Journal Your Christmas: 26th December

Mum made a fab lemon pudding for after the carol service and we begged her to make it again for Christmas day.  It became a bit of a saga however, as first I had to run to the shop to get trifle sponges.  But they'd sold out so we decided to improvise with madeira cake.  Then it turned out one of the lemons had gone mouldy.  Lovely and furry.  So another trip to the shop.  Anyway, Mum managed and she taught me the recipe and it turned out of the dish perfectly.  And at Christmas, you're allowed to dine on double cream.

Kisses xxx

P.S. Happy New Year one and all!  I'm back in London Baby now, so normal services shall resume.

P.P.S. My scrapbooking class Just One Sketch starts tomorrow!  You can still register if you're interested - it's only £5 and every penny goes to charity to support my fundraising for GirlGuiding UK.  More info about how to sign up is here and there might be the odd sneak peak tomorrow.  

Journal Your Christmas: 24th December

Well, I've had a bit of a break from blogging over Christmas and it's been lovely catching up with the family and spending some quality time and whatnot.

But I've got some more JYC to share now, so here's my page about Christmas stockings.  This year, my brother and I did stockings for Mum and Dad for the first time.  This involved a lot of last minute secret plotting and knitting.  We had to stay up extra late (!) and hide them on the kitchen table after the parents had gone to bed.  We're allowed to stay up late now.  And they ended up being non-traditionally-shaped stockings in gift bags.  We'll work on that next year :D

It all worked out rather well as the parents didn't do stockings for each other this year, so it was a nice surprise.  And snaps for Mum for making the patchwork quilt you can see displaying my little page to advantage.  It's the quilt I've been snuggling with to keep warm while I'm at home.

I've had a wonderful Christmas and I really hope you have too.  Looking forward to 2012 now!

Kisses xxx

P.S. Thank you all so much for your wonderful response to my scrapbooking class Just One Sketch.  I've really made progress with the fundraising over Christmas - lots more ideas and projects, and the whole thing seems less daunting.  And I've been working on pages for the class - I really hope you enjoy it!

P.P.S. If you're interested, registration is still open - it never shuts!- and we officially begin on 15th January.   But the class blog will go live on 1st January with something to get thinking about. More info here if you're interested in joining us!

Just One Sketch: A New Scrapbooking Class

Exciting news! As part of my fundraising endeavours, I've been busy working on a big new scrapbooking project... I'm launching a brand new scrapbooking class. And it's called...

Just One Sketch is a class exploring ways of using a single sketch to create a whole variety of completely different scrapbook pages. We'll be looking at how to choose or design a sketch that works for you, and incorporates all the elements of your scrapping style. Then over 6 weeks, with two prompts a week, we'll all be putting our own sketch through its paces, developing that one design into twelve unique layouts.

In this class, we'll be experimenting with colour, design, size and style. By applying different techniques to one sketch that really inspires you, you can simplify your scrapping process and create pages that are really 'you' as they all have a basis in a design you love. And by the end of the class, only you will know that they all started from Just One Sketch!

Prompts, and extra hints, tips and ideas, will be posted on a private class blog, and you can scrap along at your own pace whenever you feel like it. There's no pressure to 'keep up' and you'll have permanent access to the material so you can use the ideas whenever and however you like. Just One Sketch encourages you to work in a way that's comfortable for you, to embrace and develop your own scrapbooking style and to preserve and share your memories your own way.

This class is ideal for any and all scrapbookers, whether you're a sketch novice or a seasoned scrapper in search of new ideas. The prompts can be applied to paper and digi scrapping of all kinds, and best of all, the ideas in Just One Sketch can be used over and over again on as many pages as you like!

What does the class include?

*12 prompts on the class blog featuring different sketch ideas*

*Exclusive pages designed just for this class*

*Step-by-Step tutorials for a variety of scrapping techniques*

*Permanent access to the private class blog*

*Discussion threads in the comments and space to share links to your work*

*A Pinterest Board with a visual record of all pages of class participants*

What do I need?

