It's not quite over yet!!

Hello my crafty buddies, for those of you back to work today (like me!!) I hope it was a good one, for those of you at home, I hope you had plenty of new things to play with!!

I still have a few Christmas things to share, these being some of them.

If you have been tolerating visiting me for a while you may remember that last year I made a door hanger (see it here) for Surprise to give to Sampson, the Grandson of one of my livery clients. This year I made bags of magic reindeer food and made a couple of extra for my Farrier's little ones too!! I happened to find the brilliant stamp set in my Mum's Craft shop, which meant I didn't have to trawl the net looking for a suitable sentiment!!

Off to play at these challenges

Allsorts 290/291 - Last Minute Gifts

That Craft Place - Anything Goes

Sweet Stamps #202 - Food and/or drink

Not Just Cards #9 - Anything Goes

Tip Top Tuesday - Make your own.....?

Crafting for All Seasons #92 -  Anything Christmas But A Card

Have a good evening xx

My Favourite Five Christmas Cards of 2014

Hello everyone, it feels like the fast forward button has been pressed again, I'm sure it was Christmas Eve last time I looked!! I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful festive time with your loved ones and that Father Christmas was good to you :0)

I have escaped for a moment or two to join in with the lovely Debby's





Here are mine from most recent backwards...

1. I was so pleased the with final look of this one and it was really quick to make too.




2. Love the colours of this card made using my favourite (and largely untouched!!) Doodlebug pad. 

3. Such a wonderful stamp and a great shaped card too (Father Christmas bought me the large Go Kreate dies...yay!!)

4. CAS with a touch of silver mirri...purrrfect!!

and lastly 5. Such a cutie!!

Must fly...I'm being called!!

See you soon xx

Together...the best gift for all

Festive Greetings my dear crafty friends and I hope you are well today. If not I wish you a speedy recovery.

Before I get off to work I thought I would share my final pre-Christmas card with you. It's another Cuddly Buddly DT card and this time I used "Sleepy Birds".

They were coloured with Promarkers (no change there then!!). The spotty paper was in my bits and pieces drawer so my little card will be suitable to take along to the Playground where I haven't played for a while as I seem to have been using whole pieces of paper lately. The ribbon is by Crafty Ribbons from their Christmas Owl Collection and suited the kraft card perfectly. The sentiment came from a really fabulous (and much used) Personal Impressions set and was stamped onto a die cut tag.

Playing at these fab challenges

Pixies Crafty Workshop - Snippets Playground 156 &157
Creative Inspirations #294 - Christmas/New Year
Love to Scrap #44 - When Nature Calls
I Love Promarkers #250 - Anything Goes (2nd Entry)
Chocolate , Coffee and Cards Challenge #80 - Christmas

Well, that's me for now and if I don't get chance to stop by and see you before the "Big Day"

 thank you to those who sent me beautiful handmade cards and gifts and

 I wish you all A Happy and Peaceful Christmas with your loved ones  

See you soon xx

First snowflakes....

.....no silly, not real ones!!

 I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but this year I have I have been teaching myself to crochet, with the help of  Stitch 'n'Bitch - it's a book!! Come November I had just about progressed from scarves, mobile phone holders and purses so thought I would make snowflake bunting to give as Christmas presents. After much effing and jeffing, and copious amounts of yarn I finally cracked it and managed to complete seven strings!!

Here is the one that is on my kitchen dresser

Better get my thinking cap on and decide what "alternative" to papercrafting I will have a go at next year. Saying that, I was looking for something the other day and discovered some aged cross stitch magazines, complete with unopened projects still attached (shame on me!!) so I may start with those.

For now I am off to play at these challenges

Allsorts Challenge #289 - White Christmas

Allcrafts Challenge - Anything Goes

Miriam's Crafting Blog - Handmade gifts

Crafting for all seasons #92 - Anything Christmas but a card

Have a good Friday and a lovely weekend xx

Holly

Hope this finds you well this Thursday Morning. One week to go and I can hardly believe it. My mind is still in October!! Anyway that is certainly not the case so I'd better get a grip!!

