Merry Christmas, everyone! My December Daily album is coming together just nicely this year, so it’s time for another recap of what happened this past week (all images are linked to gallery for product info) … For most of you, it’s time to celebrate now, so I won’t keep you much longer. Have fun making memories! PS. For more inspiration, see Week 3, Week 2, and Week 1.
I’ve made a discovery! This year I found out that the repertoire of Christmas songs consists of more than just “Jingle Bells!” That’s good news, because Jingle Bells certainly isn’t one of my favorite Christmas songs. And it’s a huge relief to my ears that in between the repeated jingling of the bells, I can also listen to something else. (Remember? I have a constant blur of music floating into my living room from the supermarket across the street – the one that is kind enough to entertain the entire neighborhood – whether desired or not – with their music!) Sadly, they only have about one CD of Christmas songs, and that CD only has about 5 different songs that are repeated all. day. long. Which means, I should be a real expert when it comes to those Christmas songs pretty soon – don’t you think?
Remember that Christmas tree? The one I keep telling you about? The one that needs some imaginative powers to be regarded as a Christmas tree. The one about which I can’t decide whether it’s just not good looking or plain ugly. The one that has all these little notes added by the students to make good for the lack of other Christmas decorations and ornaments. Well, I was wrong. About the little notes, that is. And about how they’ll soon cover up the bottom part of the tree. I should have never told you about the little notes, because this year? They’re … HUGE!!! Or about how they only cover up the bottom part of that tree. Because that whole tree looks like a carnival scarecrow for Santa Clause. Just saying – oh Christmas tree! Or maybe: Oh, oh, Christmas tree! PS. And I haven’t even told you about the Winnie Pooh Bear and Micky Mouse balloons that are flying far above the tree. Wonder how they got there? I agree – that’s a gooood …
If you’ve been following my DigiScrap Corner even just a little, surely by now you’ve figured that I really love Christmas. And since it’s the season, and Christmas is almost here, I thought, I’d throw out some more inspiration for you. Here are some Christmas pages I created earlier this year (from last Christmas) for a photobook project I did. And here are some older pages from last Christmas …
Look at what we created today! My first ever real gingerbread house! And while it’s far from perfect, I still consider it quite a success for numerous reasons … Reason #1: The only time I’ve made a gingerbread house before, turned into such a disaster that we never finished it, and never dared touching a project like that afterward. Reason #2: I consider myself quite unexperienced when it comes to making a gingerbread house, or even working with and decorating things with icing. Reason #3: It’s not easy to get a gingerbread house kit here in China at all, and the same applies to the other ingredients such as icing sugar, or even suitable candy (we had to be a little creative). Reason #4: I don’t have the right tools to put together and decorate the house, so we had to be quite creative with what we had, and thanks to my two friends who helped me, we were able to figure out how to make things work. Reason #5: None of my friends who …
Ok, so I know it’s kind of a little late for this – it already being almost Christmas and all; and I know that I usually try to hook you up with stuff that’s free in the Enable Me/Inspire Me section of my Digiscrap Corner, but being someone who absolutely loves the December Daily project this year, I just have to still show you: The other day, I stumbled upon the Pear Tree Album – a template pack by Sara Gleason. And boy, do I wish I had the extra $$ to purchase that set! This pack is huge, and besides the full range of page templates in various sizes (to make way more than just one DD album), it also comes with lots of extra goodies, such as transparency overlays, trims for clippings, etc. etc. I’m telling you, if you are looking for some DD inspiration, and you have the cash for templates (this set is rather cheap considering all the content, and comparing it to template packs in general), then you need to …
Christmas is almost here, and that reminds me of the first Christmas I spent in China. Let me tell you about the first Christmas party I had here, and what happened with the gift exchange: I’d invited a bunch of friends to celebrate together, and I had told everyone to bring a gift for a gift exchange. Everyone followed my instructions and brought a gift, except there was one little problem. While my intention was that everyone would leave with a gift that they’d gotten from someone else, their intention was to give the present they’d brought to me. In the end, I found myself with a bunch of presents, some of them specifically dedicated to me, and feeling quite bad about the fact that I’d gotten so many presents while they’d not gotten anything. But all arguing and debating was fruitless – my friends wouldn’t want to have the gifts used in a gift exchanged. They only wanted me to have all the gifts. That’s when I learned not to organize another gift exchange …
It’s the season of celebrations – Christmas parties, advent afternoons, get together-s with family, friends, colleagues, and whoever else. Today’s journaling prompts are all about the Christmas celebrations: With all the celebrations coming up, I hope you’ll still find the time to record your memories, too … The font used here is my own handwriting font DJB Squirrels In My Pants by Darcy Baldwin (available at the Sweetshoppe).
I promised you, I’d post more about the floor decorating competition, so here goes another hall that I went to explore. This one’s all about the journey to Bethlehem, and I love how entering the hall you enter into the oriental world of the past – with flat-roofed houses, hills and mountains, camels and what not … and if you look very hard, you can even see the wise men following that star! On the doors my colleagues posted different Christmas carols, and I’ve been told that after entering the hallway, everyone starts humming, or singing, or whistling, or whatever … Christmas songs! That’s it for now as far as the hall decorating competition goes, but stay tuned, because I have more to come about the oh-so-famed Christmas tree …
