Scrapbooking Supplies

While I did participate in December Daily in 2010, it was on a totally-not-daily basis. I created an album that I loved, but it wasn’t a big undertaking. Thus, 2011 was my first year going whole-hog and December Dailying in full paper scrapbook glory.

I finished my album on my birthday, January 14. I am so glad that it is done and love how many album came together. The process taught me a lot about my own creative process as well as informed how I might undertake the project in the future.

In this post I will share days fourteen through twenty-five of my album as well as my top lessons learned from the whole shebang. You can see my first thirteen pages in A Simple December Daily: Days 1-13.

December 2011: Days 14-25

Lessons Learned from December Daily 2011

The most simple spreads are my favorites and my plan to have controlled creativity through the grid design may have been unnecessary. Note for 2012: Embrace the beauty of more open space and wide swatches of patterned paper over too many details.
I really enjoyed finding new ways to include the daily number, but I should have created all of those in advance. This project was the first time I really got into using a lot (for me) of embellishments, but by the end I was so ready for the project to be finished that I went back to my minimalist roots. Note for 2012: Prepare even more in advance.
The 6×6 size is great for trimming 12×12 paper, but is inefficient for printing photos commercially. A 5.5×8.5 album would make full page photos even easier to trim. Note for 2012: Consider an alternate size and include even more full page photos.
I had so many photos and so much to do creative-wise, that I was skimpy on my journaling (which was all hidden on shipping tags in pockets). Since writing is not a problem for me, I would have liked to include even more of my personal thoughts on the season. Note for 2012: Plan the album around the journaling, not the other way around, and intend to go hybrid for extra wordiness.

What did you learn from your December Daily experience? How will you change your approach this year?

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In this post regular contributor and design team member Jean Manis shares ideas, products and page ideas for documenting your gratitude.

The Canadian and American Thanksgiving holidays are traditionally a time to remember all that for which we are thankful. It’s no surprise, then, that many scrapbookers create gratitude layouts at this time of year. While the layouts may feature family gatherings at Thanksgiving, gratitude layouts can certainly go beyond the holiday and feature everyday photos of people and things.

Tips from scrapping gratitude and Thanksgiving:

Focus your journaling and photos on connections between your friends and family.
If you’re short on journaling ideas, beyond “I am grateful for…” consider adding a quote. For example:

“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” –Lionel Hampton

Check out http://www.inspirationpeak.com/ and http://www.thinkexist.com/ for inspiration.
Another journaling option is to intentionally be repetitive and create a list of people, places, and things for which you are grateful. Alternatively, write a letter for your journaling.
In photos of an entire table of guests, inevitably, there are one or more people portrayed in an unflattering manner. Consider getting closer to your subjects and focus on groups of a few people in your photos instead.

In Scrapbooking Autumn I listed a number of traditional and digital products available in fall-appropriate colors which would work for Thanksgiving/gratitude layouts as well. Since that article was published, dozens of new digital products have been released. Below, I’ve included some highlights that would work well on Thanksgiving/gratitude layouts.

Thanksgiving Sentiments 1-embellishments by Karla Dudley