Twas The Night Before Christmas

Firstly I'd just like to apologise for not being around so much in the last week. Christmas preparations have taken over as they have a tendency to do.

Secondly I'd like to wish all my followers and anyone who stops by a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope Santa is kind to you all and brings all the things you wish for. I've really appreciated all your comments over the last year and the support and lovely inspiration you have provided and look forward to a New Year of crafty goodness.

I have no crafting to share with you today but thought these photos taken during the last week where nice and festive. Our river is frozen solid and today is covered with a fresh sprinkling of snow. It looks beautiful and I can't remember seeing it like this in my 40 years so it doesn't happen often. Mind we don't get daytime highs of -9oc very often either!!


The swans and ducks are all congregated in the little bit of water there is under the bridge.


Lastly I took these frost patterns on the car window last Sunday when we went out. The cold can be very difficult but it certainly provides lots of photo opportunities.


Stay warm and safe and enjoy all that you do over the festive period and I will see you in a few days.

A Couple More Tags

Hello dear Bloggers. How are your Christmas preparations going? I hope you are getting there slowly.

I keep shopping, getting home and remembering something I've forgotten, saying lots of naughty words and going out again the next day. My freezer is now bursting and the cupboards overflowing just in case the snow returns and I can't get my car to the shops. I don't drive in snow and groceries are too heavy to carry if I walk so hopefully all we need is a bit of fresh veg now nearer the big day. The presents are all bought and just need delivering, again all local so it doesn't matter what the skies throw this way.

I have a rare day to myself. DD has her school Christmas lunch and then party until 3.30pm followed by 2 hours of drama class so she doesn't get home until 5.30 and my very kind Hubby is picking her up so I have lots of hours to fill. Not that that's difficult. My Craft Room has been tidied and all the Christmas card making stuff put away, I've written the letters that need to go in the last few Christmas cards, I've had lunch and seen Neighbours and now I have the afternoon to do a bit of crafting. Bliss!!!! I may even manage to catch up on my very bad blog visiting!!

Here are the other two tags I made last week inspired by Sir Tim. There are a further two still in pieces so once they're done I won't have done too bad keeping up with him this year. I may manage to get the rest done at some point, you never know!!!


This first one was very straight forward. Tim showed a brilliant technique using cut n dry foam and reinkers but as I didn't have reinkers I just inked up the holly stamp using different inks. The general result was the same. I should have coloured the leaves a bit darker though. It all seems a bit insipid to me. I made the bird out of shrink plastic but again would have preferred a little metal charm. Still you live and learn.


The background for the second tag has been run through a wood texture plate and then inked over to highlight the grain, with distress stickles added.


The poinsettia and leaves were made by my Mum using Glimmer misted card and a die she has. The middle was cut out of gold glitter paper and a jewel added. They were made for cards that never got made but they found a good home in the end.

The wording was cut from a Sissix die, inked in Barn Door DI and then text stamped over and the swirl was a TH Sissix die of course. The little 25 was also a TH stamp with glossy accents over the top.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Thursday goes well. Wrap up Warm.

Tim Tagstic

Evening dear Bloggers. I hope you have all made the most of this tropical weather and got all your Christmas shopping done before the Arctic conditions return!!! I even managed to spend a few hours in the garden today, admittedly it was only getting rid of what the cold had spoiled but it was lovely to be outside pottering again and amazingly enough apart from the remnants of the Summer bedding nothing seemed to be too worse for wear.

I have been loving Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas again this year. Have been following them? He has shared some amazing techniques and when you love to play it's a great excuse to get all the inks and stickles and stamps out and create just for the fun of it.

Apart from the blue Santa I managed to do last weekend I've been itching to have a go so yesterday after a quick bit of housework I had the luxury to spend a few hours playing and managed to do 4 of them. I'll share two today and two next time, don't want to give you tag overload.

As you know, I currently own very few TH stamps, texture plates and dies so my tags have all been made with other things but following the general Tim idea!

The first one is Tag 5 and Tim's looks like this.


And here's mine.


It has a white acrylic paint border and is inked with Barn Door DI. The ink wipes off the paint leaving the border. My trusty Habico Santa takes pride of place and the holly was from a Forever Friends Christmas set. I coloured it with promarkers and added some stickles.

