Christmas Inchies and Christmas Journal

I made these inchies for a swap that Corbi is hosting on the Christian Paper Artists email group. I made 6 of each of these inchies, and I will get 24 different ones back. This was my first time making inchies for a swap, and they are addicting! The top left one is a Creative Memories Christmas sticker on some mulberry paper. For the top right inchie, I painted cardstock with Twinkling H2Os then used a rubber stamp to stamp a swirl design. I let it dry a bit, then put glitter around the edges. Obviously not all the ink was dry, because the glitter stuck to some of the swirls. Oh well - the more glitter, the better, right??? Then I put a Creative Memories ornament sticker on top. Bottom left: I started with a dark red cardstock square, cut patterned paper into a 3/4 " fancy square with a punch, then cut a 1/2 inch square of solid green, and glued a button on top. Bottom right: painted cardstock with emerald Lumiere. Cut circles out of some paper I had marbled using shaving cream and a few red nailpolish colors. I attached the circle with a gold brad, and wrote "J" and "Y" on either side of the brad, so it says "JOY". Then I attached a bit of gold German scrap paper to the bottom.

In other news, I've decided to do Shimelle's "Journal Your Christmas" project. I'm doing this in an 8 X 8 scrapbook. Most of the products I've used are miscellaneous things I have. I also used several new products from the making memories line, FaLaLa. Although I've managed to keep up to date with my scrapbook pages, this is my first chance to blog them. Here's Dec. 1:

Journaling reads, "I have always been a journaler. I got my first diary when I was 9, and 30 years later I’m still recording my thoughts, fears, and celebrations. Last year I started a visual journal to document the journey of buying, gutting, and totally rebuilding the inside of a house on 2.75 acres.

I was online over Thanksgiving Break and I came across Shimelle.com. When I first read Shimelle’s description of “Journal Your Christmas,” I thought it was a great idea, but where would I find the time? Besides the usual Christmas busy-ness, I still have a non-functional kitchen, laundry room, and master bath. And if I’ve got time to spare, I really should be painting some more molding for the half of the house that doesn’t have baseboards and casings yet. And painting the hallway from the foyer to the garage. And unpacking a few more boxes. And the list goes on and on….

That’s when I realized that this is EXACTLY why I should be doing this “Journal Your Christmas” project. I desperately need some me-time in the midst of a very crazy season of my life. I need to forget about the house for a few minutes each day. I need to sit back and reflect on why Christmas is so important to me: celebrating the birth of Jesus, my Savior.

So this is my Christmas present to myself: committing to at least 15 minutes a day, no matter how busy the season becomes, for reflecting, writing, and scrapbooking."

Here's Dec. 2. I cut out the snowflake and put some silver glitter on it:

Journaling reads, "I love the snow…in December. It’s the bitter cold of January and February that I can do without.

A fresh snowfall brings such stillness and peace, muffling sounds. It’s so sparkly on the trees and ground.

Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed watching the kids (along with Canyon and Immie) go sledding for the first time in our new backyard. Mike even got in on the fun, snowmobiling with Dean between our yard and his."

Here's Dec. 3, with a picture of my happy family on Thanksgiving and a picture of our house:

The journaling reads, "One of the many things I love about the Christmas holidays is the exchanging of Christmas cards and correspondence. We’ve been sending out photo cards for most of our marriage. We try to get all five of us in the picture, but there have been some years that we’ve had to use a photo of only the three kids. We also send a letter to friends and family who we don’t see very often. Each year my goal is to get the cards in the mail during the first week of December, but that is not usually my reality.

It’s always so fun to receive cards from others and catch up with them. I especially enjoy the pictures, seeing how children grow and how adults mature from year to year. There are some people who we haven’t seen in person in a decade or more, so those pictures are especially meaningful. We hang cards on our ornament-shaped card holder; letters go into a basket."

Dec. 4 (I really like the paper I used on the left side):

I took this picture 2 years ago, when my husband and kids gave me a digital camera for Christmas. I had fun experimenting with it. When I read Shimelle's prompt, I decided to print this out. It's just some beaded garland sitting on a piece of gold organza fabric. In the picture, you can see the shimmer of the fabric.

The journaling says, "My ideal Christmas would include:
All gifts bought by Thanksgiving
All packages and cards mailed the first week of December
Christmas Eve service at our church
Waking up in our house Christmas morning to a light dusting of snow: enough to make everything pretty, but not enough to make the roads dangerous
Family time seeing what Santa put in our stockings and exchanging gifts among the five of us
Christmas Dinner with the entire extended family
Reading the Christmas Story out of the Bible
Dessert: a piece of Mom’s apple-cranberry pie with whipped cream on top, various cookies, Mom’s homemade fudge and caramels, shishkie topped with apricot preserves and whipped cream (to actually eat that yummy Slovak pastry again would be ideal indeed!)
No-one expecting us to travel anywhere over Christmas break
Snow and still warm enough so the kids can play outside over break"

Here is today's journal entry:

The journaling says, "I bought this advent calendar before the kids were born. It looks like a book, but it opens to a pop-up scene of a Victorian Christmas. There are little doors and windows to open each day of December. It was in storage once the kids were born, until about two years ago.

This has been the Advent calendar we’ve used since Jarrett was quite small. Each day, someone takes the person, animal, or item out of its pocket and places it on the Bethlehem morning scene.

We received this beautiful signed book last year from Pam, John, and Ryan. Each day’s page has a door. Behind the door is a gorgeous illustration and part of the true Christmas story. This year, Jarrett, Kendra, and Keegan have been taking turns reading each door’s message."

I apologize if, when you double-click on the pictures, they do not expand. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I'm probably inadvertently doing something wrong when I upload, so if you know how to always make them expand when someone double-clicks, please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks!