Christmas Journal 2011 - 20 December

Just popping by to wish everyone a Happy New Year!  We are off out this evening armed with two batches of cupcakes that we have been making all afternoon!  Hopefully pics from this evening will eventually appear in my journal ...

I just love this picture!  My darling little niece Evie who came to visit us just before Christmas, of course she didn't come alone, but this picture was just too cute not to use!!!  Those elf ears have been such fun this year!!!

That's the last of the completed pages blogged now, so I had better get my finger out (hangover permitting!) tomorrow!!!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 19 December

Don't even ask me how behind I am with my Christmas Journal this year!  I am however, determined to finish, and have kept good notes and taken lots of pics so as soon as I get a chance to craft I should be able to catch up (that is the aim!)  Here is a page that I did before Christmas, a slow day Christmas wise, so a good day to show some atmospheric pics!!!

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish all my blog visitors a very happy 2012!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 18 December

Finally I got all my Christmas preparations (except the food shopping) finished!  Phew!  Such a relief!!!  Never have I been so behind and unprepared for the big day :(

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 17 December

At last a free weekend to catch up on Christmas jobs (and not before time!), and do lots of jobs we did!!!

Not your traditional booze soaked Christmas cake, but something altogether lighter but still very delicious!  I am delighted to say that the cake does now have it's marzipan layer but not yet the icing :/  oh well, it'll get done!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 16 December

Both my children broke up from school last Friday, and when they got home, I was still at work.  So, I suggested that they might like to meet me after work and we would go for a coffee and cake to celebrate the end of term.  And that's what we did!

They weren't at all impressed that I wanted to take a photograph in Costa, but I insisted, and as they know how important my Journal is to me, they reluctantly agreed, but I didn't get many chances to get a good picture!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 -15 December

Today was a quiet day Christmas wise, so since Arnold hadn't yet made an appearance in my journal, here he is!

He is turning into such a beautiful cat and his tail has really filled out, but he isn't the bravest of boys, and always seems to have a worried expression on his face, bless him.

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 14 December

Last week, it took me two afternoons to write all of my Christmas cards!  On 14 December, I finally finished writing them.  Most of the cards I sent this year were bought, charity cards, but I did manage to make 24 that I sent to fellow crafty friends and family who have come to expect a handmade one!  I used a very simple design that I had used for birthday cards earlier in the year, but I think they were quite effective.

I had one handmade card left, so I stuck that in for today's journal page:

and I did my journalling inside:

(loving that paper tape (red Merry Christmas at the bottom)

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 13 December

Here is the last page that I managed to do last week ... somehow I have got terribly behind again - I blame it on Christmas!!!  There is just so much to do, and this weekend we have been busy busy busy doing Christmas related jobs, although no entertaining for a change!  I have however, been taking photos and making notes, so when I do get the chance hopefully it shouldn't be too hard to catch up!

This shop in Bath was just so pretty and magical, and Phil and I stumbled across it at twilight so all the fairy lights and window display was even more stunning!  Just had to include it in my journal!

This weekend hasn't been entirely without crafting, I popped into my Crafty Corner to rustle up some wine bottle gift label thingies for Phil to give to several of his work colleagues:

This was only necessary because I forgot to buy wine bottle gift bags, but I'm actually quite glad I did now, I think they turned out quite well!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 12 December

OK, so not much Christmassy was going on around here on Monday!  However, Ollie had a much needed appointment at the dog groomer - he was so stinky and we couldn't have that over Christmas!

I did get half of my christmas cards written (the half that needed posting) so it wasn't a completely wasted day!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 11 December

Sunday was a more relaxing day for us, despite the fact that we were entertaining again that evening - largely because we had done all the cleaning for our visitors the day before!  It wasn't however quite so relaxing for our visitors, they had a bit of a crisis at home and in the end, Ian had to stay at home.  However, we still had a lovely evening and after dinner played some games - Logo and spoons (seem to be our favourites at the moment!)

I wasn't sure about using black in my journal, but since some of the Jovial papers have black, thought I would give it a go, and I quite like it!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 10 December

Saturday, we had friends round in the evening ... for the first time, and the first time that the husbands had met!  It was a lovely evening and everyone got on like a house on fire - isn't it great when that happens?!

