Oh it hurts...

Where did today go? I feel like it's been busy, busy, busy...yet we haven't really done that much. Must have something to do with trying out a new recipe which we spent nearly all afternoon (!!) cooking. Saw a re-run of "Nigella Bites" the other day and got really tempted to try her ham in coca-cola (!!). So off to the shops we went this morning and bought a ham. Nearly £11!! Didn't think ham was that expensive LOL! Anyway, boiled it this afternoon and glazed it in the oven.

The result? It was actually really nice (she says who was rather skeptical at first!). And that even comes from a person who are not especially ham crazy. Got lots left over too so we'll have some for lunch tomorrow and then some more left over after that too. So I think it was worth the long cooking after all.

I thought I would share my Christmas journal page 8 with you also. This was all about what is typical for this time of year, what things you notice appearing, what things are changing etc. I didn't really follow this so much. Instead I did my own little thing using lots of squares.

Been suffering with a migraine the last few days so apologies for any spelling mistakes etc. I have to go back and change about every second word (and I'm not joking!!) as I type this because my brain just isn't functioning at all. Off to have a rest, this computer is not doing me any good...

Christmas Journal Day 7

And another day of my Christmas journal. Yesterday's prompt was all about Christmas shopping: what you're buying, if you are a person who love the busy shops at Christmas or if you hate all the hunting for carparking spaces, the queuing in the shops etc. If you have bought everything well in advance, or of you're there with panic in your eyes, hunting the shops the day before Christmas.


I definitely do not like the queues in the shops. It gets me very impatient. LOL! And compared to what I'm used to from Sweden, the shops are so much more busy (and so much earlier before Christmas) in England than they are in Sweden. So we try our very best to get our Christmas shopping done early.


We actually bought the first present in early September (!!) but that was only because we ran into something good for my brother just by pure chance. Normally we don't start until mid October or so. Really struggled with some presents for dad as I was determind NOT to "get something just because", but I wanted something that really was good and that he needed/wanted. However I'm pleased to say that after 2 months (!!) of thinking we have finally come up with some things for him and the last one (mail-order) arrived here on Tuesday.

Back to my journal page... I have included a list of the presents we're giving, which is tucked in beind the photo. Handy to have for next year, so it might be something I will start doing ---> making a note every year what we gave everyone.


I have actually *just* finished my page for today too. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to take photos yet. So that will have to wait until tomorrow. But I can tell you that it was lots of fun to do and there are lots of little squares involved...

Where to store the stamps...

I struggled a bit with my idea for my Christmas journal yesterday. The theme was to write about two opposite Christmases. One very special and one not so special (maybe something went wrong etc). I'm not sure if I'm very lucky or not, but our Christmases are always good and very special. We love the family traditions that we have created and therefore they are very much the same. I'm sure there were years when I really, really wished for something and got a bit disappointed when I didn't receive it. But I can't remember anything in particular.

So therefore I changed the theme a bit to suit something that I could do. I wrote about something that really made us smile. When Santa returned! :)

Sticking with my same theme of Basic Grey Blitzen as my base card for the page. Lots of Making Memories rub-ons and my usual date stamp. I mounted the photo onto double-folded cardstock and the little ribbon tab is to pull the photo to one side to read the journaling hidden under the photo.

I have also nearly finished the page for today. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see that one...

I'm sitting here starring at a little pile of acrylic stamps (in their original packages) on my desk. You know, the Autumn Leaves clam shell packaged ones etc. Well my desk is so small that I just need to find a place for them. But a handy, easy to get to place, otherwise they won't be used. I've been thinking about this for over a week now (well I HAVE done other things too!! LOL!) and I'm really stuck for where/how to store them. I really like to keep them in their inividual packages. My little craft room is SO tiny, there really isn't much space...So please share with me in the "comments" section how you store yours. I need help please...

Advent...

I felt rather stuck with yesterday's page in my Christmas journal for most of the day. I guess I have discovered that I struggle a bit with fitting photos in nicely because of the format I picked. But that's easy to say now LOL! If I could change my mind I think I would have gone for something square and a bit bigger. Also I had planned to do a lot of hand journaling, but I find that most of the time I have so much to write that I need to use the computer and printer to be able to fit it on my pages.

Anyway I finally came up with an idea how I would fit my photos AND my journaling on yesterday's page.


I used the two photos as doors. Just like an advent calendar. Which was rather appropriate, since the subject for the day was about counting down to Christmas. So the photos made the doors and some jewelled Making Memories brads made perfect little "handles" on the doors with some embroidery thread to close them.


Inside is all my journaling. I wrote all about the advent calendar and the traditions from when I was little, the advent candle and the special Swedish 4 candle advent holder. I really enjoyed getting these traditions down on paper.

...and the visit to the Christmas market got postponed yesterday. The rain was pouring down like crazy all evening (and night too). So it was definitely the right decision. We said we'd go today instead. But after a whole morning of rain we have cancelled it for today too. Oh well! We can't go tomorrow, so we're hoping for Friday now...

Card dare #7

When I read the subject of the new Cardmakers Dare on Friday, I knew exactly what stamp to use. The theme for this week was to use a part of a Christmas song. My "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" stamp fit that perfectly.


Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to do my card until today. It's not so complicated really. Red cardstock as the base. The stamp used to form a "square" on the white card. Some Basic Grey patterned paper in the middle and some decorated Christmas trees made with a Rusty Pickle stamp.

