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Christmas Journals I am loving this year

Christmas Journal

My Christmas Journal currently looks something like this, a mix of the 15 pages I’ve created so far and spaces for 8×8 TTV photos on each facing page. I started printing those at home and it took a few days to make me realise just how much I was going to spend on ink and paper for those 8×8 prints when I knew I could order them all in one go, so now I am choosing one photo each day and will have them all printed together at the end of my journal in January.

I love seeing new journals come to life on the class forum and in blog posts. I always wish I had made a book just like one of those. I wish that about fifteen times a day! So it’s a good thing I can keep coming back to this project I suppose!

Here are some of my blogland favourites so far! Click each picture to see more pages.

Christmas Scrapbook by Sam
digital Christmas scrapbook by Bernie
Christmas scrapbook by SJ
Christmas scrapbook by Alissa
Christmas scrapbook by Rachel

Oooh, don’t you just wish you could flip through all those pages in a comfy chair with a gorgeous cup of hot chocolate? Love these and many more!

xlovesx

A call for submissions

mini scrapbooks

It so goes that when I disappear from blogging, it’s usually because something big is happening behind the scenes. In this case, that is definitely true: not just Journal your Christmas (which I am loving this year!) but also something else entirely new…so new I cannot completely talk about it just yet. Don’t you hate that? I definitely do.

But there is one thing I can mention: this project involves submissions for publication. Is that something that sounds good to you? If you would like to receive all the details for submissions to this project, please send me an email with Page Call Info in the subject line. I’ll get back to you with a list of what I’m looking for and when I’ll need it.

Submissions can include paper pages, hybrid pages, digital pages and related projects such as mini-books and display pieces. Submissions from anywhere in the world are welcomed, though physical projects will need to be posted to the UK for photography.

Looking forward to spilling the rest of the beans very soon, so do spread the word of this call for submissions!

xlovesx

A Christmas page and a sketch challenge for you

christmas scrapbook page
Supplies include the ever-so-lovely Jolly by Golly collection from Cosmo Cricket and journaling paper by Making Memories.

Throughout 2009, I’ve led a weekly challenge at UKScrappers called Scrap Like You Mean It, and we’re in the final few weeks of that year-long adventure. We’ve scrapped with different materials, different topics, different sizes and different designs to make sure we made time each week for something fun and crafty.

This week’s challenge is a sketch challenge based on the layout above from the December issue of Scrapbook Inspirations. The sketch is also available as a free digital download.

free digital scrapbooking download
Click to download this sketch as a digital page template in psd format.

The challenge runs through the end of next Wednesday and I’d love to see your pages! Paper, hybrid and digital all welcome! Find this week’s challenge discussion here on UKScrappers. UKS members can upload their pages to the Scrap Like You Mean It gallery, or you can play along by leaving a link to your page in the comments here.

If you’re downloading the template, it would be lovely if you said hello! I hope you find it useful.

Happy scrapping!

xlovesx

A few of my favourite Christmas journals

christmas scrapbook by Kristina

Each prompt in Journal your Christmas includes not just my pages, but also pages participants have made during Christmases past. Part of the fun is going back through all the previously posted albums to see which pages make great examples each day. But I also wanted to share a few albums you can look through online. I love how each is unique to the style of the scrapper who created it.

The album above is by Kristina Nicolai-White, who many of you will know as Pea1 — she and her husband founded Two Peas in a Bucket more than ten years ago. I’ve seen this 2008 album in person (most of it…Kristina was still working on it then) and it’s huge and tactile and amazing to read. Kristina used a ton of different products but focused on a few types to make it all work together: letter stickers, labels and patterned papers cut into circles. Plus she added lots of fun smaller-sized pages in between the big pages, which makes it more interactive with so much to see. Kristina writes a great deal as well as including photos and the end result is such a treasure. She also put in a few of her own twists, like starting the album early to coincide with her family’s Christmas schedule. I absolutely love everything about this book. Check out the entire album here.

christmas art journal by Ali

Ali Edwards first joined the class in 2005 and I love how these pages have elements of her signature scrapbooking style blended with the freedom of art journaling. Her stamped trees are some of my favourite page numbers to date and I marvel at the way she embossed this snowflake. See more pages here.

christmas ATC scrapbook by Nat

Natalia Harandon has been journaling her Christmas for several years now and you may have seen this fab ATC spinner in the Christmas issue of Scrapbook Inspirations magazine. At first I wasn’t sure the tiny ATC format would work for this project, but Nat’s collection is absolutely fabulous and I love the idea of a journal that comes out with the Christmas decorations. The small size kept her on track with the time constraints of a busy December and it also allowed her to stretch her favourite supplies further. See the full project here.