Unfortunately, I failed to get the photo that I should have done - preferably one with the four of us in, but since I didn't, I used this one instead (Daphne doesn't like it, but I rather like the fact that it looks like she's got Union Jack ears!!!)

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 9 December

When I got home from work on Friday afternoon, I weighed out all the ingredients that needed to be soaked overnight, for my Christmas Pudding.  I do love to make my own pudding, and I found this recipe about four years ago and unless I find another spectacular recipe, don't see me changing it - ever!  The title I chose is a bit mis-leading as there are no figs in it, but it is quite citrussy and quite light (which is just what you need after a roast turkey dinner!)

I did intend to steam the pud on Saturday, but ran out of time, and it didn't actually get finished until Monday :/   Never mind, it's all done now and ready for the big day!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 8 December

I think that the page I did today might be my favourite one so far!  Of course, it helps to have a picture of something so cute, but it's not only that.  I must ensure that I do a page all about Arnold too, just to be fair (and the dogs will need to be included somehow too!)

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 7 December

Had another busy day socialising today!  Met my lovely friends and their three dogs for a walk in the forest, then took another friend out for a coffee (that somehow turned into lunch! - how did that happen???) who has recently had an operation and was desperate to get out of the house.  I also then went back to her house and helped her with her Christmas journal - she needed a bit of a nudge in the right direction!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 6 December

Today I had to work (I don't normally work Tuesdays) so therefore nothing much Christmassy happened, although it was really busy in the shop with people buying their Christmas cards and gifts!  So, I had to find something else to journal about today!

Unfortunately, my photo wasn't great as I didn't want to get any nearer to the deer and scare them, nor to draw the dogs attention to them, but I think that you can just about make out that it is in fact a deer!  It felt Christmassy to see them, and also the donkeys in The New Forest on the way home, but I didn't stop to take a picture of them - maybe next time!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 5 December

Monday was a lovely, even if slightly frustrating day!  I ended up spending too much time with friends enjoying myself instead of getting down to some housework and some journalling.  This of course meant that I had plenty to journal about but no time left to do it!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 4 December

Sunday we had our new friends round for the evening.  We met the family through our sons who are good friends now, although when they actually went to the same school they weren't!  It was a lovely evening, we shared a lot of laughs and we hope to do it again one day soon!

I'm hoping to get a lot of use and photos of friends and family wearing the funny glasses and elf ears over the Christmas period - we had a lot of fun with similar things last year!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011- 3 December

Saturday 3 December was the day that we had set aside to put up the Christmas decorations, and that is exactly what we did!  Our five (yes, I said FIVE!) Christmas trees are now in place and twinkling!

My boys (Pickle and Arnold - my cats) are loving the Christmas trees :(  They work as a team to knock the baubles off to the one waiting who then bashes it off for a game.  As soon as that bauble goes underneath the sofa or a cupboard, they just get another bauble off the tree - grrrrrrrrrr!  Pickle even got stuck half way up the tree when he became entangled in the wire of the fairy lights.

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011- 2 December

If I didn't love how my Christmas Journal turned out last year, I might well have given up on this years Christmas Journal.  I can't believe that I got so far behind so quickly :(  In my defense, I have been doing lots of stuff suitable for journalling, it just didn't leave me much time to actually do the journalling!!!

So today when I got home from work, I headed straight into my Crafty Corner and got on with it!  I am now quite used to the small size I chose for this album, and being so small means that it has to be fairly simple, which in turn means that I can finish a page fairly quickly and hopefully keep up with this project!

Day 2:

We finally got to go out for dinner to celebrate Alex passing her driving test!  She drove us all to the restaurant, but Phil and I didn't take advantage of having our own personal taxi this time (maybe over Christmas we will!)

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 1 December

So, the big day is finally here!  Day One of my 2011 Christmas Journal.  I thought I was being clever by making my journal smaller this year, I thought it would be quicker and easier, but ... I'm struggling!!!  I suppose I have got used to scrapping 12 x 12 recently and this new size is stumping me!  This first page took me hours (and look how simple it is!).  Hopefully it will get easier as December progresses ... we'll see.

I also want this journal to be different to last years, but traditions are really important to me, and so day one just had to feature the advent calendars, just as it did last year!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is doing with their Christmas Journals!

Carole x