Blog Friends.....

 I had a wonderful surprise the other day, a long term reader of this blog is giving up crafting for health reasons. She cleared out her craft room, and a parcel arrived from the USA FILLED with dies and stamps that she gifted to me. It was like my birthday and Christmas rolled into one. She has asked me not to publish her name, which I will respect, but I wish there was a way I could say thank you - apart from a thank you card which is already on it's way. I was so touched that she should think of me, and make such a generous gift.

Here are some cards made with one of the dies, MFT Diagonal Quilt Square Cover Up Die (which you can get HERE if you are interested). I cut a whole bunch out in various cardstock and papers, then had fun piecing them altogether. These four cards took only half an hour to assemble

Then sadly, almost at the same time that this surprise parcel arrived, I had the sad news that one of my blog friends had passed away. Right from the start, Joan was a regular here. She lived in Florida, some 100 miles away from where we lived, but one day she and Tom made the trip over to Hudson to see us for the day. What a day we had. We quickly learnt that we not only had crafting in common, but a lot of shared interests, love of family and pride in our grandchildren. She found out that Max, who was then about five was obsessed with fire engines, fire stations etc. She sent me some genuine USA fireman 
 badges, which I put into a frame for him - he still has it in his room today. The correspondence carried on over the years, I guess it was the modern equivalent of a pen pal. Now she has gone, and I felt a real sense of loss, and sadness for her much adored family. 


These two, unconnected events, a surprise parcel and memories of a friendship, made me realise that these connections that we make through blogging, and emails aren't always just fleeting connections, but genuine friendships and that we can make a difference to each others lives, I just wanted to say that I appreciate each and every one of you when you pop over to encourage me, and read my wafflings. Thank you

Enough! I'll be back tomorrow xx 

More Snowflake Snippets - Spellblogger post for Spellbinders

I can't stop playing with the Snowflake Snippets die set by Spellbinders - so very pretty

Definitely my favourite Christmas set this year............

This little darling was one yesterday. Happy Birthday Molly! We were lucky to have them here for the weekend, so got to share in the birthday celebrations. Just one thing Molly, can you tell Mummy where you hid the remote control to our TV?

Trees - for Daring Cardmakers

 The challenge over on Daring Cardmakers this week is Trim the Tree - I decided against a traditional Christmas tree and went for some Birch tree dies.....and as usual, while I was messing around, I ended up making two cards.

This first one is just some simple inking with distress inks and a circle mask within a stitched frame, with the trees in the foreground......

More inking for this one, with some water splatters which looks like snow falling, and this time I added some deer to the mix. Both cards have a subtle scattering of white blizzard glitter here and there for a bit of sparkle. Do pop over to Daring Cardmakers to see how the rest of the design team have interpreted this dare - it fascinates me every week that we all come up with such different takes on the same subject

 

Now the good news is that I haven't, after all, torn tendons in my shoulder, I just have a lot of swelling and inflammation, which should calm down with an injection into the joint. So no need for surgery that would have taken me out of action for a few weeks. Thanks for all the good wishes. You are such a supportive bunch, and I appreciate you all

So it's Black Friday - yes, although this commercial honeytrap has just recently inched it's way across the Atlantic, and the shopping mania sales here lack the impetus of the frenzy in America, (that used to drag me from my bed at a ridiculous hour to join the crowds looking for those early bird specials),  I am still enough of an idiot bargain hunter, to saunter down to the town today, just for a little look......I just won't be getting up at 4.00 a.m to do so!

Snowflake Snippets - Spellblogger for Spellbinders

My Spellblogger post for this week uses the delightful and versatile new die set called Snowflake Snippets - I just love this set, it  is versatile and a great way of making 'conveyor belt' Christmas cards that have a real impact as well. My first card (above) is a simple almost one layer card - I masked off the base card and inked the square before sticking the die cut on top. You can find the Dies in the Spellbinder store HERE

The second card was made by not cutting the die, I just embossed it into the cardstock, then inked the raised impression with Broken China and Peacock Feather distress inks, before adding some Nuvo glitter 

So today I have an MRI scan on a very painful shoulder joint, let's hope they can get me sorted.......preferably without involving scalpels and sutures! Keep your fingers crossed for me

Warm Wishes - for Daring Cardmakers

Today, over on the Daring Cardmakers challenge blog, the theme is Winter Clothing, I decided to use mittens, cut with my Cricut - The warm wishes sentiment doesn't show up that well in the photo, better in real life! Be sure to hop over to DCM to see the inspiration from the rest of the team

My Christmas card box is filling up quite nicely now - how about you? Here's a selection I made using just one sheet of 12 x 12 paper - I used a 'one sheet wonder' pattern, a great way of getting the most out of your papers, with no waste 

Here's the pattern I used with the measurements. Ignore the circled numbers, I had the idea of numbering all the cards, but got hopelessly  sidetracked on that idea!

and here is a peep at some of the designs. Do try this - it's a great way to use up that precious sheet of paper that you have had for ages, but don't want to cut up.....we have all been there, those papers you take out and stroke lovingly before putting them back to bed for another year! 

Post It Note Holder - Spellblogger for Spellbinders

I have been making some little Christmas gifts with the lovely Note Holder die set from Spellbinders - perfect for little hostess gifts, or eyecatching additions to your table at a craft fair or fundraiser........

Here are the dies you get in the set - quick and easy to assemble, and those little flowers will be very useful for other projects as well! The completed holder hold a standard post it note perfectly

I changed it up a bit for this one, and made a note holder to place by my house phone. I found some kraft coloured post its, and used the little phone from the Hello Die D-Lites set to embellish it

 I found that my wood slice pen fits perfectly across the holder. Result - I'm always searching for pens!....

I never told you about Pizzagate - when Mike was ill, one of our sons came up to see him. Mikes appetite was poor, which we chatted about.  Ed left to drive home, and shortly afterwards there was a knock on the door, there stood a Dominos pizza guy with a delivery. 'not for me' I said. He showed me the printed label with our address on 'all paid for' he said
Lightbulb moment, our caring son had ordered lunch for us in the hope of tempting his dad's appetite.....how kind. But he had gone a bit overboard, there were two huge pizzas. But we gratefully cut a couple of slices from each, and enjoyed.........
Another ring on the doorbell. A woman asking (no, demanding) the return of her pizza! Apparently she had family for lunch and had ordered these two huge pizzas that we had nibbled at, they sat waiting for their delivery for ages, until she eventually tracked it to our house. She wasn't very pleased, or neighbourly, but what could we do but offer to pay, but she stormed off 
To cap it all my phone pinged with a return to the text I had sent Ed thanking him for his thoughtful gesture. 'Pizza? What pizza. Not from me mum.....' Oops
I can recommend the Hawaiian, meatball supreme not so much 😀😀 

Daring Cardmakers - Elemental Inspiration

Over at Daring Cardmakers this week, the challenge was to use three elements from the inspiration photo shown here. I played a bit safe, and chose the lovely blue background, flowers, foliage and some berries. What would you choose? Do pop over and see what inspired the team, and join in if you can

November has sort of crept up and caught me unawares. How did that happen? Last time I blinked, it was summer time. That means I need to start getting my head around those Christmas presents, but before then, we have Molly's first birthday. Alex has asked for outfits for her, rather than more toys, which even now are threatening to take over their house....so I have the rather lovely task of looking at small pinafore dresses, and stripey tights - I love stripey tights for babies.........in my element!