The December Daily Reality Check

Every year the pressure mounts. Who is doing one? Everyone seems to be and so it sort of feels like you should too. Quite honestly, the peer pressure isn't all bad. A December Daily sounds like a wonderful project. I have sort of tried to participate during the past few years though it's mostly a half hearted effort.

My biggest issue with the December Daily is that it often comes in mini album form. I adore mini albums. I should amend that by saying that I adore mini albums made by others. Sure, they are really cute and all, but I just am not into creating them. I struggle with limiting my plethora of photos into one tiny album. In past years, I have chosen to make a series of 12x12 layouts. Last year, I participated in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class with some success. This year, I have decided to opt for a series of pocket pages for a Project Life/Photo Freedom style approach.

Now that I have a sort of game plan, I guess I need to think about supplies. This has been a hot topic amongst me and several of my friends lately. There are so many kit options. My friend, Keslter Jean listed a few of them on her blog. We both went back and forth about  which kit would work best. In my opinion,it boils down to the following variables: budget, whether or not the kit comes with an album, and whether or not the kit comes with a class.

For me personally, I want a kit without an album. I like to work with 12x12 size and I like having all of my albums in a row on a shelf. I understand the value of the album being included for many people. I just wish there were more kit options available without. It would also seem that, this year, many of the kits come with access to a class. If the kit happens to pair with a teacher or groups of teachers you enjoy working with, then this would be a great value added on to the kit contents. Unfortunately, it seems that several of the classes only come with the kit purchase.

At the end of the day, no matter how much I want one of the kits, my budget comes into play. My wallet is telling me that paying $75- 100 per kit is just not going to be a good idea right now. Plus, I am having a heck of a time getting around the idea of buying Holiday items when I know they will be on clearance very soon in the foreseeable future. Now I am back to square one. What should I do for a DD kit?

Plan B is to see exactly what comes with the Kelly Purkey kit from Simon Says Stamp. It's still on pre-order but the exact contents remain a mystery. Once those are revealed, I will consider whether or not it will fit in my budget.

Meanwhile, Plan A is my best option. It's a pretty sure bet that JBS Mercantile will have Holiday items in one of the upcoming kits.I know that having a kit at the ready makes it more definite that I will follow through on the DD project. While I could opt to buy some of the new release holiday lines, there is a chance that some of them will be present in one of my kit clubs. Making a kit from my current supplies seems like the best path.

When I pulled out my Holiday supply folder, it was a mess. The first order of business was to sort the contents. I divided them into two piles: traditional holiday colors and non-traditional colors. I ended up with two full bags of product. This was quite a reality check for me. It made me realize just how much I really had.





Many of the kits for sale are chock full of product. I have to ask myself whether or not I could even use it all were I to buy one. For me, the answer is no. I would have a ton of leftovers. As I look over the supplies I currently have, I know I would feel guilty if I bought a huge kit and didn't use up some of my older supplies.

I decided to use the nontraditional Holiday palette for this year's December Daily. It includes a mix of papers from Cosmo Cricket, My Little Shoebox, Pink Paislee and October Afternoon. Within those papers, I have almost complete sets of some lines. I also have a zip loc baggie of older scraps which contain colors that seem to work best with this palette. Choosing these as my kit base will allow me to use up most of my Holiday Stash.

I also have the largest set of nontraditional color embellishments, which factored into my decision to choose this palette.This kit includes partially used sticker sheets, rub-ons, and die cut packs. My goal is to try to use up some of those sticker sheets. I have also added some of the gold and silver rub-ons and chipboard from Pink Paislee's luxe line for a little sparkle.





To refresh my supplies, I purchased some Holiday themed flair. I will be supplementing the embellishments with items from my Freckled Fawn Oh Deer Me Kit. I also have some of the Holiday themed Project Life cards . You can easily make older supplies feel fresh again by supplementing a few new pieces of paper or embellishments. Often times, the items from a previous year will coordinate with the current year's collection if they come from the same manufacturer. October afternoon is a wonderful example. I have paper from their Deck the Halls collection. Their new Silent Night line would work well and I could buy a few die cuts or stickers to refresh my older products.

Now all that's left is to find a class. Many times, I find that participating with a friend makes things more interesting and I am more likely to complete a project if I have someone to share the experience with. There are a few options available that do not require a kit purchase. My friend, Monica Bradford will be offering her December Inspired class. While I will be following along with Monica, my main source for holiday storytelling inspiration will be coming from Get It Scrapped's Your December Story.
Click here to view more details

You know me. I am a craft class junkie and I feel like the more classes the merrier.



I am still considering that Kelly Purkey kit, but after looking through my supplies, I no longer feel left out of the December Daily Kit madness. I invite you to do the same if you are still unsure. Look over what you have, see if you can supplement your current holiday stash with a few fresh new supplies, and if you want a little camaraderie, consider joining in on a December class that does not require you to buy a kit.

Supplies
I recommend the following sources for custom flair badges:
BlueBird Chic
Panda Eight Designs
A Flair for Buttons

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