The winner of the flair badges is Margaret with a correct guess of the number 8 !! Congratulations Margaret - send me an email at - bluepondbee@outlook.com - with all your details to get your prize quickly !!!

Thanks everyone who entered.

Thanks to The Stamp Spot for sponsoring this giveaway.

As you probably know, this year I am one of a number of guest designers for Michelle Hunter and The Stamp Spot daily Christmas album, Documenting December. The Stamp Spot has an amazing array of scrapbooking, Project Life and stamping goodies, including many handmade products by Michelle herself.

Michelle has generously organised for each guest designer to have a giveaway on their blogs.

The prize is ---- 3 exclusive to The Stamp Spot Christmas flairs as shown below. These will look awesome on any Christmas project.

To win my giveaway all you need to do is comment on this post and choose a number between 1-200. The first to select my number will be the winner. Simple!! The giveaway is open now to Australian residents only (sorry), will close on Sunday November 30th at 7pm (AEST - ie Brisbane time). The winner will be notified on this post. To ensure you get these yummy flair the winner must make contact with me within 24 hours. If no contact is made a redraw will occur. In the event of multiple correct answers, the first to comment with the correct answer wins. In te event of no correct answer, the first person closest to it will win.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck !!

Beth xo

Why not stop by the other guest designers and enter their giveaways as well.

The Stamp Spot and December guest designers blogs -----


Michelle Hunter http://www.thestampspot.typepad.com

Tanya Watson http://photosandcrafts.wordpress.com/

Stacey-Lee Collis http://www.getonwithitalready.me

Beck Holder http://beckholder.weebly.com

Melinda Sweetman http://www.melindasweetman.blogspot.com

Amanda Horne http://www.scrapping-our-blessed-life.com/


Bernii Miller http://weekendatberniis.blogspot.com.au

Gabrielle Ingerson http://mostlysunshineandrainbows.blogspot.com.au/

Kirsteen Young http://lifeinthecraftlanek.blogspot.co.uk/

Amanda Miller  http://mypladventure.blogspot.com.au

Hello again.

Well I have achieved what I wanted to do and finished all my preparation for my Christmas album!!

As I am working lots of night shifts during December I wanted to be organised, which meant all date cards and foundation pages to be done, so that all I need to do each day is print a photo or two and slip them in. I also have a tray set up with embellishments to use each day.

Most of my pages were used with The Stamp Spot Documenting December kits which included Teresa Collins Tinsel and Co collection. I also used the Freckled Fawn Very Merry Embellishment kit, products from Studio Calico, Ali Edwards, Kellie Stamps, Amy Tangerine and a few goodies from my stash.

I'm really pleased with how the album is looking and how I've used the DD kits from The Stamp Spot. I stretched my creative side at times and tried things I haven't tried before. On the whole my ideas worked and loved how they turned out.

Below are a few of my pages and a couple of my favourite ones in detail.

This JOY card I made using my Amy Tangerine alphabet stencils and stitched the word using some teal thread.

The star overlay is from Studio Calico and is sitting in front of a 4x4 piece of cork. The little deer sticker is from the Freckled Fawn kit and the numbers from the Stamp Spot kit.

Day 20 - This 3x4 date card is one of my favourites. Very simple but effective. Using a piece of clear transparency I just added the wood veneer numbers to both sides. I backed the circle numbers with white cardstock and added the Ali Edwards day stamps to white card and Studio Calico star.

Day 11 - Here I used a rectangular glassine envelope (from TSS kit) into which I popped a red and teal striped card. I put the gold doily over the top part and over onto the back. The red flair I made using an old flair heat embossed with red Zing powder. The sticker is from Freckled Fawn.
Alpha stickers are from the Tinsel and Co collection. For the day I curved Ali Edwards 'thursday' stamp onto a white circle and popped a teal glitter dot on.

Day 7. The Ho Ho Ho card is one from the Teresa Collins Tinsel and Co collection and had white writing initially. I heat embossed the writing with teal Zing.
The 4x6 tag card is made from goodies from the Stamp Spot kit.

