Sunday 31 December 2006

Hogmanay!

Hogmanay is a wild night tonight - 70 miles an hour wind has meant that the big town centre celebrations have been cancelled! Not that I'd be going in anyway, but it's a shame for those that were. I'm finding it hard to move away from the Christmas feel of the journal so tried to be a bit different tonight. The 'memories' are from the days when I would stay up to all hours to greet the new year and the journalling block tells what I get up to these days! Memories: ships' horns in Greenock / playing whistle as Bill morris danced in Strathpeffer / walking through the streets first footing in Kilbirnie / dancing in the streets in Lundin Links. Nowadays Hogamanay is a quiet time at home with Mum and the start of several peaceful days at home. I like to clean out the rubbish and hoover and clean the floors and have the flat tidy, then put out some cake and open a new bottle of whisky at the bells. Then it's quite an early night really. HAPPY NEW YEAR AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2007!

Saturday 30 December 2006

Reflections of a year

When you look at a year, you will see yourself reflected in it. What you do with that knowledge is up to you. One should take time to reflect, to be happy and sad, to laugh and to smile, to be thankful and to be hopeful, and to move on to the year that is ahead. This is the year that I started to scrap. This was today's page, I didn't want to go down the counting out events and listing things route, probably because I don't really keep such details in mind but just wanted to do something that captured the Hogmanay tendency to look back and get a little bit maudlin (and to enjoy it!) I also put in something for day 29, silly really cos these are pictures of two of Christmas decs but I kind of liked the thought!

Title page

On 29th we got to do the title page, and mine is very much inspired by Shimelle's 'in the middle' style. I'll also do a dated page to keep it all chronological and put in some piccies, but again don't think I have them printed out yet!

Boxing Day, new pjs and all my weaknesses exposed

My Boxing Day pages, the salvaged stuff is obviously my cracker (I had my Christmas dinner on Boxing Day as I was working on Christmas), and the little embellies on the right hand side which were the bits left after we'd carefully popped out my nephews game of Buccaneer! I'll add some piccies down the side of the hat once they're printed. The 27th was about sleep - and as I had new pjs for Christmas there was only one thing to do: The 28th was about December weaknesses, and had to use columms. Hhm, scary how many of my weaknesses involve food! Food for thought indeed....

The day itself!

My Christmas entry, journalling just records what I did, not very exciting as I was working and spent 6 hours driving as well!

Sunday 24 December 2006

Twas the night before Christmas

And this year it has been quiet, and not too hurried, making things, wrapping pressies, getting ready for tomorrow and watching the weather reports! I love the bright lights of Christmas, coloura in the darkness, colours of joy and happiness and peace, red and gold and green. I wonder what will tomorrow will bring...I hope it all goes well...Merry Christmas everyone. x

Saturday 23 December 2006

23 Stockings!

One year in Greenock Mum and I decided to make stockings for us at Christmas. We did use to hang up stockings, usually some of Dad's big socks. But this year we decided to use felt, all sorts of bright colours and cotton wool for the tops of the stockings. And everyone got an 'icon' on the front, the bell, the pud, the snowman etc. So we used these ones every year after that ~ unless we lost them of course and had to make new ones. When I was in Oz I got fabric of Santa and a sleigh pulled by kangaroos and that got used for the tops of the stockings. Inside we always get an apple and an orange and a coin, usually some choc too and some wee pressies. Stockings are great! Also making an appearance under the tree are Noel (because Santa brought him to me when I was helping out a primary one party), Typhoo (cos he came free with some well known tea bags!) and Percy Prestwick (cos he came from the airport) with their pal the snowman. Who says you have to grow up?

Friday 22 December 2006

22 - things still to do!

Time is running out so I decided to let the snowmen help me today. I guess the tidying up and buying the food are the main priority for today (though I definitely need more glue, does anyone ever have enough?) as Rab and I have our Christmas dinner this evening as he goes off to his folks tomorrow. The good news is that I then have a couple of days in a nice tidy house to finish off some handmade stuff and relax before I head off to work on Christmas day then down to my sister's. So I guess I should go and get started on that list now!

