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.

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.

December Daily / Journal Your Christmas

Done! Now all that's left if to retake a few pics.

I decided to add a bit more to the cover after putting my Christmas decorations away. Part of a garland fell off  and I found it a couple days after the boxes were all put back. So instead of digging out the plastic container (on the bottom of the pile, of course), I decided to put it to another use.

I'll be posting the entire book in it's own photo album, which you can find on the left side of my blog.

December Daily / Journal Your Christmas

Happy New Year - albeit several days late.

This year we took everyone up to NYC to see the Rockette's Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall. It was fabulous. We then tried to stroll around "30 Rock" but the crowds were ridiculous. We did manage to finally worm our way into the cupcake store where we picked up some special red velvet cupcakes decorated for th show. Back on Sunday with a day left to prepare for our trip....

We spent Christmas down at my parent's house in Florida, along with my brother Mark and his family. It was an exciting trip - we took the autotrain there and back. Quite different from flying. No TSA, real food and snacks (included), no long security lines or pat downs....

One of the exciting things was watching all the kids play together and reconnect. For Joey and Thomas it was like they'd lived next door their whole lives. They sat side-by-side on the couch, almost on top of each other playing their nintendos and sharing screens.

Now that we're back home I'm playing catch-up with my December Daily in between finishing my January projects for ScrapbooksPlus.

So... on with the catch-up.

Day 6 - visit with Santa

Day 9 - Shimelle's prompt was to journal about family traditions.

Day 14 - the story of the imaginary toys that my kids seem to want from Santa...

Day 15 - a shot of cookies from our book club cookie swap

Day 17:  Shot from our trip - the marquee and a ticket from the show

Day 18 - a shot of my favorite window display. We walked through Rockefeller Center to Saks and then Macy's before heading back home. The animated window displays were certainly worth it!

Day 19 - Shimelle's prompt was letters to Santa. I stuck Rachel's list from the fridge in here.

Day 20 - baking, baking, baking like mad to finish everything up before our trip. On the back side I adhered one of the cards we received, turning it into a pocket for a tag with journaling. The tag is from Red Lead Paperworks.

Day 21 - we boarded the train! I made a collage of shots taken with my iPhone.

Day 22 - my list of thing left to do. Luckily, not that much..

December Daily / Journal Your Christmas

Behind, but still plugging along.

Day 11 .... buying the Christmas tree. I found these tags at Pottery Barn and had to have them. And you'll notice the layered trees on the reverse side. I'm totally saving all packing material now thanks to Tim Holtz. I ran a piece through the tree texture fade. Love it!!

December Daily / Journal Your Christmas

Slowly trying to catch up, although I'm out of order, but what's new?

Shimelle's prompt for Dec. 13th is Christmas music. This year my favorite song hands-down is Glee's "Baby It's Cold Outside" which you can see here. Darren Criss just kills.

2nd runner up is Straight No Chaser's "12 Days of Christmas." And the rest of their album is fantastic.

 

And my page:

the back...

December Daily / Journal Your Christmas

Trying to catch up after a busy, busy weekend. Saturday morning not only did we have a cub scouts - laying wreaths at Arlington Cemetary - but my book club cookie exchange that afternoon at our house. 

We've spent the week purchasing and decorating our tree, making three different kinds of bark, baking cookies and waching the original Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Not any of that Jim Carey nonsense, thank you.

And now it's already Thursday and I'm trying to catch my breath before diving into more cookie making. Tomorrow. After a two-hour delay for school. Mother Nature is putting a serious crimp in my plans.

Tom went to Heidelburg's bakery and picked up a bouche noel for the party. And I'm still kicking myself that I forgot to get a picture - it was seriously the cutest thing ever. Lots of little icing mushrooms, snowmen and flowers. A big hit with all the kids.

So now I'm behind on my December Daily/Journal Your Christmas. Again. At least all our Christmas cards are in the mail - that's gotta count for something.

Dec 7th - an envelope from Making Memories, Tim Holtz tree die and a large to-do list.

Dec 8th - I used one of our Christmas cards for the page with a piece of a Hambly transparency on top.

Dec 8th - the back. The start of the long holiday baking ordeal. Rachel had a girl scout cookie exchange. The librarian at Keene Mill had a recipe for these out on Tuesday and it was all I could think about - peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses. Mmmmmmm.....

Um, yeah. They didn't last long....

Dec 10th. I decided to make a pocket out of a scrap of American Crafts sheet protector to hold our annual newsletter. I sewed loosely around the edges, but I'll need to add a closure on the other edge so that it doesn't fall out. The reindeer & snowflake are made from grungepaper using Tim Holtz dies.

December Daily / Journal Your Christmas

Last Saturday the Daisy Scouts had a field trip to Mt. Vernon. They put a boxwood wreath into George Washington's tomb. It was cold and the camel pulled off one girl's hat and ATE it, but other than that it was fun. I'd like to come back in nicer weather and do more exploring.

And so my entry for December 4th...

I used Hero Arts stamps on this page -  Old Letter Writing over an inked and misted background and Merry & Bright above the photo. The back is still plain. I was thinking about doing Dec 5th on the backside, and kept going back and forth -- which has helf me up.

Until I found this transparency at ScrapbooksPlus yesterday from Teresa Collin's Noel line:

Karen grabbed one right after I did :)

I cut out a chunk to revamp a page of my Christmas organizer and another section for my day 5 page:

A scrap of leftover Making Memories paper, Little Yellow Bicycle felt snowflake and -- Tim's tag for today (well, some of it). I used a Hero Arts stamp over this one. This stamp has quickly become on of my favorites. And better yet, I'm actually using it a lot, instead of just "collecting."

Here's the back side:

The ticket is a printable I found at Karenika.com. She has loads of free printables, including some really cute holiday journaling tags.

December Daily / Journal Your Christmas

Day three. Shimelle's prompt focused on Christmas cards. But we hadn't really started them yet! I did remedy that and ordered them from tiny prints yesterday. This is our first time ordering online. Usually we get a gob of pictures printed and stuff them into cards.

Last year we wound up labeling, folding, stuffing and addressing envelopes as we drove to my parent's house. We got them mailed somewhere in North Carolina, if I remember correctly. We're really hoping NOT to repeat that. Since then I ordered a self-inking return address stamp which I intend to put to good use.

And for the back....

Thomas's school had a big event on Friday - Kanga Mart. All the third grade classes bring a homemade craft to sell to the other students as part of their economics lesson. Thomas made ornaments. We got plastic ones from Michaels and raided my plentiful Stickles collection. After coating the inside of the ornament with Stickles we added glitter. The kids had a ball making these. I ended up buying 25 of these ornaments because they wanted to make more. Rachel's even taken one to her teacher already.

Thomas was quite pleased, and declared that his would be a bestseller. And it was, actually. He was very excited when he was one of the first kids to sell out of product. (And it meant he could socialize a bit).

This story is recorded on a photo inside the envelope.

December Daily / Journal Your Christmas

While the kids were watching The Last Airbender movie, I had a few minutes to put together my page for December 2nd. Shimelle's prompt was about weather, so I went with that. It's so dispiriting to see the forcast these days - lows down in the 20's at night; chance of snow. Blech! I so not ready for winter and after all the snow we got last year I was hoping for a break.

I used a transparency as my background for this page, adhering a rectangle of double-sided paper to the back of the transparency. I picked up a set of numbers from Elle's Studio a while back.  I'll be using these on each day's page. The stamp over the number 2 is Tim Holtz. The glittered chipboard stars I think may be Cosmo Cricket - I picked them up last year.