Ready for Christmas Joy – More Than Words December 2024 Challenge

Happy New Month!

Here’s to a creative December, I really hope we all have sufficient creative time though this is the busiest time of the year!  I am trying to carve out some arting time to keep me sane during this crazy time and there are three daily challenges that I like to join in with if I can, time permitting.  Yes, even after my recent appointment, I am disappointingly STILL on crutches until at least January which is dulling my festive spirit somewhat. My word of the year was READY but I was not ready to spend most of the year on crutches, but I am SO READY for Christmas and a healthier, happier 2025!

Today’s Art . . .

As it is the very first day of the month, I am excited to share my DT inspiration project for December at More Than Words with you.   The sad news is that this will be the very last blog challenge hosted by More Than Words.  Yes after nearly ten years and 201 challenges the decision has been made to say goodbye to the blog challenge.  I’ve been on the team for half of that time so I will miss it as it’s been a big part of my life for the last five years. Not sure what to do with all that spare time now!  Times change as does technology and how people use it.  Social media makes it so easy to share and connect with a larger audience that it seems inevitable that all long form content will disappear and maybe along with it our literacy skills.  Lowly blogs can’t compete with all the bells and whistles offered by the social media platforms.  I remember when there were hundreds of challenge entries on the blog every month, accompanied by many detailed posts and tutorials, and so many prizes on offer from the biggest and best brands, but like so many other challenge blogs, entries have dwindled over time as people move to other platforms.  It’s a sad day for me but it is not the end of MTW.  More Than Words will be moving forward, just not on the blog.  New things are happening next year and there will be an announcement with more information after the holidays.

This month’s challenge is all about traditions – moments and memories – which leaves it wide open of course for Christmas traditions but it doesn’t have to be, if Christmas is not your thing.    Christmas is totally my thing in some ways and not in others.  My favourite things about Christmas are Christmas trees, we always had a tree, and although I have had some years without a tree for various reasons, this year I have FIVE trees of various shapes and sizes.  At the time of writing this post (30th November) I have just finished putting them up and decorating them – admittedly only the main tree is “decorated” but they all have lights.  It’s because of this that I decided that my page and the tree contained within it, also had to have lights…

Here is the page lit up – the window actually opens and you can see the tree properly.  It has gold tinsel and silver baubles on it.  The little girl seems unimpressed but I like it.  The lights are on the tree and all around the page.  And here it is with the lights out…

And here’s a bit of a closer look…

I used a lot of Tim Holtz Christmas idea-ology items in this page including the tree, the girl, the Santa, the bells and the holly, oh and also the window of course!  I also used up some leftovers that had been diecut for other projects – the JOY word, the snowman, the gingerbread man and the black cat who is clearly peeking in the window to admire the tree!

I hope you can join us this month, it’s a fun theme, and of course there’s a great prize to win from ArtStacks.

I am also joining Art journal Journey this month, with first time Host Sharon and her theme of Snow.  I know Sharon from her time on MTW DT and Artstacks – hi Sharon!  As you can see snow is falling all over my page and across the window and there is also a tiny snowman on the bottom left corner.  Thanks for choosing this fun winter theme Sharon!

…And I am also joining Try it on Tuesday with their theme of Traditional Christmas!

Let me know what you think in the comments below.   As always, thanks for reading and Happy Journalling!Ingredients
recycled brown paper packaging, glue, paper scraps, TH Christmas idea-ology, tiny lights, gold and white gel pens, pitt artist pens, wink of stella, collage medium, leftover diecuts – JOY, black cat, snowman, gingerbread man,

Challenges

More Than Words – December 2024 Challenge – don’t forget you have the chance to win some fabulous art papers from @ArtStacksDesigns!  Hope you can join us this month!

Art Journal Journey – Snow
Try it on Tuesday – Traditional Christmas