A little bit of Christmas and A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a really wonderful Christmas spent doing anything that makes you happy, be it a quiet day just mooching around with your beloved or  full on manic with your family, especially if that includes little ones as ours does.  Christmas Day saw my Hubby and I dashing off up the A1 to our daughter's for dinner and back down again that evening as we had my Mum here for Boxing Day lunch.  Then Jenna and her family came down the A1 to spend Monday and Tuesday with us and naturally when they are here, Jamie and his family spend mosgt of their time here as well (they only live 5 minutes away) so for 2 days our little bungalow was bursting at the seams, Lol!

This is Izzy after opening one of her presents from her Mamma and 'Bamps' (me and Hubby).  That expression was priceless!

Here Izzy and Alexa are cuddled up under Mamma's special blanket watching Finding Nemo for about the three hundredth time, Lol!  You wouldn't believe Alexa is 3 months younger than Izzy would you?

And here they both are singing nursery rhymes with the 'babies Annabelle', just like they do at nursery.

I've had a couple of days when I should really have been setting the house to rights again but instead I've just mooched about really and now I have to get a crack on because we have our oldest friends coming for a meal tomorrow night.  We've spent New Year's Eve together for over 20 years now, taking it in turns to host and they used to be very noisy, lively affairs when the kids were all younger but as they got into their late teens things quieted down somewhat.  Mind you for several years at least one parent had to stay sober because there was usually a phone call from one or other of the four offspring saying their taxi hadn't turned up and could we do the honours!  I'm glad those days are over although staying sober now is not a problem as I can't
drink alcohol any more.  Sod's Law again isn't it, Lol!

I thought it was about time I shared a few makes with you although they have been a bit thin on the ground recently.  I thought all but my closest buddies were not going to get handmade cards this year but because of the lovely quick technique of Joanne Wardle's which my CSQ buddies and I have just used for our latest project, I used it to make quite a bundle of Christmas cards right at the last minute.  I almost forgot to take any pics but here are three different variations on the theme.

I do have another special card I made for my three CSQ buddies but I also made if for a blog buddy in America and I don't think she's received it yet.  I was a bit late posting for America to say the least and then there were several problems with our mail because of the snow bringing everything to a halt (and confining me to the house, Lol!).  Even Judith and Jo only received their cards yesterday and Jo only lives 40 minutes away!  As soon as I know the last card has been received I will post some pics because it was one I was quite pleased with.

Well, 2011 is almost upon us and for a number of reasons I personally won't be sorry to see the back of 2010 and I know many others feel the same so I'll take this opportunity to say many, many thanks to all of you who visit my little bit of web space and leave me such lovely, encouraging comments.  I can truly say I have met some really wonderful people, both in reality and in the virtual world,  since I started my blog and for that I am really grateful.  I want to wish you all the very best that life can bring to you for 2011, but most of all may it bring you peace and contentment.

Lots of love to you all and many warm virtual hugs
Lesley  Xx

A Bit of Sparkle and Shine

Hi Everyone,

I hope you're managing to keep warm and safe in this horrible freezing weather.  We and our neighbours have spent the weekend shovelling snow and chopping out ice to try and make our cul-de-sac accessible so that those of us who have to go to work could get out this morning.  I'm not one of those thank goodness but my Hubby is.  With great trepidation I took the dog to the park for the first time in a week today and came back having made my mind up that for once I'm going to be making a strong complaint with the high ups on our local council.  Apart from the main bus routes, hardly any roads and no pavements at all have seen a snowplough or a handful of grit!  The 5 inch thick ice is lethal to try and walk on and having injured a tendon slipping on ice at the beginning of the year I was petrified of doing a repeat performance.  Okay, sorry about the little rant but now I've got that off my chest I'll get down to more important matters like crafting, Lol!

My first make today uses one of the latest Crafty Individuals stamps which combines two of my favourite types of image - trees and swirls!  The card is made using simple stamping and matting and layering with just a couple of swirls cut with a Marianne Creatable die.

I stamped the main image and the single swallow on the background using Coffee Archival ink and just added Sakura Sparkle pen to the swirls and the swallows on the main image.

