My One Little Word for 2011...

... is BALANCE!


















I will be blogging how I embrace this in my life throughout the year, so watch this space :0)

My favourite present lures me from my rest...

I was horrified when my alarm went off this morning!! 'No' I thought, 'that can't be right! It must be broken and have gone off too early!'
Alas, it hadn't!!! It WAS time to get up :0(
The whole process of getting washed, dressed and down to the bus stop is a bit of a blur to be honest!! It took a few cup of coffees at work before I was able to function with any form of sense!!
Today was my long day at work too so I was there from 9am until 7pm- yawn!

I promised myself I would have supper and go straight to bed when I got in. But then I ate, drank a glass of wine, and turned on my new iPad and here I am - lost in a wonderfully convenient world of technology and blogging paradise!!!!

I {heart} my new toy!!! It is my favourite Christmas Gift from my family and even more special that they all gave me money for it.
What was your favourite gift?? Leave a comment as I'd love to know :0)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy holidays!!

I've been so busy enjoying the holidays that I have totally neglected my lovely blog :0(
I'll be back tomorrow with a proper post but I just wanted to say Happy Christmas to everyone!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

And the chill goes on!!

Although the world is looking incredibly beautiful where I live at the moment, I am getting a little fed up with crazy bus journeys into work and delayed trains!!
Its all totally understandable but I shall just be very very happy when 1pm on Christmas Eve arrives and I can close up the library for the holidays!! (well until 29th December at least!!)
Here are some yummy pics I took on my way to the bus stop this morning to keep my spirits up!!

JYC/DD Day 21

Today our JYC prompt asked uas to snap photos from around our home and journal those. As I spent today decorating for the solstice this was PERFECT for me!!

Happy Winter Solstice!!

Well, it is very wintery here at home! The first winter solstice I can remember where we have had snow!
I have spent my day off decorating for the season with evergreens and some paper decs that I found on Shimelle's blog.
Here are a few snapshots of them!

JYC/DD Days 15-20 catch up!!

Well, I've kept up to date wuth creating my pages (so far) but have been a bit slack with blogging.
I had a bit of an anti-crimbo melt down yesterday and am feeling a little low today too. I'm not feeling at all festive which is NOT good considering how close Christmas is!!!
I am loving the fact I can vent my feelings and 'talk' to myself through my journal though!! Its very therapeutic!!
Anyway, here are the pages I haven't blogged to date:

15th December:

16th December:

The pages for the17th December contained another envelope page with hidden journaling inside (I don't want prying eyes to see what I have bought them!!!

18th December:

On December 19th I included a letter to Santa. I kept this hidden on the page as its personal to me:

And finally todays page!!! As we've had lots of snow to snap photos in I decided to concentrate mainly on photos to day for a quick but fab page!!!

December 20th:

Hope you are all enjoying this project too :0)



JYC/DD Day 14

WoW!! Its already 14th December!! I've had a lovely day off but haven't accomplished as much as I hoped I would! That is always the way and makes me very very annoyed to be working this Saturday!
Sigh!
Anyway, here are todays pages! I realised after I had done a page earlier that today was meant to be the 'gift' prompt, so I did Lists today instead (or rather I DIDN'T do lists!!!!!)

My album is already huge! The binding rings are 2 inch ones and really they are now full! I am only half way through!!! What am I going to do!!!??!

JYC/DD Day 13

I think people may think I am a little Humbug about this page.  Rather than celebrating Christmas music I have slated it a little bit :0(
I do love Christmas music, but I hate that the shops force it on us from such an early date.  This has ruined its magic for me, so I rarely play any at home and save it for 3 occasions.
The picture page was a shot of our tree from outside and through the window - with no flash.  Its not the best piece of photography, but thats not what this album is about!

JYC/DD Day 12

I had a lovely day at my Crystals class and snapped some pretty photos of the table as it collected candles, presents and greenery!
The prompt today was about Christmas past. As usual I want to keep the journaling hidden for this so I created an envelope page again.  I am following a formula for these pages and having one every week. I love the look of them and like the way they are linking the pages together throughout the album.

JYC/DD Day 11

Today I went to London with my mom, aunt and cousin to visit Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park! As I plan on following the JYC prompts I didn't include loads about that trip here and did focus on a piccie of my Christmas tree - bokeh style!
I added an extra transparency over the tree photo. It is attached to a hidden journalling card tucked behind the photo.

JYC/DD Day 10

Today's page was nice and quick, but looks a little boring!! My plan is to make my own wrapping paper with brown paper and one or two nice stamped images. I think it will look lovely, but in the album does look a little plain and boring :0(

JYC/DD Day 9

Today  I celebrated my love of the colours of the season.  A little challenge was to include hidden journaling - not much of a challenge for me as I LOVE hidden journaling and am including LOADS of it in this journal!!
The photo page is a photo taken on my iPhone camera and then altered in the Instagram app {love}

JYC/ DD Day 8

Today was all about the sights you see around you. I was a little disappointed not to take better photos today as it would have been nice to have a page packed with photos. Instead I cheated a little and celebrated the camera that takes those photos instead!!!

JYC/ DD Day 7

I spent HOURS at the hairdressers today! I no longer have dyed black hair! 5 and 1/2 hours of work took away 5 years of dye and gave me lovely dark auburn hair with golden highlights!!
Photos to follow tomorrow!!
Here is todays Journal page, focussing on the fact I only have 3 presents purchased so far!!! I'm not stressing as I know I'll get them all, so I enjoyed creating this page!!
The envelope on the third page contains lovely notelets to myself with present ideas on for people.
(ps excuse the shakey camera work! I'm tired!!)

I'd like to thank everyone for the wonderful comments they have been leaving about my pages. I was really worried about this format for my journal and you have all filled me with confidence about it and my creative style.
Thank you so much xx

JYC/DD Day 6

I was lucky enough to have some time off work this afternoon so rushed home to complete my page in the daylight!!
Today I looked at Christmases of the past and that of the present - very similar and yet amazingly different!!
I decided touse the same design on each tag but change the papers I used so one was vintage-y with a retro snow man and one very modern with a modern snowman!!
Enjoyed these pages but not sure how they will fit into the album as the papers are very different to those I have used so far.  I will stick to the main colour scheme, but every now and then its fun to shake it up a bit!!!

I hope you are enjoying looking at these pages as much as I am enjoying making them! PLease leave a comment and I'll pop over to your place to have a nosey too :0)

JYC/DD Day 5

Well, here is todays page. I discussed the countdown to Christmas and another form of Christmas count that Kei and I do - our new tree decoration each year. This year we have continued the tradition and once again bought a Jasmine Beckett Griffith fairy. One year our tree will be filled with just these!!!

Hope you have all had a wonderful weekend. Shame it is over so quickly - again!!