New Beginnings, a big thank you and the final freebie of this year

 Dear friends, Hope you are all keeping well and healthy. I did not want to end this year without one final post to say a big thank you for all your lovely comments and visits during this very strange and different year.

I know Christmas itself is over, but I like to celebrate right through the 12 Days of Christmas, so today I am sharing my final Christmas journal for this season. It is a bit more grungy than some of my other journals and I used a mix of one of my downloadable Christmas Collections and vintage papers, mostly from Paper Garden Finland. Below some photos with brief descriptions of how I put it together.

Here is the cover, the journal is Travelers Notebook size (roughly 8 1/4 by 4 1/4") it has one insert stitched inside the cover on my sewing machine and then I zig zagged right around the out side. As you can see it closes with some crinkly seam binding and I collaged and stitched some bits and pieces from my stash to decorate the front.

A large tag fits inside a full length pocket made from one of the papers in the collection. I sewed around both the tag and the paper that makes the pocket and then glued around 3 sides onto the cover from the inside. The closure ribbon is glued behind it. Hope this all makes sense.

Here is another large pocket that has two flaps, each holding a pocket too, so the whole thing is very interactive with lots of space for journaling cards, smaller tags etc. I used various images from some of my other Christmas Collections and freebies to decorate these flaps and pockets.

Another double page with a little fold out booklet that tucks inside another pocket.

Some of the vintage papers sewn inside

And here a bookmark or tag that fits under a belly band enhanced with some lace.

Here you can see some of the tags and journal cards that fit in the pockets.

Below is an image from one of the embellishment papers that comes with the Christmas collection so you can see what I used for some of the tags etc.

Now the freebie I put together for you matches this pretty well, and even though Christmas is now over, I hope you can still use some of them for your winter projects or otherwise use them for Christmas in another year.

Like usual, if you want the full resolution for printing, just email me and I will finish by wishing you all a very happy and creative New Year!

Thanks for your visit like always

xxxxx

My Poor neglected Everyday Journal

Hello friends and welcome! I hope the month of June is going well for you so far.

Today I want to share some pages from my everyday journal with you. It has not actually been neglected, like the title may suggest, I have just neglected to post about it, so today I thought I would share some pictures from it with you.

It's a Midori sizes journal and the pages are created with the help of washi tapes, home made tickets, some stamping, inking, a bit of stenciling here and there and that's pretty much it. I find this style of creating spreads fun and relaxing and have even started to do my bullet journal more in this style too, but that will be for another post.

Below some more pages, all done in a similar way, some I like better than others, but that's usually the way right?

This is a close up of part of the page above. I recently received an order from London Gifties. The owner wraps her goodies in the most wonderful way, so I thought I would include some of the packaging in this page.

On this photo you can see some of my home made embellishments created with some of Tim Holtz's dies, stamps and washi tape , as well as some botanical images that I printed on tissue paper.

Oh and I do really write on these pages, and just to prove it I'll be brave and share another couple of pages with you :o)

Well, that's it for today. Thank you for taking the time to visit, and until next time....

xxxxx

Off to Japan

Hello lovely blog friends, thanks for dropping by.
Today I have a few pages of a little travel journal I made to share with you. Tomorrow I will be off to Japan to meet up with my family and grandies, that live in Australia. We decided to meet up "half way" so to speak.

The actual journal is a Midori Traveler's Notebook, I first read about these on my lovely friend Anne Redfern's blog, (she makes the most amazing notebooks using Eileen Hull's new Journal die that will be available in the UK from the end of April onwards) I have mine on pre-order, but as I am leaving tomorrow I checked the Midori travelers notebook out and as they are actually made in Japan, I decided I just had to have one to take along so I prepped a few pages before we go.
Here's a close up on one of them.

These two sweet little Tim Holtz paper dolls are representing my two grand daughters.

The background was done with the new Oxide inks. I also did quite a few pages in junk journal style. All of them are adhered to one of the lined Midori notebooks pages, so that there is plenty of space to journal in between. Below a few further samples of those pages:

Using lots of my hoarded scraps, with a spring time feel (it's cherry blossom season of course in Japan right now).

Some Tim Holtz papers from his new Etc collection, these papers are just perfect for this style collage.

A close up of a little tuck spot with a tiny book tucked in for further journaling, held together with a little altered paperclip.

A couple more collaged junk journal style pages, with pockets and ephemera for hidden journaling, keepsakes and notes.
And finally my personal favourite page so far, playing some more with the Oxides, Tim's new Washi Design tapes and Botanical Layers and so on.

Well that's it for now. It has been and will be pretty quiet here for the next few weeks, , I have a few scheduled posts while away, but hopefully come May I will have more time again to blog and visit. Hope the sun shines where you are and have a creative week ahead!

xxxxx