I'm Back...!

Hi all,
So, I failed on one of my promises - which was to try and blog every other day - but I am back now and hopefully will try and stick to it for at least a little while!  I am more than a little behind on my JYC so I thought perhaps posting my progress would push me into trying to catch up a bit. 

I have been back to work this week and poor Miss H has been very unwell - to the point of being up for 3 or 4 hours each night - not the best timing - sooo tired in my first week.
So here they are so far...
Day 7

With an envelope to tuck away my present buying lists - just to make sure no-one thought they'd be getting a hint this way!

Day 8
A lovely chance to capture all those little signs that Christmas is coming!!

Day 10

Yes, I know, Day 9 isn't here yet as I want to get a nice picture of our newest tradition but it hasn't happened yet so I can't finish the age (and it's even a double spread!)
Anyway - Day 10 was a quick and easy cheat - Wrapping the page for a layout on wrapping presents!

VIP - Very Important Promises!
I did stick to my most important promise though - not letting work get in the way of enjoying Miss H's first Christmas. So, last Friday we went to the Children's Centre for a Christmas craft morning and made cards (I glued, Miss H sprinkled/poured the glittery bits on!), bags of reindeer food to put out for Rudolph, Gift boxes and handprint stocking pictures - lots of fun...
 

                            

Then on Tuesday I took the day off and we went to a Christmas party, where Miss H met Santa, and wasn't particularly impressed!

She loved opening her first Christmas present though, typically paying more attention to the wrapping paper than the present!

Catching Up!
I have a crop morning tomorrow with VJ and Rachel and I'm hoping to be a bit organised and get several pages finished! I have done the most important bit of prep though - made lots of lovely baked goodies for us all to eat!  That's all for now (if you're still with me?!) and hopefully I will catch up soon and be back on a normal posting schedule!

Christmas starts here....

Night all,

C x

Day 6 JYC

Just a quick post to share my Day 6 entry, as I seem to be still up thanks to a poorly teething baby!

Todays prompt actually asked for a comparison of two different Christmas tales - one good and one not-so-good.  I have moved away from that slightly as I am usually determined that anything "bad" about a Christmas is lost under lots of extra happy memories and I want this journal to be all about the good. I have chosen to cover my first Christmas with my now-husband.

I have taken a leaf out of Rachel's book and had a go at some hidden journalling on this page - I had great fun making the little pocket out of my photo!

The photo itself is the first one taken of us as a couple (and the only one taken of us that Christmas) and now seems to have been lost (2001 was still mainly pre-digital cameras for us!).  This one is a very draft photocopy of the original on plain paper, which I took away to Uni with me and has lived in my memories tin for nearly 9 years now!  It is very bedraggled and has unfortunately suffered a waterstain or two over the years.  Thanks to the magic of Photoshop however, I have managed to pull together a semi-passable picture!!

Off to (hopefully!) get a few hours sleep now!

C x

JYC Day 5, and Day 4!! and more..

Hi all,
I had another JYC crop morning yesterday with VJ and Rachel and it was great fun!  I was actually fairly productive. We had Christmas songs on again, some baked goodies and some good ideas-sharing and suddenly I was really back in the festive mood!!  Just what I needed!


I finished my Day 5 page on Advent...

Sneak peek inside!

and I was in such a good mood, I went back and prepared my Perfect Christmas page!!  Here it is..  

Winning Week!

To really help me in getting cheerful again I have also had a bit of a lucky streak!

At the crop morning the lovely Rachel gave me my prize for winning her Blog Birthday giveaway...

Then I met up with a friend last night who also scrapbooks and she has been having a craft clearout and passed along all these goodies...

I also found out that I won the draw at my local butchers - I now have a whole lamb, cut and packaged for the freezer just in time for Christmas!  I'm not a huge fan of lamb but hubby is the ultimate carnivore and is delighted!!

Quite the winning streak really - would be hard to not be happy! Now, where did I put that lottery ticket...?

C x

Day 3 JYC

Slowly catching up on the blogging!!

Day 3 is about Christmas cards.  My page includes one of the handful of cards I actually found time to make this year!  I have a funny feeling that rather more people than usual will be getting store-bought.  Oh well, it's the thought that counts.  You never know, I may find some spare time hidden under a rug somewhere...!

