Getting December Daily Ready : 2. Getting organised

Now that you have made your choices and purchases it's time to get organised.

As mentioned previously, I undertake 4 albums each December Daily (usually). Being organised is key to getting albums done. I like to complete my albums no later than December 31st - I do not like the thought of working on Christmas themes in January. Where I live, it's Summer and kids are on school holidays until the end of January, once Christmas is done and dusted it's time to kick back!

1. Decide what will store your supplies.

I use plastic trays. The ones that have dividers. I purchased a few years back and a quick search reveals they no longer seem to be instock at IKEA.

Some close ups - all products in this tray are included in this kit:

For the itty bitty pieces I use mini storage within the tray:

Other storage ideas found on IKEA's website:

and the practical thrifty me found these - cutlery trays, first is wooden second is plastic (for $1):

I dedicate one tray for each album and one tray for the general supplies that I will use for each album - things like stamps, adhesive, scissors, foam dots and squares, and extras of wood veneer, washi tape, paper clips etc.

When I come to work on say Album #1 I grab that tray, that album (the albums rest underneath to start with, beside as they fill) and the general supplies container. I work on one album at a time. I do tend to bulk/batch photograph and edit as for me personally, that is more time efficient.

2. Die cut, die cut, die cut.

I have found it far more cost effective to die cut the daily numbers. Also other embellishments.

For each album thats a total of 25 numbers or 41 digits or 13 ones, 9 twos, 3 threes, 3 fours, 3 fives, 2 sixes, 2 sevens, 2 eights, 2 nines and 2 zeros - not many Numeric Thickers have that many ones or twos.

Going through to December 31st means even more digits required. Now multiple all that by 4 for the 4 albums and it's clearly cheaper to die cut.

Last year I die cut for 3 albums and used 3 sets of thickers for 1 album. I chose to do this because the colour thickers I had matched the colour scheme perfectly (thats the one pictured at the top of my first December Daily blogpost and some pics can be found here) I also used the alphas to spell out numbers when I had run out of digits.

Also , I expect to be available again this year, sets of numbers specifically designed for December Daily with numbers 1 through 25 in one pack. So far I have only found silver (and I have ordered a bunch for my store The Stamp Spot) -

I have numeric dies and this is the one I tend to reach for most - it's by My Favorite Things and can be found instore here for $14.95:

This year, I will be using this one also - its from Lawn Fawn and sold instore here (best $10.95 value!)

and I used 4 different colours of self adhesive glitter foam. Another time efficient process - using self adhesive foam - I had 100 different numbers to adhere and it was so much quicker with the adhesive already on the back. The numbers took up very little space due to the backing paper staying attached - yet another plus.

Can you tell I am a huge fan of die cutting numbers using self adhesive glitter foam? !

I used black, white, silver and gold This is the pack I purchased (yes multiple packs!):

It has 6 sheets of 9x12" comprising 2 gold, 2 silver, 1 black and 1 white = perfect!

Alternatively you could cut or punch out numbers from 12x12 sheets, a quick search using keyword 'countdown' at my wholesalers revealed these beauties:

Candy Cane Lane by Bo Bunny

Tinsel and Company by Teresa Collins Designs:

Christmas Countdown by Echo Park Paper:

DIY by Simple Stories:

Some will require fussy cutting but I think its worth it especially if it's in your selected colour scheme.

3. Think outside the box

Now, lets consider what else might be useful and very economical.

Knowing my colour scheme helps me to select other products that can be included.

Items such as Christmas decorations (the flat variety), gift tags and gift wrap are all options. Once selected I add these to my December stash.

4. Assess what you now have

If I feel I am short, or do not have enough variety, I either die cut shapes using my existing dies, punch more or cut more using my Silhouette Cameo.

Without going to excess!

Remember: I do have multiple albums to embellish so my supplies/stash will be bigger.

The ideal is to use every single piece.

Every. Single. Piece.

No waste, no contributing to land fill. No collecting dust waiting for December 2015 to arrive.

The reality is I will not use every single piece, or at least not on my December albums.

Therefore I cut 'generic' shapes and words. These include stars, arrows, hearts, words include today, now, joy, celebrate, thanks, hello, with all leftovers going into my Project Life embellishment stash, my Christmas gift wrapping stash, or my home decor stash.

At the time of publishing this blog post the above dies were in stock at The Stamp Spot.

Ali Edwards is the creator of December Daily, for more information please visit her website - follow this link to take you directly to Projects : December Daily.