December Daily Second Choice

Well, I'm still struggling with how I want to do my December Daily album. I've been working on a mini album and I think I like it better than the other album I was going to use. I'm not sure what I'll end up using, maybe something completely different.

I don't have the cover done yet, but here are some pictures of the inside pages. They are made using black paper bags.

This is the first page. The flaps open up to reveal pockets and tags.

 

 

 

Inside each paper bag there are two photo mat tags.

 

 

 This is the second page.

The mat with a tree on it is a tag that pulls out. The other mat opens at the middle to reveal more tags.

 

 

 

The third page is pretty simple. I made a pocket and added a photo mat inside.

 

 

On page four there's another pocket with two tags inside.

 

 

Page five isn't completely done yet. In the pocket is an envelope that will hold a letter to Santa. Behind the letter is a photo mat.

 

 

Page six has a scalloped half circle that will have a tag tucked behind it. (forgot to add it before I took the picture). Next to that is a flip up pocket.

 

 

The flip up pocket has a journaling tag that slides behind a band on the top and a booklet in the bottom pocket.

 

 

The booklet opens up to reaveal two photo mats.

 

 

I love these papers by Recollections. For a mini album I think I will be able to fit quite a few pictures and lots of journaling in this book. (Hopefully enough for 31 days)

 

I would love to hear your thoughts on using this album for the December Daily.

Cindy

December Daily Page Bases

Welcome back. I've been super busy learning all of this December Daily stuff and getting lots of ideas. My album looks a lot different than the ones I've seen on the internet, but I think I'll like the outcome.

 

I've had a lot of fun with mini albums lately and all of the interaction of the flaps and pockets so I wanted to incorporate some of those into my December Daily. The album I'm using has page protectors, which means the only way I could add a flap was to go from the top opening. I added a die cut from the Tim Holtz On The Edge die, plaque and postage. This will be used for the dates on each page.

 

The pages are all 8x8 and will hold one day and journaling on each. This should be big enough in case I want to add more than one picture. I will just have to make the pictures and journaling a little smaller than the normal 4x6. I might totally change my mind and use something completely different than this once I get started, but for now this is what I have going.

December Daily

Are you doing a December Daily album? I had no idea what it was or how it was done until a friend (thank you Sara!) posted about it on the Cricut Message Board. It sounds like a lot of fun and a good way to get some of my scrapbooking done. Sara was nice enough to give us lots of information and links to sites with more information.

From what I can gather this December Daily stuff started years ago with Ali Edwards. Here is a link to Ali's December Daily 2012 foundation pages. There is a lot of information on her blog about the December Daily project as well as Project Life.

The basic concept is to document each day in December with a photo or journaling or both.  Being a scrapbooker at heart it's a little hard for me to jump right into the simplicity of the December Daily. I love the idea and the look of the books I've seen on line, but I think mine will be a little more scrapbooky (new word there). Since I'm trying to use what I have instead of buying a bunch of (fun) stuff for this project, I dug through my closet and bins of stash. I came across a couple of 8x8 albums that I've had since 2004, unused!

The red one has pre-made Valentine's Day type of pages and the blue one has pre-made winter type pages (perfect for December). We don't get snow here in California, but I think that will be ok. Maybe one day in December we can take a short trip to Nevada and take some snow pictures.

The books only have 20 pre-made pages in each one so I'll be on my own for the additional 11 pages. I think it will be a nice way to break up all the snow flakes anyway. I'll just have to find a way to add in a little more color. I think this is going to be a really fun project. I hope I can keep up.

Update on Surgery Mini Album

Yay! I'm able to post pictures again. It's been a long process to get here, but I finally have a few more pages to share on the mini album. I was at a stand still for awhile because I had not gotten my pictures printed. I finally got that done and then had problems with posting pictures on blogger. I think I'm finally up and running now though. Lets hope it stays that way.

The first couple of pages are pictures of Scooter when he first hurt his leg. The poor thing. He didn't want to do anything but lay around, but who could blame him. Look at those sad eyes.

The next couple of pages are while we were at the hospital waiting to be seen and then waiting for the news to come back from the x-rays.

 

 

Being a scrapbooker I just had to get a picture of the x-rays. I also had to get a picture of the hook/latch in the bathroom. I thought it was the funniest thing and brilliant at the same time. My dog would be fine if I had to take him in the restroom with me, but I know some dogs would be climbing all over their owner and nobody wants that in the bathroom! For those dogs, the hook/latch (not sure what to call it) would be perfect to hook the leash to.

 

Cricut cuts: All Cricut cuts were made from Dr Check-up
Dr Visit cut at 3"
X-ray cut at 3"
In the Hosipital cut at 2 1/2"

That's all I have for today. Now that we have Thanksgiving behind us I'm hoping to get back to my room and finish up a few more pages.