The label was hand cut, painted with green acrylic paint and Peeled Paint DI rubbed over the top, the music was from an old torn sheet of music with Walnut stain DI rubbed along the ripped edges and the 25 was cut on my Slice, painted with white acrylic paint and rubbed around the edge with black ink. The little flower and leaves were hand drawn. Unfortunately, I didn't line up the Merry Christmas very well but as we are being arty I lived with it!!

Onto Tag 6 and again here is Tim's


And here is mine.


I embossed the tag with a cuttlebug leaves folder and inked with Broken China, Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain DI. There is a swirl stamped onto it as well but it didn't work very well. Lastly I inked the edges with gold ink using a texture sponge.

The little deer was cut on my slice, embossed with a Cuttlebug snowflakes folder and painted with pale blue acrylic paint and rubbed over with Walnut Stain which I also used to colour his antlers and then they were glazed with glossy accents. The music ribbon is from the same piece of old sheet music and the greeting from a set of Hero stamps. I added a green ribbon and red bell instead of the garland. The Christmas decs are still in the loft so I couldn't raid them for this bit of embellishment!

I know Tim's are far far superior to mine but I really enjoyed having a go. I'll show you the others another day as promised but as Frankie at Tag It On is also playing along this week for her challenge I shall enter either tag , take your pick Frankie, you can have them both!!!!

Sioux's Splinter group is also having a lot of fun with their tags and there are some brilliant works of art being created. It's definitely worth having a look at.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely evening and enjoy your Sunday.

WOYWW

Hello Lovely Bloggers from a still freezing Yorkshire. I was upstairs in my sunny Craft Room this afternoon finishing off my last cake order before Christmas and it was quite toasty but when I came downstairs the lounge thermometer said just 13.8oC, a little parky I think. Thankfully it's lovely and warm now.

Because of cakey business upstairs my craft is back on the dining room table so here's whats happening today. I'm in the middle of finishing off a little box for our very special neighbours Golden Wedding Anniversary on Friday. They are surrogate Grandparents to our DD and we are very lucky to have them so I wanted to do something a little bit special. I would have made them a cake but she is diabetic so that was not really appropriate.


My little butterflies need putting in and then it's done. I intend to get them a yellow rose bush for the garden to go with it.

The rest is just general mess, the white boxes are my special new SU inks, which I adore using at the minute and you might just spot a very special chap who has just joined The Craft Garden.

Yes, at last I've managed to track down Sir Tim's Umbrella Man on a set of stamps where I actually love all of them. As you may remember back in the Summer, I was trying to track him down as a single stamp as his set had lots of images I'd never use. I did find him but at quite a high price and as a crafter on a budget I just couldn't justify it. Having a snoop round Google the other week, however, I found this clear set called Visual Artistry from Inkylicious. There are lots of other sets if you are interested in Tim's stuff and they are only £8 a go.

The green card is one DD is making, they have been making them at school and it's a really clever idea. She has been showing me how to do it and once we get some put together in a card, I'll show you them. It's just folded and cut to look like a tree.

If you wonder why I'm waffling on about all this then you need to pop over to see Julia who started the wonderful WOYWW and get sharing your space. It's a fantastic way of meeting new friends.
I was really bad at getting round everyone else's desks last time for which I apologise. I shall try to do better this week. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are keeping safe and warm.

Just Playing Around

Afternoon all my lovely Blogging friends. Do you know how nice it is to know you are all out there to chat too. It doesn't half cheer a girl up. You are such a fantastic bunch of people and I never take you for granted. Just wanted to say that!

I think I was all Christmas carded out at the weekend. I have many to make for friends and family, but I'm taking Jules' advice and keeping my Fayre cards for next year. I don't think I can face sending them all out. Anyway, I prefer sending more "me" cards if that makes any sense at all. When you are making them to attract people with pennies to spend they have to be fairly generic, the general public don't "get" arty cards I've found. Sorry I'm waffling.

What I meant to say was that I spent the afternoon yesterday just playing with a tag inspired by one of Tim's 12 days of Christmas tags. Have you been following him, they are a pretty impressive collection so far aren't they?


