Friday 13 January 2012

Journal Your Christmas - the completed album

My Christmas Journal is complete.....starting at the end of  November and finishing at New Year......and with minimal embellishing......it hasn't ended up too fat this year [or should that be last year??].
 All put together with rings.......and finished off with some fibres and ribbons.
I have loved doing JYC this [last!] year.....more than in previous years......and I think the reasons for this are
1. Making the basics of all the pages in November made it so much easier to complete each page in
    December. The entire preparation took me about 2 hours.......I could easily have spent that amount
    of time faffing around choosing supplies each day!!!!
2. Using one set of supplies.....Simple Stories christmas pad.......meant everything co-ordinated and
    it was easy to find a small selection of matching embellishments. I ended up using very few
    extra embellishments as there were plenty of useful bits left in the pad to add to pages.
3. All the above meant that each page only took about half an hour on average to complete in
     December.......time I could easily find.......so no stressing!!
4. This December I had far more than usual going on......this meant I hardly used Shimelle's
    prompts.....even though I read them each day.......if I had less going on another year......I'd just
     refer to the prompts more.
5. Deciding not to number the pages made it much easier......many of them didn't have to be done in
     any particular order.......and I liked just dating those that did occur on a set date.
6. The size worked really well.......7 x 7 using  6 x 6 papers.....small enough to complete the page
     quickly........but large enough for more than one photo when I wanted.
I'll definately be doing it this way again next [this] year........thank you all so much for all the lovely comments that have been left throughout my postings.......and I've really enjoyed looking at all your JYC postings as well.

22 comments:

alexa said...

As a failed december daily/JYC scrapper, I am admiring your steadfast work and helpful hints - this is so pretty, with those lovely ribbon additions.

Lilian said...

Journal is looking good well done. lilian x

pinky said...

Love your cover, the size sounds perfect!!

Jane said...

I prepared in advance too, made it much more enjoyable x

Kathyk said...

Simply fabulous and thank you for sharing your Christmas with us all - your album looks simply gorgeous too, already looking forward to JYC 2012!

Happy Friday

Kathyk

Rhona said...

Love that you've finished your album Jacky, it looks lovely and I'm sure it'll be looked at often in years to come. xx

Sian said...

It looks so inviting!

I agree with everything you have said - all the prep is definitely worth it. And you have encouraged me to do away with numbers next time round too. An ingenious solution to the whole I-didn't-really-complete-it question

Cheri said...

I am so happy for you that you found a method that works for you and that made you feel good this year! Since I never got beyond the first page, I need to rethink my approach.

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

Getting prepped in advance is a must for me as well. I didn't this time and as a result failed miserably. Didn't complete (or even start) one single page.
Your Journal is gorgeous and I'm sure you will enjoy looking back through time and again.
Fiona xx

Alison said...

Love the completed album Jacky...for some reason I thought you had done 12x12...think I may miss out the numbers next (this!) year too
Alison xx

Melissa said...

Congrats on completing your album - it looks wonderful!

Becky said...

Well done on completing your album - it looks lovely.

Jo.C said...

Looks great - hope to get mine sorted tomorrow so I hopefully can share then - but I would choose a coordinated kit like Simple stories again to use for it as it makes it so much simpler. Well done x

Cherry said...

I have loved watching this journal evolve Jacky. It is so lovely and co-ordinated and a real treasure of photos and words and of course memories to be treasured. Thanks for sharing. Hugs Cherry XxX

Anonymous said...

I love how your Christmas Journal turned out. I had the Simple Story papers and thought I'd be using them, but ended up doing an 8X8 so hardly touched them. I like the idea of using one set of coordinated papers, but it just didn't work out this year.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Congratulations! I knew that last year was not the year for me, but maybe next time!
Rinda

Sandra said...

I'm going to make a note of all you've said, as I'd love to play along next year.

Scrappi Sandi said...

Ditto...it all sounds like great advice...all in the preparation!! I've yet to finish the JYC album I started in 2008!!! It's become a very generic Christmas album with a few pages added each year...maybe with you advice 2012 might be the year it gets finished....do you think?!!!

Your album looks fab & I am a HUGE fan of all the Simple Stories collections...love it! ♥

Miriam said...

Your album looks beautiful Jackie, I like the 'no dates' idea and the prep in advance worked for me this time.
My book will be a few days yet. I had to send my photo's back as I wasn't happy with them. hopefully by next weekend.....I said that last weekend.

Michelle S said...

Ur album is ace! Love it :)

Rachel Brett said...

It looks great Jacky :)

Gem's Crafts said...

Your Christmas Journal is looking fab! I've done away with numbers this year too, so I'm just putting my pages in any order! Although I'm still plodding along with mine!