10x10 List: A Bucket List for Kids

Recently I was reviewing my 30x30 list and my oldest son got really interested in it. We talked about what a bucket list was, and after our discussion he decided he wanted to make a list of his own. We decided on a 10x10 list, and he wrote down 10 things he wants to do before he turns ten. Some of them are surprising, some of them are so him, and others are going to take a lot of work to accomplish, but this is a great way for he and I to embark on a project together.

When he had finished his list I picked up a Simple Stories SN@P album, and made a foundation for documenting his journey to cross things off his list. Here is a peek:

The Album cover, tried to use his favorite colors, yellow, orange, and Turquoise.

This cover was made using this sketch challenge for the Paper Bakery. They have the cutest scrapbook and project kits, so make sure you go check them out. I haven't subscribed yet, but they sure are tempting!

Close up on the title.

Most of the embellishments are from Freckled Fawn's Oh Deer Me monthly kits. I was lucky enough to go to their booth at Scrapbook USA a couple of weeks ago and instantly fell in love with their gorgeous embellishments! So much so that I decided to subscribe! I can't wait for my first monthly kit to arrive! The acrylic arrows are from their December kit, the little resin cameo and the striped overlay card is from the February kit, and the "seriously, so cool!" banner is from the March kit. SO MANY CUTE THINGS. If you fall in love like I did make sure you use me as a reference when signing up and we will both get $5 to use in their store!

The wooden stars and the orange polka dot washi are from Micheal's recollection brand, and the cute little bling dots are from the Walmart scrapbooking section. The white foam letter stickers are American Crafts brand thickers. The frosted "list" letters are from Heidi swapp. The little white star stickers and the "adventure awaits" sticker are from Me and My Big Ideas.

I plan on doing another blog post to show you the insides of this fun little album. So make sure you check back to take a look!

I'm also excited to say that I'm hoping to start blogging some more! I've got some goals I am trying to meet, and part of meeting those goals means I need to be better at blogging, taking pictures of my work, and linking them up for some exposure. So, it shouldn't be 3-6 months between blog posts. (I know guys, I'm so terrible at this blogging thing!!!)

I want MORE out of 2014

So I was suppose to blog yesterday... but I didn't... so here I am today, getting it done. No MORE procrastination!

As many of you know the past few years i have picked a word for the year. This process is called "One Little Word", and came about from a wonderfully amazingly talented woman Ali Edwards. You can read more about the projects on her blog. She offers a year long workshop, which is amazing! I have loved it! This will be my second year doing the workshop, and it is so worth it.

Anyway, this years word was very hard to come by, I thought about it for MONTHS. I needed a word that was going to help me get back to a point that I could flourish again (flourish was my word f or 2013, and it was great, but I lost my ability to flourish somewhere along the way). There was so much in my head, and nothing was coming up as THE word. I made lists and lists and lists, I would get there, and then cross everything off and start again. I finally decided on a word that could encompass many of my words, but it took me a while to share it, because it felt really selfish. The word I chose was "MORE". It took a while for me to be able to explain why that was my word, and I am still kind of learning why. I want more of a lot of things right now, I want more shenanigans, more devotion, more creativity, to be more conscious, more happiness, to complete more and be more complete, more sharing, more learning, more loveliness, more purpose, more community, and more abundance, just to name a few. And the reason I want more, is because I am worth more. I've been in a pretty bad depression lately because I have felt worthless, and I'm hoping telling myself I am worth more, and having more to work towards will help me get to the other side of this depression. 

Anyway, On to the pretty stuff.
I got to work on some of this month's prompt. I still need to finish up some of it, but I love what I have so far. I decided to incorporate my one little word into project life this year, to help give myself momentum on both projects. Here is what I've got.

 The top left card says "Hello There More One Little Word 2014", the top right card is a definition and thesaurus entry. The middle row has a fold out journaling card, with a bit more about why I chose my word, then a photo of me (thank you Disney photopass photographers for getting at least one good shot of me!), the "make your word visible" graphic that Ali shared as part of the workshop, and a little card with an Ampersand. I choose an ampersand as a symbol for my word this year, as one of the synonyms for more is "and". The bottom row has two quotes that contain my word.

