Gift Bags and Money wallets

Hi

Since I found the carrier bags I made a couple of quick and simple bags and matching money wallets. I know they are extremely simple but in my experience children barely look at the wrappings but are far more concerned with what is actually inside! Lol!

I decided to give the children money this year but obviously they would need some little things to open. Turned out to be  pretty expensive little things!! Still, I enjoyed it and I know they will so that's what counts. And obviously I needed something to put these little things in, so here they are.

My Projects

gift bag

matching money wallet

These used toppers from Crafters Companion Inspiration Winter Edition, with some LOTV paper, SB Create a Flake 5 and Dees  DinstinctlyStacker Tree.

whoops, cut off the handles - in the pic!

matching money wallet

For these I used papers from Simple Stories Handmade Holidays pad and embellished with SB snowflakes. It was certainly quicker than the ones I made from the manilla envelopes, but not quite so satisfying! And they were so much nicer too. Note to self - in 2014 remember to take pictures !!

Must go. Take care!

Christmas Wishes To My Blog Friends.

Hi everybody.  Not sure whether I will, get chance to post tomorrow, most likely not, but I wanted to be sure to send  Christmas Greetings to you all.

My Card

I have managed to catch up on everything I needed to do, and now just have some baking to do.

By the way, I found my gift bags in the most obvious place. Don't ask!!!  As one of my  uncles used to say -"It's not lost, I just don't know where it is!"  How true that is!!

Hope you all enjoy a peaceful and happy Christmas and return in the new year full of fabulous craft ideas!!  No more crafting for me now until after Christmas, although I will still be popping in and out I'm sure.

More Candles

Good afternoon  everybody and thank you for dropping by.  I have had rather a busy week but some of it, I  must confess, was socializing and very enjoyable.  On Monday I met up with some friends for coffee.  We decided it should be just coffee because we were all busy and didn't have time for lunch.  Turns out lunch might have been the shorter option!!

Yesterday I met up with my ex-colleagues and had lunch.  I made some more candles - but typically I had wrapped two of them before I remembered I hadn't taken pictures.  Too late was the cry because there was no way I was going to undo the cellophane wrapping! So here the pictures of the other two.

My Project

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(Wonky candle corrected before wrapping!)

For the first candle I stamped a Barbara Grey stamp  "The Night Before Christmas" and coloured with Promarkers before heating it onto the candle. The snowflake, and a few others scattered around the back, clear peel offs which will easily peel off before the candle is lighted. "The Night Before Christmas" ribbon was from Crafty Ribbons.

The second one was obviously LOTV "Little Ivy".  I used an MS punch on the purple card stock, wrapped some white striped organza ribbon round and then finished off with a lavender silk poinsettia which has been in my stash for a few years, and finally a pearly flower in the centre.

I could kick myself because I bought a pack of plain carrier bags from Hobbycraft to decorate and I don't know where I have put them. I had to filch some extra large manila envelopes from John's office. I made them into gift bags and decorated them with papers from Simple Stories "Handmade Holiday" pad and more poinsettias and holly.  But yes, you've guessed it - forgot to photograph them!

Anyway my tree is finally up and finished so I think I can now calm down and take it easy!  Hope you are all progressing well with your Christmas preparations.

CCC Challenge - Get Your Skates On, Christmas Is Coming!

Good evening. This is an extremely quick post! I actually forgot that today was Sunday and I needed to post the final card this year for our Christmas Card Club.  Mind you, I also forgot our wedding anniversary tomorrow so I have had to do a quick card for that too.  Luckily my friend just happened to mention it this morning when she rang.  I just don't know where my head is at the moment.  Anyway todays' choice is that of Sue W. I'm not sure she meant Santa to don his skates, but the poor old guy needs a bit of fun before his extremely busy time next week! Lol!

My Card

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6 x 6 inch card. Matted and layered with red card stock and Papermania Home For Christmas. The image is from my Greeting Card Factory and die cut with SB large squares and Labels 16. The white band was trimmed with an Xcut border punch but I cannot remember the name. The snowflakes are SB Create a Flake 5 and then red ribbon and black pearls from my stash to finish it off.

Hope this finds you all well. 

Trees and Snowflakes

Good day to you all.  I am feeling very pleased with myself that I played catch-up with a vengeance  Ended up with too many Christmas cards!!!! A good start for next year. Lol!! They all went in the post yesterday, apart from a few that need hand delivering locally, so I can now relax a little and maybe make a start on sorting out my Christmas trees. Otherwise it will be time to take them down before I get them up!

