It's done!

I've made John's birthday card - and it's not till Tuesday!

I feel I've let him down though - I wanted to make a rugby card because he loves it, but when I looked through my stock I could only find Jolly Nation background sheets and no decoupage ones, so I've used a different rugby decoupage with it. I printed on to BG cupcake blue paper and mounted with 3d tape.

It's a very simple card, but with John's poor vision it's best not to make it too complicated.



The current challenge on Kaboodle Doodle is 16: For the boys: 'This week the challenge is all about Males, we would like to see a creation aimed towards boys and/or men. Ok so it is quite a difficult one this week, but we are nearly at the end of the year so we thought we would give you a challenge.' So this card fits the bill for that.

Three challenges in one

I didn't really intend to make a card tonight, but it just seemed to happen. I've used a recycled picture from an old card, inked the edges with green and pink and then mounted on BG sultry and two scoops papers and then on to a pink base card.

The BG challenge at the moment is 15: Going green - 'For this weeks challenge we would like to see you use some recycling on your creations, eg, cardboard, parts cut from another card, material from old clothes, postage stamps, it can be anything you like, the list is endless, also its not essential that the recycled item has to be old and used, you could simply use the inside of a business envelope for example as i know they can have some lovely patterns that can be used as backing papers etc, so have fun and of course not forgetting to use at least one item from basicgrey somewhere on your creation.'

There is also an ongoing recycling challenge on Arty Girlz, so I'm linking there too.

The current challenge on My Time to Craft is 41: Colour challenge: green - I feel this card has enough green on it to link for that.



I wonder if anyone can understand or explain why it is that I made this card that I didn't have to make, whereas I need to make one for John's birthday next Tuesday and still haven't done it. And actually as it's still Boxing Day I didn't intend to do any crafting till tomorrow - but it's just a bit of relaxation.

Crafty presents + a Christmas surprise!

First of all I thought I'd show the crafty presents I received for Christmas. This doesn't mean I didn't equally appreciate the non-crafty presents, because I did = it's just that this is a crafting blog, so here they are:



I also got a 'voucher' from John towards another set of 36 copic pens.

And when I logged on today I found out that I have won blog candy over at Claire's Crafty Corner! Take a look here to see what I've won!! Thank you so much, Claire - a lovely Christmas surprise.

Christmas Day!!!

The day has arrived (and how quickly that happened!)

All has been revealed this morning - I now know that my secret Santa on BF is Paddy - thank you so much for all the goodies that I've enjoyed throughout December and for today's present of stickers and papers and the lovely card:



I was also in a secret Santa group on CBC and I've received this cross stitch kit:



I used to do a lot of cross stitch, but last year, because of my back, I sold off a lot of my materials, including a big project that I just couldn't finish. But this one is small enough for me to pick up and do without a big frame or anything, so I will be able to do it - and I'll show it on here when I've completed it. Thank you, secret Santa! (This time the sender isn't revealed).

Now I must get off here and back to the kitchen! I prepared all the veg last night and this morning have made stuffing mixed with sausage meat (the lower fat version, of course!) and sausages wrapped in bacon.

If you happen to stumble this way among the festivities, I hope you have a good day.

A different kind of crafting

A different kind of crafting today - well, it's really not crafting, but I thought I'd show some of what I've been baking.

Mum and I both have high cholesterol, so we don't eat normal sausgages or sausage rolls, so I make some with lower fat sausages:



And I made some cookies. The flower shaped ones are chocolate chip, the stars are hazelnut (with a name like mine I just had to have some of those), the square ones are walnut and the heart ones are plain as poor John shouldn't have chocolate or nuts because of the potassium, although I think he might make a bit of an exception.



I usually make a chocolate yule log (well, strictly speaking, it isn't, because I cheat and make a loaf cake instead of the fiddle of making a swiss roll beneath the chocolate covering.



And yesterday I made some mince pies (special mince meat that's sugar free so John can eat some - I don't like them).

BF Advent 24

Well here we are on Christmas Eve - the last but one of the advent presents to open - a little box of After Eights just for me! Yummy! I love them:

Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas

While visiting other crafty blogs I've noticed that quite a few people are putting a Christmas card on for all their visitors.

I thought I'd use a card that I made for a Chinese whisper swap on CBC (so I couldn't show it until the group had finished):



This is an opportunity to thank all of you who visit my blog (whether you lurk of post comments - and it is always lovely to receive comments) and to wish you all a peaceful and Happy Christmas and every blessing in the New Year - may 2009 be a happy and healthy one. I am, of course, aware that for some people Christmas can be a time of sadness, because of bereavement, illness or difficulties in relationships etc - and this year there will also be more people who are so uncertain about the future of their jobs and finances. Despite many uncertainties, I pray that you can look to the future with some hope, bearing in mind the message of Christmas.

