Tis the Season - Documenting the holidays and a weekend giveaway!

The details:

Around my house are a couple of half finished December Daily albums.  Every year I make this big plan to do it, and then the holidays get here and I'm too busy enjoying them to document them daily with photos journaling.  Then the holidays are over and it's that post-pardum period, and then it's on to something else and the album cover gathers dust.

Last year I made a commitment to myself that 2011 was the year.  I HAD to do one this year.  I had several winter assignments in the winter issue of SCT, so I had a lot of Christmas/ winter product.  I decided to save the leftovers for my 2011 album, and as the year has gone by, I've been gathering products to my stash to use.  I'm already off to a great start!

Again, SCT set me up with another great idea when I was asked to do a mini album for the summer issue using the Fancy Pants brag book.  For the summer issue, I used it to document all the fun we had in the summer of 2010, and as I put it together, I knew I had to use it again. 

The album:

The Fancy Pants brag book is the ideal December Daily album, in my opinion.  It has journaling pages, pages with pockets, and page protectors.  It has a thick chipboard cover, and coil binding.  Coil binding with perfectly spaced coils which just so happens to work beautifully with my much neglected Bind-It-All.   I'll be able to add color and fun with my envelopes and memorabilia.  The coil binding also allows me to arrange the album as I think best. 

You could say it is a match made in heaven.

I am SO excited.

I'm calling my album "Tis the Season" because I plan to start it next weekend when we are at the beach for a few days with my family celebrating Christmas, just before Thanksgiving.  This yearly gathering always speaks the holiday season to me, and I didn't wnat to exclude it just because it didn't happen in December.  With my kids in public school now, it was getting difficult to schedule a December date that worked for everyone, so I think a late November gathering will be the norm from now on. 

I'm keeping the cover simple, using stamps and minimal embellishments.  I my experience, my mini albums get used and abused, and I wanted the cover to withstand the test of time.  In saying that I also wanted it to be timeless, so didn't want to get too crazy with the cover.

I plan to share my progress with this album here.  I'm hoping it'll go as smoothly as I envision, because I also plan to carry on in 2012 and do better about documenting the day to day.  I'll share more about that with my next Project 12 post. 

In the meantime, I wanted to share my excitement about this album with a blog reader.  Leave a comment letting me know what you did at 11:11 on 11/11/11 and I'll draw a winner for your very own Fancy Pants Designs brag book and announce a winner Monday morning.  Sound good?  My girls were in the Veteran's Day parade at 11:11.  They are Girl Scouts and were really excited to carry flags and waive to the crowds. 

Speaking of the holidays, though, there is something else new in my home that I'm also pretty excited about:

If you haven't heard of it before, it's called The Elf on the Shelf, and I can't wait for him to join our family.  I have wanted to use him in year's past, but I always forget about him until it is already into the season.  Not this year.  He's already found his way to our home and he's going to be the first book in our book Advent for December.  I can't wait to have fun with him.  If *I* am this excited to create mischief with this little guy, I can't wait to see what my kids think.  I have pinned zillions of hiding place ideas on Pinterest already.  Fun times ahead!

Have a great weekend!  Davinie

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