December Album - Mylie version!

While I have been putting the finishing touches on my December Daily album, Mylie has been working on her own.  Here is her final product.

Here you can see some of the inside pages.  She had a chipboard tree and traced all the pages of patterned paper herself.  Then she had her Dad and I both write in there our favorite parts about Christmas.  She wrote hers and had me write her little brother's.  I love how she used the cloud punch for the snow on the front ... just like I did on mine!!

December Daily - days 7-11

Although I probably should have been grading papers tonight, instead I worked on getting caught up on my December daily album.  I have to say, I am having SO much fun with this album and am just tickled with how it is turning out.  I know that we will enjoy looking back on this every year. 

I like that I made it simple.  Each page is only 4x8 and I only have 1 page for each day (though I can add more if needed).  If I don't have a picture for that day, it is easy to just tell a story and the pages don't look bare. 

I didn't take picture for either of these days, but still love the way they turned out.  On the 7th I talk about how I love doing crafts for Christmas (obviously).  If you lift up my journaling card, I had Mylie write about how she likes Christmas crafts.  I know I will have having her handwriting in here. 

On the 8th I just googled and printed the DVD cover from our Christmas movie collection.  Watching Christmas movies is a huge part of our Christmas traditions.

For the 9th I talk about secret Santas at work.  It has been many years since I have been involved in secret Santa at work and I am having so much fun!  Even though that page is really simple, I really like it. 

For the 10th, I put an insert in.  I copy and pasted an entry from our family blog where I talked about how decorating the tree always makes me think about my Grandma and how I was very emotional about it this year.  It also talks about some of the other events we did on Saturday. 

For the 11th, google was my friend again - this time for White Christmas.  This is a movie tradition that Jeff brought.  I had him write about it. 

On the 12th the kids had their Christmas program.  The background paper I used for these days is so cute, but really busy.  I tried to balance it out - hopefully it worked.

I sound like a broken record, but I just love this album!!  I am enjoying recording some things that I don't know if I otherwise would.

Teacher Gift

Mylie's first grade teacher, Mrs. Conn, has been a teacher for a long time.  I wanted to make something homemade, but figured she probably has a lot of things she has received as gifts over the year.  Mylie and I stumbled upon these coasters while shopping one night and I thought how cute and easy it would be to personalize them.  They were plain white, but with some cute Studio Calico paper, some modge podge, and my Cricut - we made a quick and cute gift!

A cute gift idea!

Last night I worked on some cute little gifts for some of my cute girlfriends, and one for Jeff's secret santa at work.  If you are looking for a cute last minute gift, pick up some frames from the dollar store (these are 3.5 x 5) and use the supplies that you have on hand. 

I also made cute little matching notebooks for each of them.  I love being able to make cute handmade gifts!

December Days

In addition to the December Daily book that I made, I also made December mini books for my mom, sisters, and sister-in-law.  I couldn't post them all until this week when Courtney got hers.  Here they are!  I think it is fun how different they all are.

This is the one for my mom.  She is not a picture taker so I sent a camera with her as well.  MOM - I hope you are taking lots of pictures!! 

This one is for my adorable sister-in-law Holli.  I can't wait to see it when she is done.  She is also a scrapbooker.

This one is for my darling sister Courtney.  Things at her house are busy with a 2 year old and a 10 month old.  I hope she is able to capture their Christmas season.

This is for my super cute baby sister Bailey.  She is a crafter extraordinaire.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

I can't wait to look at all the books when they are finished!

December Daily - days 5 & 6

I'm having lots of fun with this project - here are days 5 and 6:

I made a little insert between the pages for these days.  On this side I have the recipe for the cookies we made. 

And here I have a picture of the inside of the kid's letters to Santa.  I initially printed it small, but it was hard to read. 

I am so glad I went with the BIG binder rings, this is going to be one full book by the time we are done.  :)

December Daily

This year I decided that I would do a December Daily album.  The purpose of this album is to capture ALL the moments in December.  Just like everyone else, it is a busy month for us and it is easy to get caught up in the busyness and not focus on all the wonder of  Christmastime. 

I thought long and hard about what I wanted this album to look like.  I knew that I wanted to make it ahead of time so it would be easy to stay caught up.  I am printing my pictures at home, so I am able to put each page together at the end of the day. 

Drumroll please ... here is my December Daily album!

I love this cover.  To the extent that I am nerd and after I finally finished it (of course well into the AM hours), I took a picture of it on my phone so I could look at it in the night if I wanted to.  The banner, the buttons, and the snow drifts are all sprayed with Studio Calico's Mr. Huey Shine, which honestly, may be one of my new favorite scrapbook supplies!  Buttons are one of my other favorite supplies, so I thought it was fitting to make the tree out of buttons.  I used glossy accents on the star to make it sparkly. 

The back cover got some Mr. Huey Shine as well.  It is Christmas after all!

This is the inside cover.  I mixed a lot of different papers/brands in the book, but I really like the way it turned out and think it flows well.

Here are days 1-4.

The activities I talked about in days 1 and 2 were the activities from our advent calendar.  I premade a bunch of journaling cards so they are ready to grab and write at the end of the day. 

Not every day needs a picture.  On the 3rd, the kids went to Grandma and Grandpa's house so Jeff and I could finish our Christmas shopping.  I just talked about how fun it was for Jeff and I to have an afternoon together. 

So there you have it so far!  I plan to keep my blog updated with my progress on the album throughout the month.