December Daily 2010- Cover

I decided I wanted a shaped album but I couldn’t find anything in stores that was quite right… so I decided to make it. I grabbed some scrap chipboard packaging and sketched out the shape I wanted using a piece of die-cut paper (see Day 10) as a guide. I free-handed the top and bottom lines, using a ruler to keep it symmetrical. I set the size based on the fact that I wanted to use some 2-high 4x6 page protectors. So the overall size was just slightly larger than 6”wide x 8” high. I made sure that the page protectors wouldn’t stick out at the rounded corners of my shaped cover. Once I had the shape, I traced it on a 2nd piece of scrap chipboard packaging so I had a front and back cover. I then painted both sides of each with black acrylic paint. Once they were dry, I used black & ivory polka dot paper (from Paper Pizzaz) to cover the front of the cover. I punched holes in each and added oversized grommets and binder rings. I added the date with some glittery red Thickers and a sticker that reads “happy Holidays.”

December Daily 2010- intro

So I decided sometime last October that I wanted to create my first “December Daily” album. I spent an afternoon reading DD blog posts on Ali Edward’s site and browsed all sorts of Googled images and finally decided to just jump right in. I liked the concept of a mini album that gave me a little more artistic freedom beyond my normal double-page 12x12 spreads... and the freedom to create pages without page protectors! There’s just something about the tactility of a mini album that really appeals to me. So at this point it was October and I thought, “I can do this!” and “How cool will it be to have DD albums out on the coffee table year after year… to compare our lives over the years and see how our traditions have changed and how they’ve stayed the same.” It’s fair to say I was very excited about this project. Looking back at other people’s past DDs (including Ali Edward’s) many were a collection of different shaped and sized pages. Ali’s plans for 2011 was to use a “template” so to speak. Although I liked her intended format for 2011, I decided that I wanted to try the more random approach. I still wanted my album to have a cohesive feel though, so I decided to stick to a color scheme- black, grey, ivory and glittery red. Other years I’ll try something different, but that was my plan for this album. I only spent about $20 at Michael’s for some supplies (printed acetate, thick glittery red chipboard and a few embellishments) and then I rummaged through my supplies at home and threw anything that might work in a drawer together. I spent a few days creating my cover and all my base pages (a combination of printed acetate, glittery red chipboard, extra-thick cardstock in grey or ivory, some page protectors and a few paper-covered chipboard pages) and then set it aside until December.

p.s. Of course, as I write this its early September 2011… so yeah, I took a few months off. I kept up with slapping some pages together for the first couple weeks but then as our schedules got hectic, I set it aside until recently. I did maintain taking photos every day in December, I just didn’t have time to have them printed really. But that’s the nice part about having all the base pages pre-done and all my supplies gathered in one place. Even many months later it was still super easy and fun to complete!

feb.14

Play Softball

Welcome Avery

Luau Pinata

More party prep…
So I decided to attempt a homemade piñata for T’s birthday party this year. I’m still not entirely sure why. I researched some information online and found there were basically 2 methods to do this: a) to cover a blown-up balloon with paper mache & crepe paper or b) to create a shape from thin cardboard and cover with paper mache & crepe paper. I decided method ‘b’ gave me more control over the shape/design so that’s the method I used.

Step 1- Formwork:
I created the formwork for the piñata using old cut-up clothing gift boxes, taped together. I added a stiffener (piece of cardboard) in the center as some tips I had read suggested, so the weight of the wet paper mache wouldn’t make it cave in. I realize now I should have added even more, perhaps 1 in each petal, rather than 1 in the center.


Steps 2,3,4- Paper Mache:
I covered the formwork with 3 separate layers of paper mache. This is just this strips of newspaper, dipped in a ‘glue’ mixture (2 parts warm water to 1 part flour), squeegee’d between my fingers and layered on the formwork. The first and last layer I used plain newspaper. For the middle layer I used colored ad’s, so I could easily make sure I was covering each previous layer. Between layers 2 and 3 I added a portion of a metal coat hanger to the top, to act as the hanging loop. I added a few extra layers around this, to help secure it in place.


Step 5:
Decorating. I used crepe paper to decirate the flower. I took a length of the crepe paper, folded it in half lengthwise to make a double layer, and then folded that in half in the opposite direction. I made lots of little ‘slits’ to make the fringe, and then pulled the 2 double-layer strips apart, so I had 2 lengths to add to the piñata. 2x the rewards for each effort. Sounds complicated and confusing, but it went pretty fast. I added the strips with a little Emler’s school glue at the top of the crepe paper, starting from the bottom of the flower and working my way up, overlapping each layer as I moved up.
I added a pale pink center and yellow step out of tissue paper I had lying around the house.

Total cost for the piñata: $2 (for the hot pink crepe paper). Plus another $15 to fill it with candy of course.

Luau party banner

I made this banner for Taylor’s upcoming Hawaiian luau birthday party. It was free to make, if you consider that all the paper came from my stash. I had bought a “stack” of colorful We Are Memory Keepers paper a year or so ago and only used it on 1 layout. It’s more colorful than I’d normally use and it came with 3 or 4 sheets of each pattern/solid so it was just sitting there collecting dust. The colors worked for her party, so I went with it. I used a good handful of white cardstock from my stash to back each pennant as well. I borrowed the “Life’s a Beach” Cricut cart from a friend and used it for the hibiscus flowers and the bamboo letters. I borrowed some punches and dies from another friend for the large scallops, ribbon slots and smaller punched flowers. I was planning on using ribbon to tie each pennant together but then remembered I had bought some raffia grass skirts so I grabbed a few strands from one and used them in place of ribbon. I’m so glad I thought of that, it really added a nice tropical touch! I plan to hang this in 1 long run (3 “swoops, 1 for each word) along the top of our fence behind the pool. I threw them up on the wall like this just for the purpose of a quick photo.
Coming up… a homemade piñata, cardboard surfboards and goody bags.