Friday Focus

I'm back again today with the second page spread of my Christmas journey.

This tells the story of the purchase of the real tree and how it eventually got put into place. Once again the digi elements are from Studio Double D available from Designer Digitals.

I love that I was able to use one of the cards from a Pocket Letter sent to me last year by my Australian pen pal Helen. I plan to use most of the other cards throughout this year's pages and actually chose my colour scheme based on Helen's Pocket Letter colours.

I simply adhered the PL card - which incidentally is the same size as an atc card - onto a 4x6 piece of patterned paper. Takes the whole memory keeping idea to a new level don't you think?

I'd love it if you left me a comment and a link to your blog if you're keeping a Christmas journal this year. Then I can pop over and leave you some love too!

Thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog today, I really appreciate it.

And keep crafting!

Thursday Thoughts

This year I'm once again scrapping my Christmas journey and once again doing it as a December Non-Daily!

I'm going to journal and photograph as much as I can and share as much as I can get round to here on my blog, but with no pressure on myself to do either. I took this approach last year and found it a far more enjoyable process than forcing a daily record when, let's face it, some days there really is nothing much to tell. And other days there's loads to tell but no time to get it all recorded for a daily share.

Here's my first 2018 introductory element:

I used a combination of digi stamps along with a Katie Pertiet template - all purchased from Designer Digitals.

And to make things even more simple this year I'm using Project Life photo pockets inside my 2018 scrapbook album. Here's the first spread:

You'll notice my Christmas journey actually started before December and that's another reason for not calling it a December Daily.  The journal cards have been made using Studio Double D stamps from Designer Digitals and created using Photoshop Elements on my laptop.

Huge thanks for looking today. I love that you found time to read my blog. 

And keep crafting!

Tuesday Talk

I'm really enjoying creating my December album this year and it has a lot to do with the removal of the pressure to keep up and create a page every day. Yep I'm being revoloutionary and creating a December album that's not a daily!

And it's a totally digital version this year. So much quicker to put together and although I still have to choose elements they're not scattered all over my craft room desk and floor!

 So that's the real tree all done and dusted. And I do love a bit of candle light.



As it's not a daily the penny has finally dropped that I don't need to date every page, just those days that I particularly want to flag up. Even more pressure removed!

Supplies: All from Designer Digitals and mostly Katie Pertiet

Are you keeping a December record? If you want to see how some real class acts put their albums together go check out the Let's December Daily ladies - HERE. But don't be intimidated just impressed by their talent and remember the simple act of taking time to reflect a little is the simplest form of a December record.

Thanks for your time today, hope you've enjoyed your visit.  And keep (Christmas) crafting!

Thursday Thoughts

Today I'm sharing my first page  for my non-December Daily.  As I think I've mentioned before, this year there is going to be a December Album, but it's not going to be daily and it appears not even going to be just about December. I'm renaming it my Christmas Album.

As one of the main reasons for visiting Edinburgh last weekend was to experience their Christmas Market it seems only appropriate that I should include a page about it in my 2017 album - and so my first page was created.

All the digital embellishments can be found at Designer Digitals and are by Katie Pertiet. The outside frame and top section date strip were created using Photoshop Elements.

I shall be sharing this page at Let's December Daily and also on facebook and instagram quite soon.

Huge thanks for looking, I really value your time.  And keep crafting!

Sunday Stuff

I'm going to share a little more about my upcoming December album today.

This year I'm taking it really easy and not even going to try to add something for every day. In fact I'm calling it my Christmas 2017 album and not a December Daily. And I will be starting it before December as we have a trip to Edinburgh coming up and I'm hoping to catch some early Christmas vibes there.

So far I've bought the album with 8" x 8" page protectors and plan to create entirely digitally as it's so much quicker and easier than paper crafting. Not sure I'll manage to keep my hands off those papers though, but we'll see how it all pans out.

I've chosen very neutral colours this year - greys and beiges and am considering using black and white photos - just an idea at the moment.

Spurred on my Australian penpal Helen I've prepared my title/intentions page. Here it is:

Quite spectacular isn't it? See I can say that as most of it consists of a bought layout from Designer Digitals with just a little tweaking of the colours and the addition of my words.  Here's how it started:

So I simply changed the green elements to beige brown shades and chose some favourite fonts for the text.

And in keeping with my need to simplify things this year my intentions are really simple too. I'm hoping they'll help me to balance out that rush and intense 'there's still so much to do' feeling I always get in December.

I've also created my planner for the season. I had so much fun choosing papers and elements, all from Designer Digitals.

And so it's begun! As I'm no longer on the DT for Let's December Daily I'll be sharing lots more of my Christmas album here on my blog this year, so I hope you'll join me in my journey. I'll still be linking up with Let's December Daily though and maybe you'll find time to go take a peek at their projects - they really know how to craft and play and create with all things artsy and inky and papery.