The background of the tag was done with my new SU inks, which I just adore at the minute and then the Habico Santa was stamped in the same blue as was the snowflakes to blend him into the background.

I didn't have any of the things Tim used so I white embossed some snowflakes and then covered them with glossy accents to represent the glints. The pearls at the bottom are liquid pearls and the gem swirls were stuck on by hand. The little tag was one I had saved from the internet and I made a paper clip from some silver wire. Santa's glasses were picked out with a silver gel pen and a few beads added to the tassel.

I'm entering him into the Tuesday Taggers challenge this week which is St Nick. They are being sponsored by The Craft Barn so it's well worth checking out if you're very quick!!!

And also The Stampman's fortnightly challenge which is Christmas in Three Colours. Mine are blue, silver and white.

I've also linked my Tim inspired tag to Artyjen's splinter group who are playing along with the 12 days of Christmas tags. If you are tagging too go and check them out, there is some absolutely gorgeous tags being created


Just before I go I thought I'd share with you the view I had today from our Conservatory window this morning. Yes, the ice is on the inside. It got down to -14oC apparently.

Thanks for stopping by and keep safe and warm.

It's Been A Funny Old Week

I hope you are all keeping safe and warm in this freezing weather.

We had such a dollop of snow yesterday. I haven't seen anything like it for years. The flakes were huge and coming down so fast it was hard to see across the road. We had 4 or 5 inches in a few hours and everything ground to a halt. It took DH 2 hours to do a 20 minute journey home.

Today thankfully, apart from a few showers, has been a much better day and the gritter has now cleared the hill outside so we are able to get in and out again.

The most disappointing thing is that the School Christmas Fayre on Saturday that I have been making Christmas cards for for the past few months for a stall I was having has been cancelled so all that work has been for nothing!!!!!! Guess how I feel tonight.

Enough doom and gloom. I have just managed to finish the cover for my Journal Your Christmas book in time to enter it into The Stampman's challenge this fortnight which is to create something for Christmas using Tim Holtz products.


I painted the cover of the book with Acrylic daubers and then stamped around the edge with part of the only TH stamp I currently own, which is one of the components Christmas stamps. I used Broken China and Worn Lipstick DI for all the stamping. The edging was clear embossed.

The negative part of the TH swirl die was used as a stencil and the swirl itself was inked and glittered with crystal stickles. The flowers were coloured in the same way.



The letters were triple embossed with Moon Glow Midnight Emerald Obsidian which is just gorgeous and then the TH stamp inked with Silver brilliance and pressed in while the powder was still hot. My favourite technique.


It's surprising what you can do with one little stamp but I really need to expand my collection of TH stamps. Maybe Santa is listening!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and stay warm.

Colours For Christmas

Evening lovely Bloggers. I hope you are all keeping warm and safe in this extremely chilly weather.

We woke up to a covering of snow on Saturday and then had about another 3 inches yesterday evening although nothing like they've had further North. The scenes from Northumberland are incredible, it was up to the reporter's thighs on the lunchtime news!!!


Frankie has asked us for a Christmas tag this week for her Tag It On challenge concentrating particularly on the colours. I love turquoise and blues and as the snow at the moment feels particularly festive, I decided to base my tag on the glittery side of Christmas.

The background is Broken China distress ink sprayed with gold perfect pearls and then overstamped with snowflakes in more Broken China and Dusty Concord and some have been silver embossed. The snowflakes and sentiment stamps are from the Sheena Douglas Bah Humbug set.


The snowflakes are Sissix dies coloured with Broken China and overstamped with Dusty Concord and then glossy accents applied. I added glitter to the top one too. The Tim Holtz swirl was lightly rubbed with yet more Broken China and then lots of glitter added. The late sunshine caught the bling beautifully.

Thanks to Sioux for encouraging me, I have also entered this into the SCD challenge this week which is SNOW.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe.

WOYWW and a Marmot!

Hello lovely Bloggers. Are you all keeping warm in this chilly weather. I have got my boots out ready for the snow!!!!

Having missed the fun of WOYWW over the last couple of weeks I'm back. Forgive the poor photo. My camera never knows what to do because I'm facing the window. I thought I'd just take a general view today especially for Jules who always comments on my empty ironing basket. As you can probably see it's not empty today, crumbs, better see to that!!


