Thirty-Six Merry Days: December Daily Christmas Mini-book

Every year I go through the same dilemma.

First I tell myself I’m not participating with Ali’s popular December Daily project — not because I don’t think it isn’t awesome (it is), but for these other reasons:

Do I really want THAT many mini-books sitting around just for Christmas?
Do I really want to add to the chaos and busyness of this time of year?
Do I want ANOTHER unfinished Christmas mini (not one of my three are done).
And these last two are statements, not questions: I don’t like non-Christmas stuff in my Christmas mini-book. “Daily” inevitably means a non-Christmasy page here and there. It works for Ali, but I don’t like it in mine.
Also, I sometimes like my prepped pages better than my completed pages. That makes me slightly sad.

Every year since my first attempt I’ve decided to skip out. And then all those Christmas themed supplies start popping up, and people start sharing their prepped pages, and I start to feel the itch.

I do LOVE my 2009 mini-book, which is the most complete, most interactive, and most glittery. LOVE IT! (except for those non-Christmas pages!).

Why Simplifying Didn’t Work
Last year I was adamant. I decided I wasn’t doing it.

Then Ali simplified her book for that year and released digital templates. So that seemed less stressful and I decided to go for it.

But guess what? I don’t really love that book. It’s missing the things I love most about my first two albums — the surprising unusual pages types. And the glitter.

So this year I was adamant. I’m not going to participate this year.

And then…
I started going through my Christmas supplies for some layouts and I realized something. Christmas supplies and the idea of glitter make me happy. Like, really happy.

Great-looking numbers throughout a book make me happy too.

Who cares if I have too many mini-books. It’s just FUN!

So I re-evaluated why I do and don’t want to join the ranks and came up with a plan that feels right for me.

36 Merry Days

Yeah — I added eleven days to my book. Sounds crazy, right? But my book won’t necessarily be daily. Here’s what factored into my decision:

I just want to capture stuff that either is Christmasy, or LOOKS Christmasy in the photos.
I try to put our trees up the day after Thanksgiving, so it’s always bothered me that that day isn’t included within the December Daily album.
We have three birthdays around the Christmas season. Mine is Nov. 26, Blake’s is Dec. 7, and Trinity’s is Dec. 31. They all feel like a part of the season to me, so I want to include them.

I’m not focusing on December or daily. For me it’s going to be about the 36 merry days of Christmas time.

So that’s it. I’ll be capturing my Christmas along with so many of you! Here’s my plan:

I’ll be numbering the days on each page, just like Ali, but I expect to skip some numbers and days.
I’m preparing piles of numbers, embellishments, pages of various sizes, but I’ll pick and choose and assemble each page after I’ve got my photos, ephemera, and journaling in hand. I think I’ll like my finished designs better.
I’m excited to return to the mixed-up pages with lots of fun techniques that I loved so much before.

I’ll share some of those techniques in the first of next month’s video tutorials! If you want to get in on some fun interactive and dimensional ideas for mini-books, be sure you have your Paperclipping Membership!

So what about you? Are you doing a December Daily album this year? What will your approach be? Have you gone through a similar process of customizing Ali Edwards’s cool project to make it suit you?

Tags: album, Christmas, december daily, minibook

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 at 7:58 pm and is filed under Mini-books, Scrapbooking Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Noelle

I started doing a December Daily in 2009. I think I completed one page and didn’t have much else to put in it. At that time, I was pregnant with my first baby, and most days were identical…get up, go to work, come home, make dinner, play on computer, go to bed. Rinse, wash, repeat. BORING. This year, I decided to do a Christmas minibook, only with LAST year’s photos. I had surgery last week, so I got all the supplies beforehand, and spent some recovery time putting photos to paper. (While my husband chased our toddler.). I figured I do better living the moment and taking photos along the way. I can put my 2011 minibook together sometime next year.
http://digitalscrapbookinghq.com Melissa Shanhun

Oh Noell – I love it! :)
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

I think that’s a really good point!
http://lajoliefleurrouge.blogspot.com/ Becca

I’m going to try and do one this year. Last year’s is mostly complete, but it took until July to finish it! This year I am taking your “minibook in two hours”…all my 6×6 papers are cut and ready to go, but I’ll add embellishments and photos and journaling as I feel inspired throughout the month. We’ll see how it goes!
KatieK.

