At last...

it's done!

 I finished my Christmas Journal last week, and here are the last few pages to share.

This page is about my nephews, they share Christmas with us every year, so I wanted to include this lovely page.

Christmas traditions in our house include a lot of crafting (surprisingly enough!) so I documented this and added these photos of owls that Katie made.

The 5th was about tidying away, after promising ourselves a sort out of the decorations last year, we finally got round to it this year...

and finally by the 6th I'd run out of steam, so a simple page including a simple quote... done!

It's been a struggle getting to the end this year, I'm glad I was up to date for the new year before I fell ill, so it wasn't too daunting to finish these last 6 pages.
Now I just want to make each of the kids a 12x12 layout for their own scrapbooks, and one for my 12x12 christmas album, then the Christmas crafting  is done for another year.

Good job I like it so much!

A Fun Memory

We hadn't played charades in years, so I took photos of us messing about on boxing day.

 This is as far as I've got with my album so far, struggling to get it finished this year!

New Year Pages

As New Years Eve was the night I found out the reasons for my tiredness I journalled about this on my pages.

For New Years Day I have picked a word for the year... enough!!!

Review of the year

...as promised, if a little late.
used a page design by Shimelle for this DLO.

Still sleeping a lot :)

A few more journal pages.

This page is about this year's cinema trip, loving the new DoCrafts alphabet die, perfect for a trip to the pictures with a few added gems!

The 28th was my FILs birthday, so we went out for a pub meal, good to get away from the leftovers!

And the girls made a fantastic job of the gingerbread house this year!

Review of 2012 tomorrow, one of my fave journal pages.

New Years Eve.

A quick couple of pages today as another year comes to an end.

On Christmas Day, as the kids were all looking festive I managed to encourage a few photos out of them in front of the tree...

... and on Boxing Day we met up as usual with our extended family at lunch time in a local pub, 44 of us this year!! The photo is of me with a few of my cousins.

Just before Christmas pages

Here are my pages for the few manic days just before Christmas day.

On the first day of the holiday we food shopped for 14, so I took a quick snap of all the bags (you can't see them all!) and put the receipt in the envelope at the top of the page.

The 23rd is my brother's birthday, and being a Sunday we went out for a lovely carvery in a country pub.

And on Christmas Eve we visited my Mum and Dad and watched carols from King's.

Hope you enjoyed your Christmas too.

Catch Up Time

I have been busily working away on my journal, so here are a few pages.

This first one is a page from earlier in the month that i had forgotten to post, the theme was White Christmas, but I wrote about the fun we had as kids playing with my Grandma's 78rpm record all through the year back in the 1970s.

On the last day of term Hannah had a dinner party for her friends, so I persuaded her to have a photo taken, and here it is in my journal.

... and it wouldn't be Christmas without the Radio Times.

More pages tomorrow.

No more work

Just a couple of days to go before the big day, we got up at usual work time yesterday morning and manged to get all of the shopping done before 11am.  Phew!
Here are two more JYC pages, I am up to date with them which is a minor miracle considering how late we worked this year.
The first page tells the story of a magical 'ride' we used to take the children on when they were small at our local Co-op.  On the way to see Father Christmas you climb into a sleigh and as the walls move you feel like you are on a journey to his grotto.  I remember as a child being astonished as we left Santa's room that we were magically back where we had started! ...And Hannah loved the ride so much that she still goes back every year, even at the age of 20!

This is another page with a story, Kevin has made lots and lots of Christmas presents in his garage this year from scrap wood (usually pallets) he has found on his travels as a supply teacher.  Harry was so excited about the gifts he asked for one for himself, Kev has made him one secretly.  I just can't wait to see Harry's face when he receives this gift.

Out for Sunday lunch later today as it is my brother's birthday, the start of our Christmas celebrations.

More Journal Pages.

Lots of shopping to be done today in readiness for Tuesday.

Here are today's pages: We got a lovely tree this year, the wet summer made them bigger and cheaper than last year, and it fit perfectly in the bay window without even needing to trim it.

And last Sunday i shared a fun 'make and take' day with crafty friends in Nuneaton.

Need to get most of my chores done today, out for lunch for little brother's birthday tomorrow, so it will be hard to get everything done. Will it stay tidy until the big day though?  Highly doubtful!

Oh, and Strictleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Love the final!

Christmas Holidays are here!!!!!

...at last! The 21st and at last I can concentrate on the big day, only 3 preparation days away!

