How to Complete 11 Years of December Daily Albums in 1 Month

Here's a little something that a lot of you might not know about me – at one time, a million years ago, I worked in the scrapbooking industry (remember how HUGE that was in the late 1990s – early 2000s?). I truly loved that time and continue to view scrapbooking as an art form.

Unfortunately, life happened, and somewhere between earning two degrees, getting married, and having two kids, having those two kids diagnosed with autism, moving from Texas to Alaska, and a global freaking pandemic… scrapbooking fell off my radar. I continued to have the best intentions of doing them, but – didn't.

And that was a bummer because some of my favorite scrapbook creations were an annual project by the artist Ali Edwards called December Daily.

// I may earn money from the companies mentioned in this post. //

What is December Daily?

December Daily is a scrapbook that encourages you to tell a story every single day of December from the first through Christmas Day (the 25th). I love projects like this because they have a set starting and stopping time, which allows me to be very focused on the topic.

What's My December Daily Journey?

From 2008 through 2013 (when Melanie was born), I participated in and completed a December Daily album every year. Then, in 2014, I got like 90% of the album done and slapped a couple of post-its with what went on the pages that were missing content.

The next year, I bought the official album (all I could afford at the time) and… well, that was it. Same for 2016 (except I could afford the album and the kit starting that year). And 2017. And 2018. And – well, you get the picture.

Since 2014, through this month, I haven't finished a single December Daily album. Like, AT ALL.

I had stacks of albums and kits plus old planners filled with memorabilia that made the move from Texas to Alaska with me, but were empty.

What Changed?

Then, I received this year's album and kit in the mail and, in a fit of energy and drive, I organized all those albums and kits plus old planners filled with memorabilia in a cabinet by year and decided to just finish them already.

AND I DID!

From November 5, 2025, to November 23, 2025, I worked for hours every day and completed my December Daily albums for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024!

I'm not going to pretend like it was a walk in the park. It took a lot of organization, many hours of work, tons of ink and paper, and sometimes just deciding that done was best but – I did it. It CAN be done!

And, because I just know that I cannot possibly be the only person who fell behind on this annual project but still really loves it and wants to catch up, I'm sharing all the ways I got it done.

So, for those of you out there who have the kits and are ready to have the will, or you just love the sound of this project, and you'd like to go back through your memorabilia and photos to create your own December Daily albums, here's how to complete 11 years of December Daily albums in 1 month:

How to Complete 11 Years of December Daily Albums in 1 Month:

Get Organized:

90% of the battle will be getting organized and creating a system that works for you. Not gonna lie, it took me a couple of albums to get my system down (I actually plan on going back at some point and “fixing” a few issues in those first albums from before I got it all figured out), but once I did, I was able to focus on the creative side of completing the albums.

My General Suggestions:

Organize your yearly supplies, photos, and memorabilia first.

I emptied a deep shelf and sorted my albums, kits, planner/calendars, and memorabilia by year. This involved me scrolling back through the December Daily blog posts and figuring out which albums/kits were from what year.

Then, I grouped them together with the planner I saved from that year, plus any memorabilia. To separate the groups, I wrote each year on a piece of copy paper and put it in between each grouping.

So, inside my cabinet, it looked like this:

• 2014 stuff + kit + album, and then 2014 paper divider
• 2015 stuff + kit + album, and then 2015 paper divider
• 2016 stuff + kit + album, and then 2016 paper divider
• and so on.

I had so much stuff that I ended up with two rows so, since I decided to work from the earliest albums forward, I put the more current years in the back row and the older ones in the front row.

Organize your scrapbook supplies and tools next.

To me, this is the fun part – you get to sort out and select the fun crafty stuff that you use in your albums! There are roughly a million posts out there sharing ideas on how to organize your stash for this project, so I'm just going to share a couple of quick notes on how I did it for myself:

Since I decided to start with the earliest years first, I didn't have a huge stash to pull from (I couldn't afford to buy the December Daily kits until 2016). Also, when we moved from Texas to Alaska, we were super limited on space, so easily 75% of my scrapbook/crafting supplies got sold or donated.

That meant I was pretty much starting from scratch. No big deal, I used what I had and made my peace with it.

I started off by looking through all my supplies and pulling anything red, green, white, gold, or silver, plus anything Christmas-y. Papers, stickers, die cuts, thread, ribbon, sequins – whatever felt like Christmas to me. I also made sure to gather up all my numeric stickers and stamps (you're going to use numbers A LOT in this project).

To organize those supplies, I gathered up a few empty boxes that I had lying around. Some were shoeboxes, some were empty art boxes, but they were what I had and they worked just fine. I sorted all my papers and larger supplies in those boxes.

Smaller supplies, like sequins, individual stickers, rhinestones, and brads, went into an old tackle box that I found in our garage. It allowed me to sort them by type/color, but didn't take up a lot of space.

Next, I pulled together any tools that I thought I would need, like pens, ink, scissors, etc. I didn't have much in the beginning, so I put them all in an empty pen cup from my office.

Adhesives were just piled up next to my tools because I used them so frequently, putting them in something actually bugged me and felt too time-consuming.

A NOTE: I have my own office space away from the main living areas in my house, and my kids are older, so they don't mess with my things. I can leave my supplies and project out without worrying about them getting messed with. If you do not have this luxury (and I was so there once), try to find a large box, high shelf, or empty cabinet with doors that you can transfer everything into as needed.