I hear you. I’m joining that support group for unfinished project people. My last year’s pages I printed out using the cool AE digital template – just put it through the printer as used paper to print out some numbers for this year’s attempt :)

I figured out why last year didn’t work – the page size was first on list. Another reason: I fail with keep-up-every-day projects.Some health problem or other dilemma always happens. But I also thought about what would make it work for me.I used pinterest to find inspiration and made a board. Probably wasted too much time checking the ideas there. Realized I needed to create. Thought I would upcycle an old book. I found 2 at the library’s book store Under the Tree which has great text, photos, artwork of Xmas from 1930-1970 and Wall Street Christmas from 1990.WSC just spoke to me: it was red, it was almost 8.5×11, I could use some text/photos, and of course the title was meant for this year! I transformed it with last year’s wrapping paper and figured how to create my own strap hinge album since I have lots of 8×10 CM pages and a Crop-a-Dile.I am going to combine some JYC* (Shimelle)prompts with the Christmas List-Its from Ella Publishing with Xmas/Holiday inspired stories, thoughts, ephemera, and photos past, present, and future.When I read your post how you were going to make a pile of ready-to-go stuff, I realized yeah, that’s what has been trying to surface in my brain. I can’t do set pre-decorated pages. But I do want to have layers and use up my big pile of Christmas paper, ribbon, printables, etc.I may post my transformed book to Flickr at some point ‘cuz I think it was a crafty transformation from old coffee-table book to a strap-hinge 8×10!
Bev Beard

YES!!!! I so hear you! I am single but with a son, DIL, and 2 grandkids close by. I work full time. So I see the kids a lot but not every day. I work full days and on those days I come home and collapse for the evening. I just don;t have something Christmasy every day and work days are really the same year after year. I’ve tailored my book to me over the years. One year (before the kids moved home) I went there for Christmas. My December Daily is actually about the 5 days I was with them. It is one of my favorites. I think being flaxible is the key. Daily is a fun idea but it just doesn;t always work.
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Oh wow! That makes me happy to hear that!!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

That sounds really awesome!! Would live to see it!
http://www.debraclarkpunchart.blogspot.com Debra

I’ve done three DD albums – all completed (not bragging, just saying). Two were a lot of work, but I had the time to do them. Last year, nup. No motivation to do a lot of pre-decorating so I literally did a scrapbook (not an album) of stuff as it happened.

I don’t do a lot of non-Christmas daily stuff either. But I do do something daily about Christmas. It’d not necessarily what happens in the day, but a thought, a memory, an idea, an inspiration piece, a photo, a special card in the mail…whatever. And I just stick it in there. It’s a visual diary – blank pages, bound book (no spirals!) – a scrapbook like I said. Love the idea, works for me.

Have done this 3 and a half times now – sometimes it takes a few times to get it right and find the formula that works. Ali has been a huge inspiration – I wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t for her. I wouldn’t be doing my regular photos the way I am if it wasn’t for her.

Inspiration and learning is all about picking and choosing what works for us and enjoying the outcome. And overcoming those roadblocks that you talk about.

PS. I love glitter too! Looking forward to seeing your album.
Iceteeeeee

What a great idea! I was not planning to do DD this year…..but now I am inspired to take your approach and do a Chtistmastime 2011 album of random holiday moments! Thank you, Noell!
http://www.BackToPaper.com Linda Tieu

Beautiful idea… and I think you bring up the important point of projects – to find whatever works for you personally and makes you happy! You figured out what you like and what you don’t like, what would work and made your own project. Very cool. :)
http://www.BackToPaper.com Linda Tieu

BTW, was reading the comments and realized that many of us – maybe ALL of us – have issues with not finishing projects. I remember in an interview with Ali Edwards, how she said she never feels guilty for not finishing… I think we need to impress that upon people. I definitely struggle with feeling guilty or failing at something and feeling down. But I’m slowly learning to work through the issue.