A couple more JYC pages in the meantime.

The first includes a photo of Harry with a decoration made using Decopatch a couple of years ago.

And this page is about the fact that Kev's Mum and Dad are living with us at the moment as they househunt, so will be here for Christmas.

Photo was taken at the end of the summer just before their Golden Wedding anniversary.

Days 10 and 11.

Apologies for being so behind with posting my journal.  I can't believe it's the 21st tomorrow and I'm still at work!
This year I e-mailed my list to Santa (aka Kev) with links to the things I like, so I printed off the email, and added it to my journal in a pocket.

 I decorated the outside of what would have been a very plain piece of paper with stamps, die cuts and a ribbon pull.

 And while on crafty retreat in Stratford I borrowed a die to make some very cute milk cartons, after stamping and the addition of a few tags ( and a chocolate) these will make the table settings for Christmas day.

More pages tomorrow... I promise!

A Political JYC Page

The prompt for today was about treats, and many other JYCers in the past have made layouts about the red cups in Starbucks.

They aren't really my thing, (not since they stopped making the cherry version) so I decided to make my page about the recent scandal Starbucks have become embroiled in.   I know they have now agreed to pay a small amount of corporation tax over the next two years, but I think (being a bit cynical about American megacorps) that they will just wait a couple of years until the dust settles, then will be back to their old tricks again.... and Google and Amazon?  As it's almost impossible to boycott them they will continue to trade here and pay no tax.  Bah humbug to them I say.

Festive bracelet

And on the 7th it was this cute glass bracelet that i found while wrapping gifts this year that was the subject of my page.

The girls are already coveting it :D

Katie's perfect christmas.

The page for the 6th was to be about ideas for a perfect Christmas   Having completed the page from my own perspective a few times I decided to ask Katie for her thoughts.  Some of her comments are so funny (like balancing things on her grandad's head as he snoozes on the sofa!)

Others are lovely, and make me glad the children have such happy memories of the festive season.

Day 5

Today's page is all about the cards sent this year.  I had a had time deciding whether to include the Anna Griffin set, or these Kraft ones.  As I had included more vintage style cards in last years journal, Kraft won the day, journalling is inside the card.

I am up to date with my journal, just not so good at taking photos of my pages!

Day 3 and 4

Not been very good at sticking to the prompts this year.
On the 3rd I used this photo of the Christmas lights I took in Stratford last weekend.

And for the 4th....

Hannah made a comment last year as we were out shopping about a childhood memory surrounding a brand of chocolate (Mr Ambassador... you are spoiling us!) She said that she had really looked forward to eating them as they must be the most amazing chocolates! Sadly the real things were a little disappointing, so Kev could resist getting her a box last year, and the pictures are of her opening the gift tagged 'The most amazing gift ever!'
Two weeks left to go at work, John and Kathleen have returned from their Gallic visit to Gavin and Jacq, and Hannah returns tomorrow.  It feels like the Christmas season is starting early.

Day 2

...and behind already!

I didn't go with the prompt for today as I was away for the weekend and without internet access, so I used a prompt from an earlier year.

It fitted nicely as the morning was beautifully frosty.

A lovely start to December...

I spent the weekend away in Stratford with some crafty friends from Crafternoon, we had a great time making all manner of things, taking photos, eating, cooking and just relaxing in good company.  The retreat followed one earlier this year in Linclonshire

 and I made this layout about the spring retreat just before we set off for the next crafting weekend.  The papers are Thanksgiving by Teresa Collins...

.. and the title is part die cut, part stitched.

While there I started my Christmas journal, after finding a photo of me taken by Harry last December.

The pages are going to have a very different monochrome look to my earlier journals, with lots of black... but I think i like that!

JYC 2012!!!

It's back, Journal your Christmas! I'm ready for my 5th Christmas Journal, using Teresa Collins papers and an album designed to make a book about the Home.

I decided to make the door more festive by making a little wreath, 

using a Martha Stewart pine border punch, and a Sizzix die, sticking rows of leaves onto a small ring of card, adding a few gems and stars for Christmas sparkle.

 I've returned to a stamped calendar, by Unity, this time I've embossed it either in red or white.

Colour pallette is very limited and not very Christmassy at all: black, red, white and Kraft.
I wanted the album to look different to the others that precede it, and I think it will.  JYC 2012 Day 1 is tomorrow, watch this space!