December Daily - Days 20 - 22

 

Days 20 and 21

Day 20 is just two layered patterned papers. I cut the
topiary from a home catalog and added a photo of our
Sunday family Zoom call.
For Day 21 I added a cute Christmas card I received this 
year and left the top portion open for a pocket. Inside I
added a flap I cut off from the same card and used it
for a bit of journaling. The border on the right edge is one-
inch punched circles sewn together on the sewing machine.

Day 22 (left)

For the number for Day 22 I added a metal charm with a
bulb pin and a bit of ribbon. The pocket is a portion of a
lace collar which I sewed to the page. Inside the pocket I
added one of this year's Christmas cards and used the inside
for journalling. 
The right page is just a half page and I didn't use it for
a daily page. I added some ribbon trim and an ornament/
gift tag from years past.

By the time this posts, we will be on our way to south Texas for Christmas. Our family has rented three cabins in a compound with lots of outdoor space and we will be social distancing as much as possible. We're looking forward to seeing three of our kids and the four grand boys. Two of the daughters will be spending Christmas day with their significant others' sides of the family.

Merry Christmas to all! Enjoy your holiday however you will be celebrating it. I will be back around the 1st with the last of my December Daily.

December Daily - Days 13-19

Day 13

This was a double-page spread. The left page is a digital paper with a die cut tree
decorated with three very old charms, brads and jewels.
The right page is a large pocket decorated with a cute illustration
from a book, an embellishment from an old Christmas card and washi tape.
On the large journaling card made from 2019 Stamperia Christmas
paper I wrote the story of our last real Christmas tree in 1988.

 

Days 14 and 15

Day 14 has a fabric ruffle glued to the edge and a belly band holding a tag.

Day 15's background is kraft wrapping paper. The tag is held on with

a paper clip I made with the red truck image from a gift tag.

I made the two tags for these days from "Franken" paper - I collaged lots
of Christmas paper scraps onto a large base of paper to make a "master board." 
Then I cut it up into different sizes for tags and journaling cards,
covering the backs with coordinating paper for writing and adding
a few embellishments on the front. This is a great way to mass produce
ephemera for journals and also use up small scraps.

Days 16 and 17

Not much going on these days so mainly just decorated these pages.
The left page has a journaling card from an old Authentique (?) paper as
a tuck holding two tags. The right page has a portion of a doily
in the upper right corner as another tuck holding a Santa journaling
card. The little white frame at the bottom is from an old Silhouette
cutting file which I watercolored and added a Santa face cut from
paper.

Collaged tags using digitals, doily, washi tape, Santa cut

from journaling card

Days 18 and 19

The journaling card marking Dec. 18 is from an old Heidi Swapp
digital kit. I used it as a tuck for a family recipe we always make at
Christmas. The right page has a pocket made from an old
Christmas card holding several journaling cards. The day's
number is on a tag from a freebie printout I had leftover from
last year.

My journal is getting super chunky! Hope it will close at the end of the month!

December Daily - Days 5-12

 Here are the last seven days' of my December Daily. I've been having so much fun adding to it.

Day 5 has a "bingo card" which I used for journaling. The presents on
 the page are cut from a catalog. On the right is the vintage Christmas card
that I glued together.

On the left you can see the paper I added to the back of the

card. I used the Santa card as a tuck with  a tag inside.

Day 6 has another journaling card as a flip. I added

tiny photos of the limited decorations I put out this year.

Day 7 has journaling on a paper I added with washi tape (No Peeking).
The stocking is from an old Christmas card and #7 is from an
old paper collection.

Day 9 on left has a doily for a side tuck. The metal number tag
is really old - maybe 7 Gypsies? I didn't want to cover all the pretty paper
 on the right page for Day 10 so just added a small label over gold mesh 
ribbon for journaling. The circle number label is from a digital
printable I bought last year.

Day 11 has a corner tuck with a collaged tag. The holly label
on the tuck is vintage. I journaled on the back of the tag.
There wasn't much going on today for Day 12 so I decorated with 
a Flinch card (number) and images harvested from Christmas
cards from last year.

December Daily - How to Organize and First few pages

 Before I post my first several pages, I thought I'd mention how I organize the myriad of supplies I use for the December Daily journal. I gather "stuff" all year and reuse received Christmas cards, advertising catalogs and fliers, ribbons and tags etc. Nothing is wasted!

I have a box of full-sized papers (which I rarely dip into as I have loads of scraps!) and one for scrap papers.  I also have a box of Christmas ribbons and a pouch of Christmas washi tape. I use several different methods to sort the many smaller embellishments.

Sometimes I separate the journaling cards (3x4 and 4x6) and assorted similar-sized paper ephemera into ziplock baggies or small baskets. One year I bought small plastic tubs (approximately 4x4) from the Target $ Spot and placed them all in a larger box for separating small embellishments. I've used a muffin tin also - great for the really little things. There are all kinds of ways to assemble your supplies but the important thing is for things to be easily seen, found and used!

The past few days I've been working on the cover, intro pages and days 1-4. I hope that seeing these might give you some ideas for your own journal. 

