getting ready for christmas, part 1

my big project this weekend (between caring for a house full of sickies and washing clothes) was preparing the bones for my december daily album. this is an album that will record all of our activities from december 1st through december 25th. i've watched ali edwards do this project for the last couple of years and have decided to jump on board for 2009. the key to the success of this project is getting everything set up in advance so that during the busy holiday season all you have to worry about is pictures and journaling - which i pretty much do anyway. because this is my first year doing this project i decided to leave some of my page decisions until i know what kind of photos i will have for each particular day. i also have made the decision to not place numbers on my pages just yet and i'm actually not even committing to a page order just yet either. i like the idea of having some flexibility once i have the photos and journaling details nailed down.

so below are some photos of what i have put together so far - at least the first set. i'll post the rest tomorrow. i'm really excited about the outcome and am even more excited to see how it all comes together. and i do plan to share my completed pages here once december starts. an unexpected plus of this project is that now i'm definitely in the holiday spirit and am already looking forward to the holiday season!!

i decided to use 6 x 6 chipboard squares for my album. this is what it looked like before i started. i used cardstock and patterned paper to cover the chipboard.



this picture shows some of the numbers i plan to use to indicate the day. again, not putting those in the album just yet....



....and here is a little stack of embellishments i plan to use throughout, but again waiting for the pictures and journaling to take shape first....



the title page....twenty five days until christmas, 2009....



....these two pages are just covered with cardstock. at this point i don't know if they will contain photos or journaling or both....





i plan to place a big photo over the bare chipboard on this page....



....and this is a baseball card sheet protector cut to fit the size i'm working with. this is actually two pockets that can end up holding something fun. the "a" is for altman - our surname.



just trying to mix things up a bit here....



....and this is the back of the page shown above....



and i plan to cover this bare chipboard with photos also....



this is actually a manilla folder that i cut down and covered with patterned paper. the back will be covered with a photo....





this is a fancy transparent overlay that i found at my local scrapbooking store. it was actually a 12 x 12 overlay and i cut it down to fit the album....





that's all for now, but check back tomorrow to see the rest of the album. and if you've started your december daily album leave me a comment and a link to your blog....i'd love to see it!