Paper Obsession

Card-making catch-up

Here's the photo that will feature on today's Journal Your Christmas page.. it's a jigsaw we found in the Christmas decorations box from last year (thanks Mum & Dad) - the boys spent a very pleasant ten minutes completing it together - without squabbling - it was a sight to behold!

The journaling part of 'Journal Your Christmas' hasn't quite happened yet.. I've been pretty busy working on samples for upcoming December classes, attending nativity plays (cue floods of tears), even doing a spot of Christmas shopping!

Anyway... perhaps I can share a few recent cards I've made..

Baby girl... made with Fun & Fast Notes and Tiny Tags stamps by Stampin' Up!

Baby boy along the same lines...

Any occasion card using Just Believe stamps and Greenhouse Gala papers (inspired by a lovely card spotted on In Love With Stamping)...

A very simple man's birthday card (the card, that is, not the man..) using the Star and Scallop Edge punches and Sincere Salutations stamps.

All the cards are made with Stampin' Up! cardstock, stamps, papers and punches - if (dare I suggest) you would like to buy any of the products I used - or fancy some Christmas Gift Vouchers to spend in the New Year - contact me and I'll be delighted to help you! ;o)

All my details are on the Seaside Stampers blog.

Have a lovely evening!

 

Sarah x

Journal Your Christmas!

It's started... and I'm doing it for the third year.. but this time I'm really keeping it simple! My very first JYC album was 12x12 size - and I so struggled to keep up.. last year I thought cutting the size to 6x12 would help - but I still found it hard to complete a page every day (I know it doesn't really matter, but I do hate those gaps where there should be pages!).

This year..? I've gone for an A5-size mini-album which I'll bind myself using the Bind-It-All. My pages are alternating in colour - Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive - and I'm using Stampin' Up!'s Jolly Holiday Designer Series Papers. So far, my pages consist of a 6x4" photo stuck to the cardstock with just a scrap of designer paper underneath, and the date. I haven't done any of my journaling yet, so I'll share those pages when they're finished! (I'm not really following the prompts this year - it's more of a daily diary at the moment.)

Meanwhile, here's my cover:

Apart from the green felt Thickers, everything else is by Stampin' Up! I coloured the bare chipboard letters with black ink (a messy process..).

And here's Poppy getting in on the act:

By the way.. our snow disappeared completely on Friday night.. now we just have frost.. which is almost as pretty as the snow!

All set for Christmas?

We've certainly had the weather for it this week..

Apart from the snow, a couple of fantastic TV programmes have really been getting me in the mood for Christmas. I caught three episodes of Kirsty's Home-Made Christmas (Channel 4) on Friday afternoon and was just smitten with all her amazing creations... you MUST check out the website for instructions and information.

Then yesterday I had the pleasure of watching 'Grow Your Own Drugs for Christmas' (BBC 2) with James Wong, an ethno-botanist who used traditional Christmas herbs and plants to make hangover remedies, gorgeous decorations and tasty gifts. Wonderful viewing while I conquered my ironing mountain!

I'm sorry to report that journaling my Christmas has made way for actually getting organised for Christmas this last week or so. Despite a lack of JYC pages to show, I have been crafting like crazy...

• Christmas cards - made and sent (apart from a few last-minute ones to be posted tomorrow)

As you can possibly tell, I am LOVING this little 'Merry Christmas' stamp! It was part of a set of clear stamps, including the dashed line Christmas tree outline, from Willow Tree Crafts. The first batch of cards were made with scraps of Doodlebug papers and red ribbon. The second one was made using my Cuttlebug Snowflakes #2 die. The third card is part of a big set of cards I made following instructions from The Craft Stamper magazine - details are in my Flickr photostream!

• Wreath for front door - fashioned from a faux-evergreen candle ring found in a charity shop, along with a cute flowerpot man from my mum:

I took off some plasticky gold flowers and added my own glass baubles, gold ribbon and flowerpot man.

• Christmas cards strung up on mini-washing lines with tiny pegs above the fireplace

• Gingerbread biscuits made (although a bad egg meant they actually tasted foul - but I still made them!)

• Christmas presents bought and wrapped - I have gone for a red and kraft theme in my wrappings, with a hint of silver and stars..

I don't know if I'm ever going to 'catch up' with JYC but at least I can honestly say I am NOT stressing about it.. Enjoy your Christmas!

Getting organised...?

To be honest, I'm spending far more time scrapping for JYC than actually getting organised... but I'm loving it! Here's my page for day 7...To Do:

Supplies:

Kraft Bazzill cardstock

Love, Elsie 'Noel' patterned paper

Not sure what the Arrow paper is...

The cards in the pocket are Shimelle's downloads, printed on to cream cardstock and stuck back-to-back.

Stamps: Banana Frog 'It's All About Stars', 'Pharmacy' (alphabet), 'Journaling'

Pink sequin mesh, pink tissue paper ribbon

Here it is from the side so you can see the pocket:

So far, as you can see, I haven't ticked many of the boxes on the checklist cards.. oh dear.

Getting organised? Slowly... very slowly.

Childhood Christmases - the good and not-so-good!

I thought I was going to admit defeat with Day 6 - memories of Christmas past. But then last night I decided to just do it! (Actually I couldn't bear seeing an empty space where that page should have been.)

So here is Day 6: Childhood Memories - Good and Not So Good!

