For a number of reasons, I’ve decided to call it good enough: I’m finished with my Christmas journal. Some of the ending prompts were leaving me a little cold, and I woke up ready to be done with this project.  The decorations got put away yesterday, and I don’t want this project hanging around waiting to be finished for weeks, when I ought to be moving on.  I had a moment’s guilt for not finishing all the way to the end of the entire 37 prompts, but it was only a moment.  It’s my journal, it can be whatever I want it to be.

So:  I did two more layouts, rearranged some of the date tags on the pages I did yesterday, printed out and punched the last pages, and am calling it good.

First up is a retrospective of our sightseeing in New York City.

The words around the edge read:  Statue of Liberty’s nose * Fogged up New York City Skyline * Not as big as expected, but she is still quite impressive * Madison Square Garden (a Godzilla Landmark) * Mood Fabrics — Wow! * Empire State Building (another Godzilla landmark) * Rockefeller Center  Christmas Tree * Penny Harvest (a million dollars in pennies!) * Colin, watching the ice skaters * Will and Dad skating in Central Park * Oh, and there’s Joe, too!

Journaling my Christmas has been a fun experience.  It’s brought back fond memories of the past, given me the opportunity to learn a little bit about how to scrapbook using my computer, and best of all:  given me a very special reminder of this year’s Christmas experiences.

I’ve tried to think about anything in particular that I want to remember for next year.  The main thing is that I do NOT (I repeat, DO NOT) need to buy wrapping paper next year.  There is MORE than enough Christmas paper in the box to last for several seasons.

There is more I could say about the holidays, but I feel like it is time to be done with this project.  I look forward to other journal and scrapbooking adventures in the coming year, and look forward to doing this all over again next year.

I thought about trying to make notes about what I might do differently next time, but honestly:  too much will change between now and then, that I can’t even begin to predict what kind of an artistic challenge I might be looking for when Christmas comes around again.

The cover itself was done several weeks ago.  The album is made out of 2 pieces of acrylic.  I found the metal tags at Hobby Lobby — they were self-adhesive.   Those are adhered on the outside of the acrylic, and I fussed around with the design of the cover page so that the tags would fit over top of the center strip and look nice.  The pages are all held together with 4 metal locking rings.

I had also purchased some ribbon to maybe tie on the rings for further embellishment, but in case you haven’t been able to figure out:  that doesn’t really suit my style.  My style seems to tend more toward the restrained, simple and uncluttered.

So how is it that my artistic style is uncluttered, but my office and studio are……disaster areas?

There you have it.

What’s next?

Suzanne