December Daily 2016- Title page and finishing up

Here is my title page for my 2016 December Daily album.

I usually wait until the end of the of the project to finish this one, since I like to use a favorite family photo from the season. 

The paper is my favorite from the SEI Alpine Frost collection. I layered a branding strip with the numbers 1- 25, a subtle but awesome addition, with some solid papers from SEI and Simple Stories.

I had a few brads left over from the Simple Stories DIY Christmas that I used here as well as a few sequins found throughout my album for 2016.

I included little strips that state the ages of my kids, a nice quick reference when looking back.

For the embellishment cluster at the top of the page, I used some Tim Holtz metal numbers to put that it was  '16, but I had used the 1 last year on that December Daily album cover. I had the 1/2 and broke it apart to use just the one. 

I used some more of the Simple Stories brads and sequins as well.

I layered a scalloped circle that I punched with a circle I punched and stamped with an Ali Edwards stamp. Tucked another stamped circle behind it. 

Thoughts on this years album:

1. I loved doing all 6x8 layouts this year! I figured that if this is my one big project a year that I complete, I should enjoy the process and take my time. The divided pages just weren't going to work with the products I had to work with this year, so I didn't want to stress about it and force it like I had in previous years.

2. I haven't purchased an album to put these pages in yet. There weren't any 6x8 albums that I were going to have what I needed, but lo and behold, Ali Edwards came out with a black Storybook album that should work. Simple Stories albums just don't hold enough pages. Not sure if I am going that route or wait to purchase a December Daily album from her later this year.

3. I loved bashing my stash. It felt great to use up product I have had in my stash for a long time. It also felt good not to spend a lot of money on new stuff that I wasn't that excited about using.

4. I find it humorous that I chose a lot of snowflake themed products this year, and that was the year that we really didn't get any snow....

5. Loved using the snowflake sequins this year. They were the perfect embellishment to sprinkle throughout the album to tie the pages together. Tim Holtz's metal number tags were another great purchase.

6. Still love using Ali Edwards' stamps. I got lots of use out of them this year, especially the new ones I bought this year. Definitely worth the money to me.

Thanks again for checking out my album!

Can't wait to share some of the layouts that I have recently completed! I have a whole list of projects in the que.