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Tuesday 7 December 2010

Journal Your Christmas 2010-7th December

Todays prompt was linked to To do lists. As it was my birthday as well I decided to incorporate this as well. Loved my cake :)


Monday 6 December 2010

Journal Your Christmas 2010-6th December

Todays prompt was about Tale of Two Christmas's. I didn't mind this prompt too much as it brought back some great memories. 


Sunday 5 December 2010

Saturday 4 December 2010

Journal Your Christmas 2010-4th December

Todays prompt was, about perfection and perfect Christmas. So here are my pages. I had fun using the Waltzing Mouse stamps to create the little house. 


Friday 3 December 2010

Journal Your Christmas 2010-3rd December

Todays prompt was Christmas cards and I had fun making miniature cards for the pages. Made so many Christmas cards now so all being well I will have enough to send out. Will have to take some photos and post some more :)

Thursday 2 December 2010

Journal your Christmas 2010-2nd December

So todays prompt mentioned Winter weather.I decided to journal about the local sheep (well this is Wales!) and our favourite little Robin in the back garden. 

Wednesday 1 December 2010

JYC Manifesto day 1



So my first prompt came through and I wasn't really sure what I was doing and as you can see...it shows.

So here are my manifesto pages.





The above piece of paper has my reasons for doing the journal, which I ended up writing in a spiral. It sort of reminds me of a log for some reason. You can remove this from the journal. Not sure if I will leave it this way or if I will head to the computer and replace it. I have realised how awful my handwriting is!

Here are some other pages that I have sitting waiting to be added to. It is a mix of papers from Basic Grey's Jovial, Echo Park's Everybody loves Christmas and Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly.






Today the Christmas tree and some decorations went up at work, I had my first mince pie of the season, I gave out Snowman soup & some homemade Christmas cards to the girls at work and we put up our advent calendar or should I say Moose, up at home. So feeling quite festive now.




Till next time.

x

Thursday 25 November 2010

Been making JYC date tags

I have spent some time today making some date tags for my JYC journal. Apologies for the awful photos...my iphone clearly needs to be cleaned!





As you can see I have gone for a very mixed collection. I like number 11 and 23 the best :) Wonder why? I have used chipboard cutouts, stickers, embossing, crackle paint, distress inks, stickles and little prints of photos. 

He he..Need to get my papers in order tomorrow, then all being well I will be ready.

Till next time
x


Wednesday 24 November 2010

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick post to say Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating it out there. Have a fab time! Wish we had it here in the UK :) Will have to wait now for my birthday and Christmas instead.

Have fun
xx

Tuesday 23 November 2010

ooohhh Wee Memories Big Huge Blog Giveaway!

Jenny on Wee Memories is having a big giveaway....look at all these lovely goodies to be won....

:)

Why not visit her lovely blog by clicking the photo below :)


Till next time
xx

Monday 22 November 2010

Journal Your Christmas 2010






This year I won't be adventuring away for Christmas sadly, and I have a lot of annual leave to take, which could result in me getting very bored and even rounder than I am, from  watching television and eating far too much. So I needed a new challenge which kept my brain from turning to mush. I noticed on Kool Kitty Musings and Two Peas in a Bucket that there was mention of JYC...I didn't have a clue what it was until I looked at Shimelle.com

A few days later after much reading and browsing, I decided to have a go myself and give myself the challenge of JYC for 2010. So I looked at loads of stash sites for beautiful paper and a suitable album to get myself going. I finally plumped on a range of papers from Basic Grey's Jovial, Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather and Echo Park's Everybody loves Christmas. I plumped for an American Crafts 6x6 modern album to start myself off with. 

So after receiving my stash, I was itching to use some of the Basic Grey. The Jovial papers are just so beautiful. Really loving the plaid and the deers on some of them. So I decided to have a go at decorating the front cover of my album. So here is my first attempt at JYC and scrapbooking....


Supplies: American Crafts Modern 6x6 black album,
Papers: Basic Grey Jovial Snowball fight, Pomegranate
Stickers:Basic Grey Jovial mini mono stickers, Element stickers alphabet stickers(sugar) & Echo Park Life is Good Alpha Stickers
Ranger icicle stickles, Stampin' Up Loads of Love tree
Tim Holtz Distress Tumbled glass, peeled paint and walnut stain ink.

