Category: Holidays
Starting My 2023 December Daily
It’s that time of year again folks. It’s time to get our December Daily journals ready for the beginning of December. Yikes, where does the time go? At least I had already decided on the theme of my December Daily this year, which is vintage Christmas. Before I put my Christmas crafting stuff away last year I sorted through everything and made a box with stuff I can use this year. Throughout the year, whenever I found something else I could use I just tossed it in the box. Earlier this week I sorted through the box and organized everything so it’s a little easier to find what I need.
Below is the video showing the very beginning of my December Daily 2023 journey. Enjoy!
Creating My 2023 December Daily Box
I know most people have just finished their December Dailies for 2022 and a lot of people are glad to get the holidays behind them. For the last several years I have put together a box of stuff to use for my upcoming December Daily. I do this for two reasons. First, all my Christmas crafting supplies are still out and easy to get to. Secondly, I am super busy during October and November because of the craft shows I do. Having a theme picked out and a box of stuff all ready to go really takes the pressure off when I decide to make my journal. The bonus of having a themed box is I have a place to stick all the fun ephemera and supplies I find during the year for my December Daily.
I hope you found this video helpful and may even consider setting your theme and box up early!
My Completed 2022 December Daily
It’s finished and ready to show! This is my completed December Daily for 2022. The theme was rustic and I used elements to reflect that throughout my journal. I did journal for all thirty-one days of December. Please enjoy the flip through.
I hope you kept a December Daily for 2022. If you did not but are interested in making one for 2023, please keep an eye on this blog and my YouTube channel as I will be sharing all aspects of my new journal throughout the year!
#holidaycraftwithus Christmas List Pad
This week’s #holidaycraftwithus prompts are to make a Christmas journal card, altered paper clip or notebook/gift list. I am a list maker by heart so I opted to make the notebook/ gift list. I decided I wanted to make a pretty holder for it as well so I decorated a glassine bag to attach inside my 2022 December Daily to hold the notebook. I hope you enjoy the process!
Christmas In July Part 1
I am taking part of an open crafting collaboration titled #holidaycraftwithus. This week’s prompts are to make a Christmas/Holiday ATCoin, flat ornament or cluster. Anyone who knows me at all knows I jumped at the chance to make some more clusters! This video shows both my process and the finished results of my week one project. Enjoy!
DIY Spring Treat Baskets
I decided to make some Spring treat baskets from peat pots after noticing that the ones I made several years ago got re-pinned on Pinterest more than anything else I have made. Here is a picture of the original ones.
The new ones are slightly different and I didn’t have the same style peat pot and I ran out of the wire.
This whole sleeve of pots only cost 50 cents at a thrift shop. You can buy them inexpensively at dollar stores also. As you can see, these are smaller than the original ones I used and they don’t have the rim around the opening.
Watch here to see how I made them:
I love how they turned out and they were so easy to make. I challenge you to pick up some peat pots and create something for Spring yourself!
Getting My 2018 December Daily Ready
This is my sixth year keeping a December Daily. I have written posts about some of my previous December Dailies in the past but this is a new Christmas to document and I’m as excited as ever. Here are just a few quick pictures of my set-up.
Decorating the cover
I usually use old book covers for my December Dailies. The cute snowman image is a piece of a Christmas napkin I decoupaged to the front cover. If you want to decoupage a light-colored napkin, tissue paper or thin paper on a dark background you may want to paint a layer of white underneath. If I hadn’t painted white underneath this napkin I would have ended up with a light green snowman. I just painted a section white and dabbed the edges to soften them and somehow it just looks like snow around the snowman. Of course I added chunky glitter to make my snowman glittery!
Select assorted papers
I selected about forty assorted pieces of paper for the pages. Not all are scrapbook paper however, some are vintage Christmas cards, envelopes, Christmas book pages, Christmas carol pages, old advertisements, etc.. I like to document my entire December and not just through Christmas day. I’ve made sure I have enough “pages” to have at least one a day. Sometimes I may use two pages for one day if a lot was going on and some days I may only use one side of a page. If I don’t have enough pages I can always add more and if I have too many I can take some out.