I have put tags in place for photos and journalling, but these will likely change as December progresses. I've also allowed 2 sides for each day but I'm flexible to change that up as well.
Hopefully with most of the foundation laid for my album I will be able to update daily. I will be posting here daily (well I plan to anyway !) and also linking up with The Stamp Spot blog, Ali Edwards December Daily blog posts as well posting on my Instagram account - @bluepondbee
There is also a December Daily facebook group (The Original December Daily Group) where I will be sharing posts frequently. This is an awesome group full of creativity and inspiration.

Thanks for dropping by and I will be back December 1.

Beth xo

Hi again.

I have been working on my Documenting December (DD) album over the last few weeks and trying to get most, if not all of my foundation pages together. This way, when December comes I will just need to take and print photos and pop them in.

As I mentioned previously I have been lucky to be working with Michelle from The Stamp Spot as one of her design team for this project. For those who are new to this idea of creating a December album, December Daily® was created by Ali Edwards. In her words. "December Daily® is a mini-album project that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas. The simple goal is to capture the spirit of December via one story per day."  As part of the design team for The Stamp Spot I hope I can do the gorgeous kits justice and that some of you find some inspiration for your own December albums.

These are the Gold (main) and the Teal (add on) DD kits from The Stamp Spot. These have been very popular and are now all sold out. The kit was put together by Michelle using Teresa Collins Designs Tinsel and Company Christmas collection, kraft, gold, white and teal cards, glitter cardstock, stickers, enamel dots, flairs (made by Michelle), sequin pockets in various sizes (also made by Michelle), twine, god ink, embossed cards, wood veneers and lots of other yummy goodies. Michelle has done an amazing job putting so many kits together.

Again this year I am using a red 6x8 faux leather Simple Stories album. I love this size for mini projects like this one - there is such a variety of page protectors to mix up throughout the album.

First the album. I don't tend to decorate the album itself as it will sit with my other albums in the bookcase. A few alpha stickers from my stash popped onto the bookplate is all I did.

The basis of my DD pages will be using the page protectors (pp) with two 3x4 pockets on top and a 4x6 pocket below. A few 4x4 Instagram pp will also be used occasionally. Also I have the pp with four 3x4 pockets for those days with extra photos.

I plan to have all my prep done before the start of December so when the 1st comes around all I have to do is take and print photos and pop them in daily (or at least every second day). I'll be using my iPhone for photos, my Epson Picturemate for printing photos at home and also may take a few Polaroid photos using my Instax camera.

All ready for December !

Now onto a few of my pages already finished.
Firstly is the cover page.

I've used a Simple Stories 6x8 pp with 2x2 pockets. This style I love. Lots of little pockets to fill.

As mentioned, I've used the Gold main kit and the Teal add on kit from The Stamp Spot. I added a couple of coloured and patterned transparencies (from my stash) to some of the pockets. Wood veneers also added (the letters of SBJ - our initials)

I placed a flip flap 3x4 pocket with sequins (from TSS Teal kit) in the middle and adhered on the spine. Added a Freckled Fawn 'hello' wood veneer which had been embossed in red Zing. A little sticker 'December' from the kit and complete.

I was just going to leave the back as it was but then thought I would try to make it look more complete. I printed out a few digital designs I have (by Ali Edwards) and popped them in.

This is the back of the cover page.

The DD kits came filled with lots of gold and teal glitter cards, cards from Teresa Collins Designs 'Tinsel and Company' collection, alphas and numbers in gold and teal, washi, flairs, wood veneers, twine, labels and even some burlap and balsa wood (you can see my use of some of the burlap on the cover page).

Next I will show just a few of the days/pages I've completed using these awesome kits from The Stamp Spot.

Day 1.

The right top pocket is a gold glitter card with a white chevron overlay (my stash) on top. Added the teal letters and a few enamel dots. The Christmas tree on the left is from Freckled fawn and is actually cork - embossed with gold Zing and has teal glitter paper behind which show through the stars.

Day 5.

With the top right card I just placed a half glitter piece on top of the card to make a little pocket. The teal card on the left has another white chevron transparency piece on top and another of Ali's digital elements 'jolly'. The 4x6 pocket is a kraft paper from the kit with another (told you I love transparencies!) from Studio Calico.

Day 12.

Day 12 is all from TSS kits. Michelle made the right side pocket - just added a tag and some wood veneers from the kit. Left card used the teal numbers and some enamel dots. I've tried to be organised and even popped white card on patterned cards where I want photos and/or journaling to go.

Day 24.

