December Daily 2-6 (long post)

I am still around. I have been having A LOT going on lately and I have decided to not let it get to me this year, and just let some things go. Unfortunately, this means some crafting projects are being left in the dust, which means less things to blog about. I assure you, I have not foresaken my faithful readers, I have just chosen to not feel guilty about the things that I can't accomplish this year and focus on the more important things, such as spending more time with my family. A surgery and a couple of illnesses have really taken its toll this December.

As you can see below, my DD is only up to page 6 and on my last check, today is the 19th. I have accepted the fact that this album won't get finished until sometime in January, but I am okay with that. Right now, making these memories are more important to me than recording them. Sorry about the quality of some of the pictures below. It is a bit overcast here and even without the flash on some of the page protectors reflected the glare.

First page up is day 2, making Snickerdoodles for the first time ever. I used a 6.5 x 5.5 photo on the left and a 4x6 on the right. This was the first time I used a self-timer to get a photo of myself and I must say I am pleased with the results.

The transparency in the middle was cut to size and layered with the canvas letter stickers.

Day three is all about my dh putting up our tree. I used a full page photo on the left and made a photo collage for the right. I also added tinsel trim to the edge of the left page to add some sparkle. The title was place directly on the photo along with the number coaster.

This next page was inspired by one of Ali Edwards pages that she did recently. I had been saving all of my shopping receipts from the holiday season and I even had a few photos of some of the places I went. The journaling was typed, printed, then I went back over it with stickers on certain key words.

 

Day 5 is our tradition of buying a new ornament each year. The one chosen this year was the tiger because of LSU's SEC championship. I had to order it and get it personalized.

The middle piece is a transparency with a heart doily stapled to it. I then stamped and punched out the circle embellishment and glued it to fit over the angel tag. I then added a word sticker to the piece.

The right side of the layout is the story of the angel ornament that was given to us by a grandmother who is no longer with us. I wanted this story documented so that my daughter will always know where it came from and why it is so important to us. The angel card was stamped with AE DD stamp set and sewed to the page. I sewed lots of little details on to my pages this year. I love the homemade feel it gives to my pages.

Okay, this next layout brings out my redneck side, but it was definately a tradition that I wanted documented in my book. On the left, I scanned and enlarged the dvd case into a full page photo. I then used the Silhouette and one of Kerri Bradford's files to cut the divider in the middle of the layout.

On the right, I typed out my journaling and cut it into 1/4 inch strips. I used white on white for a monochromatic look. I then added a tiny polaroid photo of our Christmas dvd collection. The title letters were added directly to the page. And of course, this story would not be complete with the line, "Shitter's full!" Sorry if this offends anybody, but that really is an important part of the story.

So, there you have it. My attempt at having a sane holiday while still getting a few crafty things done. If by any chance I don't make it back here before the holidays are over, I wish you all a very merry, little Christmas and a safe passage into the New Year.