What You Will Need:

The cool thing about this project is that it can be as complex or as simple as you'd like it to be (and sometimes all within the same album!). However, pretty much everyone will need some variation of the following items:

Printer

Very few places will print your photos anymore without a long wait or charging you for shipping. The easiest way to do this project is to have a printer of your own. Seriously – WAAAAY easier. This is the printer that I have, but this model and this model would also be great for this project.

Ink and Photo Paper

Remember how you'll be printing your photos at home? Yeah, you'll want to have lots of ink and photo paper. Like, in bulk. Like LOTS AND LOTS. I literally bought out every ink cartridge and pack of photo paper for my printer in this town*.

For my printer, I stocked up on this ink, this 8.5″x11″ photo paper, and this 5″x7″ photo paper.

*I live in a small-ish town in Alaska, so this isn't as dramatic as it sounds, but it was still A LOT of ink and paper.

Tools for Writing, Cutting, and Adhering

You can absolutely do this entire project with a single pair of standard scissors. However, I highly recommend having the following to make life a lot easier:

• Standard pair of scissors (these work great for cutting larger pieces, trimming ribbons, etc.)
• Smaller precision scissors (perfect for smaller, more detailed cuts)
• Paper trimmer (for making long, straight cuts on photos and papers)
• Replacement blades for the paper trimmer (yep, you'll probably need at least one)
• Pen and pencil (the pen to journal with and the pencil to mark on papers)
• Double-sided tape (less messy than glue and holds better than a glue stick)

Album

You're going to need something to put the December Daily project in. You can buy an official one here, but don't worry if you can't – for years, I used whatever album I could find or make. Here's few that I found that would work really well for this project:

• Gingerbread 3 Ring Binder
• Christmas Tree 3 Ring Binder
• Red Glitter 3 Ring Binder
• Sage Green Linen 3 Ring Album
• Green 3 Ring Album
• Festive 6 Ring Binder

Okay. That's the bare minimum of what you'll NEED to create an album. If you have just those items, you'll be able to create at least a simple album.

What You Will Probably Want:

Want to go beyond a super simple album? Well, you can order anything from the December Daily shop or you can pull together some of the following:

For The Album

Page Protectors

I prefer to use page protectors in 90% of my albums because my kids are nasty (MOMMY LOVES YOU) and also love touching everything. Page protectors protect my created pages from fingerprints, grime, and other grossness. I like to have an assortment of different page protectors: 4″x6″, a different 4″x6″, 8″x10″, and 2″x2″.

Ali uses a variety of page protectors throughout her albums. At times, it's easier to do your albums this way because it allows you to focus on one 3″x4″ or 4″x6″ space at a time, instead of being overwhelmed by a whole 10″x8″ or 6″x8″ page every single time.

Printable Transparencies

These get used quite a bit (I like to print on mine and also use the paint pens to draw designs). Try to grab the printable kind to give yourself more versatility.

Printable Vellum Paper

Just like the transparencies, printable vellum paper gets used a bunch.

3-Hole or 6-Hole Punch

In addition to using page protectors, Ali often creates her own pages or components (like envelopes). If you'd like to do the same, you'll want a 3-hole punch or 6-hole punch (depending on your album) so that you're not having to individually line up and punch 3 holes or 6 holes every time to get those pages in your album.

Tools

Ruler

If symmetry and straight lines are important to you, get thee a ruler! I have a cheap one from my kids' old school supplies, and it's perfect for when I want things perfectly centered or aligned.

Single Hole Punches

Ali uses lots of tags, eyelets, and brads, so having a few different single-hole punches in your supplies is a good idea. I use two: a standard 1/4″ single-hole punch and a smaller 1/8″ hole punch (you can buy them in a set).

Stapler

Staples are a staple of the December Daily albums (HA!). I generally use both a standard stapler and this cool mini stapler.

Punches

Different from hole punches, these are generally considered crafting punches and allow you to make different shapes with a punch instead of using a cutter or scissors. Ali uses circle punches A LOT in the December Daily albums, along with hexagon punches and this square punch. I use these 1″ circle, 1.5″ circle, and 2″ circle punches.

Precision Craft Tools

I use tweezers, a scorer, a paper piercer, a small self-healing mat, and a craft knife. These tools allow me to create more creatively complex pages.

Corner Rounder

Some people love the look of rounded corners on their photos and what-nots. If that's you, then grab a corner rounder – it's a big punch for rounding corners.

Sewing Machine

Sewing zig-zag lines and straight seams is a regular addition to album pages. This basic sewing machine is perfect for that.

Eyelet Punch

Exactly as it sounds – a tool that creates several different-sized holes for eyelets.

Adhesives

Glue Dots

These are little circles of a very strong glue that are used to attach things like buttons, ribbon, or chipboard pieces to your pages. I use both the 1/2″ and the 3/16″ ones.

Red Line Tape

This is a super strong adhesive that's similar to traditional double-sided tape but stronger. It comes in a variety of widths.

Clear Craft Glue

I use this glue to adhere sequins and rhinestones or any super small bits to my pages.

Glue Sticks

Those things you buy in bulk for your kids? They work great for attaching paper to paper on your pages.

Embroidery Thread

In the last couple of years, Ali has started incorporating embroidery on her pages. Mostly straight stitches and French knots (both very easy). If you want to do the same, grab a needle, a needle threader, and some embroidery thread.

Sticker Tabs

I use these tabs when I want to add a page outside of a page protector to my album, but don't want to punch page holes directly into the page. I also use these metallic ones for a little extra something on a few pages.

