Snowflake Christmas and a giveaway.....

Okay, let's have some giveaways for all you lovely followers this week to get you in the mood for Christmas. First up is the super Christmas Boutique magazine from Polkadoodles which comes with a pack of goodies containing all you need to make the projects inside the book. You get papers, stamps, ribbons etc, and loads of inspiration on how to use them from the Polkadoodle designers who are featured. This pack has been a sellout in the UK - apparently there are only 20 copies left in the whole of the country!

Look, there's me with some of the projects I did for the magazine. 

All you have to do is leave your name under this post making sure I can identify you if your name comes out of the hat (random number thingy). There will be giveaways later in the week, you can enter for all of them - who knows, one person might win the lot! I will draw the winners next Monday and announce the winners on Tuesday 30th. If you subscribe by email you need to click on 'going-buggy' at the top of your email which will bring you over here to leave a comment. I will mail to anywhere in the world. Good luck!

On to today's card -isn't she adorable? One of this year's Christmas releases from Lili of the Valley. Papers are from Papermania UK, and the snowflakes are a Sissix die

Coloured with Promarkers:
Hair Vanilla and Saffron
Skin Blush and Soft Peach
Clothes Soft pink and Dusky Pink

I'll be back tomorrow with another package of goodies for you

Peel Offs!

Like lots of crafters in the UK, I am quite snobbish about peel offs. I don't see these outline stickers very often in the USA, but you can buy them everywhere at home, and serious cardmakers tend to regard them as cheating a bit. So where I got these black Christmas peel offs is a mystery, but I suppose I must have bought them at some stage. When looked closely at them I realised that they were really rather nice. Here's what I made 

A few gems and I was done. Ah well, that's two more in the Christmas box - anyone who doesn't make cards will think I have been very clever (I hope!)


Look out for a couple of giveaways on here in the next few days. It's my birthday next week and I will have a birthday giveaway, and Letraset have come up with a gift for two of you as well. In fact, come to think of it, there will be giveaways for most of the week........


Only November, and already I am sick of the Christmas advertisements for the supermarkets on the TV  They seem to be playing them endlessly. I have already watched about 200 turkeys being carved, and jolly looking people in silly paper hats laughing merrily as they pull a cracker - come on guys, it's not that amusing - all you are going to get is a plastic keychain and a bad joke to go with your silly hat. Bah humbug (not really, I love Christmas, just hate the fact that the commercial side of things gets earlier and earlier. Soon we will be singing carols while we eat our Easter eggs...)


Off to take photos of some goodies for a giveaway now. Have a lovely weekend

Christmas Wreath

The challenge on Polkadoodles this week is a shaped Christmas card. This was easy - I printed out the ready coloured Christmas wreath from the Creative Christmas CD, did a bit of snipping, added some bakers twine and a few red gems and I was done. 

I am having a mini panic now about Christmas cards, I really need to gear up and do something I hate - mass produce. I can fiddle around with an individual card quite happily for hours, but when it comes to making more than one of each design, I get bored. Low boredom threshold, that's my trouble!


See you tomorrow

Paisley Tree

I totally forgot I had this stamp, called Paisley Tree by Impression Obsession, but found it tucked away and I couldn't resist getting my embossing stuff out to have a play.......

For this first one, I embossed the image in gold (Ranger) embossing powder, and sprinkled some gold seed beads on. Cutting it out was a bit fiddly, but worth it. Because I used a white background card, and stamped the image on white, I didn't cut out all the detail on the tree, just around the edge of the image. I stamped a script stamp (Rusty Pickle) and added a strip of lace and some bling

Doesn't this one look different? I embossed the image with clear embossing powder, then swiped the whole panel with green distress ink, then wiped the ink off the tree

We are back home from London, after a great visit to see the grandkids - they were as pleased to see us as we were to see their little faces. (Monty was having a bit of a panic in case we were going to take him back to our house with us, he shook his head gravely, like a doctor giving a patient very bad news just at the thought of it.  Funny little chap)

A friend of mine has been asked to a social occasion that she really doesn't fancy going to, but can't think of an excuse to get out of it. I gave her some excellent advice - say you have bubonic plague, or bird flu, that way nobody will come to your door with chicken soup, then say there has been a miracle healing overnight and you are now fit and healthy again - this excuse has the added benefit that the Pope may consider you for sainthood.

See you tomorrow......

Kiki's Advent Box

Here is Kiki's box - I used a Kaisercraft base and had a lot of fun decorating it. I purchased the box online from Ritz Camera in the USA, and have also found one in Sir Stampalot in the UK

I used scraps to cover the boxes and inked all the edges. The chipboard numbers were swiped with distress inks 

I cut a piece of navy snowflake paper (Papermania) to fit the back, then tore two pieces of white card to create the snow banks. They were lightly inked in ice blue and the edges glittered. The trees were cut using the Jolly Holiday Cricut cartridge. Both the little girl and boy are Polkadoodles images, coloured with ProMarkers..........

