bloowabbit: Serena Bee Creative

Thursday, 20 December 2018

12 days to Christmas - keeping a December Daily

December Daily is a project created by Ali Edwards, a 'designer, blogger, workshop instructor and author' who keenly feels that

''there's no right or wrong way to do all this,

that the real stories are worth telling,

and there's a whole lot of celebrating to do

even in the midst of the challenging pieces of life'

I follow crafters PopFizzPaper, Serena Bee Creative and Sabrina Ann who are a trio of friends who explore, swap, teach, video and share all things paper, card and adhesive. Plus, they're funny. Through their videos I found out about this form of journaling.

It's all about memory keeping the first 25 days of December and finding the best creative way for you to do so. Other paper crafters and memory keepers have developed ways to make a DecD and I chose to make a loose ring bound journal with separate pages on which to visually record days. I originally bought 8cm metal rings but after finding they were just too big I repurposed them to hold my xmas washi tapes.

My book is made from scrapbook paper from 'Traditional Christmas' by Make ^ Create - a value paper pack from The Works. At 3 quid and with 20 double sided sheets it's a great buy. I also picked up embellishments and washi from online shops and the local pound shops on the high street. It's useful to keep flyers with seasonal imagery as they can be used for backgrounds, like the Royal Mail flyer with houses and a postbox in the snow - perfect for days about receiving a letter and writing Christmas cards.

There are interesting ways to create a page - with pockets to conceal private pieces of journaling, card bands to hold separate attachments in place, tags with info or images on the end of baker's twine, envelopes or mini paper bags to hold ephemera. Some pages are smaller than other to create interest, some fold out to enlarge the journaling area and others are plastic trading card pockets sometimes sealed to contain sequin mixes if you like a bit of sparkle.

felt kit in magazine and Xmas party at UoA

section folds out to contain private journaling

new journal plus Qs for the day

and visiting Primark after the Bank Building fire

What you end up with is a creative journal that is as interactive as its creator makes. Already I'm finding that I'm developing a certain style with the washi edged pages. I like how my DecD looks when it sits on end and its pages splayed open. Although it's not yet completed the book itself is a decorative thing, not just what lies inside.

12 days to Christmas - decorating my planner

12 days to Christmas - Trollbeads Share-a-Christmas-Card

12 days to Christmas - making bunting

12 days to Christmas - Jacquie Lawson advent calendar

12 days to Christmas - Christmas/Winter quote book

12 days to Christmas - decorating

12 days to Christmas - sending Happy Mail

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Saturday, 27 October 2018

papercrafts in October...

October Daily

Started an arty journal called a 'daily' - challenge was set by Serena Bee Creative. Made a TN (Traveler's Notebook) and used scrapbook paper 'Jack's Revenge' by Reminisce, 'Dark Hollow' by Ella & Viv, 'Haunted House' by Carta Bella and 'Treat Bag' by Hocus Pocus. Papermaze is a good UK site to buy US papers. This page in my October Daily was about the Harry Potter postage stamp set that was released on the 16th.

Thingummyjigs

Found stripey straws at Poundland and decorated circular gift tags edged with metal to make some decorative picks. I could have done with a small label maker instead of writing the words.

Hallowe'en bunting

For the last couple of Christmases I've made bunting using cards and scrapbook paper so I translated that into Hallowe'en bunting saying BOO!. A gemmie makes the skull's eye pop.

Haunted House

Had bought a set of toy suitcases and reckoned they'd make a good Haunted House stacked on top of one another - this was a BIG project. I removed the hardware (handles, locks) and cut away the lids to leave the 3-storied house open on one side. Making the furniture was fun. I used small stickers and bottles on the scrapbook papers to decorate.

Pocket Letter Swap

As a member of PopFizzPaper's Crafty Club I did a pocket letter swap. with a US crafter called Kestrel whos jam-packed letter blew me away with little folders and stashes including stickers, bead mixes, embellishments and washi tape samples. Oh, and there was a bag of apple and pumpkin flavoured candy corn too. I stocked my pocket letter to her with a tiny painting, frames, stickers and die cuts. And blackcurrant lollipops and a bag of Swizzel's sweets dressed up as a mummy. Great fun.

Monster Paperclips

Had glued some paperclips onto felt balls bought at Sostrene Grene. To turn them into tiny monsters I added goggly eyes. Easy peasy.

Wand

Amongst the scrapbook paper was some photographic wooden prints. Folding this upon itself made a wand shape. Only effective from one side as the other revealed the folds. 'Illusionardium Woodenwandus'

FatBat Rosette Shaker

I wanted to make a shaker rosette and decorate it as a bat but I made the shaker so big that it resulted in a huge bat. Added a stripey straw, and behold, Fatbat.

Memorydex Challenge

A challenge set by Sabrina Ann. Memorydex is a type of journaling system using a filing card type of setup. Even without a Memorydex die cutter or punch it's still feasible to make them. We had to base our cards on either monsters or villains and I chose Winifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus on a bad day - 'when a spell runs amok'. The black cat Thackery Binx also runs fowl of the exploding spell.

PFP Crafty Club Shenanigans

Dani from PopFizzPaper ran a Hallowe'en fb page for the month of October full of mini challenges, treasure hunts and opportunities to post pictures of papercrafts. I won a mini Happy Mail (goodies decorated and packed imaginatively, put in a box and posted - there's always sweets included) currently winging its way to me.

I'm really hoping to do a video flip-through of the October Daily book I made and decorated AND I'd love to make a video on the Haunted House too. Although I'd started the Inktober challenge this year I only got as far as the fourth day - I instead focussed on papercrafting which is something I love working with. And that online course I signed up to (free on Kadenze) fell by the wayside - I'll pick that up again in November... hopefully...

there's a procrastination challenge that's starting on the 1st...

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