Plastic Tabs

Ali uses these a lot in her albums as page flippers or as extra decoration. I like these ones because they are easy to adhere to both pages and page protectors, plus they are wide enough to hold cardstock phrases.

Writing Tools

Brush Pens

If you like including your handwriting in your albums, then grab a few different brush pens in different widths to change up the look and make it all really artsy looking.

Paint Pens

Ali uses these a lot to write on photos and transparencies. This set includes both white and black. Here's a gold one.

Typewriter

If you wanna go hipster – this typewriter would create some amazing journaling in your album.

For The Pages

And now, we get to the fun part! All the STUUUUUFFFF. You can buy an official kit and other ephemera here, but don't worry if you can't – for years, I used whatever scrapbook stuff I had lying around. Here's a bunch of fun craft supplies that I have bought or found for this project:

Foundations

Paper

I like:

• this tartan plaid set
• this retro-like pack
• this rustic pack
• these double-sided solids
• this brightly colored pack
• this vintage pack
• this kid-friendly pack

Cardstock

I like:

• these solid colored packs

Numbers and Letters

Date Stamp

I like:

• this one from Heidi Swapp
• this basic office one
• this one from American Crafts

Alphanumeric Stamps

I like:

• this serif number set
• this educational uppercase set
• this educational lowercase set
• this large foam number set
• these large serif numbers
• these mini number ones

Alphanumeric Stencils

• these military style lettering ones
• these standard upper and lowercase ones

Sticker Numbers and Letters

I like:

• this gold glitter alpha set
• these monogram letters
• these felt number stickers
• these black script ones
• these red glitter ones
• these white foam ones
• these chunky white ones
• these gold foil ones
• these metallic mini number stickers
• these classic block gold ones
• 3″ black or white number stickers

Alphanumeric Tags and Charms

• these metal number tokens
• these colorful number tokens
• these black number charms
• these black acrylic number tags

Page Substitutes and Additions

Envelopes, Folders, and Albums

I like:

• these vintage Christmas ones
• these neutral-toned ones
• these very cool waterfall journal foundation
• this large envelope
• this file card pack
• this mini envelope assortment pack
• this mini ticket album
• this modern striped file album
• these 8″ die cut circles

Tags

I like:

• these silver-rimmed ones
• these gold-rimmed ones
• these “salvaged” ones
• these large 6″ tags
• these small kraft tags
• these 3″ circle tags

Decorative Attachments

Eyelets

I like:

• this set that includes standard tools
• this one that includes grommet pliers

Brads

I like:

• these patinaed ones
• these bronze ones
• these tiny ones
• these pearl-topped ones
• these pull-ring ones
• these gold star ones

Twine

I like:

• this red baker's twine
• this jute twine

Ribbon

I like:

• this green velvet ribbon
• this green pom pom ribbon
• this golden twill
• this red twill
• this other red twill
• this “Merry Christmas” one

Stamping and Painting

Stamps

I like:

• these writing lines ones
• these great journaling ones from Heidi Swapp
• these tag and numeric ones, this tiny confetti one
• this polka dot background one
• this sheet of assorted star stamps
• this red star stamp, this assortment of winter tree stamps
• these script Christmas phrase stamps
• these mini Christmas phrase stamps
• this snowflake stamp set

Stencils

I like:

• these background pattern ones
• these snowflake stencils
• this star stencils set

Ink

I like:

• this set of rich jewel tones
• this gold ink pad
• this distressing ink pad
• any of these individual solid color ink pads

Paint

I like:

• this liquid gold leaf one
• this set with basic colors
• this set with more colors
• this great gray-beige that I use all the time

Fun Decorative Stuff

Chipboard Bits

I like:

• these tags and banners
• these square wreath frames
• these words and phrases
• these plain rectangle frames
• this 3-pack of Christmas ephemera
• this uppercase letter set
• this set of sticker phrases

Sequins and Rhinestones

I like:

• these sequins
• these sequins
• these enamel Christmas dots
• these jewel dots
• these rhinestones

Rub-Ons

I like:

• these neutral ones
• these golden ones
• these worn-looking thoughts and labels
• this set of tiny print phrases
• this Christmas phrase strips set

Stickers

I like:

• this sweet Christmas set
• this hygge set
• these vintage frames
• transparent camera stickers
• these printable kraft full-sized sticker sheets
• these printable gold full-sized sticker sheets

Fun Extras

I like:

• these metal corner clips
• these chipboard thoughts and metal frames
• these tiny metal clips
• this 2-pack of Christmas ephemera

What if You Can't Buy Anything?

Hey, no judgment. Been there, done that. Here are a few ways that you can still have a cool, creative album without buying anything new:

Shop Your Stash

If you've scrapbooked or crafted in the past, sort through your stash and collect anything that is red, green, white, gold, silver, or Christmas-themed. Look for paper, cardstock, stickers, die cuts, embroidery thread, ribbon, and sequins that fit with what colors mean the holidays to you. Remember to pull out all your tools – number stickers, stamps, ink, paint, crafting tools, and such, too.

