1. I get all of my photos printed in about 2 batches...I don't know how people work on it every day. They must use a lot of ink on their home printer or make a lot of trips to the developer.
2. Not every picture is from the exact day that matches the journaling and I am okay with that, as long as they are from December.
3. I type all my journaling in Word....a paragraph a day, maybe a story or two...then I print out LOTS of days at once and assemble with the pictures. (I don't have a lot of handwriting in this ablum....I may need to add some.) Some people may not like the look of a typed document on top of a patterned paper, and I suppose I could use transparencies for some stuff, but it really doesn't bother me to have a block of journaling....I keep it consistent throughout the book.
4. I assemble the papers way in advance so they may not match the pictures perfectly and I am okay with that. I don't have a theme this year, but I like the idea of using one thing over and over...or going with a color scheme...May have to do that next year!
5. I used a lot of HAMBLY overlays this year--YAY!!
6. I decided to go with a 3-ring album, it is awesome for moving and removing pages.
7. Stitching! Aaaaaaw yeah....Something totally new for me this year!
Also, I like to print off important blog posts to help tell the story from this month.
8. I still need to add some big numbers on most of the pages. I bought a sheet of numbers 1-25 and I can't find them anywhere....
I had to improvise here...Loving this leg lamp with a '4' inside it....totally random and perfect to tell the story of my 'A Christmas Story' crop!!
9. Some of my journaling is blurred out. I had some horrible family stuff happen this month and it is private. I am sure you understand....If I hadn't assembled this book way in advance, my family trama probably would've discouraged me from even making this book. But. I had to finish it.
10. I will continue to journal and take pictures through January 3rd, as I am still on vacation and I would like to include New Year's.
11. I printed all of my photo collages onto cardstock so that I can include more pictures:
As you can see, I didn't put this in order of what happened each day...I didn't assemble it with what happened each day either. I created the book months ago, journaled every day, took tons of pictures, made photo collages and then I put it all together with stitching, stamping and stickers.
I am ready to put this December behind me. Woke up to a beautiful snowfall on Christmas morning, it was a glorious bright, white enchanting snowfall...but this December definitely wasn't one of my favorites.
I wish I could say that it has been great....
On paper, in this beautiful album, in the pictures, it looks like the perfect twinkling December.
I did my best to give back to the students at my school, to create some handmade gifts for people who would sincerely appreciate them, to spend quality time with my friends and family.
I feel like I am doing everything I can to live a good life, to make good, healthy choices. I suppose that is all I can do....give my best effort...
My parents will not change, cannot change and do not have any desire to live a healthy, sober, happy life.
It really does suck.
But dealing with all of this is part of my daily struggle, even in December.
And for what it is worth, I must document the good, the bad and the ugly. It makes it easier. To say it out loud. To understand. To deal. To reflect and to look ahead to the future.
So, thanks for reading...your comments really do matter to me. Happy New Year!
I am working on what my one little word for 2010 will be....What's yours?
