Enough technology
My Christmas Journal is done. Finished. Though the temptation to keep tweaking and adding small bits to it is always there, putting away all the Christmas-related stuff in my studio stops me doing any more tweaking. Anyway, it's time to move on!
I'd chosen a cool, red, grey and blue themed collection of papers to work with this year, partly because I was tired of the same old same old and fancied a fresh, contemporary look, but also because we too were moving on and though Father Christmas still visits and works his magic around here, we're no longer surrounded by elves! I'd ordered it all way back in the Summer, to take advantage of the free postage offer for early birds from my favourite Mei Li Paperie in Hong Kong.
I'd downloaded a set of Paislee Press date blocks from The Lilypad and recoloured them in Photoshop to fit my theme. Actually, I created a palette in Photoshop for the first time, using the colours from the patterned papers and must try to remember how I did it because it proved a great way of keeping everything coordinated. Working on those first pages identified something that was missing from my kit, however. Those patterned papers are lovely, they work well together in some respects but there were no plains, few simple textures and many of the patterns were too big to work on as small a page as I was using. Fortunately, I had some red card on hand and a sheet of blue, slightly sparkly handmade paper I'd bought in Traverse City whilst on our road trip in the USA last summer. It fitted right into the palette and proved very useful, but I must remember to buy some matching plains and solid colours next time. Actually, when choosing the papers, I noted the size of the designs and bought a matching 6 inch square pad, with the designs scaled down proportionately. Making a book that's 7 inches wide wasn't the brightest of ideas, then!
As usual, some pages came together very quickly.
Others take a while longer.
The two seasonal teas I bought smelled and looked so Christmassy, I felt I wanted to include them in here and on opening this page, there's just the slightest hint of that lovely aroma!
I always like to include a set of Christmas stamps too, and this year, using a Simple Stories album meant I had a couple of pocket pages that were just the right size.
Perfect for keeping the stamps which arrived from faraway friends around the world.
Any Christmas collection of papers I have bought have included some reference to snow and for once, this year I was able to use them!
I printed out one or two whole-page photographs which needed little or no explanation. There are the stories of Mary's visit in here, Eleanor's pantomime and all the pre-Christmas fun I blogged about at the time as well.
I also included some of the "real life" ephemera, including a shopping list and the receipt behind it. I'm always surprised how many times I return to refer to such things - just how big was our turkey last year?
Of course, there's a few photos of Christmas Eve and the day itself which I introduced with a very plain page; an implied deep breath, perhaps!? And normally, that's where I would stop, because once Christmas is over, I've had enough.
The change in routine, with Edward spending Christmas with Amy's family meant that there was more fun to record this year.
Did I say "fun" ? A few pictures of our friends digging out their car to drive back up to Yorkshire, indeed, plus further snowy scenes on our way to meet Edward and Amy.
More stockings, then...
...and the opportunity to use the paper design I'd been reluctant to use till now.
With a few pictures from New Years Eve around our table and a sentimental nod to those we miss most of all at this time of the year (because it wouldn't be Christmas without a maudlin moment, would it?) my work was done.
Until next year.
