Until Next Year...

OK so it's a little on the late side but better late than never right. I have finally finished my JYC 2010 album! Can I get a whoop whoop? ;o) I have to confess (eek, should I?!) I have a strange love/hate relationship with mini books. I love the idea, I love that you can dig out some co-ordinating stash, make a huge dent in it and not waste time digging through moutains of scrapbooking supplies. But... I find myself getting really bored before I've finished :o( I lose interest and cannot wait to start my next project so rush to put an end to my mini adventure (OMG, did I just admit that?!) Anyway here is my take on JYC 2010...


I used a packet of 4x6 AC page protectors (inspired by Laura's Paris Mini Book), Sharon Ann's Christmas Magic collection by LYB, some very old Making Memories metal charms, the flowers are Glittered Dahlia's - Jolly Christmas by Petaloo, and a some bits and pieces from Jolly and Bright by Heidi Grace.

The photo is of our Yankee Candle Snowman Family tart burner. We bought him on honeymoon in the Yankee Candle Shop in the Florida Mall {heart}. I love that this depicts our little family as we are now, Mummy, Daddy and wee man :)

And here is the wee man opening his first 'door' on his advent calendar. This was a hugh deal this year as it was the first year Jack was able to eat chocolate at Christmas and it's the first time he's been able to understand the concept of an advent calendar although I don't think he really 'got it' but he knew there would be something waiting for him in the little pocket of his Santa everyday.

I know I wasn't the only one to see some white stuff this year. This is our backgarden in all its snowy glory.

What can I say. I love my Christmas tree. It's not an expensive tree, it's plastic and at the grand old age of 7 it is starting to look at little worse for wear but almost every decoration has a story to tell. All the non-discript red and gold baubles were bought in 2003 when we bought the tree and could only afford the basics. All our honeymoon ornaments bought at Walt Disney World in 2007 are there. All the ornaments we bought on our first trip to Orlando in 2005 are there too. There are ornaments from our friends. Baubles we were given at a friends wedding that were used a place settings with our names on from 2005. The Spaceform ornament that we were given on our first wedding anniversary, ornaments with Jack's name on, baby's first Christmas ornaments from 2008. I love putting the tree up and reliving each and every one of those memories.

This is Jack's Christmas wish list, I made it up as he's too little to make a list but if he could this is what I think he would have asked for. Funnily enough Santa brought everything on the list.

We have a lot of Disney Christmas decorations. We're huge Disney fans and spent our honeymoon there in December 2007. For me Disney and Christmas go hand in hand = magic. All our Disney decorations remind me that Disney is truely a wonderful place to be especially at Christmas.

This was Jack's first time meeting Santa and he wasn't too sure about him. I think his face in this photo says it all. He happily shouted 'bye Santa' all the way out of the grotto though!

No actual gifts under the tree for fear of little 2 year old hands helping themselves to them :o)

He's been! Our livingroom after Santa had been.

I'm not sure what I'll do next year. I'm sure I'll want to join in again but maybe not a mini book... until next year... thanks for stopping by Kxx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Don't you just love that song? It's not just me is it. It reminds me of our honeymoon or our 'Disneymoon' to WDW in December 2007. It seemed to be playing everywhere we went, from themeparks, restaurants or shops. And even before I hit Joanns I knew I would be using the title on a page for our honeymoon album. And here it is. Mainly Heidi Grace and Bazzill with a wooden floral embellie from Joanns that isn't quite the right type of flower but it's the right colours so why not :)

It is now beginning to look a lot like Christmas around my home too and just for a change I am not talking about the snow! Incidentally, do you know what I can see? Tarmac! It's a small piece but it's tarmac all the same. Hello tarmac, oh how I've missed thee...

OK so back to the sights of Christmas in my home, afterall I said I wasn't going to talk about the snow! Fail! I've tried to leave a little bit of white space in these pictures so I can journal and emellish them at a later date. As my Christmas journal is a teeny 4x6 in size, the extra space will come in very handy.