I really love how it turned out! It has me excited to continue! I've got a second "Intentions" page I am still working on that will be opposite this page.

I also picked up some little wooden letters that I covered with Washi tape that spell out "MORE". My intent is to put them on a wall, and each month add a quote that corresponds with what I want from my word that month on the wall as well. It's my way of trying to "Make My Word Visible".

So there you have it folks! A new blog post, a new word, and a new year!

Mickey Helper Ticket System

As many of you know our little family has been planning a trip to Disney World for a while now. We put a deposit down about nine months ago and have slowly been paying it off and it is going to be an amazing trip! I've done so much research, and we've talked about everything we want to do and how much fun we are going to have, and the boys are SO EXCITED!
With that being said I don't want my kids growing up thinking we are just going to give them whatever they want without them working for it. This trip is going to cost us a lot of money, and I feel like they need to do their part to "earn" the trip.

Enter the Mickey Helper tickets.

I sat down with the boys and explained to them that going to Disney world was a privilege and that privileges need to be earned. We talked about how they needed to do their part around the house and be "Mickey's Helpers" so they could earn their trip. They seemed to understand and we moved on to developing the ticket system.

I asked them what things they wanted to do when we went to Disney and we built a list of activities like swimming in the pool at the hotel, going to Magic Kingdom, eating lots of desserts, and going to Mickey's Halloween party. All in all we had about 20 things make the list! We then asked them how many tickets they thought they should have to earn to do each thing. They did a really good job assigning the values to things, swimming in the pool got just one ticket, while Mickey's Halloween Party they gave a value of 25 tickets!

Once we had assigned how many points each thing cost we talked about what they needed to do to earn those tickets. We discussed chores and good behavior, made a list, and assigned the tasks and chores ticket values from 1 ticket to 3 tickets. For example putting 5 dishes in the sink earns 1 ticket. helping mop the floor earns 2, and getting through an entire outing without a fuss earns 3 tickets! There were a few things they tried to lobby for more tickets on, such as taking medicine without a fuss which my oldest deemed worth 15 tickets (and the way he fights it it just might be worth it!!). But for the most part I felt they did a good job choosing how many tickets each chore would be worth.

We made little jars for them to house their tickets in during the week, and every Sunday we will count the tickets and fill in the correct number on their goal charts. 45 days before our trip if they haven't earned enough tickets to cover the cost of the trip we will discuss what they have to give up or change to make our trip fit their "budget" and finalize our plans. the last 45 days before the trip they will earn tickets for souvenirs and such. They can redeem them for specials treats, desserts, pressed pennies, disney dollars and standing in character lines (we are doing many character meals, so they will meet a lot of characters doing that, so they decided they had to spend tickets to see others).

They valued the overall trip we have planned at about 250 tickets, and there are 224 days until our trip, so they only have to earn a little over 1 ticket a day to "pay" for the trip, which I think is more than doable for them. We told them that if they have extra tickets left over after the trip they can use them to start earning our next family vacation.

If you are planning a trip to Disney and would like to adopt the "Mickey Helper Tickets" System you can print out the PDF's here: It includes a blank chore chart to fill out (with space on the bottom to put each child's name), labels for Helper jars, and the charts to fill in.

All you need to get started is a Mason Jar for each kid, and a roll of tickets! We are using these ones http://www.amazon.com/2000-Blank-White-Raffle-Tickets/dp/B005NBQ0FK/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1359400253&sr=8-16&keywords=blank+tickets

I still have to put some of our stuff together, but I will update this with a picture of our jars, the chore chart, and the canvas I am mounting the helper meters on as soon as they are finished. It has been fun developing it, especially since the boys have been so eager to help with it!

Be on the lookout for more Disney printables and projects as we start diving into the real planning! We've got a planning night planned for this next month, and you better believe we will be having some fun stuff with that!