Shop Your Home

Seeing holes in the supplies and tools that you pulled from your stash (or don't have a stash)? Look around your home for stuff that would work. Try these areas:

Office:

• Stapler and staples
• Notebook paper, copy paper, and cardstock paper
• Envelopes and folders
• Old planners with calendars, stickers, and pockets (you can even rip the covers off to use)
• Ink, pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, and date stamps
• Brads and paper clips
• Rulers and scissors
• 3-hole punches and single hole punches
• Bubble wrap (makes fun polka dot backgrounds if you paint it)
• Tags, tabs, and labels
• Old files and papers that can be cut out or used as background paper
• Newspapers, magazines, and maps
• Chipboard and cardboard
• Pushpins (can be used to create holes)

Kitchen:

• Product labels and packaging (can be cut up for foundation pages or ephemera)
• Kitchen shears
• Twist ties
• Wax paper, parchment paper, sandwich baggies, and cling wrap
• Paper bags
• Potatoes and corks (can be carved and made into stamps)
• Gel food coloring (can be used to paint with or dye things in a pinch)
• Baking sprinkles (can be used to fill shakers in a pinch)
• Salt and pepper (can be used to fill shakers in a pinch)

Garage:

• Tools: awl, small drill, hammer, ruler, sandpaper, etc.
• Rope, string, and twine
• Paper bags and cardboard
• Grommets (the non-craft version of eyelets)

Bathroom:

• Nail polish (can be used to paint with or dye things in a pinch)
• Make-up (can be used to paint with or dye things in a pinch)
• Make-up brushes (use as painting tools)
• Cuticle cutters (aka small scissors) and tweezers
• Cotton balls and pads (can be used as a tool or as decorative elements)
• Packaging (lots of products used in bathrooms have great designs that can be used as ephemera)

Bedroom:

• Jewelry (take apart to use as attachments to decorative elements)
• Clothing tags (use as tags or ephemera)
• Old clothes and accessories (take a photo of them to use as a foundation page or cut up for ephemera)

Living Room

• Books and magazines (take a photo of illustrations to use on pages or cut up for ephemera)
• Frames (small or thin ones can be used as decorative elements)

Buy Nothing Groups

Mostly found on Facebook, these groups can be gold for the supplies and tools you need/want for your December Daily project.

Transfer Stations

This may be just an Alaska thing, but every dumpsite has a transfer station (a covered area where people leave items that are too good for the trash but they don't want anymore, and others can take for free). You'd be amazed at the stuff people leave there.

Corporate Freebies

Many large corporations have free stuff that's available to anyone who takes it. Big box building supply stores offer free paint chip fans and strips, which work great in scrapbooks. Many banks offer free calendars with pictures. Make-up chains often have free samples in really cool packaging. Some office supply stores allow you to grab a few individual labels. Just keep your eyes open and don't be ashamed to grab those freebies – after all, they're paying less taxes than you, so screw 'em.

Thrift Stores and Garage Sales

A classic place to find scrapbook and craft supplies and tools for a fraction of the retail price. Be sure to check out the office section and party supply/seasonal section for even more options.

Now Acquire and Organize your photos and memorabilia.

So, now you have a bunch of supplies and tools, and you've organized them. Now, you'll need to gather up all the photos and memories from those missing years. You may have had some on hand to store with your yearly albums, kits, and planners; however, if you weren't able to get photos and memorabilia when you did that part of the process, don't be overwhelmed!

I did all the right ways and the wrong ways to acquire photos and all the stuff from the years I was missing, so I can help you. Here are a few tips and suggestions on how to track them down and what to do if you can't!

How to Track Down Photos:

Check Your Computer: Almost everyone since the mid-2000s has used a digital camera or their phone to take nearly all of their photos and videos. Get on your computer and start looking for photos from December of each year. Use your computer's search feature (Google it if you don't know where or what that is) and track them all down.

Check Your Phone: Same process as your computer. Find the December photos from the year(s) you're missing. Think outside your main gallery and also look in your folders, any possible photo apps on your phone, and in text messages. Download everything to your computer and/or cloud.

Check Your Camera/Memory Cards: Do you have any old DSLRs or film cameras lying around? Send the film in to be processed (The Dark Room still develops camera film into photos and offers free mailers). Check your DSLRs internal storage for photos and all the memory cards you may have lying around. if you can, get everything downloaded (or scanned into) your computer so it's all in one place.

Check Your Cloud: Many people have their computers and phones automatically set to back up to their cloud. Get in there and start looking. You can often search by date/month/year, and/or you can organize them by oldest to newest.

Ask Family and Friends: This was something that I had to do when I realized that, for some weird reason, I was completely missing all of 2015 and most of 2016 on my phone and in my cloud. My husband handed over his phone, and I searched in all his galleries, apps, and folders and was able to track down a bunch from those years.

I also put out a call in my family's group text and asked people to email me any photos of my family they had from those years. I was able to fill in some gaps that way.

Look on Social Media: Almost everyone has at least one social media account that they've synced or uploaded photos to. Check yours and download any that would work.

Also, someone in your family/friend group probably has relevant photos on their socials, too. If you can see them, you can download them. If they're private, ask your family member or friend to check and share any with you.

How to Remember What Happened on What Day:

Check Your Calendar/Planners: I live and die by my phone's calendar and my paper planner. I can often just refer back to them for what happened on what days.

Also, a couple of years in, I figured out that if I take a moment to write a note on what happened each day in my planner (i.e. “NEW ORNAMENTS” on day 11), it helps out a lot later when I get around to finally making my December Daily album… years later.

Check Your Emails: Emails are a gold mine for these albums. Not only are they dated and can be searched by that, but they also contain information on what happened during that time period.

Check Your Text Messages and DMs: Just like your emails, DMs and texts can give you a clue as to when things happened (though often a more general time frame since many don't include actual date stamps).

Check Your Social Media: While your general feed is probably no longer chronological, your personal account feed is, and some platforms even date-stamp them.

Check The News: If you participated in an event or something that would have been in the news, your local paper generally has a record of it in its archives. If not, your local library probably does.

