Holiday Journal/December Daily 2011 (Days 1-14)

Here we go. Time to get our Holiday Journal/December Daily base pages assembled. Here's my album pages, it's going to be quite the little chunk of an album.
For my 2011 Holiday Journal I'm using the Holiday Journal Mini Album Kit that I had in my Etsy shop + items from the Studio Calico Ali Edwards December Daily Kit. I'll also be adding embellishments into my album from my own stash of supplies. This post will show photos of pages December 1-14 of my Holiday Journal. I'll post photos of pages December 15-31 in an upcoming blog post this week.

My plan:

I am planning on journaling the 31 days of December + I'll still be doing my Project Life pages for the entire month. My Project Life pages will consist of more day to day happenings in December while my Holiday Journal will focus on holiday festivities. The overall size of my journal is 6" x 6" with 2 ring binders. For each day, I'm using (2) 6" x 6" pages + I'm adding in smaller inserts in between those pages for extra journaling, Instax photos, etc. So each photo you see in this post will be for one day with the smaller inserts in between. I wanted to make sure I had lots of journaling pieces and places for *extras*. I've also placed a tan piece of cardstock on most of the layouts so that I could reference where a 4" x 4" photo will be placed. This was extremely helpful when putting together my pages.

Photos:

I plan to use mostly 4" x 4" photos that I will crop to size or print from the PostalPix app on my iPhone...or I just got a new printer so I may print at home. I'll also be using a phone app called Diptic to create 4" x 4" collage photos and of course the Instagram app. This way I'll be able to add in even more photos.

The goal:

The idea here is to keep my album simple and stress free. I want to enjoy my holiday. I spent about 6 hours putting my base pages together. I'll add in the 4" x 4" photos as I get them printed and will add minimal embellishments to complete the pages. This will include some leftover kit items + chipboard/cardstock titles + journaling. I'm hoping to get lots of the stories down this year by using the smaller insert pages. Keep it simple and stress free.

Setting up your Holiday Journal:

If you purchased a kit from my Etsy shop and want to follow my lead, here's my suggestion. Place all the 6" x 6" pages into the album first. If you want/need more 6" x 6" pages, add in more solid cardstock or patterned paper from your stash. Then start adding in the smaller items like the envelopes, index cards, etc. Then start adding in all the numbers from the Elle's Studio number sheet that you received in your kit. You'll notice in the photos that I have small clips here and there. Those are temporarily holding items in place until I get my photos into my album. I also have tons of little sticky notes attached, noting ideas for photos and journaling. Good luck, have fun and please ask me any questions that you have by leaving a comment.

The first pages will be a special section for Charlie, our new puppy. This is an early Christmas present so I wanted to dedicate a page to him. We'll each be writing a small note about Charlie and will insert it into the sewn pocket page. This was made from the lined sack that came with the kit. Tip: Take photos of cards you receive, make a collage photo and insert that into the pocket. Then recycle the cards, etc.

This will be an introduction page about the Holiday Journal. What it is, why I did it, etc.
This layout will be reserved for some holiday decorating that we do before December rolls around. Perhaps a photo of all the holiday boxes coming out of storage.
This layout will be for our family photo that we'll send out in Christmas cards. On the right is a pocket that I created by using a card list sheet from the Etsy kit. Our holiday card and perhaps a photo of all the cards stacked up and ready to mail will be inserted into the pocket.
Day 1...journaling card is from Project Life kit. Stamp on the left is from Ali Edwards.
Day 2...decorative punch along some solid cardstock.
Day 3....vintage playing card from the kit + sheet music and tags.
Day 4...Elle's Studio number plus paper doily from the kit.
Day 5...half of an envelope with Elle's Studio number with the addition of the chipboard #5 from the Studio Calico Daily December kit. Also a little flag cut from a Studio Calico Fabrip.
Day 6..clear sheet from the Studio Calico kit + candy piece from Crate Paper + page from the kit.
Day 7....lots of additional inserts including index divider and Project Life journaling card.
Day 8...with a list of 8 things that I'll journal about.
Day 9....add in plain cardstock that you punch with decorative edged punches. Also more Elle's Studio pieces.
Day 10...journaling card from Elle's Studio + stamped envelope + a ledger piece from the kit. I'll probably torture the girls and make them write letters to Santa to slip into the envelope. :)
Day 11...airmail envelope from the kit + Elle's Studio pieces.
Day 11....pieces from the kit + the cute little envelopes from the Studio Calico kit.
Day 12...little tickets and papers from my kit.
Day 13....stamped index card with stamp from Etsy.
Day 14...misted carnival tickets, tag and index divider from my kit. I used my Tiny Tim stapler a lot to assemble my pages.
Okay, stay tuned for the rest of my pages this week. My deer hunter husband's schedule is making me be the taxi driver all during deer season. So I'm off to a Sunday basketball practice with the Jordo. I think I'll do a post comparing me sitting in my stamp room for 5 hours at a time vs. him sitting in his deer stand for 5 hours at a time. That would be entertaining!