Wine Bottle Sleeves

Good morning and I hope this finds you all well. Today I'm showing these wine bottle sleeves that I found on YouTube.  They look so much nicer than the usual bag that you can buy.They are very easy to make, can be customised by changing the labels etc. and I think they make a simple gift look pretty special.  I made them for both the standard wine bottle and the miniature bottle.  I will put the miniature one in with my sister's gifts.

My Project

Well that's all my Christmas cards out of the way and posted so now I have time to make a few gift bags and boxes and this is the start.

A very short post but there is still a lot to do.  Putting up my Christmas tree for starters!!!   I really must get on with that today or Christmas will be here before the tree is!  I have placed my ceramic snowy village and my ceramic nativity scene, so I have actually made a start but I'll have to get my skates on.

Take care!

Anything Goes ... With The Colour Red for OSAAT Challenge 252

Good morning to everybody.  My goodness we have had some rain over the last day or two.  Makes you wonder where it all comes from!  Still, it does mean that in a couple of months my well will be great. It takes a few months before it permeates through the ground and the water tables - or something like that anyway!  John has explained umpteen times but ........

If you are looking for my Christmas Card Club entry please scroll down to the next post because I had to post it yesterday.

Anyway today it is time to post my card for One Stitch At A Time   and the theme is Anything Goes with The Colour Red.  My Image is Wish Upon A Star from Kaz Kraftz and you can find it here in the store.

My Card

Ingredients

6 " square card base

Red cardstock - Rymans

DP - Papermania "Home For Christmas"

Star embossing folder - Docrafts Little Tatty Ted

Opulent Ovals  die - Spellbinders

Christmas Star -  Joanna Sheen's Signature dies

Coloured with Promarkers

Sentiment - Computer generated

Gems - from stash

The embossed stars on the red card are not showing up too well in the photo but trust me, they are there!

Please pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the DT have made and perhaps think about joining us in the challenge.  Some lucky person could be the winner of this great prize.

December Prize Pack

I hope everybody is feeling well and not too many suffering from the dreaded viruses doing the rounds. Keep warm and take care.

The Final Christmas Card Club Challenge For 2015 ... Anything Goes

Good morning.  I am back to my usual one day early for the CCC challenge because I have another project to post tomorrow. For our last challenge this year Zoe has made it very easy for us by allowing us "Anything Goes."

My Project

Ingredients

Large white gift bag - Hobbycraft

Backing papers -  First Edition " Silent Night"

Snowflakes - Spellbinders Create A Flake 4 and 5

Tiny snowflakes - XCut punch

Very large snowflake - ancient stash, 

(possibly Craftwork Cards from about 10 years ago.)

Ribbon and pearls from stash

This really is a dreadful picture but I have tried quite a few pics and none of them are any better. Dark dreary days,  pearlescent cardsock and glittery paper certainly aren't helping the situation.  I have made a gift bag with a flurry of glittery, sparkly snowflakes and in real life it really looks super - honestly!!!  I have added a label to the back of the hanging snowflake and made it into a gift tag. The very large snowflake at the top was white.  I coloured it with Promarkers, sprayed it with glue then drenched it in glitter. I think my sister will pleased  this bag anyway.  I'm not saying she is easily pleased, but she is so appreciative of everything I give her, or do for her, that it really is a pleasure to give her things.

Well that's it from me for today.  Take care all.

MAWTT - To A Special Person At Christmas

Good morning and hope this finds you all well.The challenge at  MAWTT this week has been set by Carole and she asked us to make a card for a special person at Christmas.  I have made this card for my sister to give her next door neighbours ( I don't actually have any neighbours so no use to me ... lol!),  They are a super couple and have been experiencing some difficulties over the last few months so Jeanie asked me to make a card to let them know how special they are.

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" base card - made from Rymans cardsock

Red cardstock - Rymans

Frosty swirls e/f - Creative Expressions

Provence dies - Creative Expressions

Poinsettias - Wild Orchid Crafts

Pearls - from stash

Sentiment - computer generated

Well not long now till the fat old guy dressed in red makes his annual visit. I hope you are all getting prepared.  Personally I have never been so unprepared - never!!!  Still, it will all fall into place in the end I'm sure.

Another short and sweet post again.