Also used kit supplies here. Just added a teal star from Heidi Swapo and the wood veneer circle date from Freckled Fawn. The gold glitter card I hand sewed a little freehand Christmas tree (totally inspired by Amy Tangerine and her love for hand sewing on her projects).

Day 25.

This is one of my favourite cards. The embossed teal card on the right Michelle made and is so gorgeous. I added the wood circle 25, some twine and a tag and some stickers. The left side is from TSS kit and was originally Kraft with white writing. I went over the white writing with my embossing pen then embossed with red Zing. Loved how it turned out.

The 4x6 card will have a photo from Christmas Day - just added a stamped cork piece (was also in the kit) and attached to card (stamp from Kellie Stamps).

Just a couple of other cards.

This is a little 3x4 washi filler card using washi, glitter tape, glitter card and teal words all from TSS kits. Think it looks great.

Day 15 Instagram date card. This is a 4x4 card using supplies from the kit. I must admit I'm not a doily person and challenged myself to use it. Think I like how it turned out !!

Well that's probably enough for now !! Will update in a few days more foundation pages.
Hope you have enjoyed looking through this post.
I'm really enjoying all this prep work and can't wait for December 1 to start getting some photos into my album.

Thanks for stopping by and having a look.

You can find me on Instagram as @bluepondbee and I will also be linking up to Ali Edwards December Daily posts on her blog.

Also stop by these other great blog posts on December Daily:

Michelle Hunter http://www.thestampspot.typepad.com

Tanya Watson http://photosandcrafts.wordpress.com/

Stacey-Lee Collis http://www.getonwithitalready.me

Beck Holder http://beckholder.weebly.com

Melinda Sweetman http://www.melindasweetman.blogspot.com

Amanda Horne http://www.scrapping-our-blessed-life.com/

Bernii Miller http://weekendatberniis.blogspot.com.au

Gabrielle Ingerson http://mostlysunshineandrainbows.blogspot.com.au/

Kirsteen Young http://lifeinthecraftlanek.blogspot.co.uk/

Amanda Miller http://mypladventure.blogspot.com.au

Amy Tangerine http://www.amytangerine.com/blog


December Daily® is a December mini-album project initiated by Ali Edwards that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas. The simple goal is to capture the spirit of December via one story per day.


Beth xo

Hi again. As you may have read I am undertaking Documenting December (DD) this year.

This involves photos and journaling of the 25 days of Christmas. It is based on Ali Edwards December Daily - have a look at her past years projects - they are just amazing.

This year I have been lucky enough to be on the Design Team for The Stamp Spot for the Documenting December 2014 project.

Michelle has put together an amazing gold main DD kit and also has the option of purchasing add ons in differing colour tones. I (of course!) got the Teal add on. The kits contain enough cards and embellishments to complete a December album.

Alphabet stickers, washi tape, flairs, tags, doilys, enamel dots, wood veneers as well as 3x4 and 4x6 cards are in abundance in the kit.

Here are the two kits (got a wee bit excited and combined the kits!)

Not pictured are many more teal alphas and words.

My plan this year is to be organised early and get my foundation pages (basically the core of the album together)

I'm looking forward to getting my foundation pages together this coming week and will be back with those soon.

I loved putting this title page together. My WITL kit didn't arrive until Wednesday, so that night I got creating. Using one of the 6x8 page protectors that came with the kit that has 2x2 pockets I added little squares to make up the title page. My favourite things to use at the moment are transparencies - coloured, patterned and plain, I love them all. Here I've used some Hambley Screen prints in black and teal, the white star one from Studio Calico and clear ones from my stash.

Both stamps are from Ali Edwards. One from the WITL kit and the "Ïmperfect and Awesome" from her Story Stamps - a themed monthly stamp subscription. I actually stamped them on the packaging that came with some of the bits of the WITL kit !

I used the 1 and the 4 to make a 14 - just slipped them into the pocket - really liked how it looked. Wood veneers are always on my pages - I coloured the 7 days to match the enamel dots. The chipboard and fabric button are from the WITL kit.

I love how it all looks together. Now to get onto putting my photos and journaling together for the rest of the project.

Thanks for looking :)

Last year was the first year of undertaking a December Daily album - based on the concept developed by Ali Edwards - you can find out more here.

I used a red 6x8 Simple Stories faux leather album - perfect size for 25 days of Christmas.

