'Twas the night before Christmas ........

Happy Christmas Eve .......

Not long to go now.
I was up and out early this morning, to pick up the last of the food shopping ..... the turkey is in the house!
It was crazy out there ....... but I made it home in one piece.  I think I've got everything ....... put it this way, if I haven't got it now, I'll manage without it.  I am NOT going out there again!!

The cupboards are full, the tree lights are twinkling and the presents are wrapped.  I've made a start on getting everything prepped for tomorrow and the bubbly is chilling nicely.  I just need to set the table, and do the table gifts ...... at least the tags are all ready and waiting.

 

The little man and his mum are here at the moment, we've baked cookies for Santa .......

We're going to take some to the elves later.  Apparently they're down in Castletown telling stories and playing games so we're going to join in the festive fun.

I know I've probably shared this with you before but, for all my crafty friends out there ...... does this sound familiar?

‘Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree. 

I'm wondering what Santa has brought just for me. 

Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace? 

Or a Big Shot I said, with a smile on my face. 

And that's when I heard him, 

"Hello 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’d 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 his sleigh into gear. 

"You've got enough crap, 

I'll see you next year!"

I think it's time to close my craft room door ..... I definitely don't want Santa going in there!!

Thanks for popping by ....... enjoy your Christmas Eve, and have a wonderful day tomorrow.
It's time to open one of those fancy boxes of chocolates I think, pour a cheeky little snowball and watch a festive movie.  The table can wait until later ..... Cheers! Merry Christmas xx

From Our House to Yours

Good Morning,

Well, I feel as though I'm actually getting somewhere this morning.   Mr Mojo is slowly making his way back, he's taking his time though.  Not as much ended up in the bin yesterday, which is a good sign.

Inbetween all the DT things I've got on the go, I've managed to make a card for this weeks challenge over at Less is More

It's Week 93, it's One Layer Week and the theme is ...

HOUSES  

Talk about quick and easy, this took no time at all.   It's perfect if you're doing a whole batch of Christmas cards, especially if they need to go in the post - they're FLAT!  No embellies. 
The little winter scene was simply stamped in the centre of the card using black ink.  I'm not sure but I think the stamp is by Stampendous, but I could be wrong.
It's such a cute little scene which you can either stamp and leave as it is, like I've done here, or you can add a little bit of colour for a different look.  I've just lightly sponged some Stormy Sky Distress Ink in the background, and added some Glamour Dust to the snow for a bit of sparkle.

I suppose that's another Christmas card done too.  If I don't make a start on the rest soon they may all have to be as quick and easy.

Ah well, back to the old craft room, no rest for the wicked - so they say!   I have to finish off an Indigo Blu project today,  and as it's Friday tomorrow, it's my day on the Creative Studios DT Blog, so I'd better get that done too. 
Sam asked the DT if we'd all like some felt to work with.   Of course the answer was 'ooh .... yes please'.  So this week we're having a felt week.  Why not pop over and see what the DT have come up with so far.

Thanks for popping by today.  Enjoy the rest of your Thursday.

Bye for now

Linda

x

I'm on a roll!

Hi everyone,
Yes it's me again.  I'm doing well this week, blogged everyday so far!

I've noticed that I have another new follower - Welcome, it's so nice to have you with me.  I'm slowly creeping up to the latest target of 80, not so sure I'll do it by the end of September though.

Before I lock myself away in the old craft room for the afternoon,  I just wanted to share a couple of the cards I've just popped into the post for the girls over at Stamp Addicts.

Sarah emailed me last week and asked could I work with some stamps and have some cards ready for their Birthday Demo Day on Saturday.  Of course I said yes.  I only got the stamps on Monday so I didn't have a lot of time.  Here's a little taste of what I came up with ........

One of the stamps was this gorgeous window scene, which, on this particular design I've just stamped in brown Archival Ink, and added a little fine crystal glitter to the background just to highlight the trees and the church roof.
You can just see a little bit of Fran-tage in the bottom corners too.  I must say this stuff is addictive
The bow had been coloured with a red Copic Pen, then glazed with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with a little glitter while the glaze was still wet.

