Christmas Journal Cover

So far the class for this journal has give some tips on preparation and some sketches of different layouts to try. The preparation is mainly common sense things such as tidying your workspace and having a routine. It also recommends that you tell people that you are doing this. You are more likely to finish it if people know you are working on it. I have already done those (although who knows how long my workspace will remain clear). I am hoping to post each days page here. Two years ago I had a question every day in the run up to Christmas. I wanted to do something similar again and have decided on this.

I have been itching to get started on this. When you have new project on the horizon it always feels like this. I was tempted to do some of the sketches. The sketches are there to make layouts ahead of the actual class. So that when it comes to each days prompt you are really just adding the journaling and a photo. I personally prefer to wait until the day before I decide what is going on my page. When it comes to scrapbooking I'm not really a planner. Instead I like to see what works as I am doing it. Probably not the best way to work but it works best for me. Seems a little strange since I plan everything else.

Yesterday I was feeling bored and frustrated. Nothing I was working on at the moment appealed to me. So I decided to decorate the cover of my album for this journal. The album I bought for this is a plain beige 8x8. I was very tempted to buy the hot pink at the time. I decided to go against it as hot pink doesn't really scream Christmas. I am glad that I didn't now as I wouldn't have been able to decorate it with traditional colours. I have a thing for sequence and felt just now and so used those along with some ribbon. A photo is supposed to be placed in the window but I really wanted a little felt tree in there instead.

Timewarden, I am so sorry to hear about your mum. I am thinking of you all.

Christmas Is Almost Here!

There are less than 40 days until Christmas. It really doesn't sound a lot when you hear it like that. Once again I am counting down the days. I finished the wall hanging I was making for my mum yesterday. Once I had done all the stitching I put off the backstitching. It doesn't take long but it's just so boring. I finally decided that yesterday I wasn't going to put it down until it was all done. Actually putting it all together was fairly simple and the instructions were easy to follow. My mum was very pleased with it. She is a collector of all things Santa. This year though she has been good and hasn't added to her collection. I decided to do it for her with this.

My sister has been turning her hand to crafts of late. Since moving out she has had to put herself on a strict budget and has turned to crafts to make extra gifts for everyone. She has been making lots of cute Christmas decorations using lovely beads and felt. I was in a craft store recently and that had lots of packs of sequence. I couldn't resist and made these tree decorations using those, felt and beads. I am posting them out to my sister so that she can use them as another idea. The green is my favourite as it is edged in pink beads (the photo doesn't show it too well).

I have a few other Christmas projects that I am working on. I have joined a class to make a Christmas scrapbook journal which I am very much looking forward to. I am making a scarf for myself and once it is finished plan to make one for my gran. I am making one of those banners for my sister (hers has snowmen). I am putting together my own Christmas crafts folder and I still have a few Christmas cards to make. I am going to be busy this month.

Still Alive

I took a little more time away than I planned. Still busy at work but I also came down with a cold. Only a slight cold so I'm fine now.

I finished stitching the witch for my sister and turned it into a little pillow. I'm now glad that I used the fabric that I did as it is just a right size for a pillow. I took two pieces of purple felt and stitched it together using orange thread to fit in with the Halloween colours. Didn't take long to make at all. I wasn't there when my sister got it but she said she loved it.

When I showed the pillow for my sister to my mum she tried to steal it. I had to snatch it back out of her hands. As a surprise I got to work on a pillow for her. Along with the witch there was a chart of this cat which was shown as a card. Once again I used the smaller fabric count and attached it to a pillow made from felt. It's actually small enough to be used as a pin cushion. My mum has a habit of leaving sewing needles all over the place (not that I can talk!). I have also been working on some Christmas items but have no photo's as yet since my camera broke down on me. Have to wait until my dad isn't using his so that I can take some snaps.

Thank you everyone for your comments on the beaded ornament. One of the Christmas items I have been working on is the drum (which is actually finished). I am thinking that the violin is next as it's my favourite. I had always wanted to learn to play the violin when I was younger but was never allowed. Took up the clarinet instead. I think my parents must have thought that a clarinet would be less painful to the ears than a violin when in the hands of a beginner. How little they knew, lol!

Lili, I've never had a book put me off a place that I love. Not that I'm well travelled mind you. Have you ever read a book that has made you want to visit somewhere? For me Murakami's books have all made me want to visit Japan. Everything else I have read on Japan since has just increased that.

Timewarden, I quite like the track "I can't decided". It's actually becoming rarer and rarer these days to find an album that doesn't have bad language in it. Not something my parents had to worry about when I was little but these days you never know. Some parents that I have dealt with don't seem too bothered by it but others don't always realise it. A few parents I've had to warn about some CD's have been very surprised.

Crazee4books, I do like vampire stories although I don't go out of my way to pick them out. I think vampire stories are difficult to write well. Actually, maybe the horror genre is difficult to write well as I said the same thing about ghost stories. I did read one of the Anita Blake stories by Laurel Hamilton but didn't think much of it.