Hole In One

Lythan's turn this week to set the challenge for on The Daring Cardmakers.

Hole in One

I'd like you to make a card that has at least one hole in it. Could be a card with an aperture or one that features a border punch with holes in or you can use a hole punch to create a pattern. See how inventive you can be! 

Last weekend my new flower kit from Creative Treasures arrived.  As soon as I opened the envelope I knew it would be a Bad Thing to open the cellophane bag inside - I could see enough of the contents to know that I'd want to use the contents straight away - so just for once I exercised a bit of self-discipline and left the bag sealed until I'd finished things further up the to do list.  I know!  I quite shocked myself too hehe

Even though the bag was sealed the bits that I could see were helping to form a plan for Lythan's dare, and by the time I came to make it all I had to find were the right papers.  They turned out to be some of those in the MME Penny Lane collection - aren't they gorgeous, what a wonderfully Spring-like mix of colours.  Adding in a few bits of purple from my stash meant the papers matched the flowers and ribbons etc perfectly,

I cut lots of circular holes using different punches/dies of different sizes, Added some MME paper to the inside of the card so that the various embellishments would really show up well through the holes. 

I used a couple of Nesties dies, a couple of Cuttlebug dies and 2 or 3 plain circle punches to make a random pattern in the upper section of the card. 

Most of the flowers, ribbons, buttons and the tiny leaf are from the Creative Treasures January Kit which is called "Frosted Lace".  It's full of pale greens, turquoises and white blooms, ribbons, buttons, lace and various other bits and pieces which I'm going to love using.

Click HERE to see (and order!) the Flower Kit - and to be tempted by all the other lovely things Tracy has gathered together in the shop.

I used my cropodile to punch a couple of random lines of the larger holes along the turquoise strip, then added a tiny Anita's 2mm gem in each of the holes.

I loved making this card and it took no time at all because everything is so random - very little measuring to make sure things are straight or symmetrical - just "Punch, and Go!" hahaha

Please check out all the lovely holey cards on the DCM BLOG this week, and please join in with the fun - that's two challenges in two days I've issued - you might be able to join them both into one card if you're really smart!  Actually I might give that a go myself!

Don't forget tomorrow is Funky Hand's new CD "Dreams Come True" launch date - The time and place is Ideal World's Create and Craft, 12 noon, Saturday 16th January.  You can pre-order though by heading for the Funky Hand website straight away!  You can view the programme on your pc via the link in the sidebar on the C&C website HERE

I think that's all.  I'll be back soon with more of the bits and pieces I've made this week, I hope you've liked what you've seen today and you'll visit again soon.  Please leave a message before you go - I do love to read them.

Happy Crafting

Yay! It's RAINING!

I've never been so glad to hear rain on the windows, then look out and see the snow is being washed away.  The grass is visible again and gradually the paths and road are appearing too.  I bet it's really slippery though.

Mind you I'm sure I heard a weather forecast that said more snow was on the way - wouldn't it be nice if they'd got that wrong - usually we moan when they get it wrong - but that's because they tell us it's going to be hot and sunny and it turns out damp and miserable!

Bubbly Scrumptious day today and I've made a few cards to show on there this week.  There are three cards and they all use the Violette Wings kit, which I'm managing to make spin out as long as possible!  The main thing this week though, is that all three cards were made following the same template - and that I've issued a challenge for anyone else who dares to join in - make any sort of crafty project using the template, then leave a message, on the challenge thread with a link so we can see it - even if you don't have a blog of on-line gallery you can still enter by sending a photo to Caroline (the address is on the BS blog).  The names of all those who join in will be put into the virtual hat and one lucky person will win this prize, couresty of Bubbly Funk:

It's a Hero Arts Designer Ribbons Stamp Set, along with a lovely array of ribbons and trims to go with it.

Head over HERE to see the cards I've made in full and of course to see the sketch you need to use for making your own project.

I really hope you'll join in, I'd love to see what you make.

I'm also popping this sketch onto my Sketch File blog - so you can also link to that too.  I'm going to try and add at least one new sketch each month - I was really rather useless at adding new sketches on there towards the end of last year.  This year I'll try harder!

Off now to finish my card for tomorrow's Daring Cardmakers, ooooh it's all go, isn't it hehe

A Great Big Hug and WOYWW

Nooooooooooooooooo!  

By late yesterday afternoon I could see the green of the grass in my garden again, and at the front of the house I could see a tarmac road instead of the white of compacted snow. But this morning it's all white again and it's been snowing lightly all morning.  OK so we've not as much snow here as a lot of people are dealing with, and there's only a fraction of what we had before Christmas but I DON'T LIKE IT.  I just want it to go away.  I've got Winter hibernation tendencies to start with, I don't need the added complication of this manky weather.  