Thursday 21 December 2006

Shortest day (and most to do!)

Day 21 here, the winter solstice, the shortest day, and I have sooooo much to do.... But the prompt today was to take a picture of your house now, as it is, no tidying... so I did as I was told (though I didn't take any piccies of the kitchen, I couldn't bear that!). So quite a quickie really which is just as well, cos I still have lots to do! ETA: I had to come back and add more inking cos my journalling bled through from the other side of the page! Oh well, I quite like it this way now.

Tales of the unexpected...

Tales of the unexpected ... 'cept they haven't happened yet, so I'll come back and journal as they happen, removing the temporary to be continued sign!! I used a postage stamp on my cards page so I didn't want to repeat myself here. Of course the real unexpected event is that I'm still up to date.......

Wednesday 20 December 2006

4 in a row - days 16-19

Day 16 are the things I am grateful for: *time to relax *enough to celebrate with *my family *Rab *friends *time to create, enjoy, play *arriving safely *good health *a nice home *a good life 17 was about the perfect present, or 'I saw this and thought of you'. I found this one hard until I saw the photo of Mum and Cara, who passed on a couple of months ago, but who loved getting her pressie on Christmas morning (and who always bought us pressies too and sent us cards!). Journalling reads: For you the perfect present was easy, and gave you so much joy, as you gave us. And this year I saw a toy like this, and thought of you. x 18 features Christmas Dinner! The photo is of the family at Greenock (I'm taking the picture!) and the fancy hat journalling reads: A traditional all-the-trimmings family focus to the day. Melon, pate, soup, turkey, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, chipolatas, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pudding, trifle, sherry, wine, coffee and mints. I love to cook and remember stuffing the turkey one morning at Greenock. It's a middle of the day affair. Now it's at Fiona's. I miss not being able to cook the dinner. Rab and I have our Christmas meal an eveningc 22/23rd - I cook at my flat, candles, wine, very romantic and relaxed. I try to make it different each year hhmm, maybe duck breast this year? 19 was good to do - a letter to Santa, whom I have not written to in a long time. Dear Santa It's been a long time since I wrote to you, but I'm sure you'll have been busy. I really just wanted to let you know that I am regaining the joy and the excitement of Christmas, as I had kind of lost sight of it for a while. And I wanted to say thank you for all those fabulous Christmases when I was wee, you always got me what I wanted, especially the year I got the blackboard! I will always remember coming into the living room that year- you'd even left me a message on it! And you always ate the mince pies we left for you, and you gave Rudolph his carrots. You made it all so special. I've grown up now Santa, and really just want love and happiness and health and peace for us all, but it's great to know that you're still out there delivering Christmas magic to smiley faces. Love Karen x

Tuesday 12 December 2006

Catching up in advance!

Well, I may be being naughty, or superorganised, or just sad, but I'm going away tommorrow for several days and won't be able to take my scrapping stuff with me so I decided to catch up in advance and do the next couple of days from the text prompts that are already up ... so here are 13, 14 and 15... This one is about our "Present Places". Everyone who stays over in our house at Christmas has a present place in the morning - instead of a disorganised heap under the tree everyone's pressies are laid out on a chair or part of the sofa, and everyone has their own place, of course the only problem is we all have to sit on the floor as all the seats are covered in presents! Then we all watch the kids open theirs and do their stockings and then we get to open ours too. These are my nephews on Christmas morning - you can see their pressie piles on the chairs behind them, along with stockings on the fireplace and a tray that was left out for Santa and Rudolph! 14- Sing a song of Christmas. I love Christmas carols, and was hard pressed to think of just one special one, so I put in bits of a few ... 15 - This one was quick as I followed Shimelle's instructions pretty closely, and only wrote in the people I'll see over Christmas. So that's me for now, but I'll be behind again when I get back!

