December Daily done
I love to make a December Daily journal each year. Even more than that, I love to look back over those I’ve made in previous years which contain a wealth of memories, family traditions and stories. But of course, it’s the busiest month of the year too and I frequently find myself completely behind with it all and need to catch up from time to time.
This year, in particular, I was never up to speed with it all.
Usually, I find a pack of Christmas paper I like and buy one or two bits and pieces which go with it. I’ve got a stack of ribbon and other shiny things and I create my own journal as I go along. I read the blog and admire the work of Ali Edwards, so when I saw she was having some input to a 25 Days online workshop via Studio Calico, I thought I’d sign up and see what I could learn from her.
Enrolling for that class opened up the chance to buy a December Daily kit, too, and though I felt it was an expensive option, I weighed up the cost of buying all those bits and pieces and went for it. If I say the photo shows what was left over, then you’ll guess, there was quite a bit in that kit! Not only did it contain printed papers, rubber stamps and all the usual embellishments, there were also many files online to download, including cut files for the Silhouette. Whilst most of it was well coordinated and worked well together, there were some anomalies and a couple of really strange inclusions, so I felt no pressure to use every bit of it. The other downside was that none of this was available until December 1st.
When we were in Philadelphia.
As a result, I didn’t even begin until the 6th December and ever since then, I’ve been days and days behind. Still, once I did get going on it, I found it all came together fairly easily. even if I do have to spend ages fiddling about with each page arrangement until I’m happy.
Actually, what took most time was looking through the wealth of goodies I had to choose from, deciding what I wanted to use where and what I wanted to save for another day. The online “class” wasn’t really anything of the sort but a mere series of pdfs with ideas from a group of people to show how they used the papers and ephemera in their December Daily journals – and the Ali Edwards input which had attracted me in the first place was minimal. Still, it was interesting to see how differently people interpreted the brief and used the components. Being me, I couldn’t simply “lift” their ideas but had to do my own thing (though of course, at times I found I liked what I saw there and did something rather similar).
I liked many of the items included in the kit and was pleased to try out for myself some of the things I see mentioned from time to time. I now see why people use their sewing machine to fix Thickers letters on their pages – because the adhesive on them is so poor they fall straight off the page! They do look good, though.
I especially like the sheet of little glossy dots, three of which can be seen on the page above. I’ve no idea what they are but I’d look for them again. Enamel dots!
Normally with a December Daily journal, the challenge is to find a set of numbers with enough ones and twos to cover the whole month. Because this set had been put together with the express purpose of creating such a book, this was no problem at all – in fact, as you can see, there was a wealth of choices, especially for the big day!
My favourite was the set of little wood veneer tree shapes and I’ll look out for those again. I can’t be alone in liking those, because I see they’re out of stock in most places but they will surely return.
Am I pleased with the end result? Well, yes I am. Was it worth the price of the kit and the class? Hmmm…
Five years ago, I signed up for Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas. It’s a once and for ever enrolment and each day in December, Shimelle delivers a set of prompts and ideas to my email inbox every day. I don’t have to go to a website, log in or do anything else…it’s just there. Because I’ve followed her prompts and suggestions for five years, I felt I was getting a little stale and needed a new challenge. But guess what I’ll be doing next December? Ultimately, I felt that this year’s December Daily journal has been very product driven. Each page has got way more “stuff” on it than I’d usually include and though I’ve tried to use it carefully, it’s not really my style. Actually, there’s more journalling than it appears in the photographs because I’ve hidden most of it behind flaps and in pockets. But I prefer my pages to be more than a single photograph and an abundance of “stuff”, so next year, I’ll be back to my usual story telling style with a bit of this and that to adorn the content rather than vice versa.
But oh my, have I got a collection of resources on which to draw when next December comes around!
