Friday, November 8, 2013

Make it Work December Daily (Frosty Festivities Blog Hop)

Welcome to my stop on the Frosty Festivities Blog Hop, hosted by Jennifer! She's offering up a wonderful prize in conjunction with the hop (details at the bottom of post) and lots of other hop participants have fun winter projects to share (you'll also find them listed at the bottom of my post).
Today I'm going to share the album I have put together for my December Daily Album.  I call it my "Make it Work" album because everything I used came from my stash . . . and not all of it screams Christmas. So, I definitely had to, in the words of Tim Gunn, make it work! I started out with this as my base album:
A 7x9 Knee Highs and Bow Ties journaling binder that I won from Kristin at the end of her Find Your Voice Storytelling class. The kit came with several page dividers, several 7x9 page protectors, several page protectors divided into six squares and several page protectors divided into three sections. As you can see, the page dividers are not Christmas-themed, but I figured I could make it work. So, I grabbed some Christmas papers, including most of a package called Winter Fun by Carta Bella (which I won last year in Jennifer's Frosty Festivities blog hop!). I also decided to use a bunch of Tim Holtz inspired tags I have made during the "12 Tags of Christmas" class he used to run.
I then started cutting papers to fill the various page protectors and added embellishments:
7x9 page protector and six square facing page
Three section page protector and facing page divider.
On the page above, you will see that I had to be creative in covering up the non-holiday page dividers, but it was pretty easy because I simply covered up almost the entire page! For these next few, I did things a little differently:
I left the base page as-is but added a whole bunch of holiday stickers to make it more festive.
On the right hand side, I covered up a car graphic along the bottom and added stickers up top. The left hand page is a full 7x9 page protector. And sometimes, I managed to find Christmas embellishments that worked, even with the nontraditional color scheme:
On the whole, I really like my blank album. It's fun and different but, since I stayed with similar tones throughout, it is even fairly cohesive.  You can click on the pictures to see the pages in more detail if you want.  I'm planning to do a 1-2 page per day from Dec. 1-25. I plan to vary the size and number of photos, depending upon what I do that day. I am really looking forward to this project because I have really enjoyed the previous "Photo-a-Day" or "Week in My Life" projects that I have completed. I've done Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas a few times, but this year I wanted to create something that was a more general capture of our life this December. I'm also hoping it will help us be more festive!
I'd love to hear what plans you have (if any) for a December Daily, Journal Your Christmas or other Holiday Journal project.
****************************************************************************
And now for the prize information: If you comment on all the blogs in the hop, finishing at www.jennifergracecreates.com and let Jennifer know you've been all the way around, then you'll be in with a chance to win a jolly seasonal prize of Simple Stories December Documented and Elle’s Studio Noel items, worth over £28! All entries must be received by Monday the 11th of November at 10.59pm GMT. 
So, click on over to Sarah to continue with the hop.  If you get lost along the way, here's the various hop participants:

57 comments:

petrii said...

This is a wonderful DD Album. And great way to "make it work".

Blessings ~~ dawn

Scrapdolly said...

That's really great too see exactly how it all comes together - a great project

Becky said...

Lovely to see how you have pulled this together. I have a similar album this year and am doing 'Your December Story' at 'get it Scrapped' - well hoping that I can keep up anyway!

scrappyjacky said...

This is going to be a great December album,Rinda....and I'm really impressed that you've got it made already.
I'll definately be doing an album....and the basics will definately be made this month....so I better get my thinking cap on!!

Missus Wookie said...

Like Becky I'm doing the Your December Story and am looking forward to adding to my traditions album. I really like the way you've put this together.

Katherine said...

I am hoping to do a journal too, but haven't started at all yet, so thank you for lots of inspiration :)

Julene Matthews said...

How great that you can use something that you won last year! I love this album and you will be so organised.

Tracee said...

What a fab album, I'm sure you will have great fun filling it too Tx

Jean Bullock said...

Looks like you "made it work" to me. Well done.

Amy Martin said...

Wonderful album. It will be fun to see the end result when you are finished filling it in. Great job.

Jimjams said...

Excellent USE of existing supplies. I think the photos and the journalling will be Christmassy enough.

Cheri said...

This looks FANTASTIC Rinda! And the fact that you only used supplies in your stash is pretty impressive. I'm not planning any type of scrapbooking project this December - doing a Gratitude daily for November and then planning to just enjoy the Christmas season without any creative obligation.

Anonymous said...

Way to use your stash!

vitatulpanen said...

Lovely work! Sooo inspiring to see :) Making a chrismas paperbagalbum myself right now...might pick up some ideas from your work :)

Sarah said...

Your journal is looking good! 'm unsure what to do this year - I have so little time to do JYC or DD with the shop so busy this time of year and family stuff so I need something super quick!! xx

sky-blu-pink said...

Really attractive looking! Good luck with your daily diary. I am taking up Elizabeth's challenge to blog every day this month, with a daily prompt, which is fun, but I don't think I could keep it up 365!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge said...

I always start DD and then quit. LOL I don't like any of my photos. I have been working on improving that so maybe this year will be better.

