December Daily: Days 8-20

Here's another look at my December Daily book: Days 8-20. I found larger binder rings- they are 2" round...made a big difference, but I know it will still be stuffed.  I've fit in a lot of extra memories like coloring pages and little art projects, notes and extra pictures this yearand that makes it even more fun to look through.

Day 9: our snowman and a picture Ella made of her and Cohen playing outside in their snow suits.

Day 10: Cohen's Preschool concert.

Day 10 con't: Ella and I at Cohen's concert.
Day 11: Ella and Cohen's hand print salt-dough ornaments.

Day 12: Auntie Ashley's here!
Day 13: Papa Alan and Terri's gifts arrived and the kids got to open early Christmas presents.

Day 14: Making paper snowflakes and paper chains all day long! I included one of the snowflakes, folded in half.

Day 15: Watching "The Grinch."

 

Day 16: Ashley's last day. Already :(

Day 17: Cohen's new haircut.

Day 18: Cohen and Mommy
Day 19: Playing Library in the playroom.

Day 20: No School: Snow Day & Blizzard warning!
Only five days left to share!

Grandma's Shortbread & Ella's Gingerbread House

 Growing up, my Grandma made her Scottish Shortbread for most family gatherings, and always at Christmas. That's when I think about most when I think of her shortbread: Christmas. For some reason, I didn't make it last year and I can't remember making it the year before that, either. Imagine tasting something you love after not having tasted it for more than 2 years!

I dug out Grandma's old cookie tin (it even has her name and address on the bottom). I also found her hand written recipe card for the shortbread. Three special memories in one photograph.

 Yesterday, Eric went to Ella's school to help make a Gingerbread house. I couldn't wait to see it!

This is something I do not have memories of making as a child (which doesn't necessarily mean I never made one). So, it was fun to see what eric and Ella made. All week, she's been singing: "You can't catch me, nobody can. I'm the Gingerbread Man!" Sweet!

Homemade Gift Card Holders

 I made some gift card holders that are pretty easy to make and even better, they are adorable! I thought I'd share how to make them.  This is a great way to use some scraps, too!

 Cut patterned paper: 9 1/2" X 3 1/2".  Make a 1 1/2" inch fold at the bottom, toward the inside of your card. This is where the gift card will go: put a strip of adhesive on both sides of the flap and press down to secure. Fold the paper in half, making the front flap.

Use a corner rounder on the two corners of the front flap. With the card closed, punch two small holes and tie twine into a bow. I punched two small hearts and attached those to the bottoms of the twine, so they kind of dangle there. Voila! A cute and easy gift card holder.

December Daily: Day 1-7

 December 1st was very busy- so I have several pages dedicated to the first day of December.

 We picked out and cut down our Christmas tree.

 These are always some of my favorite pictures of the year.

 The decorated tree. We've never had it in this corner before...I love it there!

 On our way to get our tree, we noticed a street closed downtown and a firetruck with it's ladder extended. It was reaching up to get Santa down from a building's rooftop. We pulled over and Eric and the kids jumped out and ran while I found a parking spot. They made it in time to see Santa brought down to the ground where he met up with Mrs. Claus and chatted with the kiddos before getting on a trolley and waving good-bye.

Also on December 1st, Ella took a community ed class where she got to make and wrap gifts for us.  December 2nd: trying to keep the kids busy on a lazy Sunday with Christmas coloring pages.

Writing letters to Santa...didn't go so well. Cohen colored his hands black and Ella made it as far as writing "Dear Santa, I would like for Christmas..." That's because she wasn't feeling well.

December 4th: the kids' chairs around the Christmas tree. I just thought it was so sweet.

December 5th: A package and letter from Grandma with an handmade ornament for each kid.

December 6: baking cookies.

December 7th: Addressing Christmas cards. I also included one of our cards in our DD book. More to come!

Crate Paper Ornament Challenge

Crate Paper is having an ornament challenge on their blog...and there are four big prizes up for grabs! I made this ornament garland for my submission.

The ornament shapes and bow are from Sizzix and the cute little deer are Cricut from the the Cindy Loo cartridge. The glitter ribbon and white CS are American Crafts and the glitter paper is The Paper Studio.

All of the PP I used is from CP: the new "Sleigh Ride" collection and the woodgrain (bottom layer of deer) is from "Little Boy Blue."  I used glitter paper that cut beautifully when I ran it through my Vegabond.  I stitched around the glitter ribbon and paper with my sewing machine, and also the top of the ornaments so they were a bit more secure. I used a few pieces of vintage lace from my MIL to tie the tops of the four deer ornaments. Finally, I strung them with black and white twine.

The deer shape coordinates perfectly with the deer on this tag (above) from "Sleigh Ride." Super Cute!!

December Daily 2012

 Last year, I completely pre-assembled my December Daily album and then simply printed the pictures and adhered them in their designated spots. This year, I knew I wanted to be able to incorporate both Instagram photos and photos from my regular camera. This meant I couldn't "designate" spots ahead of time.  I made three different covers- I was being unusually indecisive. I first designed a cover and decided it was too small. And the second one I used a completely different product line.

 Finally, I went with October Afternoon's "Make it Merry." I am also including bits and pieces from the last two holiday lines from OA.  My album is 6"x8". I put together a little December Daily kit so everything was in one spot and hopefully it would be easy to do a few pages at a time.

I cut my filler pages and punched the holes. I used white CS, vellum, gold paper and cardboard. I cut apart all of the pieces of the Make it Merry 12x12, so everything is easy to see, grab and adhere. I also included manila tags and manila scalloped rectangles that I believe are from 7 Gypsies. I have all of my OA holiday labels and buttons out so I can see them. I also have some gold and white ribbon from Recollections at Michael's and AC glitter ribbon, and of course, black and white twine. I also have the new AC holiday date stamp (as if I needed another one of those!)

So, I'm all ready to go. My album is already super thick and I've only done up through December 9th. I just need to find some really big binder rings. I'll share some pictures of the inside soon!