The December Journal is here, and it’s lovely. Remember the pile of papers and Christmas ephemera I collected on my desk in December? I turned the whole pile into a December Journal full of Christmas Evidence!

The December Journal
Title: The December Journal by iHanna

Most of the pages are sewn on the sewing machine and the journal itself is spiral bound.

Detail: red label + Santa

I’ve got a spiral binding machine (it’s huge and it’s called Renz SRW) and this might be the new thing of the year! More journals like this, it is so fun to make them. I hope this post inspires you to save all your paper ephemera from Christmas (and other events + daily life) and use them in your own books! Or buy a ready made one from me once I put it up in my Etsy Shop! :-)

Hand made Journal - the cover

I love the cover! It’s the Christmas bag from last year from the Swedish pharmacy shop. Can you believe how cute this design is with the blue background, white squirrels and red hearts? Love it! I have had it in my stash for a whole year and I think it makes a perfect cover. I am just gonna keep squirreling away papers and collecting them for “future use”!

Let’s have a look inside my journal now. Inside of the cover and the first “introduction page”:

December Journal - first spread
The right page says: Withholds inspiration. It’s both a journal, a scrapbook and a Christmas Idea Book for future use (I’m hoping).

Mix and match + To Remember List
The first spread is a mix and match collage page (I got the über cute label with a cat that looks just like my Smilla before Christmas from Marcia – thanks my dear friend!) and the magazine pic of an owl ornament (it wasn’t on sale this year either). The right page shows a “To Remember List” of things to remember before Christmas for a good holiday (written on the free and printable recipe card of course).

Reindeers + Christmas Cat
Left: Reindeer page with a little “Grace” sticker at the bottom (gift from Michelle Ward). And then my Christmas card photo from a few years ago featuring Smilla in a red bow! So glad I had an extra copy left for this journal. Here is a close up:

Detail: Smilla sticker with Christmas gifts
I just love the silvery “Smilla stickers” from Panduro. The S-marked postage stamp (S for Smilla) was a gift from Sophie T. Perfect for this page!

Red + White
This is one of my favorite spreads! A bit of journaling (using a white Sakura gel pen) on the inside of a red card from Taiwan (from Inger). And a very white page with a strip of polka dot fabric sewn to the bottom. I just can’t write on this page, I like it as it is.

Envelope + Coffee
A frog (because I love frogs!) and another reindeer + a cut apart envelope (the one I got from Marcia). The right page is a thin wrapping paper page, white with polka dots on one side and green on the other side! Yum.

Chip n' Dale + Papaya gal
Chip n’ Dale deco tape (from Malin) on the green page and a page made from gold coloured wrapping paper. I sew the Papaya postcard with the text You are a miracle on top of the page! Simple and beautiful. I love it!

Editor's note + iHanna icon
More writing. My 2010-icon image with the pink background + flash card (from Paula) with the word generosity to remind me what Christmas is supposed to be about. It’s quite interesting to see all the little bits of very generous blog friends that is showing up on these pages, don’t you agree? I am more than grateful for little gifts of material to play with, it makes the pages a whole lot more interesting & fun! They remind me that generosity is an all year around thing too!

Jesus + Green stockings
Scrapbook heart paper with a scrapbook label and Happy Birthday wishes to little Jesus. Why not?!

Jive dancing + white lace
White envelope page waiting for some writing + dancing girl. Pink santas and green scrapbooking papers with pine trees. Love these colours together.

It’s a wrap!

I’m posting this journal as this months crusade contribution because it’s all about Christmas ephemera in a new series of post about Evidence pages (oh, did you see I did Evidence pages on washi tape last year?). So, crusade no 47: It’s a wrap!

BTW: There are so many pages in this journal (most of them waiting for the writing/journaling until next December – but still oh so pretty) that I’m going to show more another day. In the meantime if you haven’t seen it already check out my post on week one of this year, it was all about art journaling bliss!

See you around, crusaders!