So there we have it...hope you like my first attempt. As usual I went a bit OTT with the stickles. They are so pretty! I have a glitter fetish I think...must have been deprived as a kid!

Can't wait to get started on the rest of the album.

Till next time
xx


  

Sunday 21 November 2010

Want lists...

I think this year our family have decided to not give Christmas gifts again to each other. Why you may ask? Well this year has been another tough one for all the family in one way or another. Also it always gets to the stage when everyone just says 'what do you want?', which is hardly the right sentiment for such a special event. So last year we scrapped giving gifts. Yes it was weird, but at the same time it took all the stress of gift hunting away. Also to be honest Christmas should be more than just giving gifts. We should just look at it as a time to spend time with love ones or just show we care to those who don't have a lot. Yes it is nice to get something special, but we can go without too. It is also nice to enter January without being in the red! I will be giving some small homemade gifts to some family and friends but they are not expensive, I have enjoyed making and will hopefully be scoffed or drank :)



What has helped me on my way with cardmaking and baking is the Pink Martini album Joy to the World which I have been listening to on Spotify. Nat on Kool Kitty Musings mentioned it and I thought I would give it a go. I love it. I really love Schedryk (Ukrainian bellcarol) which has been buzzing round my head for weeks now. You could call it a welcome earworm. I also love Congratulations-A Happy New Year Song and Alohai N'Tzor which is a beautiful Hebrew prayer. I find myself humming along and trying out the harmonies but have no idea of the lyrics! I think they could be singing a shopping list and make it sound beautiful. :)

Oh and I just got a text to say my friends little girl loved her card.... great :)
Till next time
:)

Saturday 20 November 2010

Time for some R and R

As usual things have been as hectic as ever at work and I have been fighting a sinus infection for weeks now. I am now off for a week and it is such a relief. I haven't taken part in any challenges for ages but I have been making cards, for some birthdays and also for my Christmas stash. I have spent some time making some foodie goodies for Christmas presents. Last weekend I made some mini Christmas cakes. I am not a massive fan of fruit cake but I saw a nice recipe in the Good Food magazine for a chocolate fruit cake, so I thought I would have a go at it. It is a really simple recipe, as you bung most ingredients in two pans before mixing them together. The smell from the fruit, brandy and chocolate in the saucepan was absolutely delicious. If you would like to have a go the recipe can be found here. The cakes came out brilliantly and are now in the freezer. When they come back out closer to Christmas I am going to decorate them and post some photos.

I also decided to make some jalapeno jelly, which I have never seen in the UK to be honest. I noticed the recipe when I was looking at the internet. I could be wrong but the recipe apparently comes from Canada. I must admit it was a bit hit and miss, as I wasn't sure if I had all the quantities right, due to following a US recipe. I also had a bit of a nightmare trying to figure out how much Certo pectin I needed to use. The smell was quite intense when I was boiling the mixture up, so much so that it does make you cough. I had to open a few windows! The first time I potted it up, I didn't put enough pectin in, so I had to return it back to the pan and add more. In the end it has gone off and become thicker. I have tried some with cheese on a sandwich and it gives it a nice little kick. I got the recipe from the wonderful little blog oodlekadoodle primitive here.

As you can see my attempt is not so clear and green.


The weather has been so miserable and our poor garden is suffering. I have not been able to get out and tidy it up. I am hoping that this week I can get out there and sort it out. Our herb garden is now winding down so I thought I should cut a lot of them and dry some for the Winter. I thought I would team this up with drying some orange and apple rings for using in some pot pourri and decorating. I have tried this before but had a disaster and the oranges burnt. This time I kept my beady eyes on them and they turned out well. 
I have mixed them with some dried bay leaves, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, dried flowers and dried berries. The smell is amazing and I am looking forward to bagging it up properly. So Christmassy.  




