Happy December friends! It's December Daily time again.
I recently wrote about my plans for this years album (HERE) and so far I'm happy with the direction I'm going in - less reporting, more reflecting is my mantra.
I'm not one for planning ahead or making foundation pages (I can't meal prep for the same reason - what if I just don't feel like that on Thursday?). I'm also not a batch processing kinda person, I just like starting each spread with a blankish slate. After a couple of days I always find my groove and a way forward.
Here is a look at my pages - day 1 through 5. I'm using a red Life Crafted album, making my 4x8 digital spreads in Photoshop Elements then printing here at home and slipping into the page protectors. I've kept up with making my spreads daily so far (that's why I keep them so simple) but I could easily catch up on a few days at a time if I needed to.
This is my front page - just a simple 4x8 paper straight from the Comfort and Joy Travelers Notebook Papers from In A Creative Bubble. I love this set so much.
For my opening spread, I used another 4x8 paper from the Comfort and Joy set and wrote my intentions and hopes for December. I knew I would be using the 4x8 December templates from my shop so I used a red label to match in with that. The garland is also from In A Creative Bubble, I had this journal card set from last year (HERE).
This is my template set, available (HERE):
For day one, I used a selfie because I just wanted to set the intention that this would be an introspective project about my thoughts and feelings. I added a red label and I think from this moment I decided that the red labels (which match my templates) would feature on every spread. I wanted to focus on my journaling this year so I'm making the facing spread each day word focused. I'm using my handwritten dates (available HERE in my shop) to top each of the journaling pages then embellishing a little bit (the wreath is from Paislee Press' December You Are My Fave No 8 (from last year) which is HERE.
My day one story continues with my intentions and feelings about this December and finding joy. Once I make my first spread I feel like I know what I am doing going forward. It sets my project up with some parameters that make it easier.
This is my December date stamp set, available HERE
For day two, I wanted to tell the story of summer here in Sydney, which officially starts on December first. I love documenting the way life and its rhythms change in the summer months. By this page, I already know a few things I am going to include on each page:
a red theme
the red labels with some kind of title related to the story
the handwritten date stamp above the journaling
Then I'm adding bits and pieces if I feel like the design needs it. The Love square stamp and the quote are both Paislee Press (from the 2019 December Daily Mini Kit and the December You Are My Fave Elements No 6). I'm trying not to overdo it on the red so I recoloured the quote stamp with green from the trees in the photo.
My stories are not really related to a particular day, I am just choosing something that is on my mind or that occurred to me during the day. I have some stories in mind that I hope will come up in future pages but I'm not making lists or anything. The pool photo is one I already had on my camera roll (red towel totally by happy accident). I am happy to use older photos to tell these stories (especially if the photo I took on this day would look exactly the same). I don't want to get blocked if I haven't managed to take any photos on a given day - something that has been a problem when I've done a story-of-the-day type December Daily in the past.
If you have this problem too, one tip I have from previous years is going around the house on the weekend when everything is tidy and the light is good and taking a bunch of photos for future days. I love having my own stash of photos to fall back on - personal stock photography.
For day three, I wrote about taking pause in the mornings when I'm not rushing off to work. I am taking Liz Lamoreax's December Pause class (HERE) and while I am not making lists I am reading her prompts and emails everyday and letting some of those ideas into my journaling.
I've used one of my 4x8 templates but changed the configuration a bit. I also added the All Is Calm word art from my December Stamp set (HERE) but lowered the opacity so it's more subtle. On the other page, I made the circle embellishment from an In A Creative Bubble journal card (from last year's Holiday Cheer set).
Day four is about Christmas shopping and gift giving. I took this photo in the city earlier in the week and used a Paislee Press circle stamp and the mistletoe from the December You Are My Fave No 8 Kit. The So Thankful word art is from an Ali Edwards Story Kit.
And that brings us to day five, documenting some of the little personal spaces I have created around the house. I used one of my 4x8 templates as well as some word art from Ali Edwards (I love going through my digital stash and finding things to use that are not Christmas related). I masked another photo on the right into a circle.
So there you have it, five days in the book. Keeping it simple, getting it done each day. Not making it harder than it needs to be. Some days, when I have found myself tweaking my pages a bit too much, I tell myself "Hey, you have twenty more of these to make, that will do".
Thanks for being here!
Other notes:
I'm using the same fonts from my templates in my project for cohesion. The titles on the labels are Futura (I'm often switching the template titles out with my own) and the journaling uses the same script font from the templates - Mrs Eaves Romantic (which was a free font but I've had it for years).
My printer is an Epson Expression Photo XP-8500, a few years old now.
My photo paper is Ilford Galerie Prestige Smooth Pearl (I print two 4x8 pages on one Letter sized sheet and cut out).
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