There is never enough room on my desk so I spread stuff to the big comfy chair behind me as well as the floor and today got cross with myself looking for a sheet of sentiments, only to discover them much later downstairs on the dining table!!!!! I need the organisation fairy to make a visit.

If you wonder why I'm telling you all this nonsense then go and have a look at Julia's blog. She is the leader of all this madness!!!


I thought I'd share my last scrapbook layout with you. You may wonder why my lovely Marmot is called Alan. If you watch Walk On The Wildside on a Saturday night you'll understand!!!!! My nutty family have been driving me mad shouting "Alan" all the time so I had to scrap it, especially as we saw lots of Marmots in Austria.

I was absolutely delighted and thrilled to make the Top 4 in the last Stampman challenge with my Santa box. Thanks so much Jill. I shall wear my blinkie with pride.

And as I mentioned in my last post Elizabeth gave me this lovely award.

I now have to tell you three interesting facts about myself so I'll try and keep them brief.

I used to be an Insurance Underwriter in a previous life and can tell you all about subsidence and underpinning!!!!!! but I'd rather not.....

I can leave chocolate in the fridge for months without eating it.

I love watching Neighbours on the TV, sad I know.

I have to pass the award onto 3 other bloggers and although I find it really hard to know who to pass them onto so don't usually do it, I have some lovely Yorkshire blog friends so I thought I'd pass it on to them as Yorkshire girls certainly blog with attitude.

Sylvia, my very dear friend who makes stunning cards and wonderful coffee.

Ciara, who I met on WOYWW and makes gorgeous Christmas cards and has a very cute dog.

Michelle who always has a smile and a kind word for everyone and makes stunning creations and who needs a hug at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the week.

Joy, Hope and Peace

Happy Sunday everyone. I hope you are all having a lovely weekend despite the weather. We've lost the fog thank goodness but it is still very grey and cold. The forecasters have promised some bright colder weather next week so here's hoping!

I've not managed to join in the fun of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday for the last couple of weeks but I did take the photo ready to post last Wednesday, just never got time to do it so I thought I share it with you anyway. If nothing else it gives you a glimpse of the mess I make decorating cakes. This one is the start of a Christening cake.


After a spot of Christmas shopping yesterday morning I managed to get my card made for the Tuesday Taggers challenge this week which is to include the words, Joy, Hope or Love. The lovely Janet is offering a special Christmas prize so it's well worth checking out.


I decided to use Joy and Hope but chose peace instead of Love for my card, hope that's ok, Janet. I designed a layout with them on the computer making the "O" of Joy big enough to stamp in and printed it out. All the stamps I used were from a Papermania Forever Friends Christmas set which was an amazing price and the stamps are really beautiful.


The little robin was stamped with SU inks and waterbrush coloured with the same ink. The holly was stamped with Peeled paint Distress ink in the corner of both the image and main card and I also stamped it on the matting card so it was all very quick to put together. A little bit of stickles was added to the "O" and a few red berries to the holly.

Before I sign off I have to thank my new blogging friend Elizabeth for a lovely award she gave me the other day. If she'll forgive me I'll share it with you in my next post, my DD is shouting for some gold paint to finish a doorhanger she is making and she is not the most patient person so I need to go and help her now, she's waited while I've typed this much!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your Sunday....... Now where's that paint!!!!!!!!

What's In The Box?

Evening Bloggers. It's one of those nights when it's lovely to know you haven't got to go out, the curtains are drawn and the heating is on. I've hardly seen across the road all week. We have had thick fog and damp all week, really miserable weather.

On Monday though, a neighbour said that up the hill behind us the sun was out and it was beautiful. Mmm, I thought, that might be a cue for a photo so I jumped in the car and went up onto the moor, 5 minutes away and this was the view. The fog was hanging along the river in the valley bottom.


The weather hasn't bothered me though as I've been busy with cakes all week. My craft room put it's other hat on and was filled with cake and icing all week. Thankfully the finished article has been collected today so I've been able to restore the paper again!!!!! I will also be able to catch up with my blog hopping now, I've not had a minute since Tuesday so apologies for not getting round and visiting you all.