Take care.

Christmas Card Club - The Holly And The Ivy

Good morning and I hope this finds you all well.  Well better late than never I guess.  This card should have been posted Sunday but I knew it would be late and I had already apologised to my fellow club members in advance.  However, I expected to be able to post it a couple of days ago but Blogger had other ideas.  If you saw my post yesterday you will know that Blogger and I have not been the best of friends this week. Hopefully things are okay again - fingers crossed!

My Card

Recipe

5 x 7" card base - made from Hobbycraft cardstock

Green pearlescent card - Jellybean Crafts

Embossing folder - from a magazine

Image - found on internet a long time ago

Pearls from stash

Red and gold stickles.

I like the fresh clean look to this card and once again practically flat so good for posting.

Well this is a short and sweet, so take care everybody.

"Anything Goes " at Crafty Time Challenges

Apologies to everybody!  This post was due on December 1st but I have had mega problems with Blogger.  It would  not allow me add pictures from my folders.  It kept pointing me to "online storage" and saying the facility was unavailable.  I don't store anything online so couldn't work it out.  Have tried for a couple of days but no luck.  Anyway, opened Blogger today and everything was back to normal.  Go figure!!  Flipping Blogger!  So here is my post - albeit two days late!!

Good morning to you all. Well it's a nice bright morning after all the rain - and no wind!  Thank goodness.  Well for my "3-in-a-row" card it's my DT card for Crafty Time.  Our last challenge of 2015 is very easy - Anything Goes so we hope you will join in the fun with us.

My Card

The image I have used is Minako, Oriental Maiden and I think this is a gorgeous image.

Recipe

Easel card base - made from Hobbycraft cardstock

DP - "Lucy Cromwell" from Papermania

Labels 8 - Spellbinders

Decorative Labels 8 - Spellbinders

Dancing Lanterns - Spellbinders

Fabulous Phlox - Memory Box
Promarkers tocolour

Pearls from stash

Our sponsor is Moon Flower and she has some very pretty image sand she is offering 3 images to the winner. The image I have used is Minako, The Oriental Maiden which I think is gorgeous

Well I must be off.  Hope everybody is well.  Take care.

Get Creative Challenges - Holidays

Good morning.  I'm here with my DT card for Get Creative where the theme is Holidays.  Our sponsor is Sami Stamps and the image I have used is "Waiting For Santa."  At least this is one house where Santa will arrive safely since the fireplace is totally empty ... lol!

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" card base made from Hobbycraft card stock

Red cardstock for matting - Rymans

Snowflake lattice embossing folder - Sue Wilson

Poinsettias - Wild Orchid Crafts

Pearls from Stash

Sentiment - Polkadoodles

Promarkers to colour,

Another practically flat card for posting which is always a bonus.  Please pop across to the challenge blog and check out the cards made by the rest of the DT.

Well that's it from me for today.  Take care.

I am entering this card into Rudolph Days

OSAAT Challenge 251 Anything Goes With Winter

Good morning -  although we are having very high winds at the moment so not quite so good.  I really don't like gales because they can cause so much damage!   Hope everyone is well and keeping warm.

Today's offering is my DT card for One Stitch At A Time . The image I am using is Santa's Sleigh Silhouette from Floppy Latte and you can find it here in the store.

My Card

This is weird because it all looks so lopsided.   I have just checked the black mat again and it is actually right, so I must have been holding the camera at a very weird angle when I took the shot.  David Bailey I most certainly am not !!!!

I took the snowy trees background from my Greeting Card Factory and then printed the png image of Santa onto it.  A few stars, some glitter and that's it.  And very flat too, which is always a bonus at Christmas.

Please pop across to the blog and see what thye rest of my teamies have come up with and why not join us?  I'm sure you have  plenty of winter/ Christmas cards to show.  The beauty of this theme is it does not have to be Christmas - it could be a winter birthday or anything you wish.

This is the prize you could win - A great selection of images and a paper pack too, so what are you waiting for?

Take care.

Joy To The World

Good morning to all my friends and fellow bloggers, and if you landed here by chance you are very welcome too!  Please leave a comment and if you have a blog I can visit you in return.  I have a Christmas card for you today.  I set off with great gusto with my Christmas cards but somehow managed to fall by the wayside so I really must get my skates on!!  Mind you, having woken up to snow this morning the skates aren't far away!!  Snow this early in the season for goodness sake!!!  And I'm in Oxfordshire, not the north of the country ...

