December Daily® Catch Up and January OLW

Worked on some archiving today.  Not much to say (because I feel like poo), but I wanted to share. The fruits of my labor:

Clean and simple days 16, 17, 18 in the December Daily.

The start of One Little Word 2017

December Daily® Day 14

For December 14, I decided to create a spread based on the weird December weather.  It was also time to insert the third and last divider for the album.  I used the InstaWeather app for some pictures of the season (left side).

I used StazOn Opaque white and a rotary date stamp on the photos.

 I used several word strips, some from Ali Edwards, some from Simple Stories.

The #struggle stamp was from one of Ali's Story Kits, as was the story tab.  The i just can't sticker is from Simple Stories as well.

December Daily® Day 13

Day 13 focuses on the joy I get when crafting with students.  On the left, I used the back of my bokeh tree shot from Day 12.  Most of the page was pre-made, and I just added my photo with one of Ali's 12 Gifts of Christmas images.  Indeed, there is "so much love" when I cut 20 circles each for 22 students.  They LOVE the finished products, and that is enough for me.  The finished product was highlighted in last year's DD.  On the right side, I used a Simple Stories page protector that had two 4 x 4 spots and one  2 x 8.25 spot.  I set up a strip in Photoshop and placed 2 x 2 pics in the strip.  I decided to number the pics (number stickers from one of Ali's kits) and talk briefly about each one in my journaling.

Journaling: Crafting makes me incredibly happy.  When I get to craft with children, it is a festive occasion, no matter what season of the year. Christmastime seems to lend itself well to crafting.  

1 | The Silhouette template for the yearly icosahedron ornaments.  A labor of love.

2 | Cutting out 20 circles for 22 students.  Good times.

3 | My student teacher’s mom bought a ton of things at Michaels for us to craft with the kiddos.  A snowman was this student’s choice.

4 | A star ornament being glued with care.

5 | Some students decided to use a variety of available embellishments.

6 | The Yule Log on You Tube is a must when crafting during the holidays.  No warmth, just a “fireplace feeling.”

December Daily® Day 12: Oh, Christmas Tree!

Happiest of New Years to all!  How hard is it to believe it is 2017?  Especially when it will be my 30th high school reunion this year.  Oh my.  Tonight (NYE), I worked on December 12, which I dedicated mostly to our Christmas tree.

I used the back of the 12-up, 6 x 8 protector from Day 11 to showcase some of the ornaments we "found" when moving.  Some had not seen the tree in a couple of years, so there were some fun discoveries. The twinkle sentiment is from Ali's Digital December Daily Christmas Phrases files.  I picked a green from an area on one of the pictures.  

The journaling was on a 3 x 4 card layer. I am not sure how well you can tell, but the journaling is layered on a picture of our tree. Here's the digital image so it is a little easier to see.

I used a Recollections Clip and Snap-In Tab (first time).  I added a middle hole and stapled it down with the mini attacher.  On the flipside, I used more paper from last year's DD kit. 

I intentionally took pics of the tree reflecting lights off the window in the AM and in the PM.  I created a tab from Ali's AM/PM Story Kit digital elements.  I clipped these two layers together (I was mainly worried about the small card getting bent over time) with a tiny gold-painted clothespin.

There's gotta be a bokeh pic, right?  Here it is.  I had this matted page ready, so I printed a nearly 6 x 8 pic, layered with one of Ali's 12 Gifts of Christmas files (alas, no longer available) that I recolored and made slightly less opaque.

December Daily® Day 11

I would be remiss not to give a nod to the house transformation that has been taking place in our "new-old" house this December. It's part of my husband's love language to demolish and restore.  He's getting better at it all the time. 

The page uses from paid items and some freebies.The a season of intention sentiment is from the Digital December Daily Christmas Phrases stamp.  No place like home for the holidays and embrace the mess are both "Ali freebies."  I created the yellow card to coincide with the kitchen color, and used the star washi from my "washi drawer" (no idea where I got it from...probably AE).  Each image is 2 x 2.

