Christmas Journal 2017 / Jackie Ashton / Festive Scrapbooking

Hello scrappers, Jackie here, how was your Christmas Day? I do hope you have all had a wonderful time and got some fab presents.

Why not grab a cuppa and have a catch up with my blogpost.

I’m sharing a few of my 2017 Christmas Journal pages.   I decided this year to do a 12 x 6 album which is a completely different size for me, and one I found so easy to do and keep up with  The album is a We R Memory Keepers one, and is blue, which hasn’t bothered me yet, as it not the traditional Christmas colour that you can see on line.

 I started by  prepping for my album at my October crop, by making the date markers, and cutting some of the 12x12 sheets down to size.

 I decided this year to do a 12 x 6 album which is a completely different size for me, and one I found so easy to do.  The album is a We R Memory Keepers one, and is blue, which hasn’t bothered me yet, as it not the traditional Christmas colour.  As well as the 12 x 6 pages, I've also added divided pages.

My albums is a mixture of Christmas prompts and December daily events throughout December, so some days I have added extra filler pages as I wanted to include more photographs and journalling to document what we have been unto.  I've also done some filler pages, like this one 'Red Cup' that doesn't particularly have a place within the month activities but one I wanted to include in the album.

 As you will see from my pages. I’ve used a variety of patterned papers, some new, some old, some Christmas theme and some everyday theme, and I so happy with how it give a different perspective to the album so far.  I did purchase a Christmas Kit, which had a complete mix of patterned papers and embellishments and I used this and more from my stash.

I've also when needed added more than one page and included more photographs, when I wanted to document a particular event, like my 1st of the month, when my friend Julie took me to see 'STEPS' for my birthday, it ended up being 3 sides - a 12 x 6 and both sides of the divided pocket pages opposite.

Then for the 2nd I included the announcement that I had been chosen for the 'Scrap the Boys' DT team ... I'm super excited

4th - wrapping - Christmas prompt regarding wrapping paper and also additional photo of me and James visit to Starbucks.

 We had snow, and quite a lot of it, which lasted a few days, so for the 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th  - I added snow photographs to a more than one of the pages, and also added additional pages for these days which had some general December daily entries.

7th - A divided protector for this entries and I spread the one entry over the 3 pockets.

15th - visiting my lovely friend Sue, with Barbara and Julie ended up with us taking some fab selfies in various Christmas headgear.

 I’ve surprised myself by keeping up and hoping that I can complete the pages until the end of the year.  And pleased now full my albums is looking.

Thanks for stopping by, and see you next year

Happy New Year to your all

Grateful for Normal | Lisa-Jane Johnson | Festive Scrapbooking

Merry Christmas Eve to you all! 

I hope your festive season has been wonderful so far and that you either getting lots of crafting time or lots of photos to scrap in the coming weeks.  I was all set to share my progress on my Journal Your Christmas album which I started at the end of November but I'm afraid I only got to day 3.  My December has been a little, erm, difficult.  I will be very grateful for the lull between Christmas and New Year when my girl and I can catch up on our December journals (she's on day 7 as she only likes to scrap when I do).  I've been taking photos and of course I have my trusty planner to remind me of what was happening and as long as I can get some journalling down soon I won't forget the things I want to record about this season.

Various things have happened this month that have added chaos to an already busy time.  My Dad ended up in hospital for nearly a week and had to have an emergency pacemaker fitted after collapsing at home, we had to alter dates of everything we had planned including celebrating my mother in law's 80th birthday, I was told I'd have to have my achilles operation re-done, and then I managed to break my front tooth and I've not had the time or mental energy to get it fixed.  A couple of good friends had very poorly parents too so we were constantly waiting for updates.  I just couldn't bring myself to scrap all the great stuff that was happening. 

Then, last Wednesday, 20th, I finally had a day that was oddly normal.  No Christmas activities / concerts / shows / fayres / visits from relatives / no rushing to and fro from the hospital / no waiting for updates because everyone was through the worst.  I sat in Costa (other coffee shops are available) and took a breather.  I sat with my planner and decided what I had to do and what would have to be shelved.  And I caught up with some design work.  I took a picture for Instagram and decided that I would use this photo for a normal 12x12 layout about how grateful I was to have a day of normality after all the ups and downs of the month so far.  It was like therapy!

This year I am using a Simple Stories collection from last year called Classic Christmas and I'm mixing it with a bit of Shimelle's Christmas collection from the year before as they work really well together.  I like to use one kit through my December Journal.  I take a couple of the bigger stories and events and make 12x12 pages for my normal chronological albums so that there is a bit of Christmas in those albums too.