My Card

Recipe

5 x 7" base card made from ivory card stock - my stash

gold card for matting - also from stash

Argyle embossing folder - Crafters Companion

Joy die - Sue Wilson

Star die - Signature die Joanna Shine

Sentiment - computer generated.

I'm happy with how this turned out and that I managed to keep it CAS.  I always want to add more but sometimes less is more.

I'm sorry I'm not managing too much blog time of late but hopefully that will improve soon.  

Hope this finds you all well.

Take care.

OSAAT Challenge # 250 Anything goes with Giving Thanks

Good afternoon to you all.  It's a very cold blustery day here so it's nice to be tucked up warm and safe at home.

It's time for another challenge at OSAAT and this time it is Anything Goes With Thanksgiving/Giving Thanks.  My image is Dragonfly Waterlily from the designer Crafty Girls and you can find it here.

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" base card 

Pink pearlescent card for matting and layering

DP - Lili of the Valley

Labels 10 - Spellbinders

Coloured with Promarkers

Ribbon and pearls from stash

I was unable to get a decent picture because the days were dark and had to use flash.  No matter how many times I tried I failed miserably.  Thank goodness for digital photography is all I can say!

We would love you to join in with us and you could win this great prize.

Take care and enjoy what's left of the weekend.

CCC Challenge 23 - Feature a Post Box

Good morning to all my friends, fellow bloggers and visitors.

As you can see it is time for another Christmas card for our little Christmas Card Club.  Mrs A is our host and she asked us to feature a postbox.  I have another image which I intended to use but  could  I find it?  Well, actually I could - but not until after I had made my card ... lol!   Once again my card is not due until tomorrow but I have another DT card due then hence the reason for posting early.

My Card

Recipe

6ins square base card  made from Hobbycraft card stock

Blue/grey card - Pennies Worth

Red card - Ryman

Digi image - Di's Digis

Snowflake Ribbon die - Poppy Stamps

DP - Me To You "Happy Jolly Christmas"

I love the image of these little mice posting off their Christmas cards. 

Well short and sweet today but if you would like to see what my club friends come up with their blog addresses are in my side bar - but don't look until tomorrow.

Hope you are all keeping well and warm - especially my friends in Scotland who seem to have been hit with adverse weather.  Hugs to you all.

Take care.

MAWTT - My Favourite Things

Good morning to you all and I hope this finds you well.

Mrs Duck is the host for  MAWTT  this week and her challenge is to use something from a song from one of my favourite films of all times.  Have you guessed that the song she has chosen is:

"My Favourite Things"?  

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,

Brown paper packages tied up with string

These are a few of my favourite things.

Cream coloured ponies and crisp apple streudles,

Doorbells and sleighbells and shnitzel with noodles,

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wing

These are a few of my favourite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,

Silver white winters that melt into spring,

These are a few of my favourite things.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings,

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favourite things

And then I don't feel so bad.!

Now I can hear you all singing along with me and there is so much choice that we would love you to play along with us. I am so far behind with my Christmas cards that I just had to choose "Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes". A tad boring I admit but needs must I'm afraid.!

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" white base card

Red card stock - Rymans

White card stock - Hobbycraft

LOTV topper

Snowflake lattice embossing folder - Creative Expressions

Snowflake dies - Spellbinders Create a Flake Five

Sentiment stamp - Dreemies

Pearls from stash

And of course it wouldn't be a Christmas card without glitter!

Well that's it from me but I'll be back at the weekend.

Take care and have a good day.

Courage Doesn't Roar

Good morning all - and what a foul morning it is here in Oxfordshire!  It has been a wild, windy, wet night and it is exactly the same now.  A day to sit around the fire methinks.  I think I'll take some of my crafting stuff into the kitchen so John isn't the only one getting the benefit of the woodburner.  Radiators are all well and good but I do love to see those flames.

Had a great day at the NEC on Thursday meeting up with Ang and her friend Kusum.  We also met up with Anne Oliver who is a follower of Mrs Duck and she very kindly treated us to coffee - or in my case tea.  Didn't spend a great deal, which I guess is good, because there didn't seem to be much that I was impressed with.

