jyc update

I have had some time to play catch up this week so here are some of my pages.  I am using a small moleskine (about 3″x5″) and I am focusing on the journaling.  I have responded to some of Shimelle’s prompts but have been trying to focus on what is going one here, at our house, this Christmas.  I have been using instagram photos and lots of journaling.  This week I am on break so I have taken a photo each day of some part of our holiday prep and will be journaling those activities.  I think this is my 4th year to do the JYC so it has been fun to switch it up a bit.

December 10 on 10

Here are my December 10

The sky has  been beautiful with the cold and fog;  love the message on this bag;  I have been knitting stripped hats; the wise men are on their way to Bethlehem; a little decorated cup of tea; the lighted trees in Redmond; some twinkle on our tree; baking squash for soup; early morning coffee; a generous gift of yarn

Christmas cards

jyc – day 3

I remember this prompt from years past and I love it!  Christmas cards are one of my favorite parts of the season but sadly, we get fewer and fewer of them every year.  I am making my own this year, using a photo that I took and added some text using a photo editing program.  Then I will stitch the photo to a card base and hand write the inside.  I don’t have a lot of people to send cards to so this is not overwhelming.  For my staff (17 people) I am also making cards.  For these cards I bought some cute cards at the craft store – red and white design with the word Peace on the front.  I plan to add some embellishment to the front and again, handwrite the note inside. 

For my journal, I used the envelope from a card I received this week.  I added the big sticker from the Christmas stamps I bought.  Inside the envelope is the front of a card and on the back of that card I have written my thought about Christmas cards. 

I am using the date from my newspaper as my date marker every day.

day 2 – weather

jyc - day two

I thought it would be fun to use something from the newspaper every day.  That can be my date stamp too.

So for today, I have the forecast and some thought on the weather.  Since I am using a small moleskine notebook, there isn’t too much space to write every day.  Just enough to keep a record, not so much to be overwhelming!

I also found a great little stamp to be a recurring motif – it says “my thoughts”

December 1 – jyc

Joy Garland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the garlands I am seeing on Shimelle’s  blog this weekend.  I wanted to make something using just what I have on hand so I did this little Joy Garland.  I was able to use some pretty Christmas brads that I have had for 3 years which felt great!

inside – jyc 2011

I wasn’t going to do this but I did.
I took a bit of time this evening to do a few more pages in my little moleskine journal. 
On the inside cover, I added some artwork from a card I got a few years ago.  The facing page holds a small December 2011 calendar and the year in sparkle letters.
I covered the pages that had the 2012 year at a glance.  I used some paper from a music composition book.  Then I added an envelope for my journaling as I begin.  I covered a few more pages with music paper and then these two with some green paper and some Christmas stickers with the word tradition and the word defined.  So now I have about 52 pages that I can use for journaling (remember that this is a small journal – 3.5″ x 5.5 “)  I also plan to take an instagram every day.  I am thinking of doing a hybrid JYC - a combination of Shimelle prompts and Advent verses and journaling. 

I think I will need to put this away, in  a box with my other papers and stickers that I found in my stash. Otherwise, I will never make it until December 1!

journal your christmas with moleskine

I know it is a little over two months away but this morning I began to play with my journal your christmas album.  This year I want to focus on the journaling piece so I am using this little moleskine.  It was a 2011 planner with monthly calendars and then lined pages.  I cut out all the calendars except December and the lined pages.  I have covered a few of the extra pages (maps, tables, and lists that most moleskine planner have) with paper from my stash and I stitched a few pages together to create some pockets.  The cover features an oragami crane that was left over from cards I made a few years ago.  Inside I journaled my plans on the  back of another old Christmas card which I cut down and inserted into one of the pockets.  I will probably use some instagram photos over the course of the month but I have at least one page per day for journaling too.  And best of all – I hope to use up some of my pretty Christmas paper and embellishments from my stash

pretty paper

I don’t buy too much paper anymore.  There was a time when my paper collection was beginning to rival my fabric collection.  But I do buy paper that I think is pretty and then too often it sits, waiting for time and the perfect project.

So, I am joining Shimelle’s Pretty Paper Party this month and will be working on using up some of my paper.  I guess I am on such a high from actually finishing my Learn Something New book and it is too early to begin my Journal Your Christmas book  . . . stay tuned for some paper usage posts.

finished pages 1-11

I do need to add a bit of journaling to days 5-6 – I have it in my notebook.  I am also doing longer journaling stories that will go behind the pages for some of the days.

I was going to use a 6 x 12 album – 3 down.  But that got overwhelming and then I found I had a small 4×6 album in my stash so I took off the cover and stitched the photo sleeves to a canvas cover.  That is on the bottom right in the photo.   I have pages 12-30 all ready to glue down and journal and then I will have finished this class – so maybe I can sign up for another one????