JYC Days 22 and 23

Its official! I've completely burnt myself out Christmas craft wise *laugh* I spend all year looking forward to Christmas card making and then I peak too early!! ;0) I had a whole stack of little crafting accessories I wanted to make before Saturday and now all of a sudden I am out of time and Christmas is upon us. So instead of making tags and the like, I've spent the evening making some last minute little pressies for people. Oh and catching up on JYC of course....

Day 22: The prompt was to journal about what I still have to do and last minute lists. I really didnt have any inspiration for that prompt as I really was too scarily organised this year. And I had a lovely day in Portsmouth yesterday which I wanted to journal about instead. So I used that as my focus. We started and ended the day in Starbucks (no Eggnog Latte for me- they'd sold out!!!) which is pretty much a given with me and Mum anyhow. But I adore their Christmas drinks and their seasonal cups too. I had picked up a few spare red cups when they were first launched in November as i wanted to make a mini album with one. But instead I cut one up today to form the journalling section of my LOs.

 I cut a cup up, folded in half and then punched holes to make an extra page section for the journal. I stuck an envelope in and used this to store our train tickets and a Starbucks voucher (due to the 6 drinks we purchased in there yesterday I got two packets of coffee for free *hooray for Christmas bargains*)

 Day 23: Prompt- Stockings

Stockings have always been a family tradition in our house. I cannot end this tradition as I just love buying all the little bits and pieces to put in a stocking. The photo is of Sam's stocking this year (I have NO idea why it printed so dark as the photo was super bright). I've filled it with lots of Sam related goodies (cherry liquor curd anyone? Good job he doesnt read this *tee hee*)

The little stockings that are hanging up on my LO are from the FANTASTIC Every Little Bit stamp set from Stampin' Up! I recently treated myself to this set (it is one of the more expensive sets- but worth every penny for all the gorgeous little pictures that come with it. So versatile!)

I'm feeling so contented and festive. Only half a day of work left and then its officially Christmas-time! ;0) Hoping to go along to a Christingle service tomorrow afternoon. I adore listening to the Christmas readings and singing the Christmas Carols.

Happy Festive Crafting and a Very Merry Christmas too.

-XXXXXX-

Journal Your Christmas Days 20 and 21

So little space and so many photos I wanted to include in these couple of days. The prompts for Days 20 and 21 were 'Surprise' and 'Right now'. However, I've had so much going on that I've journalled about those ideas but the photos dont really reflect the theme.

Day 20: Surprise (which I technically included on Day 21)

I met up with fellow JYC/JOY-ers Paige and Sam in Thorntons for a hot chocolate and a look at each others festive albums. Paige took the lovely photo below of our 3 albums lined up together (looks like we'll all be suffering with the bulging at the seams issue!).

 I also went along to St Marys Church in Cowes with Mum and Dad in the evening for a brass band Christmas concert. It was such a lovely festive night (complete with ginger punch and a warm mince pie ;0).

 Day 21: Right now (with a hint of Surprise)

I completed two prompts today as they both fitted with the photos I wanted to include. I based the first page around cards, receiving cards and the lovely Wallace & Gromit Christmas stamps. I wrote a journalling card within the envelope which also includes a photo of my In Love With Stamping Secret Santa pressie (it is so beautifully wrapped and stamped that I wanted to include a photo before I open the wrapping on Saturday). It fits with the idea of surprise as I dont know who my Secret Santa is and also I was happily surprised by the arrival of this card from the States ;0)

 The prompt of 'capturing today' also proved a fun one to photograph. I have been passing the shop window below every day and wanting to stop and take a picture. So when the prompt was to capture December 21st I decided today was the perfect opportunity to take a pic of Scrooge in his Victorian window on Union Street. I also took a photo of my DIY tools. I have been doing some DIY around the house as some of my Christmas lights fell down at the weekend taking a fair chunk of wall plaster too. I had to buy some filler and sandpaper to fill the holes and then repaint over the top. I did a very good job even if I do say so myself. So the photo captures my tools all ready to go. I might add a bit more decoration to this page tomorrow when I get my energy back (I never knew daily scrapping could be so darn tiring).