That's my "rant for the day" over with.  I've made myself a hot chocolate - I've discovered that the steamer on my lovely Gaggia cappuccino maker is fab for heating the milk and a lot less hassle than using a pan.

Wednesday means it's WOYWW time again - if you've not come across this little bit of fun and inquisitiveness click on the WOYWW blinkie in the side bar to find out more.

Here's how my desk looks today, you can click for a closer look ;)

There's something I've just finished and in amongst the stuff I've been using is a little poly-baggie full of gorgeousness which is the next thing on my "to-do" list.  Not even dared open the bag because I knew I'd want to play with the contents instead of finishing other jobs!

Anyway, I bet there are a lot of people who could use a great big warm hug  today, so this card, made using one of this month's Crafty Templates is for you:

Isn't he gorgeous?

You can get your own set of fabulous Crafty Templates HERE, this month is all about hugs, hearts and friendship.  You can also find out and order the Crafty Goodies Kit Leo puts together each month.  I've used card and paper from the kit on the teddy card, plus a bit of my own stash by way of the purple and pink card scraps.

I've a couple more cards to share, but I'll save them for another time.  

Hope you're keeping safe and warm in this horrible weather

Something Funky Afoot!

Since Christmas I've been busy working on projects for a couple of the DT's I'm lucky enough to be involved with.  Top of the "to-do" list for immediately after Christmas was getting down to, making samples for the up-coming release of the new Funky Hand CD.  As I waved "Goodbye" to my rellies on  3rd Jan, suddenly the 16th of Janiary sounded very close indeed.

Anyway, I thought I'd tempt you with some glimpses/sneak peeks.

The CD is called "Dreams Come True" and if you love to have lots wonderful paper designs in lots of different colour-ways, then this really is a dream come true.  Every time I look through the collections that are on the CDs, or see things that the other DT members have made, I'm seeing designs and colours that I hadn't spotted before!  I know that sound mad, but it's true.

This is a sneak peek of the first thing I made.  I think you can see at least 6 of the designs in this gorgeous colour theme on here, but there are still lots more to choose from - I just couldn't squeeze them all on one project

 Sneak peek number 2 uses another of my favourite colour themes, I adore the muted reds, greens etc in this set.  Both of these colour themes are fab for masculine projects as well as girly ones.  I'm thrilled to have things like this at my fingertips as I always struggle to find papers in my collection that I can use for all the nephews and other males in our family.

The big news is that Anice has today released the CD for pre order on the Funky Hand Website, they won't be mailed out till after the TV launch, but you can have "first dibs" by getting over there and placing your order HERE

Oooooh did I just mention the Telly?  

Yep, the official launch for "Dreams Come True" will take place on Ideal World's Create and Craft on Saturday 16th January at 12noon - if you don't have the freeview/satellite channels on your regular TV to watch it you can still tune in via your computer and see Anice doing her stuff and showing all the samples the team have been making over the last couple of weeks.

There's another show scheduled for  Friday 22nd  January at 2pm if you miss the first one or just want to see more!

I'll add a couple more sneakie peekies as the week goes on.

Right, I've been doing the dreaded housework this morning, so now it's time for lunch and then I get to craft, woohoo

Hope your snow is melting fast!

Garnets

....are the birthstone for the month of January and the first month of a new year is the right place to start off a new series of Dares on the Daring Cardmakers.  We're going to use the first dare of each month to feature the birthstone for that month - are you still with me?

Well, I know that today isn't actually the first Friday of this month, but we were still on our Christmas Break last week so this week is our first dare for this month so by default it's where we start this year long series of dares.

January's birthstone is the garnet - it was a shame I didn't go surfing the net for info until this morning really, or I might have been a bit more imaginative about my card.  I hadn't thought to check on origins, myths, meanings etc - I just focussed on the colour of the garnet in a ring I used to have - probably still do, but I know not where!  If you're interested in finding out a bit more there are loads of sites with info on birthstones, THIS is just one of those I found.

One of Hubby's aunts has her birthday this month so I made a card with her in mind:

There was going to be a little bird on this card but it all went a bit pear-shaped so the bird will have to go on another card at some point! Anyway, after a bit of silent swearing and clenching of fiststhis is what I came up with

Why don't I have much red stuff in my stash?

Having boxed up the Christmas stash and put it out of sight in the big cupboard on Monday, I had to get it out again on Wednesday when I went to make this card.

I drew some swirls with Glossy Accents and added Glamour Dust.

