Showing posts with label december daily. Show all posts
Showing posts with label december daily. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Happy Dance

Thank you again for your order from the Scrapbook.com Superstore. We wanted to let you know that your order was shipped today.

Oh happy happy happy!!!!!

I cannot wait to look at (and play with) my goodies.
Project Life will be starting soon and SO super excited.

December Daily is all caught up and I have found a bit of a groove. Going all out this year and printing the photos at home, regardless of price and quality of photo paper. Getting the stories down as they happen is invigorating and makes the project that much more fun.

Love.

Friday, December 02, 2011

December Daily 2011

December has started, and it is also the start of my December Daily album. I have been so excited to start this year, although I feel like I didn't get the base pages finished until just a few days ago (I normally have that part ready to go at least a month ahead of time). It has been getting harder to figure out how to get the pictures developed, as the Kodak place that used to be right up the street has moved to the mall, but I will be trying to use my computer to print out photos a little more. I didn't really like doing the photos each week last year, and proof of that is that it my 2010 album didn't get finished until October 2011... I like having the photo in hand before I figure out what to do with the page.


I won't have access to Internet or my printer for the next few days, and I am not sure I will be able to print photos until next Wednesday. I do worry that will set me back right at the beginning of this project, but I still look forward to it. I plan to just do more journaling those days to compensate.

So, here are the base pages, before anything is put on them. I am following along with Ali Edwards's basic design (pages separated by strips of transparency or photo pockets) and super excited how this will look at the end...!



My cover. I tried to do something more on the lines of Ali Edwards, with flocking and embossing and white on white, but the paper and paints I was using didn't let the flocking and powder set, and so finally I said to myself, no, keep it simple. And that will be my mantra this holiday season. Keep it simple. So white stickers on white paper and a splash of color - red ribbon with blue snowflake. The inside is painted cream and topped with a Christmas-y "tag".





Now for the the inside pages. Remember, there is a photo page protector thing-y or transparency (in some cases vellum) between each daily spread. The first one started with a photo pocket page, but I just put in some fun embellies, no photos here yet. I apologize for the glare. Had a hard time getting the colors and lighting just right - darn low energy lights! - and was doing this at midnight last night.






Here you can see how the vellum is just separating the first page from the pocket protector.






Page 2, two page spread:





Page three. Love this lace cardstock (it was orange on the other side, painted over it in cream and it turned out a little pinkish.)

Page four.




Page five.







Page six.







Page seven. Loved making my own overlays with bits of stickers and rub-ons...

Page eight - pockets that will be filled in that day with pics, journaling, or other odds and ends. Excited to try this this year. Found some business card holders and just cut them up. Super cheap -like 20 cents each!



Page nine.




Page ten.


Page eleven.



Page twelve.




Page thirteen.




Page fourteen.




Got a shot of the other side of page fourteen.




Page fifteen.







More pockets to fill in!







Page sixteen.






Page seventeen.




Page eighteen.





Page nineteen.



Page twenty.


Page twenty-one.



Page twenty-two.





Page twenty-three.






Page twenty-four.





Page twenty-five.




So, that's it! Can't wait to fill it up.




(As I go to hit publish, I am a little nervous. I am having major formatting issues with Blogger. It keeps putting 20-30 extra lines between paragraphs and pictures. Crossing my fingers the post shows up ok...)


Looking back at last year's post, I just realized that I had solved the lighting issue by using my scanner. Silly me!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Hello Christmas 2010.


A visit from Santa during the night.



Stockings stuffed with cool treats. (When I was little the stockings were always always a favorite.)



Lots of discarded wrapping paper.



A few toys strewn every which way.



And a few favorite presents.




Friday, December 24, 2010

Family Pics




Christmas Eve. We spent part of the afternoon at Great Grandma Ali's, and the evening at our house, opening presents and having a nice turkey meal. We got our annual family pictures as well. It isn't easy getting the kids to sit still long enough to snap a couple of pictures, but I think they turned out OK.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Maybe our last Freedom Christmas pageant?



Today Nico had his annual Christmas pageant at his school (named Freedom). It was a bit shorter than other years but still a good three and a half hours. It started with a procession through the streets, election of the Christmas Queen, then a dance in Spanish and also in English for each grade level and class, then ended with Santa and presents and a special Michael Jackson performance from one of the kid's father. Nico did great. His dance was with ribbons and the kids were actually quite in sync with each other.

Last year he was one of the smallest kids in his class, but this year he is one of the tallest. Same kids. Go figure! I have no idea how he is growing - he sure doesn't eat much!

Agustín went with us since Daddy was working, but got a little bored. He's to "old" for this sort of thing now. I gave him my camera and he took a series of over 150 pictures with it. But I got a few gems!



He thought he was so funny, turning the camera upside down like that. I didn't want to disappoint him by telling him that I could rotate it back rightside up again on the computer.


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

December Daily 2010



Many of you know that I have been working on my December Daily. This is my third year in a row, and it is something I plan to always do, at least while the kids are small. It is a place to record my thoughts of the holiday season, our family's traditions, the way we spend a little of our daily life during the season as well. You may be reading these thoughts in my album at this moment, as I am using my blog this year to help me record my thoughts so that I can work on the actual album later in 2011.

The base of the album gets done in October or so, and then each day we record 1 or more pictures and a few thoughts about the holiday. This year I have been having trouble keeping it up to date since the Kodak place that used to be on the corner has moved to the mall, and what used to be a 10-minute trip up to quick develop a picture or two has become an hour or more, trying to battle holiday crowds and sparse parking at the mall. So I have made peace with myself and decided that getting it done in 2011 will be fine this year, for the sake of my holiday sanity. Here is my work station, which I will presently be putting away to make room for the festivities and guests. It has been here since October, so I think it is about time. :)


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Observatory




Every year the university gives the teachers a little "present" for Christmas. One year they had a choir sing carols outside in front of the cathedral. That was very beautiful. This year it was a tour of the Quito Observatory. This is special because the observatory is not open to the public yet.



We were given the tour, and it was cool because as not all the glass is on the stands, the tour guide actually took some of the instruments out and showed them to us up close. The building belongs to the Politécnica, but hasn't been fixed up or given any maintenance for decades. Finally they are doing something about this, and it looks very nice. It is an exact replica of another observatory in Germany. Apparently observatories on the equator are very important, which is why is was terrible that Ecuador hadn't taken very good care of theirs.

We brought the kids and they really enjoyed themselves. Especially Tin, who loved getting a first hand look at all of those cool instruments!



Later that night it was another edition of The Grandpa Dan Show. This is NOT getting old. It was the big Christmas finale show, and the kids had a great time, as always.



Monday, December 20, 2010

Picking out the perfect car


Today Agustín started his Christmas vacation. Nicolás has school until the 23rd. Nico was very disappointed, to say the least, that he had to go to school this morning and his brother didn't. Agustín and I spent a very quiet morning at home, him playing and digging through his brother's cars (which he can't do when said brother is home), and me just catching up on some work around the house. I love quiet vacation mornings...

Sunday, December 19, 2010

A closer look


A closer look at our tree reveals our soft Santa Claus - one of the first Christmas ornaments Andrés and I got for our tree. There is also a gingerbread ornament the kids made a couple of years ago, and a big green car, which the kids also picked out two years ago.

I love looking at the ornaments and remembering the stories behind them.