Documenting December…

Yes, I realize it’s still November and lots of people get kind of upset when we start talking Christmas before Thanksgiving has even happened, but trust me, there is a reason behind my madness.

I absolutely love doing a document your December project every year. It helps to get me through the long dark cold days and has rejuvenated my love of Christmas. I will admit to being a total scrooge in the past and severely lacking in Christmas spirit. 

I thought that I would take a little bit of time to explain my approach to documenting my December, what’s worked and what hasn’t, and how I manage to finish every year. 

This is my 7th year doing this project, and if you’d like to see my completed pages from previous years, you can check out the December Daily portion of my blog. I will start by saying that I do my project completely digitally. I so admire hybrid and physical projects, and there are so many inspirational albums and books on Pinterest and in other places, but I know that if I tried to do something similar, I would never finish. At this point, I don’t really have the time to commit to doing the printing and cutting and all that goes in to a beautiful physical album. I can whip out digital pages pretty quickly.

There are tons of other options and some of the cutest hybrid examples I have seen are little 4×4 flip books. Also, many do full 12×12 pages. I do my project in 6×8 size simply because it seems to be the easiest for me to manage. After all, the ultimate goal is to finish the project, right?

I start by finding the perfect set of templates. This year I chose December Memories 2018 by Desgined by Soco.

Then I decide on the color scheme and choose the kits I want to use. This year, I am using pieces from Document Your December – Tis the Season at The Lilypad. 

I create a folder and name it DYD. I have sections for Kits, Foundation Pages, and pages that I intend to share on the web. By doing this, I only have one location I need to go to to find what I need. 

Then I start, usually about the middle of November, creating foundation pages. I start adding papers, cards, and elements, and then the numbers for each of the days. These are by no means set in stone. If my photos end up working better on another layout, I simply switch out the numbers. Here are a few of the foundation pages I’ve done so far:

For these pages, I have used pieces by Rachel Jefferies, Sahin Designs, Sahlin Studio, Etc. by Danyale, and Pink Reptile Designs.

I’m almost half way through December and, as long as I stay on track doing a couple of pages a day, I should be ready to go when December starts! Then it’s just time to take the photos and add the journaling! While some like to keep a Christmas theme to their projects, I tend to just document whatever is going on in our lives on that day. Sometimes it is Christmas and sometimes it’s not, but it’s all about the joy of this time of year. 

One of our wonderful creative team members at TLP, Farrah, has created a list of prompts that may come in handy if I’m ever stuck for what to photograph.

I will screenshot this image and save it to my phone for easy reference, and I might even make it my phone background for December so that I can remember. 

My biggest tip if you are wanting to document your December is to be prepared. Get started early, create foundation pages, and be ready to go when December starts. We all know how busy it can get! 

Thanks for stopping by and I’d love to see your December projects!! Until next time… peace, out…