Update on Blogger Storage

I have an update on my storage issue. Thanks to a lot of help from the girls on the Cricut Message Board I was able to make a little more room in my storage so that I can upload photos again. It's a long tedious process, but it's coming along. I guess I've been adding pictures completely wrong for the past two years and now I have to spend countless hours fixing it.

Instead of adding pictures to Picasa first (which will automatically resize them correctly) and then adding them to my blog, I've been adding pictures straight from my computer at original size. This, I have learned, is way too big and takes up way too much space. Anything under 800x800 pixels will not count towards used space on Picasa, so the trick is to make sure all pictures are under that size. When I looked at my pictures I found that most of them are downloaded at 1600x1200 pixels.

What I've been doing to fix my past mistake is to delete the oversized pictures and re-save them in Picasa from my computer. Picasa changes the size to something under 800 pixels and then I can go back and add the pictures back to my blog. Warning! This is a very long process. I worked on it for a couple of hours last night and another couple of hours this morning. All of that work and I only freed up 2% of space. It's enough to start doing things correctly though. I can now add pictures again, so I am happy. I will go in periodically and clean up more of the pictures when I find the time.

If you're having the same problem I hope I've given enough information to get you started in the process of cleaning up your pictures as well. Please feel free to leave me any comments or questions you might have and I'll try my best to answer. I'm still learning this so I don't know if there is an easier way, but for now this is working for me.

Cindy

Yikes! I'm out of storage.

I've been trying to add new posts, but Blogger won't let me add anymore photos. It says that I'm out of storage space. I guess tonights homework will be to figure this problem out. Until then....

Crafting Day with the Kiddos

Hello crafty friends. Today I want to share some pictures of how I spent my day last Saturday. I am so lucky to live within driving distance of my sweet grand-daughter, who is almost 2 years old. I packed up my car first thing in the morning with my craft supplies and hit the road to see my favorite girl and two of her friends.

Before the big day came I made t-shirts for the three girls.

I had bought the t-shirts a couple of months ago when they were on sale at Michael's Craft Store. The vinyl has been in my stash for awhile. It was left over from some t-shirts I made for a friend. The font is from the Cricut cartridge Feeling Groovy.

And the girls wearing their t-shirts.

Teagan will be one next week, Hailey just turned three and Khloë will be 2 next month. I had so much fun spending the day with them. Of course it was hard to keep up with them. They are FAST! Thank goodness their mommies were there to help.

Khloë was very excited to get started with the crafts.

The plan (haha, does that ever work with a 1, 2 and 3 year old?) was to make Christmas tree pictures with their hand prints and a footprint. It was actually a lot of fun and the kids had a great time. Each of the kids waited for their turn (well, maybe a little impatiently). And the end result was a great day making memories and beautiful pictures.

Happy crafting.
Cindy

Recycle, Repurpose and Reorganize

Hello friends. Today I am a guest designer over on the Cricut FANatics blog. Please go over there for more information on todays project.

This was an old floppy disc holder that my husband brought home for me to recycle and repurpose. It worked perfectly for my Cricut Circle Calling Cards.

My calling cards now sit very proudly on my desk where I can look through them and remember the fun we had. I hope you like todays project and that it gives you inspiration to find something old and make it new again.

Surgery Mini Album

Happy November! Today I have the cover of a new mini album I'm working on. I know I still need to post more pictures of the house warming mini, but I haven't taken the pictures yet. Between being sick and taking care of our dog post surgery and all of the other usual things, I haven't had much time in my craft room. I was able to start this new album though. I wanted to get it done before Scooter (our dog) goes back to the vet for his check-up. His doctor loves him so I thought she might like to see how spoiled he has been during his recovery.

For the album itself I used a couple of chipboard books from the dollar spot at Michaels. One book was square and the other book was rectangular with scalloped ends. I combined them by alternating the pages. All of the materials used came from my stash, including the books. I bought them months ago (maybe even last year) just in case....

The patterned paper is by Piggy Tales and the solid cardstock is just what I had laying around. I think all of it except the blue title background was from my old scraps. The barb wire ribbon I thought was perfect to represent stitches. I've had it for a couple of years. I love it, but couldn't figure out a way to use it until now.

The dog is from Back Yard Barbeque. The dog house is from Everyday Paper dolls. Surgery and the sling are from Dr Check Up. Scooter is from Boys will be Boys and the blue background tag is from Art Philosophy pg 45. For the grass I used a Martha Stewart icicle punch.

Once I get some of the pictures developed from Scooters surgery and recovery I'll be able to finish the inside pages. Be back soon.