I painted, glittered and GA'd a piece of chipboard with a paisley design

The inner flower was two Prima hydrangeas made into one and the flower centre is cut from lovely velvet paper

The calendar is stamped (yes, I actually stamped it!) - it's one of the "Snag 'em" stamps

I used black stazon ink to colour the tiny swirly clip and a MS corner punch in the ....corner.

Please pop over to the DCM BLOG and see the other cards - you'll also get to meet our lovely January Guest Designer Caz and find a link to her fabulous blog.

I'm not sure about this new editing wotsit on Blogger - it seems fine on my own blog, but it was a right pain this morning on the DCM one and I can't seem to get the spacing right in that message.  I might have to go revert to the old one for DCM stuff.  I'd be interested to know how you're getting on with it if you've changed to the new editing window

Anyway, it's taken me most of the morning to do two blogs and that's time I really should have got more mileage from.  moan moan moan

Off now to try and do some stuff from the the "to do" list - which should be getting shorter but isn't

Catch up with you soon.

Oh, and by the way, if you get a message on your blogs with even more typos than usual, it's probably because I'm trying to catch up with you in odd minutes using my iPod Touch.  Well that's my excuse, anyway!

A Websters Pages Calendar

Well, at the moment we are escaping the worst of the snow which seems to be engulfing the country.  We have a couple of inches - which is not nearly as much as we had here before Christmas - but still too much for my liking.  bah humbug!

My turn to add something to the Bubbly Funk shop's blog aka Bubbly Scrumptious.  Last week I'd got this little calendar ready to go, but I just didn't have time to write up the project.  So this week that's what I've been doing and you can read all about it by clicking HERE.

It's a really fun-to-make project as the Websters Pages I've used almost tell you which bits should go where on whatever you make - then it's just a case of adding all those extra bits and bobs.  If you visit here regularly you'll already know how much I love using flowers, lace, ribbons etc. on my projects and this week I've managed to use lots of them!

This calendar is made on a 7 x 5" canvas panel and the whole thing took less than a couple of hours to make.

I hope you like it and if you have a go at making something similar - please please let me know so I can come and see!

Right, I must be good and stop waffling now as I have some rather urgent crafting stuff to do and I'm running out of time - nothing new there then, eh?

Stay safe and warm and take lots of care if you have to go out in this snowy, icy weather.

 

The Last Christmas

I think this is the last lot of Christmas photos.  I guess that means I'll have to find new stuff to write about - maybe even make some new stuff - it's always a bit of a challenge to get back into the crafting after the holiday season, somehow I never know where to start when faced with a clean slate and no Christmas tasks!

I've started the New Year by changing to the new post editor on Blogger - so we'll see how that works out - I may well scuttle back to the old and familiar one quite quickly though!

Anyway here are a few Christmas pics

This is our tree on Christmas morning, complete with the stockings I made years ago and which are now looking a bit tired.  I wonder if I'll remember that and make new ones in time for Christmas 2010?

Next up is a close up of the parcels under the tree from the other side - if you look closely you can see some of the  decorations I made to pretty up the parcels

Christmas dinner in our family is just not complete without Yorkshire Puddings.  I always open the oven door with my fingers crossed and breathe a sigh of relief when they come out like they did this time - not bad, eh?

This is Happy Me when I found my wonderful iPod Touch in the last parcel Hubby gave me.  I just love it to bits!  I'm also "modelling" the gorgeous new pashmina that was in another package.  Spoiled? moi?

Ok, next up is the pizza-box style box I made to present niece Izzy's gift in - I'd much rather use a box for giving squishy, difficult to wrap gifts as they always look like a dog's breakfast just wrapped in paper, don't they?  This one was for a little Radley purse so worth concealing the contents for a little while longer.

Thanks to Gez for sharing the original instructions for this one during a cyber crop - I changed the measurements etc to fit the purse and it worked out pretty well.

Papers are lovely MME "Pretty Please" (I think)

Crikey, it's getting colder and colder, I think I might have to give the heating a boost in a minute.  I hope you're all managing to stay safe and warm today, I'm just hoping that the snow that so much of the UK is covered with at the moment stays away - we only got rid of the remnants of the pre-Christmas snow we had here last Wednesday.  I can do without the stuff. 

Yeah, yeah, call me a misery-guts if you like but I'd prefer just to see it on TV hehe

Right, I really do need to make a start on some craft stuff so I'm off.

Back soon

Funky Stuff

Happy New Year!