Finished is defined by what you consider the project to be as a whole, but who says you can’t re-align or re-define midway, right?

And instead of concentrating on the fact that a minibook is unfinished, why not enjoy what is finished – just as you noted, you love the pages you have created for those unfinished minibooks… hmm…

Maybe this would be a nice roundtable discussion? :)
HeatherC

What an excellent idea! I do the DD album and I have similar worries each year — craziness of the time anyway — why am I doing a mini album???? And, we also set our tree up the day after Thanksgiving — we have been decorated now for about a week and my album starts today! (I sometimes just stick stuff in that happened before anyway — I mean I make the rules, right?) We also have extended family we celebrate with and usually are Christmasing up until New Year’s — which I would like to include too.

Totally with you on the happy feeling that comes from that great red glittery goodness of supplies. My album this year is more streamlined in the past — and I am worried I will not like it in the end. I like the eclectic look too — but I am going to try it and see how it goes.

As far as having extra mini books around — I have to say that I only have them out at Christmas and I got them out a few days ago and already my children have pulled them over to the couch and looked through them many times. So — I have to keep that in perspective. It is not just for me, but for them and they do enjoy looking at them and remembering holidays of the past.

Good luck this year — will keep you 36 Merry Days album idea for next year!
http://annetteharing.blogspot.com Annette

I agree, there is no right or wrong way to do this project, just finding what works and what doesn’t is important. And finding what makes you HAPPY! Because that is huge! I am making mine smaller this year, just found it hard to get the larger size printed, more journaling areas are a pro/con. Mine is 5×7 and I think it a great fit for me. Also liked what Linda said about finishing projects. I started mine late last year and so I had quite a few days “unfinished”. A few weeks ago I went through and consolidated some pages, added a few bits of journaling and called it good. Guess what? I love it, it is still a great album to me. And I am definitly a master at unfinished projects! :) Enjoy your Merry Days!!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Hey, Linda – do you remember if it was me that did that interview? I interviewed Ali years ago when her book on mini’s came out and I asked her abt unfinished projects. That was the only time I’d ever heard her (or anyone) say she didn’t feel guilt abt it (which is why I wonder if the interview you heard was mine).
That was such an paradigm-shifter for me, and she released me from all my guilt from then on!! Since then I’ve written articles about embracing the desire to start projects while others are unfinished b/c creativity grows from acting on ideas and gaining experience. One article shares how to organize when you have zillions of unfinished projects.
Your topic is so relevant to the Dec Daily discussion and I think it would make a great discussion for a Jan. Roundtable!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

That’s cool that your kids are enjoying them! My daughter seems to be the only one that pays any attention to my mini’s when I put them out. I don’t have a place that I’m happy with yet either, so I need to work on that.
Candy B.

This is a great posting. I could feel the passion. Perfect.
http://twitter.com/Bookworm Bookworm

This will be my third year participating in December Daily and I will have done it very differently each of the three years. The first year I did a 12×12 traditional scrapbook page for all 31 days. There are things I like about that album, details that I’m so glad I captured, but it was such a big project that I didn’t end up finishing it until the next summer. Last year I still did 12×12 but the left hand page was primarily a piece of 12×12 paper that I loved (I let the beautiful designs stand alone) with the date and the right hand page was a digital layout. While I really like some of the pictures I took, I don’t like digital scrapbooking. To me, it is too cold, too one-dimensional. I missed the tactile nature of traditional scrapbooking. This year, I felt like using up some older products, going very simple, and keeping the cost down. Except for an opening title page, the entire project will be done in 12×12 photo holder pages. Each day will have a photo, a journaling card (made with Ali Edwards’ dated photo overlays), and a piece of patterned paper. I can add an additional page of photos (or even a full-blown layout) if it is needed. This year I want to keep up with it on a daily basis (except for getting photos printed at the weekend) and not be overwhelmed at all. I’ve got everything all trimmed and in the page protectors. I put the page protectors on rings so they won’t slide around the table; once the project is done, they should fit into last year’s 12×12 album. :)
http://www.BackToPaper.com Linda Tieu

Yes, I’m sure it was an interview you did…not sure for what book release or such (the one about minibooks I suppose) And it was definitely an eye opener for me too… it’s so easy to focus on what we haven’t done, versus all the cool stuff we have already accomplished! Silly!
Margie S (Nihao, Cupcake!)

