More Christmas Makes, and a January Sneakie

With our eldest 4 nieces and nephews well into their teenage years it can be a bit tricky thinking of things to give at Christmas and Birthdaysm so this year we hit on the idea of giving each of them two vouchers for Thorpe Park. We also gave some people magazine subscriptions this year - so I've made quite a few gift wallets to present them all in.
I used one style as a project for Bubbly Funk Kits but as usual I wasn't content to make life easier and make the same thing for all the wallets I needed so there have been a few variations on the theme. But because I'm a sneaky meanie I'm going to save the "how to's" for another time! lol
I did actually make this sort 3 times though, probably because it was already Christmas Eve.....
Some I ended up doing in such a rush that they were wrapped and ready to give with no time to photograph (yes, I'll admit they were the ones for people we weren't seeing till after Christmas so didn't actually get done before the big day...) So one of my post-holidays jobs will be to make those up again before I forget how I did them.

Anyway, I'm writing this in a bit of a hurry because my folks are here and we're heading out for a walk in a minute so that's all I've time to post today, sorry.

I do have this first of my BF sneaky peeks to share.
I absolutely adore the January Bubbly Funk Kit - so much so that it's been a real struggle to cut the gorgeous papers this time. Definitely a great antidote to the Christmassy stash and one to get that mojo flowing once the stockings, trees and pretty lights are put away for another year.


It should be available for pre-order really soon now, so don't miss out - it's a real beauty

Post-Christmas Post

Well, I have a day or so breather between Christmas and New Year to get back to the pc, so I'm taking the chance of a quick catch up on the blog.

I hope everyone who comes by the Wafflezone had a wonderful Christmas and that that nice, kindly Old Man in Red was good to you.

Rubbish photo, sorry (hubby hasn't sorted out his pics yet, so I can't snaffle them), but here's our tree first thing Christmas morning. See that big parcel behind the tree on the left? Well, here's a very happy me after I'd opened it!
It's fab! My cappuccino addiction is being fed quite nicely now, thank you Hubby Dearest!
At last a machine that makes fab froth fast!

He knows me well my hubby does, which is probably why he couldn't resist this when he saw it:

And then there was this teeny weeny zen garden - he must think I'm stressed and in need of quiet meditation!
He may well be right!

There were CDs, posh toiletries and all sorts of other goodies for me, and some of the family gave us things for both of us, so there's plenty of tasty treats, bottles of wine and a nice lot of money on Ticketmaster cards for us to spend on concerts. theatre trips or whatever we fancy.

We had a couple of hours gift-swapping with my bro and family on Christmas morning before returning home to spend the rest of the day "just the two of us", then at the weekend we headed over to Hampshire to visit both sets of my SiL/BiLs who live quite close to each other, plus MiL who was staying there too.
We've still got a few pressies to open when my aunt, uncle and cousin arrive to spend New Year with us, so we're really spreading Christmas out this year.

I've got a few crafty makes to share on here, plus sneak peeks of things made with the stunning new Bubbly Funk Kit but I think I'll schedule them to load over the next few days as I'll probably not get much chance to come a-blogging over New Year (sneaky or what?)

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, I'm going to try and have a wander around the blogs this afternoon and see what I've missed over the last week or so!

See you soon......

It's Almost Here!

All the forums and blogs are sooooo quiet right now, I think that, like me, everyone's desperately trying to get that last minute shopping done, the rest of the presents wrapped and of course those crafty gifty makes that have been left till last need some attention - now! before it's too late.

Today I've made a birthday book for one of my SILs and I still have more gift wallets to make for a couple of those who'll be getting vouchers from us.

Yesterday I thought I'd wrapped all Hubby's presents - then went into the cupboard and saw a bag of small things that I'd forgotten. Typical.

My aunt and uncle were staying with us for a couple of nights at the weekend. It was lovely to see them - even if Hubby and I were still snivelling and coughing and not really up to much, it did mean we made a big effort and got the tree up on Friday night before they arrived on Saturday. It also means that the house is reasonably clean and tidy so that's another job done.

We're off to pick up our Christmas food from M&S later, so hopefully that will be IT as far as shopping goes. We live in hope.
If I get those wallets made, and that HUGE pile of ironing done, and those last few presents wrapped well, I'll be all ready, won't I?

