Away in a manger....

Another tradition I have at Christmas is to put up my little crib.  My dad gives me some holly from his garden and it makes me feel so full of festive spirit when I look at it. It sits on the shelf between the dining room and the hall. Some of the figures are from my Hb and I were first married, the walking camel was from my childhood and some we have bought at the German markets visited over the years.

I thought today's card should be a reflection of the real meaning of Christmas and the message of peace and goodwill towards our fellow man. Something which this year is even more important, with everything going on in this, at times, crazy world that we live in.

 My image is from the Graphic Fairy. The backing card in ancient from my stash. I have used Memory box, spellbinders and Joanne Sheen die cuts.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Pixies' crafty playground 3/3 #208 and #209
Inspiration Emporium 'tis the season
Emerald Creek Dares celebrations around the world
Crafty hazelnut Anything Christmas
 Papertake weekly favourite ever challenge it's the last one there and I will really miss it, it was one of the earliest challenges I entered 5 years ago. My favourite challenge for this entry is my all time favourite of anything goes.
Country View Challenges make a scene
Little Claire's a special Christmas card this was a very special card I made for my Aunt.
Crafty Friends 2/3 anything goes

I have a couple of lovely passages which I may have shared before here but I think they sum up Christmas for me.

There's more, much more, to Christmas Than candlelight and cheer; It's the spirit of sweet friendship That brightens all year. It's thoughtfulness and kindness, It's hope reborn again, For peace, for understanding, And for goodwill to men! (Anon)

Somehow not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.

And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to make you glad.

(John Greenleaf Whittier)

I know that a lot of you will be off now to see family and friends and if that is you I would like to wish you a safe journey and a wonderful Christmas. Thank you for your blogging friendship and for all your kind visits and comments.

For those of you who are staying put I will be here again tomorrow for my final Jane's Journal countdown to Christmas post 2015. Yes just 2 more sleeps.....

Bye for now,

Jane x

Crackers for Christmas 2015

Those of my long time readers' of Jane's Journal will know that every year I make my own crackers for the Christmas dinner table. I am always surprised that some of my overseas friends have not seen Christmas crackers. Here in the UK they feature on everyone's Christmas dinner table. There is nothing like wearing silly hats and readying the silly jokes whilst enjoying turkey with all the trimmings.

I have always made my own crackers as I can personalise the gifts and also match the serviettes I have chosen for the table.

This year I have gone for some pretty Cath Kidston serviettes we I actually bought in a sale a couple of years ago.

I chose white and green crepe paper and this wrapping paper.

I have written several tutorials here on my blog for how to make my crackers. You can see the most up to date one here.
I used spellbinders dies to create the focals. I stamped my sentiments in separate die cut ovals.

This is a little peep at my contents, I can't show too much as these are all surprises. I am going to keep Daisy and Co's for our lunch on Boxing day.

I got quite a little factory process going in my studio

 I added plenty of icy glitter.

And here they are, all ready for the Big Day.

I would like to enter my crackers into the following challenges

Pixies' crafty playground 2/3 #208 and #209
Inspiration Emporium 'tis the season
That's Crafty 3/3 anything goes
Sweet Stamping 2/2 Merry Christmas
Emerald Creek Dares celebrations around the world

A vintage journey  vintage Christmas

Anything but cute you've got happy mail
The Artistic stamper Christmas
Art with heart Favourite things
Crafty hazelnut Anything Christmas
Noor Winter wonderland
Simon says stamp Mondays 1/5 winter wonderland
Papertake weekly favoruite ever challenge it's the last one there and I will really miss it, it was one of the earliest challenges I entered 5 years ago. My favourite challenge for this entry has to be Christmas crackers from November 2009! http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/christmas-crackers.html
Rubber dance red, blue and white festive colours


We had a lovely brunch on Sunday, it was so good to get together with our children and Daisy and to enjoy some festive time together. The next time we see Daisy and Co now will be Boxing Day.
After having a mad panic a few weeks back that my list was not getting ticked off I am back on track now....and I am thoroughly enjoying the last 3 days until Christmas. Are you ready?

