December Daily 2020

My favorite project of the year is complete! Take a look at my December Daily 2020:

Here is a YouTube video of me flipping through and talking about the album:

Like my book from last year, this year's album features my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files for 2020 (with the Backing Pieces to make the process go so much quicker).

The finished album is 6x6" so all of the cut files were shrunk to 6" to fit inside. Teeny tiny! Not as tiny as my October 2020 mini album which I shrunk the cut files to 4" lol. Next year I'm going to do a 6x8 traditional album so I can make the cut files BIG! :)

The covers are made from hand stitching through Paper 11 and you can read all about the process HERE. I added tiny "DEC" stickers and colorful number stickers on the front to create the title.

The charms are a combination of baubles from Emily Inspired Designs purchased a few years back and the pom pom tassels from Crate Paper's holiday collection this year called Hey Santa. The entire album is held together with three binder rings and I simply strung the charms and tassels onto the top ring as a finishing touch.

To add texture and interest and most importantly to help make turning each page so much easier, I punched circles from patterned papers, trimmed them in half, and stitched them back-to-back to the right edge of every page, staggering them in different places on the pages.

Here's a look at all the spreads!

This Ornaments cut file was a freebie in my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group. I backed it with a random assortment of patterned papers from my scrapbook collections and added it with foam squares onto a paper that I had splashed with white acrylic paint, Pastel Dreams watercolors, and Liquid Gold. All of my journaling is typed in the font Remington Noiseless at size 8, printed, trimmed into strips, and glued in place.

I backed this Home for the Holidays from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files with rainbow papers from Go the Scenic Route. Fitting second page for this year of staying home! The right page is our actual Christmas card which is 5x7" so I trimmed it to 5x6" and then attached it to a tab to make it 6x6".

The left side is the back side of our Christmas card. On the right, I set up a colorful collection of small Christmas trees in the entryway so I thought this backed Christmas Trees cut file went together perfectly! I backed the trees with papers from my old Oh My Heart collection.

A lot of spreads in this book are similar: cut file on one side, a 5" square photo on the other side. Costco prints 5x5" photos so that's exactly what I did for many of these photos - last year almost all of my photos were tiny so I wanted to up the scale of them this year, which meant less embellishing as you'll see, to let the photos shine. I used my Deck the Halls cut file on the left backed with an older Crate Paper collection and a photo of our halls decked on the right.

Another spread about decorating for Christmas. I used my Mug cut file on the left, backed and embellished with the Jingle All the Way collection from Simple Stories. On the right I used my O Christmas Tree cut file, backed and embellished with the Together for Christmas collection.

On the left side I added my Joy to the World cut file, backed with papers from the Snowflake collection by Crate Paper. The right page photo is a meme I found on the internet which describes my TV watching situation to a "T" this year. So funny, it had to be included.

Every year we let the kids pick out an ornament from Target so that's what this spread is about. The left page is the Angel cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files with Backing Pieces. I used the Snowflake collection by Crate Paper to back and embellish the angel.

My favorite color is PINK so it's only fitting to have a pink Christmas tree adorning my scrap space! I embellished the photo on the left with a few pink embellishments from my stash. The right page is the Star Quilt from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files and I backed it with a few favorite papers from Turn the Page.

Thanksgiving is in November, but I still like to include it in my December Daily because it's such a special day. We had a progressive style feast this year at three houses which was perfect for the three houses featured in my Winter Village cut file from the 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files. I backed it with a few Crate Paper collections. The right page is a collage of photos.

Bah Humbug is right! I dislike going to the post office during the holidays, waiting in long lines is not my thang lol. But it must be done!

This Merry Grinchmas cut files is one of my favorites from this year! Fox is never a grinch, but this cut file and photos of him are just cute together :)

Rachel Rachel Rachel. The best kitty in the world! I made a page all about her and featured the Star cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files, backed with pastel papers from Take Me Away.

We watched a lot of Christmas movies together as a family, my favorite thing to do! A Candy Cane from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files doesn't have much to do with movies, but it's festive and fun so why not! I backed it with papers from the Hey Santa collection.

Scrapbooking is always a big part of my December. Very meta to document making my December Daily in my December Daily :) The Stamps on the right are one of my favorites from the 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files and I backed the tiny pieces with papers from my Whimsical collection.

