New Year’s Resolutions with the assistance of Daily Docket

I’m not big on the whole New Year’s Resolution thing, but this year I’m going for it anyway! As a mama of two little ones I struggle to find a balance in life. I love my family and spending time with them, I also love a house that isn’t in complete chaos, I love baking, I love my hobbies… the list goes on. There’s a lot of love, but  only so much time. It’s hard!

Balance is key, and I’m still in pursuit of it, but in the meantime I am going to work on priorities. On the top of that list is my family and the time we spend together – so, my New Year’s resolution is going to be to spend meaningful time together and create lasting memories. This means letting the dishes wait until the kids are in bed and choosing to build couch cushion forts instead. This means hiring a babysitter and going on date nights. This means being present in the moment – even if we are just walking home from school or shopping for groceries – memories can be made anywhere!

As soon as the new Daily Docket Collection launched I knew this was going to be a collection I would get lots of use out of. The colour pallet is gorgeous, the designs are neutral, and it’s a collection that can look feminine or masculine (important when you are scrapbooking your daughter one minute and your son the next!). I decided that this would be a perfect collection to keep me accountable in my New Year’s Resolution.

The Plan:
– Create an 8″X8″ album with a double page layout for each month of 2017.
– Keep it simple (I wanted this to be a project I could pull together quickly – not taking from time spent MAKING the memories to fill it).
– Keep it versatile (It’s hard to know what our life will bring. I may want 2 photos for one month and 4 for the next. I wanted the flexibility to adjust while filling the album).
– Have it flow (I wanted to be able to look back at this album as our story of 2017).

This is what I used:

• White 8″X8″ Pages
• Daily Docket Paper Pack
• Daily Docket Embellishments
• Beige Solid 12″X12″ Cardstock
• The Tape Runner
• Foam Squares
• 8″X8″ Album – these will be available in January so I’ve got my pages ready and will pop them in an album as soon as my first January order arrives!

Here’s what I did:

I used one package, plus one extra page, of the the White 8″X8″ Pages – this way I could have a title page, a back page and then 12 double-page layouts for the months. I used one full package of Daily Docket Paper Pack. I cut all 12 sheets of the Daily Docket Papers the exact same. Here is my cutting guide:

Then I adhered the 8″X8″ square to the left page of each double-page layout and then I adhered one of the 4″X8″ strips to the right side of the right page of each double-page layout in the same pattern. Then I put the other two pieces off to the side and chose a coordinating pattern. I used a 4″X8″ strip from the coordinating pattern to fill in the left side of the right page in the double-page layout. From there I just used the same pattern going forward. I would take the 8″X8″ square that matched the strip I had used as the coordinating paper on the page before for the next double page layout. Here are all 12 months:

Now – I wanted to make this quick and easy to update each month with some journalling and photos. What I did was cut a full package of 12″X12″ Beige Solid Core Cardstock into photo mats/journalling tags.

Just like the patterned paper, I cut all the cardstock the same for each page in the whole package. I wanted 4-1/4″X6-1/4″ mats for full 4″X6″ photos. I also wanted some medium sized mats for the photos that could be cropped, so I cut some 3-1/2″X4″ pieces (these are the ones I see being perfect for journalling as well), and I had a 2-1/4″ strip left over so I cut those into 2-1/4″X2-1/4″ squares for itty bitty 2″ photos.

I’m not going to attach them to my album yet – since I don’t know what memories will be made each month and have no idea the orientation of the photos or how many I’ll want to include. Here are some of my ideas for how I’ll lay them out:

Finally, I created a back and front cover using the remaining 4″X4″ squares from the Daily Docket Paper Pack. Here is how they turned out:

I’m thinking I’ll choose some favourite moments and print some smaller photos and have the back cover be a snapshot of the whole year.

I’ll check back in after I’ve completed a few months and share with you how it’s going!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today, take care!