December Daily Days 9-11

Three more days to share with you today.  The more I look at this album, the more I am so happy that I did it.  Working on this mini really got me back in the swing of things as far as scrapbooking, which is wonderful because I have been in such a creative funk lately.  Can't wait to start Project Life 2012 and complete some layouts I have been thinking about.

December 9

Day 9 consisted of baking 14 dozen cookies for a cookie swap I attended on the 10th.  I tried a new cookie recipe that Becky Higgins shared on her blog.  Apparently they were really good (at least they smelled good).  I am not a chocolate mint kind of girl so I wasn't even tempted to try one.  The large snowflakes on the left are actually the gift tags that were on the presents Santa left under the tree.

December 10 

Admist a very busy day we went tree hunting.  I love how this page came out.  The fabric tag is a retired CTMH product that I have been hoarding because I just love them and didn't want to run out (I have issues...I know).  I finally figured out how to use my sewing machine and stitched it on.

December 11 ~ 

Decorating the tree.  I always have a hard time capturing this process.  I don't know if it is the set up of my room or the fact that I am shooting into the window.  I do love the picture I was able to get of the tree all decorated though.  I used one of Ali Edwards December Daily Layered Overlays available at Designer Digitals to create the collage of some of our ornaments.  I have never used Photoshop before because it frightens me, but after a few hours of youtube tutorials...I can work a layered template like a champ!

I used the December Daily format & overlays that Ali Edwards uses and many of my journaling prompts/story ideas came from Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class that I participated in this year. Click on either of the links above for more information on both of these concepts.

December Daily Days 1, 4 & 7

I am finally at a point where I can share my December Daily.  I am not quite finished as I am waiting for a few pictures and have a few pages to complete, but my book is almost complete and I am so happy with it.  I wanted to share right along all month, but I just don't have the time to craft each day...plus I needed to get over my mini book anxiety & perfectionist attitude before I could truly enjoy the process.

I will be sharing my book over the next week.  This was quite the undertaking but I will most definitely be back to complete another for 2012 as I am so happy to have these memories documented.

Enjoy

Inside front cover/title page:

The cover is a Teresa Collins chipboard cover that I purchased last year for my album (which caused all the anxiety as I was afraid to step out of my 12x12 box).  I printed Tis the Season with my printer on Kraft cardstock and made the little Christmas 2011 embellishment with my computer, some CTMH Holiday Collection Ribbon and a scrap of Anna Griffin patterned paper.  The embellishment is an idea I totally copied from Jenni Hufford.  I love her style and have used many of her ideas as well as many others throughout my book.  Scrap lifting and browsing other pages as they were posted really helped keep my mojo going when I ran out of ideas or started doubting myself.

December 1 ~

This picture is actually from 11/30 but I am ok with that as it was the absolutely perfect beginning to the holiday season.

 December 4 ~

We attended the annual children's Christmas party on Base today.  I wasn't able to snap any pictures of JT to use here as he was off with friends on the bounce house and eating cookies.  Kelsey is on her third year of volunteering as an elf so I was able to get a few of her and a group photo with Mr. & Mrs. Claus.  The back side of the insert is an instagram I printed of the kids in the truck on the way to the party.  The tree on the left page is a one of the crafts JT made that day.

 December 7 ~

Day 7 included the kid's wish lists for Santa.  We stopped mailing them a few years ago when our elf Carl came to stay with us...he brings them to Santa now.  I did take a picture though of the Santa mailbox when I was at the Post Office this week.  When JT is a bit older, I will include the story of the mailbox and how the letters get answered, but for now, the picture is perfect.  The Dear Santa arrows are cut out from clip art on my computer and the idea is courtesy of Ali Edwards.

I will be back with more tomorrow.

I used the December Daily format & overlays that Ali Edwards uses and many of my journaling prompts/story ideas came from Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class that I participated in this year.  Click on either of the links above for more information on both of these concepts.

The Christmas cards are done

Modern Christmas Christmas

Seasons greetings with personalized Christmas cards from Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Every year I tell myself that I will have the pictures done and the cards out early.  Every year I wait until the last minute and end up paying extra to get them to me so I can mail them out in time for the 25th.  But, every year, I don't really stress about it.  It seems more and more people are opting out of cards (evidenced by the decreasing number we receive each year) or sending them late like me.  I attempted to print at Walmart, CVS or Walgreens this year to save postage and take advantage of 1 hour processing, but wouldn't you know it none of the designs worked right with my pictures (mostly orientation issues) so I went with Shutterfly because I usually have good luck with their quality and shipping speed.

So, for those of you not on my mailing list (which I have paired down this year as well).  Please enjoy our Christmas card and have yourself a merry little Christmas.

Tracy

PS - I am working hard on my December Daily and hope to take a break from baking, cleaning & wrapping some time this week to post my first few pages.

PPS - Shutterfly is not endorsing this post nor have they asked for my opinion.  I did receive a $10 credit from the site for opting to embed my purchased card onto my blog, I am pretty sure anyone can receive this by doing so as I had the option after my purchase.