Sundays Stamper 84 - Believe

The theme for Sunday 20th Dec was 'Believe' and 'cos of Christmas Hel's let it run for 2 weeks. I'm a bit late with mine :-/ I've just done a simple card and now I've scanned it I think the flower's too big but no time to change it just now! Check out Hel's blog for this long-running challenge. While you're there have a nosey round; you'll see some fab works of art ;)

Let it snow let it snow let it snow

We haven't had snow for a few days here, though we did have a bit of sleet earlier. It started snowing on 17th Dec and we had some snow every day/night for a week, with some rain, sleet and sun thrown in. I took a photo of my car at night while it was snowing and one the next morning. I also took one of DDs 'real' Christmas tree :)

WOYWW

If you pop over to Julia's blog you'll see what this is all about :) I missed last week's 'cos I'd lost track of the days even when it came to Saturday I was extremely surprised to find out it WAS Saturday :-/ I'm a little late posting this week even though I photographed my desk this morning. On my desk are some NotChristmas cards :) You can see one of my new MS punches - I got 2 for Christmas :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for the coming year xx

WOYWW - only 1 more before Santa comes ;)

Check out Julia's blog for more about WOYWW and see what others have on their desks! On mine today is a carrier bag, amongst other things, which contains a Secret Santa gift for the craft group I go to once a month. I thought I'd show the desk from one end to show the rainy view today through the back door. It's quite a nice view actually once you see beyond the houses as we're quite high up, not that the view shows up well here. At the near end you may just make out a little pile of cards also for said craft group. At the other end is some yarn; which I used for the mane for a Pegasus/Unicorn I made for my granddaughter, it usually lives on the top shelf; and all the ingredients for a birthday card waiting to be assembled. The Pegasus/Unicorn can be seen here I'm off to Julia's now :)

x

Sunday Stampers weeks 82 + 83

Over at Hel's place she runs the Sunday Stampers challenge weekly. I enjoy this challenge as you can do anything so long as there's a bit of stamping in. For week 82 the theme was 'Angels' and I have some background paper which I was going to use, but I've yet to find it! I downloaded an image and sheet music for 'Hark the Herals Angels Sing'. I used the flourish and snowflake stamps from Tim's 'Reindeer Flight' set. On the 'Christmas' one; week 83; I've used the trees from the same set of stamps and again the snowflake and flourish stamps. the large snowflake I cut with my Robo and embossed it with 'Pearl Violet' chunky embossing crystals :)

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas - 4-12

I've finished all 12 of Tim's tags this year, though have to admit at times it was a bit of a marathon. I was quite chuffed with the one with photos on as I managed to find a little strip of film without any pics on - it was in the first pack of photos I looked in too ;) Unless you're a photo buff you wouldn't have any of that these days with digital cameras. For the one with the lampost I used one of my own photos :) I did chop 2 of the lamps off though. For number 11 Tim used an 'itop' gadget to cover some brads; I just sewed scraps of fabric onto some buttons which works just as well ;)

x

WOYWW

What is WOYWW? Check Julia's blog to find out and then join in - simples! Mine's reasonably tidy, unless you look at that jumble in the centre of the desk at the back, I just keep piling bits on there and very little of it has been moved for a couple of weeks, just the top few bits to look for something :-> I had a tidy up on Sunday and since then have just been working on my '12 Tags of Christmas' a la Tim You'd think it would be easy following his instructions but there are so many items he uses that I don't have and which I'm not going to buy; sometimes I have a reasonable substitute; and that then involves a lot of faffing while I try something that doesn't quite work and have to try something else - you KNOW how it goes I know you do! The tag on the cutting mat is a prime example; it was finished but last night (or rather the early hours of the morning) I decided I dind't like the baubles so pulled them off. Talking about the early hours of the morning, I couldn't sleep last night and got up twice (on the computer the first time then a little crafting the second time) and was awake till after 6.30!!! I got up at 10 :-/ I had a night out last night but was home by 10.30 pm. obviously tooooo much excitement at my age LOL

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas - Nos2+3

Managed to do tags number 2 and 3 today. Hmph, lots of faffing though, had 3 goes at number 2 :-/ And though I'm not copying exactly, mainly following the techniques, I am trying to get close. I even had 2 metal corner thingys which I rescued from something some weeks ago for tag number 2. I wasn't sure about the (argh, it's one of those again - the stuff used for making hats can't remember what it's called!!!) 'stuff' on tag number 3, but once it was finished and I caught sight of the tag without meaning to look at it IYKWIM, I thought it looked fine. The 'snow' word was made using a piece of an old table mat (from Ikea) which is the sort of stuff you can heat with a heat tool and then stamp into it. So I did that and then rubbed on Pewter Metallic Rub-On and goldleaf pen round the edge. The picture's not very good, taken at this time of night.