Arrange papers
After I’ve picked the papers I want to use, I spread them all out on the dining room table and then put them together in an order that is pleasing to me. When arranging the pages I consider color, size and type (such as book page or Christmas card) so I don’t have two of the same type near each other. I make sure my nativity pages are approximately around the 24th of December. I can always fine tune the location of pages as I go along.
Add a place to stash goodies
I like to attach a small decorative paper bag to the inside of the back cover. That gives me a place to stash embellishments I want to use in the journal. When my journal is completed the bag gives me a place to put items I want to keep that didn’t make it onto a page.
Add binding of some type
I use O rings to keep my journal together. They allow me to make my journals good and chunky and give me the freedom to add or take out pages as needed. Sometimes I will remove a page to work on it if I’m going to use wet mediums like paint or spray ink.
So now that I’ve shown you my “naked” December Daily, I hope to post throughout the month and give you ideas and hacks for ways to embellish your own journal. Just keep in mind the rules for keeping a December Daily:
- There are NO rules
- Don’t stress if you can’t do it everyday. Maybe just keep track of the highlights
- There is no right or wrong way to keep a December Daily
- Don’t compare your journal with anyone else’s journal
- HAVE FUN!!!
Burlap Heart Embellishments
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I decided to make heart embellishments out of burlap. The process was really easy, but I think they came out really well. Here’s the simple process.
Cut some ordinary burlap into smallish pieces. The bigger ones in the picture above measure about 6″ square.
I painted the burlap for interest as well as to keep it from fraying when I cut it into smaller shapes.
I cut the fabric into heart shapes. Some were cut with a die and others I free-handed.
Here’s the fun part! I took out a lot of my Valentine’s Day stickers, bling and graphics. I also took out some sequins and plastic flowers.
Here’s the finished heart embellishments.
I will use these little embellishments on cards, tags or gift bag toppers. I hope this has inspired you to get out some of that plain old burlap you have lying around and make some fun embellishments!
Finished 2017 December Daily
Just a quick post to give you a glimpse at my finished December Daily for 2017. I must say I wasn’t really loving the bare book before December.
Now that it’s finished, however, I really love how it turned out.
It’s a big, chunky monkey!
I didn’t add any charms or ribbon to the rings before December, but was able to get some cute things on during the month. The bells on the red elastic was a jingle bracelet I wore to Zumba for two weeks!
Here are some random pages from my December Daily.
As you can see, I do not use photos in my journals. This is partly due to the fact that I don’t take a lot of pictures and partly because there is already so much cute ephemera out there to fill the pages.
I have been doing December Dailies for quite a few years now, and I must say that this year it was a real pleasure to work on it. I took a few minutes out of each day and recorded the events of the previous day. I was completely finished by New Year’s Day.
If you have never kept a December Daily before, I urge you to give it a try in 2018. There is nothing quite as fun as pulling journals out from previous years and reliving the wonderful Christmas memories!
Easy D.I.Y. Shaker For Journals
If you read my last blog post, you would see that I am doing another December Daily this year. I love December Dailies because Christmas packaging, stickers and ephemera are just so darn cute. As I am just a big kid during the Christmas season, I also like to make shakers for my journals. There is something so fun about making the sequins and beads move around. Most of the time I just use the cellophane wrappers from things I buy but this year I had a different idea.
I found a bunch of these in my junk journal closet (yes, I really have a closet full of junk journal supplies!)
These are the plain white sleeves you use when you make your own CDs. There is cellophane covering the circle cut out. I stamped mine to make them extra festive.
This is the marked up cover of an old Rudolph kids book. I didn’t feel bad cutting up this particular book because it wasn’t in very good shape.
I glued on some sequins in different sizes to give the picture some dimension. Then I put the picture into the CD sleeve.
I got out a few of my packages of sequins and seed beads (and yes, I have many more than this!), and poured them into the CD envelope.
I sealed the sleeve with glue and viola, a cute Christmas shaker to add to my December Daily. I will probably just put it in with a paper clip so I can take it out and play with it when I want.
These can be made for any holiday and can also be used in junk journals. If you don’t have any CD sleeves, just take a look at your crafting stash and see what else you may have to turn into a shaker. Go ahead, your never too old to let your inner child out, especially at Christmas!
glitteronmyface 