On the ATC front. :o) Yesterday at Zoe's I managed to finish all my ATC filler cards, just have the tab cards left to decorate but here they all are:
Phew! It'll be nice to start this year's JYC album - just need to remember to get my camera charged and ready. :o)
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Here are some more little fillers for my ATC spinner... I dug into the Basic Grey Christmas stash... ;o)
Just another 35 to go!
But at least my Pink Martini Christmas CD is on the way to me - hopefully it'll provide some inspiration. :oD
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This afternoon I've been making a few new filler ATCs to add to my Journal Your Christmas spinner...
Some Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses....
SEI Wintersong sparkly bits...
A touch of vintage KI....
Some new Echo Park mixed in with Crate Paper Snow Days.
More Crate...
And more Crate...
Oh and er... more Crate...
No creating tomorrow as I'm off shopping with Ma and hoping to hit John Lewis for some some new Christmas additions, plus could do with visiting Lakeland.
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Since it has snowed and hailed, and snowed and hailed again this afternoon and evening... here's today's little filler ATC where the weather looks much more calm!
I don't mind there being snow on Sunday, but if the weather can be OK Saturday then I would very much appreciate it as predictably I have a trip to the hairdresser then off up to Zoe's in the afternoon for cake, Christmas fun including that good old IKEA gingerbread house!
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Since the Christmas cardmaking seems to be over... for now... here's a new JYC filler...
Not sure if I'll manage another one tomorrow night, it's a trip to Makro to get in the Polish Sopocka and Kabanos sausages for Christmas day breakfast... not to mention anything else that happens to jump into our trolley! A Lidl visit will be needed early next week for ham in about 15 varieties also for Christmas day breakfast - but at least we have the vodka covered!
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An ATC for the spinner while I had the stash out!
So tomorrow, I have the day off from work, but to hopefully make the last IKEA furniture trip - fingers crossed I manage to get a desk that works for my workspace and has enough room for the PC and some crafting space! :o)
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Here are a few more filler ATCs I've made tonight.
The first one is so simple, all I added was some liquid pearl snow detail to the trees and house that you can't really see, but I loved this corner of the paper I just didn't want to add loads of stuff...
Then this sticker from OA reminds me of a snow globe, it is just pretty:
And lastly... this one fits in on the spinner between day 5 and 6. ;o)
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Yep, a few days behind on JYC already (I have been building wardrobes you know!) I have decided to have a night off from flat pack assembly and get the spinner and ATCs out!
Although I completed every prompt this year, I still have divider cards and the reverse of some ATCs to cover with something festive. So here are the first 3 little filler ATCs - a filler a day... yadda yadda...
I chopped into some of that new My Mind's Eye stash I purchased... any excuse!
Very Merry October Afternoon, with the perfect Bling from Doodlebug!
How could I not use that hot chocolate mug from the OA stickers... I even partook of a Dark cherry hot chocolate in Starbucks yesterday... yummy!
Right, off back to watching The Restaurant - I have to say Nathan has to have some of the worst people skills I've ever seen!
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I can't believe it - but I have actually managed to finish* this year's JYC project! All prompts done! :oD
The glossy accents are still drying in the little bookplate unfortunately, but here's what the final day looks like:
I think I'll do a "The End" ATC on the back of that last entry... if I remember.
And here's a pic of the finished spinner:
* OK, fair enough there are still 23+ filler ATCs that I need to add in and I still need to decorate a few of the dividers, but come on! It is essentially done until I fancy dragging out the Christmas stash for a play. ;o)
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Only had time to do the entry for the 5th, so looks like the last JYC entry of this Christmas will be on the agenda for tomorrow night!
And my favourite colour combo of the moment - red and turquoise. I was going to do Shimelle's new challenge with that colour combo, but you can see how well those intentions went!
And as for the 209 cards in 2009 - fear not, once JYC is finished I shall be starting on the cards again! :oD
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This was more or less the theme of today's prompt... well a great tip is to always write down in your new calendar (last week of November ideally) just where on earth you stashed all those Christmas sale items you managed to pick up and intend to make use of next Christmas!