It was one of my friend's little girls birthday and I decided to finally get round to using some DCWV paper, Safari Kids Matstack with glitter, that I had. My friends little girl is a typical little girl and loves pink so I couldn't resist a lovely glittery hippo from the stack. I came up with this cute little card...haven't found out yet if she liked it.  Hope she did :) This tied in nicely with the new Wee Memories Challenge which asked for people to '"Put a Little Pink" . 

Challenge #32 - Sponsored by The Stamps of Life


Supplies:
Paper: Die Cuts with a View: Safari Kids with glitter
Stamp: Big Candles by Hero Arts
Ribbon: Stash from The Range.
Ink-Versafine Onyx Black.

I am patiently waiting for some scrap booking materials to come, so I can have a go at Shimelle's Journal your Christmas. I am a little apprehensive, as I have never done it before. I have so much to learn so all being well it will work. I am collecting bits and bobs that I see to possibly put in. 

For the time being I am concentrating now to get as many Christmas cards done as possible. I got some amazing stamps from Waltzing Mouse, so I have been experimenting with these. Here is one that I cased from Julia Aston

Stamps: Waltzing Mouse Festive foliage
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Peeled Paint & Fired Brick Ink.
Ribbon from The Range.
Right I best toddle off to get a hot water bottle. Tis freezing here tonight!
Till next time. 
x

Monday 8 November 2010

Getting into the spirit

I haven't disappeared totally....honest. Recently I have felt absolutely exhausted and I am counting down until I am on holiday. 2 more weeks to go until I have a week off. I can't wait. I may or may not be off to Poland, I will need to wait to see.

After reading Kool Kitty Musings blog I started to listen to Pink Martini's Christmas album on Spotify. I dare you not to feel Christmassy as you listen to it and sprinkle glitter! So I have started to add some more cards to the stash for next month.
I went a bit mad with the embossing powder and stickles. I love the Ranger Icicles stickle! It really does shine.

Stamps: Papermania Christmas Sentiments, PTI Out on a limb, Hero Arts Happy Hello,
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Old Paper, Brick Red, Versamark
Gold embossing powder, Ranger Stickles-Icicle
Luggage tag
Red and White Bakers Twine
Stamps: Hero Arts Happy Hello, Papermania Christmas Sentiments, Stars-Docrafts.
Inks: Distress Ink-Peeled Paint, Marigold, Brick Red, Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black
Clear embossing powder, Ranger Stickles-Icicle
Red and White Bakers Twine

A few others :)-I love this owl by Hero Arts.

I am loving this large Christmas tree stamp by Docrafts. Works great when embossing. Despite using a dust buddy I still have problems with little bit of stray embossing powder. 

Stamps: Shortie Winter Stacks-Stampmania, PTI Beyond Basic Borders,
Versamark ink, white embossing powder, Tumbled Glass Distress ink, Red Grosgrain ribbon-selection from The Range. 

Simple card but I am liking the simplicity. I may have to make this one on mass. 



A selection of Christmas tags using a range of techniques.
Stamps: Selection from Stampin' Up, PTI and Papermania.

The Range in Swansea finally has started to sell Kraft cards....whoop. As much as I like the Stampin' Up Kraft I bought recently, I don't have a trimmer big enough at the moment, so the card I have found is fab. 
So over the next few weeks I am making a concerted effort to get all my cards done. I am aiming to start making my holiday hampers as well for my family. I have bought a few bits for some of the family but ultimately I will be making some goodies this year. I have found a recipe for some Jalapeno Jelly....never seen it before...perhaps I have led a sheltered life! I have bought some ultra cute Kilner jars for it already and this weekend I will get glooping. 

I have also decided to have a go at making my first scrapbook. Tis a little daunting...daft I know. When I used to stay with my gran when I was little, she bought me a scrapbook to fill with memories of our trips and days together. I used to love filling it with all sorts of stuff. Now 25 years later I am sat here staring at a little chipboard book and wondering where to start. If anyone has any suggestions then please let me know. I bought some delicious Cosmo Cricket paper and wondering what to do first. I have some amazing photographs stashed away which I would love to use. I would love to do a Christmas journal but wondering if I have left it to late to get it all set up. I will let you know how I get on.