Cover - you can see I didn't embellish much other than adding
the JOY (from an old Christmas card) and alpha stickers. I loved the
paper on the front and didn't want to cover it. At some point
I might add some dangles to the spine and maybe a flower or ribbon
to the elastic.

The inside front cover has a Christmas countdown card on which I'm adding tiny sparkly stickers (had these for at least ten years - time to use up) for each day and the title is cut from a recent James Avery catalog. The right page is a decoupaged napkin which I also didn't want to cover. I printed a list of things to forget from this dreadful year on vellum and used 2 layers of washi tape to attach it.

Page 1 highlights the arrival of my grand boys' Elf on the Shelf.
He is in a quarantine house which my daughter made. The boys loved
it - he even has a tiny mask! I diecut the tag for a journaling spot.
Page 2 has a pocket in which I added our Christmas photo card for
this year. Underneath I journaled on the patterned paper.

Page 3 is a paper sack used as a pocket for this year's card list. Inside is a
tag made from scrapbook paper with the typed list.
No. 3 cut from an Authentique paper pad and Merry Christmas washi tape.
On Page 4 I attached the very first Christmas card that just arrived. It's a 
handmade postcard inside a decorated glassine bag. I made the paper clip
using a tiny piece of scrapbook paper.

Page 4 on the right with card removed. I die cute the ornament
for a journaling spot.

December Daily - base journal (Warning! Photo heavy)

It's that time of year again to start using a December Daily. As you may know, that is a journal used to document each day of December. It can be part scrapbook, part journal, part art journal. There are many ways to make this journal - a traveler's notebook, a gutted hardcover book, a ring-bound journal, a totally-junk journal, or repurposing other kinds of books. Last February (pre-Covid) a few friends and I gathered so I could give ideas and show them how to make one. We each made our own iteration of a base  journal that weekend so I'm ready to start decorating and documenting!

This year I die-cut Eileen Hull's Sizzix journal die to make another traveler's journal (I seem to prefer this size and format as I've done several in past years. But this is the first time I've used the die.) I used a Christmas digital printable for the cover and mostly patterned paper scraps from my stash. I've been trying to use these up since I first started a Dec. Daily 4-5 years ago and still have a stash! I have bought very little every year! Some of you who have been scrapbooking for very long will probably recognize many papers. What I like about the traveler's journal format is the pages are folded and slip into the journal's elastic binding so they can be rearranged, added to or deleted during the process. And they all don't have to be the same size. I have added in small pieces and even cards as pages.

Here's a peek-through of the base pages. I usually add the numbers as I work in the journal and I like to have all different kinds, some from patterned paper, some printed, some stamped, some stickers.

Front and back covers - digital paper

Inside front cover and first page - the poinsettia page is decoupaged napkin

Pocket on right is small piece of patterned paper with a journaling card

The wreath pattern is actually a paper bag made into a pocket

Back of card on left covered with patterned paper and a journaling card glued on
left and bottom to form a tuck spot

Two smaller pieces of paper on right with ribbon to cover the join

On the right is a vintage Christmas card

Just papers

On right is small piece of paper

Back of smaller piece covered with 2 scraps; on right a scalloped border 

added to paper for width

Pocket on right side with a card from patterned paper

Page on right is decoupaged tissue paper

Center of signature so both pages are same paper; journal card for a tuck and flip on
right is paper attached with washi tape

Paper on left is kraft wrapping paper and pocket on right is old Christmas card

Layered paper

On right is other half of the small piece earlier in journal

On left back of smaller piece

Journal card as tuck on left; belly band strip on right

Pocket on right made with two pieces of paper; added Dec. 25 tag for Christmas Day
so may have to move around in journal

Papers (washi tape on left page)

Back page and inside back cover

So that's my base journal. Now for the fun part! Stay tuned.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

I'm a little late but hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving, however you celebrated! We drove to Austin to celebrate with our two daughters there and a third drove in from New Mexico with her family and rented an Air BnB with a large backyard and patio. We all met there for Thanksgiving day for an outside and distanced feast, all wearing masks and having quarantined for the two weeks prior. Hopefully we will all be safe!

The grand boys are so good at wearing their masks, probably better than most adults! I love this collage showing some of their personalities even with the masks. It was so good to see them - it had been 8 months for the NM boys and 5 months for the Austin ones. 

I'm running behind as it's Dec. 1 and time to start working in my December Daily. Luckily I had made it early in the year so it's ready to go. I will post more about it tomorrow. 

 

Envelope Journal

 I made this for a friend, entirely out of envelopes and digital printed papers. I don't usually do purple, but I like how this turned out.

This is the front cover made from a window envelope. At the top is another window envelope cut in half that flips out to the right (see pic below).  Both have journal cards tucked inside.

On the left is the inside cover with another half window envelope that opens to right. (See below.)

On the right is another window envelope that is a pocket and this flips out to the right creating a trim-fold.

This shows all the little fold outs in this section. 

This is the back of the journal with another half envelope at the top that flips out to the left (see last pic).

This journal looks far more complicated that it actually is.  It consists of five #10 legal envelopes in all. It's like a puzzle connecting them and making the flips. Lots of fun.