Check Your Photo Dates: Digital photos have electronic dates on them showing when they were taken, uploaded, edited, etc. Google how to find that information on the photos on your computer.

Ask Friends or Family: Can't remember when Auntie Faye wore that insane reindeer sweater to church? Ask your family – someone will remember or be able to narrow it down for you. Friends will absolutely be able to remember that time y'all got drunk and TP'ed the dean's house.

How To Handle Missing Photos, Memorabilia, or Memories:

Okay, so you've gathered together the stuff you have, but there are gaps. It happens. At least once an album, I simply did not have photos, memorabilia, or even a memory of what happened on a specific day. When that happened, here are a few things I did:

Pull From Video: If you don't have photos from a specific day, then pull an image or screenshot from a video from that day.

For example, I record a lot of video of my kids (often more than I take photos), so many times, in order to have a photo on a page, I have to do a screengrab from a video from that day. It's not great, but it works.

Local Newspapers: Again, your local paper to the rescue (seriously – support local media!) – either the physical paper, online, or via their social media. Look up that day and see what happened locally, statewide, nationally, or internationally. Print it out and share it, then add journaling about how it made you feel or impacted your life.

For example, I spoke at a local school board meeting last December and wanted to include it in my album. I went alone and spoke without notes, so I pulled screenshots from the livestream on their school Facebook page and printed out an article from a local news blog that mentioned my time at the podium.

Google Images: If you remember what happened but don't have any photos or memorabilia, search Google Images for something relevant.

For example, I forgot to get a picture of my daughter's advent calendar one year, but still wanted to record it. So, I jumped on Google Images and typed in the year plus the name of the advent calendar. It pulled up a bunch of images. I chose one, printed it out, and included it in my album.

Older Memories: When in doubt, fill in gaps with old memories from the past. They can be yours, your family, your kids, your partner. Any memories that are holiday-related will do.

For example, I've shared the history behind our different traditions whenever I needed to fill in a page that I didn't have info on. Like why we look at Christmas lights on the 23rd, and why we use an old leather work glove as our tree topper.

Email/DM Questions: Think up an open-ended question to ask your family or friends via email or DM. Something like, “What's your favorite Christmas carol?” or “How did you feel seeing me at my first Christmas?” Include the answers on the page with a photo of the person or a generic photo of the tradition/event attached to it.

Cheat: Seriously, who's going to know if that holiday memory is from November 29th of that year or December 3rd? Or hey, even from that February, if it's just a picture of you running errands (not actually running because… ew).

Stock Footage: If you just need a generic picture of, say, a toy truck – consider using a free stock photo. These are images that photographers take and then share online for others to use for free. If you have a Canva account, there are many free photos on there. I also like these stock footage sites: Pexels, Unsplash, and Pixabay.

You're probably the only one who will know, and you can take that to your grave.

how to Organize your photos, videos, and memorAbilia

Now that you have photos, memorabilia, and your stories, it's time to organize them. Let's tackle it one at a time:

Photos:

This is generally the biggie. I came up with a system that worked for me, that I hope works for you.

1. Make sure all your photos are downloaded in a central location onto your computer or cloud. I created a folder on my computer labeled “December Daily Albums”.
2. Inside that folder, I created a folder for every album I wanted to do and labeled it by year, i.e., “December Daily 2020”.
3. Next, I moved every photo from a specific year into that year's folder. For example, all the photos from 2020 went into the “December Daily 2020” folder.
4. After that, I opened each folder one by one and created 25 new folders inside it – one folder for each day, labeled “Day 1”, “Day 2”, and so on.
5. Then, I dropped the photos for each specific day into the correct folder – every photo from Day 1 went into the “Day 1” folder.
6. Continue steps 4 and 5 for each year you're making an album for.

Memorabilia:

1. I did this two ways, depending on how much memorabilia I had for each year.
2. The way I did it for the years when I had a small amount of memorabilia was to sort it by day or type and then use a binder clip to secure it all together (everything from a specific day or event was clipped together). Then, I just stacked them in a pile in chronological order and put them inside the planner for that year.
3. The way I did it for the years when I had a lot of memorabilia was to sort it by day or type, and then put everything from a specific day or event into a filing folder. Then I labeled each folder with the day I wanted to associate it with in the album, and put those folders in chronological order. Those folders then got clipped to the planner for that year.

Planners:

1. This one's easy. I just put each year's planner with that year's album and kit.
2. Done.

And, phew. Y'all did it. You made it through the tedious and kinda boring part of this whole process. Now, on to the fun part – the creating!

Getting Started:

Where to Start:

Now, where do you start? The answer is – anywhere you want! Seriously, pick a year. Any year. And just get started with that year. Personally, I started at the beginning (for me, 2014) because I had finished most of that year's album and only had a couple of pages not done. It allowed me to finish that album quickly, which felt less daunting than tackling an entire album from day one.

Then I worked on every album after that chronologically (except 2015, we'll get to why later). That's just what made sense to me. For you, it may make sense to work on a year that made you really happy, or that has the memories that are strongest for you right now.

Get started

Again, what worked for me may not work for you, but my advice is to start each album at the beginning (the title page, table of contents, or “your reason why”) and work on each page chronologically. The reason for this is that some days will cover one day while others will cover three or four, and working from the beginning ensures that you won't have to stress out about making your pages work out evenly. You won't be trying to fill empty space.

Now, you're ready to create, so you'll need to pull out all your organized supplies and tools and set them up in a way that makes sense for your process. For me, that was putting everything out on my desk in my office space (remember, I can do this because I have the space and my kids are older), making sure my printer had lots of paper and ink, and pulling up Ali's website for a resource.

