DECEMBER DAILY, DAYS 11-18

We ended up visiting my mom yesterday, and going to the movies today instead. Sing was amazing! Lots of great characters and good music. Before we left I hurried to photograph the rest of my finished December Daily pages. After page 18 I have a few gaps and bits and pieces that need to be added in.

The tree print paper is from the sold out Redwood kit from Studio Calico. The "be present" chip board piece is me trying to be witty, since there are presents under the tree. The pocket cards on the right are from the December Wonder digi kit by One Little Bird. I combined them with a digi stamp from the Merrier set by Paislee Press.

Another tradition I wanted to write about is our family Advent celebration. The kids take turns to light the next candle for Advent and then we have a "fika" together. Swedish fika means hot drinks and something sweet to eat. The photos I had from Dante lighting the candle for the first Sunday of Advent was really grainy. I redid this spread several times because I didn't like how the photos looked. Finally I decided to shrink them down to make the grain less noticeable, and I was happy with Day 12 at last!

I made a photo collage using this set of 3x4 templates by Paislee Press. Small vellum stickers come from the Cypress Grove documenter kit by Studio Calico. All other products are from my stash.

No Swedish December Daily without a page about the Saint Lucia celebration on the 13th of the month! This is another template from Paislee Press included in the December Mini Album kit. This kit does cost a bit more than just the regular pocket card kits but the $15 were more than worth it to me. Even though I've used it throughout my 2016 album there are so much product in this kit I'll easily be able to use it for future December Daily albums without repeating myself.

I got the idea to add in this piece of packaging from Ali Edwards from another December Daily maker. I thought it was a brilliant way to easily add in all the Christmas greetings we've recieved. I've also included the card that we sent out this year.

The supermoon is my story for Day 15. I was out of the letter N so I constructed one from two I's and a cut up W. Star pocket card and (circle punched) sticker both from Studio Calico.

On Friday the 16th we had our annual Christmas party at work. And yes, I have asked my colleagues for permission to post this spread! Top two pocket cards and glittery stars from the Cypress Grove documenter kit. The red 4x6 card is cut from a patterned paper that came in the Redwood addon. The right side of the spread is another photo template from the Paislee Press mini album kit mentioned above.

Since this is a family album I've also recorded what my husband did on the day of the Christmas party. The journaling also talks about the kids getting to spend time with grandma who stayed overnight since both mommy and daddy was away for the evening.

For Day 18 it was time to tell the story of making our own candy for Christmas. A tradition I've kept from my childhood Christmases. This tradition is important to me because taking the time to make our own candy signals that Christmas is a special time. The rest of the year we may buy our candy, but at Christmas we make it together!

The cork numbers below are actually painted with gold acrylic paint but it doesn't show in the photo. It's more visible in real life.

Most likely my next post will be on New Years Eve. See you then!

/Magdalena

DECEMBER DAILY, DAYS 6-10

Hey people, and welcome back to my blog!

Today I'll be sharing the next five days of my December Daily album. I've changed directions this year with what I document in my pages. It's not so much what we did on a specific date, I'm saving that for our PL album. Instead I have been focusing on the stories I want to tell. I've been asking myself "What will the kids enjoy reading about in 20 years?" and that is what has gone into my album. 

I have used up every single piece of this wood grain paper. It has a Christmasy feel to me, without being overmuch. For Day 6 I wanted to document everyones favorite Christmas movie, and I wanted the page to look like a wall with the movie posters tacked to it. All products from my stash.

Day 7 tells the story about picking out the wrapping paper and wrapping the presents. "That's a wrap" digi stamp from the Grinch Moment digi set by Kellie Stamps.

Day 8 has an envelope with my kids' letters to Santa inside. Number tag and stamps from Studio Calico, but unfortunately they are no longer being sold.

The letter stamps below are from the cutest little wooden alpha stamp set I bought on Etsy many years ago. "Fragile" and "Return to" stamps by Stromsvigt Design, which no longer produces stamps, but you can find her Etsy shop here. She makes digital PL cards and planner related products. Happy Holidays sticker by Studio Calico. 

Initially that was it for Day 8, but I went back to add this piece of journaling about not believing in Santa Claus as a child. My mom has told me a story about taking me to a Christmas party when I was 4 yo and about a funny conversation I had with a grown man trying to convince me that Santa Claus was real. I wasn't buying it. Background pattern from the Christmas Album kit by Paislee Press and the digi stamps can be found in the Merrier elements kit by Paislee Press.

More Paislee Press for Day 9, also from the Merrier elements kit. This day is about me and my siblings sending videos of our kids singing Christmas songs to each other. We had a pretend fight about who's kid had the best articulation. All four videos was really funny and cute so I wanted to save them in my album. Faces hearted for privacy and the QR codes go to a private account where only I can see them. 

And for Day 10 there's actually something that happened on the tenth. Me and my husband dropped the kids off at my mom's and went gift shopping. We ran into Darth Vader at ToysRus which has to be recorded of course. I combined two different digi stamps for my title. Christmas by Pailsee Press ( I erased the "Merry" part of it in Photoshop) and Shopping by Kellie Stamps.

We have plans for the rest of today, including seeing Sing at the movies, so I'm not sure if I'll have the time to photograph pages 11-15 and have them up on my blog for Thursday. If not, they'll be up on Friday. See you then!

/Magdalena

DECEMBER DAILY, DAYS 1-5

Hey guys!

Long time, no see! I've taken some time away from my blog partly because I needed some time off, and partly because lots of the time it feels like not many people read blogs anymore. 

I have been working on my December Daily album throughout the month, but since I haven't finished the pages in chronological order I haven't been posting them online. I plan to be done with my album within a week or so, and the pages will go up here on my blog during that time as well. I've scheduled pages 6-10 for tomorrow, so come on back Wednesday for some more inspiration!

My intro pages aren't finished yet so I'll be sharing them later in the week. Here is my first spread using a template from the December You Are My Fave mini album kit from Paislee Press. The "December" digi stamp comes from the same kit. The acetate word is from Studio Calico's November documenter kit. All other products come from my stash.

The second spread tells the story of the annual Swedish Christmas TV show known as the "Julkalender", or Christmas Calendar". It's been running every year since 1960! I used another template from the Paislee Press December Album kit to document me and my husbands favorite "julkalender" from when we were kids, and the right side is about the kids' favorite julkalender which is the current one. The printables are from the December Magic digital card kit by One Little Bird. The antlers are from a stamp set sold by Studio Calico last year, and all other products are from my stash.

The printables on the spread of day 3 is from the Wonder set by One Little Bird. I layered some text over the pine star and then printed it on kraft paper. I love the result! The filler page on the left is also printed on kraft paper and is another page from the Paislee Press December album kit.

There haven't been much of this kind of weather this December, which is what my journaling for day 4 is all about. It's been way too warm for my taste! Let it snow digi stamp is from the Merrier kit by Paislee Press. The woodgrain journaling card comes in the Wonder set by One Little Bird. I layered a white rectangle and text over the woodgrain. The other two cards and the banner are cut from a patterned paper by Crate Paper.

I've had lots of fun with my nails this December and day five has my two favorite designs and no journaling. Cards from the December documenter kit by Studio Calico. I used a circle punch on the Santa sticker from this set by Studio Calico. 

Welcome back tomorrow to see the next five pages of my album!

/Magdalena