December Daily 2010 | Days Four and Five

One of the things that I love, and also one of the things that's the most challenging, is the busyness that comes with the holiday season.  This last weekend was all about trying to find the balance between doing the fun things I want to do with some of the other tasks I have to do.  I think my pages are going to reflect more and more as the month goes on.  So, I'm keeping it simple so that I actually have a chance to do this album.  Even though there's not a ton of embellishing, I'm really loving how each page turns out. 

DAY FOUR

For the front of day four I printed out two of my favorite photos from the day. Matt holding Maggie on the left, and Katie doing crafts with the other children at Kenneday's birthday party. I love that she just got right in and played even though she was the oldest one there! : ) The "tis the season" saying is from Ali Edwards' Hand Drawn Holiday Brushes and Stamps. I've been doing a lot of hybrid with this album...I love how I can add little somethings to my pages and yet it's so easy to do (once I learned how to use the overlays, etc. that is).

For the back I glued a sheet of Bazzill Basics cardstock in Pomegranate to the back of my original foundation and adhered a bag from Starbucks.  Then I added my journaling to a Holiday Title + Journal Photo Overlay, and added some rub on words from the Making Memories Noel Collection Advent Calendar Rub Ons and adhered that to the page. 

JOURNALING:  Today was a Saturday, definitely more busy than usual.  Highlights of the day include: - swim lessons at the Y - brunch from Starbucks (loaded oatmeal and sugar free Cinnamon Dulce: love!) - Kenneday’s birthday party at the Boone’s - Oregon beat Oregon St. 37-20 during the Civil War game. - trip to the mall to pick up a Christmas gift - decorating the tree and visiting at Grammy and Papa’s house.  The day was filled with to do’s and places to be…the best part was spending time with friends and family we love.

DAY FIVE

Day Five highlights our attempt at making gingerbread houses.  One of those things you have to go with the flow with for sure.  For the front I added some words to some photos of the kids in Photoshop and matted it onto the French Vanilla Bazzill Basics cardstock I'm using for this album.  I also added a strip of the Making Memories Noel Words patterned cardstock from the 8x8 paper pack.  The journaling is actually hidden underneath the photos.  I adhered a tab with a 3" file tab punch from McGill added some letters using the Making Memories Noel Wordfetti Stickers.

Here are a few close ups of the edited photos.  I just love my sons grin...it is so him. 

And this is so Katie...

And here's a shot of the inside with the journaling.  I also added more of the Words paper as well:

JOURNALING:  Tonight was one of those moments where you just kind of have to go with the flow.  The plan was to decorate mini gingerbread houses.  Normally I buy a kit but this year I thought it would be fun for the kids to each do their own little house.  However, once we started trying to build houses we realized that the icing just wasn’t going to hold them together.  Time to improvise!  Instead the kids just decided to get creative with the supplies and make all kinds of gingerbread creations, form silly faces to houses, vehicles, and other fun shapes.  Of course, the best part was tasting and eating what they’d made.  I love the holidays and chances like this to bless my kids!

For the back I printed out some more photos from our activity and matted them onto cardstock.  I also used Word to make this title block.  This is an idea from the December Daily templates available at Designer Digitals, I thought it would be neat to kind of create something custom for myself.

So far I really like how the album is turning out.  I'm kind of giving myself the freedom to not feel boxed in with my foundation, changing it if I need/want to depending on what I want the page for that day to look like.  I'm also behind a few days on posting.  Of course there seems to be an endless list of things for me to do each day, and putting this together isn't at the top of the list.  I"m trying to fit it in when I can find time though.  Also reminding myself that it's supposed to be fun, and not something to get stressed out over!  If I don't have time to work on it not to stress and try and force it.  I'd rather do it when I have time and can enjoy it...I'm sure a lot of people doing this project can relate!