New Years Eve

Right, back on track after having accidentally blogged three posts yesterday that weren't supposed to go 'Live' yet - oh bless me! I had them post-dated and forgot that yesterday was the date they were post-dated for! Mmm, might use draft from now on. Thanks to everyone who commented on them, lovely comments.

Anyway it is the eve of the New Year and traditionally one looks back at the old year and forward to the New Year.

Well, 2008 was a strange year full of ups and downs, as life demands, but on crafting terms it has been amazing. Starting the blog was my lovely boyfriend's suggestion and it has been wonderful, I've met so many fantastic crafty friends and had such a fun time blog hopping. I've loved all of the wonderful comments people have spent the time to post on my blog - Thank you all and it has been fantastic to visit your beautiful creations.

Looking forward to 2009, I hope that it is a good year for everyone, may it bring lots of crafty wishes to you all.

So I would like to share some wonderful blog awards that my lovely bloggy friends have shared with me. I've been meaning to put them up before, so I apologies for my lateness. I thought this would be a good post for them and I want you all to have them and don't forget to pop along to all of the blogs that they came from as well :)

From Tracey at Crafty Corner
and
Fiona at Strawberry Fields

From Joanne at Crafting Joanne

From Kati at Mampias-Stempelecke

From Chrissie at Chrissie's Card Creations,
Cazzy at It's Cazzy Time
and
Jane at Jane's Cards

From Sue at StampnDaly

From Helen at Helen's Craft Heaven

And thanks to Lisa and Christine for the Tagging :)

Have a good evening and looking forward to getting some Crafty Makes posted in the New Year.

I'll leave you with a 'Head's Up' - I will be posting some blog candy in the New Year so don't forget to drop by again soon :)

Papercraft Essentials Papercrafter of the Year 2008

Oh MY Oh MY what a fabulous Christmas Present - I've won the Papercraft Essentials Papercrafter of the Year 2008 - WOW, and Double WOW.

I still don't think I believe it. I sent my projects off and then just forgot about it, so imagine my suprise to get an email from Kate Timmins, the editor of Papercraft Essentials, saying that I had actually won!


Well, I've been keeping it a secret but now the issue of the magazine (Issue 37) has been published so I can tell you all. I am so excited about being on the Practical Publishing Design Team - I have my first commision and everything - hope I do a good job :)

It Is Christmas

Merry Christmas

Have a wonderful day. We will be celebrating Christmas with a big turkey roast :) having stayed up all night to watch Father Christmas on his journey around the world.

Hope that you have all been good boys and girls and that Father Christmas brings you lots of lovely craft goodies ;)


Materials:
Stamp - Inkadinkado; Papermania; Craft Stamper
Papers - BasicGrey
Inks - Versafine Sepia and Onyx black; Distress inks yellow, walnut stain, tea stain
Usual suspects - Paper trimmer; Silicone glue; double-sided tape; scissors
Other - Ribbon; brad; glitter glue

How Busy Is Your Card?

How busy is this card? I think I might have gone a bit mad with this one. I started to add glitter and just kept on going, by the time I had finished I was covered head to toe with the stuff.

This is for the Christmas week challenge over at Magnolia Vs Stampavie Challenge blog which is a lovely sketch. It is nice to be able to do some challenges for a change :)


Materials:
Stamp - Sarah Kay; Magnolia; Papermania
Inks - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - Letroset Promarkers
Papers - DCWV Winter matchstack
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Double-sided tape
Other - Ribbons; Glitter; Glitter Glue; Cuttlebug and snowflake dies; Brads

More is More...

I might have gone a bit overboard on this one :) No excuse I just got a bit carried away. This card is heavy!

I've used a few recycled finds such as some broken jewellery that someone gave me, not as a gift don't worry. People now know that I collect anything, particularly buttons and beads, so when they don't want their jewellery, or bits of fabric they give them to me. My boyfriend even goes out of his way to bring home bits of ribbons or old pieces of card for me - I'm a lucky girl :)

Anyway I digress - the card also uses the Basic Grey Boxer papers and I've coloured the Sarah Kay image with distress inks which is fast becoming my favourite colouring medium of the month.