The first "normal" day of 2010 for me, our visitors left yesterday - it was lovely to have them here to spend New year with us and the house seems very empty now it's back to just the two of us. Mind you, it's going to take a while to clear everything away - we couldn't face starting the post-Christmas clear-up yesterday so the tree, decs and other assorted debris is still there. If I stay up here in the study then maybe I can avoid looking at it for a while longer......

I need to get back to some crafting, I've not so much as stuck two bits of paper together since before Christmas and I have a LOT of crafty tasks to get done in the next couple of weeks.

Over on Get Funky - which is the challenge blog for Funky Hand, Lythan has set the January challenge of Spots & Stripes. If you head over there you'll find all the info on how to join in - and what you might be lucky enough to win if you do. There's also some sneak peeks of the new CD "Dreams Come True" which will be released very soon - Anice's new designs are fabulous and I've been thrilled to have joined her DT just in time to be involved with making stuff for the new release.

As it happens though, I've not used "Dreams Come True" for my January card - I'm still delving into the archives and enjoying playing with some of the earlier downloadable designs, so I used papers from the "Paper Blossoms" download (they're all still available btw) to make this card for one of my SIL's birthdays, which was just before Christmas.

All these papers were on the download. I also used the little flower shape from the icon/greetings sheet, which I resized a few times to make a layered version for the flower embellishment. The centre of the flower is glittered, but it doesn't show up very well in the photo


Before I take all the cards down, I thought I'd run down and take a photo of my "Christmas Card Door" to show on here. I blu-tacked all the handmade cards I received onto one of the doors so they could all be seen together - I'm not sure how long I can get away with displaying cards like this though as "door renovation" is one of our on-going projects - somehow I don't think I'll be "allowed" to use blu-tack once they are all stripped, sanded and waxed or painted!

Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to send us a card this Christmas, I'm sorry, but I've only managed to do a photo of the handmade ones though as they're all together. You can click on the image for a closer look.

Now that things are about to settle down again, I'm looking forward to getting started on more crafting, blogging and blog-hopping too - I've really missed getting around to see what my friends out in blogland have been doing, but it's been so hectic that I'm sorry, I just haven't managed much of anything like that for the last few weeks.

Today's crafting task isn't so much crafting as "finding my craft desk" anything left alone for more than half an hour in this house seems to become a shelf, or dumping ground - and turning round to look at my desk I can see there's some clearing to be done before I can find my scissors!

Hope you all had a wonderful New Year celebration and that you're all ready to get stuck (pardon the crafty pun) into 2010

A Few Minutes Peace

I hope all my blogging pals had a wonderful Christmas.

My aunt, uncle and one of my cousins are due to arrive this afternoon to spend a few days over New Year with us - I think I've done enough of a clear-up job around the house to get away with - mind you the ironing mountain is something I've not had time to tackle.
Anyway, as it's WOYWW I thought I'd see if I could do a quick blog post while I drink this cup of coffee I keep forgetting about.


My desk is a bit like the Marie Celeste I'm afraid. There's plenty of mess to check out but not much sign of crafting. You'd think that with just the two of us around the place I'd have spent some time in the craft area or on the pc - but that's not how it works out. We've had family pop in, we've been out and about to visit others, we've "played" with the various new toys - new wii games (family ski and formula 1) and of course my gorgeous new iPod Touch (never far from my fingers....), and lots of other things that have kept both of us away from the study - well, it is Christmas and it's just nice to have some time to spend together.

Yesterday we were at the theatre - a wonderful surprise treat from Hubby - I opened one of my presents to find a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" gift bag with a lovely china mug inside, plus tickets for yesterday's matinee performance of the play currently on at The Haymarket theatre. Anna Friel is playing Holly Golightly - she was fab - the stage play is quite different from the film and definitely worth seeing if you can. I did miss hearing "Moon River" though.

I love going to matinees - you can have a leisurely trip into London arrive in time for lunch, go to the theatre for the show then you're out in time to go for a nice meal before heading for home - no panic about catching late night trains which stop at every two-bit station on the way home.

Just had a call to say my rellies are fast approaching, so I'm writing quickly now....

Here are a couple of photos of the voucher holder I made to present MILs magazine subscription info in


That's it - I'll be back when I can!

Just Playing

Oh my goodness how techie am I? I'm writing this on my new iPod Touch. Get me, eh?

Christmas Eve

Just a quick post today
My wish of yesterday for the snow to go seems to be coming true. We had some rain last night and there's a bit of a thaw going on - though the road outside looks rather like an ice rink just now and there's still a lot of snow about.

Just because it's Christmas week doesn't mean there's nothing happening on Bubbly Scrumptious - the team have still been crafting and posting on there and there's plenty to see, so if you do get the odd five minutes peace and quiet - do head over and have a look.



