Ole ole, ole ole!!!!

I hope you're visualising me dancing around singing that and clacking my maraca’s - cos I can't believe how generous blogger's being this afternoon with pictures lol! So lucky ole you get to see what I've been up to over the past few weeks! Don't forget to check the post after this one for my Christmas pics!

I started this first page way back in the South Wales Christmas crop, and got it finished last week. I'm still not sure about the journaling block - I was a bit loathe to cover up that lovely patterned paper from Scenic Route but I was struggling to make the journaling stand out from the busyness of it all - so made a block mimicking the ready and strip I slapped across the photo, but still not sure if it looks right. The title was made up of chipboard letters which I heat embossed with gold powder and then gave a layer of diamond glaze to give them a glitzy festive feel – and a special thanks must go to our very own Gems’ other half, Dai, for the tag I used! Cheers me lovely – it was perfect!!!

The journaling itself was inspired by some of my answers to the Christmas tag a couple of posts back, and reads:
Every year the tradition of putting up our Christmas decorations follows the same path. Lee nags from the second week of November to put them up. “Not until the first of December” I say. “But I’ll help this year” whines Lee. “Not until the first” I yell. So the first of December arrives and out come the decoration boxes – and Lee stands there looking gormless as I do it all myself. But unusually, he actually helped a bit this year – for what it was worth!! He unpacked the little reindeer fellow and his mate below and asked “Where do we usually put the donkeys?”!!!He wasn’t best pleased when he read it!!! My second page was a real quickie - I got it done in about two hours, with most time taken up by the fiddly hand cutting. It was pretty simple and unsophisticated technique wise - as soon as I saw the paper I just visualised people looking out from behind the tree. I'm sure everyone else who owns the paper has done the same thing lol! But it was nice and quick for a portrait style page anyway. Had to relocate a couple of the baubles so you could see our cute likkle faces (ahem- I look all squished and minging, and Lee looks a bit gormless [what's new there though, poor soul] but it was the best shot we caught!), added some yummy tiny little letter stickers to one as the title (they are fab- you can hardly see that they are stickers!), and then loads of glitter glaze over all the berries and the baubles which doesn't show in the pic, et voila!

The last one’s my favourite – I love it to bits but unfortunately my pic really does not do it justice(plus it IS straight in real life!). I accidentally caught my reflection in one of the baubles whilst taking close up shots of the decs, and thought it would be a great illustration for a page on my thoughts about Christmas. Yummy papers are BG Blush & Gypsy, and the K&Co. Used those itty bitty letter stickers again, and some Tulip 3D paint for the title. The acrylic “X” monogram is from Go West studios and it’s lubberly – I pushed some acrylic paint into the etchings and around the edges, and stuck it all down with a coating of glitter glaze – love it! Printed the journaling onto acetate and it reads:
Christmas is the warmest, most fuzziest time of the year for me. I love it so much! And it’s not because of all the presents (although of course that’s a fab part of the holiday)! To me Christmas is all about spending time with the people who are the most dear and special to me, and the happy and loving buzz that everyone seems to carry in their hearts. I love seeing streets and houses sparkling in festive lighting and decorations and their glow reflected in the wet streets. Nothing beats coming home to the warm and welcoming feel of twinkling fairy lights on a cold dark evening, and the cosy and comforting feel of the decorated house. I love all the Christmas tunes, be it pop songs or carols – they fill me with so much warmth and happiness and evoke feelings of excitement about the whole season from my childhood. Christmas was my favourite time of year way back then, for different reasons of course……..but when it comes to the magic and love of this very special season…….I Still Believe!
Other news...I can not beleive that my beautiful neice is already 10 weeks old!! Here are some snaps I took of her on Monday, when she and Katrina came over for the day. And I'm pleased to announce we have a new convert to the flock - we spent the afternoon in my craft room and Katrina made her first layout *Proud Big Sis Moment*. Ellie is non stop laughing and smiling at the moment - so it's impossible to get a clear pic of her!

And finally, I recieved my Paul Mckenna "I Can Make You Thin" system yesterday. Today is officially Day One although I listened to three of the five CD's last night, and so far so good!! I'm looking forward to completeing the daily journal which accompanies it - I think it will be a real assett to my success, but I will blog again tomorrow with all the details about all that - hopefully my regular blogging buddies will cheer me on along the way to help keep me motivated?!!!
Don't forget...more pics below!
Until then my lovelies.......xxx