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.