Last cards - DONE!!!

I have finally finished this years' crop of Christmas cards!

Last night I made cards for my niece Amelie and nephew Finlay who are coming over tonight to exchange presents.

I can't wait to see how excited Amelie is, she will be 3 in March so is well into Christmas this year. This is Finlay's first Christmas, and being only 5 months I'm sure it will pass him by but there's so many more to look forward to!

I thought these Forever Friends images were just so cute for their cards. Amelie's has been jazzed up with pink and silver glitter, while Finlay's has been paper pieced on the stocking, coloured with brush markers and I added white glitter to the "fur".

Our snow seems to be retreating, albeit very slowly - just hope we get some more for Friday. There is a cloudless, bright blue sky today but it's so cold.

Christmas has been an odd time these past few years as my Auntie Maureen died on Christmas Eve 2006 and it kind of takes the edge off things a bit, I know she wouldn't want us to be maudlin but it does make you think about absent friends and family.

With love to all of those who are not with their loved ones this Christmas, for whatever reason xxxx

Best Christmas wishes everyone & a happy and propserous 2010! xxx

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas......

Well this past week has seen the UK doused in snow. It's not very often we get it where I live and if we do it tends to be a dusting which has vanished in a short while. However, this latest arctic blast has seen us with snow on the ground since Thursday!

I took a couple of pictures from my bedroom window (it's on the 2nd floor), it was bitterly cold even though the sun was shining.

I thought I would try to be arty taking pictures of the icicles through the window with the blue sky behind.....I'm no David Bailey, but I like to have a go! Lol

It's just fingers crossed that we get a bit more and it lasts until the weekend. It will be fab to have a White Christmas!!

Trying Something New

I finally managed a weekend crafting to finish making my friends' Christmas card orders. I thought it would be the ideal opportunity to try out some of the wide range of folding techniques I've seen on all the crafting forums and blogs these past few weeks.

I started with the Diamond Fold for Steven's nieces Jessica and Sophie. Using my favourite Miss Anya stamp, I made them almost identical (just painted them differently)

Steven and Stewart loved them and I hope the girls do too!

Next I tried the Flip Flop Fold for Stewart's card for his Mum. Again, I was very surprised just how easy it was, I followed a step-by-step tutorial like I did for the one above.

Finally I had a go at an Easel Fold card for my Dad to give to Mum. There are absolutely loads of these on the forums and I can see why, they are lovely and quick to make and look really unusual.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Good old Nat King Cole & Dean Martin were crooning away yesterday as I decorated my tree. Dad and I were up at Chopwell Wood by 8am and 15 minutes later we were on our way home with my 7ft Norman Fir - just the 2nd one I looked at (I'm quite fussy about the shape of my tree but this one was perfect!).


Once it was watered and rested I got to work........ with some help from Phoebe who decided to make a bed out of the tinsel

After rescuing the tinsel, a glass of wine and loads of glitter ta dah!!

My Christmas Tree 2009!

All it needs now are the presents underneath and it's finished xxx

Yet More Babies!

My area manager from work became the proud Dad of twin girls earlier this week and I was asked to make a card big enough for everyone to sign.......

... I've had some great comments, let's hope the new parents like it too!

Getting back to normal at last.....

Phew it's been a busy few weeks but thankfully I can get back to some sort of normality.
I had my latest accountancy exam last night and although I don't think I've done very well (we had so much to learn in such a short space of time), I'm just happy it's over and done with.

Congratulations go to my friend Cheryl and her partner Andrew who welcomed baby Lillian Teresa into the world on Saturday! I can't wait to meet up with them all in the New Year.

It's going to be a very festive weekend - I'm off to Chopwell Wood to select my tree and will attempt to decorate it with little or no help from Phoebe the cat! I have no idea what Phoebe's past experiences of Christmas are like but seeing as she was rescued from a violent household I can't imagine it being good. I hope she doesn't decide to climb the tree!! I've also got my first batch of sweet mince pies to make with my own homemade sweet mince - move over Nigella!! And my friend Katie is coming over for a messy day - so we'll be crafting and making Christmas cookies. I can't wait to get the tinsel out, have the Nat King Cole Christmas songs on and have the wonderful smells of baking and clove studded oranges wafting through the house! Ho ho ho!

My 1st order for this year is complete!

I have a few orders for Christmas cards this year and have finished the first set this week.....

