{Day 15} Welcome!!

Today's prompt for my Christmas Journal was about visitors during the Christmas season. When I think of people visiting, I couldn't help but think of the greatest welcome symbol of the holiday season, a wreath on the door! So I made a page that has a little door that opens and reveals my journaling about who will be our cherished guests this holiday season. Thanks for visiting:)

{Day 14} Frosty the Snowman

was a jolly, happy soul....
LOVE that song! Today's Christmas Journal prompt was on Christmas songs. ~*Frosty*~ has always been my favorite! I was so glad to be able to use my favorite Christmas card ever on this one. He gets to be king of the snow! I have come to realize that I'm having so much fun with these journal entries, because I'm getting lots of inspiration from things that I've kept over the years that mean something to me. Now I have a place to have them all together in a meaningful way. Two posts in one day..woohooo...I'm all caught up on my journal:) Have a great day!

{Day 13} Presents, presents...and more presents!

This one was easy. Not quite the aesthetic appeal, but descriptive. The prompt for our Christmas Journal for {day 13} was to document our tradition for opening gifts. We have always gone youngest to oldest in my family and I love to help pass out the gifts...always have! For this layout I wanted to use some of the those sticker tags, because they remind me of the the tags that my mom put on the gifts as a kid. I don't think they were stickers then, but were generally the same with little pictures on them. I then put photos of everyone on top of the tags and drew arrows showing our order for opening gifts. Nothing fancy today, but fun in it's own way! **edit- I just re-worked my whole page because my husband informed me that I forgot him in the original. Oops! I feel awful. Sorry Joe, I love you!!!!
I continue to make Christmas gifts like a madwoman:) Here are a few more of my creations. For those of you that were asking about my cones, they really couldn't be any easier. I cut cardstock weight scrapbook paper to 8x8" and then just played with rolling them until I got a cone shape. I hot glued the end down so that it would stay and viola!

Christmas past and present {Day 12}

Lots to share today. {Day 12} for my Christmas Journal is about christmas past. What's changed? What's stayed the same? Shimelle's creative challenge was to use something that you thought you'd never use on a layout. After seeing this cute little tree that I got on a gift from Bonnie last night (more on that later), it reminded me of a gingerbread house my mom and I made out of Fimo clay one year. We made all kinds of little candies out of clay and put them on our Fimo house. I have such fond memories of my grandmothers gingerbread houses (this is my sister and I as kids with one of them) we decided to make one that will last year after year. So using my little Fimo candies in a layout had never occured to me, but seemed perfectly appropriate here! Thanks for the great challenge, Shimelle!

I also got my Poppy Ink kit in today's mail. Great stuff and such untraditional Christmas colors, love that!! I cannot wait to use that little crown stamp:)

From the library, I got the book Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason. Have you seen this? It's a fictional book about a "found" journal and the whole story is done as an altered book. Brilliant!!! Take a look inside. Sooooo cool! **edit: I just finished reading the book and the story is not that great at all. I really like the concept of an altered book to tell a story. Is certainly worth a browse at the library.
Last, but certainly not least, I went to Bonnie Rose's UnVeiling last night of her new studio. To say it was ~*~FaBuLouS~*~ is an understatement. Here she is in her heavenly room!
Check out that amazing dresser in the background! And the lattice above her head...simply gorgeous!!
Look how organized she is...and this is only one of her scrap rooms!!
It was so much fun to hang out with Bonnie and her friends. It was really great to see Kyra too! I went to high school with her and haven't seen her since:) Bonnie, your studio and your home were truly a delight. I know you and your hubby worked so very hard and it was really a magical night. Thank you!

O Christmas Tree! {Day 11}

Thanks for all the wonderful ornament suggestions. I think I'm going to have to give them all a try! What I ended up doing is making a bunch of cones. I absolutely love cones. I found some cute hand cut wooden words at a local handicraft shop and covered them with glitter. Words like *inspire* *wish* *courage* *imagine*.... perfect! I glued festooning around the edge of the cone and it makes them look very festive. Glad I still had some left over from Silver Bella. Festooning is hard to come by around here! I will give each of Lowell's therapists a word and they fit perfectly in the sweet little cones! Love it:)

I loved all the cones so much I hung them all on my tree until I give them away. For {Day 11} we were supposed to do a page in our Christmas Journal about trees, I wanted to share a picture of my newly embellished tree.