Having that bit of normal and then scrapping about it really helped me to take a breath and then get back on the roller coaster of festivities.  It was also a perfect time to use one of the stamps from Shimelle's Christmas range - Rekindle the Magic.

Scrap booking is certainly great therapy for me and I hope you can find a few minutes for some creative therapy this season too.  I also hope that you will continue to join us in 2018 for more great projects and inspiration.  But we are not finished in 2017 yet, so from me, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

December Album | Niki Rowland | Festive Scrapbooking

Hey there, Niki here with you today and I'm sharing my take on 'Festive Scrapbooking'. I make a December Daily style album each year. I've done the same format for a few years now and this year is no exception. I use a 6x8" album and I complete all my base pages before December and then just add my photos and journalling as I go along in December.

Today I'm sharing four of my December Album pages, Days 21 - 24 and have made a proces video that you can see below.

My numbers are wood veneer shapes by Freckled Fawn and I've used these three times now to make my numbers. I did something different last year but this year I've gone back to these. However this is my last packet so I'll have to do something different next year! They come a numbers 1 - 31 and I simply back them with patterned paper or glitter paper.

When creating my base pages I create clusters and leave myself lots of space for adding photos and journaling.

Here are my pages for Christmas Day. While I only dedicate one single page to each other day, I always do two for Christmas day, with the page on the left being for a whole 6x8 printed photo. I've added the chipboard sticker 'Merry Christmas' and the theory is that this will sit on the photo itself - whether this will actually work ok or not will depend on the photo I take on the day.

Now onto the second part of today's blog post...I did the base pages above by mid-end of November (I like to be all done nice and early). The pages below however, were completed on the 11th December. The base pages had been done in November but on 11th December I sat down to add all my photos and to write in my journaling. I've prepared a process video which includes the making of the base pages above and the adding of photos and journaling on the pages below. You can view it below.

Adding my photos and journaling is a really quick process. I have done all the hard work already by creating the base pages so it is simply a matter of sticking my photos down and adding my writing!

This little page here is an added bonus. I had that gorgeous green tree acetate that you can just see a little bit of, in a 5x7 page protector but I had to put a piece of white card behind it as it didn't look right otherwise. So I have decorated the reverse of the white card and made it into an extra bonus page!

Here I have another bonus page. The page on the right is a piece of 6x6 paper from the FaLaLa Paper pad. I've made it double sided and added hole reinforcers and it sits directly within the book rings of the album rather than in a page protector. These can be added anywhere in my album but this works particularly well here as I have some additional photos for day 9.

And here is the reverse of this page. This brings me right up to date at the date of writing this/filming the video. Hurrah. And it didn't take very long at all.

I absolutely LOVE creating a December Album each year, it is my favourite project of the whole year and I'm alway delighted when it's finished, which is alway very early on in the new year. I find this way of working works so well for me and always results in a finished album.

Thanks so much for joining me today for this epic blog post and video! 

Merry Christmas from me xxx 

Find me on my own blog: Being Scrappy and on Instagram as @nikiclaire

Christmas Planner | Festive Scrapbooking | Sarah (ManxyCatCrafts)

 Sarah here today sharing a Christmas planner I created.

I decided to do something a little different this month and used my scrapbook supplies to create a planner.

I decided on what would be in each section and coordinated the dividers to match.

The little gold envelope on the Cards divider is left unsealed to add stamps to be functional as well as pretty.

Each section contains printable inserts that can be easily replaced if necessary eg. calendar or left in for the following year eg. recipes.

I also added a handy pocket to keep a spare emergency greetings card and a folder for stickers, receipts or whatever else needs to be tucked in safely. 

The final touch was a DIY festive planner tassel with polymer clay charm, some planner clips and a washi sample card.

You can check out the planner flip through and more details over on the UKSA YouTube channel, along with lots of inspirational videos by the UKSA girls.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=tBuqecnlxsc

Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Scrappy Christmas

# Elfie / Sheena Rowlands / Christmas Scrapping

Hi there Sheena here again x

Today I'm sharing with you my take on Christmas scrapping here on the blog.
Most of my creating is 12x12 scrapbook layouts plus my Project Life but as I tend to work on that a month behind I made this layout to share with you.

But first let me take an #Elfie.

