Happy New Year!

Out with the old and in with the new!! ;-)

This year one of my resolutions is to make more cards!

You see, I have had this hobby for about three years and yet this year just gone I have made the least cards, certainly for the ten months prior to November anyway!!

This year, with the help of this blog and all those fabulous giveaways and challenges, I will be making more cards - which wont be difficult to do with all that lovely inspiration out there!!

Cute Stamps

Spiral Whisper are a UK company that are releasing a new set of stamps, and they are very cute stamps too.

They are holding a blog candy competition, so if you fancy winning some very cute stamps that I am quite sure would brighten up any card then just go and visit the Spiral Whisper blog!

P.S. Amazing Paper Grace is holding a Nestabilities giveaway!!

Bloggy Candy

A quick roundup of the giveaways that I've found recently....

The CLASSroom has a twelve days of Christmas series of giveaways!

Shortcuts has a frosty giveaway in honour of the freezing weather (not to mention that we have all now probably run out of card blanks by now!!)

Mme. Designs also has a lovely giveaway going on!

Not forgetting Something Sweet, who is celebrating thousands of hits on her blog!!

So....hurry over and see what you might be able to get as blog candy.

Absence...

...makes the heart grow fonder. Or rather in this case, suffer frustration! ha ha!

I am spending Christmas with my family and having a great time. However, that means that my craft room is about 150 miles away and although I brought my Big Shot down with me because I knew I was getting some Nestabilities, everything else is all tucked away in drawers and boxes and places that I just cannot access.

Which means that all the challenges that are stacking up in my feedreader are beginning to bug me because I cannot do a single thing about them. Not to mention that a quick visit to the local craft shop in the next town was thwarted because it was closed - arghhhh! Still, it looked like a nice shop (I haven't been there before) so I am hoping to be able to squeeze in a visit before I eventually go back home.

The thing is that all that this means is that I can't post any pretty pictures or tell you what I have been experimenting with. Still, at least the laptop is presently working, but it does do funny things.

From one crafter to another, I hope that you are not "stranded" away from your craft rooms!!

Christmas!

I hope that you all had a great Christmas, I know I did! I was most surprised by my present from my parents. You see, I had asked for a set of Nestabilities - my first set - as I was so very impressed by all the cards out there, and as you may know, I accidentally found out that Mum had indeed bought me a set.

So, I was all agog to find out which set it was, particularly as I wanted one of the Labels sets, but knew that they were difficult to get hold of in the UK. Anyway, I was only expecting one set because I know that they are not exactly cheap! Of course, you can imagine my surprise when I opened the present and discovered not one, but two sets of Nestabilities!!!

One was the large ovals and the other Labels Two!! AND, Labels One is one the way as it wasn't possible to get it delivered before Christmas. Oh, I am such a lucky girl and have been playing with the Labels Two set already as I make some crackers for our New Years Eve celebrations with the whole family.

By the way, I am having difficulties with my laptop at the moment, so please do not be alarmed if I appear to have vanished off the face of bloggy-world for a while!! I am in contact with Dell and am trying to sort out the problems. (erk!)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all!!

I hope that you have a lovely day and I look forward to catching up with all your blogs a bit later!

A Lovely Link....

....to blog candy!!

Kath at Kath's Blog is having her third giveaway and there is a lovely long list of things that you could get to help you maintain your crafty addiction!!! 

Multi fold Card

As promised on Monday, here is my multifold card as per the Penny Black challenge This was a good one actually as it meant that I could create card big enough to hold all the stamps from the Twelve Days of Christmas set!! I was beginning to wonder whether I would ever be able to get them all on one card.

I should be totally up front and admit that I cheated a bit because I ran out of time and didn't think that I had any card big enough, so I simply stuck together two of my larger pre-scored card blanks!!

Then I got into difficulties because I put some of my punched out images onto another piece of card and then stamped that with the phrases, only to find that the four squares just wouldn't go onto one page very neatly! Of course, I had to unpeel the punched images from the backing card and try again!! (I also need to practice my stamping a bit more as I seem to be rather heavy handed on the right hand side!!)

I love the way the front of the card looks more classy and elegant than the inside does with all the funky stamps - a deceptively funny card!! In any case, my parents loved it and it has pride of place on the mantlepiece!!

I have just realised that none of the above images actually shows that it really is a multifold card, so here is another one!!

(I feel that I should point out that the grapes aren't actually on fire! The candle is in fireplace behind the table!! ha ha!!)

A Blue Christmas

The challenge on Amazing Paper Grace on Friday was to make a Christmas card using blue shades and colours. Now as far as I can tell, part of the challenge requires that you use a Flourishes stamp, which I wasn't aware of until I began to write this post! (I already had the blue card, so it wasn't as though I could have been doing something else!!)

Oh well, I have the card, if not the right stamp, so I am just going to show it off here and I wont post it on the Festive Flourishes Challenge.

I can't post the card that I really want to as part of the multi-fold Penny Black Challenge because I am giving that card to my family tomorrow and I don't want to risk the chance that they might see it!! So come back tomorrow and I will show you that card.

Generosity

Once again, the lovely generosity of the craft bloggers pops up, this time I want to mention a few....

Linanna Designs - who has a whole bunch of stuff to give away - including some nestabilities!!

Stamp Happy with Sgt Stamper - who has discovered a fabulous ribbon shop and want to share in the wealth!

Crafts International - wants to celebrate a birthday by giving away blog candy!!

These people are crazy - go and see what they are giving away!!

The perfect Secret Santa gift!

You know it's definitely that much closer to Christmas when you are sitting in a restaurant with your colleagues enjoying your annual Christmas meal!

On Thursday the six of us went to The Old Bank in town and had a thoroughly good meal in a classy yet comfortable restaurant with very attentive staff. The only thing was that the live music was rather loud and we had to shout across the table somewhat!

Anyway, I don't often have a three course meal as I can't eat that much for one meal, but I did my best! I started off with carrot and coriander soup with very tasty croutons (they were big, but there were only three!!!), then I had the traditional turkey - the sausage stuffing was delicious, pudding was a bread and butter pudding with almonds and Baileys - the top was lovely and crunchy and it was hot enough to melt the icecream in the most delicious manner!

As we did the year previous, we decided to do a Secret Santa gift exchange so that the whole gift giving thing doesn't get too expensive. However, I managed to mess it up!! I don't quite know what happened, but one woman got two gifts and one didn't get anything!!! Whoops!!! Fortunately we managed to sort it out by giving the extra gift to the woman without anything.

I felt so very bad about it, but I think that I have worked out how it happened - basically I had written names on a piece of paper and asked those of us (four out of the six) at work to choose a name and then I decided to make labels for the gifts so that we couldn't work out our Secret Santa by the handwriting.

What I think I did was typed out the same name twice and didn't spot it, the I compounded the error by throwing away the last two slips of handwritten paper because I assumed that the two labels I had left would match. Whoops - oh well, a lesson learnt there!!

So...how did I get EXACTLY what I wanted for the Secret Santa gift? How did I manage to pull off that trick? Well, I picked by own name!! The thing is that not only did I pick my own name, but I somehow managed to pick it three times (when I picked first, then whenI put my name back I picked again after three were chosen, then again when the second to last got picked), so it was clearly meant to be!! (No cheating involved at all I promise!!) And what did I get? The Cuttlebug Happppy Birthday embossing folder and and the Cuttlebug photo-corners die as well a star stamp for my cardmaking hobby - perfect!!

Vintage challenge

So far, all the challenges I have taken part in (all four of them!!) haven't actually challenged me yet as I have managed to use Christmas cards that I had already made.

So, I was looking forward to the first one that actually made me think about what it was that I was trying to do and create a new card. Well, the Quick Fire Challenge at Christmas Cards All Year Round did just that.

We were asked to create a card with a vintage type image and so I thought "a-ha, time to finally use something from that vintage stamp set yet that I have yet to figure out what to do with"!! I should say that I wouldn't normally have bought this set, but it came as part of a very good deal on Christmas stamps that I bought for last Christmas!

Anyway, on to the card. It was difficult. I found a suitable image, but then couldn't quite decide how to put the card together. I definitely need practice in creating cards that do not merely rely on the simpler images or punched stamps that go together very neatly. (I just don't do embellishments!)

Another quick card

If you're looking for another quick and easy Christmas card because you really have run out of time now, then you can find a selection over at No Time To Stamp where they are hosting a quick cards challenge.

This Christmas tree card is my contribution to the challenge, and it really is a quick card, much like my earlier Christmas wreath it works by using punches. This time I used trees for my tree (!) but of course, you could use any Christmassy shape, or even an ordinary shape as long as you used Christmassy papers or colour.

Then at the bottom, I stamped a greeting on some card and stuck it to some brown card in order to make a kind of trunk or stand for the tree. On top of the tree is an angel brad!!

Cutting Tools

I am sure that we all have our favourite cutting tools, whether it's a pair of scissors or a guillotine or a craft knife. However, that doesn't mean that we can't try out new things, so if you fancy trying out a Fiskars guillotine and scissors along with a cutting mat, then you need to head over to Kath's Blog where she has a little giveaway!!!

Spike's 12 days of Christmas

If you're still undecided for Christmas cards this year (although you've left it a bit late now haven't you!) you can get some inspiration from The Blog that Spike Built.

Here you will find twelve different cards being showcased every day up until Christmas and then on the 26th (aka Boxing Day!) there will be a poll where you can vote for your favourite and possibly win some as yet unknown blog candy!!

I think that I already have a favourite, but then who knows what will be seen in the next few days. All I can say is that the three cards that are presently on the series are all so very different, you'd never know that they came out of the imagination of the same person!!!

10 minute cards!

I am not sure that a card can ever be a short and simple ten minute make - we were just not built that way, us crafters!!

So, when the Daring Card Makers set us the challenge of creating a card that only take a few minutes, but is still classy and elegant (of course!!), I had to do a bit of thinking.

But actually, I soon realised that I already had a card that I'd made a few weeks ago. It isn't complicated and can be done whilst watching your favourite Christmas film!

It is so simple. I should point out that it is a variation on the card that I found on Reflections, my own card is not nearly so elegant. But I thought that it was a good way to use my star punch, I am sure that you could do something similar with other Christmas punches - snowflakes, trees, and presents even?

I drew the circle that I wanted to create about a third of the way up the page, stamped a greeting in the middle and then layered my punches around the circle. I actually stuck to four different shades/patterns/variations of green, but you could really ring the changes and go for something where every punch is a different colour, but I think that the simpler designs work better here.

Punchy Challenge

Cute Cards challenges us to use our dusty punches instead of our dies! I haven't actually been using dies all that long seeing as I only bought my Big Shot a few weeks ago, so my punches are actually relatively dust free!

I like simple cards! This one is a layer of punches, the same punch is used to make postage-stamp-like rectangles. The darker shape is put directly onto the card, while the light shape (with letters stamped on!) is set just off the dark one on foam thingies (my brain is not cooperating with me today!), to give it a bit of a dimensional effect.

I then stamped a little flower at the bottom, and use a silver Happy on cream card layered onto more purple and cream card. I actually made two of these, the other one was sent to my cousin for her 17th birthday last week!

Dear Santa

Twas the night before Christmas,
I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa
brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock
or chipboard or lace?
Or a Cricut, I said,
with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him,
"Hi Santa, " I said
"You know....good little girls
Should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa,
And now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited
To see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look
In this room where you work.
He shook his head quickly,
And left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim
As he put it in gear.
"You've got enough crap,
I'll see you next year!"

How funny was that, and if you are a crafter like me you will know how perfectly true that is. We do have enough crap and yet we never have enough or are easily seduced by the newest item on the market, whether ribbons, buttons, or stamps!!

With thanks to Crafts By Kim where I found this fabulous little poem!

Well....I never, and I mean never, post three days in a row on my other blog!!

But this was just far too good to keep schtum about! Crafty Goings On has the biggest blog candy that I've ever seen!! Believe it or not, it includes paper, ribbon, stickers, brads, flowers, buttons, stamps, crystals and more - all to the tune of about £130 so get yourself over there and put your comment in to try and win!!

The winning name will be drawn on the first of January, so you've got time to think about it, but hey - don't stop to think about it, just go and add your name to the draw!

Card Challenges

There are just so very many card challenges out there that a girl simply doesn't know where to begin! However, of the challenges that are currently floating around, I thought that it would be good to see if I could match up some of my Christmas cards to them and save me a bit of time cos time is something that I (along with many of you I am sure) am very short of at the moment with Christmas on the horizon!

So, the Elzybells challenge and the Stamp Something challenge for this week are actually both the same - something in red, gold and green, which is just perfect for Christmas. I made lots of card this year for a fair where I work (we have a new HR Director and she suggested that we have a staff fair - you can read more about this on my other blog if you wanted!) and this was one of the many that I made.

It is actually rather simple, the swirly tree stamped on green card using a clear stamp and then embossed with gold powder before cutting out and putting onto a piece of red card. The card itself is covered half and half with green paper and patterned Merry Christmas paper. There isn't all that much red, but the card still has all three elements!! (Sorry, I don't have brand names - do you guys prefer to know where things are coming from? Unfortunately I tend not to remember where things have come from unless it really really matters to me!)

Yet more blog candy

...and it's still not mine!!! This time it is from Wild Stamping Sprinkles and it ends next Tuesday! In addition to which, Spiral Whisper also has a give away going on!! (is there no end to such generosity amongst crafters? I must do one of my own one of these days otherwise I am going to look bad!!!)

I should say that there isn't much going on on this blog at the moment, but give me time!! I am just investigating which of the challenges I might like to do and there are so many of them out there that it is very very difficult to decide what to do!!!

Besides, I am just about to go and collect a little photographer's light box from the post office (it arrived yesterday) and it will help me take fab photos!! I did order one about a week ago but when it came it was MUCH too big, and I mean vast!! It is about 75 cms square and I just didn't quite compute how big it would be when I ordered it, ha ha!

This new one that I ordered is 30 cms square and will be perfect for photographing my cards and hopefully I wont get any shadows or fuzzy photographs anymore, but I need to experiment before I can confirm that that is indeed true!!

More Blog Candy!!

I told you these people were generous!! This time it's the Pink Piggy that is giving away a very cute stamp along with some paper, brads, pens and other good stuff!! This one is open until the 20th December...what are you waiting for - go see!

And there's also blog candy on Rica's Haven, who is celebrating being chosen as a DT member for the Basic Grey Challenge Blog, and her giveaway is open until midnight on the 23rd December, so you have plenty of time to go and see all the goodies that are being offered.

A giveaway (not mine!!)

I get the feeling that I am going to be posting a lot about other people's giveaways on my blog....and I do mean frequently! Particularly as it would appear that the crafting bunch love to give away all manner of things related to all things crafty!

Today I want to mention a giveaway on Crafts by Kim, so if you need a bit more stuff for your Christmas cards, this is the place to go and visit! Incidentally, I notice that crafting blogs tend to refer to giveaways as Blog Candy, which is a sweet name and in order to speak the lingo, I shall hereafter refer to giveaways as such!!

Anyway - go and visit Crafts by Kim.

Welcome...

...one and all to this new blog of mine. The reason for this? I am currently subscribed to at least fifty blogs that are card making related and so I thought that it would be a good idea for me to join them and take part in some of the many challenges that are set for us crafty people! (And of course, I mean crafty in the nicest way possible!)

This way I can post umpteen photos of my cards and chat about all things stamping, embossing, cutting, colouring, and and and whatever I happen to be doing at the moment!!

Now, I am well aware that no-one is reading this at the moment, but that still doesn't mean that I can't mention a fabulous giveaway that is currently going on over at Adrienne's Sentiments!! This is one generous lady - for every hundred comments she gets on her stamping giveaway she will give away TWO baskets full of glorious stamps.

This giveaway ends at Pacific (whatever that is - I am British!!) Time on Thursday, so get yourself over there and see if you can win some stamps for your card, scrapbooking, or altering hobby!!