Shimelle's clever artistic challenge was to use at least one ornament hook on our page. Since I covered the page with pictures and wanted to have some room for journaling, I tucked tags behind the pictures and put a hook on top! You can see it a little better in the up-close pic:)

Here's my page!!Inspired by this...wow!!

I also wanted to share a picture of our tree skirt after reading Pam's post. I love tree skirts too and also have a thing for those little pom pom's. This one is not vintage, but I loved the whimsy look and have always loved felt too!

{Days Eight, Nine and Ten}

Hello! I disappeared for a bit there, but I definitely have my Christmas crafting mojo back now! I caught up in my Christmas journal for Shimelle's class. Above is {Day 8} which was journaling about the changes that I'm seeing with Christmas approaching. I wrote about how I love to see holiday window displays, this one being my favorite this year at The Curious Sofa. I have also really been enjoying all of the wonderful window displays that Lilli has been sharing on her blog.
{Day 9} was about traditions. I journaled about how I hadn't put a lot of thought into holiday traditions until I had kids of my own. Now I hope to continue with meaningful traditions from my and my husband's childhood (like making sugar cookies!) and create traditions of our own that are unique to our family's beliefs and values. Each of the "cookies" on the layout above opens up for more journaling. I just love how these two pages came together as a layout!
{Day 10} is about showcasing your page as a gift. This is the wonderful flocked paper that I found this year and the rosette face was too cute not to show off on the top of a gift!
Finally, I need to ask a big favor! I would love to make some really cute (and easy) ornaments from scrapbook paper for my sons teachers. Do any of you know any links to some neat projects? If you could leave it in the comments I would *really* apprecaite it. Thanks!!! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

{Day 7} Season of giving

Shimelle's prompt for {Day 7} of Journal your Christmas is about gifts...giving, buying and all that fun stuff! I have to admit, I have been in a gift buying frenzy lately and doing this page actually got me in the mood to wrap all of them! I had fun putting all my little tags in behind the gifts. I was thrilled to use some of my Amy Butler fabric, vintage velvet and satin ribbon and some gorgeous fiber I recieved from my friend Ginger for my birthday. I added some other fun finds that I have been wanting to use in projects for awhile. The background is the flocked wrapping paper that I'll be wrapping my gifts in this year (if I don't use it all in my art first!) Always fun to use your good stuff in a fun project like this:)

{Day 6} Memories

This was totally random and fun, but I guess that's what this Christmas Journal is all about, right?! I decided to do two different interpretations of Christmas side by side. This represents the array of memories that I have of the season. Some festive, some meloncholy, they're all there and that's ok:)

{Day 5} and Winter Wishes

It seems that baking tray advent calendars were all the rage this year. After seeing Teresa's in person at Silver Bella, I had to give it a try (left). Today's topic for Shimelle's Journal your Christmas class is Countdown for Christmas. I adore the advent calendar we had as a child. I included a picture of it on my layout and my mom still uses it to this day. I anxiously awaited unveiling a little felt sequenced ornament hid away in a pocket and pinning it on the tree each day. It was simple and delightful! I still have a love of the retro style felt and sequins Christmas decor, because it always reminds me of this wonderful holiday tradition:)


I made this fun little collage for a swap I'm in. Was so glad to be able to use some wonderful vintage wallpaper I had, also vintage stamp, and cloth ring. I added the clasp, because it reminded me so much of clasping your mittens to your coat so you won't lose them in the winter. Winter Wishes!