I am so pleased to be keeping up with this and while not every page is a masterpiece. It is a good reflection of my December and what is happening in my world. I love capturing the little details in photos ;0)

Happy Festive Crafting to all.

-XX-

Journal Your Christmas Days 16. 17, 18 & 19

Well its been a funny old couple of days. I've been sticking with my JYC but keeping the pages simple to match my slightly fuzzy brain at the mo. Plus I am struggling to keep my album closed now as the embellishments are making it SO thick (that'll teach me to use thickers on Day 1 wont it?). Here are my pages to date:

Day 16: Gratitude. I have a lot to be thankful for this year and I wanted to journal it all (but keep it tucked away). So I used a spare gift card holder I had made at my Christmas Craft Day and created a mini gift card which reads 'Gratitude' which i placed inside. I then did all my journalling within the card holder. I like this layout as it tells a story without the hidden journalling. But the writing tucked away tells another, more personal, story.

 Day 17: The Perfect Gift.
Now I struggled with this prompt as I had already done 'perfect gift' journalling a couple of days ago. So instead I printed out photos of my Mum and Dads house and created a Sights of Christmas Part 2 page. My family home is equally important in terms of the Christmas festivities and there are certain things that mark Christmas' arrival more than any other (my Dad's annual Christmas lights all through the house and outside, my Mums homemade wreath and Dad's German Market Smoking Santa!).

 I also created a page about the perfect little knitted cat toy my Mum made for my cousin's baby. I so love this toy and wanted to have a little reminder of him in my album.

 Day 18: Dear Santa.
I kept this page simple as I knew exactly what I wanted to ask Santa for. I created the tag so that when you pull it out there is a picture of Father Christmas (part of the challenge was to use an image of Santa). I then did some journalling about things I'd like to achieve in 2011 and things I'd taken for granted would happen in 2010 (and didnt).

 Day 19: Christmas Dinner.
As you can see I didn't journal about Christmas dinner. I will come back to that prompt on another day I think. So instead I used my lovely new 'Make a Wish' papers to journal about being snowed in this weekend!

JYC is proving to be such a great way to capture all the details and memories in the making. I hope everyone else that is completing their albums is enjoying it as much as me.

Happy Festive Crafting ;0)

-XXX-

Journal Your Christmas Days 14 and 15

I've gone a bit off prompt today as I try and catch up on the last few days. I've been feeling a bit low and a bit hormonal so I wanted to focus on things that make me happy and so have just used lovely photos more than journalling. I've also left the 'Thankful' prompt until tomorrow hoping i might be able to do it a bit more justice then (I have plenty to be thankful for this year ;0).

So here goes....

Day 14: Prompt: Gifts.

I wrapped all my pressies and laid them all out beautifully under the tree for the photo. I also tucked the journalling behind the pic to make the photo the focal point.

 Day 15's prompt was 'Visitors'. Well I have visitors and do plenty of visiting too over Christmas. But I couldnt decide how to capture this. So I decided to focus todays page on one of my favourite visitors instead (honestly, no favouritism in this house really). This is our gorgeous family boxer dog Kala. She is such a joy in my life. Whenever i am having a bad day or in need of a little boost, she is always a tonic ;0) I love this photo as it captures her in the snow a couple of weeks ago. Usually her dark features get lost in photos, but the snow brought out her softie face. 

 The last project i completed tonight is completely un-JYC-related. Mum asked me to help put together this frame for my Nanny & Pops for Christmas. We went through a whole load of photos of the family and printed them all out then raided my stash cupboard to find stampsets and punches to use to accessorise. Mum and I's favourite Owl Punch even made an appearance (soon to be appearing in a Stampin' Up! mini catalogue near you! Stay tuned for more info....). We used: Vintage Vogue, For Everything, the Two Step Bird Punch & the Owl Punch. Sorry the photo isnt so clear. The lighting in here is terrible!!