This photo is a selfie I took this time last year in a Christmas jumper!! I loved this Elf jumper & it even had a hood!! When I saw this phrase on the Silhouette site I just had to cut it for this layout. I tend to keep my Christmas supplies together so it was easy to find scraps to back the cut file with, they are from a selection of manufacturers. I trimmed the cardstock down a little & backed it with patterned paper similar to the sleeves of my jumper.

I added a pocket and tag behind my photo so I could document my love for this jumper & the popularity of Elf on the Shelf without affecting the overall design. Then added my photo and a few layers over the top.

I was thrilled when I stumbled over some Elf pin badges in a £1 store and after removing the back it made a perfect embellishment for my page. I chose my embellishments by colour rather than manufacturer.

 I hope you all have a Happy Christmas & get a chance to take a breath & maybe get a little time to do some crafting too xxx

Free Cut File for December

Hi there Scrap Addicts!  

Can you believe it is December already?!  This is the final Free Cut File of the year but there are more designs lined up for all of next year and lots of new challenges and inspiration as well.  

I wonder what's on your Christmas list?  Is it anything crafty?  And for those of you doing December journals, how is it all going?  Maybe you can use our free cut file in your festive layouts?  As always, we'd love to see!

You can find instructions for downloading and using the cut file in Silhouette here.  And don't worry if you don't have an electronic die-cutter, we've got some ideas for using them without one here.

We really love seeing what you've created, whether it has been directly inspired by something you've seen here or not, so please do link us in the comments below and if you're on social media then please don't forget to use the hashtags#ukscrapaddicts

For now, try and grab some calming creative time in amongst all the chaos of the season and don't get your tinsel in a tangle ;-)

Happy scrapping!

Dear Santa | ScrappyNerdUK | Christmas Scrapping

Merry Christmas!!!!!

This is my most favourite time of the year - especially for scrapping!!

I started by using a piece of patterned paper and covered the left page of the notebook. I loved the warm woodgrain texture from this paper and used this as my jumping off point for the rest of the layout.





I moved onto the right hand side and created a frame for my photo as I wanted the polaroid look. I stamped the word Joy to the bottom of the frame to create a little interest.

I then used some border strips for the photo and tag to have something to "sit on" so it wasn't floating on the page and this was a great way to bring some colour into the layout without overpowering the whole thing.

I used a couple of ephemera pieces to decorate my page, before moving back over to the left side of the page to add a title.


I added my title in a mixture of alpha fonts, colours and sizes and this is the perfect way to really get your alphas used up.

If you haven't tried scrapping in a travellers notebook before then what are you waiting for? Have you got spare photos just lying around and not sure what to do with them? Like me I have left overs from Christmas last year and they'll never make it into an album so scrapping them into a TN is the perfect way to do something creative with them....

I hope this has bought you some inspiration and can't wait to be back next month with another scrappy instalment.

Have a fabulous Christmas and New Year.

Claire xxxxxx

December Daily | Terri Morris | Festive Scrapbooking

Happy December everyone! This has got to be my favourite month of the year. I love all the festivities running up to Christmas. Last year I did my first December Daily album but I wasn't very organised and it still needs finishing, oops! So I've decided to be more organised this year so I wanted to share with you what I had done up to the end of November in preparation.

I'm using a mix of collections but mostly the Crate Paper Falala collection and colour scheme, with a few other bits thrown in from my stash. I am using a Simple Stories 'Snap' Album which I have decorated simply as I want it to hold up over time. I'm super happy with how my bow turned out.

One key thing I learnt from doing Shimelle's 'Journal your Christmas' class a few years ago is to create co-ordinating numbers to add to your pages and you are already part way there. I didn't want them all to be identical so I've used different patterned papers and alphabets. The '25' is extra special and is a perspextive number from Bramble Fox.

This year I bought a mini kit from Ali Edwards and have used that mixed in throughout the album. I love the transparencies and have added a sequin mix then sealed the top with my fuse tool.

So here are my first three days of the album. I've not added journalling yet but I plan to sit down later on with a glass of wine and finish it off.

I've gone with a mix of 6x8 and pocket pages this year. The photo of me putting the tree up is not the best but I altered it using picmonkey and added a filter to improve it.

I thought I would finally share a couple of foundation pages that are ready for me to add photos, journalling and a few embellishments. I already know what stories will go on these pages as tomorrow I'm going to Chatsworth House and doing a wreath making class so that will fill up these days.

We would love to see your Festive scrapbooking so don't forget to tag us on Instagram.

Happy Crafting!

Terri

x