JYC preparations

I'm already to go with my Christmas journal!

I've decided to keep it small this year and to help me acheive my goal to complete a page each day through December I've cut my cardstock into 6" x 6" pages. I've got 20 pages done and plan to add in a few extras as I go along in different sizes or I may use patterned paper for a few.

I've sorted through my papers and made a pile of christmas papers and added in some non Christmassy patterned papers that could also be used. I'm aiming to use up old stash for this project! One of the papers is from 2007!!

I have another pile of plain cardstock scraps which I will use to mat photos, punch/die cut shapes and make borders etc! Again using up the odds and ends so there is an assortment of colours there!

This is my "journaling" pile .... an assortment of strips of paper, journal cards, titles and a few punched tag shapes .... you may spot a few die cuts there too which I've already pushed out from the backing sheet to save time!

I've also sorted out some punches, stamps, inks, stickers, embellishments, alphas etc but for some reason didn't take a pic of them.

All the papers & cardstock are now in clear 12 x 12 bags and I'll pop the rest into a basket so I have everything together.

Shimelle's 1st prompt has arrived in my in box and I've already made a start on my first page!

Let the Christmas Countdown begin!

JYC Starts tomorrow!!

One of the best things about Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class is that once you've signed up you can join in each year. I initially took this class back in 2008 and have participated each year since then. I haven't managed to complete an album on any of those years. Oh dear! But .... and this is the great bit I do love the pages I have done and I have them all in the same album and together they tell a lot about Christmas in this house over the last few years.

This year I would dearly love to finish a page for each day of December so today I have been busy preparing my pages, cutting my cardstock into 6" x 6" pages and gathering together christmas stash so that I'm all ready. More on my preparations tomorrow!

As you may be aware today is "Strike Day" and H's school was closed so whilst I was busy with my stash she was busy painting her little piggy bank!

Look at the concentration!!

Are you ready for JYC? 

Have you done any preparations or are going to make your page from scratch each day?

Monthly Kit Launch!!

I can't believe this is my first blog post for November!! As a result of getting laryngitis and feeling rather poorly I haven't really felt up to blogging the last week or so but I am feeling much better now and happy to say I'm almost back to 100%.

I have been asked by lots of scrappers if I could sell kits in my shop that are affordable and available without subscribing. So, as I always like to try and help I have been busy selecting some lovely products to create the very first S J Crafts Monthly Kit which goes on sale here from today.

The kit is packed with Echo Park's gorgeous Times & Seasons Papers and matching stickers and alphabet, kraft bazzill cardstock, along with some Tim Holtz tickets, brads and ribbons, all for just £12.99!!



Other sides of papers and close up of stickers!



This is the layout I made with the kit, the only extra thing I added that's not included was some blue shimmer mist to the background and I inked the edges of the papers with distress ink.

Sorry about the flash reflection! I took the photo early this morning!

The kit is limited in numbers and available here.

** Kit now sold out ... watch out for our December Kit coming soon! **

Have a fabulous evening!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Yesterday we set about carving our little pumpkin!

Hopefully normal craftiness and blogging will resume tomorrow as H, who is soon to get dressed up as a Halloween witch (pictures to follow!) returns to school tomorrow following the half term holidays and a teacher training  day today!!

Party Time!!

I haven't taken an on line class for a while so when I received an invite to Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party I decided to join in and sent back my RSVP. I have a ton of paper so some encouragement to cut into it and new ideas to use it up can only be a good thing!

So, my first page is using strips of paper. I gathered together my box of offcuts and scraps and this is the layout I came up with.

This really took be out of my comfort zone, with so many patterns and bold colours but I think I quite like the result. The photo is of me and H at Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, the scene of the famous Hovis advert!

I used my nestabilities dies to cut the scalloped circles, crumpled them up a bit, inked the edges and added a button, ric rac and red thread.

If you haven't visited my shop yet, please do pop over and have a browse at the new goodies including the lovely Echo Park Times and Seasons. Also keep an eye on the shop blog for a very special offer starting tomorrow!!

A Rare Day Off!

Last week my hubby and I found ourselves with a rare midweek day off together and it was such a glorious sunny day we headed down to the beach for the afternoon!

It was heaven just to sit together at the cafe overlooking the beach sipping an ice cold drink!

Seriously, the weather down here for the time of year is crazy but I'm not complaining that the sun is refusing to give way to winter!

We strolled along the beach, so I could take photographs of the colourful beach huts!

Honestly they were every colour of the rainbow and every shade imaginable!

The sun shine sparkling on the sea on a sunny October afternoon was lovely!

Can't wait to scrapbook these photos!!

Hope you have had a fabulous week!

Christmas is coming!

Every year, about now, once the new school term is in full swing and the darker evenings are here my thoughts begin to turn to Christmas. I don't mean I rush out and shop for gifts and wrap (oh no, I tend to leave that until at least the end of November!) but I do like to really get "stuck into" my christmas cards. Most years I'm still making cards 2 days before the 25th even though I start early.

I have already made a couple a few weeks ago but today I realised I really do need to start making cards in serious numbers if I'm to have any chance of having enough cards made in time this year.

So today I made these two:

The patterned paper is MME It's the season paper and the stamps are from the Oh Christmas Tree clear stamps set.

For the first card I heat embossed the image with silver silver sparkle embossing powder, then mounted it onto some red cardstock. I made the background with more of the red and a piece of the MME Paper, knotting green ribbon around it before mounting it to the square card blank. I used mounting foam tape to raise the stamped image up a little and finished off with some little gem stones. Quick and easy!!

I used promarkers to colour the stamped images for this one, then cut them out, and put glossy accents on them which when dry made them look lovely and shiny. The little trees are then mounted on a piece of kraft and red cardstock and then using foam tape to stick them to the background which is made from a square of the patterned paper and more Kraft. I then popped a green candi in each corner to finish. Again very quick and easy (apart from the glossy accents drying time!!)

Have you started Christmas cards yet?