reflections on my December Daily 2009

For the record, we didn't get any snow last night :( But we did have school closed due to some ice this morning.

(Link to all of the posts for this year's December Daily)

I love the concept of doing a December Daily and it will certainly be something I do every year. And every year it seems like I learn a little something about what I like and don't like. I saw Ali Edwards share her likes & dislikes so I thought I'd share mine.

I really liked using the American Crafts album this year (last year I used an acrylic cover for my album). The cover is sturdy and I can decorate it however I want (or leave it plain). And it's sturdy enough for little fingers looking through it. The D-rings make it easy to add pages and the album was just thick enough for all of my pages. However, I think next year I may choose the 8x8 instead of the 6x6. It will make it easier to add the "extras" like papers from school, tickets (like my Polar Express ticket) & letters to Santa. I found the 6x6 a little small for some of the items I wanted to add.


I liked adding the digital pages mixed in with traditional pages. I still like to keep the album more traditional but with a time constraint this year with Olivia being sick it sure helped being able to Photoshop some of my pages.

Having everything in one storage container to pull items from helped. Next year I will get a 2nd box for smaller embellishments that seemed to get lost in my 12x12 box.

Having the album done ahead of time is a must. That didn't happen with mine this year with Olivia being sick for a month & a half. I found myself scrambling more this year than I did last year. I plan on putting an album together this summer so that won't happen again!

Purchasing items ahead of time is a must, too. Since the closest really good scrapbook store (other than the obvious chains) is about 2 hrs away I have to either buy my stuff when I'm in Atlanta or buy online. And it's usually the latter. This year I started keeping an eye out for cute embellishments & tags (like the ones from Elle's Studio, Shabby Chic Crafts, etc) and purchased them back in October. 

It's a lot easier (and you're less likely to fall behind) if you work on this album either every day or every couple of days. Last year I did that...this year not so much. I was good in the beginning but then fell behind. But I still was determined to finish it. I made sure to jot down anything I wanted to remember so I could go back and journal about it. 


Have extra ink cartridges on hand if you're printing photos at home. Mine are about **empty**.



Next year I would like to add more about my thoughts about the holidays and not just the "documenting" part of the album. I did a little of that this year but not as much as I would've liked to.


I love looking through the pages of this year's album, and last year's, and seeing what we did from day to day, what changed, what stayed the same. Some things we do the same year to year. But it's fun to see the kids doing them as they get older. 

**It's so worth the time to do this album**

Did you do a December Daily this year??