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Documenting December: Story 9 of my 2024 December Daily Album


Stylized tree with star on left, text reads "Documenting December twenty four, Story 9: This Tradition" on beige background with script pattern.

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 Nine: This Tradition

Page inspiration was from Ali's Story Nine. You can view Ali’s original post here:


Are you a fan of Starbucks holiday beverages? If so, which one is your go-to? I’m a Peppermint Mocha girl through and through—there’s just something about it that screams CHRISTMAS.

Starbucks holiday cups with festive designs displayed; a hand holds a colorful cup outdoors. Text highlights a tradition of enjoying these cups.

Today’s story is all about the iconic Starbucks Holiday Cup designs. Did you know that on Starbucks’ “Stories” page, you can read about the inspiration behind each year’s cup artwork? Not only that—they give each design a name and provide high-resolution downloads of the cups! That’s exactly where I grabbed the 4 square images used on today’s spread.

Starbucks holiday cups with festive patterns are shown. Text highlights the tradition of waiting for their release. A hand holds a cup outdoors.

I was inspired by the way Ali documented Story 9 using that bold red vellum cup. I used the digital version on my page and layered a dimensional green number 9 right on top.

The word “tradition” was built using letters from the Puffy Alpha Sticker Sheet, and the word stamp “this” came from my digital stash of Ali’s older products (not part of the 2024 collection). The stitching? That was done by switching over to the Photo Persona and using stitch brushes by Katie Pertiet.


And how cute are those little green pennant flags? They’re from one of the 2019 December Daily kits! I love how Ali’s products never go out of style—they continue to mix and match beautifully year after year.


For the background, I used the 6x8 Star Garland Transparency paper. On the page with the cup images, I applied a deep yellow color overlay and dropped the opacity to 15%. On the full-page photo opposite, I placed the same transparency (kept white) over the image and again reduced the opacity to 15%.


The pink tag you see on the photo is from the Main Digital Kit.


Hand holding a festive Starbucks cup outdoors, featuring red and green stripes. Text reads: "Had my first Peppermint Mocha...November!"

And finally, a little December Daily throwback for fun! While I haven’t included a Starbucks story in every album, this tradition has made regular appearances through the years. One of my favorites is the page from my 2016 December Daily—my very first digital December Daily. I just adore how it turned out. There were so many cup designs that year!


Thanks for stopping by and sharing in this tradition with me!

Starbucks Christmas cups with various festive red and white designs feature prominently. "12 Cups of Christmas" text visible.

Products used:



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