Last week I made another little box, this time with holly from the new Sheena Douglas set stamped on the box panels and coloured with promarkers.


The leaves and berries on the pop up acetate were from the EI Christmas Tree set. They were stamped with brilliance ink and waterbrushed and then had glossy accents applied. Box making is definitely becoming addictive. I especially love thinking what to put inside them, although only family who live nearby will be receiving them, I don't think they will post very well!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

A Touch Of The East

I've just been having a browse in Blogland and some kind person is counting down the days to Christmas, 42 if you are interested. Just thought I'd share that bit of cheerful news with you!!!!!

It certainly feels like Winter is beginning to bite now, it's so cold today. I even broke out the gloves!!! At least the wind has gone. I hope you all survived the awful weather this week intact.

Over at Dragonsdream, Frankie has the very talented Jozart as guest designer for this week's Tag It On challenge and she is offering a gorgeous set of Oriental Stamps as a prize so it's well worth checking out. Jo has set the challenge as The East but using something other than the usual red, gold and black colours.

For my tag I decided to base my colours on Spring in Japan. The blossom always looks so amazing and the greens so fresh and vibrant. Spring is also my favourite time of year.


I sprayed the background with Key Lime Pie Glimmer mist and then stamped the blossom (all the stamps were from the same set by Habico) with Raspberry Razzle SU dye ink and water brushed the colour slightly to blend it. The vase of blossom was stamped in Archival black, coloured with cosmic shimmer watercolours and cut out. I shaped it slightly before sticking it on. The Haiki poem was from a set kindly sent to me by my friend Michelle, Midnight Crafter and I just love them.


The light is so bad for taking photos at this time of year but I did manage to get a bit of sunshine to try and catch the lovely sparkle!

Thanks for stopping by and I have to say a big thank you to everyone who gave me their thoughts on glue and DS tape. The general opinion seem to be that tape is fine as long as you don't buy the cheap stuff which is very reassuring so thank you all. I shall carry on sticking in a happy state of mind!!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, whatever you are doing.

Santa's Box of Surprises

Morning Bloggers. I hope all you lucky people who got to the NEC this weekend had a great time.

After a gorgeous Autumn weekend, Winter seems to have arrived here all in a hurray. I don't think it's stopped raining for 48 hours and it's so cold!!! Roll on Spring I say!!

Still mustn't grumble, it's perfect crafting weather and I've been very productive getting things ready for the Craft Fayre I'm doing in December. This means I can now turn my attention back to crafting for pleasure, what luxury.


I love making these little boxes with a surprise inside and have loved playing with Christmas ideas. I think this one has to my favourite so I've decided to enter it into The Stampman's challenge this time which is Christmas.


It's a nightmare to photograph so excuse the poor images. The Santa stamp is a gorgeous one from Habico and I stamped it in Archival black and then just added a little bit of watercolour to his face and eyes and some stickles to the snowflakes.


The snowflakes inside have been stamped onto heat proof acetate with Starlite silver Brilliance ink and embossed with sparkle EP. They don't come out very well in the photos being on acetate but look lovely in real life.


And just to remind you that's it's not always so cold and wet, I thought I'd share a photo of this fantastic Acer we saw at Harlow Carr gardens at the weekend. People were queuing up to photograph it. It was stunning, especially against the blue sky.

Thanks for stopping by and keep warm.

WOYWW-A Bit Of Cuttlebugging

Happy Wednesday lovely Bloggers. As it's the middle of the week that must mean it's time to visit Julia for WOYWW. I managed to visit quite a few fellow WOYWW's last week, although by no means all of them, but I have to say it's such a great way of meeting new Bloggers from all over the place and I find it a real delight to come across blogs I wouldn't otherwise have found. Last week I discovered a crafter in Calgary who said it was snowing!!! in October!!! and another in Turkey. How diverse is that?

I'm glad to report that the decorating is finished. It looks great, you were all right, the mess was definitely worth while. We have a "Grown Up" bedroom at last and I have my Craft Room back!


Today's photo is of the dining table though. The weather here is so dark and damp this week it's cosier to be downstairs in the warm.

