December Daily/JYC Day 5

Sooooo....after worrying that I would be marooned in Scotland by the imminent adverse weather, I made it back to London without any problems at all.  And then today, it snowed.  Big time.  London had about 3 inches, which might not sound much...but trust me, that's a lot of snow for London.  It meant that we left work early this afternoon, so I had a welcome couple of hours this evening to work on my December Daily (although the 'daily' part is probably a bit redundant now.  Oh well).  

For day 5, I wrote about how - for me at least - the annual Coca-Cola Christmas commercial marks the start of the Christmas countdown (using Shimelle's prompt as a starting point). 

Here's a close-up of the envelope on the left:

I'm excited about how this album is coming together - I think I'm finally starting to find my groove.  And hopefully I'll be able to catch up over Christmas itself...is it really only a week away?!  I'm slowly chipping away at my to-do list, but I honestly can't wait to have a few days to 'pause' and enjoy the festivities as they  reach a crescendo next weekend.  How are your Christmas preparations coming along? 

Happy Sunday!

December Daily/ JYC Days 3 & 4

Before I started putting my foundation pages together last month, I spent a few happy hours researching Christmas albums from years past.  Needless to say, I came across some fantastic and equally inspiring albums, but the ones that stayed with me the most were those that incorporated photos + journaling + memorabilia (like Molly Irwin's beautiful December Daily from last year).  This year, I decided that I would try to use this formula to tell a more rounded and more complete story of Christmas 2010.  And, since I've shared scans of my first two pages with you, I thought that I would do a post about the 'bits in between,' which will hopefully give a more complete picture of where I'm going with my album.... 

Day 2:

 

You've already seen the page on the left, but I also included some photos that I took on my iPod Touch (Hipstamatic and IncrediBooth apps) in the snow.  The 'Baby it's cold outside' stamp is from the AC Dear Lizzy Christmas collection - love it!       

Day 3:

And the before:

 Day 3 is about the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Olympia (back in November).  I collected a lot of business cards that day, so I put a few of my favourites inside the envelope.  Attached to the back is my journaling and a metal 'season's greetings' tag, which I purchased from one of the stalls.  I also included the Spirit of Christmas pamphlet...I've got a lot of bits and pieces like this to go inside my album (I'm just hoping I'll have enough space).  I included just one photo of the fair itself, but I might put a couple more inside a divided page protector if I have the room. 

Day 4:

Images from Victoria magazine.

And the before:

 Day 4 followed Shimelle's prompt about 'perfection' (click on the image to read the journaling).  The twill ribbon is from a local art shop.  If you look closely at the last image on the left (taken from a magazine), the name on the table setting is Genevieve :)  I thought that the list on the right (a hand drawn brush by Ali Edwards) would finish off this page nicely...it pretty much epitomises everything 'perfect' about this time of year.   

And that's my album so far.  There have been a couple of hiccups along the way and the 'daily' dimension lasted for all of 24 hours, but that was to be expected!  Otherwise I'm happy with how it's coming along.  I have a feeling it's going to be a slow process, but this fabulous post by Sian reminded me why it's so important to persevere.  How's your album coming along?  

December Daily/JYC Day 2

Webster's Pages and American Crafts papers, Bazzill cardstock, Fiskars punch, number tag from every jot and little

On Thursday morning I peered groggily through the gap in my curtains....and there before me was a winter wonderland.   I spent most of the morning snapping pictures before my parents and I risked a walk to the station to investigate the train situation (I had a presentation in London on Friday that I couldn't miss).  As we plodded down the lane towards the centre of town, we were overtaken by a small group of kids chattering away whilst hauling their sledges along behind them.  For me, that almost timeless moment pretty much epitomised everything that I love about this time of year...and just for a minute, I wished that I was 8 again.    

I wanted my page for day 2 to capture that sense of nostalgia, so I used what turned out to be the perfect piece of scrap paper from the Dear Lizzy Christmas collection alongside my photo of the retreating backs of the kiddos and their sledges (edited with the Pioneer Woman's PSE actions - it looks a lot more sepia in real life!).  It also helped to tone down the busy pattern on the foundation page, which I felt detracted a little from the photo.  Also for that reason, I decided to let my journaling stand alone on the adjacent page:

I also included a divided page protector to accompany this prompt.  I'm going to do a bulk order of 4x6 prints from Photobox once Christmas is over...but in the meantime, here are two of the pictures from Thursday that I will include:

And on the other side (from Friday):

Even London had to get to grips with snow and ice!  I took a detour through Trafalgar Square on the way to my seminar on Friday afternoon and snapped these photos on my phone.  It was freezing....