Thursday is my day to add something to the emag and today I'm doing a bit of an update rather than anything "new". Last month I made a little Christmas Pocket Book with the idea of using it to record some of the run up to Christmas and of course the Christmas/New Year period itself.

So today on BubScrump I'm just sharing those pages I've been working on. I doubt that any are actually finished, but you can see the Work in Progress by clicking HERE

Last for today, some tags I made at the weekend - how come I never have enough of the little blighters? Hubby and I don't even put any on the presents we buy for each other, but still I always end up scrabbling around making a few more at the last minute


I made this template for Mr Robo last year and have used it a couple of times this year too. If you scroll back a bit you'll find some cards I used it on.
It made some really easy tags - I cut the base in card then the fringe in a couple of different VG papers. A few blobs of Stickles and they were done. I wish I'd thought of it earlier!

Anyway, that's all from me till after the Big Day.

I just want to send all my Blog-friends the very best wishes for a wonderfully happy and peaceful Christmas. I hope all your wishes come true and you enjoy the holiday, however you spend it.

Take care and keep safe

WOYWW, Templates, Tree and a Snow Moan

Oh Poor Neglected Little Blog!

Well we've still got loads of snow here, it snowed again on Monday evening - it all looks very pretty but I'm bored with it now and I'd like it to please go away. At least from the roads and paths, the rest can stay if it likes, hehe.

The last couple of days it's been like living in Black and White around here - hardly any colour to be seen at all - the lovely clear blue skies we had up till yesterday have faded to grey - it's quite ethereal really.

Last week I showed the first couple of cards made with the December set of Crafty Templates, it's been a bit hectic since then so I've not had time to blog my other card. This one is made using the template set of Quirky Flowers.

I think these flowers are so much fun and I'm thinking that they'll be great to use on Thank you cards as well as fir "any occasion" cards as I've done here.
The papers are all from the Crafty Goodies Kit, the ribbon also came in one of Leo's past kits. All I added was the gems and the Stickles

It's Wednesday aka WOYW fay so here's how my workmess looks right now

And finally, I thought I'd add a photo of our tree - to show that we did actually finish dressing it - just in case you were wondering whether it got past the last photo of it that I showed on here!


I guess that few of us have much time for blogging right now. I hope that if you're "under snow" atm that you're managing to keep warm and safe.
Hope to catch up with everyone soon

The "News"

Oooer Missus! We have snow - and quite a lot of it too.
At the moment it's beautifully sunny out there so it's all looking very pretty. I've taken some photos from the back windows, but the sun is on the front at the moment - I may venture out there eventually but maybe not! I went as far as the bord feeding station to brush the snow off the various feeders and put some water out - which has probably turned to ice by now. Had to wear Hubby's big boots hahaha, as I don't really have snow-suitable footwear!
Anyway, here's how it's looking at the bottom of the garden just now:
Today sees the last dare of the year for The Daring Cardmakers - we're taking a couple of weeks off setting dares so that means you have absolutely ages to join in with the one that Sue is setting today. This is the perfect dare for this time of year, it's called New Beginnings and Sue is asking for cards celebrating all sorts of "New". It could be New Year, New Home, New Baby, New Job or anything else you can think of.

I wasn't sure what to do until we received a Christmas card early this week with a little note inside to say that my firend's daughter - who was our "little" bridesmaid at our wedding 16 years ago had her first baby at the beginning of this month.

Lovely news and what luck for me!

A very simple card - but I did manage to use lots of gadgetry!
MS corner punch fro one of the "Round the Page" sets
Zutter Round-it-All on the darker pink square
Spellbinders scalloped circle
Cuttlebug Tiny Hearts embossing folder ( it doesn't show up, but it's there)
Cropodile for ribbon holes
Craft Robo to cut the pram and name

You see - I really do need ALL of those things I can't resist buying!

The pram template is one of my own - for some reason I forgot to add a handle to the template so I had to cut that by hand!

Please pop over to the Daring Cardmakers BLOG to see the fab cards the girls have made this week, and if you get a minute during the next couple of hectic weeks, we'd love you to join in and share your New themed cards with us.
We'll be back on the 8th of January with our first dare of 2010 so you've loads of time to join in with Sue's dare before then.

That doesn't mean I won't be posting on my blog over the holidays though - I've got a few things ready to share and as I don't think the study will be needed as an extra bedroom this year I can still wallow in my crafty mess when I get the chance!
With a bit of luck I'll even get a chance to do some catching up on what all my blog pals have been up to lately...