I haven't even started my Christmas journal for today yet. Makes me feel rather guilty and stressed really... I'm not sure why. Normally I would have it done by this time. I guess I don't feel in a creative mood at all. I mean, I know what photos I could use...I know roughly what journaling I could do. I guess I just can't come up with a nice idea to put it on paper. If anyone has seen any creativity around, could you please add it in the comments? Thanks LOL!

Have been feeling rather excited as we have planned to go to a Christmas market tonight. However I'm not sure the weather is on our side. Since yesterday afternoon the rain has pretty much poured down all night and day, not to mention the wind. It was looking a bit nicer at lunchtime today, but now it's gone all horribly grey and dark again with a fine drizzle of rain. Hoping we don't have to cancel out plans, but it's not looking good...

How I want my Christmas to be...

Today's page for my Christmas journal was all about how you want your ideal Christmas to be. I'm very lucky as my Christmas is already how I want it to be and I can't think of anything I want to change, so that's what I have journalled about.


And a close-up of the journaling so you can (hopefully!) read it too.


Now I think I might have some explaining to do. "Donald Duck on Christmas???" you're all thinking, right? LOL! Okay let me explain something about a typical Swedish Christmas. First of all, the day you celebrate on, give/receive gifts, eat your special Christmas food etc is on Christmas Eve (24th of December). 25th of December (Christmas Day) is no more special that the 26th (Boxing Day) is in any other country.

Now onto Donald Duck (!!) and what that's all about. LOL! I'm not sure how to explain this for you to understand how HUGE this is, how many people watch this and how important it is to so many people. But anyway, every year since 1959 (!) we have an hour of "Donald Duck and his friends wishes you a Merry Christmas". 15:00 in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. EVERYONE watches this, it IS part of Christmas. This program is almost always in the top 3 programmes watched over the whole year, every year, in Sweden. Most of the program is the same every year (short cartoons with Santa, Mickey, Donald, etc).

So yes you know it by heart (think about my poor parents who have seen EVERY episode - ever!!)...and some people prefer to "watch" it by having a nice little sleep on the sofa. A few years ago the contract for the program had run out and Swedish TV was not going to renew it. This caused such a MASSIVE uproar with the Swedish public that they were forced to keep showing it. So there you have the explaination of Donald Duck and now you know what millions of Swedes do at 15:00 on Dec 24th...every year LOL!

More journaling...

I'm really enjoying making my Christmas journal. I wanted to share page 2 with you yesterday, but Blogger wasn't playing nice so I couldn't.


The second day was all about the winter weather. I'm very torn when it comes to snow. Because I love it when it's snowing and I love nice sunny winter days with pretty white snow on the ground. But at the same time I hate the wet and dirty snow, the slippery ice and the dangerous driving conditions.


I have tried to take a close-up photo so you should be able to read my journaling on the page too. Not sure how well that worked or not. Would be great if someone could post a comment and let me know how well (or not!) you could read it. Thanks!


Spent this morning making my 3rd page in my book. This time it was about Christmas cards. We finished ours a few weeks ago so this was a nice and easy subject. I included a photo of our finished cards and also one of Ross helping me making them. It was so cosy to make them together and I'm so glad I persuaded him to join me.


The photo is not attached on the right side. So under it is a pocket where I have tucked in a sheet which lists the people we're sending cards to this year.

I spent some of the afternoon making some cards for a Design Team which I have been asked to be the guest DT member for. Only got a few days left and then I can tell you all about it. At the moment I think it's at least half secret, so I better not, just in case...

And I'm back...

...not sure what's been wrong with Blogger all afternoon and evening. But now I have finally got it working again! So...to the news that I couldn't share with you yesterday... I had been asked to be a special guest for this week's Speshal Dares. So exciting!!

The theme for this week was "A day in the life of...". Worked on my LO yesterday and decided straight away that I didn't want to go for the obvious thing (=a person). Instead I went for ----> "A day in the life of my desk"!!

I used black cardstock. Lots of small bits of patterned paper down the side.The title is printed onto a transparency which has then been painted with acrylic paint on the back. The rest of the journaling has been printed onto different coloured strips.

This afternoon I did my second page for my Christmas journal. All about the winter weather this time. Far too dark this late to take a photo, but I'll see what I can manage tomorrow...

Sorry...

...wanted to do an update this afternoon, but Blogger is being silly and won't let me upload photos or anything. Will post again as soon as it's back to normal.

And the journal is started...

...so excited to find the first prompt waiting for me when I got up this morning! Spent the morning cutting pages to size to fit my Christmas journal and also stamping loads of little date images and cutting them out. So now I'm all ready and prepared. :)

Then I went to do my first page for my journal. Kind of like an intro page. I'm not quite sure why I'm bothering putting a photo of it here, because it really looks rather horrible on the photo compared to in real life. LOL! I have used Basic Grey Blitzen (which I will use through out my album) and lots of ink and some little star shaped jewels etc.

The journaling reads: "My Christmas Journal 2006. I love Christmas...I think it must be my most favourite time of the year. All the cosy lights, the scents, the planning & the excitement. Been wanting to do a Christmas journal for a while now. So this year it's going to happen! I just hope I can keep it up, as I know I will love the finished journal. Anso" ...and it's dated "Dec 1".

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on something secret and exciting! Something which I can show you tomorrow...