I layered the trees, sticking one to the backdrop paper, then using foam pads for the next one, and finally used a Papermania springy thing for the last tree, so it really stands out

The little boy was also stuck on with a spring (try Action Wobbles, or Piggy Tales in the USA, Papermania at Hobbycraft in the UK). I gave him a pile of cotton wool snowballs to play with, and glittered the base after doing a lot of squiggles with a snow writer......

The sentiment was cut at 2 1/2" from the Jolly Holiday Cricut cartridge. I left the base of the box (top, sides and inside the 'frame' uncovered apart from some inking. I think it gives a rather nice homespun sort of feel)

I have almost finished the second one of these Kaisercraft boxes (for Max), and that is me done for another year. (wipes brow and sinks into a chair for a restorative gin and tonic.....)

Advent Boxes

I have been busy making Advent boxes for the family - I love doing them, and half the fun is finding tiny things to put inside the boxes. This first one is for my daughter, Alex, stuffed full of tiny eyeshadows, nail varnish, a teensy sewing kit and of course some chocs as well. I used gorgeous pearlescent papers by Papermania, and found some sweet filigree angels in Hobbycraft. The numbers are peel-offs by Anita, mounted onto gold mirri card circles. I found the boxes at Hobby Lobby in the USA and carried them home to decorate.

 This next one is for two year old Monty. I made one for his sister Kiki last year and he was fascinated by it. Not having a great deal of spatial awareness at the age of 18 months, he totally ruined it by opening and shutting the little drawers after trying very hard to stuff them with his teddies  and other rather large toys! So this year he has his own, let's hope he has gained a sense of proportion in a year.........

All the papers and embellishments are again from Hobbycraft UK, at last you can get some really fun stuff in the UK.........

The drawers are filled with chocolate buttons, tiny cars, finger puppets etc - most of them from the dollar bins in the USA......

I'll show you Kiki's box, which is quite different tomorrow. We are in London visiting all the family. Max and Milo were gratifyingly excited to see us today, running up and down the hall screaming when we arrived. It is so nice to be loved!

See you tomorrow

Pearls and Swirls and Pastels.......

Our challenge over at Polkadoodles this week, was Pearls, Swirls and Pastels, set by Danielle. I loved doing this one..........

I cut a base card using the doily card from Wildcard on the Cricut at 5", then stitched a pink circle onto that. The swirl is an Autumn Leaves acrylic stamp and the image was printed from the Magical Winter CD. Pretty sweet I think


So many of you have asked for the Toad in the Hole recipe - I just make it without a recipe so you will have to look up cooking temperatures etc, I will try to give it in USA measures


Ingredients:
8 pork sausages (about 1lb)
4ozs of white flour
1 egg
8 ozs of milk with a dash of water added
Salt


Method


Put the sausage, cut into chunks, into a shallow casserole dish and bake for around 15 minutes at 350
Turn the heat up to 450 for 10 minutes - if there is no fat in the dish, add a little, there is usually enough from the sausage. The fat needs to be really hot
Add the egg, salt and a splash of the milk to the flour and start whisking, add the rest of the liquid a little at a time and keep whisking so you don't have any lumps
Pour the batter over the sausages (there should be fat from the sausage in the dish, make sure it is sizzling hot)
Bake until the batter is raised and puffy and golden brown and yummy


Oh my - I am morphing into Martha Stewart. Look out for my instructions on knitting a poncho tomorrow! 

Never Forget

At 11 AM on 11/11/2011 let us all bow our heads for a moment to honour those who made it possible for us to live in freedom. Because of them, I have the freedom to laugh with friends without fear, write whatever I want to say without fear, read whatever I want without fear of persecution, worship without fear, and know that my grandchildren will be brought up in a free country. I salute them, and wear my poppy with pride

Sunflowers in November

Here's one that will go into my 'useful cards' box. The stamp is by Great Impressions, and has three sunflowers on it, so I stamped it multiple times then punched them out into squares, and mounted them onto green scallop squares. I stuck them on at all sorts of angles to add interest, and on three of the flower squares, I used a foam pad to add another flower. I rather liked the result, it cheered me up on a very grey day

When we get back after a spell in the USA, one of the first things I have to make is Toad in the Hole. WHAAAAT? I can hear the shrieks from across the Atlantic. 'OMG, I'd heard they ate kidneys over there, but Toads?'

Rest easy, it's an old British dish made with the great British banger (sausage), and is just sausages cooked in a Yorkshire pudding batter. Yummy.

The ridiculous thing is that I never eat sausages apart from this great sausage frenzy that overcomes me as soon as I set foot in the UK. Looks a bit burnt? That means there's loads of crispy batter to scrape off around the sides..................double yummy

  

One stamp - Two ways

This is an old stamp by Inky Antics (still available though). I paper pieced the main girls dress in both cards - polka dots for one, gingham for the other. 