I'm off into town today for some edible goodies for the "Christmas Cupboard" and a bottle or two of some festive spirit, but before that I am sharing my DT card for

As You Like It Challenge

and our theme this fortnight is Your favourite Christmas image and WHY?

I found myself using Holly, a Wee Stamps Digi. It's the first time she's been coloured up this year but I have showcased her before here and here.  

She is a dream to colour and I was so pleased with myself this time that I am brave enough to share a close up shot too!! Promarkers compliment the pastel shades of the Nitwits papers.

Glamour Dust was used in outrageous amounts to achieve the necessary sparkle and I even unearthed some crystal stems and pearls. The perfectly coloured snowflake was in my "might use later" die cuts box and was a perfect mat for the sentiment.

I'm playing at these challenges

Ladybug Challenge - It's Cold Outside

Sparkles Challenge #47 - Blue Christmas

Noor Uk #1 - Merry Christmas

I Love Promarkers #250 - Anything Goes
Divas by Design - Anything Goes

Toodles for now xx

Father Christmas

Hello my friends and I hope this Monday finds you well and that your Christmas prep is under way. I have some CAS cards to share today that were made for some younger peeps.

Sadly the pictures are pretty pants and I hold the weather entirely responsible...but you get the gist!!

The digis are from Pink Petticoat and were coloured with Promarkers. I added different doodles around the edge of each and was really pleased with the overall look. Father Christmas is covered in red pee wee glitter, and so was my carpet for that matter, as I had a bit of a whoopsie as I was trying to get it back in the phial!! 

These challenges are beckoning...

Winter Wonderland - Presents

(Feel free to delete if Santa's sack is not suitable)

That's Crafty - Anything Goes

4 Crafty chicks #224 - One layer

Holly Jolly - Anything Goes

Christmas Card Challenge #2 - CAS

Have a good day and take care xx

Wot no image!?

Ooh what a chilly day it's been, so chilly that the stable cat followed me back to the house this afternoon and sat outside the patio doors meowing at me. I let her in for a cuddle and then marched back down the field to give her more food in her barn.Think I may well have started something!! Apart from doing the horse today I have stayed in the warm, wrapped all the presents that I have bought (so far) and finished writing my cards, a couple of which  I am here to share. (I had forgotten making these!)

The Memory Box Grand Merry Christmas die came in handy again together with some Marianne snowflakes. You can see I used the sparkly ones set in the plain pearl card and vice versa. Both ribbons came from a local haberdashers and the dazzler from my stash. 

I am entering these challenges

Fussy and Fancy #129 - Snowflakes & Ribbon

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards Challenge #80 - Christmas

Crafts 4 Eternity  #206 - Christmas Anything Goes

Divas by Design - Seeing Red

Crafty Creations #278 - Something to die for

Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate you all xx

Noel

Hello my crafty friends and I hope this Wednesday finds you well. If not I hope you soon will be. 

The Wills family now have a Christmas tree and associated festive adornments scattered about the house so I am pleased about that!! Not sure why I felt the need to impart that information but hey ho!! I have another Christmas card to share today using one of Cuddly Buddly Kim's images.

If you've not visited the shop lately go take a look. She now has "real" stamps as well as digis, Marianne Designs stuff by the bucket load and everything you could possibly wish for!!

I coloured the happy little family with Pro/Flexmarkers to match the "not Christmas" papers (scraps from my mountain!!) and used a bit or silver mirri for a contrast. I impressed myself by not reflecting a selfie in the die cut stars!!

I have found a "few" Christmas challenges to play along with

Crafty Your Passion #243 - Non Traditional Colours

Crafty Boots - Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #206 - Bright Colours

Love to Create #145 - Non Traditional Colours

Through the Purple Haze #71 - Use a sentiment

Have a good day whatever you are up to xx

O' Christmas Tree

Hello peeps, another Monday!! Don't they roll around quickly?!!

Hope you had a good weekend and are raring to go for another week!!