All you need to participate is a Google account and email address. If you don't already have one, you can go here to sign up for an account free of charge. To make pages and projects, all that's needed is the stash you already have on hand. But feel free to use the class as an excuse for a sneaky bit of stash shopping :D

What does it cost?

Permanent access to the class Just One Sketch and all its contents costs just £5. That's about the price of a magazine, and every penny goes to charity to support my fundraising for GirlGuiding UK. (Click here to read a little more about my fundraising).

You can pay securely through PayPal by credit or debit card - simply click the button below!

So why not treat yourself this Christmas? Then there's something to look forward to once the festive season is over and we're facing a cold, wet, dark January!

What next?

Once you've paid via the PayPal website, I've be in touch by email - usually within the next 24 hours - to confirm payment and class membership. And if you don't have a Google account, you'll need to sign up for one and let me know your Google email address. The class blog will go live on Sunday 1st January 2012 and there will be a few ideas to get started with before prompts begin on Sunday 15th January 2012

So go ahead, click the Buy Now button above and join me for an exciting scrappy adventure!

Any questions? Please get in touch! You can email me at kirsty dot merran at googlemail dot com and I'll answer any queries as soon as I can.

Kisses xxx

P.S. If you're interested, it would be lovely if you could give Just One Sketch a shout out on your blog. In fundraising, as in life, every little helps :D

P.P.S. The class may even include a video but that is a little recording-quality dependent. Fingers crossed!

Journal Your Christmas: 17th December

The friends and I have opened our presents from each other together.  Although it wasn't one I opened, getting my own domain name was a lovely surprise.  I'm a dot co dot uk now!  Although the T-Rex earrings were a hit too :D

Kisses xxx

P.S. Big scrappy announcement tomorrow!  Don't forget to stop by...

Journal Your Christmas: 16th December

I'm grateful for my wonderful job this time of year. Everyone in school is cheerful, if slightly manic, we get inundated with chocolates in the department and no one feels like doing much work. I tend to carry on regardless. For instance:

Student: Can't we have fun lesson today, Miss?

Me: All my lessons are fun!

Student: But it's Christmas.

Me:...No it's not. It's 14th December. There are still eleven more sleeps to go.

Student: But it's our last lesson.

Me: No it's not, we've got some in January. And then February. And with a shocking inevitability, we've got lessons in March. There are others too, but I don't want to overload you.

Student: But it's our last lesson before Christmas.

Me: Actually, you've got lessons tomorrow and Friday as well.

Student: I mean our last mechanics lesson before Christmas.

Me: Yes it is.

Student: So can we watch a video?

Me: I've got something way better than a video. It's in 3D and it happens in real time. There's an interactive element and this will be a totally unique, one-time-only performance.

Student:.....?......?......

Me: Go on, you can get there.

Student:....It's just going to be you teaching us mechanics isn't it?

Me: Yes! Got it in one!

Student: Nothing Christmassy.

Me: I'll see what I can do...

[On the board]

eg1. Father Christmas attempts to land on a snowy rooftop, but misses. The reindeer cling to the roof which is inclined at an angle alpha to the horizontal such that tan (alpha) = 3/4. Father Chirstmas, his sleigh and all the presents dangle over the edge of the roof on the end of the reins which run down along the line of greatest slope. The reindeer have a collective mass of 100kg and Father Christmas and his sleigh have a mass of 150kg.

(i) By modelling the reindeer and the sleigh as particles, and given that the coefficient of friction between the snow-capped roofs and the reindeer hoofs [That totally rhymes, by the way] is 0.5, find the tension in the reins and state the minimum force the reindeer must exert on the reins in order to hold Father Christmas in limiting equilibrium. [Don't forget to do a diagram].

(ii) The reindeer are fed carrots by the children in the house and with their strength renewed, make a huge effort and exert a force of 3000N on the reins. Given that Father Christmas is dangling at rest 2m below the roof, [Impersonate dangling Father Christmas] find his acceleration and the time taken for him to reach the edge of the roof and relative safety, giving your answer in surd form.