My Card

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This picture does not show the card at its best unfortunately. Unusually for me it is 7 x 7 inches because I wanted to use as much of the gorgeous First Edition Silent Night paper as possible. I also didn't want to cover up too much so I just die cut some snow flakes using SB Create a Flake 5, and a couple of trees using Dees Distinctly A Cut Above. I cut them all from another sheet in the set and dusted them all over with Pan Pastel Light Gold which, although not showing in the photo, gives a gorgeous pearlescent glow to the images.  The background paper is very neutral and the tree is beautifully glittered. The card  is a pale gold pearlescent card from Anna Marie Designs. (Part of a fabulous bargain at the NEC. About 8 or 9 pence per card and envelope, including 8 inch and pearlescent cards.) This is for my nephew because he doesn't like things too fussy.  I think it would make a nice winter birthday card too.

Have a good day.

Christmas Acetate

Good afternoon to you all. Thanks for stopping by.  I'm not being a very good blogger at the moment but there is so much going on at present - and that's not counting Christmas stuff I'm trying to do too!  But I'm going to take a page out of Sue's book (Ollie's Mam) yesterday when she said she's not going to stress.  I have decided if things don't get done or finished, does it really matter? Of course it doesn't!!

My Card

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Unfortunately this was very difficult to photograph. The sun is so bright (and I am certainly not complaining about that!!) that the acetete was casting shadows and this was the best I could manage.  But at least you can get the idea.  I made a stepper card with paper and images from Crafters Companion Inspiration, Winter Edition and then made a tent fold over the top with acetate.  So simple yet so effective. I've just realised that the sentiment circl (SB Lacy Circles) has slipped so I'll try to correct that.

Well that's all I have time for today. Hope this finds you all well. I know Mrs Duck is unwell so I hope you're feeling a bit better Ang.

Candy Cane Christmas

Good morning everybody. Well it's Sunday again - so soon!! I had a very pleasant day at the craft fair at the National Motorcycle Museum yesterday, but I was a good girl and didn't spend too much - which makes a change.

My Cards

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Just some very quick cards here. I used some A4 cardstock and computer generated the sentiment twice before printing it and cutting it into two A6 cards.  The candy cane image was printed from my Greetings Card Factory and die cut with SB ovals and petite scalloped ovals. Although it doesn't show up in the picture I used red stickles on the holly berries then finished off with red pearls from the Hobby House.  It's amazing how quickly you move along when you do the same cards.  However I think I probably did a dozen and then changed to another one because I get very bored doing them all the same.

Hope this finds you all well and getting on with your Christmas preparations.  For some reason I cannot summon any enthusiasm at all this year.      I have at least got all my presents apart from a couple so that's good news. But I haven't even thought about food yet.  Still,  it will all come together and I'm sure everything will be great as it always is.

Well have a good day. 

On The Fifth Day Of Christmas ...

"Good evening, and this is Christine reporting live from her own desktop computer!"  Yes, I'm back in business, hooray!!  A big thank you to John who has worked so hard to sort it - and lived through my moaning, groaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth!!  You never know what Santa might bring as a thank you!  It really is so good to be back at my own machine. I hated the keyboard on the laptop because the keys were in different places and I was continually making mistakes.  Anyway, no more moaning.

My Card

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This is the last of my Twelve Days cards. I have only done six of them but I don't think I will have time for the other six.  I think they will probably have to wait until next year now unless I can wave my magic wand and find some extra hours / days!.  

6 x 6 card again.  The green card was from my snippets box  and the gold card has been in my drawer for ages.  I think I got it at the NEC a few years ago.  Computer generated sentiment matted onto the green and gold card. The holly borders are Memory Box Holly Vine and the gold ribbon and red pearls are from my stash.  The rings were actually spread all over the the topper but it looked too busy so I removed them and glued them in a row which I much prefer. It seems more balanced this way.  I am not one very busy busy cards.

Hope this finds you all well after the terrible weather yesterday.  Sue and I had a great day in Cheltenham, but we were both shattered when we got home. 

Well tomorrow I am off to the Motor Cycle Museum in Birmingham to a paper craft fair.  I hadn't planned to go having spent so much at the NEC last month  but Sue's sister in law asked if I would take her and I didn't like to say no.  I'm a sucker I know, but I find the word NO extremely hard to say!! I'm sure I will find something to spend more money on. Lol!!

Had a visit from one of next door's cows again this morning - accompanied by her daughter this time!  I wish our neighbour would actually spend some money and fence his land properly!!  They both had a good feast on the rest of the apples that had come down in yesterday's high winds.  Saved me having to go and gather them up.

On The Fourth Day of Christmas ....

Good morning dear friends.  Another quick post and I am scheduling it because I am going out tomorrow.  My friend lost her mum last month and is feeling rather low. It would have been her birthday on Tuesday and there is Christmas coming up which are all sad occasions, especially  the first ones.  I guess the only good thing is that all three "anniversaries" are close together and the first ones are always the worst I found.  Anyway, I am picking her up quite early and we off to Cheltenham for a girl's day out and we will find somewhere lovely to have lunch no doubt.  Cheltenham also has a little Christmas market so I think we will have a good day. When I worked in Cheltenham I used to love to walk around town at lunchtime but I don't go too often these days.  It's about 90 mile round trip so I usually make a special trip.  Mind you from where I live everywhere decent is a long way away. Lol!