So, after that mindless waffle I think I should share a few crafty bits and pieces now.

First up the last of the things I made for Charmed Cards and Crafts - I've been a bit slow getting these on here, haven't I?

Anyway, I couldn't resist making a few cards as the K&Co Swell Noel stuff was so perfect for some quick last minute cards (we all need them, don't we?)
They are all simple aperture cards - I thought the dimensional embellishments would work best that way. The bell in the first card is double-sided chipboard, the bauble in the second is a dimenional sticker
This fabulous snowflake comes in a big box of similar ones - lots of different sizes, some all white, some with pale colours like this one - and they're all highlighted with glitter - absolutely gorgeous!
The last card has the little double-sided chipboard boot hanging loose in the window so it'll swing around a bit. The greeting is a rub-on from the same Swell Noel collection.

Right, I think that's it for Christmassy things for another few months.....

It was my friend's young son's birthday a few weeks ago and I totally forgot. So here's the card I eventually made, and the notebook I made to go with it.
The papers I've used are all Basiv Grey

The big "ooops" and the guitars are cut with the Craft Robo. The little pen and the mini bulldog clip were from Wilkinsons

Finally for this time, it's one of the SIL's birthdays today and this is the card I made for her.
Papers are Crate's Blue Hill collectionI don't suppose I'll be blogging again till after Christmas - so a big thank you to all those who've visited during 2008 and especially to those who leave a comment - I love to read them and it means a lot to know that I'm not just talking to myself.
Mind You, I do admit to talking to myself a lot too!

I'd like to wish everyone who reads this a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Craft-filled 2009

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Forgetful, And some Shiny Stuff

ooooh I'm running late this week!
I've just made my DCM card and got it on to the blog...only 25 minutes late...phew! More of that in a minute.

Firstly though, I've got so many projects on the go, plus this manky cold, plus visitors coming for the weekend that my mind is all over the place. I know some would say "nothing new there, then!" but atm its worse than ever and yesterday I completely forgot to mention on here that I'd uploaded my new project for the Bubbly Scrumptious emag. Amazing really that I actually remembered to put it on Bub Scrump lol

Anyway, it's my version of a gift wallet for making gifts of vouchers, cash, tokens etc look more interesting. I've used more of the lovely shimmery Festive Flurry kit from Bubbly Funk to make these wallets - not that I've much left now. If you can find a spare minute ("what's one of those then?" I hear you ask) do pop along there and have a look - Caroline and the Team load something new every day and there's so much to see and inspire.

Here are sneak peeks of my wallets:

On to my card for this week's Daring Cardmakers Challenge - the last one of 2008 as we're taking next week off - it's Christmas, just in case you hadn't realised!
This week we're asking you to make cards, tags, place cards - anything you like really - but we'd like to see those Christmas favourites Gold, Silver - or even a mixture of - both feature prominantly on whatever you make.

I decided this would be a great opportunity to make Hubby's Christmas card -the Poor Love always gets left till last! So tghis year I'm not going to be making his card on Christmas Eve, which is something less to get in a panic about, eh?

I've gone with a black, white and silver theme for this card - I know bits look gold, but I confess to failing to use both - it's just the light making them look that way.

My inspiration for this card came from Sarah, who's work always wows me, it was this beautiful card in particular that helped me with this card. I've kept to my fave, simple triangular tree, then filled it with beads, brads, eyelets, gems - pretty much anything that I found that I could stick on there, actually! There are a few blobs of glitter to fill any gaps - the difficult thing was knowing when to stop.
The tree might have taken an hour or so to fill but in contrast I kept the rest of the card really simple. A backing piece of silver ribbed card for the black square and also the greeting which is pc generated. The gorgeous silver and black ribbon tab is about as much ribbon as I can get away with - men don't do ribbon, don't you know?

There are some great super-shiny cards and projects on the blog this week, so please try to get over for a look-see.

Right, I've not had my morning coffee yet, and I really really need it. I really really do....

Charmed Again

Welcome to the Waffle Isolation Ward.
We've been poorly with the flu/cold thing that seems to be doing the rounds - both of us feeling wretched at the same time makes for an interesting few days. Today Hubby has just left for work (left here at 10am) and is planning on just working half a day - but it's the half in the middle iykwim!.
We've visitors coming for the weekend and I've done nothing in the house for the last few days so hopefully today I can at least get the guest room ready, I'll feel better knowing that at least is done.