Cinderella is Back from the Ball!

So I haven't posted in almost a week, and I have so much I should have been posting! I've got my December Daily stuff that needs to get posted, an Old Navy Sweater Review post, A tour of my house all Christmasified, my 12 days of Christmas countdown calendar, crafty stuff for the cookie party that is on Wednesday, and the Smash Ball I went to Saturday! So much goodness to go over, but I think I will have to start with the Smashball!

So here is what the Smashball is. Basically a bunch of wonderful ladies get together with their Smashbooks (which you can purchase all over the place, even on Amazon!) and have access to a HUGE array of scrapbooking products to smash to their hearts content!

I had seen the original Smashball on the fabulous Becki's blog Whippy Cake and had been so disappointed to find it was in Arizona, far far away. :( It sounded like such a fabulous event that I couldn't help but want to attend. I stored it away, and pouted a little to my husband about how much I wanted to go.

Well, long story short, a few months later I learned that Becki was bringing the Smashing fun to Utah!!!! She was having a giveaway for a ticket, and I jumped right on that, knowing that the $70 ticket was a little more than I could afford to spend right now. Unfortunately I didn't win a ticket, and I was so bummed. :( How was I going to go to the Ball without a ticket? Sad face ensued, and a few days of moping around sad that I would not be going to this fabulous event I had been dreaming about. :(

So Friday rolls around (the day before the Smashball), and I get an E-mail from Becki with a special promo code for a discounted ticket to the "Ball". With the ticket now only $50 it is suddenly in my price range to attend, since my birthday is next week, and my husband had not yet purchased a gift. So I got the okay from him, and started looking into how I would get there, and how I would get home. 2.5 hours on the bus would get me there on time, but I would have to leave at seven to get home by the same route, cutting my fun time down by 4 HOURS! So I got on facebook, posted a plea on Whippy Cake's facebook page and soon found someone else who was going that was willing to drive me home! So I bought a ticket an was off on my adventure!

My hubby had to work that morning, so I met him at the Trax station by his work with the boys. I then went and hopped on the new South Frontrunner. They were having a free day, so I got all the way from Murray to Provo for just a can of food! Of course I had to stand all the way there (about an hour and 15 minutes altogether) and my back was starting to kill by the time I got down there, but it was well worth the savings! The train was much roomier than I would have thought, and had it not been a free day I think I would have had a much better experience on my ride. It was fun to take Frontrunner for the first time, and my boys wish they had come too!

I got off the Train in Provo, asked someone which way University Avenue was and began walking the mile to the venue... silly me somehow got turned around though, and I ended up walking nearly a mile in the WRONG DIRECTION. When I finally figured it out I had a mini panic attack! Here I was in a city I hardly knew, lost... I then remembered that I am now the owner of a smart phone, and I typed the address into google maps and the wonderful GPS led me all the way back, past the train station, over the overpass, and straight to center street. I sighed in relief as I saw the Temple construction site.

I had a little time to kill, so I walked around for a bit, taking in center street, and then was drawn into the Indian Food place India Palace that was across the street from our venue for the night. It just smelled so good I could not help myself!

After eating I was off to the Ball! I received some wonderful swag! I wish I had got some better pictures of the event, but my phone was going dead, so I didn't want to waste the batteries, just in case. There were all kinds of fun accessories, scrapbooking elements, charms, so much goodness! I was so excited! There were some candles from Gold Canyon Candles that smelled amazing (ginger lime, OMG it was the best smelling candle EVER, and packed such a big punch for such little candles!). There was also some earrings from Hoopla Earrings that I just LOVED (so much that I put them on right away!) And of course there were some lovely headbands and clips from Whippy Cake! There was so much fun stuff! Oh, and can't forget the Grandma's cookie!! My favorite cookie in the world!