The Christmas holiday challenge over at the Basic Grey Challenge blog is 'Going Green' so I thought I would enter this card with all it's re-used jewellery, buttons and mesh :)



Materials:
Papers - Basic Grey Boxer
Colouring - Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Usual Suspects - Silicone gel; Double-sided tape; Paper trimmer; Scissors
Other - Broken jewellery; Lace; mesh; Key charm; Button; Hemp string; pearl brads

Hanukkah Card

Happy Hanukkah

A Hanukkah card to celebrate the eight days of Hanukkah, the first day being today. I've modelled the Menorah very roughly on my Mum's, so roughly in fact that I don't think she would recognise it?

It is surprisingly hard to find Hanukkah stamps, particularly in the UK.

Hope you have a lovely Hanukkah.


Materials:
Cardstock - Blue; Brown bazzill
Ink - Versafine Sepia brown
Usual suspects - Paper Trimmer; Double-sided tape; scissors
Other - ribbon; Galaxy marker pens; Cuttlebug; embossing folder; QuickKutz sophisticate alpha

Lovely Pink Sugar

Back to pink for you today. Pink, black and warm greys just go so well together. For this one I've part coloured and part paper pieced the beautiful Leanne Ellis designed stamp from Sugar Nellie. Added a few glossy accents and framed her in a triple embossed frame. I don't know if you can see in the photo but her skirt is slightly curved to give dimension. I've got to find a better way to take pictures!

.

Materials:
Stamp - Sugar Nellie; Craft stamper
Ink - VersaFine Onyx Black; silver
Colouring - Letroset promarkers
Papers - Dovecraft
Usual suspects - double-sided tape; silicone glue; paper trimmer
Other - ribbons; embossing powder and heat gun; 3D-glue

Naughty Or Nice?

Nice I hope? Last year I made some Christmas stockings for myself and my OH from Christmas themed fats. I could try and say that they are post-modern ironic but they are, as you can see, full-on Traditional Christmas Chintz with extra sparkly glitz added on for good measure. Well we wouldn't want Father Christmas to miss them now would we?

Last Minute Christmas Card

A quick and easy Christmas card that has been totally inspired by the wonderful cards Emma has made, if you have a minute go take a look. This one uses those left over scraps of your Basic Grey Wassail papers with the smallest bit of distressing and a little bit of fun flock, but you could use your snow writers or glitter or even a bit of fibres or ribbons.

Wish me luck, I'm off to Ikea. I have searched high and low through the streets of London for some basic kitchen equipment and utensils and could I find any? It seems the simple basics have disappeared from the high streets of London and all you can get is your £30 for a single teaspoon, high-end stuff, probably made by the lesser-spotted, highly trained kitchen elf who only makes one teaspoon a year then takes a year off. Ok perhaps I exaggerate. Slightly :)


Just to add: The stockings were hand-cut using a sketched template.

Materials:
Papers - Basic Grey Wassail
Stamp - Papermania
Ink - Ranger's Distress inks; VersaFine Onyx Black
Usual Suspects - Paper Trimmer; Scissors; Silicone glue; Glue dots
Other - Fun flock

Christmas Is Here

Well Christmas has truly reached our flat, the decorations are up, the wine is mulled and the mince pies are a baking. But what you have to know is that my boyfriend doesn't drink and he hates mince pies - I've now eaten a packet of mince pies, a carton of cream ('coz you can not have mince pies without cream) and am drinking my way through a gallon on mulled wine. Boy, Christmas is hard work :)



I've cleverly put the mistletoe over the door to the kitchen....


If I hang about there long enough perhaps I will get lucky?

All Male At Kaboodle Doodle

We have gone Male at Kaboodle Doodle this week and are looking for projects you could give the boy or man in your life. I have done an ATC for this week using the fab All Star Kit and the skull from the Halloween Kit from Andrea's shop.


Materials:
Stamp - Sugar Nellies
Papers - Kaboodle Doodle
Inks - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - Letraset Promarkers
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Glue dots; 3D Foam
Other - 3D-glue

Weekend Is Here

Weekends are fab aren't they? I've got an embroidery group to go to so thought I would give you a card with stitching to match the mood.

