Beginners Guide To Creating A December Daily Album
Do you ever feel like December passes by in a blur? One minute it’s December 1st and then in a blink of an eye, it’s Christmas Eve. I LOVE Christmas and the magic of the holiday season. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. We are making so many fun memories during the month, why not do what we scrapbookers do best, and document?
December Daily is a scrapbooking and memory-keeping project created by Ali Edwards in 2007. Many scrapbookers and memory keepers take on this project during December. The album typically starts on December 1st and goes until December 25th, but many people (like me) document up until December 31st. The week after Christmas & New Years’ Eve is such a special time for me, so I also love to document those days. I have also seen many scrapbookers start their albums in late November on or after US Thanksgiving.
Whether you start or finish your December album is completely up to you. That’s one of my favourite things about being creative; there are no rules! Consider your holiday traditions, family, friends and special occasions, celebrations and things that you find special and would like to document. Don’t feel roped into certain dates, start and stop whenever you’d like.
The simple goal is to capture the spirit of December via one story per day
ALI EDWARDS
Things To Consider When Taking on an Album In December
December Daily is such a wonderful project that you will treasure your completed album for years to come. But before you get started, there are a few things to remember.
First and most importantly, it can be stressful. The pressure to complete a page every day, during the busiest time of the year can get overwhelming.
I’ve been there. I get to December 11th and regret ever deciding to start this dang album. But you know what I came to realize? It was less about finding the time to work on my album and more about the pressure I put on myself. I was suffering from some serious comparison syndrome and getting super frustrated.
As I started looking at all the gorgeous pages being shared on social media and YouTube, I quickly started to feel like need to be doing more and better. This is an easy trap to fall into when so many people make a different version of the same project. Suddenly mine wasn’t good enough. womp, womp What a Christmas spirit buzz killer.
Try to remember why you decided to take on the project. I’m sure you started because you thought it would be fun and enjoyable. When it stops being fun or fulfilling, it’s 100% okay to take a break. Keep taking your photos and jotting down the details of the day. But set it aside until you are ready to work on it again.
Tip: Have a notebook handy where you can make your plans, draw up sketches of page ideas, and, most importantly, have a dedicated space where you write in. Because we all know our memory isn’t as good as we think it is. Here is a super cute Vintage Santa Notebook from Amazon that you can jot your ideas down in.
Your Photos Are The Star Of Your Album
It can be so easy to get caught up in creating beautiful pages and literal works of art that we forget that our photos are the reason we create our album. We put a lot of thought into what our pages will look like, a colour scheme, and the special elements we will use. But often forget put much thought into the photos we are taking for our projects.
Here are a few tips for making sure you get great photos for your album:
Tip: I saw this great tip somewhere… set up your phone on a tripod where you can catch all the action and start videoing. You will have a great keepsake, plus you’ll be able to take photos from the video.
Make a plan but don’t feel pressured to have it all figured out. It’s about recording your life no matter how unexciting it is some days. Remember the simple things that give you small pleasures and document them. Sometimes the small things are what are the most special to us.
Tips For Preparing
If you purchased your supplies from Ali Edwards, you might want to sign up for her Prep Day class. It’s only $5 and will help you get a few pages made in advance.
Think about activities you do each year; maybe you and your family decorate gingerbread houses each year. So you know you will need to dedicate a page in your album to this event. If you take the time to sit down and plan a few of your pages in advance it will help take some of the stress and overwhelm
Albums
When you decide to take on a December daily project one of the biggest decisions you’ll need to make is deciding what size of album to use.
There are a few common albums that are often used for December Daily albums. The most commonly used is 6 x 8. Also popular are 3 x 8 or travellers notebook albums, but any size of album you prefer works great!
In 2021, Ali Edwards introduced a new album measuring 10 x 8. Of course, you can always work on your larger album.
Other album options you might be interested in trying are:
- Travellers Notebook
- Mixed Media Journal
- A Bullet Journal
- Chipboard Mini-Album
- Memorydex (Heidi Swapp)
- Or maybe you’d like to create a digital scrapbook!
My advice would be to choose to work in something that you’re comfortable with. If you’ve never made a mixed media journal before, you might not want to try it for the first time during especially during a busy month such as December.
My Album recommendations for December Memory Keeping:
- Ali Edwards Albums – 3×8, 6×8 & new 10×8
- Studio Calico – 3×8, 6×8, 6×12 & 9×12
- Sn@p Albums by Simple Stories – 6×8
- Felicity Jane – 6×8 & Travellers Notebook
Want to see how I made this page for my December Daily album? You can see the post here 👉 Elf On The Shelf Divider Page
Embellishments & Papers
There is no end to the beautiful papers and embellishments available to scrapbookers. Here are a few of my go-to shops for finding supplies for your December Daily Album. Of course, always stop by your favourite local scrapbooking store to see all the new and fun Christmas products they have in-store!
If you are nervous about starting from scratch, why not get a mini-album or travellers notebook kit that will get you an album that is *mostly* done. Two of my favourite online classes with a kit full of supplies are from Vicki Boutin and Layle By Mail (mini-album kits and Travellers Notebook Kits).
Where To Find Inspiration
Like scrapbooking supplies available, there is no shortage of inspiration out there.
You can start by checking out our December Scrapbooking & Journaling Prompts list. We have a list of prompts for every day in December, to help give you a few ideas.
Of course, Ali Edwards is the number one person to follow for December Daily albums. You can check out her blog or watch her create on YouTube.
YouTube is such a great resource for finding inspiration for December Daily pages. Simply search “December Daily,” and TONS of videos and ideas will be available to view at your leisure.
I loved reading your post and felt you were talking directly to me about the pressure we put on ourselves. I have started a December Daily album twice and end up stopping due to those pressures of doing so much and not “getting the time” to continue.
Please don’t apologize about your handwriting. A grocery list hand written by my Mom and found 3.5 years after her death is a treasure item to me. Who knew that little piece of paper would come to mean the world.