Prep for December Daily

It's the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm in a creative and festive mood! In spite of a much-increased workload this year, I've decided nonetheless that I want to do another December Daily album. Last year was the first time I'd attempted this project, and I loved it.
(Click on these links to read more about my intro, prep, part 1 and part 2 from my project last year.)

I know that preparation is my friend, and the key to helping me complete the project this year. I had a number of different ideas about what approach to take. Last year I used Ali Edwards' templates as inspiration for a 8.5 x 5.5" book that I made with my Bind-It-All. I did some prep work but still found there was quite a lot to do each day - for a slow scrapper like me, anyway!

This year I've picked a Bo Bunny album with 6 x 6" chipboard pages. I haven't yet decided what to do with the cover, but I might paint it. I really like what Ali has done on the spine of her cover this year. Might have to lift a similar idea. :)

 

I decided to dip into my stash to create a sort-of Smash-style album with patterned paper from a variety of sources - My Mind's Eye, Making Memories, Basic Grey, Kaisercraft and probably some others I've long forgotten. :) I broadly stuck with red, green and blue (I really like blue in the mix) plus some pretty vintage paper I love. I cut a selection of the papers to 6x6 and laid them out on the floor.

I wanted to pick some embellishments and other pretties to go with the papers, too. Here's what I picked out.

To try and cut out the day to day guesswork, I matched some of the embellishments to the papers in what looked like a cool patchwork on the floor:

And some close-ups:

I'll also be using some washi tape. Right now I like the idea of using washi tape to adhere the photos, but we'll see how it goes.

It's unusual for me to do this much upfront prep work and have the pages so ready ahead of time. I'm thinking that black and white photos will look pretty cool in here, and will help me stop stressing about whether or not the photos will match the papers. :)

I still haven't decided if I'll stick the embellishments down before December or if I'll just use these pictures as a guide for when the time comes. I also don't know yet about how I'll number each day - whether to pick out a cool alpha, or mix it up.

But I am on my way with DD'12 - proud of myself for getting this far so early, and not buying a single new thing as everything has come from my stash - yay!

~Caroline~