Monday, July 29, 2013

December Daily Simple Setup + Giveaway


December Daily Simple Setup + Giveaway

I have never put together a December Daily.  This is a first shot for me.  So I had to really sit down and think about what I wanted to accomplish with this.  I want my family to know why we celebrate Christmas, what are the traditions that we have, tell the funny stories, and recall important Scriptures & Prayers for the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. 
So my thought process is that if I set up my December Daily now, I have no reason to procrastinate later ~ Right?  Well I am sure I will find excuses and reasons to justify why I am behind, but that is on me.  I have decided that I will not put on the pressure for 1 picture every single day or that the photo be in order, for that matter.  I have one card for journaling, one card for the date #1 – 25, and one spot open for a photo.  On a side note, I will included these pages in my regular Project Life album, and will not be making it seperate. 
For a couple of weeks I have been brainstorming on how to make this flow with ease.  So I started with my stash, gathering Christmas-themed papers and rummaging through my washi tape.  Here is a photo of what I came up:  Baseball Trading Card pocket pages purchased from Target (cards will need to be 2 ½”  x 3 ½”) a great deal $4.99 for 35 pages!, 25+ of Becky Higgins grid cards, a stack of my random Christmas papers already cut down to 4x6 size, corner rounder, washi tape & the piece that made this project super easy was  Sleigh Ride vellum tags & numbers from Crate Paper.  These vellum pieces were gifted to me earlier in the year & so I have 2 sets!  One which I will be giving away!  Yes, a GIVEAWAY!!!  More on that later ...

 
Next is the most timely step.  Cutting, trimming, and rounding corners.  I took 25 of Becky Higgins grid cards and trimmed them down to the size that would fit in the pocket pages 2 ½ “x 3 ½ “ and then rounded all those corners.  My corner rounder doesn’t match up perfectly, but it does the trick with a pretty decent outcome.  I wanted to have my pattern papers matted, so with the white cardstock cut strips of 2 ½ “and then cut the 3 ½ “mark to finish off the card… back to rounding all corners.  And finally the Christmas-themed pattern papers, I cut to size 2” x3” and again rounding corners.  I put away my paper trimmer & corner rounder at this point I wouldn’t be needing it again. 
The fun part for me was coordinating the papers in the order I wanted them to go.  The papers I used for the December Daily I really don’t even know the brand names anymore.  Because they have been hanging around so long, recently I went and cut all of the 12x12 papers into 4x6 size.  So they were super easy to grab my stack & select a few favorites.  Next I placed each vellum number circle on the pattern paper attaching with a piece of washi tape. Then I glued down the pattern paper on to the white cardstock, for a nice finished look. 
 

 
I placed them in the pocket pages & there ya go… now we are just waiting for Christmas to fill in our memories & photos.  There are still a couple of things I might add at a later time for embellishing.  I might include some stitching, sequins & I would really like to distress all the edges of the cards with ink.  But thats only if I make the time!  You get out of it what you put in to it, every time ~
 

  
 
 

One more thing to help with the process as the Christmas season approaches, I am creating a prompt list.  This will help with the journaling ideas & prompts for photos.  I will blog about this in a couple of weeks so follow me & maybe I’ll share a cute printable of my prompts.
So the giveaway…. I know you are excited!  I will be giving away one package of the Sleigh Ride Vellum Tags & Numbers!!!  + a couple of extras.  Leave a comment below & tell me of your favorite Christmas season memory or tradition.  Merry Christmas in July!  I will draw a random winner on Wednesday, July 31, 2013. 




 
 Thank you for reading!  Now you may continue with your Summer!!!   :)