DECEMBER DAILY: Cover 2012

Every year, Ali Edwards (nice name :) creates a scrapbook/journal of the 25 days leading up to Christmas.  It is so creative, fun, and great way to document your life for that year.

I start the process in November as does she, to set the foundation and layout ...saves much time during the actual month and allots for more "play" time.  I selected a simple Craft Ready photo album from AC Moore; it allows for about an 8x11 page.  I used the same size last year and loved it.

  

Since I kept the cover white last year, I wanted to add some color, but nothing bold as that would be provided by my accent colors.  I painted the entire cover (inside and out) with Apple Barrel 21392 "Granite Gray" acrylic paint.

Coming up with a main item to appear throughout the album, I opted for a reindeer. (Last year was stars.) Hence I scavenged through my art stash and online for images to grace the front cover. And ended up with several; ultimately, picking between these two.

The one on the right was more ornamental to me, and I want my reindeer to appear that way throughout vs. the cutsy ones.  (The image is a sketch of the Hambly overlays I plan on using in the foundation pages.) So I cut the image out, traced it on the cover, and outlined it with metallic silver puffy paint.

Once dried, I played around with some ornaments I got at Target for $1.  Since JOY is my middle name, I wanted to add that aspect to the theme as well.  The pink JOY stood out, so I chose to go with turquoise, pink, red and silver for my colors. (Last year was more traditional red/green)

Since the colors were decided, I glued inside the antlers and added bright turquoise blue glitter. To make the reindeer more prominent but still subtle, I applied UTEE inside the puffy paint area.

I sealed the entire front with ModPodge and placed the JOY before it dried.

2012 Front Cover

Now onto the back.  This was a bit of a disaster at first.  I used a mixture of tar gel and pink paint; applied over one of Martha Stewart holiday cake masks. The result looked good, but wasn't what I was wanting so.....

I mixed dark turquoise paint with tar gel and applied over another cake mask.  And this was the result....:(

So I walked away for the night....and the next day I decided I needed to add white over top. So I got out a few other stencils/masks, mixed together glass beads and white paint, and applied. The white dried and looks like snow...and I knew I was happy with the back. I even snuck a JOY into the back as well.

I plan on adding an element on the spine. Most likely a foam reindeer sticker

with the words "Celebrate December" underneath. I will post once I decide.

Hope everyone has a JOYful weekend!

 I get to escape to an Art Day with some girls on Sunday...Can't Wait!