December Daily Album Christmas 2011

I previously showed a little peek into my very first December Daily album, which I gave to Stephen this past Christmas. The album celebrates the Christmas of 2011, so by now the photos in it are almost two years old, but I finished this album just in time for Christmas 2012. The whole family LOVES this album, and I'm so happy to be sharing highlights of it here.

 I first heard about the concept of documenting each December through daily photos in a mini scrapbook album through Ali Edwards December Daily project.  Even though I have been taking daily December photos since 2008, this is the first year that I actually have created an album around the photos.

My first December Daily album is a 6 x 6 mixed media album containing a combination of clear acrylic, chipboard and page protector pages.  The image above shows the front cover, an acrylic page with a transparency layered over it.  You can see below that the pages alternate randomly between page protectors, chipboard pages and clear acrylic sheets.

 I used a tag on the inside cover.  Part of the challenge of using clear acrylic pages is that you must plan both the front and back of each page, since the page is clear and the back of one page shows right through to the next.

 Before starting each of the calendar pages, I added an introduction page.  The image is of the Christmas wreath on our front door.

 The page for December 1st shows the bus stop with a little layer snow that fell just in time for December to begin.  The pages I've shown so far have been acrylic.

 Back then, our cat Smokey was a new arrival and such a sweet tiny kitten.  On this chipboard page for December 5th, Stephen is helping Merlin get to know Smokey.  Aren't the cute??

Below is a double page spread with a page protector on the left and a chipboard page on the right.  I've documented our every day life in December, not just Christmas-related activities.  On the December 7th page, Evan celebrates his first Black Friday haul.  On the right, I took photos at Parents' Day at the girls' dance class.

Decorating our home for Christmas is one of my favourite parts of the holiday season.  I journaled digitally directly on some of the photos for this album.  On the right, the kids visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

One of our traditions during the holidays is making Christmas cookies.  The kids are increasingly taking over the design and creation of our culinary masterpieces.

Even though I included just one page for the days leading up to Christmas, I included more than one page for December 24th and 25th, which were quite rich with activities.  And below is the back cover of the album, which displays our family Christmas photo from that Christmas.  I hope you've enjoyed this little (belated) look at my December Daily project.  Maybe it will give you some ideas for the 2013 Christmas season! 

Christmas Continues with a December Daily Peek

I was thrilled that I managed to finish a December Daily album in time to give it to Stephen for Christmas this year. It documents our previous Christmas - so December 2011 - and I am completely happy with how it turned out. The photo below shows Alicia and Stephen looking it over right after he opened it on Christmas morning.



Here is a look at the album cover. It is a mixed media album with acrylic, chipboard and page protector pages mixed together. I'll admit it - I haven't totally photographed it for posting, but I will get that done in the next few days and have more of the album to post for you soon.



Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Even though this post is about winter, enjoy summer while it's still here!

A (very) Overdue Peek at December 2012

One of the practices I have diligently kept up with since 2008 is taking (at least) one daily photo during the month of December to document the Christmas Season at our house. I've posted at least a few photos, giving you a peek at our December, if not the entire set of photos, every year on my blog.

December 2012 was no exception, and not only did I take a photo every day, I also went back and completed a December Daily album for the previous year and gave it to Stephen for Christmas. The concept of a December Daily album, which I first hear about through the amazing Ali Edwards, is in part what I (eventually) plan to do for each of the years' photos I've taken in December.

This picture is one of my favourites from December 2012. The kids are just about ready for bed on Christmas Eve, and have laid out a giant Santa cookie (which they made and decorated themselves) with chocolate milk for Santa. I will post more about our December, as well as a look at the December Daily album I gave Stephen for Christmas, over the next little while.

December Daily 2011 Peek

This year I decided to journal right on the image for my December Daily photos. I was inspired by my friend Lee and the gorgeous December Daily photos and albums she has been putting together in the past few years. Here's a hint at what the finished photos look like.

The photo above says Welcome Home and the text is Nothing says Welcome Home like a wreath on the front door. This was this year's Christmas wreath. The title for this photo is Time for Relaxing and the text says Boxing Day was made for chilling with your family in your Christmas PJs and enjoying your gifts.

I'm well on my way to having all my December photos selected, edited and the text written, and I hope to have a slide show put together before the end of the week. Take a peek back soon for a look at the rest of our December.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Slow Down for a Moment

We interrupt your regularly scheduled holiday hectic-ness for a little fireside puppy love! Love is what this season is all about, after all! Aren't they cute?

OK, you may now return to your regularly scheduled Christmas shopping, baking and general craziness.

Christmas Readiness

It's now less than ten days until Christmas and all is amazingly calm and bright at our house! The past few years I haven't sent out Christmas cards, and I'm still behind on that this year (although I'm intent on getting them in the mail before December ends!) Other than that, I'm feeling quite ready for Christmas!

We decided (OK, maybe I decided!) to try something different in our living room this year - we moved the tree over closer to the window. It was formerly beside the fireplace, in the left in this photo where the poinsettia now is. What do you think? I think this flows much better, and hey - it photographs nicely too! :-}

Are you ready for Christmas? If not, don't panic, there's still a whole weekend ahead of you! Enjoy it, and best of luck with your Christmas to-do list!