I’ve just had those same exact thoughts as you. I try to opt out every year but I get pulled right back in, but I hardly complete anything. This year I am going to try to art journal (it came to me yesterday during my yoga class!). I will likely use many of Shimelle’s prompts. I plan to write a lot and draw or paint Christmas/winter related art. The thing that appeals to me the most about art journaling is that the lack of rules really SET ME FREE. And I think to complete this type of project, I need that.
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Sounds like a great plan! Thanks for sharing — I appreciate it because it’s so different from anything I’ve heard!
Catherine Pooler

Honestly, I didn’t know about Ali’s project, I’ll have to go check it out. You have me intrigued and jealous of how gorgeous your photos are, Noel!
Catherine Pooler

Honestly, I didn’t know about Ali’s project, I’ll have to go check it out. You have me intrigued and jealous of how gorgeous your photos are, Noel!
Catherine Pooler

Honestly, I didn’t know about Ali’s project, I’ll have to go check it out. You have me intrigued and jealous of how gorgeous your photos are, Noel!
pfcieri

I love the idea of a DD, and have done the project for the past 2 years. The first one is finished, the second is a work in progress. I love the mismashed feel of my books, but feel that another year of documenting the same traditions isn’t exciting me this year. Instead, I plan to focus on the music of the season and what it means to each of us.

I love your idea of extending the season too!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

That’s cool!
reneecrops

OMG – While I have finished two years of December Daily I also realized I was missing the very start/end of Christmas for me Black Friday, followed by baking for my cookie exchange on Saturday, and we have family get togethers to January 1st. I think I will enjoy this book so much more by adding the extra days. I was so surprised to read your post thinking I was the only person out there missing pieces of Chrismas:)
Laew

I’m doing December Daily in my Project Life album – I didn’t want a separate album either. Check it out on my blog http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com
dawn

I’m so happy to see your comment here. Last year was the first year for me making a DD, I do love it and worked hard on it. Lots of memories and all kinds of goodies in it. The last couple months though my interests have been with art journaling and I even just completed a 30 day art journal class. So this last week I bought a new journal and started painting some pages to get them ready. Instead of calling it DD though it’s my Merry December art journal. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to wake up each day to get up and start painting and getting it ready. Totally happy today is the day. It will include a little bit of everything, lots of writing and maybe some pictures. Going to just go with the flow and be free with it just like you.
I love the idea of Shimelle’s class but don’t have the funds for it right now. Hoping to do this next year.
Do you have a blog where I can see your journal. I have my first sneak peek on my blog now and plan on updating it later and a couple times a week.
Come by if you get the chance.
http://everydaymemorieswithprojectlife.blogspot.com
Have a great first day!
Dawn
dawn

I did a DD last year for the first time and loved it, all of it!! This year is a different year though and the last few months have been about art journaling for me. I love that there are no rules and it’s all about just playing and doing what you want with it. So I’ve decided to do a MERRY DECEMBER journal this year. IT didn’t seem right to call it a December Daily and I didn;t want Christmas to be in it either, so I thought of how Merry this season is for me and went with that idea. So last week I painted a few pages to get ready and even used some of those ideas and painted them on canvas to give as gifts.
I’m feeling very happy about this decision but it took some convincing for me to accept that it won’t be what everyone else is doing. I’m still feeling a little bit alone not to be sharing it with everyone today.
I do have a blog though and have my first peek at my journal on it and will continue to update it when I can.
Thanks for posting this and sharing your thoughts about it. Your album is gorgeous too by the way. Good luck on this years and think it’s great your making it last longer and doing it your way. Here is my blog if you want to peek. Thanks again.
Dawn
http://everydaymemorieswithprojectlife.blogspot.com
Carmel Keane