Thanks for looking today, I've loved having your company.  And keep crafting!

Let's December Daily - Pages 2-5

Today at Let's December Daily I'm sharing my album pages for the 2nd - 5th December. Here's a few peeks at what you can see, but for the full deal you'll need to pop over to LDD - here.

Thanks for dropping by today, I do appreciate your time as you prepare for Christmas. So I'm sending you Christmas sparkle!

Let's December Daily

My last few pages of my December album go live at tonight at Let's December Daily. There will be one more share later this month rounding up our thoughts about 2015's albums. But here's a few extra photos to give you a taste of what's included today.

Peace and quiet as they got stuck in to their new toys.

Presents for the big kids too!

Favourite activity - sign of our times!

Just to show they can move!

Precious moment watching their cousin and poised to jump in if he needed help.

Totally amazed by a whole shop full of toys - island living doesn't offer this opportunity.

Difficult to choose!

Not the best photo, but marking a milestone moment when both Niall and Iain were coerced into playing a game.

Thanks for looking today. Hope you'll find time to pop over to Let's December Daily to see my pages.

Let's December Daily - My Journey

More today about my DT involvement at Let's December Daily. They're sharing my journey with December albums over there today and just in case you might miss it I'm sharing it here too!

 My December Daily Journey .....

My journey begins back in 2011 when I discovered Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class and immediately fell in love with the whole idea of keeping a daily record throughout December. I had  kept a random album of what I thought were significant photos from previous years back to when I first got married, but this every day thing was a new and exciting venture for me.

And yes I was totally overwhelmed! I didn't have a clue what format to use and the choice of colours and papers was all too much. So I just took one day at a time, followed Shimelle's guidelines to the letter and sort of muddled through the presentation side of the album as I went along.

2012

This year I thought I was better prepared and thought I knew exactly what I was doing. Note the use of 'thought'.

I'd discovered that I loved to journal and went with a format that would allow for extended writing, kept in pockets on the right hand page while the left side was all about the photos.

I still kept pretty true to Shimelle's prompts for the theme of each day's page, but I'd prepared all the pockets and page number clusters in advance.

So I started my pages confidently never giving a thought to an album to store them in. Half way through December I realised it would have been better to make the page size fit an album rather than try to find an album to fit my pages - bummer! And as you can see the pocket idea worked really well to store my journalling but made for very bulky pages. I had no choice really, loose rings and a homemade cover were my only option.

2013

With last year's album issue still rankling at the back of my mind I started 2013 by buying the album first! This whole December Daily thing is such a learning curve. So what was this year's big mistake? Well another size related problem. I bought the album online and didn't really take very careful note of just how big it was. But hey it was bought, it was red and it had to be used.

I was still following Shimelle, but I'd discovered Ali Edwards and wanted to use her format making this year's pages more relevant to what was actually happening to me on each day. I'd also really got into taking photographs and planned to put them everywhere!

I prepared quite a lot more in advance this year too. As I was becoming more comfortable and relaxed about my December Daily and knew what to expect I found it easier to get things ready. In fact I'm the complete opposite to the rest of the DT who prefer to do things on the cuff - that is so not me! Best confess I'm a planner addict, super organised and find I can be more creative when the basics are already done.

2014

This was the year that I discovered Let's December Daily and began sharing my pages there and on my blog. I actually purposefully chose colours and a format for the first time. I was inspired by all the DT's creativity at Let's December Daily and my album cover was born.

This year I went back to the loose binder style - the result of another issue with not buying an album first - seems I don't learn from my mistakes!

I was into digital pages and short on time so a 6" x 4" size suited me perfectly. I was able to prepare all the base pages for my journalling and the photographs and a set of embellishment clusters in advance so all I had to do each day was hand write my journalling, add the embellishments and print the photos with digital embellishments. This worked so well for me and I found it relatively easy to keep on top of things.

And as I found spare moments I added in extra little bits peeking through between the pages along the spine like the sequin pocket above and snowflake acetate below.

And of course the best Christmas present for a dedicated December Daily-er was the arrival of a new grandson!

So now I'm wondering what lessons I've learnt - and will try to remember - to take forward to 2015.

• I've bought my album and know the format and size. 
• I will pre-prepare as much as I can - I'd have it all completed in advance if that were possible!
• I've chosen the colours and begun to shop accordingly - something a bit different this year, go see yesterday's sneak peek!
• There will be times when I change things up a bit and go 'off piste' and I'm happy and relaxed about this, but only because the basics will be done.

 Will you join me in 2015? I really hope so - I can't wait!

Thanks for looking today, I do so appreciate your time.  And keep crafting!