Happy festive crafting....
-XXX-

Journal Your Christmas Day 13

This is one of the cards I taught this past weekend at my card class. Its a classic shadow box card using Dasher (who I transformed into Rudolph with a bit of red glitter glue!!). For this I used Riding Hood Red C/S with gold embossing powder and my new Welcome Christmas stamp set. So simply yet very striking.

 And now on to tonights JYC entry. The prompt today was Christmas Music. I knew I'd find a good use for this musical note paper in the Newsprint DSP set. I titled the page 'Tis the season to be Jolly and Joyous' as sung by Kermit in The Muppet Christmas Carol ;0) And one of the most catchy of seasonal songs. I've kept todays entry quite simple (I'm getting the hang of this JYC thing now!). But i finally got to use one of my Tim Holtz journalling cards. I looked all over for them then never found the right LO to use them on! And now I've gone and used two on one page ;0)

Happy Festive Crafting ;0)

Journal Your Christmas Days 10, 11 and 12

Hello all, apologies for my blogging absence. Stupid flu cold thing laying me low this past few days. I've really not felt up to much at all. But I've kept on with my JYC. But I have scaled back a bit on the amount I am including (partly through necessity as my binder is already bursting at the seams- I have definitely been over zealous with my embellishments. Trying to keep it to one page a day now instead of two).

So here is Day 10. The prompt was Christmas wrapping. I covered the page with my favourite roll of Christmas paper. This was actually from last year but I wanted to include it as I still think its lovely. I have then used a couple of gift tags to embellish the page.

 I also created a second page for Friday as Mum and I went along to the Lights of Love service in Newport St Thomas' Church. It was in aid of the Earl Mountbatten Hospice and was a lovely joyful service. I haven't been to Church in over 4 years now but I still had the same joyous feeling at listening to the nativity readings and singing along to Hark the Herald Angels.

 Day 11's prompt was Christmas Trees. I'd already covered the paper in relevant tree C/S but then sat down and didn't feel like creating on the subject. So I just themed it on taking a trip to the cinema to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader (which I loved btw). I've wanted my journal to be part reflection and part diary. So this fitted in well with that.

 Day 12: Prompt- Christmas Past. Well as I'd already reflected on Christmases past on previous days I decided to do the Christmas Tree prompt on Day 12 instead. I used my own tree as the focal point of the page and journalled about my eclectic collection of decorations. Sam and I also visited his parents yesterday where we photographed his two year old nephew helping to decorate their tree. I thought it was such a lovely image i just had to include it too.

I hope the festive season is treating you all well. I am getting in the mood now having spent last night with an Irish Coffee, a tub of pick n mix and Elf on the TV. I felt very festive indeed.

Happy festive crafting ;0)

-XXX-

Journal Your Christmas Day 9

Still feeling poorly. Slept some of the afternoon which means I am now unable to fall asleep at the proper time. So I thought I'd have a go at todays prompt and upload. I've kept it relatively simple as I needed to give my creative brain a break today. I've been looking forward to this prompt since day 1. My family have a lot of Christmas traditions that make the season for me. But the one I really wanted to highlight was our love of The Muppet Christmas Carol. We usually wait and watch it all together once a year (and you know Christmas is really coming once we've all had a Poulton sing-along to all the songs!). I didnt need to say much more than give a page up to the movie poster. Its so lovely and festive that i didnt want to cover much of it up.

I've created a mini card behind the manatee decoration photo for my Traditions journalling. I also inserted a hidden journalling card between this page and tomorrows. I had a few things I wanted to note down about whats been going on through December and how I've been feeling about JYC. But I wanted it to be hidden away from the main pages. So I just stuck two pages together and inserted a tab and journalling card ;0) I have made a little deal with myself to be more honest with my journalling as that is part of the recording of memories. So I am making time to include more written word. Which wont always be part of my main pages.

Happy festive crafting ;0)

-XXX-