Remember gents, if you miscalculate, not only do you get no presents; none of the boys and girls in the world will get presents. Father Christmas didn't take A-level maths. No pressure.

[Later]

Student: But carrots don't give you energy.

Me: Yes they do.

Student: No, they don't have much protein or carbs in.

Me: They have vitamins though.

Student: You don't convert vitamins into energy. And how come the reindeer don't weigh more?

Me: They're magic reindeer. They convert vitamins into energy instantly and therefore their mass is constant.

Student: Rubbish.

Me: You will happily accept the reindeer can fly but the vitamin-energy conversion bothers you?

Student: Yes miss. 'Cause everyone knows that reindeer can fly, but you're just making stuff up and calling it magic.

Me: *sigh*

Student: And just adding Santa into the example doesn't make it a Christmas lesson.

Kisses xxx

P.S. The answers we are looking for are:

(i) 2450N

(ii) a=5.5 ms^-2 and t=2Root2/3

P.P.S. How did you do? If you got them wrong, no presents for you. Sorry.

P.P.P.S. Stop by on Sunday for an exciting scrappy announcement!

Journal Your Christmas: 15th December

Last weekend, I hosted a Christmas Make, Bake and Cake. My lovely friends popped round and we had homemade soup, present swapping, the boys put up my Christmas lights and we had copious gossip. Then I made them all go outside for some Christmas portraits. And then we were cold so we mulled lots of wine and roasted some chestnuts. Between us we managed to fit in some knitting, paper snowflakes, and endless pots of Christmas tea (yay Whittards!). I made an enormous mac and cheese for dinner with a bit of saucepan juggling and we had more tea, mulled some Winter Pimm's and apple - DELICIOUS - and played Articulate and charades until two in the morning. I found space on the floor (just) for everyone to sleep, piled on the blankets and we snoozed peacefully before having tea and crumpets for breakfast. Perfect.

And with these pages, I've filled another page protector!

School concert last night. Blissful. Baked rocky road for the form so that's chilling in the fridge - got to cut it up in time for school now. Ten minutes - eep! Department night out tonight as well. Excellent :D

Kisses xxx

P.S. Merry Christmas friends. MeChriends. (I hope they get that :D)

Journal Your Christmas: 14th December

This year I knitted mug cosies for my friends for Christmas. I cut it a bit fine and had to do a sneaky bit of stitching while teaching. Students somewhat confused. When I finished one and put it on the mug, he offered to drop it for me. Apparently he thought the mug cosy was to protect the mug from breaking. Numpty.

Kisses xxx

P.S. We totally won the quiz! And the 6th formers didn't even take the bribe :D

Journal Your Christmas: 13th December

The school Christmas concert was extremely festive - a great atmosphere. I played with Camerata - A slightly ropey Walking in the Air, a clipping Christmas medley and Handel's Alleluia from the Messiah with the choir. In the second half, I watched, along with some ladies who hummed along to all the performances white noisily unwrapping mint humbugs - brilliantly cliched! Particularly amused by the piece which combines, in medley form, your favourite Christmas tunes with your favourite secret agent film and TV themes. To finish, we had singalong carols and I did the descants (Yay!). The boys in front turned round to locate the source of the noise and I surepticiously pointed at Arijit. They appeared somewhat bemused :D

I made this page on a gold holly-patterned transparency which I found in my stash from last year. I love rediscovering something pretty and using it!

Kisses xxx

P.S. School quiz today - a team from each year and my staff team. I've baked them biscuits and one or two for the hopefully susceptible judges in the 6th form. You never know when a biscuit may become a delicious tie-break biscuit.

P.P.S. Also I have lots of specific knowledge but no general knowledge so I'm playing to my strengths. It's what I tell the students to do. Fingers crossed!

Journal Your Christmas: 11th and 12th December

I love the tree at St Pancras station - it's made of Lego! It always surrounded by people snapping pictures of it and it's great fun to watch small children suddenly light up - I heard one exclaim very loudly to her Daddy: "Oh my gosh! They've made it out of Lego!"