I have been playing with my Cuttlebug and some new embossing folders from Crafts Concepts and this is the result on pearly paper. I thought on cream they'd make nice Wedding cards. It's a lovely image isn't it? This make of folders is new to me but there are some gorgeous designs available.


You can also probably spot my trusty pot of glue which I use a lot, it sticks anything but I also use double sided tape a lot, especially on paper where wet glue tends to show underneath but a lady told me at the weekend that double sided tape doesn't stick and all the cards fall apart after awhile. Shock horror!!!!!! This was terrifying to me as I do sell some cards and also use DS tape on my scrapbook layouts. Anyway I came home and inspected some projects made several years ago and they still seem to be stuck OK but I wondered what anyone else thought!!! Is doubled sided tape not the thing to use? Your thoughts on all things sticky would be really interesting.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is going smoothly so far.

WOYWW-Nothing!

Morning lovely Bloggers. How's your week going so far. The weather's not been too bad has it, today is lovely and sunny but windy here, perfect drying weather.

It's half term for us this week and as I said last week that means decorating. We are getting on well and the new floor is going down today but because of all the stuff we've had to move out of our room this is as near as I can get to my workdesk at the moment so not a lot happening on it this week. Anyway, I thought I'd still share the general chaos with you for WOYWW. The wardrobes all this came out of are up against our bed so we are having to do acrobatics to get into each night which is causing great hilarity. We're not as bendy as we used to be!!


If you want to share your desk this week, pop over to Julia's blog to see what it's all about.

Because very little crafting has been going on I thought I'd share with you some photos of our trip out on Monday. It was one of those stunning days when the sky is amazingly blue, although cold. We went to have a look at a new installation ( I think that is probably the best way to describe it, or maybe Sculpture) that has just opened on the moors near where we live. It is to celebrate the highest quarry in England and is called The Coldstones Cut. They have built a street with lots of streets going off leading to viewing towers over the quarry one way and then out over the moors the other. You have to walk over the moor to it so it's quite strange to suddenly come upon "a street".


It was incredibly high up and very very cold but well worth it. The views were spectacular. We worked out we could see Ferrybridge power station which is about 50 miles away! The viewing area is circular and all the way round is a chart that shows you where places are around the world and how far they are away. We thoroughly enjoyed it and it's well worth a visit for all you Yorkshire Ladies, although you need a good pair of walking boots and to be well wrapped up!


Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the week.

My First Magnolia

Evening lovely Bloggers. Hasn't it been a gorgeous day and it looks as if we'll get one more sunny day before the wind and rain returns!!

Just a quick post tonight, I don't want you to think I only post on Wednesdays these days!

I reached a milestone recently and bought my first Magnolia stamp, yes I know quite incredible!! I'm not really a cute person, apart from Lily Of The Valley but wanted a stamp with the image sitting down and this was the only one I could find. I have to say that now I've used her I think she will become a firm favourite. I really enjoyed colouring her with my promarkers, before cutting her out and sitting her on the ribbon.


This is the card I made for a friends daughter's 12th Birthday. She's not a pink kind of girl, hence the blue. The BPs are all from a free CD and the flowers were punched with card candy added for the centres. The greeting was my trusty Dawn Bibby set.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've had a great weekend.

WOYWW With A Touch Of Bling

Hello lovely Bloggers. I've blinked and it's Wednesday again which must mean it's time to share my workdesk. I thought I'd try a different angle today, don't want to get boring, so I stood on my stool and took a high rise shot.


You can see how strong I like my tea from up here!! Christmas cards are still in full flow. These are the gorgeous Lily of the Valley images waiting to be made up. I'm trying to get as much done as possible for the school Christmas fayre before we start decorating our bedroom next week during half term, hence the lack of blogging I'm afraid. My craft room will become a dumping ground for all the stuff from under the bed and in the wardrobes for a week. Just the thought of it is filling me with horror.

What else of interest is there? My box of mint imperials is peeking out from under the growing pile of useful scraps. My DH buys nails and screws from an old fashioned iron mongers who still sells things in boxes and they are great little storage boxes. You can see the green and blue ones which contain different coloured card candy.

