Hello everyone and happy Friday! It’s been a crazy busy week for me with Thanksgiving celebrations, early Christmas shopping excursions, and the kids being out of school for the holiday break, but I have to say that I managed to get a start on my December Documented album for this year and I’m so excited to share some of my foundation pages with you today!

I used the December Documented 2016 Kit from Hip Kit Club, along with items from the November 2016 Hip Kits for my foundation pages. The album that I chose to use this year is a 6×8 and is made by The Paper Studio. I like to get a jumpstart on my DD by creating my foundation pages right away so when December rolls around I can just print my photos at home and slip them into their designated pockets and add my journaling. Making the foundation pages first is a huge timesaver for me during the busy month!

I always start with a title page using a 6×8 page protector. I layered one of the Holly Jolly Word and Phrase Cut Apart Sheets, designed exclusively for Hip Kit Club by Kim Watson, on top of a piece of patterned paper from the Snow and Cocoa Collection by Crate Paper (available in the November 2016 Paper Kit) and added several embellishments from the November kits including the gorgeous exclusive chipboard alphabet letter stickers that are included in the November 2016 Main Kit.

For the first full spread in the album, I continued using patterned paper from the Snow and Cocoa collection by Crate Paper and embellished my pockets using various items from the November Kits such as the Snow and Cocoa ephemera bits and HKC exclusive ‘Tis The Season Puffy Stickers.

I also used a couple of the exclusive journaling cards from the December Documented 2016 Kit to house my journaling when I start to document our festive month. I left the 4×6 pocket available for a large photo and just placed a piece of patterned paper in it for the time being.

I continued adding some of the exclusive journaling cards from the DD kit into the smaller 3×4 pockets and added the numbers for the days in December using a mix of letter stickers from the November kits.

I’ve created a December Documented album for several years now, so I’m really familiar with the photo content that I usually gather during the month…for those of you just starting out or if you’ve never done a DD album before, I definitely suggest mapping out a sort of “photo plan” or at least have a few ideas on activities that you will want to include in your album. For the first couple of years, I did more of a daily documentation of our family’s December activities, rather than focusing on major events such as going to see holiday lights or decorating the tree. Since my children are growing up and are no longer at home with me all day, I try to focus more on the typical festive events, such as wrapping gifts, baking holiday cookies, etc.

Normally, my photos are the source of inspiration for my creations, so doing it in reverse is sort of a challenge for me. I try to make sure I can easily move or change up my filler card placement in my album until I’m 100% certain where I want something to be after I’ve added my photos. And if I have more photos than I anticipate, I’ll just remove a filler card altogether or place it in a different pocket in my album.

I’m glad I got the first eight pages of my album started and I’ll make sure and post another update on the rest of them soon!

I hope I’ve inspired you to get going on your DD album early and if you’ve never created one before then I hope you’ll give it a try! My December Documented album is my most favorite album that I create all year and my family loves looking through them during the holiday season.

And here’s the process video for a few of my foundation pages…

Thanks so much for joining me today and have a wonderful weekend!