This is the first time I’ve attempted making foundation pages. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d be able to pull them together because I usually build my pages around the photos. The first time I tried to sit down to do these I felt completely overwhelmed and walked away.It definitely took me a bit to wrap my head around this process. I came back to this a week later and to my surprise, things started coming together. I think the following things helped get me in the right mindset:

1. Explaining the foundation making process to my daughters.
2. Watching them put together pages together and
3. Making a list of the things we would be doing this December. 

Knowing what we would/might be doing every day helped me to visualize what photo(s) I’d likely take that day and how many pages/slots I would need to tell the story of that day. 

The supplies I’m using this year: Ali Edward’s December Daily Main Kit, the Paislee Press December Daily Mini Kit and the Holiday Tradition Kit designed by Jamaica. The physical version of the Main Kit and the paislee press mini kit are sold out but the digital versions of the kits can be purchased here:

Ali Edward’s 2017 December Daily Main Kit (digital version)

Paislee Press 2017 December Daily Mini Kit (digital version)

The storage bin is THIS ONE from Ikea.

Here’s a closer look at the stamp sets and the supplies I’m using for gold embossing.

Stamp sets from left to right: 2017 December Daily 4×6 Stamp Set by paislee press (sold out but the digital version is available HERE), 4×6 Stamp Set from the Holiday Tradition Kit and an older Studio Calico stamp set from 2013 or 2014 designed by Elise Cripe. The embossing heat tool is from Paper Source, Ranger Ink Gold embossing powder and the versamark clear stamp pad and a clear acrylic stamping block (similar here).

Let’s move on to the foundation pages.

The opening page is still a work in progress. I’m not sure I’ll be using the 3×8 pocket page or if I’ll go with a super simple 6×8 white page with the  “December Twenty Seventeen” piece (from the December Daily mini kit I designed for Ali Edwards). 

Day 1 & 2. Not sure what story to tell on December 1st so for now I’ve got a 1 cork piece slipped into a 3×8 pocket page.

Day 2 is Eric’s birthday so this page came together easily. Printed the “Happy Birthday” message on a 3×4 card (from the paislee press mini kit) and added a number 2 cork piece (from Ali’s main kit). 

Day 3. For now I’ve slipped in a black chipboard number. I distinctly remember feeling that I didn’t have enough number embellishments last year so I may have over compensated this year. I ended up getting the black chipboard number set, the larger cork number set and the smaller cork number set that’s included in Ali’s main kit. I also have number stickers in black, white, woodgrain and gold but I really like the depth and thickness of the chipboard and cork so I haven’t reached for the stickers yet. 

Day 4. I’m reserving this day for our annual holiday card. Based on years past, the first Monday of December is usually uneventful. The girls are in school, I’m usually busy with work and more often than not, I end up not taking photos that day. Knowing ahead of time that I’ve already got a set stories to tell throughout the month eases the pressure of needing to take a photo every single day. For that reason I’m totally ok with bookmarking certain days (usually a week day) for things I want to see in all my December Daily albums.  If something does happen on Day 4, I can easily move the holiday card to another day.

Day 5. Same story for Tuesday. Girls are in school and I probably won’t get around to taking photos so I’m reserving this day to hold the “outtakes” from our holiday card photo shoot.  And for Day 6, same scenario as Monday and Tuesday, so I’ll likely just slip in one of the girls’ Dear Santa letters. 

Day 7. They have ice skating lessons so I’m making a mental note to take a photo of them on the ice. The “oh what fun!” is a stamp from this 4×6 set I designed for Ali Edwards. 

Day 8. I slipped in a 3×4 to do list card (from the paislee press mini kit) and gold embossed the “holiday vibes” (stamp from this 4×6 set) on a white 3×4 card. I’ll use the blank space below the heart for journaling.

Day 9. Both girls are performing in a winter show. I’ve made a note of specific photos I’d like to include. I slipped in the “let it shine” label and gold blank label so I don’t have to go searching for embellishments when working on this. I may end up not using them and that’s ok. I like that they are there. I rarely include embellishments so it will be interesting to see if this approach will help me add more details. 