I have completed two December Daily’s (2009 and 2010) but decided to take a break this year as not an awful lot changes especially on the days I get up and go to work etc. Like you I wondered – how many of these do I really need? This year I am hoping to capture photos and memories of how we decorate. We have a tradition that whenever we travel to other places we buy a decoration for the tree – it is full of wonderful memories, some going back over 20 years from when I travelled before I was married. This mini will be ongoing – no finish date required. One of my favourite Christmas minis is one I put together documenting our Christmas celebrations during the six years we lived in Ireland (we live in New Zealand normally so already you can see contrast between summer and winter celebrations) For this mini I concentrated on the memories and traditions and so we have a mix of photos from all those years! I LOVE it.
Glee

this sounds very similar to what i decided as well, Thanksgiving HAS to be in there. We have Christmas eve birthday, so that’s in either way. I’m just calling mine “the most WONDERFUL time of the year” and not going w/ either december or daily!!! but still documenting and glittering up a storm of course.
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Love that you chose to use the word, “Merry,” too! I decided on that for last year’s album — I named it 25 Merry Days, and this year I’m seeing the word being used all over the place. Feels like just the right word to describe the mood of the season (unless you shopped on Black Friday. “Black” seems more appropriate for that particular Christmas time experience, lol.).
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Do you buy decorations even when you’re not traveling around Christmas time? If so, how do you find them?
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Oooh, I love that as a title!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Heather-Littles-Crawford/1408246615 Heather Littles Crawford

I agree…I do the same exact thing you do..I have three that never got past a few days ;(

I like your idea..gonna try to find something that works for me too…I always say I’m not going to do it, but see others and want to join in..
Deirdre

We have the same tradition, and you’d be surprised how easy it is to find either actual ornaments or items that can be transformed into one. For example, in Thailand, we bought some beautiful wooden elephants that were meant to be tiny keychains but now they hang on our tree.
Deirdre

Love the album title “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” too. I’m going to play with Katie Nelson’s idea to use Project Life as the basis for our December Daily…though mine will definitely not be daily. The advent wreath sits on our table all through the holiday, so I’ll be keeping it as more of an advent album. I love the idea of adding just 8-10 pages per year, and having the past year’s pages to look through as we build our current year’s pages. Also love the ease of my boys’ contributing by using Becky Higgin’s pocket pages. Thanks for the inspiration here as well!
Kathy R

I’ve never done a Dec. Daily but I love looking at them and have thought about doing one. But like you, so many of our “holiday” activities actually start at Thanksgiving. So, my album will start Thanksgiving week and go through Dec.31. Having a hard time with the title because of this But I like your idea of 36 days of Christmas, so I may be borrowing it!
Michelle Colormedaisy

I have only finished one December Daily album. For me it is my busiest time at work and it seems like the daily pictures that would include our family only include the advent calendar opening at breakfast or forced photos. I don’t want a bunch of daily work life pictures in this album. I want it to be about our family’s celebration of the season. Which in reality may be a few things done over each weekend not one thing a day. We also decorate earlier and we have 2 birthdays too that I want to include.

I also contemplated skipping it this year but instead decide to make a list of all the things we for sure will do and things we want to do. My album will include a page or spread for each activity. I also decided a few nights ago to do it as I go through the month because I just was not feeling inspired to pre-make my pages. I like your 36 Merry Days theme I may use that as inspiration for my album name. Thanks for the great post.
http://mysilverymoon.com Mel

What a wonderful perspective you have. Following along with projects can sometimes bog you down because you are following and not being independantly creative – if you get my drift?! But coming up with a way for it to work for you is great.

I have done the DD for the last 3 years. Each year has had a tweak here and there and this year I have pre planned again and constructed my little book all ready to go.

I do know what you mean about doing it ahead of time though. I adore (if I say so myself) my 2011 foundation pages and am worried that I’ll ruin it!