After I was good and done looking at all the goodies in the swag bags I made my way over to the "Buffet" This was not your typical buffet though. This was every paper crafters dream. A giant table filled with every embellishment you could possibly imagine! Bins, and plates, and cupcake holders FILLED with fabulous swag, and we could take as much as we wanted! It was all up for grabs, there were stickers, letters, pockets, ribbons, feathers, lace, rhinestones, paper, clips, brads, flowers, washi tape, stamps, ink, it just went on and on!!! I must have visited the buffet at least a dozen time during the night, and every time I came back with even more wonderful stuff! It was AMAZING!

I had forgotten my pictures to smash, so I didn't get a ton done, by I had so much fun getting to know the ladies at my table! They were all so much fun and were very welcoming. I was so nervous, since I had never been to something like this, and they made me feel so welcome. Alexes Brown, Jenny Purcell Nielson, Lori Allred, Staci Potter, and the other ladies at our table were awesome! So glad I met them, and hope I see them at other things in the future!

All of this made me realize that I need to be branching out more and meeting new people with my interests. The last few years I have pretty much become a hermit out of necessity, due to Dominic's schedule, and it has really not been good for me. I have been missing out on meeting people and doing things that I enjoy. I have been so focused on getting him through school and taking care of my boys that I have lost sight of all the things I once enjoyed! I need to start getting more involved in the crafting community we have here. Everyone I met was so wonderfully awesome, and I had more fun than I had had in a long time. It was so good for me! This will not be the last thing like this I attend, that's for sure!

I am so glad I got the opportunity to go to this! Thank you so much to all the sponsers. K&Company, Spark the Event Online, Carina Gardner, Amy Burchfield from GC candles, Hoopla Jewelry, Ellie Collection Jewelry, and of course Becki from Whippy Cake who made this whole thing happen! It was an amazing night, and I really enjoyed getting "Smashed". LOL!

December Daily- We are Ready to Rock

Over the last few weeks I have been working on setting up my December Daily Album for this year. I've already shown you my Foundation pages, and the first Draft of my cover. Now it's time to dig into the fun stuff I have put inside! I've also got some pictures of the supplies I have gathered to use throughout the month, and a fun idea for getting the whole Family involved in December Daily.

I apologize in advance for the less than stellar pictures. I am still trying to figure out the best settings on the camera I own, and my computer with my editing software is being buggy today, so these are SOOC (or Straight out of camera for you folks who don't deal with camera terminology).

Let's start off with my updated cover. I added a glue rub-on tree which I then glittered. I added some rhinestones for ornaments, and a chipboard star for the top. I also altered the back a little, just extended the washi tape to cover the entire spine on the back. I failed to get a picture of it though. My boys are loving looking through it already and are super excited to get started this weekend!

I gathered a bunch of supplies together to make the recording and embellishing more easy. These are going to be set on my kitchen counter near the table so I can quickly get some recording done without pulling out any additional supplies. The red utensil container has a few ink pads, a couple smash stamps, 9 rolls of washi tape, several adhesives, rhinestones, glitter, a rub-on applicator, and various pens.

I also gathered together stickers, journaling cards, die-cuts, rub-ons, envelopes, extra page protectors, etc. These I put in a cute tin I found at Ikea, I put little cards in that separate each catagorey for easy access.I also have a small paper cutter and a 3-hole punch that I have adjusted to punch holes that fit in the album.

Now on to some of the things I have already added. I love adding in all kinds of memorabilia from throughout the month, but some things come from earlier and fit with what I want in my album, so I include those too!

I took one of our Christmas Cards and cut it in half (removed the back) I then punched it with my hole punch and insrted it into the album. On the other side of it there was a big blank space so I added a little die cut that says 'Seasons Greetings" and a handwritten note that says "Our Christmas Card". Looking back I wish I had picked a Christmas card that was horizontal rather than vertical so it would have looked better in the album. Oh well, there is always next year!

The other thing I have put in is Ryan's "Letter to Santa" He drew a picture of what he says is "Lego guys", because that is what he wants for Christmas. if only I had known that BEFORE I finished my Christmas shopping for him. Jack had one as well, but he spilt milk on it, so I am going to have him do another one later this month.