I've gone off on my own a little bit for my Journal Your Christmas on 12th December. I wanted to record memories from the Guides disco.

We turned the church hall into a disco, decked out with tinsel and balloons with little lights inside. Of course, once the first one popped, the others all followed in quick succession as they tried to get the lights out and add them to their outfits. We practised our formulaic 90s dancing, had hotdogs and pizza and also had a colouring in corner for the Rainbows. Bless. Having partied the night away until eight, we packed them off home and retired to Alison's for drinks and excessively competitive Pictionary.

Kisses xxx

P.S. Making a massive to-do list this week. Does anyone else find that the amount of sleep you get per night decreases the nearer you get to Christmas?

P.P.S. That sounds like a whine. It's a nice to do list :D

Journal Your Christmas: 10th December

I have a soft spot for gift bags. I tend to collect them from school and Guides and this year I've found myself left with half a dozen wine-bottle shaped gift bags. However, with a bit a forward planning and a lot of cunning and guile and other such attributes, all my friends' gifts will fit in long thin bags. So they all have matching presents and I no longer have odd shaped gift bags. Life is good. As we all know there's nothing worse than having the wrong size gift bag.*

*This is something I happened to exclaim quite loudly on the tube in the summer on the way to a birthday party. At the time I had a small gift and a large gift bag, which made the gift look a bit pathetic. Obviously, I know there are many things worse than this and the mocking derision I have received since has taught me to be careful about exclaiming things on the tube. And also to ensure that friends' gift bags are the right size. They now notice.

And exciting news time: I'm a Guide leader with a unit of Guides and a member of Girlguiding UK, but as I'm 24, I'm also a member of senior section, which is term which covers people who are anything from 14 to nearly 30 and are involved in Guiding. A few weeks ago, I went on a camp called InTops (International Opportunities) to find out about some of the things Girlguiding does overseas, and to take part in some completely off the wall activities. While at camp, I applied to go on an overseas project. There then followed a long wait while they reviewed the things everyone did on camp and look through applications.

And my exciting news? I've been invited to go on a voluntary project in Armenia for three weeks in the summer! I'm totally excited and a bit nervous as there's so much to do beforehand and I've never done anything like this before.

A team of six of us will be completing the fourth year of a 5 year project which helps to start Girl Guide units in Armenia, provide leadership training for the volunteers, run a national camp for existing Armenian Guides and help build an infrastructure so that more girls can get involved with the fantastic opportunities available to Guides. We're going to be running sessions, camping, staying in hostels, providing resources....it's going to be busy :D

And before any of that happens, I need to raise £2000 to support the project.

Kisses xxx

P.S. Friends have all left now. But I think we spread a good bit of Christmas cheer about the place :D

Make, Bake and Cake: Ten Christmas Portraits

This weekend I'm hosting a Christmas Make, Bake and Cake. My lovely friends are here and we've had soup, present swapping and gossip and then I took them all outside for some Christmas portraits. And then we were cold so we mulled lots of wine. Now we're knitting, baking, listening to Chirstmas songs and I'm about to teach them to make paper snowflakes.

So here are my 10 on the 10th.

Check out Shimelle's blog for more!

Kisses xxx

P.S. More JYC tomorrow! Also, some exciting news :D

Journal Your Christmas: 9th December

How to pick a Christmas tradition to write about? Just one? But, Shimelle says, so here we go... I love traditions: they give me something to look forward to and revel in, and play a particularly important part at Christmas. Some are serious, but some are just a little bit of fun.

