Gratitude and jam

I could get all preachy and say that there are many things we should be thankful for in this country in this day and age, but I won't. Oops. Seems I just have. However, I just wanted to make a nod to the things that I especially feel grateful for, in no particular order. For me, the words were more important than pretty paper (that's often the case), so no pretties here.
Sarah - the chipboard lettering on all my layouts is American Crafts Jewellery Box Thickers, I have a severe addiction to them. They're wonderful! All who have commented on my lovely papers - they are part of Shabby Princess's Christmas papers in their two FREE digital kits - here and here. I print them out as needed on presentation quality paper. I LOVE this site, the freebies are fab, and are pretty much all I use for my digital scrapping (I make calendars and albums for rellies...).
The LO for day 17 journals my love of handmade gifts. Yes I'm a cheapskate, but in actuality, most things I make aren't much cheaper than buying, though they're greatly appreciated. When I had the time, I used to make chutneys, jams, lemon curd, mince pies, all sorts (not licorice - I'm not that good, though I make excellent cinder toffee), and pile them in a hamper-type affair. I fully intend to start this up again in 2010... I'll have finished my degree by then and I'll have the time to spend!

"By the light of the silvery moon...

... I sit and croon"... well, journal, cut, stick and photograph anyway ;)

Days 14 and 15, great fun! I spent most of last night cutting and wrapping teeny tiny parcels to go under my tree. Then realised that the card that I'd inked for the tree trunk wasn't particularly amenable to having a rub-on rubbed on. There's a misnomer...

Still, I persevered and I quite like the effect.

Day 15 was fairly straightforward by comparison, and I'm beginning to realise that I actually quite like not having pictures on each page. I wasn't sure how I'd cope with the whole concept of journaling when I started this class, but that's sort of why I did it - to get used to putting my thoughts down on paper! So it's doing the trick then, which is a relief.

Ooh my first "award"

What a lovely way to start the day... Colleen has (virtually) handed me an award for my blog (I promise I didn't bribe her...). I'm very flattered to recieve it, and would like to thank a number of people who made this possible :) hehe.

This means that I get to pick my fave 7 blogs and pass it on to them. So here goes (in alphabetical order):


Alison, Anso, Casii, Natty, Smarty, Tinkersdamn, Trees,

I thank you :)

Falalalala la la la laaaaaaa

Well, I'm definitely feeling more Christmassy, I've done pretty much all the food shopping apart from the perishables, my turkey is reserved and veg boxes due on the Sunday before. All bar one present bought and I'm up to date with my prompts! Woohoo!

(I don't mean to sound smug, so apologies if you've still got stacks to do... )

The LO on the left has a photo to go with it, but it's a really bad one of me at age 11, and is definitely not for public perusal (it's AWFUL), it'll be tucked behind the journaling on the red paper. The journaling is about that particular Christmas, the whole family stayed in a hotel in Torquay that was owned by JRR Tolkien's niece. Father Christmas visited (assisted by my uncle) and managed to climb up to the balcony!

The LO on the right details just how much I LOVE Christmas music. Carols, cheese, general good quality tunes, the lost. And my favourite? Take a look at the title, it might give you a little clue...

Trees and gifts galore

Well I have a couple of pages to share - again fairly simplistic, but I like them for that. The first is about my tree last year. It's an artificial one, for eco/financial/practical reasons. I've had it for 7 years and it's still looking good! I take my time each year teasing out the "needles" to ensure it looks as real as possible, and then throw a mountain of tinsel, lights, bells, snowflakes and whatever else looks pretty at it. I would of course prefer a real one, but it's just not feasible.The second layout is about presents. Now, I LOVE giving presents. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't like getting them, but that's not the best thing about Christmas. I really enjoy choosing presents for people, and the best bit is watching their faces when they open them (I've never had a bad idea yet, so maybe that's why!). I'm especially looking forward to seeing my daughter's face this year - the first year she's been aware of what's going on! Now obviously, the wrapping paper that's on the mini-present isn't what I'm using, but I'm not good at using clashing paper in my layouts, so I've had to compromise and wrap it in some of the patterned paper I've been using in my journal. I've flipped the tag up so that you can see the journaling, but this is not a gift tag either. Hey, it's my journal and I'll cry if I want to ;)

Finally I'm up to date!

