And so it begins...

It's a short post today, I'm a wee bit poorly and have expended all my energy doing the very first page for my Christmas Journal.

And here is my first JYC page - my dedication as it were. It's a small promise to myself that I will take 15 minutes MINIMUM per day to Journal my Christmas.

My manifesto reads - "I promise: every day from the first of December to the 6th of January, I will take 15 minutes to reflect and document my thoughts for the day. This Christmas, I will make something true to my heart, with my hands, my mind, my memories, my scissors, some pretty paper and lots of glue!"

We have a winner!

Well, it's the first of December, it's fricken freezing, and we have a blog candy winner. She's been with me from the start, she was one of my first few visitors.... it's Trees! She's a very funny, talented lady, and I look forward to seeing what she does with her prize!

Want to bring back the Christmas you used to know?

Remember that feeling of excitement that you used to get in the build-up to Christmas, when you were a kid? Well, this is what I'm doing for the whole of next month - bringing back that feeling. Journalling My Christmas. It's a scrapbook/art journal class over at Shimelle.com (my fave site), and I'm so excited. Come join me and people from all over the world, and start to enjoy Christmas again :) The bonus is, once you're signed up, you get to participate every year if you like, for no extra cost. What's not to like?

Start December with some free stash!

It's been great fun the last week watching the number of visitors from around the world who have peeked at my little blog, I suspect mostly via Shimelle's JYC forum.

In honour of the fact that the 100th visitor will soon be landing, I've decided to go for it and send some blog candy to someone. So I'll draw a name randomly over the weekend from all you lovely commenteers.

Ok so here’s the low-down on the freebie stash... (comment anywhere on my blog to be in with a chance – all countries welcome, though if you’re outside the UK, then postal costs will mean that I’ll leave out the 12 x 12 cardstock/patterned papers – I’ll throw in some eyelets and brads instead)

2 sheets Bazzil basic forest green card, daisyd’s “Garden Green Gingham”, Sassafras Lass double sided “My dearest”, Scenic Route double sided “Grafton Laxton Ave”, Sassafras Lass 64 pc “my dearest” cardstock alphabet (‘c’ already used), Scenic Route Grafton Boy Cardstock stickers (1 used), 2 sheets S.E.I. Simply Savoury alphabets (some smaller font letters used, still plenty left!), Some October afternoon Rub-ons, 2 acrylic stamps from Papermania Secret Garden collection, 12” Queen & Co Felt Fusion green vine (self-adhesive), 6” Queen & Co Felt Fusion Pumpkins (self-adhesive), A chipboard swirl, frame and flower from American Crafts Thickers Accents, and last but not least, 12” rust ricrac.

Phew. Now go leave a comment!

Experimentally speaking...

I quite like my latest layout. Simple. Like me :)

Seriously though, this is only my 15th layout, so I'm still trying to get a grip on what makes a good page. No journaling on this one as yet. Haven't decided how to fit it in.

I have just made one change though - I swapped the tiny owl sitting on the 's' with the dot of the 'i'. Cute :)

I did make another layout the other day that I like more, but it's for a page for Scrapbook Inspirations as part of my BoBS 2008 prize, so can't publish it here yet. Boo.

Deprived of stash.

Well, Shimelle's kits for her Journal Your Christmas class have gone live, and they're GORGEOUS! I really fancied this one, but unfortunately my dishwasher has gone kaput. Will not fix with percussive maintenance, and my SO will be taking off the front panel within the hour, so we'll definitely need another one. Gutted.

The "love elsie" stuff in the kit is lovely. And I could always use it next year.

Oh, I could just put it on my CC. Shhh don't tell anyone :)

Sucker. I know I'm not the only one who gets sucked into these things.

Anyone want to buy a brand new Canon Selphy ES20 Photo Printer? Seriously.
Unused, still boxed, with 1 pack of 50 colour photo paper/ink thingies. RRP £150. £100 including postage, UK only :)

Roll on 1st December

Now I've finally worked out how to add photos to my blog posts, I thought I'd add a few of my preparations for the Journal Your Christmas class that I'm taking (http://www.shimelle.com/).

Here's the cover - it's a 6 x 12 American Crafts album, and I love it!

Here is my numbering system - I've been doing about ten each night, as they're quite labour-intensive, but I am definitely happier with these than the others I tried! I can't wait for the class to get started and to see what others are doing.

I chose 6x12 as a happy compromise between size (and therefore amount of space to fill) and the amount of time I'm likely to have. What's your favourite scrapping size? Anyone tried 8.5 x 11? This seems to be fairly popular in the States...

Finally I can blow my own trumpet!

For those of you who get Scrapbook Inspirations, have a look on page 21... I'm so proud :)

And the centrepiece is my favourite layout - the black and white layout called daisydaisy.

Free Christmas workshops at Badgirls

Bad Girls are hosting 22 FREE classes from the 14th November right through to the 23rd November. Get yourself over there for some serious pre-yule scrapping :)

And so it goes...

November already, and it's been almost a month since my last post. It's been pretty hectic the last few weeks - I'm in my last year of a degree, and with a 15-month-old daughter, it's been an interesting month. Juggling is not my best skill, but I think I'm going to have to get good at it quickly!

I've been cruising a few people's blogs, and loving what I've seen. The last week has also been my first week for visitors! Ones who have left their mark anyway :) It's nice to know that people have stopped by.

My all-consuming project at the moment is planning for the Journal Your Christmas class at my old fave Shimelle's site. It's been nice to plan it all - I have my bits and bobs in a basket, just waiting for the prompts to begin. I've never been one for journals, but Christmas journaling isn't going to be difficult, it being my favourite time of the year and all that!

Anyone else got scrapbook plans for Christmas?