things i ♥ about Christmas

there are just a couple of empty spots left in my Christmas journal......

i'm really glad i left some room for the gingerbread house!

and my all-time favorite thing:  santa!!

now the only thing left to do is put some finishing touches on the inside covers.

i decided to keep it simple and just paint some lines of watercolor.

then i could add some thoughts and doodles 

to the inside front cover.......

along with my list of materials onto the inside back cover.

and here's the final accordion journal.....
just in time for Christmas!


i hope you have a beautiful Christmas holiday,
and a very artful 2012!!

{i'll be spending some time with my family, 
so i'll be away from my blog for several weeks.
thank you SO much for your sweet encouragement
and support this year..... i'll see you in the new year!  woo hoo!!}

hiding places

Christmas stockings......
one of the absolute best places in the
entire world to tuck a sweet little surprise!


{from my things i ♥ about Christmas journal.
materials:  derwent watercolor and inktense pencils,
micron pens, 2B graphite pencil}

inspiration monday

i was inspired to do a little doodlin' in my Christmas journal this weekend......but one thing i noticed when i opened it was that it looks a little "heavy" over on the left side where i added the extra page for my favorite carols.  so, i decided to try to balance things out and i cut another piece of paper to add to the right-hand side of the journal......

and this time i'm going to add some of my favorite Christmas movies!

  normally i keep things a lot more streamlined and a little less busy, but i don't know if it's such a good idea to argue with inspiration, so i just went with it's calling!

 once i had my doodles finished, i sewed it into the fold of the journal.  i had to kind of make up this stitching pattern,  since i didn't want to cover up my lettering with waxed linen thread.....

and thankfully, it's holding everything together the way it should!

and now my journal is looking a lot more balanced to me!
just a few empty spaces left......i'm hoping to finish it by Christmas!


{supplies:  arches textwove paper, micron pens, derwent watercolor and
inktense pencils, 2B graphite pencil, uniball signo white gel pen}

weekend recipe

the main ingredients to ensure a happy weekend are simple:
your favorite mug filled with hot cocoa, and a batch of cookies.

but, if you want to have a really, really great weekend.....
add lots of chocolate chips to the cookies.

and for an outrageously spectacularly awesome weekend,
make sure your cookies (with lots of chocolate chips)
 are freshly baked and warm from the oven!!

woo hoo!

here's hoping your weekend is outrageously spectacular.....
in an awesome-fresh-from-the-oven kind of way!!

{illustration from my "things i ♥ about Christmas" journal created
using derwent inkense pencils, micron pens, 2B grahite pencil}

29 ways

                                
                               

here are 29 fabulous ways to stay creative.....

{and since i noticed it wasn't included, i would like to suggest

"eat chocolate.....lots and lots of chocolate"

as number 30}

:))