12 Christmases -then and now- and us

Well, I never thought I'd have a page with nothing on it but some star shaped journalling - so I guess the thing I thought I'd never use from my stash is 'nothing'! This just kind of happened cos I didn't know what pictures to use or what to do so I found myself pouring out rather random reactions to the prompt in the star shape. At one point it was going to be a Christmas tree, but it turned into a star.... The words read: Over the years Christmas is the same, yet every year it is different too. Some years are very different - the year I was in Oz, and the year Dad died, and this year I am playing at the Old Course Hotel so won't be around for dinner or pressie giving or church. One year I was ill and stayed in Symington on my own as I couldn't travel. Some years I have been ill on or around Christmas, some years just very tired, some years I have been studying hard. Christmas at Greenock was always a lovely break from the rest of the year, a recharging of batteries. Some times I've been bored on Christmas Day, doing the polite visitors routine, not being able to relax. Sometimes I just eat too much instead, or have another drink or go off to my room to read or play. But I am looking forward to Christmas this year. I feel prepared to enjoy myself, to be happy and relaxed. To scrap too! To continue this journal. To catch up on crafty things. To see Rab. To play with my nephews. To relax and enjoy this special time with the people I love and want to spend time with. To go for walks, cook good food, laugh, give, receive, love, be silly, for this is this year, the same but different to every other year. We are getting older and Christmases will keep changing as we change whether we want to or not. So let's just enjoy, and think, and be happy.

Monday 11 December 2006

9 and 11 Traditions and a tree

Here is my no 9 Traditions - my sister delivered on the photo front (thanks!) so here is the family house, now almost 30 years old. I've told the story behind the little paper flaps, of making the house in art class when I was about 12, then making it into a Christmas snow scene, and Mum got the Santa sleigh and reindeer out of Dad's shop to add to it. So it came out every year, even after I'd left home to go to uni, Mum kept doing it. Now Dad's no longer with us, and Mum lives with my sister's family, and so my elder nephew did it, and this year the younger one did it. So it's our family tradition. And they are great things. To be cherished. And enjoyed. And for me, a new tradition has begun, for this year I put up a Christmas tree for the first time ever! I remember one year I put tinsel round a rubber plant, and I've been hanging tree decs all over the flat for the past few years, but this year it seemed that the time had come. So this entry was an easy one to do, and I have to say, I love my tree!

Sunday 10 December 2006

7,8 and er, 10

Catching up here, feels good! Christmas shopping was a fun one to do. I love shopping for pressies, especially when I'm abroad, and I love buying things for Christmas. But I do hate busy crowded shops, traffic jams and having to make decisions when I don't know what to buy! So here it is: Visions of Christmas had me a little bit stumped til I read the 'use something small' direction, and decided to play with a punch and just jot down all the things that tell me Christmas is on the way! I've kind of skipped no 9 just now - it's Traditions - and I know what I'm going to do, but need to get my sister to take a piccie for me. I made a model house in an art class about 30 years ago and every year it's brought out, covered in 'snow', and decorated with a santa and sleigh that Mum got for it many years ago too. I used to do this, then my mum did it for a while after I'd left home, then my elder nephew took over and now my younger one does it... so after 30 years it's a family tradition! No 10 was a quickie as Shimelle said - useful when you need to catch up! - tells my wrapping present plans.

Tree's up!

You know I was kind of shocked to realise I've never put up a Christmas tree before... I remember one year I put some tinsel round the rubber plant in my student bedsit but that doesn't really count, and of course there was always a tree at my parents house. But I'd never put my own up - til last night! Only a wee one, and a fantastic bargain at Tesco's - tree and lights for under a fiver! But I'm very happy with it! Now all the decorations I've brought back from all over the place now have a proper home. Like the Russian dome, the Irish angel, the Danish couple, the German stars etc

No Negative Thoughts!

Day 4 was all about your perfect Christmas but I felt a bit weird just writing down lots of nice things so I decided to strip it back to basics - and this is an important one for me! Day 5 covered Advent. I don't use advent calendars now though I did when I was a kid so I just used a couple of basic memories - making my own one year during a power cut, and the year we got 3D ones with bits that moved. They were fab! Day 6 was meant to be a contrast between a good and a bad memory, but I felt uncomfortable dwelling on anything bad so I wrote any bad things beneath the box and glued the lid shut, so my very own Pandora's box layout here! Other journalling reads: I remember arriving home to a house full of decorations, many of which I'd brought back from lots of different countries. The tree would be up, pressies underneath, everything red and gold and bright and colourful. I loved going home at Christmas. Time with Mum and Dad, time to chill, to play, to just enjoy. I will find new ways to that sense of peace and enjoyment. I will take control.

