December documented project

So a few of you came back again, I thank you very much!

Friday night we had a private crop at the store and I took advantage of the time to try out a new Cricut cartridge from Anna Griffin.  It has some beautiful words and images on it that I think I can use in my project. Sizing them took a bit of time since I didn't have my Gypsy with me and I really should have used a new cutting mat.

So today I started pulling some things together to make cards.  I thought I had corralled all of my Christmas stuff together last week, but found a few more stashes of paper in my "themed" paper drawer. I have a couple of plastic photo boxes that I have been throwing all of the little embellishments and things I think I might use in but they are over flowing so I had to find a bigger box.

Once again, I am torn when it comes to style decisions.  My little squirrel brain starts making something with one color palette and then - ooh, something shiny....  and I'm off on another tangent.  So my cards and pages have been deviating from what I intended originally and I'm not sure how, or if, they will all work together.  I guess I will just have to wait and see once the photos start materializing.

So here is what I ended up with for today.  What do you think?

The Holidays are Coming!

Did you miss me? I haven't updated my blog in so long, I wonder if anyone still reads it! Well, in case anyone is still out there, I thought I'd post something I am working on for the holiday season.

I am sure most of you have heard of the December Daily project, originally conceived by Ali Edwards.
If not, I encourage you to visit the link I posted above.  She has been doing this project for several years in order to document her family's daily activities during the month of December.  Each year, she creates an album dedicated just to December's events; some are holiday related, some are the ordinary everyday kind of family stuff.  Her style is simple and I love to get inspiration from her. But I am not Ali Edwards...

My style is not quite so clean and minimalist; but it is not all shabby and vintage either.  I love looking at everyone's projects on Pinterest, but I never seem to find one that is exactly my style.  I love bits and pieces of them all.  If you look at my Pinterest board, you will see what an eclectic assortment I have pinned. This is where I struggle.  I have a really hard time trying to come up with a plan for my own project.

The other roadblock I struggle with is the concept of "Daily".  Don't get me wrong; I love the idea - but I know it will never work for me.  Anyone who knows me knows what a squirrel I am (also known as adult ADD). There is no way I can do something for 25 days straight!  Take a photo every day? Sounds easy enough, but no, it won't happen. Write a journaling card out each night? Nah, can't commit to that.  Heck I can't even manage to make dinner more than 2 or 3 nights a week and that takes MAJOR planning!

So, should I even attempt this project at all?  Well, of course!  Because it just looks like fun, and squirrels just wanna have fun!  It may never get finished... but it will get started!  Actually, I'm already ahead of the game on that one.  I committed to using a Sn@p! binder in red and even decorated the cover.  Of course, choosing what is going on the inside has been a little like going to a midnight buffet on a cruise ship - I want a little of this and a little of that, and oh! I must have THAT!  Before you know it my plate is overflowing, I've gained ten pounds, and haven't eaten even half of what I picked up...

I couldn't decide on a single paper line, I couldn't choose either gold or silver accents, I don't really want a vintage look but I do want layers. I found this paper on the cover from Bo Bunny's Silver & Gold line (Ha! they used both) which I thought was perfect.  It went well with some older LYB Winterings paper I had, and the Heidi Swapp Believe line had great cards to cut up for accents. Then I found some stickers from Echo Park that I like that had grey in them, I thought those worked well. And I was off! I made a couple of 3x4 cards and collect a huge box of embellishments that I may or may not use. 

Because I know the daily approach won't work for me, and because my kids are all grown and moved away, a lot of the pre-made kits didn't make sense for me; we don't have Santa and school activities etc.  So I think my book will be more about Christmas memories.  I'd like to do a spread on favorite music, favorite recipes, and special decorations.  We'll see how it evolves.

So, if you would like to encourage me to keep up with this project, follow along, leave me nice comments, and share your adventures.  I plan to work on it some more tonight and if all goes well I will post again tomorrow.  Thanks for joining me!

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