I know it’s just the beginning of November, but I am already in the mood for the Christmas season! Why? December Daily madness! Ali Edwards started it a few years ago, and it has spread like wildfire, and now everyone seems to be doing one. If you’re not in the know, it’s a month-long documentation of Christmas activities, shopping, decorating, preparing, visiting and partying in the month of December. Each day of December seems to be about  Christmas, or getting ready for it, no? This is a way to put your special activities into a sweet little scrapbook to remember this Christmas in the years to come when 2012 is long forgotten.

Ali Edwards has a special December Daily kit available through Studio Calico, but it’s pretty expensive, and they run out quickly. Her album, this year, is only going to be 6×4″, too small for me. The album I did last year is approximately 6×8″, which is a much better size, but mine got way too full, so this year I’m going to do another 6×8″ album with divided page protectors, thanks to Simple Stories Snap album.

I think it will cut down on the bulk, and make decorating much more fun. I got the idea when I signed up for Lisa Truesdell’s class “Divide and Conquer” at Two Peas In a Bucket. She uses this same album and shows how to have fun with all the pockets. “Why don’t I do this with my December Daily?’, I thought. Good idea!

After printing out the PDFs for this class and reading through them, I got online and shopped at Two Peas In a Bucket for some essential supplies.

Rather than spend an arm and a leg on a pre-made kit for my December Daily, I decided to make my own (after all, I’m going to need that arm and leg when I shop for Christmas gifts!). Even though the Simple Stories album was unavailable when I wanted to purchase it, it was only two days later that I received an email announcing its return to the shop, so I purchased it maybe three days ago, and it came in the mail today! Good service!

In her class hand-out, Lisa Truesdell explains that she only used a 6×6 paper pack for the album she created; the smaller size is perfect for this album, and all the papers will coordinate together to ensure a cohesiveness throughout the album. I decided on Basic Grey’s Aspen Frost line (I thought it to be the prettiest one), so I purchased the 6×6 pad (saving a lot of money!), a sheet of stickers, a package of mini envelopes, a stitched garland and some more Micro Mini Monogram letters. I wanted some pretty brads, and I loved the ones My Mind’s Eye has in its All Is Bright collection, so I got those as well. I shopped at Studio Calico, too, and had to have their wood veneer Christmas trees, and their Wonderland adhesive badges. I also got my washi tape at Two Peas In a Bucket, and I found sequins at Joann. I still had some left-overs from last year’s December Daily, so I don’t see anything wrong with using those supplies as well:

[Correction: the word stickers are by Authentique, not Glitz.] I’ve also noticed some great ways to make tags on my own: look for free downloads from your favorite blog, or on Pinterest. I’ve found plenty on Pinterest and I got a free downloads from Ormolu,and Creating Keepsakes:

This is called “subway art” from Creating Keepsakes; you can download it here. The Ormolu download is really nice, too:

You can also download this printable for free, here.

All I need now is for December to get here, and get my camera out and ready for some action! I promise to be back when things are under way to show my progress from time to time. I am really looking forward to it, and I hope you will share your December Daily ideas with me, too!  Thanks for stopping by!