And here's a look at the original:

Thank you so much for looking!  I'll be back soon with day 3.  And I hope you're having a fabulous weekend...perhaps you've been working on your December Daily too? 

December Daily/JYC Day 1

Echo Park and October Afternoon papers, Bazzill cardstock, October Afternoon cardstock stickers,  

number tag from every jot and little, Ali Edwards 25 Days of December Overlay.

Happy December everyone!  Can you believe it's only 24 days until Christmas?!!!  I know the next few weeks are going to fly by, so last night I thought that I'd make a head start on the prompts for Journal your Christmas.  In fact, that's what I love about doing JYC in conjunction with a December Daily album...you can mix things up, do the prompts out of order if you want/need to (especially if you're having your photos printed in one bulk order)...and you have something to inspire you on those December days when you've tried to catch up on laundry.  Perfect.
 

A couple of quick words on my system: I'm doing an internship, a part-time job and a Masters at the moment...so I know that I won't be able to stay ahead of the prompts for long.  On some days I will post multiple pages...but there will likely be long gaps in between.  But that's ok, because as I keep reminding myself, live first and document second.  A combination of the big freeze, winter weather and a basement flat mean that daylight is scarce in my neck of the woods, so I won't photograph the actual album in its entirety until it's pretty much finished (or at least half way through).  I think I'll try and post a picture of the foundation page as well, because a little 'before and after' action is always fun: 

And last but not least, thank you for your wonderful comments and  words of encouragement - they never fail to make my day :) 

They're here!

Yup, it's that time of year again!  I had my first Eggnog Latte of the year on a fittingly freezing day (while listening to the Pogues, no less).  The Christmas countdown has officially begun! 

I have lots to share with you over the next few days, but I've got some sorting and editing to do first...so, in the meantime, I thought I'd do a quick post about the beginnings of my 2010 December Daily/JYC album... 

As you can probably tell from the mess, I spent most of this evening putting the album together.  It was an uncomfortable few hours on the floor, but it was definitely worth the time and effort!  After doing Shimelle's Journal your Christmas class last year, I knew that the only way I'd be able to stay on top of the prompts was if I prepared the album well in advance.  I'm using a Paperchase kraft album with a combination of current and past papers from October Afternoon, Echo Park, Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket, Making Memories and American Crafts (among others).  I just have a little bit more to do it, but I'll hopefully be able to do a post about the foundation pages some time next week.  Here are a couple more photos...

My big box of Christmas embellishments (which is currently expanding by the day)...

...and a sneak peek of the pages I've put together so far.  It feels good to be organised (for once!). 

How's your Christmas album coming along?

On the twelfth day of Christmas (sort of)

On Christmas Eve:

We finished decorating the tree...

...and we finished decorating the rest of the house.

We spent a little while admiring our handiwork.

We had mulled wine after Church.

I wrapped stocking presents...

...and big presents.

On Christmas Day:

We opened our stockings.

We had some of this.

We opened these.

We had some more mulled wine.

And then we rolled off to bed.

The end. (I promise).

Christmas in London, December 2009

For as long as we have our Christmas decorations up (until 6th January), I am in Christmas mode. So, before the whole world returns to normal after the excesses and excitements of the festive season, I thought I better upload my Christmas photos...my JYC album, however, might be a bit more problematic (due to my laptop's aforementioned nervous breakdown on New Year's Eve, which is conveniently set up for my scanner).

Anyhoo, to start with, I put together a (rather massive) collage of my favourite Christmas lights/decorations that adorned the many streets of London at the end of 2009. I LOVE London at this time of year...it takes on a different kind of energy...and the lights seem to soften the city somehow. I suppose it becomes just a little magical (apologies for the many clichés in the coming few days! I get very sentimental at this time of year).

I was going to write a list explaining what each photo involves (some aren't entirely clear) and where each one was taken, but it became so long that I was 99.9% sure you would very understandably lose interest. Lists do that to people. So, here's the short version instead: these were mostly taken in the West End, including Oxford Street, Regent Street, Covent Garden, the Strand, Piccadilly Circus and Knightsbridge. The reindeer with the white background was a poster by Transport for London, taken at Knightsbridge tube station. It was love at first sight:


The green store front is actually Harrods - this year the Christmas theme was the Wizard of Oz, which also explains the red shoes. Each window borrowed an element from the Wizard of Oz story:

I have to admit...I sort of loved it.