The other stamp they sent me was this gorgeous little robin, he's so cute.

Again, still quite a simple design, the image has just been stamped in Black, the robin has been coloured with Copics again, and the holly leaves part of the stamp has been stamped agin, this time in green. (honestly they are green, although they don't look it in the photo!)  The leaves have then been cut out and layered over the original image.  The berries have been coloured red and a little Glossy Accents put over the top to make them shine.

The backing papers I've used are from my bit box stash so I'm not entirely sure which ranges they're from.  Any pretty Christmas papers would go along side these stamps, depending on your colour choice.

Finally I had to do a tag ........

This is done on Kraft cardstock (Craftwork Cards).  I cut out a tag shape twice, one slightly smaller than the other.  The smaller of the two was then embossed with the snowflake design, inked around the edges using Aged Mahogany DI, and then I highlighted some of the snowflakes with the new dry glitter from the Tim Holtz range - clear rock candy.

I love how it has a matte look to it, but yet still sparkles when the light hits it.  It gives a real vintage look
without being too glittery.
The embossed tag was then mat onto the larger one giving a nice border around the edge.
The image was stamped in brown ink, twice, onto more Kraft card. One cut out fully using one of my Nesties, and the background was highlighted using a white gel pen.  Just the robin was cut from the second image and was coloured using Coloursoft Pencils.  He was then layered up along with some green holly leaves and the whole thing  attached to the tag.

These, and a few others are safely in the post on their way to the UK.  Hope the girls have a great day on Saturday, and a very Happy 20th Birthday to everyone at Stamp Addicts.

When I got home from town this morning, this was waiting behind the door .......

........... isn't it pretty.  My latest purchase from The Ribbon Girl, one of my favourite, favourite online craft stores.  Now what am I going to do with this parcel of gorgeousness .........  hmmmm!!!

Well, I'd best be off  to the old craft room.  Goodies to put away, then I AM going to make a start on my Timmmie Tag - come what may!  Whether it will be finished today, who knows.  Watch this space.

Thanks for looking.

Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday.

Linda

x

That Friday feeling ...

Happy Friday folks!
Are you all ready for the weekend?  I know I am, it's been a really long week this week.

Still haven't cleared the ironing mountain, in fact it's getting bigger!! Must stop putting on the washing machine ......  I must confess though, I got a little distracted yesterday, I went into the old craft room to put something away (my latest ebay purchases), and decided to sit for a while and plan the next project on my list.  Four hours later (oops!) 2 projects started, but still no ironing done I thought it best to leave things.  I think I'll take Mel's advice - give the ironing a miss and go buy new clothes!!!  Not sure the other half will approve of that one though.

Anyway, on to things crafty.
Did any of you see Sarah and Vicky, from Stamp Addicts, on C&C yesterday?  They were showing their new Christmas stamps.
I gave you a few sneak peeks last week of some of the samples I did for them, well here they are in full.

the beautiful poinsettia

the winter scene

 this has a bit of everything

Not all of my samples were shown on the telly, here's the one's you didn't see ....

I think out of all of them my favourites are the winter scene in the Christmas bauble (Spellbinders Heirloom Ornament - love this die).  I used my favourite technique for the background, and there's even some flitter flu and flakes on there.
And, I really like how my tag turned out.  The girls sent me three stamps to work with, and they're all on there.  There's a bit of masking, inking, colouring with Copics, some glitter, a bit of decoupage, die cutting and it's all finished off with ribbon and a charm.  Me and my tags - the bigger the better.  The only problem is, when you make a large tag, it needs a large box to go on, could prove to be expensive!

The next C&C show to watch out for is Kay tomorrow with Indigo Blu Christmas (Saturday 11th,  11 o'clock til 1).  I spoke to her yesterday, my box had arrived safely - phew!  There's going to be some stunning new stamp designs, as well as more stock of ones that sold out so quickly last time.  Also no doubt Kay will have some great demos planned, so tune in, or set to record, you won't want to miss it!  HO! HO! HO!

Well,I suppose it's back to the ironing (sigh!).  No rest for the wicked.  Or, maybe I'll just pop into the old craft room and check how things are looking this morning - much better idea I think. 

