December Daily Pages Art Journal

I’m documenting this December with ease and fun built into the process. Here’s how:

Nov 22, 2023

As the year comes to a close, there are some great stories to be told. Family stories, friend stories, food stories, cozy stories, work stories, end of year favorites stories — just to name a few.

So while we’re out making those stories and enjoying the end of year chaos, we run into one of the paradoxes of memory-keeping: more time creating memories, menus and merriment means less time for documenting all of it.

So how can we tell all these stories, knowing that our holiday season comes with both obvious and unforeseen time constraints?

Lean into what already works.

For many years now, I've been participating in Ali Edwards’ December Daily, and it’s been a transformative part of my creative journey. This year, I’m taking a fresh approach by merging it with my Daily Pages routine. I want to share this process with you, inspire you to tackle your own December storytelling, and hear about your plans and ideas. You can see my project featured on the Ali Edwards blog and in her Product Play: Try This class as well.

Documenting your December is not just about crafting, or holidays, or traditions - it’s about making our December stories personal and meaningful.

A Personalized Approach to Creativity

Adapting projects to fit our lives is absolutely essential for both sustained creativity and keeping joy in your creative time.

Over the years, I've realized the importance of shaping projects according to what my life currently looks like, and the creative energy that I have in any given season. My Daily Pages habit, which I've been doing every weekday for the past several years, has been instrumental in really understanding how important this seasonal and personal approach is. Most importantly, Daily Pages has taught me the value of small, consistent creative acts.

This is so important to me as someone with a chronic illness. At any given time, my headaches can flair up and make it a lot less fun to create. It’s especially hard to invest brain and thinking energy into my creative projects. One of the things I’ve learned to so is not compare my current self, and what my current self is able create to any versions of my past self. I can’t expect to have the same mental output on days where I feel fine and days where I feel shitty.

Another thing I’ve learned is that I can give my brain the hard thinking work when it’s feeling good, and then most of what’s left is the more abstract play and creative time. So I plan my projects out during good days, I set up boundaries and limits for myself that I know will work on bad days, and if I’m feeling great and can do more — awesome; if not, that’s totally okay.

I call these boundaries minimum viable success for your project. It’s asking yourself what do you really want for this project, and what’s the least you are willing to accept. This way, everything you create beyond your minimum is extra, and you can be even more proud of your accomplishments.

Pro Tip: Set standards that you can actually achieve.

This year, by integrating Daily Pages with December Daily, I'm aiming to create a project that is both achievable and fulfilling. It's about acknowledging and respecting our current creative rhythms and what our day to day lives actually look like.

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I’ve been doing a December album since college, and looking back, my 2017 small-format December album stands out as one of my favorites.

It was a project that perfectly aligned with what was going on in my life at the time, and the ways in which I wanted to be creative. I made a page each day, and was finished with the entire project before New Year’s Eve. The success of that album encouraged me to do it again in 2023. The smaller format allowed me to focus on the essence of each story without the pressure of filling large pages. It was a great reminder (and continues to be a great reminder) that sometimes, our best creative works come from giving ourselves some restraints and adapting to life around us.

This 2017 album (and my ability to finish it entirely in 2017) makes me feel confident that this is the right choice for my 2023 album as well.

In addition to my 2017 album, I had a great time putting together my 2020 December project too. One of the biggest takeaways from that album was giving myself the time during my Daily Pages session each day was the key to getting pages done.

That album has some really great pages that I want to bring over into this year’s album including this page made out of a cut tree. I really love when you can see pages behind other pages; that little bit of anticipation of what’s to come.

I also really love this page with the 2x2 squares that pulls open to reveal even more photos (this is a great way to get a bunch of photos into a smaller album).

Knowing that I made all these great pages during my Daily Pages sessions makes me feel confident that will work for me again in 2023. Learn more below about how you can join me for these live sessions Monday-Friday at Noon ET.

Crafting This Year’s Album

For 2023, I've DIY crafted my own album out of cardboard packaging, felt, and binder rings.

This is a style that I’ve been creating in for decades now. I love the flexibility that comes with binder rings. It’s also a style that I picked up and ran with a few times this year. My Scotland album is a DIY binder ring album as well (although much bigger than this one). That’s been a really fun project as well, and I look forward to sharing that album with you soon.

For this book, covers are slightly larger than 4x6 inches (giving my 4x6 pages room for tabs, stickers, and other things that hang off the side of the page. This size choice also is strategic; it allows enough space for me to tell a story while remaining small enough for simple and quick daily entries. I chose a six-binder ring system for its versatility — as the album grows, I can adjust the ring size. Starting with 2" rings, I'm prepared to increase them to 2.5" or even 3" to accommodate the album’s expansion. This adaptability is key in a project that evolves day by day.

The album’s size and binding method (binder rings are my favorite) are reflections of my commitment and excitement about making this December Daily Pages book uniquely mine, adaptable, do-able, and full of potential.

Prepping Early: Foundation Pages

To give this album a more mixed-media flair, and to maximize the time I’m spending on this project. I’m working on some of my pages in advance, and you can see several of them in the flip through video above.

Speaking of ways to maximize time…one of the best things I did for myself this year was finish up all my Christmas shopping while I was in Scotland. I figured that things from tiny islands in Scotland were going to be so much cooler than any normal thing I could get back home. It was also great reason to buy all the awesome things while we were overseas.

Which means, I have even more time this holiday season than usual. And, now that we’re almost through Thanksgiving, I can start wrapping things up and sending them out. And having all that stuff out of my head (and house) is such a huge lift off my shoulders.

Even if you didn’t get all of your holiday shopping done on early, there are lots of different ways that you can maximize your creative time like creating foundation pages for your December project when you’ve got extra creative time or energy.

I’ve already put together some foundation pages I’m excited to use, featuring a variety of textures and techniques. By preparing these bits and pieces beforehand, I’m already thinking about what stories I want to tell, and how I can creatively support those stories. If I want to stick to a daily routine and actually get the book done, it’s essential to prep elements that require drying time or special equipment, like paint and digital cuts from my Silhouette machine. It’s a process that allows me to infuse creativity into every page without the time pressure during December.

These foundation pages set the stage for a December Daily that’s fun, artsy, and also deeply personal.

Here are a few of my favorite foundation pages so far

Scrapbook pages with various colors, cut outs, photos, and textured papers. — Additional Foundation Pages

Connecting Through Daily Pages Live Sessions

One of the joys of this project is sharing the journey with others.

As a member of the Feminist Scrapbook School, you can join me in Daily Pages live sessions Monday through Friday at noon. These sessions are not just about creating; they’re about building a community of storytellers and crafters. We share, inspire, and support each other in our creative projects. Additionally, keep an eye out for the upcoming Storyteller’s Almanac workshop. It’s a fantastic resource for planning your 2024 storytelling and creating a personal style guide.

Feminist Scrapbook School is the best place to learn how to scrapbook your stories, in a way that works for you and your life.

Your Turn to Share

Now, I’d love to hear from you!

How are you planning to approach your December project this year?
Are you going to create a traditional Ali Edwards’ style December Daily this year?
Are you going to create pages about your December stories?
Will you incorporate any December stories into your Daily Pages?
What has worked for you in the past, and how can you incorporate those successes into this year's project?

Reply here and share your thoughts and plans. Let’s inspire each other with our unique takes on this wonderful tradition. Remember, the key to a fulfilling December project is making it work for you and your current life, in your own special way.