A few Christmas Cards....

At last - just got to write and post them. I totally get why people use Moonpig now. OK that was a lie. My fave stamp at the moment is the Penny Black hedgie with the Santa hat, and I've used my copics to colour him. Here is a selection of my offerings.

Happy Birthday Sis

I'm sitting here in the cold, waiting for the central heating man to come and sort out my boiler! I've had to take the day off, so it gives me time to post the birthday card I made for my sister. The text says 'Wine lovers always do the ripe thing' and as she likes a glass or two I thought it was fitting. Looking forward to sharing a boutelle with you soon Ruthie. x

Penny Black Challenge - One for the Girls

No blogging this week as its been a difficult time with DHs health issues. However, the theme at PB this week fits in great with some stamped images I had from a workshop I did recently. You can't really tell but the fur trim has been glittered with glamour dust, and the background paper is glittery too. tfl

Snowflakes

The challenge on Something Completely Different this week was to use Blue, White and snowflakes. I've done a couple, as the handbag card was an unfinished project put to one side for when I felt like threading beads onto a wire, so thanks SCD for giving me the kick I needed to get on with it. The big snowflake was given to me by a friend, as were the blue papers. tfl

Bubbly Scrumptious Challenge Week 12

This week the challenge at Bub Scrump is 'Go Wild' - 'By this we mean that we would like you to use an image of a wild animal in your work this week.' OK, my giraffe doesn't exactly look wild, in fact he looks quite cute, but I think it qualifies for the challenge! tfl

Baking Tray Advent Calendar

I got the idea for this from UKS last year, and I filed it away as a project for Christmas 2009.I have taken a pic before and after I've added the embellishments which are fixed by a magnet (I don't know what happend to number 19 - maybe that will be my 'meltdown' day!) I finished off by giving it a coat of sparkly modge podge to protect it.

Penny Black Challenge no 75

This week it's called 'One for the guys' - tricky or what. I remembered I had a jumper template from CraftyTemplates, and I used my Craftwork Cards papers and punched out some holly. I tried all sorts of things for the focal point on jumper, but in the end I settled for a sparkly peel off! Not sure about this - but I had to do something or I'd still be dithering by next christmas. The text stamp is by PB so it does qualify for the challenge. Last week I was lucky enough to win the prize - a £10 voucher to spend in the current Stampin Up catalogue, pop over and have a go.

Post Pals and SCD

Here is a card and little notepad I made for Ayesha from Post Pals This is a fantastic charity that helps to bring a smile to a sick child - read about it by clicking on the link. Ayesha likes baking cakes (and I like eating them) so I used my craftwork card templates to create these for her. Inside the notebook, the pages are different colour card, so she can write her cake recipes if she wants to.














This next card is for the week 27 Challenge on SCD which is 'Pink with a christmas tree' I have used my very versatile tree stamp, glittered it up and added some silver embellishments. Check out the blog for some very different and lovely DT samples

Girls Just Wanna have fuuuun

Over on Penny Black Saturday this week, the challenge is to create something based on a song title. I had a look through my (sadly meagre) supply of PB stamps and immediately thought of this song. (and now I cant get it out of my head). I get a lot of use out of this stamp - its great for teen girl cards. For a change I stamped the clothes onto some patterned papers and stuck them onto the image. As usual, I forgot to choose my background paper first, and spent ages working my way through my (not meagre) paper collection.

Something Completely Different

Over on the SCD challenge blog the theme this month is cards (Yay) and this week its the colours red, gold and green with the addition of holly and ivy. This really gave me the kick I needed to get on with some christmas cards and I managed to do 3 for the challenge. They are all quite blingy as I do like a bit of sparkle.
















Also, I made a birthday card for one of DS's friends - yep, the dreaded teenage boy card. I always find as in real life - if in doubt, resort to food.

Recipe Book

I have been working on this BIA project for most of this week. I've wanted to do a Recipe Book for ages, but kept looking out for the right papers. I finally found these Cosmo Cricket ones, plus the lovely BG cupcake paper. I've folded a couple of the pages diagonally for bits of paper/articles to be stored inside. I'm still not sure if its finished - I do tend to 'overdo' things, and I'm itching to add some more stickers and maybe some ribbons to the wires but I'll leave it for a few days and see. tfl

DCM - Getting Punchy

This weeks challenge on Daring Cardmakers is to make a card using your latest punch. I got this Woodware holly/poinsettia punch recently to try and get me going with christmas cards.

Happy Birthday James

There is an alien living in my son's bedroom. It has long hair, grunts a bit and wears trainers the size of small boats. Where is my real boy, the one who looks cute in his karate suit and loves being tickled by me? He was here only last week, or maybe it was last month, time seems to have got a bit muddled.

The card might seem a bit bizzarre, but DS loves VW campers and is studying politics - you might just be able to spot the bunch of jokers inside the van. Thanks to Leigh for the stamped image and Karen for her idea of cutting out the windows (it sure was fiddly)

Mini Book

This week I made a mini book for a friends birthday, which I started at a workshop and finished off at home. Its not a BIA creation this time, but if you look at the photo of the middle of the book, you can see there is a rolled up peice of paper which is used as the spine. On the inside front page I have added a pocket for journalling and I've put a tag in between each page for more photos. Papers are by Cosmo cricket and Sassfrass.

Post Pals

I thought I'd show something I have made for one of the Post Pals Children, Kerry, who is having a really rough time. You can read about her here As well as the card, I covered a notebook using the same Three Bugs in a Rug papers, as she loves stationery because she is learning to write again.You can't tell from the photo, but the towers are 3d. I also made a book mark for her and each of her 2 sisters, as I didnt want to leave them out. I hope it helps to brighten her day a little.

DCM - Autumn Purple

Okay, I might be stretching it with the 'Autumn' bit, but it's definately purple.When I saw the challenge at DCM I thought of my grapes stamp (the text is 'wine lovers do the ripe thing') and coloured it with marveys and added diamond glaze. The template is a WS Design one and the top of the bottle is embossed with gold powder. I also added a little charm that says 'aged to perfection'

Challenges this week

This week I have still been making a box of cards for my friend to take to her office, but in between I have managed a couple of challenges. Firstly on Papertake Weekly it's a sketch - I have done a couple of baby cards using papers from DCWV Nana's Nursery















Next on Rosie-Dee's the challenge is 'Coffee & Cream with a cherry on top'. I took this literally and made good use of my cherry stamps. The cupcake is topped with a liquid that turns into bubbly stuff when it is heated up (great technical description) and i've added some brown sprinkles to make it look edible. Well that's the idea!













Finally, here is a picture of the matchbox I sent in the swap over on UKS. The idea was to decorate a matchbox and fill it with embellishments in your partners chosen colour, and send it off. I had great fun doing this and received a lovely matchbox in return.

Flower Pots

This weekend I have been making up a box of cards for my friend to take to her office. But in between, I had a go at these flower pot cards. I was inspired to make them by the DT gallery at Charmed Cards & Crafts. Lots of cutting out in front of the X Factor!

Post Pals

I have made a couple of cards to send to this months featured children on Post Pals. These are for Zachary H and Rhainna J, and you can read about these brave kids on the website. If you have any spare cards, please think about sending them one as it can really brighten their day.

Home Journal

I thought I'd have a go at making a home journal - something for busy mums to keep a record of bills, menus and the everlasting 'to do' list. I used my favourtite K&Co Papers (Berry Sweet), just added a few stamps & embellies and then bound it all together with my BIA. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to keep, sell, or give it away as a gift.