I've managed a bit of crafting - but only in little spurts and one of the projects I've been doing has bee more complicated than I thought - so trying to keep my wits about me while feeling grotty has been a bit of a struggle, I can tell you!

I planned to show another of the thimgs I made for my Charmed Cards and Crafts Guest Designer spot at the beginning of the week, but with everything else I just didn't get round to it.

This is the Christmas mini-album I've made using as many of the gorgeous K&Co Swell Noel goodies as I could throw at it! Karen sent a huge parcel filled with such a lot of loveliness that I just HAD to get as much into my projects as I could manage!
The book has spaces all ready for the photos to be added, and I've used the matching tags as extra mini pages for journalling or more little photos to be included.

This is one of the pages, but if you'd like to see more then you can see the whole book here
Check out the other fab projects shown by the CCC design team while you're there - there are some amazing things to be found there! And it goes without saying that the shop is filled with wonderful crafting temptation

The page hiding under the tag is my fave in the book.
You know how sometimes things go so right that you amaze yourself?
Well I had one of those (very rare) moments with this baubles page! The baubles are just circles punched from regular white card - the idea being that a tiny photo can be added to each. I used shades of Cats Eye chalk inks to add some colour and for some reason the baubles have taken on such a realistic look that I can hardly believe it.

I'm soooo useless at colouring in that when something like this happens I'm quite shocked! Can you tell? lol

I've still got some more things to share on here but I'll save those for next time.

I hope everyone is keeping clear of all the wintry germs that are hurtling around - I wore a surgical mask while writing this so if you do have a cold, then you can't blame me - Okay?

I've been Charmed

A couple of weeks ago I had an email from Karen of Charmed Cards and Crafts asking if I would like to be her Guest Designer for December.
Would I like?
hmmmm, now just let me think....

A couple of days later a big box of goodies arrived and I oooohed and ahhed at everything I pulled out of the parcel. It was pretty much all from K&Co's Swell Noel range and absolutely gorgeous.

Thinking around what I could make, I decided that most people would probably be well on their way to finishing their Christmas cards by now, so I tried to come up with a couple of different ideas - although I just couldn't help making a few cards too!

A while back (I forget when and where exactly) I saw a circle book and filed it away in my head under "things to try".
Like star books they can be tied open to leave out on display and it wasn't long before the idea of using a circle book as a Christmas decoration started to form.


They are perfect for this sort of thing as each "page" is a little bit like a stage set, and there's not only the "walls" of the pages to use for decoration, but you can use the "floor" and add pop up bits and pieces, and also have some little extra stand alone elements to move around in your display.

These are just a couple of photos of the circle book, if you're interested in seeing more check out Charmed's Design Team section here

I was thrilled to be asked to be part of Karen's team this month. Her design team is stuffed full of wonderful talent and it's a real honour to see my own name up there with them. Thanks Karen for giving me this chance.

I'm going tohead off to get on with more crafty projects in a minute, seems like a good way to spend the day - Hubby Dearest has brought a stinking cold into the house and generously shared his germs with me so it's going to be a stay-in-the-warm day today, with regular Lem-sips to try and bang this cold on the head quickly

I love to see the comments left on my blog, the crafting community is always so generous and friendly, but I want to say a special "thank you" for the lovely message left by "Anonymous" on Saturday, 06 December - I've no idea who you are but your comment was so kind and this is the only way I can acknowledge it.
I hope your recovery goes well and that maybe one day soon you'll be able to join in with all the crafty stuff out here in blogland - thank you again for your message.

Gotta be Quick, 'cos Christmas is coming....

Daring Cardmakers Day today and the first of a few "Team" dares. This is when we all get together and come up with some ideas for the challenges rather than just one of us setting the dare.

