Hello December Goodness Foundation Pages! (a December Daily®-ish Album)

“December Daily® is about celebrating the season, finding the joy, and being thankful for all the blessings we have in our lives.”

— Ali Edwards

December Daily® is a project created by Ali Edwards to celebrate December by capturing one story per day for the first 25 days of December. You can find information about it here.

I have completed two out of six December Daily® projects so far. Not too bad for a busy mom that often has December be the busiest time of year work-wise as well.  The others are in various stages of "hopefully getting completed someday" and while I am fine with that for now, I really do hope to complete more than I have incomplete. 

And yes, sometimes life just throws you curve balls and there isn't really any way to complete them at the time. 

And that's okay too. (which is what happened last year.)

Well, I actually have more than two finished if you count my two little photobooks from Artifact Uprising created on my phone using the Collect App + AU. Click here to find out more about Artifact Uprising. Click here to find out more about the Collect App. 

For an older video of mine showing how to export photos in your Collect App, click here. I'm hoping to share more about the process of creating my photo books but this will give you some more information in the meantime. 

And I've captured the month of December in my Project Life® so I do have things to look back on to help me finish up. And thankfully I take lots of photos, so I have those as well.

So as I unpacked my books this year in the big move, I started looking through my albums and it made me realize that I do tend to complete more of the album in the years I have a plan.

I do best when I have an idea of where my photos and journaling will go. And when I have some foundation pages and templates set up in advance. 

So this year, the December Daily® magic hit me earlier than usual and I've been adding things here  and there to my foundation pages.

My main goal is to keep it simple and use things that spark my joy. Simple as that. 

So here's a video sharing pages that I have in progress right now. Things will change as I get a chance to add the photos, words and finishing touches. (Bring on the glitter!)

But the main thing that stood out to me as I walked through the album was the idea of building. For me this is a process. It's about building in flexibility but also building a framework / a foundation so I have an starting place.

And it gets me excited about the process and is a creative retreat for me when life gets stressful and busy. Even if all I do is walk by my album and touch some supplies, it calms me. The act of slowing down and thinking about how thankful I am for my family and the focus on living our story first helps me make my interactions with my family more intentional and loving. At least I hope it does.

Anyways, here's a video walkthrough. I have pictures to post but that would take actually editing them and getting them up. So, for now a video will have to do.

And one last thought: one of my favorite things about the project is the idea that by crafting the story, it inspires me to live my story. It may seem crazy to prepare this early, but I find it really helps me to plan activities that are meaningful to us and live more in the moment.

Thanks for watching and for your support. And thanks Ali for creating a wonderful project and community. xoxo

Hello December Goodness // Tips for Getting Organized with December Daily®

Hello again!

Last post I shared some of my favorite supplies for completing my December Daily® in 2016. I'm primarily using bits and pieces from the kits from Ali Edwards and friends. See www.aliewards.com for more info.

Next up I have a video sharing a few ways I'm organizing this year. 

As always, when I get creating things may change. It's all about building flexibility and options at this point. I usually try to simplify my supplies later as I get the foundation pages finished. 

I generally have a few little baskets and bins that get repurposed for different projects. Then I have storage under my desk for extra supplies that are nice to have out of sight but close at hand. Keeps the clutter and choices from overwhelming me but I know I have additional options if I get stuck on something. Know what I mean?

Baskets from Target, IKEA and Container Store seem to be my go-to baskets. I also love the little white bowls, berry baskets and other small storage containers from Target. Dollar spot is the best! I've used muffin tins in the past and they work great too. There are some gorgeous storage containers I'm crushing on from Crate Paper right now too. Search "Crate Paper" on Scrapbook.com and you'll see what I mean! Their mint muffin tin = awesome. Check it out here. I've also painted my muffin tins in the past but this just seems way easier :)

I'm also really loving the galvanized tray from Target to hold the smaller baskets and supplies in. I have two and I really love how they help organize the baskets and then slip into my bookshelf easily.

This is one of my favorite little baskets to repurpose for my current projects. Found it at the Dollar Spot last year at Target. Love it.

My goal is mainly to get organized enough that my supplies are visible and easy for me to remember to use. Then if I want more choices I can go to my storage container under my desk. 

Note: if you are feeling overwhelmed with everyone sharing or too many supplies, check out Ali's post about Finding Your Enough with Memory Keeping. It's a topic that I love and has really helped me in the past several years. Definitely check it out here.

What I'm using right now is a scrapbook organizer cart from Iris. You can find that on Amazon here. The thing I really like about it is that it holds 12x12 items (so papers, letter stickers, etc.) fit easily and then the drawers pullout so I can easily put it on the desk to get creating.

Then I can put the drawer back in the cart and the space feels open and clean again. Because right now, I'm at the tipping point where I can definitely get too much out. At that point it can feel overwhelming to me. So honestly I do try to keep my desktop organizers to things I will hopefully use but then I know my other supplies are there if nothing is calling to me when I am actually creating. 

And the nice thing about the trays and baskets is that I can slip them onto my bookshelf so hopefully the desktop can stay semi-clear and ready for me to create.

So here is another video sharing some of my organization for December Daily this year. 

And now it's time to go clean up my desk again! Hoping to share a video and blog post soon of my foundation pages for my main album.

Happy organizing!! Let me know if you have any questions! Would love to hear what works for you too!