Part 1 . . . 12 Days of Christmas mixed media Journal

 Hi everyone, Tracy here today to share my love of old books and Christmas . . . oops there`s that C word again,lol!

My parcel from the lovely Kim arrived with so much goodness, want to see?

Simply deeelish isn`t it . . .

For the last few years I have joined in with the December Daily Journal, recording each day of December in the run up to that special day

but 

this year I thought that I would only do the 12 days before Christmas

why I hear you ask . . .

 Well, I do love to see a big fat squishy book brimming with memories at the end of it all

but

seriously, it`s hard to fit in the time to create each day plus the 12 days before Christmas is when the magic starts to happen here . . . 

traditions, baking, bustling around the shops, wrapping presents, Christmas Choirs, family time!

I even journal putting up the tree and the chaos that involves tree lights!

I want  my journal to have an old worldly feel to it, so this year I am journaling it all in this old book above and making it more mixed media.

I started by taking a lot of pages out first . . . I love working with book pages and now have a tidy little stack to hand!

A quick coat of Gesso to prime the book ready for a mixture of Pan Pastels and Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads along with some of those beeeautiful Graphic 45 Papers.

Now yet again more apologies from me . . . this is the only picture I managed to take of the process.

But I do promise it is easy peasy, just grab some supplies and get messy!!

When it`s done you`ll get that tingle in your tummy,lol.

I used 1 sheet of the paper to make the tree and can you see, it starts from the bottom with

 on the first day of Christmas right up to 

the twelth day at the top.

I added a little homespun feel with some stitching and I didn`t cut of the threads, just left them hanging loose.

 I haven`t done much to the back except apply Gesso, Pan pastels, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads and one of the Graphic 45 Stickers . . . it may all change so watch this space!

 A little door knob was added and some ribbon to finish the cover.

I hope you have enjoyed looking and that I might even have inspired you to have a go yourself, I promise when you get to the end and it`s stuffed to bursting with pictures, notes, treasured memories and family recipes you will have created a keepsake for years to come!

Next time I am going to show you how I created the inside pages step by step . . .

 oh you had a fainting spell there didn`t you . . . 

go on you can admit it, lol . . .

but yep I have already started the step by steps, woohoohoo and I am can`t wait to share them with you all next time.

Till then

Happy Crafting

Tracy

xoxox

List of materials and links -

Graphic 45 12 Days Of Christmas 8x8 Paper pad

Graphic 45 12 days of Christmas - Cardstock stickers

Graphic 45 12 days of Christmas Cardstock Die Cuts

Pan Pastels

Gesso