I am sooooooo excited for tomorrow! December 1st means one thing ... the start of Journal Your Christmas with Shimelle!
I'm all ready this year. I have my numbers ready as I've already shared:
And now I've completed my album cover:
I've got all my Xmas stash in a basket and I'm ready to go! Eeeeeek!
To my great excitement my "Christmas in a Box" kit arrived from Shimelle this week. It was packed full of goodies and I just couldn't wait to start preparing my album!!
This year I am using a 6x8 D ring binder from Simple Stories and a selection of the page protectors that go with it. I love the grungy, vintage look of the Simple Stories Christmas collections and had some leftovers from last years kit. To these I added Shimelle's kit and some new Simple Stories elements. The overall look of my album this year will be muted reds and greens with the occasional bit of pink and blue. There will be Kraft card stock, but there will also be the odd burst of a more vibrant shade of those colours to make it still feel exciting. I want it to match but not in an OCD way!!!! I like texture and vibrancy and really don't like just using one collection. I like to mix it up a bit!
Anyways, today I did my date labels for the album.
These numbers are good to go. I may add additional embellishment like gems etc depends on now I am feeling each day and how they fit with the page.
These are made using Red labels from Jenni Bowlin, Countdown stickers from Simple Stories' "Handmade Holiday" collection and American Crafts seasonal ribbon.
This evening I have started cutting up papers to go in my divided page protectors. These are also from the "Handmade Holiday" collection by Simple Stories. I've inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink. These lovely elements are double sided. I may not use them all, but I wanted to go ahead and cut them out and ink them to save some time:
I like to be extra organised for JYC. I've learned in the past that I fall behind unless my kit is all to hand and easy to get at. So this evening I am going to start that and get it in a basket ready to come out on December 1st!
I don't like to prepare my pages too much in advance as I really like to create something that matches my mood on the day, so other than the numbers and journalling elements I won't prepare any more now... other than pawing over my lovely stash as I lovingly organise it of course!!!
This year has been an amazing year for me! From October last year onwards I was in a very dark place and feeling very down and lost. Slowly I have re-found myself and feel strong once again. I feel like Me again! And what is one outcome of this?? Halloween decor!!!!!
Last year I didn't decorate, which is just ludicrous for me as All Hallows is so special to me.
It is Samhain, the Celtic new year and that is the spiritual Path I follow, so of course it's special to me!
I know pumpkins aren't a tradition Samhain thing, but they are part of our Halloween culture (and anyway, they just look to damn great when carved not to include them!!!)
Here are some snapshots of my day (taken with Hipstamatic app on my iPhone, the film is 'Float' and the lens 'Roboto Glitter'. It is my fave spooky look!) I can't wait to scrapbook these!!!!
Well, in the end I whacked the heating on, drank lots of water and surgically attached my nose to a box of tissues so I could scrap!
I'm glad I did as I made two layouts and will move on to the next prompts today. The three layouts I used actually did use the B side as the main side so I unwittingly followed prompt 2 too!!!
Here are my pages:
Despite finishing work at 2pm today I haven't done a lot with my afternoon yet. I have a bit of a cold coming and feel all run down and drained :0(
I've spent some time curled up under a blanket with my cat reading blogs. I've now downloaded prompt 2 of Shimelle's Scrapbook Remix class. Before I think about the though, I want to make a list of things I want to do from prompt one (using the Garden Variety collection as a starting point):
* create a page using 2 colours
* create a page using 3 colours
* create a page using lots of colours
Not sure how much of this I'll get done today!
Before I get out from my cosy blanket nest I'm going to read prompt 2 and add the to do list from there here too!
Prompt 2 is great- B sides!
* recreate a page of my own I love using B sides
Other suggestions include the use of washi tape, stamps and mixing collections by the same designer. I just wish I had enough energy to scrap :0(
Ok, so I'm in my craft room and I have prompt one from Shimelle I've decided to use the "Garden Variety" crafting kit from Cosmo Cricket. Shimelle is using "Sunshine and Happiness" by Bella Blvd but I don't have that collection. Her tip is to use something sunshiny to follow along with this prompt and this set from Cosmo is certainly bright and cheery!!
I have had this crafting kit for a few years and have made quite a few ages from it. That said, there are still quite a few full sheets and lots of scraps left so here I go...
And here is the finished page! A disaster with a blunt cutter blade lead to the happy accident of deciding to distress the edges of all the papers. I like the look! It's something I used to do a lot but haven't used this style for a while.
