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December Daily/Week in the LIfe HELP???

AnneofAlamo

AnneofAlamo

Slippers IN sunshine? Even better!
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
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I loved the WIL and want to redo it, but I don't want the same as last year?
and Christmas countdown? :tantrum:tantrum:tantrum
I need something to make me want to do it!?!?!
what do you do when it becomes so routine and blah?:imok
 
I'm still kicking myself for not completing EITHER of these projects last year. I started them both, but completed neither of them.:hissy

I haven't even put WIL on my radar yet (when is it?), but I've been obsessed with December Daily. I'm a total digi girl, but I did a smash book style travel journal this summer (with a lot of printed digi elements). I really, really enjoyed it! I'm considering doing something similar for my Christmas album, but I'm not sure yet (here's the link to what my travel journal was like). Being successful at this requires more planning, and I'm not sure I'm up to that though. I've been looking at sn@p albums so I could maybe have the best of both worlds.
 
Ali Edwards does Week in the Life Monday, October 27th through Sunday, November 2nd.

I'm not sure how to *make* yourself want to do it. :D But I'm sure that when you see all of the goodies that the TLP designers will be putting out for December Daily, you are totally going to be filled with inspiration to at least get started. :giggle

I'm a terrible one for starting and never finishing, but I always figure that at least if I start and get part way done, that is more than nothing, and at least it is better than not starting at all. :giggle

Maybe we can have a little support group here to keep us going.

And you can always start a Pinterest board for DD inspiration and ideas to keep things fresh.
 
I've never done a WIL but that project always calls to me. I think it is incredibly interesting and would be super cool to have to look back on. I think a great way to try it would be to pare everything down to how PL started... just pictures and journaling cards. I'm thinking of trying it with all 3x4s in my Snap album. It seem less intimidating to me that way. And maybe have a 6x8" size daily planner looking page to just jot down what we do each day...
 
I did WIL last year (printed) and it was 25 pages! bhahhahahha!! I loved it, but thinking it may be a bit insane over halloween and such...
and the only DD I really enjoyed, I did the number and clusters all up in November and was rabid about journaling and photos. I am thinking I need some rabid creativity pumped in my veins!!
 
Anne,
What if you did something similar to your DD with WIL. Since you have done it before you kind of know what to expect and you can spend some time prepping now and be ready for some binge scrapping as it happens.
AnneofAlamo said:
I did WIL last year (printed) and it was 25 pages! bhahhahahha!! I loved it, but thinking it may be a bit insane over halloween and such...
and the only DD I really enjoyed, I did the number and clusters all up in November and was rabid about journaling and photos. I am thinking I need some rabid creativity pumped in my veins!!
Click to expand...
 
I think planning is the way to go...I want a spin on DD for sure...thinking big picture or something? argh
 
My version of DD is my favorite scrap project of the year, Anne!

You need to (a) tweak it to what suits you best and (b) plan, plan, and plan some more before it officially starts.

I call my version of December Daily a Countdown to Christmas album because I run it from the day after Thanksgiving - Christmas Day and it's ONLY Christmas-related things (the two big differences from Ali's version). I'm a hardcore Christmas freak, so doing it this way makes the most sense to me and makes me the most excited to get it done.

As for planning/organizing, I keep a folder on my computer hard drive in December with all my fave Christmas things in it. I pull them all over from my EHD a few days beforehand knowing that there will also be some new kits coming out over the course of the first couple weeks that I will want to use, too. I also make a list ahead of time in Notepad that lists every day of the album e.g. Friday, November 28, etc. and then I will jot down whatever activities are already planned for a certain date. At the bottom of the file, I make a list of Christmas activities that can be done at any time during the season. This file also goes into my Christmas folder for my reference. While Ali recommends creating your pages ahead of time, I am too OCD for that, so I do choose a set of templates from one designer to use + my aforementioned folder of goodies, but that's it.

