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Documenting December: Story 11 of my 2024 December Daily Album


Stylized beige tree with star on left. Text: "Documenting December twenty four" and "Story 11: Galison Puzzle" in red on beige background.

Welcome back to Documenting December—my Christmas in July blog series where I’m sharing one story a day from my completed 2024 December Daily album. Each post offers a peek at my digital pages created in Affinity Publisher for iPad, along with tips, techniques, and creative encouragement for finishing your own album.


I’ve also included a link to the corresponding post(s) on Ali Edwards’ blog. I encourage you to open it in a separate window so you can see how my digital pages were inspired by the physical versions she shared.

December Daily Story 11: Galison Puzzle

Hey friends! After a long weekend of camping, I’m back with Story 11 in my December Daily series!


Here is the link to the post on Ali's Blog that was the inspiration for this spread:


One of our favorite holiday traditions is working on a jigsaw puzzle together. We started this tradition in 2023, and it’s officially a keeper. Galison puzzles are our go-to, especially the illustrated designs by Michael Storrings. This year, we picked Christmas in London.

Holiday-themed jigsaw puzzle depicts a festive city scene with a red bus, street crowd, large Christmas tree, and decorated buildings.

From Ali’s Story 11, I borrowed two design ideas:

  • The number “11” on a circle label, accented with red stitching. I used a PNG stitch from Katie Pertiet’s collection, originally black, and added a red color overlay with a Linear Burn blending mode.

  • A 4x4 scalloped story card, which I partially tucked behind the puzzle photo and layered my journaling on top.

A jigsaw puzzle of a winter scene beside text about holiday traditions. Background has colorful dots and a circle with the number 11.

I wanted to share a closer look at the red stitching detail. In the photo below, you’ll see the original black PNG version on the left and the recolored version with the red Color Overlay in the center, and the red Color Overlay with the Linear Light Blending Mode on the right. Notice how the stitches initially appear flat and lose their texture? By experimenting with different blending modes in the Color Overlay settings—like Linear Light—you can bring back that detail and dimension, even after recoloring!

Three panels depict stitch details using different overlays: original black, red overlay obscures, and blending mode reveals. Text in panels.

Choosing the right background paper was a bit of a challenge. The puzzle artwork is so vibrant, I didn’t want anything that would compete with it. I finally went with a festive polka dot paper from the 10x8 Digital Paper Pack—it was just the right balance!


One last detail: the white border around the puzzle isn’t part of the actual design. I added a 15-point white stroke to help it stand out against the background.

Puzzle of a busy London street with a red double-decker bus, labeled "LONDON," pedestrians, cyclists, and colorful umbrellas.

I’m so happy with how this spread turned out. I’ll be back tomorrow with Story 12 and a mini tutorial on QR codes—stay tuned!


Products used:



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