So what you all up to? It seems very quiet in the blogosphere at the moment doesn't it?


Have a fab weekend.

Materials:
Stamp - Pink Cat Studio
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Colouring - Sansodor with PrismaColor and Derwent pencils
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; double-sided tape
Other - Sewing machine; Thread

Back to the Birthday Cards

A birthday card for February! Yep, it is for a birthday in February 2009, but don't worry I haven't done the birthday cards for December 2008 yet! Mmm, I better get on with them now.

So how are you all getting on with those Christmas cards?


Materials:
Stamp - Pink Cat Studio; HOTP
Ink - versafine onyx black
Colouring - Letroset promarker
Papers - Basic Grey
Usual suspects - paper trimmer; double-sided tape
Other - ribbon; nestibilites and cuttlebug

Spring Time in December

So I have finished my Christmas cards and not only that but they are all written and sent - don't hate me! It was so nice to be able to do a 'Spring' Card. I really enjoyed making this card after all those Christmas card.

This one uses Basic Grey papers and the cute Sarah Kay stamp that I've coloured in with Distress inks.



Materials:
Stamp - Sarah Kay
Papers - Basic Grey
Inks - Distress inks
Usual suspects - Paper trimmer; Double-sided tape; silicone glue; Scissors
Other - Buttons; Embroidery thread; seam ripper

Peace On Earth

The penultimate Christmas card from me this year (I hope) and I thought I would have a go at the challenge Katy has put up on the Craft Stamper Blog which is to use Glimmer Mist in a project. This follows on from a fab masterclass article in the January edition of the mag. So I used the cellophane (clingwrap, saran wrap whatever you might want to call it) technique as I've been meaning to try it for a while, what better excuse can one have?

I love this technique my only problem is being patient enough to let the paint dry :)


Materials:
Stamps - Elzybells Art Stamps
Inks - Glimmer mist; Brilliance Pearlescent
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Double-sided tape
Other - Cellophane; Galaxy marker pens; silver wrapped elastic; silver ribbon; eyelets; crop-a-dile; 3D glue

O Little Town of Bethlehem

A Basic Grey card today and it has a charm so I shall be entering into this week's Basic Grey Challenge which is all about charms this week. The block colours are Basic Grey papers but the pattern paper is actually from Rusty Pickle and the music is from a mini-carol book a friend gave me one Christmas.

We have our Christmas decorations up now :) The Christmas tree lights sparkle in their multi-coloured glory :)


Fabby Candy note - over at Cake, Cocoa & Gossip Blog Becks has some fab Wednesday Wishes candy this week.

Materials:
Stamp - Inkadinkado; Studio G Alphabet
Papers - BasicGrey; Rusty Pickle
Inks - Versafine Sepia and Onyx black; Glimmer Mist
Usual suspects - Paper trimmer; Silicone glue; double-sided tape; scissors
Other - Gold wrapped elastic; Sewing machine; thread; Charm

Heavenly Peace

So still going on the Christmas cards. Hope you like today's offering. I love the little 'Joyeux Noel' postage stamps that are actually part of the larger 'Heavenly Peace' stamp and I've cut them out to embellish the card. Finishing it off once again with the cover stamp from January's Craft Stamper magazine and some curled wire.


Materials:
Stamp - Inkadinkado; Stamp Crafter magazine; Meredith Fenwick Designs; Studio G Alphabet
Papers - K&Co; Dovecraft Victorian Christmas
Inks - Versafine Sepia and Onyx black; Tim holtz Ditress inks
Usual suspects - Paper trimmer; Silicone glue; double-sided tape; scissors
Other - Brads; Wire; Glitter glue; Cuttlebug and nestibilities

Embossing with Kaboodle Doodle

This week on the Kaboodle Doodle Challenge Blog the theme is Embossing. It can be any type of embossing that you like. For my card I have used dry embossing with my cuttlebug, glitzed up with some glitter and using the tree from Andrea's Merry and Bright Christmas kit.

You can see with the tinsel that we have our Christmas decorations out, we might even get around to putting them up today :) Have fun with the challenge.


