally used that north pole paper.

Thank you for reading my blog post. If you have any questions or comments please leave them below. Have a great day!