Your Prep Guide for Documenting Your December
Preparation and Project Planning for a Document Your December
This weekend a Document Your December Project is the focus at the LilyPad.
I always design my largest and most robust holiday collection of the year for our Document Your December weekend and this year I am launching ‘Mirth’.
It ties in with what matters most to me, as in what I advocate for, documenting and noticing the small little details and joys.
‘Mirth’ is a new collection that reflects and supports small joyful rituals, encouraging you to document the small traditions and moments that make your winter season or the month of December special.
Stay tuned further on down the e-mail for more reveals of ‘Mirth’ but for now, let’s talk about . . .
Preparation and Project Planning for a Document Your December
December is going to be busy, so if you are planning to document the month, a little prep work means you’ll be more likely to be able to keep up throughout the month.
First, you’ll need to have an idea on what your project is going to look like.
Are you going to complete digital pages or will you be creating a hybrid project?
Will it save you time to use layered templates?
Can you create some ‘foundation pages’ in advance to speed up your creative process?
What type of stories will you be documenting?
If you’ll be printing at home, or professionally, consider in advance what size to create your project in so that you don’t have to do lots of editing afterwards to make it ready for print. Also, have a think about your finished look (freestyle do it yourself pages, pocket scrapping, minimalistic, do you need lots of room for journaling etc.?) - this can help you to decide which and what type of supplies to gather or purchase.
If you need help brainstorming the type of stories you’ll be documenting and the type of project you’d like to make this year, our current and past ‘DYD forums’ at the LilyPad are a good resource.
Find the current and past forums in the ‘Events Pad’
Have a poke around for Planning Worksheets, and other fun challenges and games.
Documenting our December means many different things for each of us and it doesn’t have to be overwhelming and it doesn’t have to be a daily documentation if that’s not what you want or need to do.
Create a project as small or as big that suits you, a project that will support the types of stories you want to capture through the month and one that supports your lifestyle.
Foundation Pages
Once you are clear on your project type and size, the types of stories you will be telling and which products you will be using, foundation pages are really helpful and can be prepped in November ready to be finished during December sometime.
Foundation pages are a base, a placeholder if you like, ready to add new photos or to capture stories and this process will save you time vs building pages from scratch once December arrives.
Last year I designed a simple 6x8 template album as part of my ‘Sweet December Stories’ collection (if you want a messier version with threads and stitches see the set I designed the year before). Creative team member Jan found it super handy and used it to build many foundation pages with space for photos.
Creative Team Member Sonja is Documenting her December and will create a travellers notebook format with a photo on one side and written journaling on the other side.
She has used my new ‘Mirth’ Collection to create some foundation pages, or inserts ready for her travellers notebook and has left plenty of space for her photos.
Creative Team Member Ann-Sofie hasn’t decided on what her final project will look like yet, but has made this project in preparation for either a Sundays of Advent Project or it may end up being a page about four things she likes about December.
She has created it so that her cards pull out of the pockets and she can add photos to the back of them!
Planning notes and ideas from the team to inspire you
“I will be making a digital pocket style 6x8 album and I will print the pages afterwards. I don't know if I will use the Project Life App or maybe Canva, but I want something that I can use on my phone because as it's a long project I can scrap whilst I’m on the go.”
“I will focus on journaling and 1 or 2 photos per day for the whole month and I plan
to mostly use cards and the tiny elements like word bits on my photos. I think I will use your Mirth numbers for the card with the date.”
~ Gaelle
“I have made a few foundation pages for a December album, but I don’t think I will do one page per day. I don’t want to feel the pressure to make it a December Daily, but rather documenting the special, small, or big moments that are coming during December.”
“I may create a ‘Sundays of Advent’ or ‘Four things I like about December’ with my project designed for you above. I’m thinking of adding photos on the back of the pocket cards.”
~ Ann-Sofie
“I've been participating in Document Your December for 14 years now, and it seems I have tried every which way you could imagine.”
‘Each year I begin to think about the project sometime during the spring or summer, following trends and color palettes and getting excited about upcoming products in our scrapbooking community! I also love to look back at previous albums and make mental notes about favorite techniques, stories, photos, and overall vibes that are inspiring me for this year's album.”
'This album project isn't so much about keeping up throughout the month of December, but rather of pausing throughout the month in order to appreciate the wonderful events and memories of this season. I take photos multiple times per day just capturing with photos what I want to remember from this season, and then compile them into my album as a story book.”
”My album this year will be 6x8 size as I've done the past few years, and I will include lots of hybrid product, some physical product, and if possible I also love incorporating tickets and receipts and tags and wrapping papers.”
“I do some Foundation Pages, which are pre-planned and created pages that might have a special technique or use a certain product in a certain way and placed into the album before the month starts. These make it super fun to just experiment and let loose a little before any photos or stories have begun, and also can be really great time-savers through the month. That being said, I don't put time restraints and really just like to focus on having fun with the products and remembering all the best memories of the year.”
I hope you have a great time Documenting Your December this year!”
~ Theresa
“I plan to create a diary entry for each day ... no pictures on the pages - just a short entry of what we do each day in the month of December...”
~Marijke
“This will by my 13th year doing a DYD project. My pages are always done digitally and in 6x8 size so that it is more manageable for me during the chaos of the month. I print the pages at the end and have dedicated albums for each year.”
”I try to have as many foundation pages done before the month starts as I possibly can. It helps me to stay on track and not give up after a few days. I can just plop in photos, add some journaling about the day, and maybe other relevant elements. I use the same background paper for all the pages to give it a more cohesive look. I don't stress over it much and usually try to keep it as simple as possible.”
”I already use the 1SE app to take daily photos, so I just use those. To me, it is kind of an extension of my weekly spreads that focuses more on the little details of each day. We don't do Christmas things every day, but I love documenting those small moments that might be overlooked. For those days, I reach for elements that are not necessarily Christmas themed, like greenery or ribbons, and save the holiday elements for those days that we do happen to do something more Christmas related.”
~Jan
New: ‘Mirth’ + Sale on all Past ‘DYD’ Products
ALL products from the Document Your December Category including my new collection are on Sale through Monday during our ‘DYD’ weekend.
Take a browse at my past collections and collect some beautiful supplies for Documenting your December!
Introducing my new Collection ‘Mirth’ - Take a peek at this video I created that highlights the ‘Mirth’ Collection, and pop to the shop to find out more about and purchase the new goodies this weekend whilst it’s all on sale alongside all my past collections!
Have any questions about Documenting your December or need any more help with planning?
Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments and as always, if you like my posts. please let me know by commenting or hitting the helpful like button as it helps to plan future content and encourages me to keep writing :)
I will be back over the weekend with more tips and inspiration for Documenting Your December 💞
Last year, I use this to try to learn how to scrapbook quickly on my phone and uploaded some of your kits to Adobe. I used Adobe Express on my phone. I was always going to share some thing in the Substack how to do it, but life is tough right now it won’t stop.