This is the end.....

...of my JYC for another year.

A really simple page for the 6th, and as I made a DLO for the review of the year it finished the book of nicely.

It is really fat this year, I think I might need to track down some bigger rings for it.

And here's a slide show of the whole thing!

Picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Putting away..

I don't normally complete this page as we always take the tree down on the 6th every year, but a conversation about Really Useful Boxes (RUBs) led to this page.

Katie is really sick today, I'm just feeling wiped out now. Hoping the bug has gone.

Still sick...

Thought I was going back to work today, felt a bit queasy yesterday, but convinced myself I was imagining it. No, no, no.... sick again. It's been a week now and i really am getting fed up; and now Katie has it too.

Another really useful page, if I remember to look at it before next Christmas. Lots of reminders of things to do to make next year better, or that i need to do again as they went so well this year (note pizza bribe.. made my life so much easier)

Must go, daytime TV to huddle up in front of :(

Love my Kindle

Getting close to the end now....

The prompt was all about a favourite memory from the Christmas season. As I had been given a surprise present of a Kindle by Kevin it made the perfect subject for this layout. I even got him to add some of his handwriting by writing the tag for me.

Funny times...

Managed to finish my JYC today, so should have uploaded it all by the end of this week.

For today's page the prompt is about a favourite memory of Christmas, so mine is about a Rolf Harris beard bought by Kevin for Katie to go with her Stylophone. (Edited to add: who would ever have thouht Rolf Harris was a criminal when we were kids? The beard was an innocent gift, remembering more innocent days) The funniest thing about this gift was that she opened it before the Stylophone saying, "Who on earth has bought me a beard and glasses?" and then proceeded to open the rest of her presents wearing it!

We liked the beard so much we almost all had a go wearing it during Christmas day.

Can you spot a hirsute me among the beardies?

Poorly...

There's something about working with kids, they share all their lovely germs with you, so I had a yucky stomach bug over the past two days. I could wish that it would help to shift some of the added festive flab, but that's not going to happen is it! (See previous post!)

Back to JYC....now where was I? Ah yes, January at last. I decided to look back at the resolutions I made last year to see how I got on with them, and this reminded me why I don't really bother setting New Year resolutions!

And I liked the photo of Kev and I taken on the 23rd, so added it just because :)

New Years Eve..

.. with a difference! I spent a lovely few hours at a breakfast crop on the 31st this year (what a fab idea Mary!) Such a lovely way to end the year. We shared croissants, fresh fruit and an amazing bacon, egg and potato breakfast casserole, and did a bit of crafting too!

Here's my LO from the day, I do love the Bedworth Crafternoon as I'm the only scrapbooker, but I get to see lots of other amazing crafts there. Kara was making these gorgeous snowmen from socks, rice, twine and other crafty bits and bobs like ribbon and buttons. I think I might need to have a go next year!

End of 2011 summary

On the 30th of December Shimelle asks us to summarise the year in readiness for the new one approaching. I decided to make a DLO this year, and made a collage using PSE of some of my favourite moments from 2011. I was going to leave it at that, but I can never seem to resist putting pen to paper, so I made a matching page for the journalling, with a small square punched out for each month.

The LO did take a while, but as I was at a crop on the day I made it, the time was well spent!

I'm almost done with the journal for this year, 2 more pages to make, and with upcoming crops next weekend that's when I'll finish it.

29th December

This is always a catch up page, and I have used it for the last couple of years to record the picture we go to see on Christmas Eve.

This year we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes, I hadn't seen the first one so was a bit dubious about it, but anything with Jude Law in has got to be worth a look :)

I was pleasantly surprised about the film, it was really funny,especially the scene with Stephen Fry playing Sherlock's brother. Well worth it, if you are looking for a night at the pictures.

28th December...

This is a page all about treats and indulgences!

As the girls made such a good job of decorating the gingerbread house this year, it took centre stage.

Day 27

Now I'm back at work I've fallen behind with the journal, I think the 3rd is the earliest I've ever been back in school after Christmas in over 20 years of teaching.Here's day 27...

all about sleep habits during the Christmas holidays.

The Big Day

Here are my pages for Christmas day

and Boxing day. Seems so long ago now, as work starts again tomorrow. :(

23rd Dec The Start of Christmas...

My brother's birthday, always the beginning of the festive season for us :)

The Hollybush is the name of the pub we go to for our festive curry!

Day 22 The lists

This is one of the most useful pages every year, as there is always so much to do in the run up to Christmas. I used a photo of the cake Kevin iced on the page, mounted it on 3D foam pads and slipped the lists (stamped using Autumn leaves journalling blocks ) in behind once i had finished them.

Day 21 Right Now.....

The days closest to Christmas are so exciting, and I always enjoy making this page, another snapshot of the house on the day. I went hybrid with this page and used a template in PSE and added journalling to my photos for a speedy job. It's funny looking back I can't believe we still had a tree to put up on the 21st!!

Day 20 Ladies day

Every year I meet up with other ladies who are members of my Mums extended family just before Christmas. It's a shame but the numbers have dwindled of late, but we still met for a pub lunch on the 20th. Last year the snow was falling as I drove out to the country pub, but with this December being so mild the weather was good enough for my girls to talk to the donkeys behind the pub for a few minutes before we left for home.

I've managed to catch up partly with the journal today, but a hideous cough is keeping both me and Kev awake at night and waking me before dawn in the mornings..... oh for a lie in :(

Day 19 A Letter to Santa

Pages are getting close to Christmas now...but it's never too late to write to Father Christmas!

As usual the girls really got into the spirit of the whole thing, and Harry just moaned...."What? Writing? Gaaaaaah!!" He did get round to it in the end, so I have his letter to show him in the years to come. Boys and writing..........not a match made in heaven.

Boxing Day

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday, I laughed so much with my family playing a 'you hum it, we''ll identify it' singing game that yesterday my sides ached :)

Some illness here (2 colds and a tummy bug) but we still managed to have a good time. All are at my house today, so a quick post with a JYC update...

Day 18, a crafty friend brought her beading kit to our Christmas crop and we made our own presents, great idea!!

Christmas Eve is here....

The first line of a song learned by Hannah when she was in the infants, and still remembered today!

Day 17 was about the perfect present. Harry bought his cousin Max a pulley for him to use in his shed. I know it seems a weird gift, but I'm sure Max will love it!

Out to the pictures this afternoon if I can get all the jobs done.... must get off this computer :D

Day 16 The Tree

Feeling a bit full after just returning home from a local Indian restaurant, we have taken to going there on the 23rd December to celebrate my younger brothers birthday.... and what has traditionally always been for my family, the beginning of Christmas.

Today's page is all about the tree, after a very dry spring last year many of the trees on offer are much shorter and more expensive than usual. Never mind, we still found a nice looking one.