Today I was in country mouse mode - we went for a pub lunch (cottage pie and sticky toffee pudding) and a brisk walk through the countryside. It was very cold. But, the lighting was beautiful. We've also had a very small sprinkling of snow, with more expected over the next few days. Yey!

Before I head off, here is a link for my Project 365 gallery over at Flickr. And here is a very cold leaf:

Happy weekend!!

Christmas time!

A very merry Christmas to you all! I hope that you have a fabulous, memorable and stress-free day!!! I just wanted to say a massive thank you for stopping by over the past couple of months, for leaving such kind and encouraging comments (which never cease to brighten my day) and for sharing your creativity with me. I am so very fortunate to have become a part of such a fantastic online community! Take time today to enjoy good food, good company and many memories in the making...you deserve it!

Love and hugs,
Genevieve
xxx

Liberty's Christmas windows (day 12)

So, how many of you watched Kirstie's Homemade Christmas on Channel 4 a couple of weeks ago? Wow. I LOVED it (even though I've only managed to watch the first episode so far). I was so inspired by her ideas...next week I 100% plan to make salt dough tree decorations (which I haven't done for years). I also think that the idea of blowing your own glass baubles is amazing, but a lot less practical than salt dough. Next year, perhaps.

Anyhoo, while I loved Kirstie's emphasis on a crafty and creative Christmas countdown, what I loved the most was her visit to Liberty, a beautiful old department store in London nestled in between Oxford Street and Regent Street, which you can read about here. This year, Liberty has some gorgeous Christmas window displays that feature all of the elements that you might associate with a 'traditional' (or non-traditional, depending on how you look at it) British Christmas. Kirstie used these displays as her initial inspiration in the programme, and I was so overawed by them (you should have heard the squeals of excitement) that I decided I had to squeeze in a trip to Liberty before Christmas. These were my favourite displays:

The attention to detail is incredible. I love the retro wallpaper...and the Queen's speech on tv...AWESOME. Here is a close-up:

Such a familiar sight on Christmas day!

This was possibly my favourite. Look at that wallpaper! There is also a fabric equivalent...I was SO very tempted. However, it was not quite within budget.

Not the greatest photo in the world, but the kitsch decorations were too good to resist.

How many of us went to see pantomimes as kids at this time of year?! I love this humorous take on a kitsch classic. You can just about see the beginnings of some quintessential 'panto' graffiti (I think this was 'oh no he isn't').

Again, I couldn't get over the attention to detail - everything was over-the-top!!

The contrasts in colour really appealed to me here - as well as the various decorations suspended from the bows. Very cool.

Altogether, the displays were eccentric, quirky, kitschy, and very tongue-in-cheek. They were most definitely not everyone's cup of tea. But I loved how Liberty incorporated those subtle and not-so-subtle traditions into the overall themes of each window, and (as I may have mentioned several times!), the detail was just amazing. I also spent a little while pottering around the Christmas department, where I saw these:

Generally I'm not a fan of trophies adorning the wall (it sort of spooks me), but I liked the shadow effect of the three on the left - very dramatic. And look at those penguins! Too cute for words.

Afterwards, I stopped by the haberdashery. It was heaven...the fabrics were STUNNING (but had a starting price of £19.95 a metre) and there was so much eye candy. I bought some dinky little ribbons for my JYC album and had to stop myself from begging the lovely sales assistant to hire me. I would get way too over-excited working in a haberdashery.

Today, Jamie finished his exams and both of our terms officially ended, so we celebrated with some Christmas shopping on Oxford Street and a Nando's takeaway this evening. Tomorrow, we are having our 'mini Christmas' - after the end of term, both of us go our separate ways to spend the holidays with our respective families (in Scotland and the South of England), so before we head home, we cook a Christmas meal, watch festive films (we have Polar Express and the Muppet Christmas Carol this year) and open presents. We're also planning a trip to Harrods, Hamleys and the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland if we have time. I'm so excited! On Sunday my scrapbooking supplies and I are relocating for the holidays, but snow is expected and the M25 will no doubt be a nightmare. Fingers crossed!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!