Lastly, you just have to COMMIT to the project. My PL ends when this album begins, and I do not do any other major scrapping during the month. Most designers (at least the ones I CT for) are only releasing holiday product, anyways, and then take some time off the closer we get to Christmas, so I don't fall behind on CT obligations, either. I don't let myself fall behind more than 3 days at a time and try to keep my pages more simple than complicated with an internal deadline that each page take no more than 60-90 minutes to complete. There's nothing better than having the album nearly complete by the time Christmas actually rolls around and then taking the next 7-10 days off of scrapping to enjoy the season.

I actually find AWITL a much more overwhelming project since it is so much more detail-oriented and supposedly encompassing all of the stories of your life in that week vs. capturing one story of your life per day in DD. I have done it in the past VERY simply by using Ali's templates and journaling sheets. I believe the last time I did it that I used some simple PL templates with little to no embellishments. If I was doing it paper or hybrid, I would include the journaling sheets from Ali (like she has done in her own album in the past) and not redo/scan them in.
 
Is anyone here doing Week in the Life this week? I remembered it mid-morning but I think I'm on track with the photos and notes. I didn't think this out in advance though so I have no clue what direction I'm going with my book.
 
Anne, did you read Ali Edwards' recent post titled "Our Days Are Built With Stories"? Something clicked for me when I read it & it really motivated me for WIL. I was going to skip WIL this year because my life just isn't exciting enough to document every day, but this year I'm picking one story a day with one photograph to go along with it: my alarm clock & why I get up at a certain time, my workspace & why it is the way it is. I'm going to document one small part of my day, and talk about why. I like this idea. I tried WIL last year and I ran out of things to take photos of on day 2! Just talking about one thing takes a lot of pressure off!
 
Tracie, I'm doing AWITL, but not this week. I didn't want to include Halloween and the festivites leading up to it as it's not a normal week for us. I'll be doing mine next week and it will JUST be photos + cards.
 
I haven't sat and read AEs for this year, but I will! I just take a million pictures and did a 25 page book! lol
 
LeeAndra, I think I may join you next week! This week is so far out of the realm of a typical week for us, that it really wasn't going to fit the spirit of the project. It's also a week where no one is home (hardly)... my husband is gone for work M-F, my daughter has extra dance rehearsals for a performance on Saturday, Halloween is crazy, Saturday my daughter is gone from 9am until 10pm for rehearsals, class and performance and Sunday my son is working his high school's prospective student open house. Not to mention that my in-laws show up on Friday to spend the weekend (to celebrate my daughter's b-day which was last week). I already have enough actual events to stay on top of that the day to day stuff wasn't going to get documented. I also didn't plan ahead and didn't clear off my phone, so I've missed some of the day to day stuff due to running out of space on my phone. Next week is much more "normal" and I'll be reaching for project life material, so it'll be a good week to have a reason to take more photos. I feel much better now! :-) I really wanted to do this but this week was just overwhelming me. I'll spend some of my alone time this week coming up with a plan and Sunday night after I download all of my photos from my phone to my computer... I do a massive delete and be ready to go!
 
been doing it... I'm posting photos and stories on my blog each day to keep me on track and then I don't feel bad if it takes me forever to get it in book form... this is my 4th year doing it and it totally is my fave project each year... and it's a different week each year so the fact that it's a "holiday" week doesn't bother me... because it's still a picture of what our life is like this week in 2014... which will be different in 2015... just like it was different in past years... some years we had special anniversary celebrations, some years we've been on vacation. That's the fun of her doing it a different week each year. I don't want it to be a typical week end up being pretty redundant... homeschool in the morning and afternoon outings... kwim?
 
I think my biggest issue with this week is that I am just overwhelmed by this week outside of a week in the life. I went into it thinking that it would be a great week since we were so busy... but I'm not as on top of everything as much as I would like. Next week still has special events (my daughter's belated bday party and 7th grade ballroom dancing), but not nearly as intense as this week. My false start this week has made me more mindful of what I want to capture next week and how I want to do it. This week was too reactive versus being proactive. I'm excited about trying it for real next week!
 
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