Journaling: December has been filled with home projects. Scott tackled the two most needy: the kitchen and the half bath. He seems to be in his element. He is becoming a much more meticulous painter, and that saves us lots!

December Daily® Day 10

Yes, I do.  And I shall sit here until I am dumped off.  My wonderful son is 11 and still fully believes.  I have no intention of changing that.  I did so with son #1, believing that when he asked, I would tell him.  And, to this day, my almost 20 year old is still ticked that I admitted my part in the Throne of Lies when he was 12.  His brother knows that Santa needs Mommy and Daddy's help.  That's my baby step.

Since Dec. 10 had no pictures with a story that moved me, I decided to use the layout I had ready for a day just like today.

I used the 2015 Ashley Goldberg December-Daily-Kit-That-Keeps-On-Giving for the flipside of Day 9.  I thought the "Ho Ho Ho" fit nicely.  Again, there's a sparkly gold/bronze to the letters that did not photograph well here.  On the other side, I had a Simple Stories base page that I added to.

I did not journal on this day because it was my kid's Santa list.  I think it speaks for itself.  So I created a tab with Simple Stories Mistletoe Kisses Bits and Pieces Ephemera candy chipboard pieces.  The "10" comes from some AE stickers I had in my stash.

The flipside has more from the Simple Stories Mistletoe Kisses collection, and the letter Santa left Max on Christmas morning.

December Daily® Day 8: All the Foods

On December 8, I took a table-view shot of our dinner that night after we had devoured most of it. Seeing this shot made me realize I had a LOT of food pics for December.  An idea began: a spread on food! Enter, another digital template of Ali's, one that I ended up modifying greatly, but it gave me a great start.  Hers had space for 4 pics on the left and a column on the right with word art ("holiday" in her script and "hello traditions" in type underneath it).  I knew I wanted to get my journaling in there, but I also really needed the 5 shots, as they each told different parts of the month of eating.  I tried to keep "holiday," but felt a change in the title was due, and a good one.  I sampled the color for "merry" from one of the strawberries in the bottom left.  I used the same color for my numbers through my journaling.

Here was the base page.  I used number stickers from this month's Story Kit (using the crap out of that, I tell ya) to connect the journaling to the pics.

I also decided that it was time for another divider to make its way into the book, but I needed one side to pretty much stand on its own.  Loved this little snowman dude.  Simple Stories Mistletoe Kisses Bits and Pieces Ephemera and a stamp from Ali's Cheer set (limited release), along with some sparkly dots, wrapped up this pre-made page.

Then, the backside of this page could stay fairly simple.  I like it so much better on a chipboard divider than just in a divider by its lonesome.

I used a stamp from one of Ali's Week in the Life stamp sets from a couple years back.  Worked like a charm.  In this pic, you can see the stamped divider, and a bit of the sticker dimension.

Journaling: Indeed, we enjoy eating during the holidays. Pretty sure between what is shown and the other delectables in our house that are not typically here, my scale is going to be screaming at me...big time. 

1 | Belgian waffles on Christmas morning.  There always must be a special breakfast.  2 | A loaf of delicious Great Harvest Bread brought to us by a new neighbor.  3 | Scott pan fried some delicious steaks.  Our bellies were happily full.  4 | French toast made with Egg Beaters (yum) with strawberries, Cool Whip, syrup, and bacon.  5 | Cookies for Santa.  I was at first ticked that Scott bought a Toll House mix rather than just chilled dough, but it turned out to be a delicious error in judgment.

December Daily® Day 7

For this spread, I used a page that was semi-pre-made on one side and blank on the other.  A percussionist parent is hard-pressed to get a good shot of their student performing, unless you are on bleachers and/or have a fabulous lens. Armed only with my iPhone 6 plus, I got what I got.  So, there was some doctoring to the photo to point out exactly where my son was.

This page was so much fun to make. Max and I were spontaneously (which is a big deal in the land of ASD) messing with selfies as we awaited dinner at Bob Evans (tradition for before/after concerts).  I had three shots I really wanted to use, and then I remembered this awesome template of Ali's.  I even found the background color code for kraft (as I felt white would be too much).  I thought putting it on a polka dotted page was a unifying idea.

