December Daily 1-5

It's that time of year again. Time for December Daily. Yay! This is one of my favorite projects and I recommend it to everyone. This project (however you decide to put it together) documents the month of December, leading up to Christmas. The idea is to create the album prior to December and then all you have to do once December arrives is to fill in each page as you go. I love this project because it makes  me focus on the season, to remember its purpose, to take notice of all the good and beauty of the season. You can read more about the idea on Ali's blog.

This year, however, I wasn't sure I wanted to create an album. It's been a bit of a rough time these days and I didn't know if I could be merry and bright. If I'd have anything cheery to document. But after thinking about it for a few days, I decided I definitely needed to do it. Needed. I knew it would help me to keep perspective and to see all the good in my life. The exact purpose of the project. Hello. It took me a bit, but I got it. I will let the holiday spirit work in me.

This year I chose to make a 4x6 book full of patterned paper held together by a couple of rings. Each double page spread will hold the journaling on one side and the other side will hold the photos.  Simple, simple. The cover is white cardstock misted with Tattered Angels Candy Apple Red. I love how it turned out. I'm using the Echo Park Everybody Love Christmas line. And bits of Jillibean Soup and American Crafts. It's going well so far. I've used pre-made albums in the past, so I'm enjoying the flexibility of this handmade album.

Here is the title page and days 1-5 before and after.

Title page:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

You can see a few of the pages from my 2009 daily here and a few of the pages from 2008 can be seen here. I will post more pages as I get them done.

Enjoy the season!