On the December Daily Bandwagon.

I have been meaning to write this all month so that if anyone wanted to play along with us, they'd be able to. However, we're all familiar with the problems of even the best-laid plans, so it's no surprise my haphazard planning has led me to post this at the last minute.

For those who are not familiar with it, Ali Edwards has been running, or perhaps instigating, a December Daily Scrapbook group for three years now. She has put together a flickr group, and posts her planning, designing, and creating process on her blog. For info about this year's group go to her blog. That will give you all the information you need to play along if you want.

This will be the second year I do this. Last year I did not manage to take a photo every day, but I got photos and story for most days. I thought I'd share what I did with you. I'll also post before and after photos for this year's book on my flickr page (link on right) and try to update here on a regular basis.


I used a planner from Martha Stewarts' craft line, and added a bunch of different papers to try to achieve an eclectic look. I may have only made it to "hodge podge," but I like it. Of course there are some pages I like more than others. I'm only including the ones I found interesting here:


I loved using the acetate overlays and plain pages. They added a fun element of depth and unexpected layers. Here's a couple more from later in the month:







And page 14? A piece of Tim Holtz's grungeboard. I love that stuff. I even used craft foam for a couple pages:



And I used die cut pages, and shaped my photos to conform:


Other favorite techniques included full page photos on the backs of single sided papers.




Not all my photos were well composed; some of the ones I used could be considered downright awful, but they documented our life last December. That was the point. To be in the moment, rather than trying to recapture a feeling or thought months after the fact. And to enjoy that moment for what it was, in all its daily messiness. I hope you'll consider playing along.

I only have duct tape so I can make costumes. And hold doors together until the contractor can get here.

**This blog is no longer being updated. If you want to see more of my crafty life, please join me at http://heatherdubarry.com/ If you have more of a scrapbooking bent, please visit me at http://noexcusescrapbooking.com/ Hope to see you there!**


Making Ethan's Lifesaver costume was very easy. I measured how tall Ethan was from his armpits to his knees, and around his chest, then got a piece of scrap material in those dimensions. I laid out a piece of florist's wire on each end so I could give the finished piece some shape when I was done. Then I just covered the cloth with two strips of duct tape and used each color in turn.

I just taped the sides together on the inside and outside of the tube, then made two straps out of duct tape folded over on itself. (Simon took the photo above. He does a good job for a four year old, don't you think?)


To make the label, I cut a piece of handmade paper that my sister gave me to approximately the right size, and cut out letters with my little cricut. I think they were 5 and 5.5 inches high, from the Opposites Attract cartridge. I just used a glue stick to attach them, then used a piece of clear shelf liner to attach and cover the whole label on the tube.
And now may I present Darth Vader and his LifeSaver: