~ It's finally finished ... ~

... and just in the nick of time! Just long enough to fill the boxes ready for the first of December!

This embellishment was actually destined for our garland but I decided it would be perfect for my advent calendar and would actually tie it in to our Christmas decore very well. It was a piece I bought from Hobbycraft to add to our Marks and Spencer Garland. I think it was only 99p ... a bargain! I simply trimmed the wire stalk with my clippers and stuck it in place with some silicone glue.

This week has been so hectic! I had 2 lunch dates, a coffee morning, a day of shopping and my first Christmas meal of the season. I doubt next week will be any better as I need to get my homemade xmas pressies made and decorated.

Happy Crafting!

~ Journal your Christmas - prep ~

Well I'm going to admit that this is a bit of a remake as I never really got round to doing my 2009 album, so I decided to simply change it for my 2011 album.

I have used an American crafts D-ring album and added distress ink round the edges. The papers are from one of Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas (JYC) kits from a few years ago. To add the '2011' date I stamped with Peeled paint distress ink on patterned paper and then inked the edges. I'm really hoping that this year I manage to do a page a day or at least manage to get it finished.

In the hope of being extra organised I have also stamped all my dates on to patterned paper to match the date on the front cover. I really can't wait for Christmas, it's my favourite time of the year and this year will be extra special because it's the first year we will be in our own house but I'll be off work for the whole time as I'll still be off sick following my operation.

Happy Crafting!

~ Almost there! ~

Well here we go ... it just needs a little finishing off!

The drawers all need numbering and I think I need something 3D in front of the background. All the papers used are from the MME Lost and Found Christmas range which is fabulously vintage. I used a distress ink to add dimension to the background paper especially the 3D piece showing the '25th and sleigh design'.

I'm really pleased with how this is turnign out, just hope I can get it finished ready for the 1st of December. I will reveal the finished article on that day as the start of the 'Official' festive period.

Well off to do a little more Christmas shopping - nearly done!

Happy Crafting!

~ A little monster! ~

Well our 5 1/2 month old kitten Millie seems to have taken rather a liking to socks - thankfully she likes clean ones only!

It started one night when she pulled all the socks off the radiator and brought them to us one by one. Now she seems to have taken a liking to any that are left around the house.

I walked out of the living room to find her in the hall playing with one of my other half's rugby socks, which is actually bigger than her! Her brother doesn't seem to have mastered any new fetishes.

We have nicknamed her the sock monster!

Happy Crafting!

~ Making the snow sparkle ... ~

For the last 2 weeks I have been receiving emails from the Online Card Class 'Christmas Holiday Bootcamp'. This is one of the techniques shown.

You firstly emboss your chosen cardstock, I used a snowflake embossing folder and put it through my Big Shot. Then apply 2-3 colours of distress inks using a blending tool. Once dry spritz with a pearlised mist, the class said to use a homemade perfect pearls mist in a mister but I used a white pearl mica mist and that worked as well.

As the background worked so well and I already had inky fingers I made a selection of backgrounds and tags ready to use on some cards.

I've got a busy week ahead of me ... I'm out for lunch twice and then a work Christmas meal on Friday night so I might not fit much crafting in this week, we'll have to see.

Happy Crafting! 

~ Looking more complete ~

Aren't Dads amazing! He managed to sand my little pegs using a belt sander (I think?!). So here is my completed Advent Calendar frame all painted and sat drying nicely.

I can't wait to see the little drawers in each slot. My other half and I have agreed to fill half each so I get to open some without knowing what is inside, yey!

Am hoping to get plenty of time over the weekend to get cracking with my Christmas cards and gifts. What are you up to this weekend? Leave me a comment and a link to your blog and I'll be sure to hop along at some point.

Happy Crafting!

~ First ChristmasTag ~

These tags had been hanging round my craft room half finished since last Christmas. I had covered them with some left over patterned paper but then completely lost my inspiration for them.

All of a sudden in the middle of September I found them out while having an 'I've lost my mojo' tidy of the craft room. This sparked me to dig out my box of Christmas goodies and get a little creative.

Admittedly they aren't the most skilled piece of crafting I have done but I really like their simplicity and more importantly I used up lots of old stash to make them. I attached the meal sentiment and poinsetta with silicone glue. Might put some faux stiching round the patterned paper can't make my mind up - what do you think? White or Black?

So since September their photos have been sat on my computer waiting for Christmas to hit the nation before I revealed them.

Happy Crafting!

~ Slowly getting there!!! ~

Well the other night whilst my other half was off at Band practice I sat and put together 24 little boxes, cut out the patterned papers and stuck them all together. It was quite theraputic and was easy to do whilst watching TV. Although the kittens did take a fancy to batting a few across the sofa.

I just need to get my actual advent calendar sorted, as I mentioned in my previous post, the pegs and the holes now don't fit ... oops.

Happy Crafting!

~ Starting Christmas Gifts ~

This year I'm hoping to create some handmade gifts for family and friends some of which may include these cute after dinner gift bags.

I used the covered Elizabeth Shaw Mints (tutorial available here!)and packaged them in pretzel bags decorating the tops with festive ribbon. These are simple but elegant gifts, possibly great as Christmas Day table gifts.