My Card

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Another 6 x 6 inch card . The deep pink and navy papers were bits from my box.  The sentiment was computer generated and matted onto another scrap of blue die cut with SB Lacy Circles. The large pink pearls are from my stash as is the glittery white yarn. The yarn is very pretty but I have had it so long I don't know where it is from.  

Well that's it from me. Hope you are well and have a good day.

On The Third Day of Christmas ...

Good morning friends and fellow bloggers.  A quick post today while John is doing something else!

My Card

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Cardstock cut to 6 x 6 inches. The French Hens are stickers as I said. The backing papers are "Winter Wonderland" from Me To You. The sentiment is computer generated and matted with SB Lacy Squares. 

I used a punch for the snowflakes,  Such a quick card but quite effective.  Yesterday I posted The First Day and if you missed it you can find the Second and Sixth Days  here .

Well in a few days I will hopefully be back to normal. My computer has been replaced and will be here in a couple of days - thank goodness!!  Mind you, there was a good side to not being able to spend hours at a time on the computer - apart from a couple of special cards I actually got all my Christmas cards done. I'm not quite sure how many I have done but it's into the eighties so I feel very self satisfied! I just have to put the insets in and Bob's your uncle.  I made CAS cards for a lot of them but they still look okay.

Well, have a good day everybody.

The First Day of Christmas

Good morning friends and fellow bloggers.  Hope you are all feeling well, and if not please consider that you have just had a virtual hug from me!

Well here I am posting for the second day in a row. John has gone to the dentist so the laptop is all mine! Yippee!

My Card

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My usual 6 x 6 inch card. The topper is one of the ones I bought a couple of weeks ago and I quite like them.  As I said at the time I never buy these sort of sticker type toppers but these are actually really nice so I made an exception.  There are a few more to come so be prepared!  The green plaid paper is a snippet I found in my box so not sure where it is from.  I have a feeling it is a digi paper from goodness knows where.
The tiny poinsettias are from WOC and the pearls are from the  Hobby House pearl in the centre. I computer generated the sentiment and then matted it onto an SB Lacy Circles die cut.

Well I shall get off so that I can do some blog visiting before the master returns for his computer!!

Entered into:

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/chnc-challenge-extra-for-december.html

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/week-235-inspired-by-christmas-song-or.html - 12 days of Christmas
http://ladybugcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ -  Christmas/Winter

I'm Back for the CCC challenge - Christmas Trees.

Hi everybody! I have missed you all so much! I am still minus my computer unfortunately.  After getting a new hard drive it turned out that wasn't the problem anyway.  John has ordered something else which should come on Monday so we'll see if that's it.  Meanwhile we have downloaded my camera software and photo editing software onto John's laptop so that I can at least do something if he is not using it.  I am also able to plug my external hard drive into his laptop too in order to access my data but it is a very long winded affair.  Anyway, enough of that.

I am so sorry that I have been missing from the visiting and commenting. Hopefully it will not be too much longer now.

My Card

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The challenge is "Oh Christmas Tree".  Now I don't happen to own a proper Christmas tree stamp. I think I have a digi stamp, but at the time I was doing my card I wasn't able to access my data. Anyway, this is a tree, and it's Christmas, so it will have to do. Hope you agree.

My usual 6 x 6 inch card. The stamps I used are Denami Designs Christmas Script Background and Star Swirl Tree and I have had them for about 9 or 10 years. Now I've used them again I don't know why they were relegated to the drawer! I cut a piece of blue vellum to cover the card front and wrap around the back. I stamped the Script stamp in white onto the vellum and heat embossed with Ranger Frosted Crystal embossing powder and attached it to the card front. Onto a narrow strip of the blue vellum I again stamped the Script stamp, this time with Brilliance Pearlescent Ice Blue and heat embossed with the same powder to give a different effect, although the difference is quite subtle. I embossed a piece of white card stock with Crafts Too embossing folder Snowflakes, wrapped the vellum strip round it, matted it onto silver mirri and attached to the centre. The star swirl tree was stamped with the blue ink and the same embossing powder and matted onto silver mirri. It wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of glitter so I added blue glitter to the star, and a bit of bling to the corners. The picture is not very good I'm afraid. It is quite shadowy where the vellum is loose because I only attached it to the back of the card where it overlapped and underneath the snowflake panel. In real life it looks better. I am really pleased that the embossed script turned out so well.

Well that's it from me. Hope you are all well. I know my friend Sue P is unwell so please get well soon Sue!!!!

Entered into:

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.ca/2013/12/chnc-challenge-extra-for-december.html

http://craftingbydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/christmaswinter-with-inky-impressions.html
http://jellyparkchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/jellypark-friends-month-long-christmas.html
http://52cct.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/november-pick-previous-theme-challenge.html -Christmas Trees