Bethany

LauraEva said...

Now THIS is something I can do! And so within my price range..lol! Great project!

Nikki said...

I don't have a December Daily but yours is just so kewl to look at :)

Julie Baswell said...

Your album turned out great. I like that candy cane paper. This would make a great Christmas present.

Julie
I Create Purty Thangs

LCSmithSAVED said...

Love some of the papers in your book! Helps to have it all ready to roll when December comes.

Unknown said...

Love how you scrapped your stash for this journal!

Amy said...

No specific plans this year - I might have a photography based month again as I did last year ... we will see! Your album has taken great shape and I quite like that not all elements or papers have a Christmas focus.

Sam Ball (aka sammyb) said...

A great project xxx

Judith said...

I definitely think you made it work.

Kirsty.A said...

Looks like you're all set. I'm going to try a Project Life type approach to December this year, but I don't premake much

Lauren T said...

Looks like a great base to start your December daily from.

Jackie said...

Your album is stunning!!! You have definitely made it work and you are now ready for the 'off'!!!!!!!!

Karen said...

Well, you certainly made it work! I love what you've done. This will be the first year in 7 (or is it 8) years I'm not doing a stand-alone Christmas Journal. I'm going to incorporate it into my Project Life binder, but I'm already gathering papers and ideas for it!

furrypig said...

wow you have been so organised and that album is gorgeous I am inspired to try and do more preparation for my album this year!

Meredith said...

Thanks for the chance to win!

Mare said...

Awesome album! Thanks for sharing!

Tina Campbell said...

Love your Dec Daily and that you made it from your stash! I had to get the new Smash Christmas folio for mine this year, just couldn't pass it up and with a coupon it was a good deal, any additions will be coming from my stash. Love the tag on yours and the blocks for the pics have fun!

Brenda said...

This is a really great album I love it!

Janis said...

Wonderful way to use your prize with other things from your stash! We prob all should go on a stash crash and not buy anything new for the first 2-3 months of the New Year.....well, maybe AFTER all the clearance sales are over with! :)
<3 J

jwoolbright at gmail dot com

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

It looks wonderful! I have afew things going on this year. I'll be generally doing JYC as always but filling it in in places with 30 Days of Lists for December and Debbie Hodges' Your December Story class. And of course there is always the December Daily type theme in the background. Not sure if I have 4 ways to succeed or 4 ways to fail but we'll see how it goes.

Sally said...

Beautiful. Always start but never finish JYC, maybe i need to get prepared like this beforehand.

Annie Claxton said...

What a fantastic album you have created Rinda, such an inspiration, you make me feel like I could have a go myself ... thank you! :o)xxx

Margie said...

Your album looks fantastic! Great job using what you have!

Treenie said...

Lovely journal, you definitely ' made it work' .. ( love Tim Gunn :) )

Sian said...

It's looking really good Rinda. I wasn't going to do a December album this year, but a good look at this one has been having a re-think. I guess that's what good inspiration is!

Melissa said...

Fantastic album Rinda - I really like how you used the pre-made album as a start & added in items to make it such a wonderful cohesive Christmas album.

I'm not planning a December Daily this year, but I'm thinking of joining in the BPC 12 Days of Christmas class.

Alison said...

Love your DD album, Rinda...I haven't committed to anything yet, but you certainly have me thinking about it!
Alison xx

K said...

Gorgeous album.
I read along with JYC & use a few of the prompts that appeal to me to do some layouts.

Miriam Prantner said...

Wow! You totally did make it work! This album is gorgeous!

MiliPea Designs said...

I did Journal Your Christmas for the first time last year and still have not finished my book. I am still on the fence if I will do anything like that again this year. I guess I'd better decide quick. Your book looks lovely!

Lou said...

oh wow Rinda....its gorgeous x

Gina200 said...

This is a beautiful little album & very creative!

Lisa-Jane said...

I love how you've "made it work" there and integrated non-seasonal with seasonal items. I hope to do a shortened form of JYC this year. I hope you enjoyed my part in the blog hop too.

Frances said...

Love your idea to pull so many elements together to create something Christmassy. Well done.

Lisa said...

your album is great and will surely be a pleasure to fill in the month to come - I am feeling inspired to make my own - love the slogan to make it work! we all need to remember this more before running out to buy new product. I mean I probably will anyway, but I love the idea of just using what I have LOL!

rustic heart designs said...

love the album and some inspiring techniques.

Jennifer Grace said...

This is really cool, I love all the differences in the pages, so many details to look at! Thanks so much for joining in with the hop! Jennifer x

Denise said...

Fantastic album Rinda - i love it xx

Miriam said...

This is so lovely Rinda and I like that it is not 'traditional', it is very you! I am doing a December Journal but haven't put it together yet but as I always use last years lovely cards it's just a matter of how to bind them together.

Cheryl M said...

Hi Rinda - I'm so happy that you shared my Frugal Still Life Photography here on your blog. LOVE your post! I think your December Daily Album is great! Love that you used your stash to pull it together!

Anonymous said...

You did great at making it work. I'm looking forward to seeing the pages as you complete them - hoping you'll share them.