Simple Stories: December Daily Blog Hop!

Good morning, and welcome to Simple Stories' December Daily Blog Hop! (Stay with me for an epic length post and a chance to win some Simple Stories goodies!) Okay, first I must confess that I had absolutely no plans to create a December album this year. At. all. While I certainly loved my album from last year, it ended up being a bigger project that I envisioned despite my attempts to keep it simple. (Take a peek here if you would like to see what I created last year). But, then Simple Stories came out with the "Handmade Holiday" collection and a little brand called Sn@p and I decided that perhaps maybe, just maybe I could do another album.

Last year, I did not create "foundation pages" for my album at all and I am excited to share that I did make foundation pages this year. Also, something you need to know about my album is that I do not create with a December Daily format. I found last year and the year before when I thought about doing an album that the idea of a daily album stressed.me.out. Instead, I chose 31 December memories for my album and created around them. It seemed to work much better for my family when we had several activities on the same day and I wanted to share more than one.

So, here is my album cover... (and I have a LOT of photos to share with you today...all the foundation pages).

REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION

The "December" sticker and the calendar are from the Sn@p collection. For me, creating a December album is a time where I not only use whatever new collection caught my eye but also bring in some older items from my stash.

LOVE the ribbon from May Arts...the red just matches the cover of the Sn@p 6 x 8 album perfectly! The button is from Fancy Pants Designs and I threaded it with twine and then dangled some jingle bells.

Also loving the Simple Stories ticket stickers that I mixed up for my favorite sayings...I also used some older October Afternoon cream snowflake rub-ons on the cover.

On the inside cover, I placed a Handmade Holiday pocket (the largest one) to serve as a catch all for photos and memorabilia as I work on the album. The front page is one of the chipboard dividers that comes in the album. I did some misting and added a few things from my stash plus an Elle's Studio tag.

And now the foundation pages...I used a combination of the divided page protectors, the Sn@p divider pages and the Handmade Holiday divider pages.


I added some Studio Calico wood veneer trees and snowflakes here and there as well as some Elle's Studio tags.

At every 10 pages, I placed a chipboard tabbed divider page. I thought this was a good resting point and might serve as a place to add more photos and journaling if needed.

And here's the last chipboard divider page..

December 24th and 25th are usually my most photo heavy pages so I might add more to the album when I get to this point. (I like using a binder album for more flexibility!)

And there you have it! You'll notice that my design is very simple at this point but I don't see myself adding too many more embellishments once I put in photos and journaling. During an already stressful time of year, my mantra is simple.simple.simple.

Please visit the other design team member's blogs and see what they have cooked up for their December Daily albums. And be sure to leave comments on all the blogs along the way for a chance at winning some fabulous Simple Stories products!

Here's the order for the blog hop:

Simple Stories -  www.simplestories.com
Cari Locken - www.myandmythoughts.blogspot.com
Donna Januzzi - www.donnajannuzzi.blogspot.com

Emily Lanham - http://www.createserendipity.net/
Gail Lindner - http://gaillindner.typepad.com/
Guiseppa Gubler - http://guiseppagubler.blogspot.com/
Jill Cornell - www.jillcornell.blogspot.com (YOU ARE HERE!!!!)
Kelli Rabideau - www.kelliesdesigns.blogspot.com
Rebecca Keppel - http://www.myclutteredcorner.com/
Shellye McDaniel - www.paperedcottage.blogspot.com
Tonya Dirk -  www.creativit-tonya.blogspot.com
Yuki Shimida - http://lovetodaybyluvbear.typepad.jp/

Thanks for visiting today! :)