Hi everyone, it’s Yin, here to share my completed December Daily album! I’m so happy to be holding it in my hands, full of December memories, but also a tad sad not to get to play in it anymore! Being on the DD creative team has been such a huge privilege, opportunity, and also responsibility (I felt!). I wanted to use all the products, try all the ideas, I went outside my comfort zone, and enjoyed every bit!
I must say that my finished album surprised me in several ways:
I ended up needing two albums
I didn’t get to include much pocket pages
I did almost all full sized double pages for each day
A lot of my initial grand plans and ideas didn’t get to the page (lol)
But it ended up all good, an album I love, in my own style, with all my stories, in coordinating products and pages, and completed before the end of January! Here are some of what I think worked for me.
Foundation Pages
I was very excited when the products arrived and was so inspired I made more than 10 foundation pages! These worked in both expected and unexpected ways:
There were foundation pages I pre-made with complete stories in mind, important stories I wanted to tell in my album. These filled in on days when not much was happening and were just perfect.
Story of how our Christmases changed over the years, following Jennie Rey’s Back to Basics Product Class.
For our 28th Anniversary on 4th Dec. I made this template with 28 photo spots and you can download it here. https://yindesigns.blogspot.com/
Then there were pages I made just playing creatively with the products. When the actual photos and stories came, I admit there was lots of problem-solving to make them work. But they did give my pages the creative direction, so that I simply focused on how to fit the story in. One thing though, I had to do mostly double pages for each day because – Note to self: do not pre-punch holes so foundation pages can be adapted to either side of the album!
Foundation page on the right side
Foundation page on the right side (again!)
New 10×8 size
It was fun to jump into the new size but initially it was hard to get the hang of it. A large page required larger photos and embellishments! I didn’t think I’d get good enough photos to be blown up for. But by planning for it I did get a few and got bolder to include more as the month went along. Then there are the full page flat-lays (inspired by Pam Baldwin), and I always love collages of multiple photos.
Flat-lay inspired by Pam Baldin from Prep Day
Blown up iphone photo
Using December Daily 2021 layered templates
Following inspiration
Many of my pages were lifting and adapting ideas from Ali and the amazing creative teams and community, and the Back to Basic Product Play and Prep Day classes. These have got to be my quickest and best looking pages!
Enlarged speech bubble printed on vellum and stitched with sequins inside following Jennie Rey’s idea from Prep Day
So much inspiration with the wreaths page
Following Ali Edwards’ page journaling on the vellum speech bubbles
Style Guides
Along with all the products, I decided early on the look I’m hoping for and narrowed down to this list (below). They are what I reached for first and helped me not to overthink a page!
Stamped Titles (actual or digital)
Vellum / Transparency
White or Kraft backgrounds
Wood veneer numbers
Mixed media
Stamping with DD 20221 alpha stamp set
Digital stamping!
Mixed Media page to tell the story of our zoom party with friends in different parts of the world.
Calendar/Planner pages
Probably no one else has this problem, but I recorded my entire December in these pages so I wouldn’t feel a need to put every photo/story in the actual DD pages!
Letting Go
Like everyone I had watched so many videos and inspiration, and had all these ideas how my album should look like. But really I couldn’t pull off all of them and fell back into my own usual hybrid, collaging style. Once I had the photos and story for each day, the page took its own shape. I think I ended up with quite an eclectic album, and that is totally okay! I also loved that while using the same products, each of the creative team members’ albums are so different and uniquely us. Isn’t that why we love December Daily!
Finally here is a sped-up flipthrough of my album.
Insert MOV Video
If you’d like to see a more detailed walkthrough video you can find it here (https://www.instagram.com/yin_dgs/channel/) on my Instagram videos or here (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRK4sA6kfee8dlHssV22IHA/videos) on my youtube channel.
All my DD pages are posted on my Insta under the hashtag #yindecemberdaily.
You can also find my template site here.
Thank you so much everyone for letting me share my album, stories and thoughts on this beloved project!
