Monday Moments

Just grabbing a few minutes to myself to put up today's share.  It's actually both for a challenge and my journal, so saving me some precious time.

The challenge at Sketch Saturday was to use any layout from the past few months and I found this one, number 216 from July, that really appealed.

 

Here's the digi page I did for my journal based on this sketch;

Advent calendar task 23: Build a sleigh from lego and find your treat in the hall. They've been getting up and going downstairs and quietly getting on with the tasks without disturbing the sleepy grown ups. Here's what they built:

 

I think they earned their treat.

Journal Your Christmas day 22: Using the digi page from above plus a bit more.

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Sunday Slot

Well I can't quite believe it but I've survived the supermarket shop and managed to make a card to share today.  Just needed something to fill my time while the grandsons were visiting their other granny and grandad.

I used the layout from Freshly Made Sketches and the colours from ColourQ. It was good to get my stamp sets out again and make something nothing to do with Christmas for a change.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, All Occasion Sentiments #2, Background Builders Round In Circles

Ink: Memento, truffle crunch, rose bud; adirondack, pool; Ranger distress ink, crushed olive

Embellishments: Twine & buttons from my stash

Advent calendar task 22: Look for today's treat near a snowman - a bit of a treasure hunt.

Journal Your Christmas day 21: All about shopping both for food and presents. 

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

 

Saturday Scribble

Hi there and welcome to the last weekend before the BIG day! Supermarket scrum for me today, practising deep breathing and keeping calm!

Advent calendar task 21: Draw your favourite Christmas tree decoration to earn today's treat. Now they're here the tasks have become child friendly.

Journal Your Christmas day 20: All about their journey and how they nearly didn't make it.  None of the ferries ran yesterday, I can only begin to imagine the backlog, but here's hoping anyone who needs to travel either way for Christmas is able to get a crossing.

 

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Memory Nest round up week 3

 A round up of my journal pages to share at The Memory Nest.  Follow the link to check out their blog hop!

 

Thanks for looking and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Friday Focus

So they're here and now my Christmas really starts! A last minute dash last night to beat the probable cancellation of this morning's scheduled ferry, arrival at 12:30am, rest of the night at a Premier Inn and finally here for lunch.  Good decision - the ferry was cancelled and it would have been Monday at the earliest if the weather improved and there were spaces - such a relief to have them here!

And now it's happened I can share my Christmas wish from my Advent calendar task 15 - It was that they would be able to get here for Christmas.

Advent calendar task 20: Go on a Christmas lights spotting walk.

Journal Your Christmas day 19: All about our visit yesterday to Chatsworth House.  They certainly know how to put on a show, it was all just magical.

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Thursday Thoughts

Well the mincemeat struesel was amazing, but unlike Mary Berry's mine crumbled everywhere.  I highly recommend the mincemeat recipe - very tangy and tasty.

Advent calendar task 19: It's an eat chocolate day. YAY!

Journal Your Christmas day 18: All about the mincemeat struesel of course!

 

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Wednesday Words

Actually not many words today! I was out yesterday having a lovely lunch with my crafty friends.  So lots of chatter but no crafting apart from my journal entry.

Advent calendar task 18: Make mince pies. Well I thought I'd have a go at Mary Berry's mincemeat struesel instead of the traditional pies.  I watched her on television last night and it looked quite easy, so I printed off the recipe.  Mmm, needs quite a lot of ingredients I don't have,  just as well it's shopping day with dad today then!  Will let you know if it turns out to resemble anything like hers.

Journal Your Christmas day 17: A page about my left to do list and of course my Christmas lunch yesterday.

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Tuesday Talk

Feeling quite calm today and have actually got a quick share too! 

I made a couple of money envelopes yesterday for my great niece and nephew and as they turned out pretty ok I thought I'd share them today.  They were so simple to make, just a rectangle of pretty paper folded and stapled to make an envelope - yep stapled for super quickness! Then a die cut shape with a stamped tree, sequins and a bow and they were done.

 

Supplies:

Paper: Stampin Up

Die: Xcut

Stamp: Uniko Studio, Jolly Christmas

Ink: Memento, cottage ivy

Embellishments: sequins & ribbon from my stash

Advent calendar task 17: Read a Christmas story or poem.  So I fished these off the shelf ready to read when my grandsons arrive.

 

Journal Your Christmas day 16: 

  

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Memory Nest Roundup

I'm just adding this extra post today to share my Christmas Journal pages with The Memory Nest weekly roundup.  Check out their blog hop, much to inspire!

Thanks for dropping by and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Monday Moment

Trying to be very quick today as I'm beginning to run out of time.  Maybe the time has come when blogging is going to have to take a back seat for a while.  I'll try to snatch a few minutes to at least share my advent calendar and Christmas Journal, but don't be surprised if things get a bit quiet until the New Year.

I do have a card to share today and I'm entering it into two challenges - CAS(E)this sketch and Curtain Call

 

    

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Stunning Snowflakes, Background builders Christmas; Molly Blooms, stitching

Inks: Memento, summer sky, angel pink, toffee crunch

Embossing: pearl plum powder

Advent calendar task 16: Watch a Christmas movie or show.  Think it will have to be Kirstie Allsop's Christmas crafts on Channel 4 as I'll be at my dad's tonight.

