I did it! I completed my December Daily for 2013. I mostly used the Studio Calico December Daily Kit but I added a few of my old stash. I enjoyed putting together the album, but I still struggled capturing the day to day stories. My main challenge is finding interesting things to capture in my daily life. My days are pretty routine unless I have friends to meet after work, or on weekends when Ariel and I have dates. Anyway, I did it! Boring life and all. Some days are just blah. Others have more stories in it.

Anyway, I won’t detail the stories here. I’ll just share how I did the pages.

This is the cover. I used an old paper doily I have in my stash (I have a lot!) which I’ve colored with a red dye ink. The snowflake was from the kit’s digital files and was cut using my Silhouette Cameo. The button in the center is from the kit. I stuck the whole thing on a 6×8 transparency.

Day 1. I used a Project Life journaling card on the top left. I embellished with washi tapes, and the #1 clip that came with the DD Kit. For the top right, I sewed little compartments to put the embellishments in.

Day 2. Nothing particularly interesting as far as techniques are concerned. For this page, I mostly journaled digitally and used the Print and Cut feature of my Cameo.

Day 3. This is a full page layout. I used one of my A2 vellum envelops both as a background and as a space to put my hidden journaling in. I sewed it onto the background paper that came with the DD Kit.

Day 4. I created a frame for my photo using my Silhouette Cameo. The word “Today” is my handwriting. Cool huh! I sewed vertical lines on the left part of the page and adhered stars at the end of the lines to mimic Christmas ornaments.

Day 5. This is a very simple page. I used digital elements here, save for the #5 which is a clip that came with the DD Kit.

Day 6. Love those wood veneer label thingies! I also printed one of the digital printables in the kit and used it on the top left card.

Day 7. One of my favorites in this album. I asked Ariel to create a wish list for Christmas. I machine stitched the gold Thickers on the journaling cards. I LOVE those Thickers! The word “joy” was cut using the Silhouette Cameo and was part of the digital elements of the kit.

Day 8. The #8 number is from an old Studio Calico wood veneer alpha set. I colored it with gold ink.

Day 9. The #9 is a sticker from an old Alpha set. I attached it to a punched scallop circle, which I attached to a wood veneer star. The star is from an old stash. I colored it using a gold ink.

Day 10. No special technique here. I just used some labels that I printed. Then I wrote some journaling on them.

Day 11. Just a bit of sewing on the upper right hand corner of the page to attach the #11. I had hidden journaling on the tag inserted behind the photo.

Day 12. I did a bit of sewing at the top of the page to adhere the ribbons, and the circle die cut that says “blessings”.  On the right side, the “joyful” frame was cut using my Silhouette. The words “kindred spirits” were stamped using a new set of wood mounted alpha stamps that I got from a bazaar.

Day 13. Upper right hand filler was cut by my Silhouette. So are the die cuts on the bottom half of the page.

Day 14. The word “believe” was cut in the Silhouette. The “Happiness” label on top was stamped using my brand new set from Simon Says Stamps.

Day 15. We celebrated my parents’ anniversary at their church. The #15 was from an old glittered chipboard set. I cut a piece of transparency and sewed three sides on the patterned paper. I filled it with star glitters and sequins before sewing the last side. I used a similar technique on the right side of this spread, at the bottom left corner. For the journaling card on the top right pocket, I sewed a pompom on top of the glittery ribbon.

Day 16. Bottom right corner pocket is the back side of the previous day’s pocket so the stars show through.

Day 17. No special techniques here. I just adhered some stickers and hand wrote my journaling.

Day 18. No special technique here either. The #18 is from an old stash of glittered chipboard.

Day 19. This is a simple page with just my journaling and the #19 label from the kit.

Day 20. The #20 label is from the alpha sticker set in the kit which I adhered on a circle label, layered on another label. The stars are part of the kit. I just attached some round dots at the center. A bit of stamping on the bottom half of the page.

Day 21. I used mainly the kit elements here with a sprinkling of some of my old supplies. No special techniques, just layering of chipboards and stickers.

Day 23. For the left half, I sewed some ribbons on the journaling card. The “deck the halls” die cut was created using the Silhouette. Right page was mostly a layering of embellishments.

Day 24. I made two spreads for Day 24 just because I have more photos and stories to tell. For the first spread, I used wood veneers. The stockings is from a super old stash. I inked it with gold. The “Oh Oh Oh” veneer was painted silver then embossed using regular embossing powder.

Still Da 24, the “Ho Ho Ho” veneer is the back side of the Oh Oh Oh above. I inked it with gold. For the top left photo, I used a frame included in the kit. Top right pocket was filled with glittery embellishments, then I sewed the top part to keep the glitters in.

Day 25. For Christmas day, I used several spreads. For the first one, I used the #25 wood veneer included in the kit and painted it gold. For the right side of the spread, the Bible verse was cut in my Silhouette Cameo, then machine stitched on a patterned paper.

The second spread included photos taken the morning of December 25th. The left side of the spread is just a patterned paper which I embellished with a 3×4 card from the kit, some washi tapes and a button from the kit. The “Merry Christmas” was cut from my first ever Simon Says Stamps Die. I love it!

For the third spread, I used photos taken later in the day. The journaling card on the bottom left pocket was a patterned card stock. I adhered thin washi tape on it to serve as lines for the journaling. For the right spread, I used a vellum envelope as base for the photo. I stitched some “flags” which I hand cut from some cardstock in the kit. The wood veneer label was from an old stash, and I stamped “rejoice” on it.

This next spread is a simple page. I just layered some embellishments.

I did some stitching on this spread. I also included a small vellum envelop which was actually a packaging material for some embellishments int he kit. I filled it up with star glitters and used it to embellish the page.

I used the “December” veneer for the final page. I painted it red, then stamped a Christmas tree in black ink on it.

That’s it! That’s my 2013 December Daily album. I had so much fun creating it. It helped that the kit is really awesome and being part of the Studio Calico class kept me inspired to complete this album. Hope you enjoyed it!