To make you smile here are a couple of the silly jokes inside the crackers

What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck......?

A Christmas quacker

What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in the chimney............?

Claustrophobia

What's green, covered in tinsel and goes ribbet ribbet...............?

Mistle-toad........................................

Boom boom......I bet that made you smile ;0)

Back tomorrow, with my penultimate countdown to Christmas post...wow where has that time gone?

Bye for now,

Jane x

My final Funkie Junkie project, Christmas must be just around the corner

Phew, I managed to get my final Funkie Junkie project finished yesterday. I really like making a collage of them all together...this represents12 weeks of fun crafting.

Your will see that for my final entry I decided to make a money wallet for my dear son. Boys always like a bit of cash to splash after Christmas don't they.

Christmas must also just be around the corner as I was so delighted to see on Thursday morning the festive foils appeared on my milk bottles. It's these little things which fill me with delight. We still have our milk delivered by a wonderful milkman called Mo, who never ever lets us down.  I am proud to support his doorstep delivery service.

I have also got my wreath up on the front door. My daughter had this one made for me by her local greengrocer.....I was thrilled with it...so many lovely details and a big red bow to finish it off.

So back to my money wallet....
For those of you who are new to Linda's challenge you can read all the rules of it here. In a nutshell you use her weekly tag for inspiration and you can create anything crafty. If you get your skates on you could still enter as Linda has extended the deadline by 1 week and you can link up your projects until 27 December.
 You also have a chance to win one of her generous prizes. I was lucky enough to win $25 dollars last year to spend in her wonderful on line boutique which sponsors the challenge. Do have a look here at her shop, her stock is enormous and her prices really keen.

I choose to use the challenge to create 12 special Christmas cards.

This is Linda's lovely final project here

I used a variation of the wallet I made last year which was originally designed by my friend Brenda of Bumblebees and Butterflies.I have tweaked it as like a bigger size.
I was inspired by Linda's use of Tim's holly stencil which is one of my Christmas favourites. I also wanted to feature some holly leaves as she did. I really like her red berry highlights inside her card so decided to use this idea too.

Here is what I got up to in my studio.
I  coloured my card with some festive colours.

and cut my pieces

I added distress ink through my holly stencil

and some festive stamping

I used the great "with love" die I won from my dear blogging friend Di in her fun Pixie playground.

Here is my finished wallet ready for my son.

This is a peep inside

and the back with all the bright berries

I would like to enter my wallet into the following challenges.

The Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas 2015 #12
Pixies' crafty playground #208 and #209
Inspiration Emporium 'tis the season
That's Crafty 2/3 anything goes
Sweet Stamping 1/2 Merry Christmas
Emerald Creek Dares celebrations around the world

A vintage journey  vintage Christmas

Anything but cute you've got happy mail

Penny Black and More 3/3 anything goes with a stamp
Stamping sensations 2/3 anything goes with a stamp and ribbon
The Artistic stamper Christmas
Country View Challenges make a scene
Vintage Stamping Winter trees
The Craft Barn Trees
Fashionable stamping 2/3 make your own background
Art with heart Favourite things
Crafty hazelnut Anything Christmas
Love to Create anything creative/mixed media #26

I would like to thank Linda for all her hard work hosting this challenge. It is a highlight of my Christmas crafting and her inspirational tags this year have been wonderful.

It's now just 5 more sleeps until the Big Day......are you ready? I very nearly am and I finished off the crackers yesterday. We have darling Daisy staying over later....this is the last time we will see her before Christmas as she is going to her other grandparents this year. We will have to wait until Boxing day until we catch up. We plan a family brunch to celebrate today, lots of lovely catching up.

Thanks for visiting,

Back soon with my last few countdown to Christmas posts.

Jane x