A peek at last year's December photos

Here I am once again - I'm taking daily December photos and realize I haven't yet posted the December slide show from last Christmas! I posted 2009's daily images a year late, too! For 2011 I'm hoping to do a bit better, and will assemble 2011's December daily photos in a more timely manner!


The nice thing about my procrastination, though (other than how similar it makes me to my husband!) - looking at last year's Christmas slide show totally gets me into the Christmas spirit! :-} I hope it does for you too!



We've had a wonderful December so far. This weekend we finished shopping for everyone in our home and prepared the box of gifts for shipping to Edmonton. We also built the frame for our ice rink and started to flood it, then squeezed in some family time by the fire.


As a special treat for me, I managed to sneak in a dinner out with some fantastic cousins; I also scrapbooked into the wee hours with Sue - finishing a final Christmas gift in the process. I hope you had a productive and fun weekend too, and I wish you a fantastic and productive creating and capturing Christmas memories.

(The images above are also from 2010's December daily photos)

Here's the slide show of Our December 2010 in Daily Photos

Documenting December

Often when I'm documenting December in pictures, the photos I take don't have anything to do with Christmas.

I'm so much more conscious of the simple, everyday moments the kids experience when I'm watching them with my camera in hand. In 2010, I hoped to take a photo every day, and while I won't have 365 daily pics at the end of the year, I will have captured so many details of our life, like Alicia's love for Bear.

Documenting our family's life via words here and works of art through scrapbooking helps me to believe that what I see through the lens today will be remembered joyfully in the future by so many people who are important to us - most of all, our kids. The mistakes I make in capturing (ahem, or rather, not quite capturing) one day's shot adds knowledge that allows me to capture the next shot with more accuracy and aliveness. I am still learning, but I'm a better photographer today because of so much practice.

I loved Karen Grunberg's recent guest post on Shutter Sisters, entitled The Daily Practice. In it, she speaks about the value of daily photography practice. Take a moment and read it; it rings so true to me.

This is my third year of making daily December photos happen, and so far, so good - I'm 7 for 7! I love the feeling of daily photography as a habit. Hopefully 2011 will be the year that I make Project 365 a reality!

The View from Here

One thing I love about taking daily photos is how it forces you to really notice your surroundings. I drive down this road almost every day and have to admit, I often don't absorb how striking and unique the badlands are. Yesterday the sky looked so big and bright, the snow so brilliant as the sun's rays bounced off the hills. I just had to stop and grab my camera!
Speaking of brilliance, I was lucky enough to hang with my talented cousin Allison this weekend at her One of A Kind booth. Allison hates getting her photo taken, and I can't understand why - even exhausted on the final day of this show, doesn't she look amazing? Her soaps are wonderful; the smell in her booth is simply divine!

It seems like - along with a horrible sense of direction - we cousins definitely also inherited our grandmother's sense of creativity. See a page about our grandmother here.

In addition to Christmas shopping - the show rocked; I shopped 'til I dropped - I finished off another layout for Scrapalicious with WRMK's Be My Valentine line this weekend, and hope to have more to post later in the week. Yes, I had a very productive weekend.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too! What did you do? Feel free to leave a comment; I love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by!

Last December in Daily Photos

In writing my last post, I realized that while I did post a Christmas overview last year, I never did go back and post the slide show I mentioned creating with the daily photos I took. Since we're already in a Christmas mood at our house now, I guess there's no better time than the present for a peek at last Christmas.
Of course, I took far more than one photo a day last December. It's only December 2nd, and I've already taken more than one photo a day this year! So the slide show below summarizes our holiday season, but there are many more fun photos which will be (eventually) documented in our family's scrapbooks.

If you're not already in the holiday spirit, I hope that these images get you there! Click on any slide to view the show in a bigger window.

Deck the Halls

December is here and it's starting to feel like Christmas at our house. We've decorated the tree, hung the garland and started receiving Christmas cards already. I'm looking forward to documenting our December once again this year. Did you take a photo today? Christmas is definitely on its way!

If you are looking for ways to record your family's every day activities and celebrations this year, visit Ali Edwards' blog to see her wonderful December Daily album tradition, and Shimelle's website for her Journal Your Christmas class, as well as a great Christmas printable. Both are beautiful ways to remember this wonderful season with your family.

Our December in Daily Photos

Guess what? If you are wondering where your Christmas card from us is this year, here's your answer at left. Oops! We were far behind this year, but got all our cards into the mailbox today, before 2008 was over. So, cards will be a little late this year, but better late than never, right! Oh, and handmade? Sorry, maybe next year! ;-)

One thing I did manage to complete in a timely manner was the December Daily photo project encouraged by Ali Edwards. I don't have an album created to put these into, but it's a nice feeling to know that once I do, the photos are ready!

Take a quick peek at our family's December, and once again - we wish you a multitude of blessings in 2009.