
two days till december first - and i'm getting excited to start filling this book in! i've decided that i'm going to commit to a page a day. since the studio calico kit album came with 25 page protectors, that means i can do one page for most days, and bump it up to two if more happens. i'm also planning on adding some things between the page protectors, so i have some flexibilty as to how many pages i'll end up with at the end of the month.

i'm storing everything i'm using together. this tray came from target - i have another (in aqua!) that i use for my studio calico kits. i LOVE that these stack. i also love that i can pick everything up and move it to the living room to work while i'm with my family.

my album cover was a bit of an experiment - but i love how it turned out! i started with a light coat of acrylic paint, and then added three coats of chalkboard spray paint. i drew the starburst design (totally inspired by the stamp in studio calico's now sold out snow cone add-on) and added punched confetti over a layer of martha stewart decoupage glue (totally inspired by nicole harper's card here). i still have to figure out how to seal the chalkboard. i tried a tiny bit of the martha glue on the bottom left ray - it didn't work. i'm thinking a spray sealer. will figure that out later. ;) the december 2011 button was a freebie with an order from ormolu, and it was perfect for this design! it's layered over a ruler die cut from the october afternoon farmhouse miscellany and a pinked circle stamped from a studio calico set.

a note on confetti. it's awesome. and it's addicting. and you have to punch waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than you'd think. ;) i brought together a bunch of PPs in colors that i liked (and be sure BOTH sides fit your color scheme) and went to work with an EK success large swiss cheese punch. you cannot do this with a handpunch, you'll end up with carpal tunnel! i ended up punching about 20 strips - and who knows how many more i'll do before i'm done.
here's a peek inside my book - for now i'm just showing the title page + a couple of special pages that i made this weekend. for the daily pages, i'm mostly using premade pages from marcy penner's december journal kit. i've got some patterned paper cut down to 6x6, 4x6 & 2x6 that may be layered into other pages as i go along. my embellishments are a mix - most are from the studio calico december daily kit, but i pulled in a few things from my stash that i thought would coordinate well. all products are linked at the bottom of the post - and if you can't find info on something you're looking for, email me and i'll try to help out!

the calendar pocket on the left came from marcy's kit - i used washi to hold it in place.

i'm not going to lie - i was totally intimidated by the idea of 6x8 pages. but i am SO glad i decided to get the sc kit & album as these page protectors have so many possibilities. the tag here is from marcy's kit - i added the pp on the top to hide a screw up. ;) after decorating both sides of the tag, i stitched it in place (through the middle) in the page protector. i then added my confetti and stitched across the top.

see? confetti. is. addicting.

i used the stamp from snowcone here - with more confetti. that T is an ancient october afternoon alphabet, and the "five" is from elle's studio.

i cut down a couple of baseball card page protectors - i borrowed that idea from ali edwards. this one got confetti + veneer astericks in one pocket and a card from marcy's kit in another.

flip through all those holiday catalogs before you recycle them - this came from an anthropologie catalog.

i'm planning on using these bags to hold a christmas lists from the boys - just not sure how i'll embellish them. i just punched holes in them and added them into the book. i did the same with the calendar chipboard from the studio calico kit. i'm still pondering exactly how i'll use those as well.
i'm planning to post my progress weekly - i'll try to get a post up each tuesday. i'm a little nervous about keeping up with this + project life + holiday festivities + other work so i'm sure i'll share some thoughts on that as well.
for those still looking for a kit to make the process easier, i've got a couple to recommend. i LOVE the idea of a kit for this project - and am relying on the ones that i picked up to streamline the process of making my own album.
jack frost kit by elle's studio- LOVE the exclusive tags in this one!!!
mini charcoal holiday book by jamaica makes - streamlined and gorgeous!
holiday mixed paper book by elisa blaha - a perfect album base, just add photos + embellishments + words.
jingle all the way holiday journal by evalicious - eclectic album + embellies. i may or may not need to get some of the extra embellishments from her shop for my own album! ;)


happy tuesday!! sam and i are off to run some errands. staples for shipping tags, and the grocery store. oh, the excitement. ;)