WOYWW

To find out more check out Julia's blog; it's just for fun and we don't mind how messy your desk is :) Mine's a right mess today. I had intended to put a lot of stuff away at the weekend but it never happened. I've taken the pic from one end so you can see the whole mess :-/ Are you having a go at Tim's 12 tags of Christmas? I am and you can see the first one on the desk with the ubiquitous reindeer ;)

For a better look click on the pic ;)

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas - No.1

If you want to know what this is about check out Tim's blog. I did a few last year but didn't have enough larger stamps and didn't want to keep using the same 1 or 2 all the time. I'm going to try to do them all this year, even if I don't do 1 a day :) For this first one I couldn't get my flourish right, didn't like the colour and in the end decided it was too big, so used a smaller one. I painted it with white acrylic paint and covered it with Crystal embossing powder which has given it a slightly distressed look after heating - I know we don't need to copy exactly but I did want to use a flourish for embellishment. I don't have Rock Candy crackle paint so used another crackle medium, but painted it over my snowflakes :-/ I had to scrape it off as it covered them too much. I printed the 'snowflakes' word off the computer and stitched it onto the tag. :)

Sometimes simple's good.

I've scanned this card as it's quicker but it has caused a shadow at the top of the card. The butterfly is a velvet iron-on (they came on a A4 sheet of which I had about 3 diferent designs, but can't remember who they're by) which I bought to use on fabric or card, and have had for years! What's new ;) I cut the scalloped square and the greeting on my Robo which I love but wish someone would design a longer-lasting more robust carrier sheet for! I'm using a fairly new carrier sheet and am back to the old masking tape to hold stuff in place! I must get a repositionable spray adhesive to try.

Sunday Stampers - The Holly + the Ivy

I've finally done my entry for the Sunday Stampers over on Hels' blog I couldn't decide what to do as I only have one reasonable holly stamp but as I'd cut out some holly on the Robo I decided to use that and use Tim's reindeer for the stamped bit. I did have some green holly - there's a novel idea LOL - but didn't like it with this card so used the shiny holly - can't think what you call that paper :-/ Ooh now I've uploaded it the colour looks a bit funny, the background paper is bluey-grey not pinky, but I'm going to leave it!

WOYWW!!!

If you want to know what it's all about check out Julia's blog You get the chance to see what mess others make when crafting but also what fab things they may be up to. I had to make a quick card last night before I went to keep-fit, that's why there's so much mess LOL. Last week a couple of people asked me to show some of the Christmas cards I'd been making as they were just out of focus last week. So here are a few - lots of variation ;)

WOYWW

Wednesday already :-O If you want to find out what it's about see Julia's blog. Please join in, we don't mind how messy your desk is ;-) If you checked mine out last week you may notice now that the broken clock has moved, but it's still in bits :) I've made a few more Christmas cards and yesterday made a couple of male cards - not quite finished! Off to check out Julia's desk now and other followers of WOYWW ;)

BTW Julia, that harlequin paper isn't Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey, it's Plum Pudding by Crafts House. DOH! You can see it here:

http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/p5292-Crafts-House-Paper-Pack-Plum-Pudding.html

Ooh an award - yippee!

