Words. Pictures. Either. Both.

I tell my stories with words. Most of the time. I pick up a pen and start to scribble and something like this appears:

Sometimes a whole story appears, sometimes it's just a snatch. But it's down on paper and that's good. That what Storytelling Sunday is about. recording a moment, keeping it for family and friends, for the future; and sharing it with us too.

BUT there is more than one way to hold that thought. This year the Storytelling Sunday emphasis will be on telling your story the way you love best. If you love to write, please keep on writing. But if you love to take pictures - if that's your best way of telling your story - show us a picture. One photo, a few words. That's a powerful way to tell your story too. I think we need both.

So if you have been thinking about joining in - make it your New Year Resolution! Lots of us will have plans for the 1st January, but remember - any story you tell on the first day of the year will have a special resonance. The link will be open all week, so maybe you'd like to tell the story of your New Year celebrations after the event. Or the story of anything "new". To start us off I'll have a persuasive post from a writer I know (you are starting to get to know him too..) - then it's over to you for

Storytelling Sunday 2: The words, the pictures.

I write:

Maybe you take pictures. Think about it.

Journal Your Christmas - Bearing Gifts

Most of the wrapping is done now, and gifts have been delivered and we are just about to put a fresh batch of mince pies in the oven. I guess you could say our Christmas was coming along nicely.

We aren't completely on top of things - when I went to print out a photo this morning I discovered that I had imagined that trip to buy photo paper. And could I get it to print on card instead? No I could not. It's on printer paper for the time being. That's good enough.

So, the next few pages in my album:

about a gift for a friend

and a junior chef in the making

Funny, the blog names are now making it into my scrapbook pages. Did you notice that?

and those letters to Santa. In this house Mrs Santa appears in the story. She did, too, when I was growing up. That's creativity at Christmas!

Journal Your Christmas - Deck the Halls

The house is decorated, the cards have been sent and there is more than a hint of excitement in the air here. We have two days of school left, then the holiday is ours.

We are all, each one of us, looking forward to something under the tree. A Scoring Board for me; a jigsaw, a "surprise" (how do you surprise a sixteen year old boy ? Second thoughts- don't answer that); and a phone in the shape of a hamburger for the girl who likes to stay in touch.

This page pulls out from a little brown baf sent all the way from the USA by Deb. Thank you!

It's not long to wait now and my album is building steadily.

I usually finish off on Christmas Day itself, but I'm feeling ambitious - maybe the week after will make an appearance too this year. It looks like I'll have room for it:

If you are busy getting ready today, may your preparations be merry and bright!

Journal Your Christmas - Do You See What I See?

After a break for Gary The Magnificent and his moustache, it's back to a bit of Christmas programming today. I have a few more pages for my December album.

Like this:

and this:

A green ruffley bow for a green ruffley skirt. I blogged this story last year. When I wear this skirt, my Mum always says "Why not add some tinsel and baubles?"

and even this:

Just a little extra page. Photo printed with Pogo printer. One is looking very like his Dad. The other has just pinched her Dad's hat out of the boot of the car

and finally this:

Page 10 is another pullout with an old black and white photo - that's my cousin you can see peeping out there. The rest of us don't look much happier on our joint trip to see Santa. But the page isn't quite finished yet, so it'll have to wait for another day.

It might pop up on Facebook. We've been chatting about Florabella Actions and the arrival of the new copy of Scrap365. If you're a Facebook afficionado, please come on over. I could do with the help!

Enjoy your Tuesday

Journal Your Christmas - I'm Making a List

That's a full week's worth of December pages we're up to now and my album is filling up nicely. Preparing the base pages last month has definitely helped.

For the 6th I did this one:

That's me on the left with my hand in my mouth

about the amazing cardboard "Super Shop" Christmas. No, it doesn't look like a shop here on my pull-out photo page. It also turned into a house! If you are thinking that toddler on my Mum's knee looks like Little E, you'd be right. That's his Mum. I really should do a page about that, too. He looks so very much like she did at the same age. And he'll be getting a cardboard house of his own this year. I hope he likes it.

For the 7th I did this one:

I had printed out a photo of the Keep Calm poster for something else, but I thougt it would look good here, as a pullout.

