Monday 2 December 2013

A stress free way to Journal your Christmas

I joined Shimelle's 'Journal your Christmas' class in 2009.....and have made a christmas journal/scrapbook every year since. I love these albums.....but I noticed a lot of commentators yesterday were in two minds whether to make one this year......and Barbara said she'd love to make one but it might "put her over the edge"!!!
The first couple of years that I did JYC I followed Shimelle's prompts religiously......and although I love the albums I made......they were pretty labour intensive.....and not especially 'me'.
So I thought I'd share with you the stress free,fun way that I've now developed to make mine simple,quick and much more 'me'.
The first thing I do is choose my supplies and make the bare bones of the album in November. This is not my normal way of scrapbooking.......I usually choose photos first......and then papers and embellishments......but while I love doing it that way.....it is time consuming.....and can double the time it takes to make a page each day in December.....and it turns out to be quite liberating to have to go with a background that is already made!
This year I want to add Simple Stories page protectors for extra photos......so I've made a 9 x 9 cover......and 8.5 x 8.5 pages.....and because most of my papers are red and green Echo Park......I've used red and green card for the pages.....and prepared 10 pieces of card....giving me 20 pages in all.....this can be easily added to later.
 made some very simple backgrounds
 most embellishments will be added later
I've then chosen a selection of journaling cards and embellishments.....all my christmas 'bits' live in one box.....so this is fairly quick to do.......unless you get sidetracked into admiring all the other festive loveliness,of course!!
Colours chosen to match the papers.....though I'm bound to occasionally go back to my main box for more variety!!
This whole process took just one evening......and also re-acquainted me with all my christmas stash.
And the reason my album can't be called a December Daily [though I do get added inspiration from Ali] is because I no longer feel obliged to make a page a day.....I make a page whenever I want to document something that has happened in our run up to Christmas.......or when one of Shimelle's prompts inspires me......plus one or two things I always like to have in there.......like one of my handmade cards......and our christmas tree [even though it doesn't change much each year].
I may stop at Boxing Day......if we decide to veg out in a comatose state for the rest of December.....or add more pages if we are overcome with energy and take part in all manner of exciting activities!!
Each page takes a few minutes to make......and is fun.....rather than a chore.
Oh......and the album starts with our first christmas related activity.....which was actually in November.....I've already made that page.....I'll be back with it tomorrow.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

What a great way to document your December. I am doing a December Daily again this year and I really enjoyed it last year. I am glad that all my foundation pages are made as well :) Great looking pages you have there!

Alison said...

That DOES sound fairly stress-free Jacky...maybe I should try it your way!,
Alison xx

Kathyk said...

Sounds like the perfect solution and is already looking pretty great too

Kathyk

Beverly said...

I think this would be best for me as well, thanks for sharing. I tried JYC 2 years but felt self inflicted pressure. Now I just add what I want along the way.

Sian said...

Such a great system. The first year I did a page every day and after that I have made a page just whenever and I always finish up on Christmas Day too so I can take a break for those lovely days after Christmas. I can't wait to see your album come together Jacky - you always know how to show Christmas a good time :)

Barbara Eads said...

I love your albums. I think prepping the album first is a great idea. With Thanksgiving being so late this year, it feels like Christmas is right here. I think I'll give it a try NEXT year. I will, for sure, be following your example!

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

Keeping it fluid is the key I think and not feeling obliged to make a page per day. I don't number the pages either, which I know a lot of folk do, that makes it easier to suit subject matter to pages when prepped in advance. Something I wouldn't normally do either. Have fun putting it together this month :o)

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Your base pages are lovely, Jacky, and I really love the way you are approaching this project. I have never done a December album just because I always felt like I wouldn't have time. You're kind of convincing me otherwise...

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for sharing and for stopping by my blog as well. How great that this is your 5th year with Journal Your Christmas.

Sandie said...

It is so good to not get hung up on the detail Jacky. I like your approach. Like you the first year I stuck to Shimelle's prompts but have been taking amore personal approach since. Hoping to do it this year and to prepare my album tomorrow. Good luck with your pages and looking forward to seeing them as you complete.

MiniCooper452 said...

Very clever. Since I'm digi now, I don't have many paper products anymore and I'm not of a mind to "figure out" how to convert this to digi. (although I know it should be really simple) I'm definitely going to keep this in mind however. Thanks for sharing.

Dani said...

I love what you are doing here!!

Karen said...

Like you I love my Christmas Journals. Every year I approach it a bit differently, but I always gather materials as you have. This year I'm adding them to my Project Life. I may miss having a separate album for this year, but we'll see when it's done.

Helen Philipps said...

What a wonderful way to make your December journal, so stress free and straightforward, and you can have fun adding those special photos now! Love this idea!
Happy December!
Helen x

Maria Ontiveros said...

I agree that preparing a bare bones album is the way to go, and it's so much fun to add the embellishments as I go along. I am trying to do a daily this year because I haven't done a photo-a-day or week-in-a-life recently, so I'm letting the album do double duty.
Rinda

alexa said...

This is going to be lovely ... your preparation and the go-with-the-flo idea feels very freeing, without the pressure of a page every day. I am looking forward to seeing more of how this grows!

Melissa said...

Looks like you'll have another great album this year Jacky! I'm not doing JYC or DD this year, but I'm planning to do something simple with BPC's December Duos class. I'm going to document any Christmas activities on my blog.

I love this sentence in your post: I may stop at Boxing Day......if we decide to veg out in a comatose state for the rest of December.....or add more pages if we are overcome with energy and take part in all manner of exciting activities!!