Looking back through the album is wonderful - events and photos I may have forgotten about if they weren't recorded.

I use a few of Ali's digital elements and printed them out, used overlays and transparencies (my favourites at the moment), washi tape, confetti pockets and some Christmas themed embellishments.

Here are a few of my favourite pages from DD 2013

Title page

Kaszazz alphas to label album.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3 Christmas tree. This is a 6x8 size printed out in two parts on my Epson Picturemate.

Melbourne trip. Sometimes photos were enough.

Our new arrival !!

A blue Staffy for Christmas !

That's it for December Documented 2013.

Can't wait to start my 2014 album.

Beth xo

This year I am going to do a December Documented album (based on Ali Edwards Devember Daily album) which documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas.

My Christmas albums are going to be the red 6x8 Faux leather ones from Simple Stories.

Little alphas from Kazazz were perfect for labelling the albums.

I will have more on the DD album shortly.

This year is my 3rd year of doing Project Life. I started the year off weekly, which was easy as we were on holidays and lots of things were happening. Here is my title page for this year ...

I continued the weekly layouts for about 2 months, but then I found I was often struggling to find photos for each week and also felt many of the photos were becoming routine. So I changed it up to doing it monthly and it is working so much better for me. March and April were busy months. A Project Life Australia Facebook group camp in Bacchus Marsh the end of March was great - so nice to finally meet up with online friends from the PLA group.

Towards the end of March Heidi Swapp and Becky Higgins came to Australia. Of course I was there at the Spotlight visits to see them both

I had such an awesome day meeting Becky - someone I have been a follower of for many years. She was as lovely as I had imagined she would be. It was a great day catching up with good friends too.

On April 2nd a Project Life Party was held in Sydney. I flew down just for the day with my friends and met up with so many lovely people from the PLA group. Becky made an introduction speech which was just great. I recorded it (on my iPhone and at times not the steadiest of video!) and can be viewed here.

The PLA group gave Becky a mini album filled with cards from us - she was truly grateful for the gift and maybe a tear or two was shed.

It really was a fabulous day (we had so much fun playing with the photo booth props!)

These next few pages are a few pages from the rest of the year

Although I love all the little extra embellishments that can be used in project life layouts, I tend to be pretty minimalist with their use. Wood veneers and patterned transparencies are my favourite extras to use and most layouts I have one or both of them.

I do enjoy the whole project life process and more so when flicking back through the album. I'm so glad I stumbled across project life all those years ago.

The last few days I spent at my Grandparents house with my sisters and cousin sorting through all that is contained within. My Aunt, who has lived here all her life, is moving on and moving out. It is a mammoth task. She has lived here for a very long time and within these walls, a lifetime of love and laughter, sadness and sorrow, joy and contentment has lived.

We reminisced and laughed at memories of times spent there, of Sunday roasts, of Grandma and her eccentric little ways of getting the attention back to her, of my grandfather, a quiet loving man - a gentle giant. Many of these stories I can only vaguely remember as I am the youngest of us all.

But I do remember the sense of anticipation driving to their house on holidays and the smell of the seaside as we got nearer. I remember turning into their driveway and being so happy to be at their house and being embraced by them as only grandparents can do with their grandchildren. The summery and salty night air wafting through the shutters. Of the floods of 1974, where much of Brisbane was inundated with floodwaters, walking out with my sister (I was 11 and she was 13) in the flooded street with water up to our armpits - such fun we were having, despite our grandmother on the fronts steps begging for us to come back - she was worried we would be swept out to sea - it was all such an adventure to us (and we were lucky we weren't swept out to sea as we were actually one with Moreton Bay at this stage and The Sea was a few feet away from us !!)

I remember driving into the backyard, usually in the front as I was the youngest, and would spy my grandmother watching us through the shutters as we arrived. She was everything that a grandmother should be - kind gentle and with a great sense of humour - she would hang washing out on the Hills Hoist at night armed with a golf club to whack a cane toad or two if they dare be out there when she was.

The path along which Grandma would whack a toad or two !!

