December Daily / done!

This is my cover. I only stamped the spine and did nothing else to it. To afraid to spoil it :)

The only foundation page I made was the opening page. This was the back, and my plan was to place a family picture here. And this is how it turned out:

Some other highlights:

And with the strike of midnight and the beginning of a new year, I say goodbye to December, Christmas and My December Daily album. 

It was definately fun, although I doubt I will do it again. I think I will go with the Sinterklaas theme again next year, and two projects so close together is just a bit much ( especially when you are also trying to do Project Life - it kinda feels like you are doing everything twice for 2 months).

But i had a great time and i am happy with

Project Life 2014 - Let's get this party started! Who's with me??

December -not so- Daily: wrapping it up

With this year on it's last day, it is time to wrap up DecemberDaily. As my album wil keep going until the 1st of January, I can not quite finish the whole thing yet, but this is it so far:

I have cut up a page protector here to make an insert. With the vellum washi from the SC kit, I made a tab on the bottom.

We baked cookies yet again, which is great fun, but my scales don't like the eating them afterwards part :)

Christmas day! Quite family breakfast & Christmas cakes at the big family meeting in the Afternoon. They were yummy!

More presents, fun and games....

Have a great evening everybody and hope to see you all next year :)!!!

December -not so- Daily

I started December Daily on the 9th this year, because that was the day we started decoration after our Dutch "Sinterklaas" festivities had ended.

So, day 9 was all about the tree and other decorations. The main attraction was this singing and dancing pinquin, who is very cute, but a little LOUD!

I also included these pictures of ornaments that were a gift to my son from his grandparents this year and last year. We don't actually put them in the tree, they stand on the mantel.

I printed a paislee press dear on a sheet of vellum as a divider. I am really into dear this year. And gold. So this was perfect.

And of course the tree. This one is by day, I will probabely include one taken in the dark later on as well.

Day 14

This Saturday afternoon was all about baking gingerbread men! My boy loves baking.... Or maybe he just likes knowing there will be something to eat?!

Whatever the reason, we had a blast. And we even wrapped some up to take to friends as a present!

Day 15

Sunday, breakfast with Santa at the Hard Rock Cafe in Amsterdam.

I do not think he cared Santa spoke Spanish and looked rather skinny and young :) he got a present, so all was good!

Up to now, I am having fun with this project. Love the december daily kit from studio calico. Not to fond of the album. Love gold! Love reindeer! Love christmas!

Stay warm & merry friends!

Project Pepernoot

Little Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet

Let me start this with a very short explanation of the title. A Pepernoot is a traditional Dutch snack, similar to gingerbread cookies. We eat it around Sinterklaas. We celebrate that Sinterklaas comes from Spain with his boat and his Zwarte Pieten and brings presents to all the good children by dropping them trough the chimneys into shoes that the children place there before they go to bed. It's basically Santa, but on a horse and boat instead of with a sled and reindeer. And it is on December 5th.

As this holiday is bigger in Holland that Christmas -presents wise that is- i decided to make an additional album about the weeks leading up to this big day, and I called it project pepernoot.

In it I will try and capture everything that happens and how my now 2,5 year old son experiences it all. All his funny quotes, surprised looks, his wish list, what he actually got, how much candy he ate (hopefully without being sick!).... The whole story.

Above is the opening page. The decorations I hang the first day, and below is the story about how he reacted to them ( he thought it was his birthday!)

The wish list we made to give to Zwarte Piet. And of course I made a copy to give to Zwarte Piet, otherwise he would not get anything :)

First present in the shoe! Looking a little unsure about singing to a chimney :)

The invite for the boat ride we made in Amsterdam to see Sinterklaas arrive in his boat. Thijs is on the invite as well, cause i made it ( i work at the canal cruise company). I stapled it inside a full page page protector.

We had a blast and I love recording all these precious stories! But, the festivities do not end until December 5th, so there will be more!

If anybody wants to join me, use the hashtag #projectpepernoot!

Love,

Cindy

December Daily (tree to tree)

Hello tree

I am  so excited about December Daily! This will be my first time joining in and I can't wait for December to start.

However, here in Holland, we have another big, BIG holiday in December: Sinterklaas. He is kinda like Santa, only he arrives on a boat and has his "pieten". To help him deli er presents to all Dutch children on the 5th of December. They donthat by walking over the roofs and dropping gifts through the chimneys, were the land safely in the shoe of the receiving child, carefully placed there the evening before. Usually with a carrot for Sinterklaas' horse, instead of your milk and cookies. Maybe that is why Sinterklaas is a little skinnier then Santa, now that I think of it.....

This means the first couple of December days are fully taken over by the anticipation of this big night.... And Christmas is still far from our minds.