Have a lovely weekend, hope this glorious weather lasts.
It's actually the Royal Manx Show today and tomorrow, so it would be nice if the sunshine stayed a little bit longer.

Thanks for popping by, and thank you all for your lovely comments on posts this week.  It's nice to know that you're out there.

Bye for now

Linda

x

Sshh ......... it's sneaky peek time.

Hi everybody,
Just finished one batch of Design Team samples so I thought I'd take a break, sit down with a coffee and share with you some of what I've been up to.

It's been pretty hectic the last couple of days.  Lauren and Alex flew back to the UK first thing on Tuesday and I've been in the old craft room ever since!  It's very quiet in here now though ......  Alex likes Grandma's 'play' room.
He quite enjoyed himself with some of my punches .....

....... and my Distress inks .......

....... we made flowers to take back to his other Grandma.  He's quite the little crafter!

Now that I've managed to get back to my desk, it's all systems go.  I've a few deadlines to meet in the next couple of weeks so it's definitely a case of ....

 KEEP CALM 

and 

KEEP CRAFTING!  

There's stuff everywhere again, the place is covered in glitter, gems and gilding flakes - yes, you've probably guessed, it's Christmas again. 

I'm busy doing samples and I'm trying to stay up todate with Challenges too,  the 'to do' list just keeps getting longer.  If I didn't have my list nothing would get done!

I love it all really, I do work better under pressure! Plus of course I have all these fabulous products to play with - what's not to love!

I've been busy with some Stamp Addicts designs.  The girls are back on Create and Craft (Sky Channel 671/Freeview 36/Freesat 813) on August 9th.
Here's just a little tease of what I've parcelled up and sent to Sarah .........

Most definitely Christmas, very festive!  Don't forget, it's August 9th on Create and Craft. Sorry, but I'm not sure of the time.

Well, I'd better get back behind the desk and swap my laptop for rubber stamps and ink - tough job I know.
It's Indigo Blu this afternoon, so more gilding flakes.  I think I might just have a bit of a tidy up though before I start again - can't actually see my desks at the moment.  You have to look pretty closely to see the floor even - that's also covered in stuff.  Never mind, at least I know where everything is.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.
Happy Crafting!

Linda

x

PS  Ooh, forgot to mention I did my first Blog post for Indigo Blu yesterday.  If you fancy taking a look here's the link.  Let me know what you think.

Talk about last minute!

Hi everyone,
Just a quick post tonight I'm afraid.  I've got to get a wriggle on and get my card entered in this weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge - I think I have about 1 hour and 30 odd minutes left.  I don't think I've ever been sooo late.  It'll be time for the next one if I'm not careful!!

OMG!  This was hard work today - loads of ideas but nothing seemed to be right.  Don't know what it was but my heart wasn't completely in it when I started,  plus I knew I hadn't got a lot of time - not a great combination.  Nothing has ended up in the bin though, apart from the rubbish!

I've almost forgotten what this weeks challenge is, it's so long since it went up. 
That's right, ....  it's     HOT METAL
We have to use some metal somewhere on our projects and all the usual PBSC rules apply.

Here's my entry.  It's my second attempt, as I wasn't happy with the first one.  Sorry, the picture isn't great either but the clock is ticking ....  Don't worry, I'll share the first attempt with you too before I go.

My first thought was to do a Christmas card (got to start them sometime) but like I said, things didn't go according to plan.  So, a quick change of mind was in order - I'm obviously not ready to start with the festive stuff just yet.
Even though I didn't end up with a Christmas card,  I have however,  used a Christmas stamp. 
One of my favourite PB stamps is the 'fantasy' tree and I thought as it was out on my desk, I could actually get away with using for an everyday theme.  I think it's worked.
I used my Distress Markers directly onto the stamp to ink the tree - Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo, and added some small punched flowers for blossom. (it doesn't look Christmassy now!)  The papers are from the Je T'adore collection by Making Memories which I've mat and layered onto some brown pearlescent cardstock.  All the edges have been inked with Worn Lipstick DI, and a couple of the edges have been punched.
My 'Hot Metal' is in the form of eyelets down the right hand side (5 of them), 2 more to tie the ribbon through and then the little bird in the tree is a metal bead.

sooo tweet ......