Usually in my family they don't get discovered until it comes to putting away the Christmas decorations and wrapping, etc.
So ...
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I've not been up-to-date with JYC since well... a couple of days before Christmas at the very least! LOL
And here we are, the entry for the 3rd of January, today, including a snapshot of the project in question plus stash! :oD
Shimelle's prompt did call upon using the stash you've been hoarding a bit too much, so the favourite stash unused so far.... I couldn't fit it all on obviously, but I needed to use some more of those frosty papers from KI Festive. I will miss that line once I finish it all! The stickers and rub-ons are dwindling. :o(
However, I have totted up that I still need to make 21 filler ATC cards for the spinner. These are the ATCs that slip between entries when I've inserted a black divider card... 21... OMG I will never get this project finished! But perhaps, I can leave the filler cards for JYC 2009! ;o) Or when I need a festive pick-me-up! hehe
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Slowly but surely... getting there, getting there!
Did my first bit of Sale shopping today, in Collectables of all places, but you know what I'm like for my Yankee Candles, and they had 30% off discontinued fragrances, so got a Medium Good Morning jar (all that was left) and 15% off Vanilla Lime which is a nice all-year fragrance to have in a large jar... still got my wintry candles to burn until the weather changes though! hehe
I wonder come Monday when I am back at work, whether there will be anything left from the sales, and what state the city centre will be in sans Woolworth's and other stores. :o(
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Well if I'd been doing these on time that is!
And here's an idea of how the spinner is looking so far!
January entries just left to go, plus lots of freestyle filler cards!
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Well in JYC land!
So much for a retrospective entry, but really - where has the time gone???
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Went a bit freestyle for the entry for the 29th:
It's a stamp set I really like, but it's just too underused on cards as the stuff I'd like to do with it (heat emboss) is often too time-consuming when it actually comes to making my Christmas cards! LOL
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Yum!
Well no sign of the first card for 2009 just yet...
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Sorry for the blinding colour scheme!
I seriously need to be getting more than a couple of these made each day to catch-up!
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No really...
Although after the NY's day meal I've had, there is no room for any left-overs today! I finally had Christmas pud today too. Guess my appetite is back. Yikes!
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I didn't remember much of Christmas day, so hopefully next year's JYC entry will be of a more memorable nature. hehe
Still time to maybe get another one done, not heading out for NYE - just nibbles and Champagne later and late to bed! ;oD
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Can you believe it was Christmas Eve??? Where has the time gone, I can't believe it'll be a new year tomorrow... both depressing and bizarre! LOL
But, here we go, don't faint but I've managed a little JYC catch-up!
I kind of wish it could be last week again! LOL
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Well, if I still had one... it wouldn't be the same if you didn't have a satsuma in the bottom of your stocking at Christmas! :oD
Off for some lunch, then to see Twilight, when I get back I'll get on with another entry... perhaps!
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Well I have managed the first step in catching up on my JYC entries! Here's the one for the 22nd:
All a bit late now to wonder what was still left to do by then! LOL
Am off to see Twilight tomorrow with a friend, but am a bit stuffed after my tea and off to veg with a good book!
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Ha not bloomin' likely! But here's a pic for yesterday's entry that shows what I look at when everything else gets too much! I light one of my Yankee Candles and switch the tree lights on so that's the only light around... very calming! :oD
Still a day behind, but tomorrow is my last day at work until the 5th so I am hoping to play catch up and then be on schedule!
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Well I hope I got everything out in the post to people on time this year, it's all in the hands of Royal Mail now!
So looking at the time and considering I have work in the morning, I think I'd best call it a night! Such a shame as I only have 1 more entry to go to get caught up!
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I don't have anything particular on my wishlist to Santa this year... hm... except maybe to win the lottery, but I think the nearest I got to that was winning £10 on yesterday's numbers! :oD And that never happens!
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Did I forget to mention that I made Nigella's version of Reese's PB cups today as well? Just another example of this year's "baking" notions - the trick is to now stop stealing slithers of cake or scoffing biscuits!