The journalling is typed into the Christmas card, and I have also included one of the inserts which will go out in the family cards, which has a picture of Miss H on the back.

My next post will jump straight to day 5 as, at the moment, there is no Day 4 - this prompt is about a perfect Christmas, and came on my least Christmassy-feeling day in weeks!  My boiler has decided to leak and has dripped water into the large bag of wrapped Christmas presents which were sat under it!!  I have gone from being super-organised to having to rewrap at least half a dozen presents and certainly replace one, maybe more!!! 

I hope to go back to this prompt and infill when I can sit down and be cheerful about it all again!  I have a JYC crop morning tomorrow so I am hoping this will put me back firmly in the festive spirit!

Off to prepare Day 5 now!

C x

Oops!

Hello blogland!

I have an apology to make - I am behind on my blogging already!  A whole host of things seem to be going wrong at the moment and that means that although I have mainly kept up with actually doing my JYC pages, finding time to post about them has not happened!  Poor Miss H has decided that the first week of December would be an ideal time to teethe - complete with the temperature, rotten cold, disturbed nights, early mornings and lack of naps!!  She actually doesn't seem to be too bothered by it, other than not wanting to sleep - I think Mummy is suffering more!

Well, despite the lack of time Day Two is done - I really loved having snow on the 2nd - all ready for winter weather piccies!

So.. here it is...

Little Miss wasn't too sure on the snow when it first started coming down, but by the time it had come down so much that we couldn't get out of town she was quite enjoying it (or perhaps it was the fact that Daddy had a snow day at home with her that she was enjoying!).

I also took the opportunity to do a bit of Christmas themed baking...

Pokemon style Santa according to hubby!

Day Three will follow shortly (printer error delayed me finishing it so I have yet to take pictures!)

C x

JYC is here!

I'm back - two posts in one day!!

Just a very quick one to share my first page from Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class!

Today is our manifesto, our promise to take back our Christmas and really enjoy every moment of the season.  This is my first year and I am hoping to do a page every day from today to Twelth Night.

Here is today's entry...

For those who want to read it the journalling says:

"I am taking part in Journal Your Christmas for the first time this year as I love the idea of recording what Christmas means to me at this time in my life.

I make a promise to myself now that I will journal every day.  I hope that this will remind me that the season is not just about the presents we open Christmas morning (especially as this year may not be as plentiful - £123/week maternity pay really does not stretch far!!)

I will not forget what is important about Christmas in the stress of returning to work in the middle of December and by committing now to doing one page every day I am making for myself a daily reminder that work isn’t everything and that there’s still lots to look forward to.

This journal will serve as a way to share my thoughts and memories of Hannah’s first Christmas and in years to come I will be able to look back and see what may have changed about our Christmas and even what may have stayed the same, forming new traditions, as our family develops.

So here it is… Merry Christmas!! "

Night all,

C x

Happy 1st December

Hi All,

As it is now officially December I am allowed to get excited about Christmas at home and to kick it all off I have trimmed the tree and started putting out the decorations - I actually did the tree last night as I really wanted to see Miss H's face when she saw it all finished - and it was well worth it as she was very excited by the flashing lights. 

As you can see below, she's very into grabbing everything at the moment, so the family has bets on how long it will survive between little Miss and the kitten!

But here it is as it looked last night  ready for me to spend the next three weeks tweaking it - moving that bauble as there are too many white together, or this one as that section looks crowded etc..

My little tree in the dining room (my decorations will be limited in here as it is Kitten's domain at night!)

The advent calendar in its new home, next to the Specials tree - basically any decoration that I didn't want to put at risk if the main tree were to be pulled down (an abundance of Me To You blue nose bears and a few irreplaceable ones from Disney World etc)

As it is decorate day I didn't want my blog to feel left out so I have decorated here too - what do you think?

That's it for now - still lots of lights to be put up in windows and around furniture - but I really want to get back to finishing off my JYC page and get it posted up (start as I mean to go on!!!).

C x

Pretties!!!

So the day finally arrived - the Christmas craft top-up shop that I have been eagerly counting down to since we booked it in at our last crop morning!

