Making progress...

Finally I think this stupid illness is starting to turn. I feel a little better today so I'm trying to force myself (not the best perhaps - I know!) to get a bit ready (with having lost a week!) for the Christmas journal class which I'm taking. It's starting tomorrow!! Aaaaah! If I hadn't become ill I would have been fine, but as it is now I'm just that bit stressed...!! LOL!

So I needed to make some envelopes. I'm doing a mixed sized journal (with pages in different sizes) and I want some to be just envelopes. Never having done a mixed one before, I don't know how many envelopes I will want/need, so I only made four. Two white ones and two with patterned papers by Rhonna Farrer. I found my envelope-making-board which I bought a while back and I was really impressed. It will definitely be used more :)

Then I needed to get the title done for my album cover. I just wanted a simple "Xmas 2007" so I dug out some chipboard letters by Heidi Swapp and started painting them in red acrylic paint. Then I covered them with Stickles glitter (my favourite glitter, stays where it should and doesn't leave horrible dried glue marks on paper/card!) This is the state of them right now...lying drying on the paper I used to paint them on to catch any mess. Think I will leave them overnight to be sure...

Christmas cards...

Have you started making your Christmas cards yet? Or maybe you buy them? :) Last year we were super organised and they were done by the first week in November. This year...let's just say for every week that's passed I have felt more and more panic about it LOL!

I might not be feeling well at the moment but there's nothing wrong with my head - so lying down having a rest yesterday, rather than starring at the ceiling, I started to plan some ideas for our cards. I'm still thinking about some of the finer details, but I hope to get started on them very soon. Will of course show you pics here once they are done too :)

Supplies: Scenic Route papers and arrow, the chipboard stars are by Making Memories (I think!), Chipboard letters by Heidi Swapp and Queen & Co, stamps by Autumn Leaves and October Afternoon plus of course the obligatory (for me!) doodling, buttons and staples.

Oh and some questions/comments I have got:

Marja - you asked about the border around the photo on the layout I posted yesterday and if it was done freehand. Yes it was. I find my biggest problem when I mess up my doodling is that I start drawing thinking "I'm going to mess it up, I'm going to mess it up", I tense up and guess what happens? Yes you do mess it up! LOL! So my best tip is to think something like this before you start putting the pen to paper "It doesn't matter if it doesn't end up perfect...and if I make some big mistake I can always cover it with a chipboard flower (or whatever)" also be sure that your arm and hand are relaxed before you start - that way you get a nice flowing movement with your pen :)

Tessberrs - you wanted to know what my top three scrapping books are. Good question. Almost impossible to answer...but from what I can think of at this very minute when I type this: Elsie Flannigan "52 Scrapbook Challenges", Ali Edwards "Life Artist" and "Freestyle" by Autumn Leaves...though I have to say I also looooove "Doodling For Papercrafters" by Maelynn Cheung.

Judy - ...says I'm in big trouble for posting about my Scrap-Room kits making her go and subscribe too. Well...that can kinda happen can't it?! LOL! And hopefully you're not too seriously upset with me ;)

Wednesday...

Still not feeling any better and the antibiotics don't seem to have kicked in yet... so another quick update I'm afraid LOL! Thought I could show you a layout I did last week as part of my stash diet. And talking about the stash diet...my total is still at 41 out of 50 layouts. On the other hand, I haven't really felt well enough (!) to shop either, so no damage has been done LOL!

Anyway, here's a layout made with papers by A2Z, Bazzill cardstock, Heidi Swapp chipboard, October Afternoon stamp, Doodlebug Frills plus some buttons and my fantastic white Signo pen :)

Still not well...

Sorry there will be nothing fun in my update today. :( I'm still not well. At all. No better. Even 5 minutes on the computer makes me get hot and weak and my heart races like crazy. Not nice. And it drives me a little mad LOL! My head/brain is all alert & thinking and wants to do things, but my body just can't cope with anything.

I have done lots and lots of reading either lying on the bed or on the sofa. Finished a 600 page book in 2 days :) Even sitting at the table to eat something for 5 minutes has me totally exhausted. Yesterday I finally gave in and went to the doctor. The bad news is that I have several infections (chest infection, ear infection and sinus infection) plus a virus that makes me feel really weak, shaky and makes me heart race. Oh joy! No wonder I am feeling so incredibly weak. The good news is that I have got some antibiotics for it all...but it could take quite a few days before I feel much better.

Anyway, I will try my very best to keep updating my blog daily though (and I have lots of layouts from my stash diet still to show you! :)) even though I had to go and rest in the middle of this post LOL!

Got my Scrap-Room kit...

Yay finally got my Scrap-Room kit today!! :) Seems like I was one of the last few to get it this month. Not sure what's happening really. Before the summer I always got my kit very quickly...but since then my kit has always been very late. I guess it only works out fair in the end though. LOL!

Still feeling really unwell so it's another short update today - sorry.

Not well...

Sorry this is only a very quick update as I'm not well at the moment. Just typing this is making me feel really hot and weak. Still, I wanted to post something, so I'm leaving you with a layout I did earlier in the week...

Supplies: Sassafras Lass papers and diecuts, Bazzill cardstock, Doodlebug paper frills, October Aftrnoon stamp etc

November class...

Please head over to A Trip Down Memory Lane to check out my latest class :) Thank you :)

My Christmas Journal is starting to take shape...

Basically from the start I knew I wanted to do a mixed size Christmas journal. Some full size pages, some half size pages, some envelopes and maybe some pages which just consisted of a photo. But that still didn't solve the size problem. I needed to figure out at what size I wanted my *largest* pages, to work out what size I needed to make my covers. So I sat down today with a pencil and paper and drew lots of different sizes. Result: I'm going with 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches). Though I doubt too many pages inside will actually be this size.

Then I made my covers from scratch. Each cover is made by using 4 sheets of cardstock glued back-to-back and then covered on the inside and outside. The front cover has this really pretty green paper with lots of glittery white swirls and blue stars. The back has a more plain (no glitter) green paper on it.

And the inside of both the front and back cover look like this. All papers are by Rhonna Farrer.

I have not decorated the front yet, but I think I want something fairly simple like a nice chipboard title in the bottom right corner or something. Also I will not bind my book until January when I know how thick it turns out. I'd like to bind it with my Bind-It-All....but frankly there's no chance the biggest wires would have bound my book from last year (and I didn't even scrap very bulky at all) so I don't dare pre-binding it! LOL! This way I can always use bookrings if needed :)

Back scrapping...

I had a day without (!) any scrapping yesterday. That felt seriously weird! LOL! I have been scrapping so much since I started this "stash diet". I think there hasn't been a day this month when I haven't made at least one layout, if not multiple ones. Needless to say I'm back scrapping today :)

Oh and for those of you who are wondering where I am on the stash diet, the current total is: 40 out of 50 layouts done. And as I am typing this, I'm about 2/3 through another layout - but of course I can't count that just yet ;)

Supplies: Scenic Route papers from the "Salem" collection, Hambly transparency, rub-ons by October Afternoon (owl) and Rhonna Farrer ("Serene" text), October Afternoon stamp, Heidi Swapp chipboard heart...plus some ribbons, buttons and staples.

Cake...

I'm soooo tired today. It's been really dark here now for three days in a row and it really affects your energy LOL! So I'm leaving you with a pic of my cake from yesterday to look at instead. Seriously yummy and we have lots left too :)

Oh almost forgot:

Kara - the stamp you asked about is by CatsLife Press. Hope you'll be able to get it :)