This next card uses an image from the Elusive Images Damask Reindeer set (UA4SP0263). I stamped the image with Onyx Black Versafine and then colours with Copics.  I added some ultrafine glitter which was very difficult to show on the photo and then layered it onto a piece of green mirri card run through my Big Shot in a Tim Holtz/Sizzix embossing folder.

It's very rare I use mirri card or glitter but the mirri does show off embossing really well.

This final card (3 in one post!!!!!!) was one I made recently for the Elusive Images Design Team using their lovely new stamp set called Family Christmas.  I kept almost to a monochrome colour theme using black, white and gold.

I stamped a holly sprig with Versamark and clear embossed on the black card layer and then stamped the main image using Onyx Black Versafine and touched in certain areas with a very fine paintbrush and Ecoline Gold.  That waterbased ink is absolutely gorgeous and looks like real molten gold in the bottle.  I was really pleased with the classy look of this card (even though I say so myself, Lol) so I decided to make it again this weekend as my Christmas card for my Mum.

Details of any of the Elusive Images stamps can be found by clicking on the Design Team logo in my sidebar and the Crafty Individuals stamps and the swirl die (which is from a set) and any of the inks used are also available at Graphicus.

As always, thank you for your visit and any comments you have time to leave so that I know you have stopped by and I can visit you back.  I've had a lovely time this past few days catching up with all the lovely creations my blogging friends have been posting recently.

Warm hugs to you all,
Lesley  Xx

PS   I keep forgetting to remind everyone that the photos are clickable if you wish to see a closeup.

Aaargh!!! ..........Where has the last month gone?!@!

Hello Everyone,

Er, long time - no see, so to speak!  I am really sorry it's been so long since my last post but unfortunately, many things have contributed to this situation, none of them nasty but just family commitments getting in the way a bit plus the only things I seem to have had time to create have had to be kept under wraps for a while.

Anyway, I now have some of my makes for the Elusive Images DT that I can share with you so hopefully I'll be able to post them over the next week or so.

                                                    
Amongst my lovely DT goodies for November were some of the Crafty Individuals chipboard shapes so I decided to make this Christmassy tag.  The little fence which was one of the shapes was attached with a folded piece of card which formed a 'hinge' and this enables the tag to be freestanding.  I covered the tree shape with Artylicious paper from the Seasons Greetings cd  and used various stamps from the Elusive Images Christmas range to stamp the embossed resist background, the leaping reindeer and the sentiment.

This next creation was made to showcase a newly released set of Elusive Images stamps called Earth Spirit, designed by the lovely Carrie who is a talented member of the Graphicus team.  I stamped the woodnymph image onto metal using Stazon and then after embossing it I used alcohol inks on cotton buds to colour it.  I also used a tree image from the Essence of Nature stamp plate to stamp on the corners of the background paper (another Artylicious paper from the Simple Elegance pack).  The leaves were cut with a Shapeability die and touched with Perfect Pearls mica powders.

If you want more details of any of the Elusive Images stamps, etc., click on the DT logo in my sidebar.

In my absence, I hope all you lovely people have been keeping well and doing lots of crafting.  I've been trying to keep up with the wonderful blogs I follow but have been a bit lax on that side too.  I will try harder because I hate missing any of the lovely inspiration my blogging friends create.  However, I do know once this blasted white stuff disappears I will be dashing up and down the A1 again!  I hope the travelling situation is much improved for the end of next week as I have to go to look after my granddaughter in Harrogate on Friday and a lovely workshop with Glenda at Graphicus on Saturday.  I will be soooooo disappointed if I have to miss either of those days.

For today I'll leave you with a couple of photos of my back garden (yard to my American visitors) taken at 8 am today.

and this is poor little Snoopy wondering where on earth he can go for his morning toilet as the snow is deeper than he is tall.

I've since dug him a 'ditch' from the back door out onto the garden but he's still not quite sure what he's supposed to do poor thing, Lol!

I'll hopefully be back with some more shares over the weekend.  In the meantime, take care in this atrocious weather everyone and try to stay warm and snuggly.

Lots of warm hugs
Lesley  Xx








PS  If you haven't already noticed I managed to finish and post my project for this month for the Craft Stamping Quartet for which the inspiration was an article by Joanne Wardle (October issue) and my buddies shouldn't be too far behind.  Here's a taster but if you want a closer look the link is in my sidebar.