Today VJ, Rachel and I headed out in a blizzard (well ok, maybe not a blizzard but it was snowing!) to go to Notcutts garden centre.  We were definitely feeling Christmassy by the time we arrived and spent quite a while wandering around the displays of decorations!  I bought Miss H a wooden advent calendar which hopefully I will remember to share later once it is out on display properly - now just need to come up with ideas of what to put in it. 

We also took a good few pictures of sights of the season (see we managed some JYC prep even when having a busy day out!)

We also managed a random visit to another garden centre with craft shop on the way home where we spent a great 15 minutes trying on silly headbands with antlers and elf hats on!  It was great fun and also a little bit silly, attracting some very strange looks - which really made it just that bit more fun!

We then decided on the way out that we should get a photo of the three of us together - 10 minutes of clambering in and out of the boot of the car later (the only available tripod!) with three different cameras on different timers and this is my version of the piccie...

Now, on to the new goodies - this is the result of my wonderful day - a nice addition to my Christmas goodies pile (well, box now!).  I really can't wait for the 1st so that I can start using all these wonderful pretties!!

That's it for now, promise!

See you soon,

C x

Counting Down... and a Weather Update!

Hi all,

Just a quick update, as we're getting close to JYC!!! 

I have finally got around to taking a picture of the inside front cover of my album....

I am so happy with it, even though it is quite simple as I have managed to use two new techniques - I finally made an envelope after Rachel's tutorial at our last crop morning and I experimented with rub-ons for the first time!  They really weren't as scary as I thought once I got started!!

Weather Check... we had our first snowfall!!!!  Ok, it was only a little sprinkling, but still - it was definitely white when I opened the curtains. Miss H wasn't quite sure what to make of it!

Just a few more days to JYC and I have made a promise to myself to blog at least every other day, even when I am back at work.  I started at "every day" but thought I should be realistic and I am determined to stick to it! 

In the meantime, I have some more Christmas prep to be getting on with and we have a craft shopping day booked in for Monday, so no doubt I will be posting again before the 1st!

See you all in a few days!

C x

Still here, I promise...!

Hello all,


Just a quick post to let you all know I haven't given up on it before I even get started - just had one of those weeks! 

However, I have achieved something this weekend which I will share with you all - my album arrived and I have actually found time to do the front cover! 

I am very impressed with myself as hubby has been out working all weekend and I have had a very fractious bub permanently attached to my leg - I think she missed me when I went to work and it's going to be worse next week as I am in for four days!


I have also nearly finished the inside cover but just not quite there yet so I will wait until I have definitely finished and am happy(ish) with it before I share!
C x

JYC Prep!

Evening All!

Apologies for the delay - I intended to return last night with an update on our crop morning but it just didn't seem to happen! I have had a manic day (had to go into work for a full day for the first time since I had Miss H!) and am off to bed soon as have another full on day tomorrow!  So much for Maternity leave - I have no idea how I will manage when I actually have to go back to work full time!

Anyway.. happier note! Our JYC prep crop morning was great - so much fun that we have arranged two more crops before Christmas - one in Christmas week itself so good excuse to do some baking as I'm sure no one will be thinking of diets that week (especially not me!).

I managed to get all my page numbers done and am really pleased with how they have turned out...

We also had a bit of a tutorial from the lovely Rachel on how to make our own envelopes and I was hoping to get a few done so that I could share them, but I have yet to actually finish one!! Hohum, at least I'll have something to share with you all soon, while I eagerly await the arrival of my JYC album, which is apparently winging it's way to me now!

Night everyone!

C x

Hello!!

Welcome to my blog!

I have been talked into getting one as I have just signed up to my first scrapbooking class.  I will be taking part in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas, along with my sister VJ, a fellow JYC first-timer, and our friend Rachel who has taken the class for several years.

I hope that having a blog will keep me on track with the class and I am also hoping that perhaps it will encourage me to work my way through my 'To Scrap' basket, as it seems to be taking over my crafting corner!

I am currently at my JYC prep crop morning but needed a bit of help on how to set this up and get started!  So exciting!  Christmas music playing away in the background, Christmas stash boxes everywhere, gossip and coffee - absolute heaven!

Hopefully see you all again soon, with some Christmassy craft pics to post!  (40 days!)

C x