December Daily 2015 – The Finale

I am so happy to announce that I have completed my December Daily album for 2015! In fact, I finished my album on December 26th. I love, love, love this project and I am looking forward to doing it again in 2016.

There is something about taking time to document your everyday activities, your everyday life. December is always very busy for me (as it is for everyone) so keeping up with this project proved to be challenging at times. But, I was committed to this project and I was determined to keep it simple.

This was my second year doing this project. My approach was a bit different. When I did this album in 2014 (finished the album in 2015), I didn’t take the time to really understand the process. I sort of did my own thing without much guidance or a plan. I did not complete layouts daily and I only wanted to document the special holiday moments that take place for my family in December. And that approach is fine. However, what I found is that I missed the point of the project.

I wanted to go back to basics in 2015. And that’s exactly what I did.

Before getting started, I took the Ali Edwards Storytelling with December Daily class. I highly recommend that you take this class! Ali shared her wisdoms, suggestions, and advice for tackling this project. Next, I purchased the Ali Edwards December Daily Kit. Ali has a very clean and simple style which I absolutely adore so her kit was perfect for me. I also purchased the Scraptastic Stocking Stuffer kit to supplement.

I spent two days prepping my album – this is such an important step! I am typically the type of scrapper who is a “game time” decision maker. I let pattern paper and embellishments guide me in most cases. However, since this project is mainly about storytelling, I didn’t want to get caught up in embellishing. Prepping the album in advance saved me so much time! There were days when I was able to knock out layouts with no problem. And then there were days when I would come home, dog tired, not really in the mood to tell a story. Having the embellishing done in advance allowed me to focus on the story and not feel forced to make design decisions when I just wasn’t feeling it!

I am very deadline driven so I set a goal to finish my December Daily on December 26th and I accomplished that! I felt so proud of myself! I think I deserve a happy face sticker!!!! Yay! The album is done and ready for all to enjoy.

Is my album perfect, no.

Is my album done, YES!

Did I tell a lot of really good stories, YES!

Did I tell some “not so great” stories, YES!

And it’s all good!

A few take aways:

Not all of your stories are going to be great. I suggest that you keep it real…tell it like it is. Sometimes the story will find you and other times you will find the story.
Do not focus on perfection. You will love some of your layouts and you will dislike others…that’s okay!
Don’t compare your December Daily albums to other December Daily albums! It’s okay to be inspired or to model other scrappers…but do what feels right for YOU! Make it yours!
Take the Storytelling with December Daily class! Just do it! Trust me…you will learn so much about Ali’s process and how to make it your own! If not Ali’s class…check out some of the tutorials on YouTube. Try to understand the process before you dive in.
Be flexible and make it your own! This project should be fun and NOT stressful! There will be some days when you do not want to work on your album or perhaps you work on some pages over the weekend. It’s okay!
Focus on the story FIRST!!!!! This is a documentation of your life for 25 or 31 days! How cool will it be to look back on these moments years from now!
Set a goal to finish your album! It doesn’t matter if you have 10 stories of 31 stories…just tell the story and get it done!
Truth: Some of your stories may not always be happy or joyful. It’s okay to document those “not so perfect” moments. Telling these stories shows that we are human and not all of our memories are going to be perfect.

Most of all…ENJOY THIS PROJECT! Have fun and do not stress!

Here’s a tour of my December Daily 2015 Album!