But these are the smells of the moment - gingerbread, vanilla, chocolate and almond.
And definitely best served on those cute Christmas plates!
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No update yesterday as I was having a lovely day at Zoe's with the girls that culminated in some gingerbread house construction worthy of a cake wreck special! They looked much better once the girls had chance to decorate them! LOL Then the evening was spent watching Strictly and eating take away which meant that there was zero energy to move the paper trimmer!
So today, after the "big" Christmas shop x 2, I got down to starting back on my JYC... I am still one day behind, but at least here's the one for the 17th:
In case it's difficult to make out the top 8 gift list, here's a better pic:
We have:
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So rewind back to Tuesday... this is the prompt I should have done. But it's Friday, and in fact, something that arrived yesterday in the post was just too perfect for this entry - so a good thing I was behind!
Because in case you can't read the post-it... a certain someone sent me the much sought after Terry's White chocolate orange (currently not to be found in my neck of the woods!) - aka the snowball orange!
How very perfectly sweet of you Tree! Thanks so much! :oD
And I had to team this lovely photo and KI chillout stash with my most recent Paperchase purchase:
Anyway, I had another little sale spree today because our local garden centre had 50% off on loads of stuff, including some ceramic Russian dolls I've wanted for a while, but I also picked up these wooden Kokeshi dolls for just £3 each - I couldn't resist:
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Well here's today's entry at last!
Sorry to everyone who has left lovely comments for me on my blog, I've not had chance yet to reply to them all or do much blog hopping in the last few days. But I will catch up as soon as I can! :oD
Well, in the spirit of today's prompt I may be on a JYC slow down tomorrow and Wednesday night, as I have my next 2 Christmas meals out and I doubt I will be up to much other than collapsing into bed when I get home!
Instead of having visitors, I seem to have a pre-Christmas catch-up with friends that involves a very nice meal out and some non-alcoholic cocktails! Not a bad alternative as no manic hoovering and housework is involved. ;o)
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Up to date again... not sure about how this turned out, but it's done and I'm happy enough about that! LOL
The lime thickers are a bit less garish in real life, honest!
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Oh so hard to choose the photo for this prompt - because as you probably know by now... I do love my Christmas music - not so much all the pop stuff, because that gets played to death on VH1 in the run-up.
But the more eclectic finds (or not so eclectic now as I heard Sarah McLachlan's version of Have yourself a merry little Christmas playing in the HMV Christmas DVD ad!) I totally love! However, I am still loving this year's new addition to the yuletide playlist and that's the new Starbucks Christmas album with the exclusive Pink Martini version of "Do you hear what I hear?" my current favourite Christmas tune! But I do have a soft spot for a really stonking O Holy Night. However, I will have to journal in more depth in my large album about this particular prompt! Shame about this bug as I had intended to get a big page done this weekend. :o(
I love the design of this so much when it opens up, and the ice skaters are so very cute!
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Just winding back to Friday's prompt for JYC - of Christmas past...
When I clearly remember having at least 1 White Christmas as a child, and since then, nothing! Always either sunny, or just grey, but no white landscape!
So there we are, me and my brother on a rare White Christmas, me no doubt about to get brainer by a snowball, since he clearly looks like he was about to be up to something!
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So here we are, today's entry, the 11th already! I am going to have to find smaller number stickers for this project now that we've got into double digits!
Love the dimensional fairy light sticker from KI - great stickers in general with this release. :o)
The pic of the silver tree hasn't come out quite so well on the printed photo, but here's a better one:
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Just a quick update tonight as I only started on my prompt at 9.30 - then hopped in the shower and am now back to upload it!
So this year's gift wrap includes whatever is left-over from my American Crafts haul last year (including the bows that were returned by family - I didn't even have to ask, my mum just handed them back to me after everything was unwrapped! LOL) and this year's new purchase of Matryoshka gift wrap from Paperchase. It's very cute, have cut one out, and the Santa gift tag is made from the gift wrap too.