One step and day at a time though and thanks so much for sharing your approach this year.
L Squared

Noell! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and taking the time to write such a great post. This is my first year diving into December Daily and seeing your post this morning got me thinking even more. At this point I’m thinking that I will include my day to day life as well as holiday happenings outside of the month of December. I just keep telling myself to enjoy it and let it be what it will be. After reading your reflections I’m interested in seeing how it goes this first time around. I love how encouraging your post was as well as Ali’s encouragement and freedom.
Thank you!
L Squared

I’ve been trying to think of a broader name like “Merry December” that lets the project grow as it may this year. Thanks for sharing the idea!
a1983alaskan

Great idea! I put my Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving evening and try to get all the decorations up by Dec. 1. I’d have to do an extended project, too! But as Noelle said, my is “BORING”. Up, eat, watch tv, read computer sites, eat, nap, up, eat, read, watch tv, go to bed. The end.
EVERY day! So no album for me. I think these kind of albums are best for people who have kids, extended family nearby, and/or do something interesting in their lives— none of these fit me. :-|
Deeann Cummins

Last year was my first December Daily. I made a little 6 x 7″ with rings for my granddaughter’s first Christmas. She was very young so there weren’t many special activities and I wasn’t with her everyday. I took Christmas type pictures of her the days that I was with her and filled in with pictures of their tree and all their decorations inside and out. I used the numbers, but it was more a count-down to Christmas rather than a particular day. I wrote her a note about all the things she could do that first year and how lucky we were to have her. I finished it in early January and I love that album!
Nikki

This post is GREAT!!! It resonated so much for me! I have 2 stacks of incomplete years of DD. I always have the urge when it comes around and of the pages I do have- I love to look at them and see what our family was doing then. I also love the real elements-papers-things-glitter and bits that are and can be added to these. This year I also made the realization that I am very intimidated by what I see on the internet. So much so that it becomes a subconscious downer and I think I won’t be able to do mine like that and then…I don’t complete what I’ve started!
What I do know though is this…I love to look back on what I have created…no matter what it looks like! and making memories for my kids is important to me as is documenting them! So…yesterday I began assembling a DD that will be my December Days…I will do my best to get those pretty pages with crafty elements on them + pictures of what is going on in our life during this month of Dec. It may or may not be daily…may or may not be holiday related…I am going to keep myself on a loose agenda with it. Thanks for the awesome post Noell!
Peg in CO

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and process as always! I think you have a great strategy and you always do such a great job of explaining how you get to your conclusions. If you ever decide paper crafting ‘ain’t your thing no more’ (don’t you dare! LOL), you could consider life coaching!

I have not done a DD even though I’m intrigued and read every word Ali writes and shows every year and other folks too. I tried a Jessica Sprague class a couple of years ago because it seemed like it would be easier and didn’t even make it past the first few days. The time of the year just feels too hectic. That being said I am intrigued by this ‘perpetual December Daily’ idea that was posted by one the Technique Tuesday design team (http://itsallrosie.blogspot.com/2011/11/studio-ae-from-technique-tuesday.html). She is making tags with various holiday memories on each one and then she has them in a little tin that looks like a mini bread pan but mentions, and I thought right away of, the 7 Gypsies drawer.

I love this idea for a few reasons. I could go back and pull favorite pics even back into my childhood to include. I don’t have that ‘daily’ thing and all the issues it presents (my flakiness, lack of interesting content, etc) and it wouldn’t take all that long to whip up a tag. Also, could be worked on through out the year. I think if I owned a tag die cut right now, I’d start on it this year. As it is, I think I’ll just try to catch a picture or 2 this year and jot down some stories.

Thought that might appeal to some of you!
http://www.liznessstudio.com Liz Ness

I loved reading your reasoning and the journey to your decision. I haven’t participated in a daily December album project before (just daily December photography projects) and thought that this year I’d give it a go. Ali IS pretty convincing and her books are so beautiful/important. But, like you, I’ve changed the name because we are “big-into” spending New Year’s Day in PJs (and sometimes the entire day in bed, too) and I wanted to capture that. Also, after a few daily photography projects, I’ve realized I’m not up for a daily project. I’m kind of up for more of a an every-few-days-or-so project, LOL! So, I’m calling my book (the first ever) ‘Tis the Season. And, it makes me happy and super psyched to think about it!

Anyhow, I love seeing your take on the theme and can’t wait to see the photos as you progress!

Also, wishing you and your family many good things for the season! =)
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

yeah – I agree that you’ll know what you like after you’ve done it once or twice!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

I’m positive you have interesting stuff in your life, but just don’t realize it!

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