A Christmas Carol(e) - The Final Installment

Ta - Da!!!

Here it is at long last ... my completed 2012 Christmas Journal.  It wasn't easy.  It took a long time.  But ... I LOVE it, as I always do, this being my third complete Christmas Journal :)

The last few pages:

a double page layout for Christmas Day.  So many photos not much room for the patterned paper, so just a little bit of bunting!

I considered doing a double page for Boxing day, but when I worked out which side of the page the journal would end on, I stuck with a single page :)

Having loved my earlier pocket pages, I couldn't resist including some more!  (I am SO looking forward to starting my own version of Project Life with all of those lovely pockets to fill!!!)

It wouldn't have been right to complete a journal without including all our pets, so here is Pickle's page.

A really simple page, again for a day when I failed to take a photo :/

Tilly's page (even though she has actually appeared in the journal previously!)

New Years Eve.  I don't like New Years Eve.  Never have.  Having said that, it hasn't been too bad in recent years, so therefore even though we didn't have plans I wasn't dreading it like I have done previously.  However, this New Years Eve had the potential to be the worst ever when we had a health scare with our lovely old dog Ollie.  Luckily, although the problem is still unexplained, he seems fine for now.  Well, as fine as a nearly 14 year old large dog can be.

Not really a page about New Years Day, more a page of reflection and hopes for 2013.

So, that is it for the pages of my journal.  I had a little bit more to do, namely the inside front and back covers:

A very simple inside front cover, from a poster art pin on Pinterest (love this).

Another simple layout for the back cover, including a photo taken on New Years Day 2013.

Thank you for looking and for bearing with me!  I am so glad that I stuck with it and kept my determination to finish my favourite project of the year.

Right!  How do I do 12 x 12 scrapbook layouts again?!?!?!  It seems like so long ago that I last did one I may have forgotten how to :(

Carole x

A Christmas Carol(e) - Days 22, 23 and 24

A few more pages of my journal ...

Another page without a photo, but I was extremely busy!  Love the little heart charm which was on the bow round one of those delicious Lindt chocolate teddies :)

A couple of new things tried on this page - a full size (6x4) photo and writing on the photo itself (done in Picasa) - quite like both!

Christmas Eve.  My Mum and stepdad arrived to spend Christmas with us, and very importantly, they brought with them, their cute new puppy - Holly.  She is so cute, but we discovered that it is extremely difficult to get a good photo of a black puppy!  She does have eyes in there somewhere I promise!

Carole x

A Christmas Carol(e) - Days 18, 19, 20 & 21

The next installment of my Christmas Journal!!!

Quite like how this one turned out (isn't it funny how some pages are like that and others that you start off with high hopes for don't turn out to be your favourites?)

A little Christmas baking (and not before time!)

Life all got a little bit busy and very tiring and I found that I had forgotten to take any photos, so had no choice but to try a page with no picture ... and it isn't as bad as I feared!

This page might just be my favourite of my journal so far!  I have resisted using snowflakes throughout my album because we simply haven't had any snow, but since I was featuring my wooden snowmen I went for it!

Carole x

A Christmas Carol(e) - Days 14, 15, 16 & 17

I'm not quite sure what is different this year to previous years, as in the past I have managed to more or less keep up to date with my Christmas Journal.  Not this year.  Not a chance!  I don't know why.  What I do know is that I WILL finish this album.  I have to.  I LOVE this project.

I apologise for the quality of the photos, but if I wait for good light to take photos of my pages then it could be months!  So I took them on my desk in my lovely new craft room which hasn't been used nearly enough recently!

I love Yankee candles!  Not just at Christmas either ... and luckily for me, we have started stocking them at work too YAY!

Since we haven't even seen a single snowflake during December, I found a way of including a snowscene on this page!

It was such a good feeling to get all my wrapping done (and I had so many rolls left from previous years that I decided to mix and match this year and use them up!)

I started early with my Christmas preparations, and still somehow got late (especially with sending out my Christmas cards, although I was still in time to catch the last posting date for 2nd class).

Today, I did sneak into my craft room again, but had to make some cards as January and February are very busy months for me.  I used to love making cards.  Then I discovered scrapping!  Enough said?  I made 6 ladies birthday cards all of the same style, two important male cards (my new brother in law and my father in law), my 10 year old nephew and a congratulations card for my cousin who got engaged at Christmas :)  Hopefully todays card making session will see me through until the middle of February then I will have to make some more!

Back soon with more pages from my journal (currently I am up to Christmas Eve).