Right time for Medium and gym packing/Christmas card writing/yadda yadda.
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So here's prompt 9 - already! Eeek!
All about traditions. It's hard to fit much in on ATCs, but the biggest tradition at Christmas for me has to be having a Polish Christmas Eve (Wigilia) and Christmas morning breakfast (complete with the best vodka available - actually a very good start to Christmas day!) and the rest of Christmas day being a traditional British affair... except because of Polish breakfast, we have Christmas lunch really late - at dinner time because we're stuffed! LOL
Right, now off to pack what needs to be taken to the PO tomorrow and my gym bag!
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How annoying, last night before I went to bed I wrote a post-it to myself to remember to take my camera with me to work because today's prompt included photographing the signs of Christmas around you.
Well what did I forget to pack?
My camera!
I realised this when I was sat in the traffic jam to work. Nice.
But it actually was a good thing, because if I'd taken it I would have had a depressing photo of wild rabid shoppers elbowing and shoving people out the way so they could get to something first, rude people losing their patience with others, retail staff rushed off their feet unable to help with queries, and NO Terry's white chocolate oranges to be found anywhere! A sad day indeed.
So today's photo is not of today's Christmas sightings... but the kind of sings of Christmas I like and want to remember - this time from Mount Dora, FL last year! What signs of Christmas do I love? I must admit that one of my favourite is shop windows with their Christmas displays. Well except Fenwick's Newcastle one this year, it was Oliver Twist and kind of gave me the creeps compared to previous years! :shudder:
So onto today's pics as I want to go watch Spooks! LOL
And have I mentioned how much I'm loving Pink Martini's version of "Do you hear what I hear?" A star, a star, burning in the night... with a tail as big as a kite... with a tail as big as a kite! Yeah, catchy isn't it - Also like the Third Day version too!
Bit dour looking today's entry isn't it, I think I'll need to go back to some KI as I even had to Stickle that poinsettia like mad! hehe
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And still up-to-date - barely! LOL
So Christmas shopping... perhaps one of the less enjoyable tasks of the Festive season. Don't get me wrong, I love finding gifts for people that are just perfect or that I know they'll like or at the very least appreciate... buuuuuut it seems I'm not the only one out there!
I wouldn't mind Christmas shopping half so much if it weren't for the crowds, the shoving and elbowing, the endless queues for one till then being told to go to another for that item, and lugging bags about shoppings centres with the 100s of other sardines crammed into the place.... hm.
So, if I see something in person and can buy it easily enough - I will, but for stuff I've seen but couldn't get or the gifts you don't need to see in person, I hop online in the comfort of my PJs (normally - since I seem to do most online shopping on a weekend morning!) and then just sit back and wait for those parcels to arrive!
Mind you I still have some shopping to do, and if I'm lucky I can take a flexi hour at work as soon as the shops open and get in there asap while it's ever-so-quiet. :o)
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Well here it is, today's entry... entitled Festive amnesia and what better line to use than KI Festive! :oD
Basically I can't really recollect truly bad memories of Christmas, or maybe I just don't want to. "Bad" times have faded over the years I suppose, so that's where the selective amnesia comes in, but the good memories stay with you forever. Well, all except that whole Cabbage Patch doll thing - the gift I so wanted for one particular Christmas but never received - it's become a standing joke now, it was apparently that big a deal! But ma and pa rather made up for that with the procurement of Majesty's Dream Castle which was one of the most memorable and best loved Christmas gifts ever!
So here are my sage words for today's entry - don't dwell on the bad, hold onto the good:
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So here it is, today's prompt celebrating the joy that is my advent calendar for this year.
I just love Milkybar chocolate, so am very happy the decided to make a calendar with it. Now if only Terry's would do their white chocolate orange again, I'd be ecstatic!
But, if an advent calendar were ever available with Reese's PB cups (white chocolate of course) behind the windows, I'd be in 7th heaven that's for sure.