Most of the year, I am not a telly addict. But come this time of year, I will happily watch a Christmas episode of anything. For the umpteenth time. It all begins with the purchasing of the encyclopaedic Radio Times - two weeks of Christmas telly in one issue. Then I turn my red pen from it's usual marking into a circling frenzy as I stick a ring around anything that looks promising. And hope that Christmas Doctor Who hasn't been scheduled against Christmas Downton. Then, last of all, I have to figure out when would be the best time to insert a viewing of White Christmas, the ultimate Christmas classic, a viewing of The Christmas Card, the ultimate Christmas fluff, and any of the cheesy Christmas films my parents have found. Plus Christmas episodes of any DVD boxed set that I habitually watch. In this I will be ably aided and abetted by Matthew.

It's lovely to beguile cold winter nights with lovely nibbles, actual real time to craft in from of festive telly, and family around.

Kisses xxx

P.S. And now the red pen goes back to the marking. With any luck, I'll be done by Christmas :D

P.P.S. School Christmas concert last night which I pitch in with. Particularly amused by the piece which combines, in medley form, your favourite Christmas tunes with your favourite secret agent film and TV themes.

Journal Your Christmas: 8th December

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I just thought I'd share the progress my album pages are making - I'm going to put my JYC in my usual albums with my other pages. I like everything to be together as Christmas time isn't separate from my life - it's a part of it.

Kisses xxx

P.S. Been trading with Christmas ginger biscuits at school. Fellow teachers, it turns out, will do you favours for biscuits. If only it were possible to apply this to students.

Journal Your Christmas: 7th December

Trying to get in as much handmade stuff as possible this year. So far this includes 6 batches of ginger biscuits, at least a double batch of rocky road, miscellaneous extra baking and handmade decorations. Then there are the gifts, but shh... it's a secret until the big day. And not forgetting a dash of scrapbooking too. Yay!

Kisses xxx

P.S. I've got my first Christmas present. Can you guess what it is?

P.P.S. No?

P.P.P.S. I've been given my own domain name! Thankyou techno-brilliant friend (you know you you are :D)

P.P.P.P.S. At the weekend, I am going to officially become:

www.journalofcuriousthings.co.uk

All being well, the rss feeds will all continue to work so if you subscribe, you should get new posts automatically. Also, if you type in my current blogspot url, you'll automatically get redirected to my new web address.

P.P.P.P.P.S. I'm so excited!

Journal Your Christmas: 6th December

It's not nice to be ill at Christmas. I remember one year when Dad was. We' been a tape-playing household up until that point but Mum had bought Dad a CD player - our first - as a surprise. Each Saturday as we went down the village to do some shopping, Mum would pick up a CD or two. She individually wrapped them all and arranged them so that Dad would be nonplussed, receiving all these CDs before finally getting the CD player. Unfortunately on Christmas day Dad was really full of cold and flu and didn't feel like opening any presents, never mind all those CDs. A great idea though!

Ah, the best laid plans.

Kisses xxx

P.S. Christmas dinner with the Guiders last night. But being Guiders, we had fish and chips down the hut (read little shed where we store tents) with twinkly lights and our coats on.

P.P.S. Also the obligatory cuppa. :D

Journal Your Christmas: 5th December

The time of advent is well and truly underway. I really look forward to going to church at this time of year.

I loved reading your comments on ginger biscuits (or cookies!) - I think the consensus is that ginger is definitely Christmassy. So I thought I'd share the recipe.

Elizabeth's Ginger Biscuits

8oz self raising flour

4oz butter

3oz caster sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp ground ginger

(Optional extras: Extra half a tsp of ginger, half a tsp of nutmeg and half a tsp of cinnamon. 100g white chocolate. These are my own additions, but I highly recommend them :D)

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients.

2. In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the golden syrup.

3. Mix the two together.

4. Roll into balls about the size of a walnut. I get about 12-15 from a batch.

5. Bake at 170 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

6. Leave to stand for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack.

7. Melt white chocolate and drizzle (or dollop) on the top.

And if you sprinkle them with sugar stars, you get an extra wish!

Kisses xxx

P.S. Not sure who Elizabeth is, so if you prefer to think of them as my Nanny's biscuits, that's OK. Although you probably don't know her, but I can vouch for her awesomeness.