 Now on to the fun stuff!! This is mostly just for looking at, so I won't talk to much about them. If you have a question leave it in the comments and I will try to answer it. These first pictures are all of dividers I made for throughout the album.

And then there are some fun little inserts. There are more of these, but I only photographed a few. Many of them are on the backs of envelopes, so there will be little pockets to put things in throughout the album.

I also have a little notebook that my Mother-in-law sent me a few months back that I am going to keep with me while we are out and about throughout December so I can jot down anything that I want to remember to put in the album.

You'll notice I didn't put any numbers on my pages. I want t be able to move the little inserts around wherever they fit best. The foundation pages I have each have the date, and i have some numbers I have cut to add if I feel like it.

So there you have it, all the basic elements of my December Daily Album for 2012! I think this is the most on the ball with this I have been in a while! So proud I have gotten this far with it!

To make this project more of a family affair I have made a fun list of random things to take pictures of throughout December. It's about 100 items long, so there are some pretty obscure things in there! Every day each family member has to take a picture of at least one thing on the list. I purchased a cheap digital camera for my boys to use (It was free! Just had to pay $2 for shipping! Score!). I imported the list into my "Cozi" App on my new smartphone so that we can check things off the list wherever we may be. Not all the pictures will make it int the album, but some will, and it will be a fun was to get the whole family involved in the project!

DIY Graphic Christmas Canvases

Today I want to talk about these cute little canvases I made yesterday. They are so simple, easy, and cheap! I'm going with a color scheme of red, green, gold, silver, and glittery this year for our decor, and they make such lovely additions!

Here's what you need:


2 Canvases- One 12x12, One 8.5 x 11 (I love the bulk value canvases at Micheal's)
Red glitter Chipboard letters ( I used these)
1 chipboard Ampersand in a contrasting color
1 flat glittery ornament (I found mine at Dollar Tree)
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks


1. Decide on what two phrases/word you would like on your canvases, make sure you have enough of every letter you need (I forgot this step and ended up having to turn another letter into an "r" to finish merry & bright). I suggest one long one, and one short. For example Love & Joy + Noel, Jingle Bells & Snow, etc. You will likely have enough letters left to make a few more words (I am going to make a Santa and Snow one as soon as I can get out to Dollar tree for more ornaments).

2. Arrange the letters on the two canvases to your liking. I found it helped me to draw a light pencil line to line up my letters. Remember to leave space for your ornament on one of the canvases.

3. Once you have you letters arranged how you would like remove one at a time, place hot glue on the back and replace it in the same position. Do the same with your ornament. Allow to dry. Erase any pencil marks that may be on your canvases.

It's really that simple! it took me less than 5 minutes to do both of mine, and I love them. They are so graphic and simple! And I already had all the items I needed on hand, other than the ornament. I can't wait to do the other two!

Sweater Pillow DIY

A few days ago a sad thing happened. My very favorite sweater (and pretty much my only sweater at this point) decided to get a teeny tiny hold in it. Normally I would keep wearing it, but this hole happened to be right in the chest area, and showed my wonderful purple bra off to the world (I only have one bra right now too, boy do I need to go shopping!). I love this sweater, mostly because it is 3/4 sleeve. I genuinely hate long sleeves, and always roll them up, so this saves me a step! After much sadness I decided the sweater could no longer be worn and decided to throw it out.
Before I had even gotten it over my head I decided that it might be perfectly useable in some other way, and my mind decided that it should be made into a comfy cozy pillow cover so I can keep feeling it's warmth.

