Yep! This year I am doing a December Daily album. 

After last years attempt (I wouldn't exactly say it was a failed attempt because I did get 18 days documented!!!), I am determined that this year I will get it completed.

In order to help myself along with this goal, I decided to purchase a kit. 

I chose to order the Documenting December kit from Jodie of Polka Dot Creative. It came with a SN@P! 6x8" binder album including some extra pages and a whole heap of papers and embellishments to make it all happen!!

My kit arrived mid November and I could NOT wait to get crackin' on some pre-planning and foundation work. To start this process though, I decided to sort through the kit and store it all in a little basket in order to keep it accessible but in the one place.

Ha! I've only just realised that I've got the Polka Dot Creative kit in a polka dot lined basket. How appropriate! LOL!

I was keen to get my coverpage, inside coverlet and a few of the first pages planned ready to insert the photos and journalling when December rolled around. 

And I did just that!!!

I created some mini paper pressies using the 6x6 Christmas paper pad in the PDC kit. I tied these up with twine. It was a little fiddly but worth it! I stuck them down onto some background paper I had cut to size that was from my stash, attached a silver frame with foam adhesive to raise it up off the page. I used part of the stamp set from Kellie Winnell of Kellie Stamps which was part of the kit and stamped it onto white card stock, punched it out and backed it with a circle cut from a green paint swatch. I tied ribbon vertically and knotted it close to the top and popped some flair from the A Piece of Cake Designs flair set in the kit.

And that was done. 

I didn't want to over-do my front cover and I think I achieved that goal. It's rather simplistic but says CHRISTMAS to me - and that's what I wanted. Job done!!

My inside cover was fun to do!

It's no secret that I LOVE sequins. They just add an easy pop of colour and sparkle to pretty much anything!! I used one of the full 6x8" pocket pages and attached our family title on the front outer layer and stitched across the letters for added security - and it looks rather effective too I think. I used the gold Thickers supplied in the kit.

I stitched down one side, the bottom and the other side of the pocket - poured in a variety of Christmas coloured sequins and the vellum stars from the kit, and secured it all by stitching across the top. And I've got a pretty sparkly shaker-pocket title coverlet!!

I had stamped another circle the same as the front cover from the kit set - only this time I cut the circle dividing the 'December Daily' from '2013'. Popping one of the patterned card inserts behind my shaker title page, I adhered the 'December Daily' part of circle to the top right corner and the '2013' part to the bottom right of the page.

DONE!!

And now that December is here, the documenting has begun!!

I have completed days 1-3 but have only fully photographed Day 1 so will share that now. 

December 1, we went to the beach and we took a family photo, which I used as our first photo in the album. I embellished around the larger size photo (5x7") using the washi tape, and offcut papers from the kit paper pad and my stash.

That evening we put up the tree together and I documented that by creating a collage on my phone using Diptic and printing it out as a 6x6" square. I cut the little photos out and attached in a little tag booklet that was in the kit. It sits in a paper pocket I created.

Here it is...

The number one was just a punched out circle from a gold paint swatch, a stamped number '1' (I used an Amy Tangerine stamp set from an SC Project Life kit). I glued a rim around the edge of the circle and sprinkled it with glitter to add some sparkle!

As for the 'hello december' card - I created that myself. It was basically a pile of punched circles from some different green patterned papers and gluing them down on a 6x4" grid card overlapping each other to create the background. I used washi tape, twine, letters and wood veneer stars and arrow to embellish it as is in the photo!

And the tree was UP!!!

You will notice two little girls with tinsel-tied hair on this page too.

Yep! We decorate our kids before the tree around here!! hehe ;-)

Day 1 was done.

I just love seeing my kids enjoy the traditions we have established in our home.

Christmas time is such a joyful time - I just love it!!

I will be back with more as soon as I get it all snapped!!

With Sprinkles of Sunshine...

Anna