Memories of my father and his girls walking out on the beach at Sandgate at low tide - the sand was filled with jellyfish and of course Dad thought it a great joke to throw them at his screaming girls. My eldest sister doing the same to no 2 sister, which horrified her. There was no holding back for youngest of us either - we copped the jellyfish plonked into our bathers when we weren't looking !! Childhood memories. Aren't they the best !!t

Whilst there I came across a folded piece of paper. It was a life insurance policy statement requesting payment for overdue premiums. It was for £8 and was dated October 2nd 1952 - 62 years ago nearly to the day. It has my grandmothers writing and signature on it. It tells me though that they also struggled (or simply forgot) to pay their bills on time. It is a little piece of their everyday. I love this little piece of history.

Amongst the piles of belongings were a few photo albums. Old dusty covers that held decades of photos of past and present generations. All of us took great interest in the photos of the past and took photos of these photos. Many of the faces we recognised but some weren't familiar. If it wasn't for my aunt and her clear memory, these faces and their place in the family picture, would go on unrecognisable and be lost. We need the words to connect the dots. Photos are just photos. Without words, there's no explanation, no meaning.

What are we to our future family when all is said and done? Do they want that fine bone china dinner set that you bought at one of the post Christmas sales one year or that lace doily that sat underneath one of the many ornaments in your house?

Or would they want to have a piece of you and your history, recorded by you of your life, as you lived it. The good, the bad and the sometimes ugly. Photos of people and places that made up your life - your home and family life as well as friends and work colleagues, holidays and home life. Photos and memories of what IT truly was all about. Not just the 'events' in our lives but a real picture of the everyday.

I found a receipt the other day. It was for a life insurance policy that have got in arrears (they too sometimes got way layers in paying their bills!) On that folded piece of paper was my grandmothers signature and was for payment of 8 pounds to bring the policy up to date. It is dated 6th October 1952 - 62 years ago nearly to the day. This little piece of paper tells me more than any china cup and saucer ever will. I have her handwriting on it and I will treasure it.

This upcoming generation won't have photos in albums to look back on, to find tucked away in boxes in years to come. They will all be digital, hidden away on iPhones and iCloud storage, on Facebook and Instagram - and then only photos that 'look good', the selfie or the new pair of shoes with filters and apps to make even the most plain photo something amazing.

I am the memory keeper in my family. To many it is a mere hobby, an activity to fill in time. But to me it is so much more. When future generations look upon it they will be able to read all about the photos and the memories and really get a real snapshot of the past. I know it is important. I hope they will thank me.

Hi there,

I've just spent a couple of hours making some filler cards for my December album and thought I would pop them in here.

First off is a little kraft tag that came in the main Documenting December kit from The Stamp Spot. I just added some teal thread and stitched JOY using the stencil from Amy Tangerine.

I also added a little gold sequin and enamel dot (also from TSS kit).

Next is another JOY card, this time I wrote Joy on a piece of clear transparencyin my embossing pen then heat embossed it with some red Zing. I added the trio of trees (one of Michelle's from TSS kit) down the bottom and attached to a 3x4 card (Teresa Collins Tinsel and Co collection).

Next is a 4x4 shaker or confetti (or in this case sequins) pocket. Just filled it with sequins, wood veneers, teal and gold glitter card circles and sealed with some washi tape along the side. A little piece if burlap and the word 'cheers' (both from TSS kit) I added to the top.

I really like how this turned out. I also added left over bits from the teal alphas from the kit to add some teal to the pocket. Not sure where it will go in my album as yet but will just wait and see where it looks best as I get into December.

Another 3x4 pocket card made with a white glassine bag, a vellum piece stamped with gold stars (one of Ali Edwards digital designs), some burlap,enamel dots and sticker (all from TSS kit). I adhered this to a 3x4 card from the kit.

Next I really tried something different and I handstitched some gold thread on a clear transparency. I used one of Ali Edwards digital star designs as a template. A little bit of teal glitter washi, some more gold thread and the 'twinkle' sticker and all done. Backed with plain white cardstock.

Lastly is a fun little card made of Balsa wood! The kit from The Stamp Spot contained this little piece (3x4) of balsa wood and it took me a while to know what to do with it. I decided to use a stamp from my stash I've had for a while. It's a Stampin' Up stamp and is pretty cute. I stamped using black Stazon ink then added some embossed red Zing to Rudolph's nose. Some alphas from Teresa Collins Tinsel and Co collection and all complete. I think it's pretty cute and unique.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my post. I'll be back in a day or two with more pictures of my preparation for my December album.

Beth xo