Journal Your Christmas

Here it is then - page 1, more of a statement of intent than my usual photo based scrapping pages. Journaling reads: This is my CHRISTMAS BOOK, a journal, a diary,a collage of Christmases. Memories of past years. often blurring together and kind of hazy at the edges, along with hopes and dreams, crazy plans, fears and anxieties, make up the sum of a season that I have had to struggle with to call my own. This is my way through, a period of reflection in creativity, a little piece of art each day, the colours of Christmas, riches for all the senses, words to linger over and ideas to play with, something to bring joy to the darkness and comfort to the winds of winter. With this, I will win back my Christmas, and let it be SOMETHING THAT I RELISH. Day 2 was fun - the topic was weather - so of course all thoughts turned to snow! This time the journalling had two different angles, the going out to play one that you can see and the less pleasant side to snow: New fallen snow is beautiful and quiet, but when it gets old and brown and slushy it's horrid and depressing. And if it freezes over it's scarey and unsafe. BUT when you're not at home, the winter weather is DANGEROUS and terrifying. I was caught out in a blizzard on the Glen Garry road this time last year. Sheer terror in a swirlingly white and frightening world, when it was hard enough to breathe let alone drive, but you knew you had to get over the pass to safety or risk freezing to death. The relief when I saw the lights at the Cluanie Inn was immense. A warm and safe haven, shelter from the storm. I will never understimate a Highland winter again. Day 3, a simple take on Christmas cards. Journalling is inside the card, but mainly just states that I don't usually get them out when I should...

Friday 8 December 2006

First Scrapagogo Kit!

I'd heard lots of really good things about these kits and was lucky enough to manage to get one that was going spare in October. Lovely Scenic Route papers and lots of matching bits and bobs. So here are my first couple of layouts from that kit (and there's plenty papers left!) Fiona at 40! Photos from my big sister's 40th birthday - a lovely colourful and smiley day. Fun on the Stairs! Misbehaving with the nephews.... And now I'm eagerly awaiting the postie as December's kit has just been posted out ...

Book of Me

Well I'm one of those scrappers that doesn't have kids, and (even worse?) didn't have a working camera for many of my 2 lovely nephews' earlier years, so I kind of scrap myself a lot... But I still decided to follow Roz and Kirsty's Book of Me prompts on UKS, and have done the first three, and am intrigued and excited about what the next one will be! I Am This was hard, to begin with all I could think of was 'I am me' which wasn't very helpful really. I didn't want to do the lots of individual words thing cos in all honesty I'd then have had to say things like 'fat', 'disorganised', 'late' etc but once I had decided on the piccie the journalling came quite easily and reads: I am a traveller, in life, in time, in music, in love, in wonder, in art, in me, myself, I ... I will always go forward, I will always look back, I will always be what I am, what I have been, what I will become... One Day This one actually started me off in the BOM. It was a challenge for the Harry Potter cybercrop on UKS and was done really quickly, but gave me my black theme which I'll keep to throughout the album. And one day, I'll really do it! If I Didn't And I guess it's true though some folk might think it's too late, it's already happened! So, until the next prompt (next month)...

Harry Potter Cybercrop

I had great fun with this, my first cybercrop, on UKS at the end of November. I got to try new techniques and got forced into experimenting with different styles. And I got a few layouts as well that I really like! Such as: Shimelle's Class Magic in the Middle Herbology Nat's Notions and Potions Class Bewitched - a sketch class So, wonder when the next one is?

New blog, new blogger!

Inspired by getting to see everyone else's work on Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class, I decided to get a blog too, and save some space on my UKS gallery! So this is a first post, and hopefully I'll get some piccies uploaded soon.