It's been a tricky few days, I've had too much Uni stuff to be getting along with and I haven't had much time to myself. I've been keeping up with the journaling (more or less)and was determined to get some pages made. So I made one page last night, and three tonight! Got to be a personal record... though they are very simplistic out of necessity. I shall embellish further when I have more time!

Tatting, gingerbread and JYC

Today was a lovely day, visiting a local museum for their Victorian Christmas fair. I saw some extremely talented ladies making lace (another future hobby I reckon), and managed to get a tatting demo from a lovely lady who has been tatting for 30 years. This in itself was a good reason to have gone. I also managed to pick up a rather lovely salt dough gingerbread man decoration for the tree, which I think I'll replicate next year (again, when I've got more time!).

All of this loveliness put me in the mood for reminiscing about previous Christmases. I thought of last year, the first year of Christmas with my new family. My daughter was only 4 months old, and still at that stage where she slept for an hour, was up for a couple, slept for a couple.... Al and I each had our own traditions from our respective families, but also wanted to make this OUR Christmas. We managed very well - I asked him what Christmas means to him (food, drink, music, films etc) and combined it with my expectations. We ended up having three types of stuffing (my mum's, his dad's and good old sage-and-onion), four side dishes, and a massive turkey crown, but we ate like royalty for a week on the leftovers! It helped that I love cooking, and that we have two freezers, but I shall be doing the same again this year (though without the sage-and-onion).

What I won't be doing this year is eating a cold Christmas dinner - in 2007, Iz woke up just as we were tucking in, and so I had to feed and amuse her whilst Al got to have tasty hot grub. This year, she will be tucking in at the same time as us!

The mojo is back!

Two pages today! I sorted myself out and managed to produce a satisfactory page for the card debacle. And also managed to journal today for the perfect Christmas. I started thinking about all the things that make the perfect Christmas for me: the tree, carols, nice food, roaring fire, glass of baileys/red wine (separate, not together!), good food, my Mum's stuffing and giblet gravy... Pause for breath and further thought... Then I realised that once you take all the trappings and fripperies away, what is left is family, and that is what is essential for my Christmas to be perfect.

The photo is of my new family, obviously there is a whole lot more of my family, but I can only fit so much on a 6 x 12 page! DD was only 4 months old last year, and this year we are looking forward to seeing her enjoying all the celebrations.

I look forward to seeing everyone else's perfect Christmases...

Third-day slump

Today I realised how much I really don't like the christmas cards that I made this year. I made them way back in September, as I knew I wasn't going to have much time these last few weeks. No pics, suffice to say they're dull. And in no way up to my usual standard.

But I don't have time to make a whole new set - and this realisation actually made me feel quite down. Which is ridiculous, I know, there's far worse things going on in the world and in normal, everyday lives but perhaps it's the lack of daylight, or too much college work, or not enough sleep or something.

So I have thought long and hard about this, and I have come to a compromise. I will make (re-make) no more than 5, and send these to my favourite people (my mum, my partner, my daughter, my M- and F-IL and my best buddy). The rest are good-enough. I just have to keep telling myself that. Just because they aren't what I thought, doesn't mean they're not ok. Just.

Ok, so to cheer myself up, I'm going to post a pic of my darling daughter at her first christmas party today. She was a little confused as to whether to sing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" or "Y.M.C.A"...

She also met Father Christmas for the first time: and yes, she did cry!

It's beginning to look a lot like winter!

Today it snowed! And then snowed some more. It all melted away by this afternoon though. Luckily I managed to get some photos taken, and one went on my JYC day 2.
Journaling says: Winter for me will always bring to mind snow, ice, clear blue skies and crisp mornings. Your breath fogging fingers freezing, toes numb, but then... Then you get inside and warm up, and that feeling of bliss is wonderful. Couple it with a log fire and a glass of Bailey's and I'm in absolute heaven!