They are getting big now, our two. Dolls houses and train sets have been replaced by teenage hopes and dreams - an easily passed driving test for one, world domination for the other. The best I can do is shop for a few bits and pieces I hope they'll enjoy. Maybe a set of "L" plates; and, I'm thinking, world domination probably comes easier with a labeller machine (pink, limited edition). For making your mark. What do you reckon?

Storytelling Sunday news - we reached 300! Actually, with the addition of Fiona's, we are now at 301 stories for the year. Gail asked if I had any idea how many storytellers we had had - I thought that was a great question, so I had a look and I think we reached 48. That's 48 bloggers all telling their tales and linking them up. What can I say? Thank you!

Journal Your Christmas - All is Calm

I'm keeping up with my December album so far with the pages I completed yesterday:

This one

and this one

Perfection? That's funny! When I went to check what I had written on this subject last year, I noticed a big mistake in my journaling. I had replaced one word with another. So of course that's what I wrote about this year. The lovely letterbox is a postcard from Ruth and I have put it onto the back of an example of the cards I made to send this year. The paper bag format is working well for me - I'm getting the lovely chunky album I'd been looking for. This "advent" page is a pull-out from one of the pockets.

Now, for "perfection" next year I think I'll be making a page about the simply perfect Storytelling Sunday we had this month. We have reached 300 stories this year! And lots of new comers have put their hands up to join in in 2012. I'm looking forward to it. Don't forget, the linky is open all week - there is still time to bump up this year's total.

Finally today: one more photo especially for Hey Birdie who asked for a picture of our Christmas trees. Here is the one I took back in 2008 - I can't wait to see if the Christmas photography class I'm starting today will make a change in the way I photograph them this year. We've added a few more decorations since then too. So let's see:

Happy Tuesday!

Tagging..

I'm "tagging" everyone today with a quick reminder that it's Storytelling Sunday tomorrow. Oh, but wait, I do have some tags too

This one:

The full pinboard is posted on the Gotta Craft blog

and this one:

and then this one:

A little glimpse of a quick Christmas banner I made with two different punches and the sewing machine

and then I took that top one and added it to the second page of my Christmas album:

Definitely no snow here yet!

Again, thank you to everyone who has "liked" my new Facebook page. I'm having fun with it so far, adding little snippets of news. I completely understand if you aren't a Facebooker fan - but if you are, you will find me here

Journal Your Christmas - And It Begins

It's beginning to look at least a little like Christmas round our way. There is talk of a tree, and a smell of slow cooked Christmas pudding in the air. And it's time for Journal Your Christmas!

This will be my third Christmas journal. The 2011 edition will be, like the others before it, a mix of December Daily and Journal Your Christmas. I'm happy to go with the flow. I'll see where each day takes me. But I'll be sure to write something.

It starts like this:

and from the outside it looks like this:

That's Lilybee Memorandum, some old October Afternoon and a lot of brown paper

It's a paper bag album, so I have ready made pockets for extra journaling:

starting with today and what I believe at this time of year

I can't wait to see what other albums there are out there waiting to be enjoyed. But before I go I just want to remind you that it's Storytelling Sunday this Sunday. You don't have to have a Christmas story to take part - we're interested in any story you love! I'm nearly out of good Christnmas tales myself, I think, after last year's Christmas Club. But I do have one to share. Same as always - everyone welcome, but do please include a link back to the stories here and a quick sentence explaining what it's all about. And with that I wish you a

Happy December!

I'm Pushing Paper

I'm pulling paper, pushing pins and generally playing around with preparations for my 2011 Christmas album. So that means I've been using my new board again - 

I've made mood boards before for rooms I've been decorating; but never one for an album. I'll be doing it again, though. That's for sure. It really helped me to sort through my stash becasue I knew what I was looking for. I started with the Lily Bee memorandum collection; and the ledger paper look. Love that.

And then I added magazine cutttings, scraps, some old October Afternoon, a few Studio Calico scraps and a couple of photos.

Like last year it'll probably be a December Daily/ Journal Your Christmas mix. I'm aiming to prepare before December starts; but I do enjoy the JYC Forum, so you are bound to find me on there. Oh, and I've signed up for the Christmas photography class with Katrina Kennedy at Debbie Hodge's, so you might find me there too. And you? Where will you be this December?