Prep for December (not) Daily 2013

This year, in the spirit of keeping things simple and not overwhelming whilst still wanting to be creative during the Advent/Christmas season, I decided to adopt a non-daily approach to documenting December. In fact, what I've put together is a combination using inspiration from several sources, which includes:

Ali Edwards and her December Daily concept
Melissa Shanhun's prompts from her December project last year
Jennifer Wilson's Holiday Storyteller free e-course running during December 2013

I'm using two baseball card inserts which I'll put into my Project Life album. Another simplification for me this year was not using a totally separate December Daily album. There are also 13 prompts and 21 spaces for photos - not daily, but enough to give a pretty good idea of what's happening.

(Click on each picture to see a larger version)

I printed the prompts onto vellum; the font is called 1942 Report, available here for free. I used my Xyron to make the vellum into stickers to adhere to the papers, which are from an old My Mind's Eye collection entitled Snowed In. I wanted some pattern but really want the focus to be on the journaling that I'm going to add to these cards, so the vellum toned down the designs just enough but allowed some design to show through.

For the background to the journaling cards, I used a pattern within Silhouette Studio, and used my Cameo with its print-and-cut feature on white cardstock. Why do the cutting myself when I have a machine that'll do it for me? :)

For the title slot, I filled it up with sequins and then used my tape runner to put adhesive all over both sides of the title (which I'd backed onto more patterned paper). Then I very carefully eased it into the slot and eventually persuaded it to stick to the page protector and not my fingers.

The intention is to use the activities from our Advent Calendar that I previously blogged about, to help add inspiration and ideas to the journaling on the prompt cards. I'll fill the remaining slots with photos, which may or may not correspond directly to the journaling. I will just be happy if something is documented from the season, whilst still enjoying both being present in the activities we're doing and enjoying the documenting process.

May your Christmas season be low-stress and high-joy!

~Caroline~