Yes, it's the law, no matter how old I get, I shall always want an Advent calendar every year. Perhaps one day I shall finally finish my Bucilla Advent calendar hanger complete with 25 adorable and cute felt festive creatures. But since I've not picked it up in um 4 or so years, I doubt it'll be any time soon!
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So this entry might be a bit tongue in cheek, because I basically covered my perfect Christmas in my original entry back in 2006 and not much has changed since then. And really I need to keep it short and sweet on the ATCs!
So, today's entry is kind of an homage to the magic ingredient that really makes it Christmas - because really, can you call it Christmas without....
The humble Brussel Sprout?
The protests would be loud and plentiful if this little green vegetable was omitted from the Christmas dinner - and it's bizarre because no one is especially fond of them in the family! I am much more partial to the chestnuts they are served with - mmm so miss my days in Grenoble when I used to have hot roast chestnuts on a cold winter's day. Glorious.
And by "generous" helping, I believe the limit has been 5 in one sitting... But I can't usually eat more than 3! LOL
If you've seen the Vicar of Dibley episode where Geraldine has to eat several Christmas dinners, including a huge amount of sprouts - I can relate!
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Because today's JYC prompt is all about Christmas cards! And for once, I've not had to make one tonight. LOL
But here are today's journal entries:
Photographed some of the cards I've made for this Christmas then added my favourite card stamp - as it's the one I use on the back of 99.9% of my cards! Oh and the alphas are my favourite teeny rub-ons from Doodlebug, wish I had more of these actually. :o)
Then I hit more of the Noel stash! It really is cute.
So yep, the cards are more or less made. If I am woefully below quota I'll have to make some more, but I just need to write and post them now - Sunday, I'll do that Sunday.... Not tonight, as it's almost time for Big Bang Theory double bill! I love this season, even funnier than season 1!
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In true fashion, the day I sooooooo had to go somewhere it had to start with snow and basically a lot of ice!
Ghastly, but did I manage to take a photo?
Nope!
I managed to forget all about taking a photo when scraping away at my windscreen and then trekking around Newcastle in search of Christmas gifts - alas still no Russian Doll ornaments for the tree, but I did manage to find some lovely Polish baubles in Fenwick's!
Result!
And funnily enough I bumped into my friend Kelly in Fenwick's Christmas wrapping dept. while she was on her lunch break and looking for Christmas cards - will be seeing her for our Christmas meal and movie in a few weeks so looking forward to that.
Oh and breakfast at the John Lewis brasserie was lovely, I had one of the best hot chocolates of my life there! Wagamama's for lunch was a bit disappointing, especially discovering my favourite ginger chicken udon dish seems to have undergone a transformation and didn't taste the same as it usually does, and I had no idea it had hot chilies in until I was rounding the home stretch and bit down on one! Waaaaaaaaah! Hot!
Anyway, onto today's JYC entry:
Really I should have rephrased it to "Let it snow! As long as I don't have to be anywhere!" - but I don't think I could have realistically fit that in.
And here's the other side:
Ah, the joy of KI Alpine - love the stuff!
Think I may make a filler entry tomorrow night so that I can insert a black divider card...
Anyway, best get off to bed, it's off to work in the morning and the ice is already looking plain lovely! :oS
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Is finally underway and so far I am up-to-date! Well, that's not too difficult it being the first day... we shall see how long that lasts!
This year's project is a bit different, I have scaled it down so that I should (in theory) still have time to work on my bigger pages of the original album I started in 2006 - well from the 13th onwards! ;o)
My 2008 JYC "album" is a 7Gypsies ATC spinner and whatever stash I clobber together for the entries. However, just because it's smaller, doesn't mean I'm going any faster than I used to!
But onwards with the show and tell, here's the project so far.
The "cover":
Mmmm Hambly-ness and AC alphas...
And the first entry:
Basic Grey, a Martha S. glitter snowflake (ultra sparkly in real life) and my favourite ever heart buttons from Doodlebug - I really need more as I only have 5 or so left. :o(
And that's it so far!
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This Means War (****)
The Horse Whisperer (****)
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Green Zone (****)
Sarah's Key (*****)
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