Journal Your Christmas day 15: All about decorations.

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Sunday Slot

So how's your weekend going? I'm feeling more chilled now I know all my cards are written and ready to post, just need to buy stamps and I'm done.

Two cards to share today. The first one is the very last Christmas card I'm making this year and I used the Freshly Made Sketches current challenge as my starting point.  I've been using a lot of peel off stickers for my Journal Your Christmas pages and thought I might see how one looked on a card - super quick and easy which is what I need at the moment.

 

So then I got to thinking if it would work for a birthday card.  I don't have any suitable stickers, so I made my own sentiment block and colour matched it to a piece of pretty paper.  I think it turned out ok.

Supplies:

Card 1:
Sticker: ep, this and that Christmas
Embellishments: Washi tape from my stash
Card 2:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, All Occasion Sentiments #2 & #3, Flower Power #3

Inks: Memento, rose bud, summer sky, pear tart, lilac posies
Paper: Forever Friends

Embellishments: Washi tape from my stash

Advent calendar task 15: Make a Christmas wish.  All done, but I can't share or it won't come true.  Will let you know if it happens.

Journal Your Christmas day 13: All finished and caught up again! It's about my pile of Christmas cards that didn't get written & posted as planned.

Journal your Christmas day 14: All about our trip to Woolsthorpe Manor, the birthplace of Isaac Newton.

Thanks for dropping by and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Saturday Scribbles

Getting on with my post today before the day starts to take over like yesterday.

Just one little card to share inspired by my cards from yesterday, but using the colours from Color Throwdown. Such pretty subtle colours, just perfect for a birthday card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Unilko Studio, #1, #2 & #3

Inks: Memento, London fog, pear tart, sweet plum

Die: freebie from papercraft essentials magasine

Embellishments: pearl, paper string from my stash

Advent calendar task 14: Visit Woolsthorpe Manor.  This was a plant as I knew I had this booked when I inserted the cards.

Journal Your Christmas day 13: not quite finished, catch up tomorrow, fingers crossed!

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Friday Focus

Really really late today, almost at the point of giving up hope of ever getting round to writing this post. Well it is Friday 13th and I've had a bit of a frustrating day sitting with my dad waiting for the gas man to turn up.  The original time slot was 8:00am-1:00pm and he finally came at 3:00pm, the last two hours were the longest as I'd not taken anything with me to keep myself occupied and I'm not the best at sitting doing nothing.  But hey time to move on!

Today's trio of cards were made just for my own pleasure without any challenges in mind.  I needed a card for a late December birthday and had this idea floating around in my head and really liked the complete simplicity of how it turned out. So, of course, I made two more. They'll slot very nicely into my birthday book for the New Year.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Flower Power #1, #2 & #3

Inks: Memento, lilac posies, bamboo leaves, rose bud, grape jelly

Embellishments: gemstones from my stash 

Advent calendar task 13: Write Christmas cards.  Well I helped my dad write his, hand delivered some and got the rest ready for posting, but mine are still on my desk where I plonked them this morning before dashing round to my dad's. Obviously my nest job!

 

Journal Your Christmas day 12: All about keeping the 'Merry' in Christmas.Phot is not too good, had to take it this evening when the light is not great.

 

Thanks for dropping by this evening and sending belated Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Thursday Thoughts

And yet another christmas card today, but couldn't resist entering CASology's challenge of using a snowflake. I wanted to keep this card simple and chilly with, of course, a healthy dosing of glitter.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Flower Power #2 & All Occasion sentiments #4

Ink: Adirondack, pool

Embossing: cutlebug folder

Die: Marianne

Embellishmsnts: Stickles, star dust

Advent calendar task 12: Listen to Christmas music. Well that should be easy as I'm going shopping this morning, the difficult thing will probably be NOT to listen to Christmas music! So what's your favourite? For a carol mine is The Little Drummer Boy, and for popular it has to be So This Is Christmas, John Lennon.

Journal Your Christmas day 11: All about lists and traditions. I was so thrilled to get these photos of my grandsons at the beginning of December when they wrote their letters to Santa - I am blessed and thankful to have family that tries to keep in touch across the miles.

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane

Wednesday Words

Up later today so need to get my skates on!

A Christmas card to share today.  I was having a clear out and found a card lurking that I made a couple of years ago and decided to take it to pieces and re-vamp it using the Sketch Saturday challenge.  The only bits I re-used are the tree and the ribbon. I like the clean look of this card with all its white layers,

 

 

Supplies:

Stamp: Clearly Besotted, Holiday Sentiments

Ink: Memento,cottage ivy

Embossing: Cuttlebug, swiss dots

Die: Spellbinders, petite ovals large

Punch: Xcut corner rounder

Embellishments: peel off, ribbon & sequins from my stash

Advent calendar task 11: Eat more chocolate - easy peasy!

Journal Your Christmas day 10: All about my trip to Belton yesterday.

Thanks for dropping by today and sending Christmas sparkle to you.

Jane