So, today I am here to share my DT creation for the new challenge at

The Cutie Pies

and what a great challenge it is too...Anything But A Card, Cute stylee!!

Here's mine

I used the cutest image, Ava Mistletoe, from one of our sponsors Bugaboo and coloured her with Promarkers. The Christmas tree was made using some rogue sheets of paper that I had printed previously and came across in my scraps box. It's really easy to do and if you'd like to have a go here is how I made it.

 I had a play with scrap paper first to get the dimensions right and as I was using A4 sized paper these are the measurements.  All of the strips are 20cm in length and you need 2 x 5cm, 2 x 4.5cm, 2 x 4cm, 2 x 3.5cm, 2 x 3cm, 2 x 2.5cm and 1 x 2cm. I also punched 74 circles and glued 6 stacks of 10 together for the trunk and saved 14 to glue onto the finished rosettes, top and bottom.  Using a scoreboard score at 1cm intervals concertina each strip and join the pairs together ( I found it easier to join them once they are scored). Then join them end to end so that you have a zig zag circle. Gently flatten with the palm of your hand and have two pre glued circles (quick dry glue) ready to pop onto each side. I then used whatever I could find, acrylic blocks, glue pots and the like, to weigh each rosette down as they kept on springing back up (that caused a few obscenities I can tell you!!). Once dried, glue the rosettes with  the circle stacks between and that's it, a Christmas tree!! Ooh, I made the trunk/base with some brown cardstock rolled up, snipped and glued to two SB scalloped circle die cuts. 

I printed and coloured Ava twice.I flipped one image so that I had a mirror image to stick back to back so that she would stand up and glued her to the top like a cute little fairy.

Phew, I hope my instructions are not too garbled, don't be afraid to shout if you decide to brave it and get confused along the way!!

A challenge or three...

Love to Scrap #43 - Shape shift
Get Creative #3 - Christmas
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Clear it Out Challenge - Theme Circles, Stash Glitter
Open minded Crafting Fun #25 - Unusual Christmas
Crafting by Designs - Anything Goes with a Christmas Twist
Bugaboo - Second Annual Holiday Chaos
(Saturday Sparkle and Shine)

Have a good week folks and see you soon xx

Bright copper kettles

...and warm woollen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favourite things as my card demonstrates!!

 It's my As You Like It Challenge DT card

and our theme this fortnight is Favourite Film or Song and WHY?

I love films so it wasn't an easy decision but one of my all time favourites has to be  The Sound Of Music and I pride myself on my  performance of Climb Every Mountain (the men and animals are NOT so keen!!).  However, my card was inspired by "My Favourite Things"

hence the "warm woollen mittens" which were a prize from Robyn's Fetish some time ago.
I used Promarkers to colour the mittens to compliment the Maja Design papers. I used Whitewash cardstock for the mat and a SB snowflake doused in peewee glitter. The sentiment was from a Woodware set and the die cut tag from a Clearly Besotted set.

Some challenges to enter

Paper Creator Challenge #33 - All about Christmas
Christmas Card Challenges #53 - Anything Goes
Through the purple haze #70 - All about Christmas
A Crafty Mess #1 - Anything Goes
Digi Choosday #48 - Christmas

Thanks for dropping in, I do enjoy your company xx

A Christmas break

Hello my crafty buddies, I have a Birthday card to share today as I was itching to use a different colour scheme if I am honest!!

To start with I dug out my Boho Chic pad and made the layout using 

Sketch Saturday #223

I then coloured little Pip (mine was a digi but you can get her in rubber now here) with Promarkers to match the pretty papers. I actually used different colour recipe for her face and was really pleased with the result, even though she did seem a bit "Tangoed" at first. (For my overseas friends...you won't have a clue what I am on about but it, essentially, means orange !!).

I am entering these challenges

Sketch Saturday Week #338 - Pick any Sketch

Sister Act #85 - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes

613 Avenue Create #100 - Anything Goes (calendar twist)

That Craft Place - Anything Goes

That's me for now, if I don't get a chance before I shall see you on Thursday with a DT card, but for now have a good week xx