Journaling: Tonight was Max’s Christmas concert at CCHS. Bob Evans for dinner has been our tradition for music events. We had some fun with selfies, particularly with Snapchat layers, as we waited for our order.  

December Daily® Day 6

This is what I did with the back of the large photo on Day 5.  I had already set the page up with a couple kisses.  I decided to relocate the rest of them and add word stickers that came from songs of the season.

Using a couple of Ali's 3 x 8 digital templates, I chose to tell an everyday story from December plus a list of things for which I am thankful.  I placed a few stickers from Ali's Review Story Kit in there as well.

This is what the pages look like together in the album.

December Daily® Day 5: Advent (Updated)

The focus of Day 5 is the focus of the season for the church: Advent.  Not an "Advent calendar," giving parents 25 extra days of trinkets to have to think up.  But the season of Advent, the wreath, the symbolism, the hope, the peace. 

I took a picture of my church's Advent wreath and used Ali's freebie from Day 12 of the Twelve Days of Giving (available for a limited time).  I thought the message was perfect for that picture, and I used the entire 6 x 8 to show its significance.  The facing page is the flipside of the Day 4 spread.  The Hershey kisses were already there, and it is almost an anachronism of the post's topic.  The post does mention the secularism of Christmas, though, so I decided to keep it there for now.  I love the kisses, just maybe not at this place.  Maybe just a swatch of patterned paper will be a better choice.  Now in typing this, I have already made up my mind to change it.  Oy!  I'll update this post once I change it.

Journaling:  The secularism of Christmas overtakes the reality of what is going on in the church at this time.  The season is actually Advent. It is the beginning of the new church year, and is scheduled 4 Sundays before the actual day of Christmas.  We are called to prepare for the anniversary of the birth of Christ, There are many ways we are called to prepare: Reconciliation, the Eucharist, intense prayer time with God.  So, while we prep ourselves physically for the day of Christmas, spiritually, we look at how our souls can be best prepared.  The readings are all of hope and fulfillment of God’s promises.  Today’s photo shows the Advent wreath in front of the Baptismal font of Saint Patrick Church of Merna.  Two candles are lit, signifying the second week of Advent.  The pink candle will be lit next week, Gaudete Sunday, signifying the joy that we are almost there.    

UPDATE:

I went with some kraft cardstock with a very subtle white star print, as other prints seemed to overwhelm the page.  I added a bit of stars from an Ali Edwards kit (I have no idea which). 

Because sewing the pocket was not what I first had in mind, I decided to put gold glitter washi on the side so the stars would not slide out.

December Daily® Day 4: A Tale of Two Houses

For Day 4, I used the Christmas card photo's origination day as the day to show it in the album, as well as reflect on Christmas past.

Top card was from our Christmas card in 2010.  On Dec. 4, we were still owners of both homes.  This shot was taken on the first snowfall as well as this year's shot.

My pretty "new-old" house.  The card served as Christmas and change of address.

Spot the typo?  I didn't until they came printed to me.  And then, I thought, so it is written, so it shall be!  Imperfect, like the author. 

This was sort of a base page that I used.  I love this Simple Stories page protector with 2-4" x 4" slots and a 2" x 8" slot.  I altered my journaling card to fit the space.  I included the flap from our envelopes this year as well.

Journaling: On this day, Scott took “the money shot.”  It was, to quote Karen Carpenter, “the first snowfall of the winter.”  He texted me this iPhone shot of our “new-old” house.  Since I needed to send out change of address notices anyway, I made the Christmas card have two purposes.  I love this card from Shutterfly, mainly because I love gold foil on pretty much anything.  Of course the photo was gently treated by Rad Lab, but I really did not have to do much.  I also loved that there was a typo on it, and I sent it out anyway.  Baby steps!  Several years back, I recall coming home and seeing our Gabby Drive home being blanketed with snow.  I grabbed “Bertha” and the tripod and started snapping some nighttime shots.  Thus, the Christmas card (partially shown) was born that year, circa 2010.