Day 10 is a big day – Audrey’s 10th birthday party. I printed out the online invitations (from minted.com) as a 4×8 fold out insert. I plan on printing out the guest responses and added it to the inside fold of the insert. 

Including lots of room to properly document her birthday party. I’ve designated two pocket pages – front and back. 

The number 10 is slipped into the bottom of a 6×8 pocket page. I love including full photo pages.

Day 11. Planning to go to Disneyland before blackout dates set in for the holidays. Hoping to get a photo in front of The Small World for this 6×8 page. 

I’ve reserved the right side of this spread to include additional photos of our day at Disneyland.

Day 12 & 13. Planning to slip in another Dear Santa letter on Day 12. Both the red striped card and the “holiday cheer” embellishment are from the paislee press mini kit. For Day 13. I slipped in the “deck the halls” embellishment (from the paislee press mini kit) as a reminder to get photos of holiday decor – our holiday cards wall, xmas tree, ornaments, etc.

Day 14. It’s a Thursday and I suspect I’ll be frantically finishing up holiday shopping or a knitting project. It’s a busy time but I love it! Here I slipped in the season of joy transparency from Ali’s main kit and a “busy” chipboard label from the paislee press mini kit.

Day 15 & 16. Day 15 is super simple – just a 3×4 card (from the paislee press mini kit). Day 16 will likely change as I just found out we’ll be attending another holiday party (instead of holiday shopping or going to movies as originally noted).

Day 17. So this is the day I thought we might be attending a holiday gathering. But it’s happening on Day 16 so I’ll most likely use the “celebrating the season” chipboard over to that day.

Day 18. The favorite things card is from the paislee press mini kit. And the black and white card.  That might just be my favorite thing EVER. It’s from the Holiday Tradition Kit, designed by Jamaica for the Kelly Purkey Shop. 

The black and white trees transparency is from the paislee press mini kit.

Day 19 & 20. The 3×4 card is from the Holiday Tradition Kit and the city sidewalks chipboard is from the paislee press mini kit. The happy everything is stamped and gold embossed (stamp from this 4×6 set). I may leave the happy everything page as is or add a small b&w photo underneath the phrase.

Day 21. This may be my favorite spread in the album, mainly because I’m in love with the gold letterpress pieces (from the Holiday Tradition Kit). I may actually leave the left side as is because I can’t bear the thought of covering up the beautiful leaf design and I think the clean simplicity of the left side will pair nicely with the collage on the right side. 

Day 22. The last day that Audrey will be nine years old.  

We’ve been talking about her turning ten for months now. On this page I printed out a quote from Audrey, “This is the last day I’m going to be single digit age!” 

Day 23. Today is Audrey’s birthday. 

Every year I print out a 4×8 insert that records her favorite things at that age. This year she is really into judo and ice skating.

Day 24. Christmas Eve is usually a photo heavy day so I’ve allotted many pocket pages for this day and slipped in embellishments throughout. 

Day 25. Christmas Day is another photo heavy day.

Day 26. The pages start getting a lot simpler after Christmas. I do like to document through the end of the month because we usually have gatherings with Eric’s side of the family after Christmas and I want those included in our album. The project wouldn’t feel complete for me otherwise.

Day 27. I love that buffalo check paper from Ali’s main kit. I’ll likely cut it down to a 3×8 or 4×8 insert. For now it’s just loosely tucked in so I remember to use it.

Day 29 & 30. Again, super simple.

Day 31. I like to stick to a black and gold theme – it feels very “new year’s eve-ish”. The “December 31” is stamped and gold embossed. I also stamped “photobooth” at the bottom of a 3×4 card. We usually take a bunch of family selfies and I plan on printing the photos in a photobooth strip format and adding them to the card.

I peeled off the green December Daily/paislee press label from the packaging and added it to a 3×4 card. It’s not everyday that a girl gets the amazing opportunity to design for Ali Edwards and I definitely want to document this moment/happy milestone!  I may leave this section at the end of the album or incorporate it somewhere else in the album. To complete this page I plan on including images of the 2017 December Daily Mini Kit collection I designed. 

And that’s it! Feeling super ready to start documenting this holiday season. 

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