A few days later I tracked down some thread, a needle, and some scissors and went to work. I cut all the way across the sweater just under the arm pits so I had a tube top like thing. I also cut off the sleeves for use in a let project. Not sure what yet, but we will figure something out! I then turned it inside out and hand stitched the entirety of one side.
This would probably have gone faster if I had used my machine, but my white bobbin was missing and I did not have an empty one. So I sat and stitched while enjoying a nice glass of water and watching an episode of Pretty Little Liars.
I then turned it right side out, inserted the pillow, and carefully hand stitched all along the other side of the pillow.
It took about an hour altogether, but now I have a soft warm pillow perfect for the Holidays and cold weather.
Since it went so well, I grabbed a pillow whose cover had gone missing, and some green damask pattern fabric I had bought for Halloween and made up another little pillow.
They now both grace my favorite little red chair from Ikea (which needs a cleaning badly!). I imagine it will be the perfect little spot for sipping some Hot Cocoa this holiday season as I admire my Christmas tree and wait for my husband to get home late at night. It sure put me in a holiday mood, so I got out a garland that never made it into the Christmas storage and put it up as well. So now my house is slowly on it's transformation to a Holiday haven.

So What Do you think I should do with the Sleeves? I am thinking either some type of vase cover, or making them into rice bags. Any other suggestions out there?

December Daily- Foundation Pages

I am so excited for my December Daily this year! I feel like this is going to be the year that I finally catch on and get it working for me. It's only November 6th and I already have my foundation pages printed, cut, mostly embellished, and sitting inside my album waiting for the wonderful stories that will fill them come December.
I had decided when I took on this project this year that I was going to go for a more simple approach than I have in years past, as I think I get too caught up in the making it perfect and never finish it. I opted for a smaller size album of 5x7 for that reason; less space means less embellishments, less embellishment means simplicity, simplicity means SUCCESS.

I hadn't entirely decided on what my foundation pages would look like until yesterday when Ali Edwards posted her foundation pages for the year. I was instantly drawn to them and knew I had to duplicate it. It was just the simplicity I was looking for. You can see an example of it to the right, isn't it so simple and beautiful? Love, Love, Love it. You can check out more of her foundation pages here.

So off I went to create my own similar design to fit my 5x7 album. After a few hours of painstakingly playing around in Illustrator (my computer is on it's last legs and is VERY slow when I am working on graphic intensive projects), I came up with this:

I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I wanted to have them all be on the bottom (Ali varied hers a little more), which made it easier for me. I then printed them off and set to work using the crop marks to cut them down to size. I then added some washi tape to many of the pages. Getting my inspiration once again from Ali.

 I love these beautiful Washi tapes from Downtown Tape. They are so wonderful and versatile. If I got a stocking full of washi tape this year I think I would be one happy girl!

Again, the pages are super simple, the top space will either house a photo, or some journaling, or embellishments, or memorabilia from each day, likely a bit of all of it. I am so happy that I have it close to finished for December!

Now here is a fun chance for anyone who is reading! I've got some leftover supplies for these foundation pages, enough to make a set for one of you! If you are interested in participating in December Daily this year this is a great way to get started!
So what do you have to do to win it? Enter using the rafflecopter form below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hero Up: Superhero Sign Tutorial

Sorry for the hiatus yesterday. My husband skipped school for the afternoon, so I was busy coming up with a few awesome projects to work on for a submission for a design team call.
 A few of the projects were ones I already had  in my head for other purposes, one being my boys superhero room. They have been asking to have a Superhero room for several months now, and my head has been spinning with a bunch of ideas on how to do it. I am not a huge fan of the Character sets you can buy, so I am trying to craft their room around primary colors, with a really graphic retro look.

The first project I worked on for their room is a pair of Superhero automotopia signs that say "Ka-pow" and "Wham". These were pretty easy, and they turned out so good that I wanted to share how I made them with you!

Materials Needed

• 2- 12 x 12 canvases 
• Mod Podge 
• Foam Brush
• 5- 8.5 x 11 Sheets Black Cardstock
• 3- 8.5 x 11 Sheets Yellow Cardstock
• 2- 8.5 x 11 Sheets Blue Cardstock 
• 1- 8.5 x 11 Sheet Red Cardstock 
• Silhouette Machine
• Ka-Pow cut shape
• Wham cut shape

• First thing you need to do is open up the cut shapes in the silhouette. They are sized to fit an 8.5 X 11 sheet, but  we want to make the bigger. Un-group the shapes (Ctrl+U) and layer them on top of each other so you have it made into the final shape. It helps to fill each piece with the color you will be cutting it from. It should look something like the picture to the right. Now re-group the layers (Ctrl+G), and re-size the group so that the largest side is 11 inches. Make sure you have "lock aspect ratio" selected so you don't get it stretched strangely. 