My Card

Ingredients

6" x 6" card base made from cream pearlescent card stock - Crafters Companion.

Gold card stock - Anna Marie Designs

Black cardstock - Rymans

Patterned paper - County Botanical from Fancy Pants Designs

Pierced dies - Sue Wilson

Woven ribbon - Hobbycrafts

Pearls from stash

Sentiment stamp - Gentle Thoughts from Quietfire Designs

For my encouragement card today I decide to use just the sentiment from Quietfire which I think is wonderful.  It is a two part stamp and the stamp for inside says Never Give Up.

Well short and sweet today.  Take care, keep dry and warm!

Get Creative Challenges - Birthday Celebrations.

Good morning everybody and hope you are well.

Get Creatives Challenges  is now one year old! We would love you to play along  and celebrate our birthday with us.   Our sponsor is Polkadoodles  and all you have to do is make a card that celebrates a birthday.  What could be more simple?

My Card

Recipe

Card base 6" x 6" made from Papermania card stock

Design paper - Lucy Cromwell by Papermania

Pearlescent card stock - Create and Craft  (from Wilkinsons)

Image and sentiment - both from Polkadoodles

Lacy Circles die - Spellbinders

Doily Border Punch - Martha Stewart 

Promarkers to colour

Pearls from stash

Well that's my fourth card in a row which I haven't managed for quite a while.  I think I need to go and lie down in a dark room now ... lol!

We would love you to join in with our birthday celebrations and we have prizes from Polkadoodles and also Angies Digis.

Must go now.  Take care.

Crafty Time Challenge - Embellish It

Good morning to all my friends and fellow bloggers.  The challenge at Crafty Time this month is so easy that I'm sure just about everybody could enter and we would love to see as many of you as we can.  The theme is Embellish It.  See, I told you it was easy!

My Card

My card is 7" x 7". The pink pearlescent card is from Create and Craft which I actually bought in Wilkinsons a couple of years ago.  The patterned papers are Lucy Cromwell from Papermania.  I again used Sue Wilson's Pierced for all the matting and layering and the leaves are also Sue's Maidenhair Fern.  The flowers are all from Wild Orchid Crafts and the pearls are Hobbyhouse. The image is Muffy Mopsy from Sherrie Baldy.

Our sponsor is Sherrie Baldy and you have the chance to win three images of your choice, so what are you waiting for?

Please pop over to the blog to see what my teamies have produced.

Hope everybody is well.  Take care.

OSAAT Challenge Anything Goes ....... For The Dead

Good morning to you.  Hope you are well.

Another challenge at OSAAT and since it is close to Remembrance Sunday I decided to take that as my theme.My card today uses Poppies by Coostie Creations which can be found here.  It is a very useful pack containing the image and four digi papers.

My Card

I coloured my white line card stock with Pink Petticoat Natural Linen from the Natural Neutrals collection.  I also coloured a piece of  white Neenah cardstock with the  same colour and printed my digi image onto it before colouring with Promarkers. I cut the image and the red mat with Sue Wilson's pierced rectangles.  I really wasn't sure about these dies when I got them but I have used them so much I think they have paid for themselves already!  The sentiment was computer generated and then die cut with SB Fancy Tags. The flower  in the corner ( not a poppy but close enough) was actually white but I coloured it with Promarkers and then added black microbeads to all three flower centres.

We would love you to play along with us this time and this is the prize you could win.

Take care.

Christmas Card Club # 22 Cardinal or Christmas Bird.

Good morning to you all and hope you are well.  I am just recovering from a cold - my first in about 15 years!!!!  I didn't take kindly to it I have to say!

Sorry I am not managing to get into  blog land much but there is a lot going on here.  Having said that, I will be here with four cards in a row to keep up to date with my DT work!  That's never happened before I can tell you.

Time for another card for our little group, and only three more challenges now believe it or not.  Pretty scary.  Mary is hosting our challenge this week and she asked us to feature a cardinal or other Christmas bird.  Robins are so Christmas-y but we have already had a robin theme so I have gone with the cardinal.