Storytelling Sunday and Journal Your Christmas: 4th December

A bit of a two in one post today! I'll start with Journal Your Christmas, and Storytelling Sunday is below.

Journal Your Christmas

The prompt for JYC, Shimelle's wonderful Christmas class is all about dreaming of a perfect Christmas. Well, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.

Dear Weather Providers,

I'd like to put in a request for a white Christmas this year. If it comes to that, I'd also like a beautiful house with a wraparound porch that I can sit on with a cuppa and watch it from. But failing that, the snow will do. Good snow that we can build things out of. Like that igloo years ago. Not the wrong kind of snow, because I need to catch the train home. And not of the day when I'm going to see the Nutcracker as last year the tube stopped running and I missed it. But good snow is magical and makes everyone happy and Dad would love it and we could all shovel the drive and go for a walk.

Thanks, that would be lovely,

Kirsty xxx

P.S. And I'd like my car to keep working.

*********

Storytelling Sunday

NB: All names changed

Another one from the school archives today and it concerns taking the register. As a form tutor, I take the register every day. Twice a day. This, as you can imagine, becomes a little tedious. And I don't remember how the tradition started but I do say to my form that I don't mind how they respond to the register as long as it's polite and it ends in "miss".*

They began by sharing pieces of information.

Alan?

I've got a cold miss

John?

I haven't miss

Peter?

I like Haribos miss

Dave?

There's a dairy milk wrapper down the radiator miss

Is there?

Yes miss, it's been there for three days now.

Keep me updated. Ben?

And so on. Incidentally, the dairy milk wrapper resided in the radiator quite happily for a week and a half and the register was filled with various ploys to either extract the wrapper on a weekend, Mission Impossible Style, or a range of sub-ploys from the dairy-milk-radiator-protection squad.

But I digress. Sometimes, the responses keep me on my toes.

Tom?

Miss, yes.

Oooh, I like it! Michael?

Absent miss.

Don't lie. Alex?

He's gone to the medical room miss.

Is he OK....Oooh, that was a bit cunning.

I have to visually confirm presence as well as taking the register these days. And sometimes they answer for each other to confuse me. For the nervous amongst you, I always headcount and check I've got everyone so I don't get the register wrong. That would be embarrassing.

Harry?

Don't say Ollie, miss.

...Ollie?

I thought that was pretty creative.

Sam?

My name is Sam, miss.

Yash?

My name is Yash miss.

Callum?

Sam and Yash are lying miss.

These days, we've progressed to themed registers. We pick a theme and everyone has to respond according to the theme. So when the theme is chocolate bars, each person has to answer with a previously unmentioned chocolate bar. Everyone except Mike who's got a bet with Nikhil that he can answer every register all year with a different quote from Harry Potter. He's therefore exempt from all themes.

Previous themes have included Pokemon, Animals that taste like chicken, Types of Haribos and speed registering against the clock. When the bell is about to go and I haven't done the register yet. One of my favourite themes was Colour.

Right gents, one again it's that time of day when I read out all your names in alphabetical order or you indicate your presence or otherwise appropriately. Colour is our theme, attendance is our purpose. Are we ready?

But there aren't 29 colours miss!

You're right, there are way more, so off we go.

...

We got quite far before there was a problem.

...

Andrew?

Dark metallic blue miss

Mike?

You're a wizard Harry miss

Matthew?

Dark metallic green miss

Peter?

Light miss

Light what?

Just light

That's not a colour.

Technically as a scientist, he's right.

OK David, I will allow that light it composed of different colours, but white light is all the colours in the spectrum mixed together. So I don't think you can call it a colour. Pick another one Peter.

Silver then miss.

David?

Can I have microwave miss?

It's not part of the visible spectrum is it?

But someone's already had vermillion.

It's a hard world David. Pick another colour.

...

We did get to the end though. Eventually.

Well done folks. And there's loads of colours we haven't even used. We could have had lilac, mauve, sand, aquamarine....that colour they always paint new houses in...Man, what's that called?

Oooh, I know what you mean miss.