I always love a good Wreath! This one on the left and the Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas title on the right are both from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files. We went to the mall many times in December since it's one of the only places still open and it was so festively decorated!

This Reindeer is from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files and I backed him with papers from Together for Christmas. As we were waiting in line to see Santa we took lots of pictures with all of the decorations, including reindeer - so perfect!

This Stockings cut file was a freebie my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group! I backed them with papers from Hey Santa to tell the story of getting yummy Honey B's Macarons, mmmm.

This Nativity cut file was Day 25's design from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files. I backed it with bright colors from my Horizon collection to go with photos of the light show we drove through at Cherry Hills - including a nativity!

I forgot to embellish this page :) I can go back and easily do that. I used my Merry & Bright cut file and paired it with a photo of me wearing a silly "Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal" t-shirt that I bust out during the holidays.

Cutie patooties! We played many rounds of Sleeping Queens together - virtual school means lots of time at home so we have fun! The right page is embellished with a Ho Ho Ho Background cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files and backed with bright papers from the Hey Santa collection.

Mmmmmm Crumbl Cookies!! Goes perfectly with my Cookie Jar cut file from the 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files which I backed with the super old but still one of my very favorite Christmas collections called Juniper Berry by Basic Grey.

Another Juniper Berry page! I used the Garland from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files as a border across the top of the photo.

Why does so much of my life revolve around food? :) The trio of Cupcakes from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files adorn this page and were backed with papers from my Truly Grateful collection.

A Star Star cut file fills the left page, backed with my Whimsical collection, to tell the story of celebrating three December birthdays with the Evans families!

Yay for date night! I wore a big, thick sweater so I thought my Ugly Sweater cut file from the 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files would go great with these photos. I backed the Ugly Sweater with papers from my Truly Grateful collection. Mmmm Perry's Steakhouse! My mouth waters for that Butterscotch dessert!

We visited the Gaylord Rockies Hotel again this year for their I Heart Christmas Movies exhibit. I took so many photos that a collage worked best for filling the left page. On the right I featured my Santa Stop Here cut file.

The Santa Stop Here cut file lifts up to reveal photos and journaling!

We went ice skating together for the first time as a family so the Skates cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files was oh so perfect for embellishing these photos!

The photo on the right lifts up to reveal another photo underneath. It's hard to narrow down so many cute pictures :)

We also went snow tubing at the Gaylord Rockies Hotel - we could spend all day there and never run out of things to see and do! The right page features my Snow Cute cut file backed with all kinds of blue patterned papers.

It was meant to be! Charlie Brown and Snoopy were at the Gaylord Rockies Hotel! I couldn't believe it. This is another one of my favorite cut files from this year - Charlie Brown.

Hi Joey! I tucked this photo of him under the Train cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files.

Dear Santa - all I want for Christmas is to learn how to cook! This Dear Santa cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files is perfect for photos and written wishlists.

We visited Santa at the Park Meadows Mall. The display was really above and beyond this year! The Santa cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files went perfectly with the photos :) I backed him with papers from the Snowflake collection by Crate Paper.

Official photo with Santa! Love these kiddos.

I added a "no" to the beginning of this Peace on Earth cut file which I backed with Hey Santa papers. Home renos are no joke! I need to remember after watching 15 years of HGTV shows that things always take longer than expected, including putting down carpet.

One of our favorite holiday traditions is visiting the Gingerbread House! THE LIGHTS! So epic. I paired the photos with the Flowers & Berries cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files which I backed with papers from Bloom Street.

The photo on the left lifts up to reveal two more photos.

We started a new tradition this year of eating together virtually with all the Taylor families.

I used the Christmas Tree Mini Album from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files and cut the pieces from the Hey Santa collection. I machine stitched around all of the pages and then turned it into a flip-up to hold lots of photos of our Christmas Eve traditions.

Here's a look at some of the pages of the flip-up:

At last we arrive at Christmas Day!

I backed the Christmas title from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files with papers from the Winter Cottage collection by Simple Stories.

The final page is the Presents cut file from my 25 Days of Christmas Cut Files which I backed with patterned papers from my very first designer scrapbook collection called Fancy Free. I ended with my reflections on this past year, hopes, and wishes for 2021.