one little word

believe

i know it sounds strange, but i feel that my word has chosen me this year. as i stated in my earlier post, i often think that i could do better, i think i just need to believe in myself and my abilities more. i started this journey in 2007 when i chose the word "sparkle", followed by "freedom" and then last year "thankful". "sparkle" was chosen as i was just starting a new phase in my life where i really wanted to shine, i felt that sparkle was more descriptive than shine and suited what i wanted to demonstrate better. having established my sparkle, i needed to re-evaluate and live my life as i intended and therefore "freedom" was born. last year i wanted to remind myself that i have a lot to be thankful for, and i have to say this was hard. it was hard to really "live" this all year round, but especially one of the things that has reminded me of this recently has been the support offered by my friends over the last few weeks.

i am so thankful for your words of kindness and encouragement, i am so thankful that you are all in my life.

i signed up for ali's class. i am creating my journal and i am in the process of decorating my diary as a way of reminding myself of my word each day.

i am excited for the new year to begin, bring it on.....

i'm liberating myself.....

from my december daily. it's just not going to plan. to be honest, i am questioning why i am continuing with crafting. i do enjoy it and i have made some wonderful friends through this hobby, but, there is a downside, i spend countless hours searching for the "perfect" paper, embellishments and photo's and nothing lives up to the standards i set for myself. all this means is that i get nothing done, or end up trying to do the same page over and over again and eventually give up.

therefore, on this project, for this year, i am setting myself free.

i need to seriously downsize my mountain of supplies and lose about 3/4 of what i have. so, give me a call, come over and see what i've got, bargain prices to a good home!

i am, however, going to sign up for ali's "one little word" class for 2011. more on that and why i have chosen this in my next post. i think this will be my only project for 2011.

i am confident that i can keep up with this, it's one page per month, how hard can it be.....

some christmas cards to share

and as i know my friend jen will be looking at this, i hope you have a lovely christmas and that santa brings you everything you wish for x x

this card i made for my mum, aunty and 2 cousins:-

i took inspiration for this card from tim's 12 tags from last year. the background paper is from graphic 45 and the music notes from one of tim's stamp sets "holiday wishes". i inked vellum with old paper distress ink, tore the edges and heated this with my heat gun. this smokes like crazy, but it's ok, it gives the vellum a really aged feel. i then edged this with vintage photo distress ink. the lamp post is chipboard, painted this with a black paint dabber and adhered to the vellum. 

i used my trusty vintage photo distress ink again to edge an adage ticket and used a wreath for the final touch (these are actually from a dolls house furniture store!

my second card is for my husband:-

a different feel to this card entirely. i used my cottagecutz dies to punch the reindeer stable, santa's workshop and trees and icicle stickles to give the snow some definition.

the paper is very old - paper adventures "starry skies".

merry christmas everyone, i'll post next week with some more december daily pictures.

excited....

about this:-

i missed out on the lb crafts event as i was on holiday without internet connection when the tickets went on sale (and they sold out within minutes of going on sale!), so i am super excited about this. the down side - a 4 hour car journey to harrogate and a 4am start, but hey it will be worth it!

december daily - dec 2nd

i love it when i can break into the christmas cd stack and start listening to all my old favourites and rewatch christmas movies for the hundredth time!

december daily - dec 1st

the journalling says "every year, i watch out for the trademark red cup at starbucks, because this means the gingerbread latte is back! this is one of my favourite christmas traditions"

got to get back on track.....

with my december daily album. i have taken some pictures but not actually scrapped anything yet. the truth is i "fiddled" with the cover i made and showed earlier, but i am really not happy with it. so, i have had another go and here is the new cover:-

i am much happier with this. all i have to do now is get on with the pages!!

christmas traditions

i love hot chestnuts, i wish they were available all year round, but i suppose i wouldn't enjoy them as much of they were. we stayed open late tonight for the wantage dickensian evening, where they officially turn on the christmas lights. great fun, but very, very cold!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

happy december!!

i am getting so excited for christmas already!! we put the decorations up yesterday and now my living room is all christmassy! i love this time of year, it's the only time when i feel that i really relax and switch off from everything except my friends and family.

my favourite thing about coming home from work at christmas is that just the christmas lights are on in the living room, it's really cozy, i love sitting for a while and catching up on the days news.

i love coming home to the roman candles in the window.

i love the fire.

i love opening the advent calendar.

i love opening and constructing the christmas jigsaw puzzles.

i love christmas cd's in the car

i love christmas!!

i am attempting a december daily album this year. although i will not have my pages completed, i will take the pictures and post my pages when they are complete.

my first picture:-

it simply wouldn't be december without the red cup and gingerbread latte from starbucks. i love this!!