For this first card, the scallops were cut using a die-namics die from MFT.

I layered a blue button on top of a bigger red one for an embellishment

the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards

Here they are again, similar layout, but a very different look

I thought the image would make a nice card for a sister to send - remind them of when they were little girls maybe. The images were coloured with Promarkers - tip, when you are colouring more than one person, use slightly different skin tones, it looks more natural. For these two little girls, I used blush and soft peach for the dark haired little girl, and ivory and blush for the other one

I have finally finished unpacking all my craft stuff, so can get on with some projects. Mind you, it takes me a while to get used to being at a different desk - I sit there thinking 'now where does the glossy accents live in this house?'

An English Country Wedding

As promised, photos of Jessica and Graham's wedding, which took place in the Lake district on Saturday. It was a stunning day, everything was just perfect. Here is the happy couple, don't they look wonderful?

With Madeleine, Jessica's sister who was a

bridesmaid - they wore a lovely shade of

French Navy....................

Here is my friend Anne, the mother of the bride, who looked stunning in Brown and Ivory and a fab hat......

and me in my hat........and with my friends

Graham is a Scot - so lots of young men in kilts!

Orchids hanging from organza ribbons....

and a very elegant cake.....

Part of the dining room.....

there were 2 small bridesmaids too.....

Jessica wore orchids in her hair

and just look at the view!

The place names were written on Lakeland Slate

It looks idyllic doesn't it? It was! The attention to detail was fantastic, Anne did a great job. Please leave a comment if you like the photos, I will get Anne to read them

Of course it wouldn't be complete without a story. Mike bought a new suit when we were in Florida. The store put it in a suit bag which we transferred into the suitcase unopened, then into the wardrobe when we got home. The same, well-travelled suit bag was then carted up to the Lake District.

We arrived at the church in all our finery. Mike turned around. 

Oh dear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Yep, it's the security tag that the store had forgotten to remove when we paid - the sort of tag that squirts ink all over you if you try and remove it. Heaven knows how we walked out of the store in Florida  without setting off all the security alarms. So there was nothing for it but for him to wear it. Never in his life has his rear end got so much attention, never in his life have so many people sidled up to him and whispered in his ear 'excuse me, did you know......' Never in his life has he been the butt of so much good humoured teasing - or have so many young ladies patting his butt - I think he really enjoyed it :)


Back to a crafty post tomorrow, but I hope you enjoyed this peek at my fabulous weekend

Shaped Card for Polkadoodles

Today on Polkadoodles, the challenge is to make a shaped card. I found a pack of thank you cards on sale in Big Lots for a dollar. Well, they were worth a dollar just for the lovely red square envelopes. When I opened the pack, the 'cards' were just a single sheet of white card, with the thank you sentiments printed in a circle around the edge. The center was perfectly plain.

So I cut a red card using the doily cut from Wildcard, and stamped the Polkadoodles neighbourhood house stamp onto white, cut it out with a nestability and backed that with a red nestie circle. I think the result is fun,  what do you think?

We are in the Lake District for the wedding of the year - Kate and Will, eat your hearts out! Lots of photos will be shared next week. Have a lovely weekend

Oooh, I forgot!

First of all, here are the photos of Kiki and Monty taken at Halloween - Monty looks very brassed off to be dressed up as a bumble bee...........

but Kiki loves the artistic spider Mummy painted on her witchy hand.....

I totally forgot in the whirl of packing to show you this week's Polkadoodles challenge card. Our theme was Magical and Mystical, and it was our stashbox stamp week, which means we can use other manufacturer's images, so I chose this adorable little fairy by Lili of the Valley.....

Some random thoughts about travelling, after a very gruelling marathon journey home:
Why do airline staff weigh cases then make you open your case in front of an interested audience and delve around to find shoes to transfer into the other case. After all, they are all going on the same plane, so what difference does it make?
Why do they allow giant carry on bags, then when it gets to your turn to board with your neat little carry on, announce that the lockers are full, and your bag will be put in the hold? 
Why do you then have to spend three hours of your life, that will never come again, watching an empty luggage carousel go round and round, waiting for the kidnapped bag to reappear?
If they weigh luggage, how come they don't weigh giant people as well? How is it that I always end up sitting in half a seat next to one of the giant people?


You might think from the above rant, that the journey was less than perfect. It's nice to be home! 

Just chicken in........

Here's a Penny Black card - I love this one, I was pleased with the slightly daft sentiment.... I used a chicken wire stamp for the background, and a variety of lettering

Here's a sneek peek at little snippets of two of the cards I made for Scrappy-go-Lucky's blog today, all made with the Cricut cartridge Billionaire. I wanted to show that it isn't just a (very attractive) font...hop over to see the cards and let me know what you think

As you read this, we should just be landing back in the UK, so not a lot of time to chat today. Tune in tomorrow for a longer post