I really hope my friend Cheryl likes them as she is about to give birth and so shopping for Christmas cards is the last thing on her mind at the moment!

Feeling Festive :o)

Hope you like the new festive background - it took me ages to decide which one to use as there are so many about but this one won me over.

I managed a night away from the books last night and made a couple of cards for an order I have from one of my friends, I combined it with 2 challenges for this week....... The Crafty Pad Challenge - 1 circle, 2 ribbons, 3 papers and 4 gems - phew, they're all on there somewhere! And the Colour Create Challenge - green, red and white. Hope you like it xxx

Monday again

Hi there I can't believe it's Monday again. I only managed to create a couple of cards this weekend as I was so busy with studying and family visits etc not to mention breaking my kitchen table trying to punch snowflakes!!

The 2 I completed are both using the same stamp and similar embellishments but different colour themes and layouts and I'm pleased with them both. I'm entering the red one into the Forever Friends Challenge this week which is to use glitter.

Let's hope I can get cracking on some more this week and not break anything else!!

Causing a stir!

My latest addition to my galleries is receiving some fabulous feedback......my "lilac lady" is taken from the new Debbi Moore CDRom which is beautiful.

I was in Newcastle shopping with my Mum when we came across Debbi doing demonstrations. I instantly fell in love with the images and after chatting with Debbi for sometime and receiving a personal tutorial, Mum said she would buy me the CDRom for Christmas.

Typically she couldn't wait to get home and try it out! I limited myself to one image (want to keep the rest as a Christmas present!) and this was my result





The CDRom is so easy to use and the images are so beautiful, you even get the template to make the fancy folds too! All of this with some gems, a piece of freebie kit ribbon and loads of glitter, I'm really pleased with the result but even more pleased by the comments I've been receiving, she's causing quite a stir!!

Baby News!

Congratulations to my friend Leonie and her husband Steve on the safe arrival of Ethan James! It was the perfect opportunity to make a card using the Forever Friends Challenge this week which was a sketch. I've had the Jessie Edwards papers for ages and wanted to make something a bit seasonal instead of the normal cute baby blues - hope everyone likes it!

Let it Snow!

Well, autumn is definately making way for winter this weekend, it's really cold up north today! So, a little bit of inspiration for the Club Anya challenge which this week is "Let it Snow"



I hope you like her, I used art snow for the first time and sprinkled it with glitter as well as glittering the words "snow" on the backing paper..... Brrrrrr!

Autumn....

I'm really enjoying my new job in the city centre and my office window overlooks the Newcastle castle. This week the weather has been beautiful and with the sun shining on the trees and the old buildings I was inspired to make some autumn coloured cards, here is my favourite using a Miss Anya stamp, although she should be wearing her sunglasses today!

Time Flies!

Well time certainly does fly, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last updated!

In that time I've started a new job and I'm settling in well. College is getting tough, having two 15 hour days in a week is hard for me but I'm picking it up - a massive jump from last year though!

Many thanks for the lovely comments I received about my last Forever Friends Challenge entry, I sent the card to my friend for her birthday and she loved it too! I've managed a bit of crafting lately, mainly Christmas cards but I've also made these candle holders as stocking fillers for Christmas (have got another 6 or so to do mind!!) but thought I would enter them into the Forever Friends Challenge this week.....let me know what you think!

All for now, H xxxx

My First Challenge Entry

Thought I would enter one of the thousands of online blog challenges this week - I absolutely adore the Forever Friends range of crafty stuff so went with their challenge of "black and white with one other colour"....... what do you think to my effort?

Holiday Weekend!

Well, our "summer" is finally over as we have had the last bank holiday weekend - far too long to wait until Christmas!!! I think we should have a long weekend every month, it's good for morale!

The weekend was quite busy as I was sorting out my craft room ready for the cat coming, I'm going to settle her in there for a couple of days until she adjusts. I also made a couple of cards while I was in there and finally got my shelf put up!

Monday my parents had planned to visit Houghton Hall, taking Grandad over to the big garden centre but he wasn't feeling well so we ended up getting lost and finding our way to Whitby with my friend Stewart along for the fun!

Never have I been to Whitby when it's been so beautiful - the weather was hot and sunny, the breeze was warm (not the biting force 9 gale it usually is) and there were loads of people paddling in the sea!!! I managed to snap this butterfly right next to where we parked the car and I must say I'm rather chuffed with it!