This one got a better reaction when it was finished.  I was quite pleased how it turned out, and my son has already claimed it for his girlfriends birthday later in the month so it can't be that bad!

Here's a quick look at my first attempt.........  well it's a Christmas card.  Not sure if I like though.

The metal on this one are the bells around the reindeer's neck.  I'll put it away for now, and come back to it later 

Well, that's it from me today.  Sorry it's a bit short and sweet.

Thanks for popping by.  Have a lovely weekend.

Bye for now

Linda

x

Positively Festive!

Good morning everyone,
It's weekend, thank goodness. Time to slow down and relax a little I think.  This last week has been non- stop for me, and I still didn't get everything done in time - the list goes on!  Sorry Sally, your birthday card is on it's way - honest!

Just a quick word about last nights football, England WON - well done lads!  We beat Sweden 3-2 It didn't look like a win was possible at one point but they pulled it off.  Let's hope we can keep it up on Tuesday next week, we need at least a draw against the Ukraine.

The dreaded 'C' word was spoken this week - yes that's right CHRISTMAS!!  Now I know it's only the middle of June and we haven't had summer yet, but some of us have had to put our Santa hats on and find some festive spirit.
I've been working on Christmas cards since Wednesday, and I'm feeling positively festive.  I even came close to getting the Christmas CD's out on Friday afternoon when a friend joined me, who was also planning Christmas cards, but in the end we thought maybe it was a little too early.
I must admit I do like making Christmas cards.  At the beginning of this year I said I was going to make at least 1 every week so that come December there wouldn't be that mad rush to get everything finished before the big day.  Well, I have the grand total of ........... NIL so that idea worked well!  I tell a lie, I do have some cards left over from last year, but I haven't actually made any new ones.  Oh well, it's only June - plenty of time (haha).

I can't actually share with you what I've spent my time on this week, but I can tell you they were Indigo Blu stamps that I was working with (gorgeous, by the way), and that Kay is back on Create and Craft next Wednesday (20th) with 2 shows that are all Christmas.  If you are around tune in on Sky channel 671, Freeview 36 or Freesat 813, the stamps are all fab and Kay will have some great ideas to get you started on your own Christmas designs. And my cards should be on the telly too, if they arrive on time.
I'm going to be very naughty now and give you some sneaky peeks ........ shhh! don't tell anyone will you.

..... and the ivy

oohh..... who could this be?

mwah!!

 

looks a bit frosty ....

same as above but different .... ?

I don't think I've given too much away have I.  Once everything has been on air, I'll be back with all the details.  In the meantime all of the stamps are available on the Indigo Blu website.  Check them out here  Along with the stamps there's a whole range of other fabulous stuff to tempt you.

Well, must be off, things to do.  Have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing.  I hope the weather is kind to you. It hasn't got off to a great start here.  Ah well, great excuse to spend the afternoon crafting.

Bye for now,

Linda

x  

It's all Black and White

Brrrr!  We had a frosty start over here this morning, so I decided to snuggle in my craft room and carry on where I left off yesterday.
Same Clarity stamp but this time I went for the old black and white look, only I always like to add a dash of colour.  This is an old favourite style of mine and finds it's way into most of the stuff I do.  Hope you like it.

Here's a couple more examples of my black and white designs, the first one being Christmas cards I did last year.  Nice and simple stamped onto acetate, glitter added to the back and then mat onto white card to make it pop that bit more, a little dash of red for the festive season - classic!  Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I'm no photographer.  I'll have to try and get it so that the glitter and the finer details are easier to see.  Maybe a new camera is needed - hmm?

Penny Black rubber stamps

This was a card I sent off to one of the Craft magazines as a competition entry, I didn't win anything, but I believe it's been shown in one of the issues.  Again, quick and easy.  Just a little shading with distress ink to add the colour, and of course some sparkle added.

I love this Lavinia Cat Stamp - he minds me of my cat Spot!

Thanks for popping by
Linda

x