Materials:
Papers - Kaboodle Doodle
Usual suspects - silicone glue; scissors
Other - cuttlebug; ribbon; glitter glue

First Of The Last Five

On the final card countdown, only four more Christmas cards to do (after this one). So a little triple embossing and the great cover stamp from Craft Stamper arrived just in time to finish this card :)

Question is will I finish the last four before we need to send them?


Materials:
Stamp - Inkadinkado; HOTP; Stamp Crafter Magazine
Papers - K&Co; Dovecraft Victorian Christmas
Inks - Versafine Sepia and Onyx black; Tim holtz Ditress inks
Usual suspects - Paper trimmer; Silicone glue; double-sided tape; scissors
Other - Brad; Ribbon; Seam Ripper; embossing powder; heat gun

Get Well Soon

I felt like using my little Whipper Snapper Morgan the Nurse stamp, she is just the cutest. So here she is and I've coloured her in with Tim Holtz Distress inks. The little first aid brads were white brads coloured with a red promarker pen.

So to anybody out there who might be feeling a bit under the weather:



Materials:
Stamp - Whipper Snapper
Ink - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Usual Suspects - Silicone Glue; Double sided tape
Other - Cuttlebug embossing folders and slider die; Brads; Letraset Promarker; Ribbon; computer and printer

Needle Felted Christmas

Well I'm a little later than usual with my posting today. On top of that I don't have a finished project to show you - Shock! Has the 20 cards marathon washed me out? Well perhaps, but the main reason is I've been a bit busy on other things - Double Shock.

I've been to a creative embroidery class, I'm starting next year and went along to meet the group - it was fab and perhaps if I manage to get anything done I will be able to show it on here at a later stage :)

So what is this image today? I thought I would play about with some needle felting on a stamped image and here was my first attempted. You might recognise the image as an Elzybells stamp - so cute. Stamped onto calico and filled in with wool tops and a felting needle. Then cut out carefully and mounted onto the image stamped onto card.

As I said - I was just playing about :)


Materials:
Stamp - Elzybells stamp art
Ink - VersaFine Onyx Black
Usual suspects - Silicone glue; paper trimmer
Other - calico; wool tops; felting needles; flower flock

Are They Almost Finished?

YES! I've almost finished ALL of my Christmas cards - Wahoo. I just have five more to do. Yesterday was a Marathon of cardmaking, which might explain why I've been a little quiet. I made 20 cards, the most I have ever made in one day. It was a complete production line of cutting, inking, stamping, glittering. I worked my way through a roll of double-sided tape, half a roll of glue dots and quarter of a tube of silicone glue :)

I would be really interested to know what is the largest number of cards you have made in one sitting? Is 20 a large number or a small number? It feels like a large number to me :)


Right, I have over 608 new blog posts to read in my reader :) But before I go if you haven't had a chance already, go pop over to the totally amazing Tim Holtz's blog where he is doing a '12 tags of Christmas' with blog candy, but be warned he is getting well over 2000 comments! WOW!

Materials:
Stamp - Magnolia
Ink - VersaFine Onyx black
Papers - Dovecraft Victorian Christmas
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Double sided tape; scissors; Silicone glue; Glue dots
Other - sepia marker pen; glitter glue

Flowery Donkeys

It has been quite dreary outside weather-wise so here is a colourful, cheery card for you today. It uses the DCWV Blossom and Butterflies paper pack and the Alota Stamps Sweet Little Donkey stamps from Sassy Crafts.



Materials:
Stamp - Sweet Little Donkey Alota Stamps
Papers - DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies
Colouring - PrismaColor pencils and sansodor
Usual Suspects - Silicone glue; Paper Trimmer
Other - Glitter glue; Epoxy brads

Santa Baby

December is here and the count down to Christmas has started good and proper now :) Simple cards on a theme for you today :) There are lots of glitter highlights here and there but they just never show up in the photo.



Materials:
Stamps - Pink Cat Studio; Magnolia
Ink - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - Letraset Promarkers
Usual Suspects - Silicone glue; Paper trimmer
Other - Glitter glue; Cuttlebug and embossing folder; Coloured card