Manic Monday

I've been trying really hard to get myself organised for Christmas as I am determined to enjoy my December this year.  I set myself a difficult target of buying all my presents by the first of December and I have almost achieved it!  This pile of goodies was bought at the weekend and the rest will be delivered directly to my door - I love the internet!  I have to say that buying presents is the most stressful thing about Christmas for me.  I love giving presents but I hate the idea of someone not liking what I have got for them which is why in recent years I have done the boring thing and asked for wish lists - do you do this?  I know it takes the surprise out of it but so many times I have bought presents to not recieve a thank you or ever see the receipient using/wearing it.  I'd much rather spend my money on something I know that they will appreciate. 

I would love to hand make all my presents but from past experience I have realised that other people don't see things the way I do.  When I make something for another person there is so much love, heart and soul that goes into it that it is utterly heart wrenching when they don't appreciate it.  I once made a knitted blanket that took me nearly a fortnight of my holiday to make - solid hours of knitting, blocking and sewing together.  A whole fortnight of doing nothing else but thinking about the child it would be given to.  Making choices about the exact colours to use, which was the best wool, what pattern to use...  I have never seen it used.  Not once.  Ever.

This year I have decided that since I'm the one that *loves* Christmas so much then I'm going to be completely selfish and do things that make me happy and stress free (which I'm hoping will then have a knock on effect on everyone around me!)  I think that if I'm full of peace, joy and bouncing with utter sparkly excitement then the rest of the grumps around me are going to find themselves feeling a whole lot more festive and happy.  Its time to pass on the Christmas joy and it starts with me.  Bring it on!

So far I have made a wish list of all the goodies I would like for Christmas (including the above book) and ordered in enough wool to keep me going through the holidays, which should keep me smiling, out of trouble and warm through the winter :-)

I will also have time to make those hand made gifts that mean so much to me and make my Chrsitmas better, but without the pressure that they're the only presents I will be giving.

What are you doing to make this Christmas special for you?

Stir up Sunday (a week late!)

I thought I was being so organised but apparently I'm a week late in getting my Christmas cake and puddings made!  Good grief, getting them done in November is early enough for me so I'm still really pleased with myself :-)

I *love* making Christmas cake.  I love cake, I love Christmas - its a match made in heaven.  I really wish you could stick your head in this bowl and smell the lovely festiveness of this mix.

Once its all wrapped and ready to bake you still get left with these leftover scrapings that you just have to try!

Oh my goodness, who did that to my kitchen?!

Quick hello

I'm popping my head into blog land today just to say 'Hi!' and reassure myself that I can achieve something whilst feeling completely brain dead and shattered! 

The long, stress free days of the half-term holidays where I could browse the internet, check out forums, pootle about and do what I wanted are well and truly over :-(  Not even two weeks back at school and already I feel exhausted and have very little time for blogging or crafting. 

So, I ask you - should I even try Journal Your Christmas this year?  I wanted to scrap it digitally, blog my LO and then maybe get a book printed at then end (still not sure how to do that, should look into it really...)  The thing is I get so excited at Christmas and want everything to be as festive and as jolly as possible but I also get dissapointed when I run out of time to journal any of it.  Last year I think I managed to blog three days and then I got ill, my to do list went into overload and next thing I knew it was May before I started posting again.  Are you doing it this year?  How do you keep on top of things at Christmas time?

Someone organise my life for me please? :-) x

Look on the bright side

Dear Donna,

It’s always important to focus on the positives. 

Never forget that you are there for the pupils in your class.  They are the reason you get up on a cold, wintry, dismal day like today at 6am.  They are the reason you wake up at 4am and cannot get back to sleep because you can’t switch off.  They are the reason you are walking in the door exhausted every night at 6.30pm.  They are the reason why you get up early on a Saturday morning while your husband is still asleep to finish off your planning for the following week.  They are the reason you spend hours on the internet finding resources that will enthuse them.  They are the reason you still read a chapter of the class book when you’re throat is red raw.  They are the reason that you can’t pass a museum shop without buying something to inspire them.  They are the reason you bulk buy shiny stickers and self-inking stamps. 

They are the reason you plaster a smile to your face and reply politely when parents tell you you’re not doing enough!

Focus on the positives: parents evening is only once a term :-) x

 

With a puff of smoke

Last night was our traditional Halloween/Fireworks party which involved lots of costumes, tonnes of food, a chocolate fountain and masses of sparklers.  It was a great night but unfortunately marks the end of the half-term holidays :-(
 
Tomorrow it will be back to work, endless to do lists and limited time for crafting.  I will try to keep on top of my True Stories prompts but I am already two behind (even though I have started to work on them but they're not ready to share yet).

I'm planning on some computer time on Tuesday - see you then!

How many times do I have to tell you?

It seems most of my days are full of repetition. At work there are the same phrases that I slip into again and again, mainly have you checked your work?  And where are all your capital letters and full stops?

This prompt could be a whole series of pages titled 'How many times?!' as I can think of many repetitive conversations I have with my husband, my friends, my mom...

The journalling for this prompt came really fast but I struggled with LO as I don't have any pictures to go with it.  I read this post which was quite useful, any more tips out there?

Life Dictionary

I've been playing around with the concept of letters and numbers all day for the second prompt of True Stories but I couldn't get the idea of a dictionary out of my head.  I know the focus is supposed to be the journalling but I could just see pages of large letters staring out at me.

I started with developing an alphabet of words that mean something to me and I've decided to make a life dictionary.  I'm hoping this will be a really easy form of scrapbooking that I can dip into every now and then so of course it had to be digital.  The ease of slotting the photos into the templates and adding a large letter will make it easier to focus on the writing aspect, the description of that moment or word that is essential in my life.  The definitions are going to be tricky too - have you ever tried to define what being a daughter is like?  What laughter is?  This is definitely going to stretch my writing skills!

The layouts I have done are only A and B.  I have a long way to go and I'm not happy at all with my journalling but since its digital I can always go back and edit ;-)  On the more personal layouts, like my very first letter, my journalling will be written on the back once its printed so I can keep some things private.

I've made two pages but four templates and they're available to download here.  I would love to see anything you make using my them and any advice would be greatly appreciated as this is my first time at making templates.

Thank you so much if you have visited my blog in over the last couple of days and left a comment :-) x