Eggshell?

Dove?

Beige?

Angel White?

No, no, no...begins with m. I've got mahogany stuck in my head but it's not that. This is going to annoy me all day. So nobody leaves...I don't care if the bell goes...Nobody leaves until we work it out.

...

...

MAGNOLIA!!!

Oh, brilliant! You're a star. Off you go now then, time for learning.

Apparently I have a form of budding interior designers. Angel White? I ask you...

***************

For more stories, hop on over to the lovely Sian's blog, From High in the Sky. This is the last one of the year, and it's been wonderful to read about others' lives and memories. Merry Christmas, storytellers.

Kisses xxx

P.S. The misted snowflake mask idea is totally inspired by (read stolen from) a blogger somewhere on the internet doing JYC but I can't find their blog again. If it was you, let me know and I will credit you with the fabulousness you deserve :D

*There was the day when I tried out chief and after going through the register with a series of unconvincing "Yes Chief"s, I realised I probably couldn't pull it off. The form were unanimous in their agreement. Wretches.

Journal Your Christmas: 3rd December

Every year I bake 'Christmas cards' instead of writing them. I think it's more fun. Also more delicious. And delicious is important. This year I'm doing ginger biscuits for cards (and for the Guides bake sale). I got the recipe from Nanny and it's called Elizabeth's ginger biscuits as she got it from someone called Elizabeth (?).

Anyway, I took my recipe to the supermarket, picked up all the ingredients, got home and couldn't find the recipe. Even now it's probably floating around the street, waiting to be found by a passing stranger who will take it home, make biscuits and have their own Christmas miracle. However, this didn't help me. I rang Nanny but she was down the church decorating Christmas trees. This was annoying, but Christmassy. When she got back though, she was able to read her copy of the recipe to me. Fortunately she hadn't foolishly dropped hers in the street. So everyone will get the biscuits.

Except my form who will get Rocky Road. But that's another story.

Oooh, and there will eventually be little sugar stars.

Kisses xxx

P.S. Ginger is one of those delicious Christmassy flavours isn't it? If you've never made rocky road with ginger nut biscuits, you have been missing out. Nuff said.

Journal Your Christmas: 2nd December

I confess that warm weather doesn't do it for me. But while I could do without the drizzle and the dark mornings, I love the weather this time of year. Mist covers the school grounds obscuring the rugby goals and making me feel cosy and snuggled in. The crisp cold filters the sunshine and makes my breath come in clouds and with the nip in the air come the scarves, gloves, mittens and the all-important red beret that I affect and swan around in at winter time. Now all I need is the snow. Fingers crossed!

For this page, I did the journalling on a 4x6 card and then included a 4x6 print as well. I print at home on a little Canon Selphy photo printer that has been worth every penny I paid for it. It doesn't work out very cheap per print (I reckon maybe 20p per 4x6?) but as I only print exactly what I want when I want it, there's no waste. Plus, I can print any size I like up to 4x6. Ideal for this journal. So thanks little printer :D

Kisses xxx

P.S. I'm having a new level of appreciation for tags. LOVE them. Especially when tied with a bow.

Journal Your Christmas: 1st December

My Journal Your Christmas album this year is in divided page protectors. The first one I'm using is split into 6 horizontal 4x6 pockets. My first page is about some of the things I'm looking forward too. After all, 'tis the season!

The season for cinnamon, nutmeg, singing and twinkly lights. The season for mittens, scarves, candles and cards. The season of Advent. 'Tis the season of good food, good cheer and goodwill. 'Tis the season of ballet - the Nutcracker (twice) - panto (oh, no it isn't?) and parties, whether that's the Guides' disco or Aunty Josephine's Christmas do. I LOVE this time of year, I look forward to it and I revel in it. All I want it to make the most of it with family, friends and a big smile. Merry Christmas!

Kisses xxx

P.S. 40 ginger biscuits baked = not bad going. Especially since I lost the recipe on the way home from the supermarket.

