Seasonal stuff!

Good morning friends
Yes, I confess, I am well and truly in the Christmas mood! Even my journal is feeling it......I received an early Christmas present from my buddy Mark a couple of days ago of The Octopode Factory Nativity images. I'd mentioned to him a while ago that I liked them and when they popped into my inbox I was both surprised and thrilled. As you can imagine, it didn't take long for me to have a bit of a play. The set consists of Joseph, Mary and the Baby, A shepherd, donkey, sheep and the three wise men. (Oh and not to forget the star!) I printed Joseph and Mary onto card and coloured with copics....

 This is the result. This page in my Dylusions journal. The background was done using Dylusions inks and a selection of masks. The framing was done with the edge of my jellyfish mask and Distress ink.

 Though my colouring still has a long way to go compared to that which I see in blogland; I am getting happier with mine.

 I used a white Posca pen for the writing.

I used the scripture from Isaiah 9: 6,7 for journaling, "For unto us a Child is born. Unto us a Son is given. And the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."
I do love the whole Christmas period, the build up to the day, decorating the house, buying presents etc; but for me; this is the reason for the Season and I don't want to lose sight of that during the rush and clamour surrounding us from from media and advertising to buy, spend and rush......

Yesterday, over at The Craft Barn blog, I shared a slightly different idea for presenting a gift card for Christmas too and I would love it if you popped on over for a closer look. (keep popping over there too this week as there are plenty of cool ideas for making creative presentations of these cards which I'm sure many of us will be giving some one this year!
This is a peek at mine

Lastly; while shopping in Sainsburys this morning, look what I found on offer in the Christmas gift section. A set of wood mounted alphabet stamps. Both upper and lower case plus punctuation all for less than £7.00. Each block is around 1cm so a really good size for journaling. I'd been looking for one for a while at a good price so I couldn't resist! Great present for a journaler I think.

Right, that's me finished waffling for now. Hope you all have a great day.