Any other more specific gifts will be show between Christmas and New Year so I don't get anyone having a sneak peek at my gifts before Christmas Day!

Off to the hospital today for a check up with my surgeon so hoping everything is going well.

Happy Crafting!

~ Promarker Class ~

Last Saturday Mum and I went off to The Craft Box at Elsecar Heritage Centre, Barnsley to our first Promarker class. Well it certainly was an inspirational class.

We spent approximately 2 hours colouring in the above stamped image. The stamp is a Molly Blooms stamped in Memento London Fog. I love the use of the grey ink, it gives a much more subtle outline. For each area we used approximately 3 different promarker colours to blend and provide shadows. I'm still not sure about Joseph's coat, the shadows seem a bit dark so I might blend them out a little more.

We then moved on to this other Molly Blooms stamped image. It's such a pretty little angel. For this image she showed us a technique of leaving some white to show highlights.

I couldn't believe how much concentration it took to do the colouring. I was absolutely shattered after this class, shows I'm not as well recovered as I like to think I am. However, these now make my previous blending attempts look rather rubbish. Will have to get practicing I think.

What is exciting is that we have booked ourselves on to another class on the 5th December which is to decorate 3 gift boxes and enjoy an afternoon of crafting and mince pies, yum!

Happy Crafting!

~ WARNING! New Stash! ~

Oops ... Over the last few days I appear to have aquired more stash! Even though I have been trying to be good since buying my advent calendar and Lost and Found Christmas papers.

We had a trip to Hobbycraft as I actually needed Christmas coloured ribbon to do some of my Christmas gifts, so that was an ok purchase. But then when we went to our local craft shop, along with 8 new promarkers needed for the class, I also bought the Limited Edition Tim Holtz Christmas Distress Inks (which I love!), a Molly Blooms stamp, Scrap 365 magazine and the memento 'London Fog' ink pad.

I have also had a very exciting purchase from the USA, but its top secret!!! Please visit the blog on Christmas Day to see what I have purchased for myself and as mum's xmas pressie.

Happy Crafting!

~ A crafty christmas mini crop ~

Every so often my mum, her friend and I get together and have a whole day crafting together. They both like it if I create a little project or kit for them to work through. So before I went in hospital we made the following cards:

This is a twisted easel card using a square kraft card. The stamp is from Pink Gem Designs. I absolutely love their quirky characters which look lovely coloured with promarkers. The sentiment stamp is by Red Gingham Designs and is available from Little Claire. The patterned paper is from a collection I got years ago from the Great Northern Papercraft show at Harrogate and is from Art from the Heart.

This 'normal' easel card is again showcasing a stamp from Pink Gem Designs called 'Winter Milly'. These stamps are so versatile and I love that they have a similar stamp of Milly for each oth the seasons. Again the patterned paper is from Art from the Heart. Both images were stamped using black Memento ink and then coloured using Promarkers.

This card is similar to one designed by the Little Claire Design Team. I used the car stamp, stamping it multiple times and then drew a line to create a road underneath them. Again these are coloured with promarkers. The snowflakes were some from my stash that I was trying to use up. I'm really pleased as all the stash used to create these 3 cards was stuff that I have had for quite a while.

My mum and her friend were really pleased to get 3 finished products as often we spend a lot of time chatting and not much gets produced. I'm hoping that now I'm recovering from surgery we may be able to schedule another day soon.

I'm off to a promarker class tomorrow at my local craft shop 'The Craft Box' Elsecar, Barnsley. I'm really hoping to learn some new techniques.

Happy Christmas Crafting!

~ October Stamp Club kit ~

Good morning! Well the weather is awful, dull and cold. Seems like winter has certainly arrived.

 Better late than never! Here is Little Claire's October stamp club card kit all complete. I absolutely love this stamp but it is quite fiddly and takes a while to colour in. I can definately recommend Promarkers Ultra fine nib attachement.This house looks so pretty when it's all coloured in in frosty colours and stickles to create a glistening snow scene.

I have made abit of an error, I forgot to photograph my xmas cake mix before it was baked. Oops!

Happy Crafting!



~ Christmas cake - Part 1 ~

Well I've embarked on my first ever Christmas Cake!

It better be good because it's definately much cheaper to buy one from the supermarket. I have to say I am looking forward to getting creative on the decoration of the cake.

So here we go ... part one ... the fruit and orange zest marinating in 150ml Sherry for 3 days.

I must say everytime I stir it I get a massive boost of Christmas spirit. It smells gorgeous.

Happy Crafting!

~ Sorry for the delay ~

Well hello from a very festive craft room!

It's been quite a while since my last post as I have been unwell and had some surgery which meant I was in the hospital for a week and out of crafting action for almost a month!

My other half is in a Brass Band and they have just done their first Christmas concert at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire so he has got me in the spirit. So much so that we went decoration shopping the other day. 

Here is my advent calendar that I managed to get painted before my hospital admission. Unfortunately  I didn't add the small sections before painting and the MDF has expanded so all they all need sanding to make them fit in the grooves. Can't believe where the time has gone so I'm just hoping I can get it done before the 1st December.

Happy Christmas Crafting!