Now, let's get these albums done.

Getting The Albums Done:

The biggest thing here is just… getting the albums done. Remember, the goal is to get the memories down – the creativity part is second.

I promise you. It. Is. Secondary.

Keeping that in mind, here are a few things that I did to help me efficiently create my album pages, which allowed me the time to enjoy the creative side of things.

Follow Ali's Designs

If you bought the official December Daily album and/or kit, one of the easiest ways to get your album done is to follow Ali's daily designs for her pages. She mostly uses her products for that year, so it's easy to turn your brain off and recreate her designs (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that at all – I did it a bunch).

Sometimes, I would have more pictures or a bigger story to tell than she did for that day, so I either modified her design to work over several pages or I would move her page designs around to make them fit my needs.

For example, if she shared a one-page layout with one picture on day 17 but I had ten pictures for that day, I would look ahead and see if day 18, 19, or 20 would better suit my needs. Then I would switch out the design for her page 19 and use it as my page 17. Sometimes, that meant that I had to move several page designs around to make the album work – when that happened, I would draw a quick sketch to keep track of which of her page designs I planned to use for my days.

Note: I made up this sketch because the ones I did use got thrown away long before I decided to create this post.

Change Up The Year

If you like to follow Ali's designs but the ones for the year you're working on don't suit your needs, pick a different year to follow. For example, her earlier December Daily albums are much simpler and less complex than the more recent years. Also, her earlier years feature a lot more photos per page and more traditional content since her kids were younger.

Since my kids are still young and still in their matching pajamas, visiting Santa, and leaving out milk and cookies era, there were several times that I would pull layout inspiration from her earlier albums to fit my photos and story.

She also utilizes the 3″x4″ and 4″x6″ page protectors a lot more in the earlier years and has done way more single photo layouts since the 2020s.

EXTRA CREDIT IDEA: If you are a very visual person who needs to use several layouts from different years, you could easily right-click on the page images that she shares and organize them in a Photoshop or Canva file so you can view them in the order that you will be using them. You could also print them out and create a physical file or binder that helps you remember exactly what designs you want to do on what days.

Open All The Tabs

I work in digital marketing and also blog full-time, so my poor computer always has at least 47 tabs open at any given time (okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but I do have a lot of them). This ended up working out great for this project because it allowed me to refer to different blog posts as needed.

I ended up with a kind of system for it: when I started a new album, I would go through her blog, find the first posts for the year's album, and open around five tabs: the main blog page with that year's album posts, the foundation page post (she almost always pre-makes a bunch of pages for each year's albums in November and uses them as a foundation for that year's stories), and three daily posts at a time (i.e. day 1, day 2, and day 3 OR day 19, day 20, and day 21).

This system allowed me to easily go back and forth and see how a foundation page was created for the day I was working on. It also let me see how three pages in a row worked together, an important thing since I need to be able to anticipate how I would need to alter my layouts or page counts to stay as close to Ali's as possible.

For example, her page 3 is a single page that uses the 2″x2″ page protector, page 4 is a page with one photo that is adhered to a transparency, and her day 5 uses the back of page 4 transparency as a shaker and uses the opposite page to share a 3″x4″ page protector layout. However, my page 4 has a bigger story with four pictures and journaling.

So, to stay on track with her layouts, I make her page 4 into a 3″x4″ page protector, use my 4 photos (turning one into a little flip-up that includes journaling, and then turn the backside of the page protector into mini shakers. Small change = big story.

Templates

There are specific sizes that get used a lot in these albums: 10″x8″, 6″x8″, 4″x6″, 3″x4″, and 2″x2″. Any time she varies from those sizes, she lets you know and shares the exact measurements she is using.

Save yourself a bunch of time and pre-make blank templates of those sizes in your preferred photo editing platform. I have Photoshop, but you could absolutely do this with a free Canva account.

I saved my blank templates in a folder within my general “December Daily” folder and labeled it “December Daily Templates”. Sometimes Ali will share templates she's made, and after I download them, I save them in that folder, too.

Download all the Downloads

In addition to sharing free template downloads, occasionally Ali will offer free design elements like graphics or Photoshop brushes. Inside my general “December Daily” folder, I created a folder labeled “December Daily Design Elements” and downloaded those offerings into that folder.

I do this instead of downloading them into the folder of the year she offers them because I am in a different season of life than Ali. The main difference is that her kids are older while mine are younger. So, I often use design elements from December Daily's earlier years when her kids were younger. Putting them all in one generic folder means that I'm not wasting time trying to track down an element that I'm sure I remember her using, however many years ago.

Sort Official Kit Supplies By The Year

The great thing about the official December Daily kit is that it comes in a box that can be used to hold your scrapbook supplies. To make mine work best for me, I would unpack the supplies and then put them back (still in their packaging) into the box with like items grouped together and everything standing up so I could see/flip through them better.

I would also go a step further and sort through the 6″x8″, 4″x6″, and 3″x4″ papers and group them together within the size groups by similar purpose. For example, all the patterned papers went together, while the journaling papers were in a group, and then the “fill-in-the-blank” papers were another grouping. I did this for each size of paper. It made finding the paper card I needed so much faster.

Once I completed an album, I would get the next year's boxed kit ready by using the system above. However, then I would include all the papers and supplies from past years' kits by putting those leftover items behind that new year's. That way, I could include cool bits from past kits without combing through lots of product when I tried to find a specific item from the current year.