christmas scrapbook by Alissa

Alissa Fast has made several journals as well and her 2008 book is in my forever favourites list. It’s a book filled with depth and texture and colour but it still looks like every single little thing was just meant to be there. The shaped pages and mix of supplies and real-life ephemera makes this album both beautiful and very ‘real’ in the way it documents each day through the season. See the full album here

christmas scrapbook by Jen

Jen Geigley makes pages that are bright and bold and happy without ever crossing from cute to cutesy, a bit like how raspberries are both sweet and not sweet and that is exactly what makes them so fabulous. I love watching her little girl grow up on the pages of her Christmas journals and her 2007 album is just divine. I love, love, love it. Jen also designed the numbers I used on my pages last year, and I had a few left over so I used a big 25 on the cover of my album this year. So in general, she rocks. See the full album here.

digital christmas scrapbook by Julie Ann

Julie Ann Shahin has created three digital scrapbooks that she prints at the end of the project. She has used a different format each year, and each one has been a winner. In 2007, she created each page to be the size of a 4×6 landscape photo so she could print the pages and turn it into an adorable hybrid album. I’m particularly fond of her 2006 album with double page spreads and some of my favourite digital artwork. You can see all three albums on her blog — start here with 2006.

Now, I really could continue with at least fifty more but I should probably get back to work. If you have more time, you should also check out albums by Sam, Iceboxpoet and Vee to get an idea of the variety of books that are created in this class.

Alumni, if your album is online, post a link in the comments of this post to share it.

Can’t wait for tomorrow! First Journal your Christmas prompt will be sent in a matter of hours now!

xlovesx

And the winner is...

Journal your Christmas online scrapbooking class

The giveaway prize of a place for you and a friend on Journal your Christmas goes to…

Kirsty Says:
28 November 2009, 20:08
The thing i’m most looking foward to this christmas is seeing the pure inocent joy on my childrens faces when they realise that Santa has been.I’m on borrowed time with my daughter as she is 7 years old and i can’t bear the thought of when she finds out that Santa is really mummy!.So i try to make each year a little bit better than the previous one.So that is the thing i’m most looking foward to & planning this xmas.xx

Kirsty, email me with the email address of your friend so you can both get started!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered! It’s not too late to join us, and you can find all the details here.

Check back later today for a post with some of my favourite Christmas journals from participants in past years!

Have a great week!

xlovesx

Projects with Polka Dot Papers

digital scrapbook page
October in Moutain View by Avital.

Today we’re heading home to Londontown, but while I’m on the way I wanted to share some fabulous polka-dotted projects from the Baker’s Dozen! They’ve been busy making both digital and paper scrapbook pages with the Polka Dot Paper kit, which is currently on sale for the holiday weekend (as are lots of other kits, so be sure to check it out).

Plus be sure to enter the Journal your Christmas giveaway this weekend!

And now, fab pages from the Baker’s Dozen! I have even more dotty projects to share with you, but I’m saving those for later in the week.

digital scrapbook page
Autumn by Sheri.

hybrid scrapbook page
In the Autumn… by Karen M.

digital scrapbook page
Time for Coffee by Anso.

hybrid scrapbook page
I heart Photography by Elisa.

digital scrapbook page
Autumn in October by Scrapdolly.

I love what these ladies are making and I hope you find it inspiring too! And now, off to home!

xlovesx

Journal your Christmas :: Win an online scrapbooking class!

chipboard snowflakes

Journal your Christmas starts next Tuesday on the first of December. This weekend you can win a place for you and a friend just by leaving a comment!

To enter, leave a comment with one thing you are looking forward to or planning this Christmas – anything! One comment per person, and comments close at 6:00am Monday morning UK time. Winner will be announced later on Monday.

If the winner has already signed up for Journal your Christmas in 2009, she’ll have the choice of a refund or a place to gift to another friend. If the winner signed up 2008 or earlier, she’ll receive places for two friends.

Journal your Christmas online scrapbooking class

You can find all the class details here so go ahead and sign up!

Don’t forget to leave your comment! Good luck!

ETA: comments now closed and the winner is posted.

xlovesx

Since the winner gets a place for herself AND a friend, why not tell all your friends? Click to share via Facebook and elsewhere.

Happy Thanksgiving!

thanksgiving dinner

Back in the States for my first Thanksgiving in many, many years. Food galore and happy faces too.

Hope your Thursday was lovely!

xlovesx