Well I think that's about it for this week. If you're wondering what on earth I'm doing waffling on about my desk, get yourself over to Julia's blog. She is the lady responsible for all this extremely addictive nosiness ever week.

Just before I go I thought I'd share a scrapbook layout I did a few weeks ago. Scrapbooking after all is my first love and I don't seem to get much time for it these days.


These photos were taken during our holidays and they were of the basement of the Swarovski shop in Innsbruck which is a grotto made of crystals. It's amazing and very magical.

I used my special Bo Bonny Snowy Serenade paper which is so luscious it's just too nice to cover up but it matches the photos perfectly. I decided that by using lots of curly chipboard painted white and glittered, you could still see the paper through it. The titles were done on the computer, cut out and had glossy accents applied and I added lots of white flowers and one pale blue one, using silver card candy and jewels for the middles and accents on the chipboard.

Thanks for stopping by and for the wonderful comments you leave. I love reading them. I apologise for not getting round everyones blogs as much lately, I will try and catch up, there is so much lovely creation happening. Enjoy this gorgeous sunshine if it lasts and wrap up warm.

WOYWW

Apologies for my lack of posts this week. Life seems to have got in the way of blogging, although don't ask me how, I'm not sure where the days have gone. We've also been making the most of this beautiful weather. We've been so lucky this week, after a dull forecast the sun has shone every day. Even the weatherman said he's given up forecasting it because it hasn't been anything like they expected, in a good way for a change!!

If it's Wednesday again it must be WOYWW. Check out Julia's Blog at Stamping Ground to see what it's all about and get sharing your space. Bits and pieces this week on mine. I have been colouring these beautiful Lily of The Valley Christmas images and experimenting making my own glitter card to mat them onto.


Jules shared a wonderful tip recently of using the same colour promarker that you coloured your image with to colour the card to mat your image onto, instead of spending hours hunting round for something matching, obvious really when you think about it. This little tip has sped up my card making no end. I've tried then adding clear ink onto the pen line and embossing with glitter embossing powder and it works a treat, much cheaper than buying endless sheets of glitter card.


Another blogging buddy, Sylvia shared a kitchen roll holder she uses as a ribbon holder in one of her WOYWW posts and I showed it to my Hubby. He then disappeared into the magic shed and came out with this!!!! A ribbon holder made from a piece of dowel attached to a piece of tree I cut down in the garden recently!!! Genius!!


Here's another Christmas card from the ever growing pile. I "borrowed"this idea from my Mum, inking the Cuttlebug folder with Broken China Distress ink using some cut and dry before running it through the cuttlebug. Clear ink is then rubbed over the raised part and silver heat embossed. I love the effect you get. It was then matted with the promarker idea and job done.


Lastly, before I sign off I wanted to share with you this amazing photo my DD took while on a walk in the woods last Sunday. These tiny little mauve mushrooms where everywhere and although I took some photos of them too I just loved this one.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is going well so far. Don't those wonderful images of the Chilean Miners being rescued today make your heart sing. Human beings are capable of incredible things.

WOYWW and a few cakes

Happy WOYWW. Here we are again at midweek. It'll be the weekend again before we know it. Where do the weeks go?


Here's my workspace this Wednesday still with lots of Christmas cards on the go. I've spent the day Slicing snowflakes!!!! and staring out of the window while the machine was doing its stuff watching the weather changing down the valley. One minute gorgeous sunshine, the next rain.


I also thought I'd share the view I have out of the window and the reason why today has been a very frustrating Wednesday. Yesterday two lovely Gas men arrived to dig this hole at the bottom of our drive to repair a gas leak. They had to turn our gas supply off but promised at 4pm yesterday afternoon it would be back on within 4 hours!!!!! At 4pm today I was making my 3rd phone call to see where the engineer was and when the gas would be back on. Having no hot water for 24 hours is not funny!! Happily he arrived at 5pm and we are now fighting for the shower and have had a lovely cooked dinner. No spinny dinner tonight.

Lots of lovely WOYWW's have asked for some piccies of my cakes so here are a few. They are all Wedding cakes apart from the large flower which was DD's 7th birthday cake.


I hope I haven't bored you to death with them all and if you are wondering who these mystery WOYWW's are then you need to pop over to Julia's blog and all will become clear.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the week.