Capturing my Christmas - December 9th

Sam is 21 today – and she is growing up to be an amazing young woman. She has had a lot to deal with this year and it has been a privilege to be there with her through it. We went for a family meal at our favourite restaurant, had a lovely meal and Sam was suitably spoilt.

Thanks for stopping by

Bekka

Capturing my Christmas - December 8th

Today I headed north, to join Monica and the Northern Passionettes for this months Team Meeting. It was a very grey day spent on grey roads. I arrived in time to explore a little which was nice and to get myself something to eat before the meeting – a riot of colour and fun. It was great to see Monica and some friends again as well as to meet some new ones. Even though not everyone I hoped to see was there it was well worth the trip. Monica persuaded me to stay over and we then talked the night away. Blissful and just what Christmas should be all about.

Thanks for stopping by

Bekka

Capturing my Christmas - December 7th

Today's prompt is all about making to do lists.  Well I am good at lists and used the suggestion of having a planner for the lists as an excuse for some crafting procrastination - and made a book for my lists.  Photo to follow!

I did then get round to making my lists and while it is many many pages long it does feel better to have written the list as I can now quantify how far behind I am!

Thanks for stoping by

Bekka

Capturing my Christmas - December 6th

Today I found myself thinking about my Grandparents house today, and how much I still miss them especially at Christmas. I remember the excitement each time we visited, whatever the time of year. The house was full of beautiful things and always smelt wonderful. At Christmas the powerful pull of expectation and a full house was added. I love that I have some of their furniture at my house still. It makes me sad that this year S&A are going to experience that deep feeling of loss at Christmas for the first time and I wish they did not have to.

Capturing my Christmas - December 5th

Today was card class day – I love doing the classes and feel lucky to have such a lovely group of ladies who come to them. Since everyone is so busy at this time of year it was just a select group this month. Today’s theme was last moment Christmas preparations. I felt a bit of a fraud as I am so not ready. I have not finished making my Cards (well there are 200+ to make!), not done any present shopping, not made all the gifts I want to make or even finalised where I am going to be and when! There are lots of projects I had planned (like a countdown calendar) which just are not going to happen now – its going to be enough of a challenge just to get the minimums done.

Thanks for stopping by

Bekka

Capturing My Christmas - December 4th

There seems to be a constant push to make Christmas perfect – we seem to be surrounded by pressures telling us what perfection is and how important it is to create a perfect Christmas. But what is perfection? Does it stay the same? Is creating the perfect Christmas a realistic aim? Is this striving for perfection what creates the stress that stops so many of us, myself included, from enjoying the season?

I want to try and accept this season on its own merit and let it define perfection for this year.

Will you join me?

Bekka

Capturing my Christmas - December 3rd

Today I am working on my Christmas Cards – every year I tell myself that I will get them made and written before December, or at least made. Every year December appears and I have hardly started. Every year the list is longer than the year before. Maybe this will be the first last for this year – leaving card making until the last possible moment!

Thanks for stopping by

Bekka

Capturing my Christmas - December 2nd

When I think about Christmas I imagine a wonderful layer of magical snow. I don’t know why as I am not sure I have ever experienced a Christmas like that, so I guess it’s just wishful thinking. It seems to be a collective memory harking back to Dickensian times when we really were in the middle of a mini ice age and Christmas really was snowy.

In reality now the weather if often mild, often damp and generally not too extreme, mind you that is probably a good thing since I usually end up driving for at least a couple of hours! Today the cold snap that started yesterday reverted to rain and lots of it. There has been a lot of rain in the UK recently and many unfortunate people still suffering as the rest of us get ready for Christmas. Looking at the weather forecasts it looks like we are set for a wet December too.

Thanks for stopping by
 
Bekka

Capturing my Christmas - December 1st

Well its here - December and that means its time to Journal My Christmas.  Its a very special project for me as I made my first every mini book for this class about three years ago.  This year I hope to make my book as I go and as well as Shimelle's wonderful prompts I will be taking in ideas from other places too.  You can see my journal on the previous post.  My diary is already looking quite full and I want to make sure I have more than just a regular journal to remember it by.

So here is my 1st December entry

2009 has been a year of many changes and of many transitions.  This December I will keep this daily journal to document where we are now, how we are celebrating, and our traditions both old and new.  There will be some highs, some lows, some firsts and some what may become lasts.  I want to remember this Christmas as I claim back some small level of control.

December has definitely arrived and the weather has turned cold with it.  I woke this morning to a layer of frost adding its sparkle to the day.

Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to sharing this journey with you

Bekka

Capture Christmas

Today I am going to share with some something I am a little over excited about! I am so excited about it for a number of reasons. To start with it is my First Tutorial for the Craft Academy. If you have not yet checked the Craft Academy I would like to suggest you do – just click here for the blog and here for the website. The Craft Academy is a new venture which aims to make learning fun. I am both thrilled and humbled to be one of the tutors there. Each month there will be a class which you can download or you can purchase a kit with all the card etc you need to complete the project. If you are a craft tutor or Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator you will also be able to purchase class instructions and kits that you can use with your classes or workshops.

The next reason I am excited is because this project is going to be a lot of fun and a lot of help to me personally. December is going to be action packed round here, not only do we have the usual whirl of Christmas to contend with but we also have a 21st Birthday (not mine but I can wish!), a 60th Birthday party (not mine either – cheeky!) preparations for a 50th birthday (nope not mine either) and a Baby’s First Christmas. I want to make sure I take lots of photos and remember what we did this festive season so I have created this quick and easy album to do it in.

If you are a fan of Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas, Ali Edwards December Daily, Jessica Sprague’s Holiday’s in Hand or any other similar projects then this album may be the solution you are looking for.

Full instructions are at the Craft Academy. Hop on over there it is free to join and this class being my first is free too. There will also be a prize for one person who downloads this tutorial in the next two weeks

I look forward to seeing you there and to seeing what you make with this tutorial.

I will try and show you the pictures and journalling that I put into this album - bring on December!
 Thanks for stopping by


Happy Craftin

Bekka