Carole x

A Christmas Carol(e) - Days 10, 11, 12 and 13

Not sure what is different this year and why I'm not managing to actually do a page each day, but I am kind of keeping up in a funny kind of way!  Today I did another four pages, taking me up to yesterday, but by the time I finished this afternoon, the light was rubbish so I will have to take pictures when I can.  I do love how these little pages come together quite quickly though :)

I am happy to say that all my Christmas preparations seem to be back on track now, Alex and I even spent a couple of hours in the kitchen this afternoon (my only day off this week) where Alex made a batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies and I made two batches of mince pies, one for eating now (rude not to!) and one in the freezer ready to go nearer the big day :)  This makes me very happy!!!

Carole x

A Christmas Carol(e) - Days 8 & 9

For these two pages, I tried something different.  I tried something that I had a feeling I would love.  I tried something that I have been wanting to try for ages.  I used pocket pages :)  I love little clear pockets!  I have been thinking about buying and doing Project Life for well over a year.  On Black Friday I very nearly crumbled and purchased the whole lot until I saw the final bill.  I am going to have to do something similar because the thoughts and the feelings just won't go away ... so watch this space!

Back to my Christmas journal though, and little pocket pages:

I knew that I wanted to fill one of the pockets with Christmassy confetti, so that I did first.  I sewed the pocket shut so that the confetti stayed in place and decided to sew the title/kraft strips on at the same time. I had to work out how to incorporate some patterned paper, and also to keep the kraft theme going too.

The end result?  Two pages that I am really pleased with :)  Think I am going to love doing my own version of Project Life!

I have been naughty today, and instead of writing the rest of my Christmas cards, I have been playing catch up on my journal, and am up to date!!!  I am sure that it won't last long though.  Hopefully the light might be better tomorrow and I can get some good photos of days 10, 11, 12 and 13.

Carole x

A Christmas Carol(e) - Day 2

Not liking this running behind with my Christmas Journal business, but hey?  What's a girl to do?  Never mind, I am still loving this project and WILL finish, one way or another!

For this page, I thought I would mention the weather (as us Brits love to do!) just in case we don't get any snow during December (and although parts of England today have had snow, we haven't down in the south).  Still hoping for a white Christmas though!  Fingers crossed!

Carole x

A Christmas Carol(e) - Day One

I have had a nightmare with this wonderful project so far this year :(  It is only because I so love doing a Christmas Journal that I have persevered.  Imagine only being able to do day one on 3rd December?!

My problems started when we moved almost all of our bedrooms around this past week, and consequently, we also moved my Crafty Corner upstairs into the new spare room.  So, on 1st December, my entire stash was stacked up and inaccessible.  Never mind, after a lot of sorting I had a lovely new craft room, this time with windows (my craft space before was under the stairs and dark) and a larger work surface (less storage space was the only down side, but after much sorting, it all fits!)

Once that problem was sorted, my next problem presented itself.  Printing photos.  In my previous two journals I have printed photos onto ordinary photocopier paper, but this year I wanted better quality photos. Earlier this year I inherited a little Canon photo printer which prints really good quality prints.  Perfect!!!  But, no.  I have stocked up with cartridges and paper and was ready to go.  I have taught myself how to create photo collages so that I can print smaller pictures more suitable to the size of my journal.  All good.  But, no. It turns out that there are two problems, (1) it is impossible to install drivers so that I can print directly from my computer and (2) even by uploading the collage picture back to the camera, the camera then won't read the file and print it :(

So, I have no choice but to get my photo collages printed every few days wherever I can.  So very frustrating.  Looks like I will be running a good few days behind in the whole journal.  However, I am very determined that I will finish.

So, after much stress, here is Day One:

Self explanatory really, my OH has been growing a moustache for the Movember charity and both he and I were very glad to see the back of it!  Makes a change from my usual day one of the advent calendars though!

I hope to be back soon with some more pages to share!

Carole x

A Christmas Carol(e)

Finally, I have decorated the cover of my Christmas Journal :)  Surprisingly, it turned out quite like I had imagined it might and had planned in my head:

Also, I cut into some of my brand new "Holiday Style" papers - a scary moment, because I love them so much, but I am really looking forward to using them and making a lovely Journal to treasure.  Love that pom pom trim and that glittery paper that I cut the star and snowflakes from - it's glossy and smooth and not like sandpaper (it's actually a sheet of wrapping paper that I found in John Lewis so there is loads of it and I intend to use it a lot throughout my journal!)

