Buttons and Bows

Hi folks,
I have a bit of exciting news for you this evening - well, exciting for me anyway.  But more on that later.

What happened to Thursday?  Suddenly it's nearly time for bed, and I feel as though I've done absolutely nothing.  I haven't done half of the things I had planned for today.  Don't quite know what I have been doing though.  Overall not a very productive day. 

One thing I did get done, eventually, was this months card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge .........
           
                   BUTTONS AND BOWS

You would think this one would have been easy for me,  I love buttons and bows.  But oh no, nothing was working.  I just couldn't find any PB stamps that I could use alongside two of my favourite types of embellies.  Then when I did decide on a stamp, would you believe I didn't have the right colour of buttons .....!!?  I nearly gave it up as a bad job.  But I don't like to be beaten.

In the end I went for the K.I.S.S. approach (keep it simple, stupid!)

On the positive side, at least I have another Christmas card made - that now makes a grand total of ......... 2!

I used the PB 'majestic' stamp (3997K) along with one of the brand new Christmas sentiments from the 'Christmas Cheer' clear set.
It couldn't be more simple to do.  Stamp the tree in black ink, slightly to the left of your piece of card, then stamp the sentiment in the bottom right corner.  I decided to go for a jaunty little angle (second attempt.  First one was straight and I wasn't that keen).
I went for one of my favourite colour combos for Christmas cards - Black and White with a hint of red, and used this for the matting and layering.
As I said earlier, I couldn't find the right shade of red buttons - well not three the same that is.  I did empty all four jars to check.  So in the end, out came my permanent markers and I just coloured three clear pearl ones.  These were then threaded with a little white baker's twine tied off in a bow, and attached onto the tree along with a few glittery gems.  A pretty red satin bow, and a touch of the new Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter in the Clear Rock Candy around the base of the tree, finished it all off.

We have a busy weekend coming up, here on the island.  Today saw the start of the 3-day Manx Rally with a 'Scalextric' style opening night stage along the promenade in Douglas.  Hmmmm........ not really my sort of thing, so when hubby rang from work to see if I wanted to go down there, you can imagine my reaction.  Standing on the prom, in the rain, watching pairs of cars racing around a track - yes, like that's going to happen!  Just in case any of you are interested though, there's a Wiki page or you can get up to date information here.

The other event that's happening this weekend is the Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival - now you're talking!

I shall be popping along there on Saturday.  We went last year and had a great day out.  It's all about local produce, with a Farmers Market, local butchers etc.  selling everything from vegetables, meat and seafood, to jams, cheeses, cakes and Christmas puddings.  There's crafts too - pottery, soaps, hampers.
The celebrity chef this year is Ainsley Harriott, who will be doing live cookery demos, so that should be fun.

The weather for Saturday, according to the local forecast, is good so it should be a great day out.  I'll let you know.

Well, it's way past my bedtime. This has taken longer than I thought.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more productive, lots of crafty things.
Before I go though, my exciting news ...........
Yesterday I was asked if I'd like to join another Design Team.  The lovely Sam Poole contacted me and said she was looking for someone to join her DT over at Creative Studios, and would I like the position.  It took me all of about 10 seconds (while I read the message) before I said YES!!  Absolutely yes.

I've know Sam for a while, we met through Inspirations in Preston - she was one of our lovely demonstrators who came to take workshops.  
Sam designs for Creative Expressions, and has her own range of rubber stamps (which are fabulous by the way).  She has an online store and a super Blog.  Check it out, there's some fab stuff on there and the store is full of gorgeous goodies.
Anyways, I'm now on the team (whoo hoo!!) and I'm going to be creating designs using Sam's stamps and other goodies.  Once I'm up and running I'll also be posting regularly on the Blog, along with the rest of the fab DT.  So watch this space.  I'm going to be busy, busy, busy.  I love it!!

Thanks for popping by again.  See you all tomorrow (or should I say later today!)

Night Night!

Linda

x