After a couple of years, I had so many supplies that I started using a small tackle box and tiny bowls to separate the products even more. However, I still stuck to my older product in the back and newer product up front system.

This system ended up being really great because, when I was done doing albums 2016-2024 (the years I had bought an album and a kit), I was able to go back and do 2015 (a year where I bought just the album). I didn't have enough product to do 2015 after I had finished 2014, but after doing 2016-2024? I absolutely did!

Organize Your Paper

Some kits come with larger 10″x6″ papers that don't really fit in the kit box, and you'll also be dealing with lots of different office paper (copy, cardstock, photo, etc.). Here's my system for organizing your papers efficiently:

I used a bunch of file folders to organize my papers, each folder had one kind of paper:

• all the kit's patterned papers (with the papers from previous years in the back)
• regular white copy paper
• kraft copy paper
• transparency paper
• vellum paper
• photo paper went into two different folders (8″x11″ and 5″x7″)
• notebook style and grid papers
• white cardstock
• the last was for large scraps.

I stacked all these together upright in a box, and it was really easy to flip through and find what I needed quickly.

Use Paper Scraps

Here's the thing with Ali: she looooooves her circles. It's one of her signature design styles. So, if you are following her December Daily page designs, you're going to use circles a lot. One thing I learned was to take my smaller paper scraps and cut out circles with my circle punches. Whatever size circles I could get from a scrap of paper, I punched as many as I could.

Then I collected those punched circles into a small bowl and would use them whenever Ali's designs called for them, or I was doing my own thing and needed a circle. This saved me a lot of time and paper waste.

Another quickie tip I have for you is to keep the box the kit came in, and any leftover chipboard from the chipboard die cut sheets. The boxes always come in a pattern that can work in your album – I cut mine up several times to incorporate into my layouts. Also, when I finished using all the die cuts from a sheet, I would keep that negative space chipboard sheet and use it as a template to draw or stencil circles, stars, etc.

Getting Over It And Getting It Done:

The biggest thing about working on this many albums in such a short amount of time is to accept beforehand that certain things are going to happen and create a plan to deal with them. I did not do this and had to cope on the fly, which, especially if you have severe anxiety like me, I DO NOT RECOMMEND. Zero stars.

Since I ran into a bunch of stuff while trying to do 11 years of albums, I learned what worked for me to get me through and get this project done. Here's my tips:

Perfectly Imperfect

If you are Type-A, anal-retentive, a perfectionist, whatever – this will be your Waterloo. If you are that personality type, it can be very hard to accept that done is best. But listen, DONE IS BEST.

Perfectly imperfect is my personal mantra, but I still found myself trying too hard to make every single element on every single page absolutely perfect. And that's just not humanly possible – even Ali messes up her albums, and she just shakes it off and moves on.

I know that you want to recreate every layout exactly how Ali does it. And if you can, awesome! But listen, if you can't or it's just taking too long, it's not worth it to waste extra energy on. Remind yourself that you need that energy to get the rest of the album(s) done, finish telling the story for that day, and move on.

The best way to be able to do this is to keep telling yourself that it's the story of that day that is important and not the creativity of the page. If your photo isn't great, focus on telling a great story in your journaling. If you don't have a huge amount of journaling to include on a word-heavy page, focus on making the journaling that you do have really creative.

The important thing is to remember to make the story the focus of each page, and tell yourself that everything else is just extra.

Let it go

Like I tell my kids, make like Elsa and let it go. Don't have a cool transparency like Ali? Make your own or let it go. Can't get your journaling to print out on a 3″x4″ card the way you want? Use your handwriting or let it go. Can't find the perfect picture to go with your story for that day? Use one from a few months ago or let it go.

Unless you have every scrapbook product that has ever been made, the chances of you being able to perfectly create pages exactly like Ali's are slim. So, do your best with what you have and then… let it go.

Stop Making It Harder

This was one I struggled with. I kept trying to make my albums harder than they had to be. I would absolutely love a design that Ali had done on one of her pages, but I wouldn't have the right supplies. So, I'd try to make it with what I did have, and sometimes it worked. Most of the time, it was meh. And a few times? It was a time-consuming disaster.

I wish I had stopped being so stubborn and set a limit, or timer, or something for those pages. Like, told myself that if I needed this one product to really make that page what it is, but I didn't have it, to just do something else.

Or, if I could do the page design if I used this product instead of the product she used (that I don't have), and also did this and that, and… you get the picture. I really needed to set a time limit for myself on those pages. Like, if it will take you more than 30 minutes to recreate this one element on the page – just do something else.

Lack of Supplies or Ran out

Several times during the course of this process, I would run out of something that I actually needed to continue, like photo paper or ink. When that happened, I had two options: go get some or work around it until I got some.

Ran Out

Now, I live in Alaska, and there is no Amazon Now or even two-day Amazon Prime shipping. No stores deliver to my house, and no one wants to Instacart a single pack of paper. Also, while I'm lucky enough to live near one of the larger “cities” in Alaska, it still has only a handful of stores, and they have very limited options.

Several times I had to leave bath time to my husband so I could run to the store that had one thing of the photo paper I needed left. Again, so lucky that I could do this.

There were a few times that I was stuck at home without a car and ran out of ink or photo paper. Again, I was lucky and could ask my husband to grab some on the way home. However, I had to wait for him to do that. In those instances, I had two options: stop and walk away or work around it.

Stopping and walking away is exactly what it sounds like – I would stop working, walk away, and do something else around the house (clean, read, hang with my kids). I did this a few times when I knew my husband would be home soon or when I was just tired and needed a rest.