BF Advent 23

Only a couple of days to go - and today in my BF Secret Santa package I had all these lovely serendipidy squares - these must have taken Santa a long while to put them together:



I love them - thank you, SS!

CBC CCAD 14

Challenge 14: 'A GIFT BAG

- You can make it from scratch
- Just make a header and use a cello
- or decorate an existing one'

I decided to use an existing bag (I've had this silver holographic bag in my box of bags etc for ages) and decorate it with blooms etc.

This is how it started:



I took the existing cord off and used ribbons instead:



We have so many birthdays at this time of year that I now need to concentrate on them rather than Christmas (which is almost done except the wrapping and the stockings).

Sorry - once again, hopeless flash photos, but wouldn't be able to get it done in the morning by the deadline.

BF Advent 22

This is what Santa gave me in today's little package - some lovely stamped images:



Yay!! We're getting close to the big day now and the big reveal of who my Secret Santa is (I have my suspicions).

CBC CCAD 13

Sue's challenge 13 on CBC was to use one of the songs from CCAD 12 (a quiz) on a card.

Big confession - yet again I'd left John's Christmas card to the last minute, despite starting making cards some time back in August!

So this challenge was just what I needed. Two of the songs are on this card: 'Silent night' and 'O little town of Bethlehem' are both two of the carols printed in gold foiling on the vellum used on the left and right inside pages of the card.

The format of the card is very similar to the one I made for mum a few days ago.

And, of course, it also features 'Hark the herald angels sing' on the front of the card (which I wrongly at first thought was one of the songs on the list):





Here's a close up that shows that the two songs really are on the card:

BF Advent 21

My advent present today is a lovely little 'to from' tag - thanks, Santa!

Surprise, surprise!

I thought I'd share the lovely surprise I had this morning - a Christmas present in advance from John - it was delivered this morning - he asked for it to go with bronze, gold and brown, which is the theme of our decorations and he thought it would be good for me to have it delivered in the run-up to Christmas:

BF Advent 20

Lots of die cuts (obviously Santa has a machine and lots of dies):

CBC CCAD 20

This morning, Sue has asked us to show our favourite handmade card that we've received. This is a toughie! I've received so many gorgeous cards from lots of crafting friends, so this is such a difficult decision.

The one I've decided to show was made and sent by an elderly couple - both in their 80s - it is beautifully cross stitched and equally beautifully printed inside, including one of the lovely quotes from Isaiah:





This is an opportunity to thank everyone who has sent a gorgeous handmade card - every one is so much appreciated.

CBC CCAD 11

'YOU HAVE BEEN TAGGED (AGAIN)

I need tags for those SPECIAL PRESSIES - so all personalized and ready to go - I need at least 2'

She here are mine:



Why is it that colours never look right with a flash photo in the evening?

CBC CCAD 9

CBC CCAD 9: ' PRESSIE for someone - anyone you like - if you are very clever you could even make it to fit the box you made'

I used a 12 x 12 paper (can't remember what it is) that has squares all over it, made into a little maze book and simply putting a photo on each square - for our DIL:







Sorry, but photos of photos don't come out very well, particularly with flash in the evening.

BF Advent 19

This is what I got today in my advent box - a pen that has the choice of four different colours (I remember having one of these when I was younger):

CBC CCAD 10

The challenge for day 10 on CBC is to 'USE A PHOTO BUT you must make something Christmassy with it.'

I've used a photo taken of our back garden when we had snow in April and made a simple last-minute Christmas card:

CBC CCAD 8 + Cute Card Thursday open theme

At last I've done CCAD 8:

'A SECOND RECIPE
you can make anything you fancy AGAIN BUT your creation MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING
* 3 flowers
* 3 Gems
* 3 scrolls

The background paper is HOTP, mounted on to matt silver. The scrolls were cut on the cricut using Brenda Pinnock paper (which has a slight mottled effect that doesn't show here):



It was nice to make something other than a Christmas card.

I'm also showing this for this week's Cute Card Thursday which is an 'open theme'.

CBC CCAD 17

The challenge for day 17 on CBC is 'Some ART for your Christmas table - Can be anything you want - place settings, serviette holders you decide.'

I bought a couple of candles, like this:



and decorated them:



The lovely Sue has just said that I can also use this for CCAD 7 - a Christmas decoration - because I did make two of them, so one for each challenge!