Also, thanks so much for all the well wishes. I'm feeling better today:)

{Day 4} Dreaming

I've been dreaming a lot lately, since I'm home with the flu:( Day 4 of Shimelle's journal your Christmas class was all about our dream Christmas. What would it be like? I can honestly say, Christmas with my family, with my sister home from San Diego, are a dream come true. We have been celebrating the day after Christmas with extended family and before Christmas with my husband's side. I couldn't ask for more. I feel very blessed. With all the kiddos around now there's lots of fun to be had with cookies and snowmen and sledding!!! Love the warm, late afternoon winter light that I photographed this page in. It's cold, cold outside and I'm feeling warm and cozy inside. Hopefully I can shake this bug soon. Off to take another nap!
Speaking of dreaming, for some fabulous treasures, check out Jenny's brand new divinely cute ornament (left) at her eBay shop here. Also, Alicia's updating her Rosy Little Things shop *today*!

{Day 3} Feelin' blue

Day 3 for Shimelle's Journal your Christmas class is about holiday cards. This is our card for this year. I love it! My dilemma has been to get a picture of the kids together. Still haven't done that:( I'm thinking of maybe doing a letter and embedding some individual pictures in the letter. This layout was fun and fast. I'm feeling really icky today, so it was a nice diversion.

My mom and I went to a terrific estate sale yesterday on our way to Craft-o-Rama (see last post). Lots of fun vintage finds. Here are a few of my purchases. I was obviously in a robin's egg blue state of mind:)

{Day 2} and Craft-O-Rama!

Day 2 for Shimelle's Journal your Christmas class is on *SnoW*. I love snow!! I've lived in Minnesota my entire life and it's very much expected each year that we'll have a white Christmas. I love that! I chose a picture of my sister and I circa 1978 playing in the snow for this layout. So many of my childhood holiday memories revolve around winter and snow. It's very much a part of who I am. I *love* living in a winter wonderland!

Really had fun today at Craft-O-Rama. So many hip, "indie" type crafts. Lots of inspiration. Here's a screen printed poster for the event. Reminded me of Dream Pets, which I collect. So I thought it would be cute for our children's play area.
Skulls, Boobs and Flames, oh my! :)

**Amazing** sock monkey dress!
Conjoined twins:)
Made with recycled sweaters. Looks good enough to eat!
Look at this lovely crib bedding made with Amy Butler fabric. Wow!
So much color...loved it all!!! What a fun day.

Hope you're having a nice weekend.

Holiday Journal {Day 1}- Silver Bella Redux

I decided to do a separate page for day 1 as well as the manifesto (in post below) to begin my holiday journal. I journal here about how my holiday season started early this year, because I attended Silver Bella and was so utterly inspired by the lovely and amazing Teresa McFayden, Pam Garrison and Becky Novaeck and a host of others that when I got home, I couldn't just pack away my creations. So the house began to get a festive touch in early November. The art created there inspired my holiday theme and palette and really my frame of mind this holiday season. This layout ended up looking much like my Silver Bella journal (seen here). I can't get enough of that Basic Grey Fruitcake paper. I'm really excited about this project and love the work that I'm seeing everyone share here.

Tomorrow I'm off to Craft-O-Rama, an indie craft show. Should be fun!!

On the first day...

I decided at the last minute to participate in Shimelle's Journal your Christmas online class as a gift from me, to...well...ME! I have heard such wonderful things about the class from last year and heard from some of my favorite bloggers that are participating this year. I had this blank journal (above) that I posted before and intended on it being an art journal. It sat the last month as just a pretty cover, remaining empty. So I changed out the picture, and it was the perfect nudge that I needed to take this class and use it as my holiday journal.

Some of you may find it strange that I would do a Christmas journal, being Buddhist and all. However, I do celebrate the holiday's and have many treasured memories of holiday's past. I love that about this time of year, whatever religion you practice (or none at all) it is a time of wonder and grace, peace and harmony.

Today, December 1st is {day 1}. We are to state our intentions. Here is my first page. It's a tweaked version of Shimelle's Manifesto here. I added the pearl costume jewelry as a reminder of the glitz and glamour of Christmastime:)

I also wanted to share these fabulous felt ornaments I bought from Charlotte's etsy shop. Love them! She just finished designing a line for Seasons of Cannon Falls. It's a *fabulous* local Minnesota gift and decor company. Can't wait to see her creations:)