• Next we are going to un-group them again (Ctrl+U) and separate them. If you have a Silhouette Cameo you can just cut each layer as is. I have a silhouette SD, so I have to cut up the pieces so they will fit in my cutting area. Start with the bottom layer (Yellow on Ka-pow, or Black on Wham), and center it in the cut area. Then take you knife tool and slice down the center of your image. Repeat on all layers you cannot fit in the 8.5 x 11 space. It should look similar to the picture to the right. You will end up with five peices for the "Kapow" and six pieces for the "Wham". 
• Cut each piece from the appropriate color cardstock.
• Starting from the bottom layers, assemble and Mod Podge each layer on to a 12 x 12 canvas in order. Make sure you use plenty of Mod Podge! One all layers are added on Mod Podge the entire surface, or spray with an acrylic spray to keep your masterpiece in place. Let dry thoroughly.
• Hand them to your children and let them pretend to be superheros before you hang them (the pictures, not the kids!) on the wall.

There you have it! Super cute Superhero art work for your kids room! I would estimate that the pair of signs cost me about $5 to make. That is a super deal! :)


When the boys room is all done I will make sure to give you guys a tour! There will be lots of DIY and re-purposing  going on. Some of the currently planned projects are a superhero mod podged table, a superhero tea set, and a superhero dress-up station! Stay tuned for the details!

December Daily- This Year it is Happening

If you've read the little blurb I have on the side of the blog under "About Me" you know that I say I am a project procrastinator. What I want to talk about today is a specific project that I have dedicated a lot of time to for several years, only to end up procrastinating it, and not doing it, year after year... December Daily.

Basically, December Daily is a way to document everyday life during the holidays. The idea is to make up a basic album ahead of time and add to it every day of December. This is a project I have been longing to make work for me. It is something that I know if I can do it, and finish it, I will be immensely happy with it for many years to come. I love the sentiment behind it, I love the idea of remembering the little things, and every year when I let it slide by I am saddened that those moments have gone undocumented.

This project was started by one of my favorite designers and bloggers, the fabulous Ali Edwards.
You can look through her beautiful albums from the last few years here.
Every year she does such fabulous things with this album that I just want to hug her! She is an amazing woman, and inspires me so much. I would love to meet her someday and tell her how much her documenting her life inspires me and pushes me to try to do it myself.

Anyway. This year, yet again, I am going to attempt December Daily! But this year I want you guys to encourage me and help me keep up with it! I am holding each of you responsible if I don't get this done this year. You are here to cheer me on and make me feel guilty if I don't post a page EVERY SINGLE DAY! You got it? You Up for the challenge? You going to play along?

Here is the album I will be using this year. It used to be a recipe book... which I never followed through with... sensing a pattern? It will likely get a little more embellishment before December, but for now it will do.

I love how I used the washi tape to cover up the spine. It had stuff from it's previous life as a recipe book that needed to be covered up. I super love it.

Here is a list of the supplies I used and where you can find them:
Album: We R Memory Keepers Raw Goods 5X7 album in sage, no longer available
Glittered Background Paper (2 sheets): My Mind's Eye Lost & found Christmas Santa Glittered Paper
Washi Tape: Downtown Tape Welcome to China Town
 Glittered Chipboard Letters: Making Memories Shimmer Jigsaw Alphabet in Red
Memories Vinyl Sticker: Unknown, found in stash, bought it in 2007

So there you have it, the beginnings of my 2012 December Daily! I'll be periodically updating throughout the month with more pages, and then, come December 2nd I will be sharing finished pages daily (hopefully!) or at least on a week by week basis!