Most of the time, I would work around it. I accomplished this by looking several pages ahead on Ali's blog and seeing what pages I could pre-make without the missing products. Often, it would mean that I would craft a couple of pages and then use Post-its to note on the page what needed to go there, like a specific photo or journaling printed on a transparency. This way, I didn't have to stop working while I was in a creative mood.

Lack of Supplies

One thing I had to deal with that I had no control over by the time I got around to doing these albums was supplies or products not being available. Most often this was because they were no longer being manufactured, but a few times it was because they wouldn't ship to Alaska (or the cost was astronomical) or that Ali no longer offered them in her shop (including, for some bizarre reason, past digital files, which is so odd to me because like, you're not making them? They only cost you a bit of space on your server. Why not continue to offer them?).

Anyway, trying to stay inspired and excited when there's a lack of supplies or products can be demoralizing, so here's how I changed my mentality to cope with it:

Get Creative

If you're lacking a product that Ali used to create her album page, ask yourself if you need it to do that page. Can you substitute a different design or product? Can you eliminate that product completely and still tell your story? See if you can simply go without and get that page D O N E.

You can also consider trying to use different products that you do have to mimic the one you are missing. For instance, I really loved the shaker pages that Ali started making a few years ago, but didn't have a bunch of sequins. I had a small handful, but not nearly enough to fill the shaker. I put in an order for some, but had to wait a week to get them shipped.

In the meantime, I still really wanted to make one, so I got creative. I used about half the sequins that I had, some tiny pom poms from my kids' craft stash, and glued small chipboard words from the Main Kit back-to-back to fill the shaker. It ended up looking really cute and only took me an extra five minutes.

I've done similar with printed transparencies or times when Ali used a minc machine to add gold foil. I punched page holes in a blank transparency and then used a gold paint pen to freehand draw trees or words on one side. Sure, it didn't look 100% as great as hers, but it still looked fine, and that was enough for me.

Ali's a Professional

When I would start to feel down about not having every single product that Ali used on her pages, I would remind myself that she is a professional. Meaning, it is her job and her livelihood to scrapbook. The more products that she uses, the more she sells. So, of course, she is going to use a bunch of them. And, honestly, who can blame her – girl, get that coin.

Along those lines, she has also been a professional in the scrapbook industry for decades. She is very well-known and highly respected. As such, people and brands send her free products to use all the time. So she does and then links to them as an affiliate, meaning she gets a little money when someone buys through her link (exactly like I do here on my blog). Again, I do not begrudge this. It's her business and how she supports her family.

Now, I've followed Ali for decades, and one reason that her blog and work have held up is that she has never pushed product. She is great about actually using things that she likes and then sharing them organically. She doesn't do unboxings, she doesn't do reviews, she simply uses the product and links to it. She also tends to use the same products over and over, so it's all very genuine.

One last note about Ali being a professional – don't stress if you can't recreate her designs exactly. She has been doing this project for years and years, so naturally, she is going to experiment and try new techniques all the time. This is especially true with the albums from the last five years, so if all those pull-outs and spinning things are too much for you, just go back a few years and work from her earlier designs.

Phone a Friend

If you also live in a place where it costs more to ship an item than it does to buy it – Welcome! Everyone in Alaska says hi and welcome to the we don't ship there/shipping costs WHAT club… it sucks.

There's not a lot that can be done about that, but one workaround is to talk to an out-of-state friend, ask if they will let you ship the item to them, and then have them ship it to you via a USPS Flat Rate box (generally the cheapest option). Yes, you still have to pay for shipping, but at least it's much less than shipping it directly.

Try Buying Online

If there's a product that you simply MUST have – look online. Try the standard places like Amazon, Michaels, Target, and Walmart, but also look on sites like Facebook Marketplace, Facebook scrapbooking groups, eBay, and etsy. I was pleasantly surprised by the older products I was able to find there.

Also, remember to keep an eye out for those products at your local thrift stores and garage sales. Most times, if there's scrap stuff at those places, it's because someone did a big purge, so you'll likely find a lot of similar items or brands together.

Coping with PTSD

Yes, it sounds ridiculous to have PTSD or be triggered from working on an album, but it absolutely happens. For me personally, 2019 and 2020 were emotionally exhausting and financially stressful times in our lives, and reliving those memories was a bit overwhelming. 2024 was also difficult because I was in a very dark place after that November's election, and revisiting that time just made my heart race uncontrollably all over again.

To cope, I actually took a few days off while working on those albums. I walked away and just spent time reading and playing games with my kids.

When I came back, I was better able to deal with my emotions and remind myself that I had already lived through those stressful experiences, and I was allowed to focus on the happy moments instead.

Done is Beautiful

When it comes to trying to get a number of albums finished and done, your mantra should be “DONE IS BEAUTIFUL”. And seriously, done is beautiful.

Your goal is to share your memories and stories in your album. Not creating incredible flipbooks or editing the perfect black and white action shot. The stories you want to tell during December are THE focus of your December Daily albums, so if you get those stories on the page, then you did a great job.

You finished!

You got the supplies, got organized, got going, and now you got it all done! Congratulations! I literally know exactly how you're feeling right now. Proud, exhausted, tired, exhilarated – it's a wild emotional ride.

How do you celebrate? Show off those albums! Display them proudly on your bookshelf, share pictures on social media, take a moment to flip through them yourself and savor the memories.

And please know that I'm proud of you. YOU DID IT!