The journaling is written on two IKEA notecards, folded into the envelopes and held down with hand and foot paperclips I found in Tesco ages ago.

Here are those cards opened up:

Other supplies:

Cardstock - Bazzill Kraft

Patterned paper - Love, Elsie 'Noel'

Stamps - Banana Frog 'Pharmacy', Do-Crafts See D's 'Whimsy Letters and Numbers'

Inks - Versafine Black, Colorbox Queue Chalk Inks

Snowman - free with a magazine, either Papercraft Inspirations or CBeebies!

A JYC update...

I've been so busy keeping up with JYC that I haven't made time to post anything to my blog, so I thought I'd attempt a round-up of my first week's pages.

Here's Day 2: the weather...

Supplies:

Patterned paper: We R Memory Keepers - White-out collection

Journaling block and photo corners: Bo Bunny(?)

Black cardstock: Papermania

Letter stickers: American Crafts Glitter Thickers

Blue glitter

Day 3: Christmas Cards...

Supplies:

Blue cardstock: Papermania

Patterned paper: ...can't remember...

Stamps: Banana Frog (Pharmacy alphabet and Build-a-Bloom for the journaling lines)

Dymo labeller and black Dymo tape

Note to self: I really MUST get on with making Christmas cards!

Day 4: Perfect!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papermania

Patterned paper: ... drat! I should keep those cut-off strips on the bottom of my papers

Magazine clippings: Cath Kidston winter catalogue and Co-op magazine

Felt letter stickers: Papermania and American Crafts

I just LOVE the Cath Kidston catalogues, her stuff is so idyllic! They contain lots of inspiring articles such as activities to do with children, not to mention pictures of things that make me want to have a go at making them myself (like the robin tree ornaments and cookies above)!

Day 5: The Countdown

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics (Hilary)

Patterned paper: Love, Elsie 'Noel'

Journaling tag: Bo Bunny (?)

Letter stickers: BasicGrey

I'll be back soon when I have more pages and other news to share!

JYC Day 1 complete!

My supplies for this page:

Bazzill Basics cardstock

Pink Martini paper

American Crafts Thickers Daiquiri Black Foam

Bazzill Basics Pompom trim

Green lace

Blue felt, cut with Spellbinders Flower die

Doodlebug pink brads

Hero Arts black pearls

Font: Trinigan FG, downloaded from Fontspace.

It's 'Journal Your Christmas' time again!

This year it's going to be different.

This year I will be better organised, I will have my album and all my pages prepared in advance.

This year I will keep it simple and I will keep up!

I guess that just about covers Prompt One... my aim is to try my best to write, blog and {I hope} craft a little something every day... whether it is 'on-prompt' (ugh, what a horrible phrase!) or just notes on the day's activities and my progress towards getting ready for Christmas and the New Year.

....

Well, I am slightly better organised than I was last year.

At least this year I know what I'm doing and what the prompts are likely to be!

I have quite a few pages more-or-less prepared so it should be a relatively simple matter to add photos and words (in theory at least...).

....

Meanwhile.. On Saturday I attended my first every all-day crop, organised by Pat of Bromley Scrapaholics. It was a fantastic day, Pat kept everyone happy with cups of tea and choccie biscuits and had even organised a raffle and a prize for the best layout. I managed to complete my Karen Foster Countdown Calendar, using Love Elsie 'Noel' papers, and got a fair bit of my Christmas planner done too.

Here is the evidence...

The boys were thrilled to find a Malteser and a Cadbury's Snow Bite each in drawer no. 1 this morning. The rest of the drawers will be filled on a day-by-day basis for obvious reasons...

Here's my Christmas Planner as it is so far:

(Why, oh why, could I not see that 'Christmas' would not fit into that space?!)

These fab calendar pages - by Jane Dean - were downloaded from the Papercraft Inspirations website. The colouring-in was laborious but I do like the effect!

I made the 'To Do' list myself, totally inspired by Jane Dean's Christmas Planner!

I made these pages too - drew the outlines with a black fineliner pen and photocopied, then coloured in using pencils.

I hope it'll be a useful tool to keep me organised in the run-up to Christmas. Other sections will have pages for recording Internet purchases, holding receipts, Christmas menu ideas and recipes... and anything else I think of.

.....

Just to finish off, here are a couple of cards I made using my new Cuttlebug Snowflake die:

Think I might add a stamped 'Merry Christmas' on the bottom one, but I'm scared I'll mess it up (which is highly likely - I'm not the neatest stamper..).

.....

Time to get Harry out of bed and pick up Charlie from nursery... I'll be back later (I hope) with my first JYC page to share!

Christmas card crisis - JYC day 3!

Well, I was up to date for three whole days.. then yesterday I had to put Photography course first as it was our last class before Christmas - and so the last opportunity to show Kim (my tutor) the pictures I'm thinking of submitting for my portfolio. I will post my selections very soon.

Here is my JYC day 3 page:

Christmas Journal, part 2

Just a quickie to update on my page for the Christmas journal yesterday:

 

 I used a snowy picture from our back garden on 6th April this year. The snow we were tentatively forecast for today never arrived, although we did have a bit of ice. It's freezing again tonight.. maybe tomorrow for snow then?

I'm now going to attempt prompt 3 - all about Christmas cards. Another quick easy one would be great!

Sarah x