It's a Creative World

12 days of Christmas - There's a journal in the house!

Hi everyone

Dolly here.

I am a huge fan of Journal Your Christmas and I think this year is my eigth year and so it always a challenge to try and do something different.

I love Christmas and can happily find things to document every year, but I do enjoy a twist on the theme.

In February last year my mothin in law gave me an old Yankee Candle box. Everyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for old boxes. This was so cute I knew straight away I wanted to use it for my Journal Your Christmas this year and I knew it meant I could journal all about Christmas in our home - our decorations. 

This was the box at the start of the process - good and sturdy but it had to be covered as it was too bright for me and had printing all over the back.

 

 

 

I took it apart and covered it

 

 

The photo behind the plastic at the front is a photo of the door to my dolls' house. Yes, of course my dolls' house is decorated for Christmas!

 

 

The box was a piece of cake to cover but the roof was an absolute nightmare and has many many flaws. However I have tried to convince myself the flaws just add to the whimsical homemade feel. I haven't QUITE convinced myself!

 

 

and this is the journal inside.

 

 

I have said it before ... and no doubt I will say it many more times ... don't throw boxes away. They are the perfect thing to re-use for all sorts of creative projects.

 

Enjoy your Christmas crafting, whatever form it takes x

Don't re-invent the wheel - a travel journal story

Hi Dolly here

 

I am a big believer in using things and just adapting them rather than starting from scratch if possible.

And my holiday journal is a good example of what I mean.

I like to keep a journal when I go away if I am travelling to lots of different places and I planned to make one.

It would be simple; lots of plain pages in craft and cream cardsstock ready for journalling, some pockets for tickets, receipts etc, and a cover, all bound with a Bind it all.

But when I was out I saw a cute Do Crafts travel journal reduced to half price.

It wasn't nearly big enough for what I wanted, having far too few pages, and it had no capacity for souveniers.

It wouldn't expand, but it was kind of nice. There were cute printed pages with maps, cameras, travel logos and phrases. Much nicer than having just plain pages.   And it had a plastic cover on which, whilst I would remeove it when I got home, would be perfect for keeping it clean on the journey.

So I snapped it up and took it apart.

 

The holes were not in the right places to simply replace the wire with a bigger one and so I put a new strip over the edge of each page, reinforcing it and covering up the previous holes.

I cut extra pages the same size, tripling the capacity of the journal.

I also cut 'pages' from plastic pockets to be the holders for postcards, receipts, tickets etc.

 

They are not acid free but this journal isn't ever going to hold photos so I am not worried about that. It is temporary storage and a place to journal.

I cut semi-circular holes in the top with a circle punch.

 

I added a new spine to the front - again disguising previous holes - and added stamped details.

 

The plastic cover, now far to tight for the much fatter book, still worked as I simply cut it in two.

I will remove it once the journal is complete but it will be great keeping it clean for the trip.

 

The result is a fat journal with loads of plain pages interleaved with the nice fancy pages from the bought journal, a hard cover, pockets for storage and a perfect journal to take away for the trip.

 

Circle Journals with Leanie

Happy weekend everyone!

(Friday is close enough for me to officially designate it 'weekend time'!)

It's Leanne here, with your post for today and I'd like to share something I created for a CJ (Circle Journal) doing the rounds at the moment.

Usually I get CJs that require some artistic input - maybe a recipe, or a quote, or technique.  But the ones that really faze me are the ones which include other peoples' photographs.

Have you EVER been in this position? If not, you can only imagine the responsibility weighing on your shoulders as you select photographs and CROP THEM (eek!) before bending them to your will... All the while panicking over whether you have done them justice.

So I wanted to share my latest attempt at this.  The owner of the CJ wanted an 8x8 double-page spread from each participant, with a photo of her husband on one side, and a photo of them as a couple on the other.  I tried to incorporate them into one single layout, and this is what I came up with:

(Apologies for the poor photograph, I really need help on how to take pics without distorting!)

I don't do black, and I definitely don't do pink. And I don't so lovey-dovey either... But I'm very proud of my attempt, and I hope the recipient will be too when it returns home!

If you're offered the chance to take part in a CJ, carefully consider (and reconsider) the commitment of timing and postage costs, but I would genuinely encourage everyone take part if you can.  To work in someone else’s journal is a privilege, to be inspired by other work you witness is great... Plus, at the end of it, you have a unique memento of a time you all trusted and shared.

And the litmus test as to whether your page is good enough? If you want to rip it out and keep it, or create a duplicate for yourself - then you've nailed it.

Thanks for dropping by, happy creating, and have a wonderful weekend - next time I'll be bag with another hand-made shell cover for my magnetic handbag base :)

Ooh- and do check back tomorrow for another article from another of our super-talented Design Team!

Leanne x

My Stampin' Up! Blog

My Other Blog

 

Travel Journal

Hi, Mandy here.  My Husb and I were very surprised and delighted to be able to go on a last minute cruise this Summer (our first).  As many folks know, we have four teenagers and this was a very special holiday for just the two of us (kinda celebrating our 20 year anniversay a good few months ago now).  Obviously, as a scrapbooker, I wanted to do something about the memory keeping side of things.  I thought for a while about what I'd like to do and decided on an 8" x 8" Travel Journal, taking a pile of pre-made pages and journaling cards ready to go.  I packed a small amount of co-ordinated stash and a few essential tools.  I did research a way to print pictures as I went along, using a new mini printer (Polaroid GL10) that prints straight from the camera with a usb lead and pictbridge.  The quality was fab. 

Anyway, here's the finished cover, made before we went...

The front Hambly Screenprint opens...

To make the journal I began with an 8" x 8" raw chipboard spiralbound book from Hobbycraft, with a black ribbon-tie closing.  I also bought a pile of Papermania 8" x 8" plain kraft sheets, some cheap little envelopes and a 6" x 6" pad of pp (although I did use other pp and coloured cardstock).

I removed the spiral and inner pages because I wanted to be able to add pages and memorabelia as I went along, hence the 4 blue bookrings.  There's a blank example page...

I enjoyed misting and embossing some of the pieces for the front cover...

I would love to be able to say I journalled every day but I didn't.  I did print out some photos while on the cruise and enjoyed several happy hours scrapping but in the end there was just so many wonderful things to be doing that I brought home the rest of the journal pages to finish at home.  My  Husb kept a plain and simple excercise book journal and wrote LOADS so when I come to finish mine I have his to refer to.

This is me, in our little cabin, adding to the travel journal...

 

The cabin table was really tiny, but you can get an idea of what the travel journalling/scrapping was like...

We were so lucky to have had this holiday and I still have plans to finish the journal.  Anyone else actually kept up with a travel journal?  I'd love to see some links if anyone has :)

Mandy

 

SATURDAY SHARE

Have you ever visited Christie, at Grace is Overrated? She is sweet, and funny, and insightful.

She has made a collection of 'free for personal use' journal pages to download. 

I love them, I'm sure you will too.

In fact, just the sight of those Sharpies gives me a frisson of delight.

Do go and have a look, there are 50 pages!