Nothing says festive like a little white dog in an elf hat.
Supplies
Stampin’ Up Baja Blue card stock
Stampin’ Up Whisper White
Making Memories Eliza patterned paper
Imaginisce All Kinds of Happy Cupcake Stamp
Imaginisce All Kinds of Happy Happy Birthday Stamp
American Crafts Ultimate White pen
Copic Markers Y17, Y21, B32
Supplies:
Stampin’ Up Kraft card stock
Making Memories Eliza die cut
Card embellishment
Stampin’ Up Short & Sweet stamp set
I finished my December 2009 album! Although I didn’t finish it before the end of December, at least I finished it before the end of 2010 because believe me, there was definitely potential for that to happen 
If you can’t view the Flickr slideshow below, you can visit it here.
So if I could give a few tips to those who want to try a daily album next December, here are a few to note:
There’s a Reason Why They Say to Prepare In Advance
Definitely take every opportunity to create as many layouts as possible ahead of time. You might even consider over-preparing and creating a little more than you know you might need. You never really know until that day what type of photos you’ll have available or how much you want to journal.
If You Signed Up for Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas, Don’t Force Yourself to Only Create According to the Daily Prompts
Left to my own devices, I usually don’t have any problems coming up with a topic to cover that day. Not always, but usually. Put me in a structured setting where I’m given an assignment, I’m going to try and do the assignment and sometimes if that assignment isn’t what I want to work on that day, I get stuck, and therefore frustrated. I learned that on some days when there were events I wanted to scrapbook about, I felt conflicted
If you decide to do Journal Your Christmas, use the daily prompts as a backup plan. Read the prompts in the morning, but let it marinate throughout the day until you finally get to sit down and work on your page. If something else came up that you want to record, do it! Don’t feel like you have to stick with the prompts just because it showed up in your inbox that morning.
That being said, if you are wondering, it IS possible to participate in December Daily AND Journal Your Christmas.
Keep a Topic Calendar
At the beginning of the month, I printed out a calendar and made notes of events I knew were on the calendar: company party, Christmas tree decorating, Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day, Dad’s birthday, etc. Make notes on days if, for some reason, you can’t scrapbook that day such as, “Did some baking today. Downloaded photos onto laptop. Maybe use the 4-picture layout with the brown background.” At this point you can come back to it later when you have to catch up.
Draw Inspiration and Motivation from Others
The great thing about doing some of these online classes is everyone loves to share. If you ever get stuck, don’t be afraid to browse the gallery of past prompts. And if you do end up “scraplifting” an idea from another scrapper, don’t forget to let them know and show them your finished product. There isn’t one scrapper out there who wouldn’t enjoy being someone’s inspiration!
Speaking of inspiration, here’s a list of other’s who have finished their december album:
Here’s one of my first cards in compliance with my 2010 Resolutions post. I’ve had this Bo Bunny paper in my stash for a while and since I love the swiss dots pattern, I wanted to try and use it in a card. Some of these items aren’t available but below are the supplies I could find.
Supplies:
Stampin Up Kraft card stock
Chatter Box Journal Labels
Basic Grey (Mellow Collection) Maude Alphabet Stickers
American Crafts Glitter Thickers in Shoe Box
When I was in college, I worked as a student assistant in the Humanities department. The mail system at school utilized these large, yellow manilla envelopes, some with these ties that you looped around these plastic circles to close and secure the envelopes.
Since then, I’ve seen envelopes using a similar method at stores like Paper Source and figured they couldn’t be that difficult to make. Here’s a video tutorial on how to make these string and button envelopes.
Supplies Needed:
1 8″ square solid card stock (outside)
1 7″ square patterned paper (inside)
Kraft card stock or chipboard
3/4″ circle punch
2 small eyelets
Foam mounting squares
Hole punch and eyelet setter (I used a Big Bite in the video)
String (You can use whatever you want here–Linen thread from Stampin’ Up, Karen Foster’s Scrapper’s Floss
