2011 December Daily Foundation Pages

Beware - this post has 'tons' of photos, so I will keep the 'words' to a minimum.

December Daily Foundation Pages...I have already posted my 'gathering' stage and showed the 2 albums that I already had in my stash and a few of you weighed in and I was in agreement. The red Studio K album was the winner. I found out that I could expand the album and it gave me plenty of room for bulky embellishments and keepsake items.

I will show you the two page spread for each day and then below, I have close-up views showing some of the details of certain pages.

So, now for my foundation pages...Here they are. Opening - introduction page. I will probably put a small photo of me and hubby (we are empty-nesters) and then a calendar sticker of December. And below is a closer view.

I created this calendar grid in microsoft excel in red and then just printed in onto cardstock I will fill in the events of the month as we go.

The 11th is our wedding anniversary so I will probably add in an extra page depending on what photos I get of our celebration of 7 years married...

I gave myself 2 1/2 spreads for Christmas Day. My mom and dad will be in town so we will be having a large family celebration. Sure to have lots of photos that I want to share in my DD.

Below are the single pages to show up closer to see some of the details.

I have lots of embellishments, ribbons, etc to add as we go. I realize that a few pages look really boring right now but they won't stay that way for long. Ok, now to wait for Dec. 1st...that will be the hard part. But I am so glad that I have the foundation of my DD done. It will make completing this album all the more possible.

Enjoy,
Cherri

It's that time of Year again...December Daily - Yippee!!!

Ali Edwards has a project that she does every Christmas. It is called December Daily Album. I have been following this project since 2008. This is one of my favorite projects throughout the entire year. I look forward to it, and start preparing for it in early Fall. I get so excited when Ali begins sharing her process for the new Christmas season on her blog. I cannot believe that this is my fourth year dong these.

Here are the three albums that I have done so far. (2008, 2009 & 2010) The red one still needs a photo/embellishment in the center square. The second photo shows how thick they can get.

This is my first post for this project. This is proof of my 'gathering' stage. I have tons of Christmas patterned papers, embellies, ribbon, etc. But, like every other year, I have been tempted to purchase some 'new' goodies for this album. I was really drawn to the 'Lost and Found' Christmas collection from My Mind's Eye this year. So, I did a bit of comparing online and placed the order. When they came in, I love them even more in person. I am looking forward to using them. They are great.

Here are some of the 'goodies' that I have ready and waiting to be put to use. I went with the 6X6 paper pad for the My Mind's Eye 'Lost & Found' Christmas collection. (also, many items from the past few years that will work well with the colors of the new collection)

However, I am not purchasing a new album this year. I will be using an album that I already have. I have two albums that I bought several years ago and they didn't work for the project at that time but they give me two good options for this year's December Daily. Both are 6X6 albums.

The first option that I will share with you is a Milk Chocolate chipboard album with 4 book rings. It comes with 10 pages and some with side tabs. I could really decorate the front cover nicely. I really like this album and I think I am leaning more to this one but since they are both 6X6, my foundation pages will work with either. I can decide on the album up to the last minute.

Nice sturdy 6X6 chipboard pages. I will have to purchase larger book rings because my album will probably get too thick for the ones that came with this album.

The second option is a red (love this color for Christmas) Studio K post bound album. I love the clasp on the front and the way the album opens in the middle, something different from my past DD albums. However, when you open it up, there are pages that come out from both sides. It is a bit awkward to figure out how to keep my numbered days in order. (and with trying to do two page layouts per day, I would need to get a pack of refill pages. It currently comes with 20)

Don't you just love that latch on the front?

So, what do you think of these two albums? Which one would you choose to work with this year? I would love your input.

And here we are, these are the gathered items so far and now I am getting down to working on my foundation pages. I will be back soon to show them to you once they are completed.

have fun putting your DD album together...Cherri

Yard Sales - the 'deal' of the Century...

The 'Deal of the Century' doesn't really begin to describe the blessing that my sister, Terri!, and I walked away with last night. There was going to be a large Estate Sale today at the home of a lady that recently passed away. I believe that she was in her late forties or early fifties. It was a tragic story and one that affected our friend Regina personally. (as this was her friend that she did a retail booth with for many years) Anyway, Regina was able to get us in last night on a 'pre-sale' (we shopped 9pm-11pm last night) and boy did this lady have lots of stuff. Terri and I were shopping for our personal use as well as stuff for our new retail booth space at Olde Salem Merchantile (that is only 1 week old) We couldn't believe the amount of stuff for sale, the awesome prices, and how much stuff we came home with. The photos below are only the items that I put in my car for me personally and for the booth. You should see the stuff that is at Terri's house that I don't have photos of.



Ok, are you ready to find out why I am calling it the 'Deal of the Century'? I only paid $40 for the items that you see in the (many) photos below and Terri paid only $35 for the items that she has at her house. I know, can you believe it? We are still in shock. We have already talked this morning about what an awesome blessing it was for us to be able to pre-shop this sale. We love having connections. Thank you Regina. As you can see, we got tons of stuff. We got seasonal items (Fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc), we got lots of table linens (runners, table cloths and cloth napkins), we got about 6 or 7 wreaths (some everyday and some seasonal), we got gardening decor, Christmas ornaments, vases, baskets, bowls...and again, this isn't even the items that Terri has...What a blessing. This will make us some 'fun money' as we move some of these items into our 'Double Take' booth space.

July 8, 2011 - 'Double Take' becomes a Reality

My twin sister, Terri!, and I have been making plans to open up a retail booth at Olde Salem Merchantile in Salem, VA. Well after many months of planning, purchasing and re-purposing, it is finally here. We decided to go with a larger booth than we had originally planned and we partnered with Regina, a long time friend on this hobby/business venture. She has had a booth for over 7 years at a different location so we are 'learning' the tricks of the trade from her. We went with a 14' X 4' booth space. We were afraid that we didn't have enough stuff to fill it but on the contrary, we enough, if not more. On Friday afternoon, the three of us (with our families there to help move stuff in) began setting up and beautifying our new retail space.

Here is a before photo - this is me, Terri! and Regina...

Everything is moved in, family members are gone, now time to get to work...boy do we have our work cut out for us.

Drum roll please.....Here is the 'After'. Yea! We are so pleased with how it turned out. We only had 3 hours tonight to work on it so there are still a few things to get done and items to be added but we are so pleased with the results. We didn't have any idea that it would turn out looking so good. We are thrilled. Some more 'booth' eye-candy for you......and some more, ...and more, ...more, ...and the last one.

Now on to making us some 'fun' money. This is really more of a hobby for us but the making money part is the 'cherry on top'. Say a prayer for us that we will get some good customers and have to be very busy to keep our booth space filled. Thanks for stopping by and looking at our booth.