I have been meaning to write this all month so that if anyone wanted to play along with us, they’d be able to. However, we’re all familiar with the problems of even the best-laid plans, so it’s no surprise my haphazard planning has led me to post this at the last minute.

For those who are not familiar with it, Ali Edwards has been running, or perhaps instigating, a December Daily Scrapbook group for three years now. She has put together a flickr group, and posts her planning, designing, and creating process on her blog. For info about this year’s group go to her blog. That will give you all the information you need to play along if you want.

This will be the second year I do this. Last year I did not manage to take a photo every day, but I got photos and story for most days. I thought I’d share what I did with you. I’ll also post before and after photos for this year’s book on my flickr page (link on right) and try to update here on a regular basis.

I used a planner from Martha Stewarts’ craft line, and added a bunch of different papers to try to achieve an eclectic look. I may have only made it to “hodge podge,” but I like it. Of course there are some pages I like more than others. I’m only including the ones I found interesting here:

I loved using the acetate overlays and plain pages. They added a fun element of depth and unexpected layers. Here’s a couple more from later in the month:

And page 14? A piece of Tim Holtz’s grungeboard. I love that stuff. I even used craft foam for a couple pages:

And I used die cut pages, and shaped my photos to conform:

Other favorite techniques included full page photos on the backs of single sided papers.

Not all my photos were well composed; some of the ones I used could be considered downright awful, but they documented our life last December. That was the point. To be in the moment, rather than trying to recapture a feeling or thought months after the fact. And to enjoy that moment for what it was, in all its daily messiness. I hope you’ll consider playing along.