Jam packed!

Well it didn't take me a whole week to get back from North Wales ... it just felt like it!  The journey normally takes a couple of hours at most ... but thanks to the snow, a jack-knifed lorry and some steep hills it actually took me six hours to get there, although only three of them were spent with the engine running!   I had my camera with me, but there aren't that many ways to photograph dozens of stationary vehicles and by the time we got moving again it was a) dark and b) I was desperate to collect No. 2 Son and return home before we got caught in more snowy jams!

In the meantime here are a few more pages for my JYC album: Wrapping paper first of all ... I buy new every year, and add it to the rolls of sale wrap I bought in January, which combined with the left-over wrap from previous years mean I probably never have to buy any again ... ever!

Now there's a decent sized Christmas tree ... it's been a few years since we saw it for real though!  Check it out (in English) here.

Child No. 3 decided she wasn't fussed about what we put up on the tree today, possibly because there were no brothers around to fight with about decorating rights!

Finally,  I have used the inside of one of the envelopes that my pages are built on - for the programme from tonight's concert.  No photo though as I forgot to take the camera - tsk, tsk what kind of scrapper am I? Just as well that we couldn't actually see my daughter playing thanks to the church layout or I really would have been miffed!

Gggrrrrr and Bbbrrrrrrr

I seem to have had another fail ... with the links in a PDF I sent to UKS ... so if you've come here looking for my Christmas Word Book photos ... you need to go here!

The snow has returned and I have to drive to NW Wales ... I may be some time!

Five Day Fail!

Well despite my best efforts at keeping up with my JYC pages I am well behind, not only in creating the pages, but in sharing them on the blog and forum.  These were completed one day earlier this week and the principle of KISS pages is working well; it's just finding the crafting time that is not!

Day 5 was on topic, but for the 6th, rather than contrast two aspects of Christmas, I used the page to contrast with the previous one and think about Advent Calendars when I was small.

Vaguely back on prompt for the next two days with Day 7, documenting my geeky way of organising the family Christmas fund (well with £961, donated by 10 couples, to spend between 34 individuals, I need all the organisational tools I can get!)  Day 8's sight of the season is a photo across a local field - that's not snow - it's frost - possibly rime, or hoar, or a combination!

Finally Day 9's subject is the increasingly "traditional" Christmas Market which seems to be creeping across from the continent.  We visited these a lot when we lived in Holland and they are gaining in popularity over here now.

I may be failing to keep up; I may be failing to share my pages regularly; I am, however, having a great time creating quick and simple pages :o)

Just say "No!"

I love the weekly challenges that are set over on UKScrappers ... a mix of sketches, embellishment, themes, sizes ... they are set by "teams" and individuals who produce a few example pages to get people started and you never quite know what you might be asked to include on a page!  I don't always manage to join in, but would miss them if they disappeared.  A shout went out recently for a last-minute volunteer to set a challenge because a gap in the schedule had come to light. "How hard can it be?" I thought, and put my virtual hand up.

My husband is always moaning at my inability to say "No" because I end up with too many things to do and too tight a deadline ... and so it was with this little project too.   I'd forgotten that I was doing "Journal Your Christmas" and was already 2 months in arrears with "Project 12" ... and that's without mentioning the Christmas shopping, our daughter's birthday and the broken boiler - brrrr!!!!

Anyway a promise is a promise, and I couldn't renege on the deal ... so I composed the challenge, but, rather than doing the three examples that I wanted to do, I only managed one, and that wasn't complete until very late last night either! Phew!

At least the warm colours and sunny photos made up for me scrapping next to a fan heater, wearing three jumpers and a scarf and still being too cold to talk without teeth chattering!

Now if I want to keep my husband happier, I really must practise saying "No", "Non", "Nein", "Nee", "Na", "Nej", "Nem", "Nie" ... and maybe then I'll get the presents bought and wrapped!

Advent Origami

I have been folding paper over at The Studio as part of their Advent Projects.  I took a simple little Origami folding technique and after making hanging decorations and a garland I worked out that these shapes would be perfect to construct a Christmas tree

If you fancy having a go, pop over there to download a step by step guide.
ETA 28/11/11 - I've also shared the method directly in a blog post over at It's A Creative World here.