Just in case you hadn't noticed, Christmas is just around the corner - less than two weeks to go now!
So as we hurtle headlong towards the big day we thought we'd help you out just a little bit with those last minute cards.
Every year we find ourselves needing a few extra cards, even when we thought we'd got plenty, so this dare is all about super-quick Christmas crafting.
We want to see cards that take only a few minutes, but of course don't look it!
Make just one, or see how many you can make in an hour it's up to you.
On your marks.... get set......Go Go Go

It's always simpler to stick to one set of papers that you're absolutely sure will go together whichever one you pick up so it was back to BG's Wassail for me. To get around my "white space" problem I ran my card blank through the Cuttlebug using the baubles embossing folder. Cut a strip of paper to cover the "join" between plain and embossed card, and cut a bauble using a BossKutz die. The sentiment is from a sheet I printed out when I first started making my Christmas cards - so much quicker than doing one at a time!
That was it, and as I was on a roll I made these too:

I even managed to resist the urge to add a bit of ribbon to the baubles or the sentiment - and I tell you - that's not an easy thing for me to do!

While I was looking for the BossKuts die I found the QK Stocking one and as i've not used that one yet this year either I gave it an outing too and made these. This time I succombed to a bit of gold thread though - there's a limit to how long a girl can go without some extra twiddly bits.
Dtill, even these didn't take long. Trouble is, now the one without any gold thready stuff looks a bit sad and bare. Might have to give it some ribbon!
For this third set I cut some little parcels from the 12x12 papers - I've got a few more little parcels ready cut to make some more cards later.
I did this lot in not much over an hour so I was quite pleased with myself. I'm really looking forward to seeing how all the Darers get on this week. There are lots more Quickie Cards over on the DCM blog, so do go and check them out.

I had a really exciting email a couple of weeks ago and now I can share what it was all about - but that can wait till the weekend, I think. Sneaky, eh?

Starry Thursday

Remember this sneak peek from a few weeks ago? It's one of my projects using the December Kit (Festive Flurry) from Bubbly Funk.
The papers are by KI Memories and are those really pretty shimmery ones that they do from time to time.

Thursday is my day to do the pages on the Bubbly Scrumptious Blog and I've added my Christmas Star Book project today.

It was such fun to make and once I'd worked out how all those bits go together it wasn't even so difficult! I made mine as a display book, something I can keep and use as a Christmas decoration, but it would also make a lovely gift, especially if personalised with photos and quotes.

Check out the Bubbly Scrumptious Blog for lots of crafty ideas and projects, plus all sorts of other articles and fun stuff. The Festive Flurry Kit info can be found HERE, and there's even a wish list attached to shop - you can add your faves and email the list to your nearest and dearest!

That's all for today, got to get crafting!

It's all busy, busy here so my blog has been rather neglected.
I've not really had much time to browse blogland either - which is something I miss doing as it's always so inspiring to see what everyone else is up to.
Lots of the things I've made recently I can't share yet, but I do have a couple of cards made for Ribbon Oasis that I can show now.

I absolutely love this bobbly stuff! It's lightly wired so it holds shapes really well and I couldn't resist making it into a zigzag tree shape for this card
I bought a load of Daisy Bucket papers last year, but then I decided that I didn't like most of them! ooops! I've not bought any DB since.
These ones I do like though, the pink and green are lovely. I used them for these two cards aswell
I used the white ribbons and ricrac glued onto faux chipboard then sliced up into triangle trees.
The rub-ons were part of a birthdy gift from Sue H, I've used loads of them this Christmas so thanks Sue!

The last one uses graduating lengths of ref/green ribbon to form the tree shape. I used red Stickles to cover any frayed ends and to make the pot.


Right, I should move over to the other desk and make use of the lovely bright day we have here to do a bit of crafting. Hopefully I'll have more stuff to share soon.

Look Around

As always, Friday is Daring Cardmakers Day and this week it's my turn to set the dare - and if you're not already scared just hearing that, then you should be, because this one is real challenge. Well, I think it is, but I'm happy to be proved wrong - go on, I DARE you!

