Blue Santa

Hello everybody!

I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

I cannot believe what a wonderful time I have had since I started my blog on August 5th. I would never have even contemplated this without the encouragement of my very dear friend Linda (Lindyloo)  - whose blog http://creativeharmony.blogspot.co.uk/  has been such an inspiration to me, and I really cannot thank her enough.

It is incredible how many friends I have made in such a short time, and how wonderfully helpful everybody is in Blogland!

This will be my last post now until after Christmas, but I'm sure I will be popping in if I get chance to see if any of you are posting!

Happy Christmas everybody! Love and hugs from Christine xx

Heartfelt Sympathy

Good morning dear friends.  I am posting this card with a heavy heart.  A very dear friend lost her husband a couple of days ago.  I know there is no good time to lose a loved one but there is much at Christmas to bring back the sad memories, eg hearing Christmas carols, writing Christmas cards to name  but two.  I know this from experience because I lost my darling dad on Christmas Day  and then my mum, who I can honestly say truly was my best friend, only a couple of weeks before Christmas a few years later. But I cannot conceive of  losing my soul mate, although I know there are some amongst you who have gone through this.

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Anyway, I couldn't really get my head round making a card so I stole the card I made the other day for John and just made a few changes, adding an appropriate verse. I used Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles, Marvellous Squares and Diamond Strips and Accents.  The striped organza ribbon was from my stash, the silk cala lily from Hobbycraft, and the grey pearls, which toned so beautifully, were from the candy I won from Patricia.

Well, I'm off to do my food shopping today and that's it - all ready. And if I forget anything well that's just too bad! We'll do without.

Have a good day everybody. Love and hugs from Christine x

Table Gift Box

Hello dear blog friends . Just a quick post today.  You know the old saying - so much to  do, so  little time to do it!  Actually, it's not that bad but I must admit to not having a great deal of time to craft this week.

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On Boxing Day morning we will be travelling north to spend a few days with my sister and her husband. I have made these little gift boxes for the lunch table and they will hold a couple of special Belgian chocolates. Yummy ! My sister's Christmas decor is silver and white and so I have made half the boxes silver with  white poinsettias and the other half white with silver poinsettias. I think there might be eight for lunch so I need to make another couple, but they are so simple to do. I have used Spellbinders Square Bracket Edge Box and the poinsettias are  Marianne Creatables. I added a a gem in the centre of each flower and then also applied a holograph peel off snowflake to each side of the lids.

I hope you all have a good day today. With love from Christine xx

Jewellers Bag

Hi friends. I know I said no more gift bags, but this is different!!! LOL!

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I bought my niece some jewellery for Christmas and had to pay extra for a presentation box . However, it was then inserted into this gift bag. It's very good quality so I decided I could use this instead of just wrapping up the box. 

There was a black frame around the edge and black cord handles, so I used  black glitter card and die cut two daisies from Spellbinders Jewel Flowers and Flourishes, although in the picture it looks like just one. The leaves are Spellbinders Foliage. I added little floral pearls from WOC, to the centres of the flowers,  and the other little black pearls in the upper corners are from my stash . Initially I was going to use black ribbon for the handles but decided to leave the black cord because it looked okay. You know what they say (whoever "they" are) - if it ain't broke don't fix it!! The flower on the tag is from the Square Bracket Edge Box die set.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for taking time to look in!

With love from Christine xx

Yet More Christmas Gift Bags!

This is the last time  you will see gift bags this year.

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 I have very little time for crafting this week. I have a busy - enjoyable - few days. First of all, thank you all for the good wishes for our wedding anniversary. We had a lovely day. After a great meal ( it was all a surprise because we had no idea where we were going) we decided to come back to our house for coffee. As predicted it turned into a very long lunch, but we all really enjoyed the day.

Today was another lunch party, although just for me this time. I met up with 12 other guys from the company where I worked before I retired. I had changed my speciality from midwifery to Occupational Health and I was in charge of the health and wellbeing of the employees at a large food manufacturing company. ( A little clue - think coffee, cheese and chocolate!) We were all managers in different departments there before retiring and now meet up for lunch every three months. This time it coincided with Christmas which was lovely. I always feel a little spoiled because I am the only female.

On Wednesday I am having my hair done so I will be all posh in case I bump into Santa when he arrives next week!  And then I am meeting up for lunch with the nurses who used to work with me. These four gift bags are for these ladies. I chose to make them all in green Christmas cardstock from the First Editions pad Stocking Fillers, although obviously they are all different.

As you will see the first one has yellow glittery poinsettias and a yellow ribbon bow. The second one has lots of glittery gold snowflakes with a red, green and gold ribbon bow. The gems to decorate the poinsettias and snowflakes are from my stash. The poinsettias are Marianne Creatables, the small flourishes are also Marianne dies and the large ones are Spellbinders Jewel Flowers and Flourishes. The snowflakes are Spellbinders Create-a-Flake Four.

I probably won't have anything to post tomorrow unless I manage to craft in the evening.

So I hope you all have a great day and manage to do everything on your no doubt long "To Do" list!

Love and hugs from Christine xx

Ruby Wedding - Mine!

Well, when we tied the knot on December 16th 1972 I could never have imagined celebrating 40 years together! When you are so young it is difficult to think that far ahead! But here we are!

Here is the card I have made for John. I couldn't decide between Resplendent Rectangles or Diamond Strips and Accents  so I used them both - and being greedy I also snuck in a couple of little bits from Marvellous Squares too.

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I find these front steppers extremely difficult to photograph because they come out  looking totally out of proportion. The side view, which shows the inside, makes a better picture. The little swans are the centre part from a Nellie Snellen hearts die set. I know this is more burgundy than red but I liked it better for a man. And I even added a bow, though it's very small and very narrow ribbon! The fold back parts of the Diamond Strips and Accents are much darker in real life, in fact there is very little difference between that and the burgundy card stock. Who said the camera never lies?

Well we are off out to lunch with some friends. Whenever we lunch with this particular couple it generally lasts until about 7 o'clock! LOL!

Hope you all have a great day! Love and hugs from Christine x

40th Birthday High Heeled Sandal

Hello Everybody, well what a difference in the weather yesterday! From being frozen solid for a few days it was back to being washed away! And the winds were incredible. I really don't like wind!!! It is so destructive.

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Well as you can see I have moved away from Christmas and made an easel card for a 40th birthday. The stiletto sandal is decoupaged and I added tiny pearls to the butterflies bodies. The edges of the paper doily have been glued and glittered. I actually got this, together with a lemon and a lilac one,  from the Ribbon Box and I think it has come up pretty well. I have made this for my sister to give to her daughter-in-law. Actually I will make one  more than she can choose which one she would like and I'll have one of the others and one also for my nephew. The yellow daisy card I showed a couple of weeks ago is for the same person. I usually allow them the choice and then I take what's left. Still, since I will have made them all I guess I should like them all too so it won't matter which I send.

Take care and have a good day.

love from Christine xx