Recipe for a Perfect Christmas

We're having a Christmas Cybercrop over on UKS this weekend and one of last night's challenges was perfect for today's JYC prompt :o)

No ingredient list as we tend to make it up as we go along, but I'd recommend:

Select one tall tree, a sprinkle of bright lights, & a few baubles.  Wrap with tinsel until festive & set aside in a corner until Twelfth Night.

Peel envelopes from cards, extract good wishes & mull over news.  Pour heart out in round-robins placed into postbox.

Take several flurries of snow & roll into balls.  Toss in the air or stack in the garden.  Add coal, carrots, scarves & pipes as desired.

Mince pies with a letter for Santa.  Marinade with port by chimney overnight.  Stuff one stocking per person.

Pull crackers, inserting heads into paper hats, & split sides at enclosed jokes.  Coat turkey & trimmings with mouth, chewing well.  Repeat several times until full.  Lubricate with tipples until vision blurs, then snooze. 

Divide gifts into piles & cut away wrappings.  If desired, add thanks, otherwise arrange face suitably before returning to shop. 

Mix well-loved cartoons with TV specials, add family games & continue until tempers fray.  Apply hugs to smooth over.

Blend Christmas spirits in with visitors, filling days with goodwill.  Light an open fire & toast until done.  Serve everything under mistletoe, sprinkled liberally with good cheer.

Suggested accompaniments: close family & fine friends

Font is Type Ra which includes £ signs ... why do font creators leave us out but include the $ sign :o( Stamps are Basic Grey's Flurries, paper is from a Papermania Christmas pack and the date spots were created in MS Word with Kingthings Willow.

Keeping It Simple Sometimes

In the year 1PB (Pre-Blog) I was lucky enough to win a place on Shimelle's "Journal Your Christmas" course and made a mini-album documenting Christmases past and present, our December traditions and activities, the weather as well as New Years Resolutions and the start of 2010.  Thirty seven pages (December 1st - January 6th) plus a couple of extras, bound into a fat little album which will be fun to look back on.  The pages are here if you're curious. 

Unfortunately I had such fun creating each page, that I couldn't keep up and it took me the whole of January to finish the album which began to be a bit of a chore.  There were two ways to improve upon that this year:

1. Do LOTS of preparation before December: make a month's worth of blank pages, journalling spots, date spots, etc and just add the photos and journalling on a daily basis.
2. Keep it really, really simple: just a photo a day, some journalling and the date.

Well the first plan fell by the wayside, not helped by my Egyptian adventures, so I guess it will have to be a really simple, easy to keep up with album.

"Manifesto" page plus buttons in the snow

My pages are based on C5 manilla envelopes from the stationers - this will allow me to have a pocket for extra journalling when I need it without adding extra layers.  I had considered cutting the envelopes into squares, but have decided that I like the landscape format of them, so that's one less chore to worry about.

My thanks to Mary for her recent gift of bright green buttons used here :o)

Seagulls at Winterley Pool

I was also agonising about covering up the flaps/seams on the back of the envelopes and then remembered  that life is just too short to worry about things like that.

Keep It Simple, Stupid!

To give the pages continuity I have picked out some Basic Grey flourish stamps, printed off my own date spots using Kingthings Willow and am typing up the journalling with Type Ra font.

And that's me up to date at just past midnight on the 3rd day ... how long will I keep things simple I wonder?

Season's Greetings

Back in 2008 a fellow UKSer, Danyaz, generously shared how to make your own chipboard word books and I just had to have a go:

It was made for a friend celebrating Christmas with her first grandchild and contained room for her to put her own photos and journalling, using lots of bright Doodlebug paper, foam snowflakes, seasonal ribbons and stickers - pretty much whatever Christmas stash I'd accumulated over the years.

As I'd given that one away, I thought I'd do another one using up some spare papers from a HOTP Paper Pizazz Christmas book.  I've done a step by step guide too which I've sent to UKScrappers to share with you.


I'm intending to add some festive photos and seasonal quotes and make this into a special Christmas greeting for my Mum - better than a card I hope!

I added an extra page here to help disguise the fact that I messed up the orientation of the patterned paper - I was so busy including the swirly bits along the bottom of the pages that I didn't spot that the diamonds pointed in different directions!

There are plenty of pockets and tags and even a couple of extra pages to fill and I think I'll leave the back page empty for a photo from this year.