I got an award from my pal Hels; dead chuffed I am ;)
I have to answer a list of questions and pass the award on to 5 lovely people ;)

1. Where is your
cell phone? … handbag
2. Your hair? …Blonde (bottle)
3. Your mother? gone
4. Your father?… long long gone
5. Your favourite food? … roast
6. Your dream last night?… forgotten
7. Your favourite drink? … tea
8. Your dream/goal?… longlife (trying to make one word answers lol)
9. What room are you in?… lounge
10. Your hobby?… Crafting
11. Your fear?… Drowning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?… seaside
13. Where were you last night? … home
14. Something that you’re aren’t?… tall
15. Muffins?… yum
16. Wish list item? … canal-boat
17. Where did you grow up -Liverpool
18. Last thing you did?… emails
19. What are you wearing?… casual
20. Your TV?… 20"
21. Your Pets?… none
22. Friends? … good
23. Your life?… good
24. Your mood?… Happy
25. Missing Someone?… yes
26. Vehicle?… Toyota
27. Something you're not wearing?… shoes
28. Your favourite store? … ?
29. Your favourite colour?… electric blue
30. When was the last time you laughed?… yesterday
31. Last time you cried?… months ago
32. Your best friend?… Cal
33. One place that I go to over and over? … DD's
34. Facebook?… Yes
35. Favourite place to eat? … home

I'm passing this on to
TRACEY
WILMA
ALISON
LINDA (I know you've had it already, but I love your blog)!
MADDY

Sunday Stampers - Oh Christmas Tree

The theme for this week's SS at Hel's place is 'Oh Christmas Tree'. I've made a Christmas card and used Tim's beautiful trees stamp from his 'Reindeer Flight' set, which I embossed and cut out. The flourish and circles strip at the bottom of the card I cut on the robo and printed the greeting off the computer :)

Sunday Stampers 78 - House of Fun

Over at Hel's place this week, the SS theme is 'House of Fun' so entries can include either a house or fun or both :) I've just done simple stamping this week using Tim's stamps and Jennie's Houndstooth background stamp. I used watercolour paper coloured with Talens Ecoline for the house.

WOYWW

Ooh that time of week again. If you want to join in see Julia's blog. I know some people will look at mine today and say 'that's more like it'. Beleive me I am usually as messy as the next person, unless the next person happens to be tidy LOL It's just like, for instance last week I'd only done a little bit of crafting after putting my sewing machine away so it hadn't had time to get messy. I've taken a pic from a different angle this week to get more of the desk in. I'm in the middle of making Christmas cards but you can't see them properly from here. What you can see is another bird I'm making- this one's made from wool that's been felted in the washing machine and was started before the other birdie but I was unsure about the legs and feet for this one, though I've decided what I'm going to do now. Also what a mess the ribbons are in! I was making a little holder for some ribbons but have abandoned that; I do have a plan for them though! Another thing on show is a little clock (the white thing), I got free with a watch, which was very unstable on top of the microwave waiting for me to do something with it, anyway though it's been knocked off the microwave many times, this time it fell to bits and may be beyond repair :(

Off for a nosey now :)

WOYWW - Watch the birdie!

Before I show my desk I'm showing piccies of my birdie that several people wanted to see when completed - have to say I do rather like him myself ;) His poor little legs wouldn't hold him so I made a weighted stand out of a tub that once held vitamin tablets covered with Ten Seconds Studio metal tape sheet and coloured with alcohol inks (the pic of this is a bit blurred!) I stuck some thin cutouts underneath the tape; you can make out the butterfly on the front here. He measures 8 and half inches from his feet to the top of his head and his stand is 2 and half inches high (the pics don't give an indication of that really). I've also uploaded a pic of the journal I was working on last week.

And finally the desk -Tadaa! My sewing box is still on there even though I haven't done any sewing since finishing Halloween costumes on Saturday. Don't know if you've noticed but most of the stuff at the back of the desk hasn't moved for weeks even though it isn't home for some of it :-o)) As I'd used the snowman for the Sunday Stampers challenge this week I thought I'd make a few more as I do like this image - it's one of the 'around-2-it' stamp sets by Butterfly Kisses which have a front and back view for the main stamp so makes them ideal for aperture cards. There's also a sheet of snowflakes on the desk that I cut out yesterday using my Robo. It's only tidy at the front, most of the mess is at the back and most of it isn't showing here LOL

Check out Julia's blog for more desks to have a nosey at :) and if you're brave enough, let's have a look at yours!

Sunday Stampers 77

The theme for Sunday Stampers this week is snowmen. I've made a simple card. The snowman is one of the 'around-2-it' stamp sets by Butterfly Kisses - you get a front and back view of the main stamp which makes them great for aperure cards. I love the sentiment :) and it's from the same set of stamps. I used Promarkers to colour the snowman's attire. The background paper is 'Figgy Pudding'.