What do you think of my title?!  There is no point in having a Christmas themed name (even though I was born in April!) and not using it (well, just this once anyway!)

So, I think I am nearly ready to go.  I will make my pages as I go along, sometimes kraft based and sometimes patterned paper - so exciting.

Can't wait to see what everyone else has done so far/will do as we go through December :)

Carole x

Wooden Snowman Family

Meet my Snowman Family!!!

I saw something similar to this on Pinterest (whatever did I do for inspiration before Pinterest?!) and asked my OH if he had any wood suitable in his workshop ... he did (left over from when we had to have the workshop roof replaced).  My next question of course was whether he could cut the planks into Daddies, Mummies and Babies which he did, and while he was at it he sanded the rough edges and painted them for me.  My part in the process was to make the hats and scarves (with tiny little sweetie buttons sewn on for decoration) and stick on the buttons and noses.

I love how they turned out, and love that it was a joint project 

We were lucky to have enough wood for four families, so shall give three families away as Christmas gifts (to good homes only!!!)

I have been working on other Christmas projects so shall have more to show soon!  I also hope to get to work on my journal soon and may even try and do my cover tomorrow!  Watch this space!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2012

* spoiler alert *  - warning - this post contains information regarding my Christmas Journal, so if you don't want to know look away now ;)

Today was the much anticipated day when I started my Christmas Journal 2012 :)  I have been mentally planning what I want to do this year and made a start today by making all the numbers.  I was hoping to maybe tackle the cover of my Journal too, but the numbers took most of the day, so will save the cover for another day (and it gives me a little bit more thinking time too!)

I was planning to use up bits and bobs of Christmas papers that I already have in my stash ... until I went to Daphne's for coffee and fell in love with a collection of beautiful holiday papers and just HAD to have them :)

I love how they remind me of Christmasses when I was a little girl, and I love the fresh yet vintage feel to the papers - slightly more modern colours for me too!  So, this is the collection I will be using, along with a kraft A5 binder from Paperchase.

So, my numbers.  I took a look at how I had done the numbers previously and wanted something a bit more detailed this year, so had a look on to our shared CCCCCCK board on Pinterest and found some inspiration (I have set up a Facebook group for anyone interested in doing a Christmas Journal, and we also started a group board on Pinterest for shared inspiration, so if anyone reading this would like to join too, then let me know!)  Since my journal is kraft and there may well be some kraft pages too, then I thought that my numbers should also be kraft.  So after much Cuttlebugging, here they are!

I selected and punched/Cuttlebugged a few more elements ...

then a few more and I was ready to start assembling:

Getting there:

Just a few final tweaks - snipping the ribbon ends, sewing through them all and adding a bit of bling and here they are:

and just because I love seeing them altogether:

While I was searching through my stash looking for bits, I was popping anything that I thought might come in handy into a box all ready for December 1st

I am now feeling decidedly excited about this years journal, and can't wait to make my cover and do a little more prep!

Carole x

The Real Santa

Hi everyone, and thank you for sticking with me through all my Christmas Journal blog posts ... it felt like rather a lot of Christmas related posts!

So, therefore I am sorry to blog about something else Christmassy today!  However, whilst my Christmas bits and bobs were still out on my desk, I wanted to get back into 12 x 12 layouts - I was a bit worried because I had got used to the 7 x 5 format of my Christmas Journal!

This is what I created:

I must admit that I had hoped to use up a few more embellishments, since I have a stack left over, but oh well, I quite like how it turned out anyway!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 1 January 2012

The last page of my Christmas Journal (phew!  I shall be glad to blog about something else other than my journal!)  I decided to end my journal on New Year's Day, instead of twelfth night as I did last year, as to be honest, once it is the new year and the decorations are taken down there isn't a lot to journal about!

Just two more pics to share, the inside front and back covers:

So there it is.  My Christmas Journal 2011.  Once again, I am really happy with the completed project, even if I don't love each individual page.  Yes, I'll admit that I did get behind and that that stressed me out a little bit, but I was determined to finish it!

Now, what shall I do next???

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 31 December

New Year's Eve.  Not my most favourite day of the year (in fact, quite possibly my least favourite day of the year, but that is another story).  We had a lovely evening, again with our good friends.

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 30 December

Another quiet day on the 30th (I actually had to work for most of the day), so since Tilly was the only pet who hadn't yet had her own page, here she is!!!

Carole x

Christmas Journal 2011 - 29 December

Thursday 29 December was the day that we visited my family - and what a busy full on day it was, but great fun and so lovely to see everyone!

Carole x