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" base card - Kraft card stock

matting & layering - green card from my bit box

image - from Greeting Card Factory Deluxe

sentiment - Dreemies

spruce die cut - Impression Obsessions 

Circle die cut - Spellbinders

embossing folder- Chevron by Darice

pearls from stash

A nice and easy card which is also very flat for posting.  Some glitter on the snow and that was it.

Hope you are all keeping well . The weather here has been pretty rough here the last few days - rain, rain, rain!

Well that's it from me today.

Take care.

OSAAT Anything Goes ... With Halloween Colours

Good afternoon to all my friends and fellow bloggers.  Welcome to OSAAT  Challenge # 248.  I was very pleased that the challenge is to use Halloween Colours rather than make an actual Halloween card.  I have already made two  - and that's two more than I usually make ... lol! I have chosen my favourite purple and added black. I am using the image "Emma" from Beary Dust Stamps which you can find here.

My Card

Showing the back of the stepper card.

Recipe

Papermania - 6" square Stepper card blank 

Black and purple card - from stash

 Papermania - "Lucy Cromwell" design paper

 Wild Orchid Crafts- paper blooms

Creative Expressions - Noble Dies Pierced Rectangles

Creative Expressions - Maidenhair Fern

Black pearls from stash

Promarkers to colour

I love this card style because you can actually get a lot on it, but I find it very difficult to photograph.  I haven't actually added a sentiment yet but I will do that later when I decide who, or what, the card will be for.

Please wander over to the blog and check out what my teamies have produced.  We would love you to play along wit us and this is the prize you could win.

I hope you are all fit and well.  Take care.

Christmas Card Club # 21 CAS Wreath

Good morning.  I am posting my CCC card a day early since I have another post for tomorrow.  This time Karen asked us to make a CAS card and use a wreath.  Well, my card is definitely CAS.  Unfortunately Karen is not well and unable to participate.

My Card

Recipe

Linen card stock - Hobbycraft

Catalina wreath die - Memory Box

Pierced Square die - Sue Wilson

Pearls from stash

I  don't think I have ever done anything so CAS but I really like how this has turned out and I think I will be doing this for my batch makes this year. It will be very easy to change the centers into a snowflake or Christmas tree etc just to ring the changes. I computer generated the sentiment before die cutting.  I know this is not actually a Christmas die but I think it works.

My cards are mounting up now which is just as well since I send so many.  I always say I will cut back but I just love making them - and receiving them too!

Hope this finds you well. Take care.

MAWTT Halloween

Good morning crafters!  Well I said last week that I didn't do Halloween and I don't - unless it's for a DT challenge!  So here is my second card.  Probably just as well since I can now send one each to Charlotte and Sébastien since the first was feminine and I think this seems more boyish.

It's Challenge # 6 for the A Team at MAWTT and our hostess is Amy who chose Halloween as her theme.

My Card

Recipe

6" card base made from black cardstock

Papers - Bearly Mine (all very old)

Bats - clip art

Mummy - Dearie Dolls image

I worked my magic (well it is Halloween!) and shrank the 8" x 8" papers to fit my requirements.  The spider was not part of the paper; it was another png. clip art which I added before printing. A very thrifty card since all papers and images was freebies - very satisfying!  

It would be great if you could pop across to  the blog and see what the rest of the team have come up with. Have a great day.  Take care.

Loch Lomond

Good morning crafty friends.  I hope everybody is well.  After the glorious weekend we had Tuesday was incredible!  I thought I was going to have to start John off  building an ark!  Wow, we had so much rain!  I can't complain that the wells and water butts are empty now!

Another encouragement card.

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" card made from Kraft cardstock

Loch Lomond image - Terri Sherman

Grey leather effect card from stash

Scraps of black card from stash.

Cheery Lynn - Mini Fanciful Flourish

Computer generated quote

A nice easy card to put together.  I bought the digi image a few years ago and never got round to using it till now.  The Fanciful Flourish die is something else I have had for a while and not used.  I feel happier now that I have used up two pieces of NBUS!

The Tolkein quote was found on the internet and I also placed a quote inside which reads " Without fear there cannot be courage " by Christopher Paolini, another internet find. I love searching for quotes but I tend to get carried away and can be there for hours ... lol!

Well, I must be off.  Take care!