So I have decided to start my album as soon as the christmas tree arrives in the house, and to stop ones we take it down (usaullynthe first weekend in the new year). 

Album prepping

I am having a hard time starting it without having pictures to work around. But, I did start on my album & cover page!

So..... It took me some time to work up the nerve to actually do it..... But I decided to stamp the year on the outside of the cover in white. And I am SO glad it work out as I hoped!!!

Minor detail: don't know what to stick into the label holder now..... I know, huge first world problem, but I know it will keep me up tonight LOL

I have also made the title page. It simply says "Christmas" and below it a gold element from the Ali Edwards/Studio Calico kit that I am using saying "Twenty Thirteen".

I did not add a last name, as I am not married to my boyfriend, so we do not all have the same family name. Never bothered me before, but seems to be a problem for me project-wise ;)

Just now, I decided to add this reindeer ornament ( and because it is dark now, the picture is not that great, but I will replace it with a better one tomorrow)  that is supposed to to in the christmas tree.... But I have three more, so I figured the tree would be fine with one less. I noticed I have developed a slight obsession with deer this christmas, so I thought this was a nice symbol of that obsession.

On the back of the title page, I am planning to stick a family picture in the polaroid frame.

That's it. That is all I am going to do until December 6th. Not completely true, I will definately browse through the kit atleast 10 more times. But i will start the real work ones I have pictures to work around.

I am planning to do a lot of B&W pictures, to make sure they do not clash with the kit colors to much.

Butif you know me a little, you know I change my mind all teh time! So check back in a month and see what really happend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Project life 2014: finding my style

I have been doing project life for 6 months this year and I have tries many different things. I have tried the beautiful white templates, I have tried the "original" approach without any added embellishments, I have tried sticking to my studio calico kit....

So far after the fist month, this is what I am gonna forget about:
* Unedited pictures. When I started I was all like "it is about the memory, not the picture". Turns out that is not true ;) At least, not for me. I now do all my pictures in PicTapGo before I print them. I just do them every day at the end of the day on my phone, takes only 5 minutes and makes such a difference!

I lighten them up mostly, which also works wonders for pulling the colors more together.
* Using apps to add words that force me to crop (like Abeautifullmess and Rhonnadesign). I just do not really like using the square cropped pictures all the time. I like using pictures either on 3x4 or 6x4 so they fill up the pockets.

And this is what I am going to keep:
* Not giving up a whole picture for a week number, but adding that to a picture that sums up the sentiment of that week.

* Week in review cards: just a small list of the things we did that week, so I can incorporate the things I do not have pictures of as well.
* Inserts! Just not for events, but for the things I want to tell a story about. If there is a birthday or a holiday, I make a separate picture book. But for our garden renovation or my boys new hobby (playing on the playground around the corner) I love to make inserts. Preferably all in different sizes & shapes!
* writing on pictures with white sharpies! Just love this!

Hopefully in 2014, I will have found my style and that album will be more consistent in style.
Though I also kinda like the fact in this album all spreads are totally different from each other :)

Mini album: a pregnancy documented

Right now I am working hard to finish up my mini album on my pregnancy. The little one that came out is two now, so I guess it is about time :) I don't know why it took so long for me to get started on this album. Maybe I just had to find out about Project Life first!

I pick a pink mini album, even though I had a boy. I love pink, it is MY album, so I  get to pick the color!

As I miscarried 12 weeks into my first pregnancy, I was a little hesitant recording the first months this second time around, something I wish now I would have done different, but that's just the way it is.

As I did not have either my iPhone or my DSLR then ( so much can change in 3 years LOL!) I do not have that many pictures. And what I have is not the greatest quality wise either ( another regret- but that is just the way it is).

So I have focused on making what I have photo wise look as good as possible, and make sure all memories and feeling are recorded. 

Luckily I did keep a written journal ( and a weight chart - why did I think I wanted to remember gaining 20 kilo's??? LOL) so that will be the focus of the album. Not the weight chart, the written journal :)

I also decided to inculde the birth and some of the earliest photo's. I feel the first couple of days with your new baby are basically part of the birth, as everything is new and a first.

I stuck to one kit for this project, the midnight edition by Liz Tamanaha (physical and digital) to keep some sort of unity. I love the black and white in this kit. And the phrase cards are just perfect for this project: nobody is more "so very loved"!!!! All the prompt cards worked very well by the way, also loved the "Hello There" one and all the 3x4's with prompts like "Today" and "This happend". 

This is also my very first time to actually use the bifold cards as they are intended. I was always letting the pictures do most of the talking, but in this case I had so many stories and feeling to record, I actually used a lot of these to include as much of it as I could.