In these pictures there are a couple of new ornaments for this year; I bought the Dear Santa ornaments in a little shop in Kenmore when we were away last month. And there are also a couple of old favourites; the Bah Humbug and Here Comes Santa ornaments were bought a few years ago in the Hallmark sale - result! Our two novelty Yankee Candle tart warmers; we bought the snowman one from the Yankee Candle shop in the Florida Mall on our honeymoon. I love that there are three little snowmen just like our little family of three :) The Christmas tree tart warmer is a new addition this year and is a piece that I have been looking for for 3 years now. And my little man's Santa advent calendar. I added an extra piece of ribbon to it this year so it can hang from the door at 2 year old height :)

Thanks for stopping by Kxx

Stand on your two left feet...

...and join our Raggy Doll chums. I have no idea why I have the Raggy Dolls theme tune playing in my head. I think it is pretty safe to say that cabin fever has finally set in. I've been snowed in for 11 days now. I am so over the snow it is unreal although it has made for some very pretty festive pictures.
Suddenly the soundtrack in my head has switched to 'the weather outside is frightful'... being stuck indoors has meant that I have had lots of time to work on my Christmas journal.
Thanks for stopping by. Kx

and breathe...

It's no coincidence that I should receive an email reminding me to stop and enjoy the world around me on what has been an extremely stressful day. Thank you Shimelle and to all those taking part in JYC who make this class possible. If you haven't already signed up, you should :) Cue M&S music... this isn't any old scrapbooking class, it's therapy! ;) The fickle finger of fate, I salute you :)

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My Manifesto for the JYC Project

As I started to put ink to paper a manifesto for this project (not the theme of this project) started to form in my mind.

I am not going to be bogged down deciding which supplies to use. I will not wait until I have just the right shade of ink before starting my project. I am using Sharon Ann's Christmas Magic collection by LYB and that's an end to the matter. And I'll use the ink I have to hand and to be honest the one and only shade of green that I have isn't a bad match.

I'll pick a format and stick to it. I'm not waiting until I have all my photos. I am using a packet of 4x6 AC page protectors (inspired by Laura's Paris Mini Book) and that's that. I'm going to have one page for journalling and one page for photos, therefore the photos can be added at the end or whenever.

This project is going to be doable. This is a project that I am going to finish.

And to that end, I have a plan, I have my mojo and I have a front cover! Thanks to Shimelle for an inspiring, kick in the bottom first prompt yesterday. For anyone who is swithering whether to take this class or not I say GO FOR IT!! I cannot wait to get started on page two and all of a sudden a project that I have wanted to do for so long but feared at the same time seems doable but much more importantly, enjoyable too.

Journal your Christmas

Happy 1st of December. Today is a really happy day for me, firstly it is my 3rd wedding anniversary, it's the first day of advent and the first day of JYC.

Like everyone we have had a lot of snow these last few days and I can't help but wonder how we would have felt had the weather been like this 3 years ago on our wedding day. Would our wedding guests have made it through the snow?, would we have braved the elements for some winter wonderland photos? Would we have made our flights from Edinburgh and Gatwick to Orlando? I do know that am thankful that the snow stayed away until now.



Today my little man opened his first advent calendar. This is his 3rd Christmas but he was too little for chocolate on his 1st Christmas by his 2nd Christmas he had been diagnosed with a milk intollerance. This year he grew out of his milk intollerance and this Christmas he has chocolate in his advent calendar for the first time and a selection box under the tree. Well he would have a selection box if we hadn't broken into it today. Did I mention that we are snowed in? :p



Today's prompt for JYC asks us to consider what we want from JYC. What do I want from JYC 2010...? Hmm... I want to make a little book that documents OUR Christmas, OUR traditions, what WE do at Christmas time. I want to create something I can add to over the years maybe all in one album or several - I'll just wait and see how I get on. I want to remember the little things, the small things that make Christmas, Christmas.

Things I want to remember about today:

• We are snowed in and have been for 4 days
• It's our 3rd wedding anniversary


• It's the 1st of the month and Jack opened his first advent calendar


• Charlie Cat has sat around all day looking miffed at being stuck indoors
• This is the most snow we have ever seen


• This is the first time that we already have the Christmas decorations up (we put them up the first day we were snowed in)

I don't intend to do something crafty everyday but I am hoping to be able to blog my thoughts of the day and use them at a later date to create my JYC album.

Happy 1st of December!