Life Outside the Fishbowl

Journal Your Christmas 2011

A few more pages I managed to photograph before the snow started this afternoon.

Day 8 is a trading card protector, cut down to three pockets. I used both sides to display a few images from around the area. And it wouldn't be December without Tim's tags ;)

Day 9 - One of the things we get every year is the WH Historical Society ornament. We started picking these up before we were married, so we've got probably around 20 years' worth - and double of some. The bottom paper is Simple Stories. I used an Ali Edwards digi brush on the photo.

For Day 10 I used a Hambly transparency as my base. I'd ordered some Basic Grey fabric squares ages ago and thought I'd incorporate one (since they've been sitting around here!). A bit of October Afternoon, Jenni Bowlin and Tim Holtz....

Days 11 and 12 are back-to-back. I used a full-size photo of our tree this year for the 11th with another digital brush by Ali Edwards. Day 12 features a photo from when we were kids and toys were much less complicated -- or battery-dependent.

And, finally, Day 13. The background paper is Authentique with more October Afternoon accents.

Changing Your Paper

We were given SEI's Silver Valley for January's ScrapbooksPlus DT kit.

The "Snowed In" paper was fun because the foiled design acted as a resist. I chose to ink the entire suface with distress inks - the winter seasonal inks, a bit of wild honey and vintage photo. So instead of a white-on-white design I had this wonderful, colored paper. This became the background for my two-page layout with a photo block sandwiched between.

I added some accents from My Mind's Eye, title with Thickers, and dies from Tim's Holtz's Sizzix collection (colored with the seasonal inks again).

Happy New Year

Best wishes for a wonderful 2012!

12 Tags of Christmas

Slowly, slowly finishing these tags.....

Day 7:

Day 8:

Day 9: I did a lot of "flicking" before embossing a second time. I used Iced Spruce for the initial stamping, Crushed Olive afterward to ink the tag, with Vintage Photo after the final embossing. Instead of making a candleabra I wanted to use Tim's tree die. I covered chipboard in vintage dictionary paper before cutting, then coated the tree with rock candy crackle paint.

Day 10:

 

Journal Your Christmas 2011

The first several days.....

Day 1 is a trading card transparency cut down to fit. I used the front and back, as well as printed out Shimelle's manifesto for the year attaching it with a binder clip. I created a pocket for our photo card from an American  Crafts page protector and used part of Rachel's chocolate Advent calendar for day 5.

More Simple Stories

Another layout from the December DT kit at ScrapbooksPlus - Simple Stories' Year-o-graphy collection. These are photos from our Thanksgiving visit to Jamestown Settlement. Still can't believe people were brave enough to cross the ocean in ships that small.

And I found an old class picture from Thomas's first year in preschool, back when he was two. I layered a bunch of pieces at the bottom of the page, sticking in an old book page and using lots of stickers. Love the clouds.

Journal Your Christmas 2011 - Cover

This is my third year doing Journal Your Christmas. Last year I did a combined JYC/December Daily, focusing mostly on what we were doing each day than Shimelle's prompts. This year I'm doing the opposite - pretty exclusively focusing on the prompts. A crazy, hectic month, two cookie exchanges on the same day, and a very sick pet kinda drove me in that direction. As did waiting for materials to arrive....

I'm starting with a 6x9 Mistables wooden album from Pink Paislee. I used a variety of ink, Glimmer Mist, Glimmer Glam and paint on the cover and glued on a felt snowflake ornament I picked up at Target. The snowflake stamps are Hero Arts and I used the crackle stamp from Tim Holtz's Joyful Song set. A painted and embossed wooden "25"  by Kaisercraft sits in the middle of the snowflake with a Maya Road pin.

The inside of the front cover uses paper from Simple Stories'  25 Days of Christmas line and chipboard from October Afternoon.

Supplies Used:

12 Tags of Christmas

Catching up....

I've had these done for a while but haven't had a chance to post them.

Day 4 -

I really love this background using picket fence Distress Stain.

and Day 6 -

I decided I didn't want to use the metal wreath charm. This wooden Kaisercraft embellishment was really calling to me. So I decided on a faux enameled look. Love how this turned out - but it really looks better IRL.

Now, off to upload photos from the camera with more tags. Hmm... maybe I should work on our Christmas newsletter first?

December's Rushing By...

... and I can't believe we're less than a week away from Christmas. This past week has found us spending a lot of time nursing a sick guina pig with me trying to keep up with Tim's tags, Christmas crafting, decorating for Christmas cookie swaps, scouting service projects.... and on and on....

At least I was able to spend a good two hours in nice weather hanging outside lights today. Which is glorious, because by the time the lights come out, get untangled and I find the extension cords it's far from the balmy 47 degree day we had.

So... I wanted to share a layout I did for ScrapbooksPlus with the Simple Stories line - the same one I used on the minibook. I'd had photos of Rachel from last year's Nutcracker waiting and waiting to be scrapped, but I could never find a paper combination with which I was happy. Until now.

Love the 4x6 transparency that's meant for photos (and how it helps cover up distracting backgrounds!). Really love the monthly calendar paper - I cut the "November" out for this layout.

Now, I finally got the rest of the supplies I ordered and I can start really creating my December Daily/Journal Your Christmas for the year. I'm really hoping for some quality crafting time next week, and a movie or two (a girl can dream, right?!)

2011 Christmas Planner

Each year I like to put together a Christmas planner. It helps me organize what I need to do during the month - including holding wish lists, reciepts, etc.

This year I started off with some Simple Stories paper and a piece of Claudine Helmuth's sticky back canvas.  I did an image transfer with the paper onto the canvas, which you can see in my video. I like this technique because you get a cool, distressed look. It's easy to do, but just be careful - you will get a mirror-image. So, any text will be reversed. In this case, I didn't care. I was going for pattern and texture.

Once I was done, I stamped both sides of the canvas with ink and paint.  I folded up the bottom of the canvas to make a long pocket. Then it was off to the sewing machine - I stitched around the entire piece and up the middle (twice) to make two interior pockets.

I made two signatures for this book, including a pocket page for the middle signature. Once they were put together I stitched my signatures into my book.

Here's a video I put together to show you the image transfer, making the pockets, and the finished book. Ack! My first youtube video.

 

Steps for the image transfer:

1. Peel off the release paper from the back of the Sticky Back canvas.
2. Place your paper onto the canvas with the image you want to transfer facing the canvas.
3. Burnish the paper.
4. Spray the paper with water and start rubbing carefully. You will be rubbing off the top layer of paper. 
5. Apply a thin layer of matte medium and let dry.

There you have it!