This week you can make any card you like - so it can be for Christmas, or for any occasion you like, but I'd like you to look for your inspiration right there, in your home.
The idea is that you look around your home and find a pattern, design, motif etc - or just part of one that you can replicate and use as the inspiration for your card design
You could use the pattern of the floor or wall tiles in your kitchen or bathroom, or even your patio tiles
Or maybe there's a pattern/motif that's used on a picture frame, wallpaper or curtains.
Or how about checking your crockery, a vase, an ornament for a motif you could develop into a design for a card

Once you start looking around, you'll see loads of little design motifs that can work for you - at least I hope you will!
And now I'm going to be really greedy and say that it would be especially good if you could add a photo of the original item when you write your blog!
I don't ask for much, do I? hehehe

The Design Team were very quiet after I posted this dare for them - I was beginning to think it was A Dare Too Far! You can see the cards the Brave Ones came up with over on the DCM blog, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Darers rise to the challenge. I used the border tiles in the bathroom as my inspiration for this card. It's for my brother's birthday and I thought a design like this would work well for a man's card - and you all know how hard men's cards can be! I just added a monogram to the design and it was done, and it's not even his birthday for a week or so. That's got to be a record!

I've used a mix of Blonde Moments and Junkits papers for this card. I cut the shapes and the monogram with the Craft. The mosaic shapes were cut once in paper and a couple of times in thin card then stuck together it would be great if Mr Robo cut thicker card, but it doesn't and this is my way around the problem when I want some dimension. The a"real" tiles are quite glittery - I resisted the urge to glitter the paper version but I did add a bit of black Stickles to the "M". A while ago I showed some sewing projects made using the latest pack of ribbon sent by Bea over at Ribbon Oasis. I also made a few cards using these lovely red, green and white ribbons and trims, but I forgot to post them on here. This is a version of the "noel" card I showed a few days back, this time with a bit of added zhoosh from ribbon and brads I'll save the others for another day - it's a bit hectic around here so it'll be good to have some reserve cards to share! Or is that just too sneaky?

It's Bubbly Scrumptious Day

Well, actually, Every day is It's Bubbly Scrumptious Day as a new project appears each day, but Thursday is my day to post on there.

I've added a couple of cards today.
I've waffled on a lot about how fab the November "Wonderland" kit was and today I'm adding the last of my projects using that kit to the emag. I'm still using bits and pieces from it though -quite a few of the cards I've posted on my blog lately have been made using scraps and bits from it.

Today's card is called Dancing Snowmen and it's a nice easy one. I love the snowmen on the "Warm Hearts" paper (Dream Street Papers), they look so happy. I thought I'd cut some of them out and rearrange them into a happy snowman dance!

My second card has no patterned paper on it at all!
I've used lots of other items from the December "Festive Flurry" kit instead. Everything in it is lovely, but for this card I decided to leave the gorgeous shimmery papers in the box and let the other fab elements take the starring role.

You can visit the Bubbly Scrumptious E-mag to see more of these projects, and all the wonderful projects from the other designers. It's a fab place for inspiration and all sorts of other magazine type stuff!

Sorry, this is a bit of a quickie post today, I've got loads to do so need to stop waffling for once!
Back soon with more stuff, and hopefully time for a bit of blog-hopping.

Beautiful Bling!

I've been working away at a few projects this week and can share a couple of things on here today.
Leo's about ready to release the new set of Crafty Templates and it's been a joy to use them - a fab change from the Christmas stuff, but still quite cheery and full of seasonal, party bling.

In fact the new set is called "Bling and the City" and has some wonderful fashion templates, plus a New Year one thrown in for good measure. The matching goodies kit is obviously full of the right sort of stuff you need to get the most from the templates. There's shine, glitz, fuzzy stuff and lots and lots of glimmer and glow.

My favourite of the templates this time was this fancy boot and I loved making this card. I'm sharing a couple of photos so that you can see it standing up as well as a full-on image. The spots on the background paper are flocked and the main part of the boot is cut from the most fabulous glitter card stock. There are some other fantastic Footwear templates in this set, but this was my fave.

This gorgeous clutch bag template is another from the new set. I've used card, ribbon, gems, fabric flower and giant brad from the kit and added a swirl; painted silver and glitter-glued up, which I think I had leftover from a past goodie kit.
I punched a 1cm black circle and stuck it to the centre of the giant silver brad, then added black and silver glitter glue to keep with the glitzy theme. More info on the templates and the goodies kits HERE

This is another of the felt tree cards I made following Friday's DCM challenge - I planned to do some in other colours but this is as far as I've got. I do love this pale blue though.
The patterened paper is, I think the last remnant of that particular paper from the BF "Wonderland" kit.
Trees are white felt and the glittery dots are my newest Stickles - such a pretty plae blue colour, mm new fave Stickles!

That's all for the moment.....