P.P.S. For those of you who are of a nervous disposition and wonder how I managed to make the biscuits without the recipe, don't panic. I called my Grandma who gave me the recipe when Elizabeth(?) gave it to her. She hadn't lost hers on the way home from the supermarket though, so she read it all out to me over the phone and Christmas was saved.

P.P.P.S. Ginger biscuits 1 - Grinch 0

Journal Your Christmas: The Title Page

The festive season has begun. And I love it already. Merry Christmas!

Kisses xxx

Midnight

I can't believe how fast this year has gone. I started making this page in January, about New Year's eve with my friends. I hosted at my flat last minute. We partied hard with pizza, mulled wine and dancing to the Macarena. Because we all know the dance to that. We also played Articulate and waved to the people on the balcony on the flat opposite.

I pulled out out a couple of days ago (tidying up as my parents are visiting - yay!) and first of all I felt all warm and fuzzy because that was a lovely night. And secondly it made me think about how my pages have changed in a year. So I put the finishing touches to this page, and I'm going to scrap my New Year this year and take a look at how I've changed. Interesting times.

Also, I'm planning on launching a big new project that I'm working on. Watch this space :D

Kisses xxx

P.S. I learned this week that my Year 12s impersonate me. They do it frighteningly accurately. Apparently it's the face I do when I'm trying not to laugh and attempting to tell them off at the same time.

P.P.S. I am ludicrously transparent.

And it's Finished!

I've had this page half finished for ages as part way through, I decided I didn't like it. But I also didn't want to ditch it. So I hauled it out, yanked off a couple of offending items, added a few news ones and presto change-oh, I like it now.

I am nothing if not fickle.

The pics are from my friend Maja's birthday party. I've already made a page about the party, but never a page about our friendship. We met in first year at uni and by the end of the year, we were firm friends and we were hunched around a laptop booking me a plane ticket to visit her in Poland in the summer when suddenly, a thought occurred. What if we fell out before the holiday? Awkward.

However, being Oxford gals, we put our extensive scientific minds to the problem and came up with the perfect solution. We promised never to fall out. Problem solved!

And we never have fallen out. So clearly, it's working.

Kisses xxx

P.S. Is anyone else finding snapping pics of their pages really annoying since the dark descended?

P.P.S. I think that if I periodically complain about this, it might go away.

P.P.P.S. I am reading your blogs but not finding much time to comment. But I am enjoying :D

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Christmas! I love it - it's my FAVOURITE time of year, and in recent years, Christmas for me includes Shimelle's class Journal Your Christmas. I've had a root through my stash and put together a little kit of things I'm going to be using. And I've come up with this:

I'm going to work in mainly 4x6 with divided page protectors, but I also reserve the right to chuck in 12x12 pages when I have more to say on a particular topic. I've got a couple of different styles of page protector: in the 4x6 ones I can include little journalling cards or just a photo, or a combination. But in the mixed dividers, there are 6x12 slots, or 4x4 and other different sizes to play with. Bring it!

I've looked out quite a bit of older forgotten stash to use, and I'm not buying any new Christmas supplies. I don't think they really go out of style. And I love these snowflake stickers :D

I've sliced up some little cards and found various scraps and things so I can layer up different bits and bobs as I like.

I've pre-cut lots of 4x6 rectangles to work with from patterned paper. Most of the sheets were partially used so I feel like I'm getting the most from my stash. And it's clearly time to use this pearl embellishment that I've been saving. Maybe to adorn an introduction-style page?

Finally, here are a few of my less traditional 4x6 rectangles. I love having a whole range of colours to work with, so my JYC won't be coordinating, but it will be festive and colourful. I hope!

Kisses xxx

P.S. I think this is the most organised I've ever been, JYC-wise. Good times.

P.P.S. Feeling extra Christmassy today as we took the Guides to Ringos. Wear warm clothes and wellies, tow an inflatable ring up the snow slope, and gleefully slide down. Repeat for an hour and then imbibe hot chocolate. Real snow indoors? Fabcakes!