HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

Just calling by to wish everyone the very happiest Christmas they can have in these very strange times.

I certainly know that here it isn't going to be anything like it was last year when we could have as many people crammed around our Christmas table as we wanted.

I will be very grateful for the two people who "are" able to sit at the table with Mr Heart and I that's for sure, but there will be two special folk missing .. .. .. .. the London Kids who are locked in Tier 4.  

We have known for a while that we wouldn't be together so I have slowly come to terms with not seeing them.

I did send them my favourite Christmas card of this year though:

Thankfully we have Facetime to share so we can see each other and can chat for as long as we want to .. .. and plans have been made to get the Playstation cranked up and for us all to play on-line games with each other that make us laugh (mainly because Mr Heart and I are so rubbish at them).  We had a "trial run" over the weekend and things went well (surprisingly) so hopefully we won't be too big a disappointment in the league table.  LOL!!.

So simple pleasures that I am really looking forward to (though it might involve me having to download additional games as the week goes on).

I always thought I appreciated everything and everyone in my life but I must admit this year has taught me that I perhaps haven't appreciated things enough .. .. .. and hopefully I will come out of all this a better person.  

Take care everyone.  

Have the very best Christmas you can and thank you so much for all your visits and lovely comments over the past year.  I appreciate each and every one very much.

.. .. .. just to add .. .. ..

Tonight I have just been reminded of something else I have mistakenly taken for granted ... .. tonight our central heating has decided to stop working (even though it was serviced not so long ago).  We have hot water but no heat (grateful thanks for the hot water Mr Chaos disher outerer).  Tomorrow will see us raid the roof space for any electric heaters we have squirrelled away "just in case".

Hope I can make the house warm enough for Mum tomorrow .. .. she normally lives in temperatures that a greenhouse would be proud of .. .. .. whilst she wears multiple layers of clothing! 

NEARLY SANTA TIME!

Hi Everyone

I hope your week and prelude to Santa Time is going well.

A while ago, whilst in Christmas mode I made a collection of quick cards .. .. this was my favourite of them all and I made quite a few of them .. .. and not just these here .. .. I made LOTS!!

I enjoyed making them so much that I just know there will be quite a few similar non-Christmas ones in the pipeline.

Here is one which I made yesterday:

This used:

Image:  A magazine cover gift from way back when
Sentiment:  Crafter's Companion
Backing paper:  From the Snippet Box
Distress Ink:  Victorian Velvet
Spellbinder Dies:  Classic Oval and Scalloped Oval
X-Cut:  Flower Punch
Black Pearl
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So today is a "lock myself in" day so I can attack the house with the help of my favourite male cleaning companions .. .. Mr Dyson, Mr Sheen, Mr Muscle and Mr Heart (if I am lucky)!

A bit of wrapping to do and then for the first time ever I won't be doing any on Christmas Eve .  

There have been no last minute Christmas cards to make either.  Doing all those cards throughout the year has really helped and Christmas Eve will hopefully be super relaxing (although it does involve taking Mum for the first of her two COVID vaccine jabs!).

Enjoy your day everyone.

CHEERS DAD

Hi Everyone

I am nearly back on track .. .. .. in fact I might be ahead of where I usually am at this time of year. Yay!!!

I still have a few special Christmas cards to make but other than that I am well on my way to be being ready for Santa.

But yesterday was Mr Heart's birthday and Christmas went on hold to celebrate his special day.  I do feel sorry that his birthday falls so close to Christmas and try my very best to separate the two.  The mantlepiece is still full of his birthday cards and they will stay there for a little while until I can't hold off from swapping his cards for fairy lights and candles.

This is the card I made for our youngest Son to give him .. .. .. 

This used:

Image:  Lili of the Valley:  James the Bear Cheers
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using "Carbon Type"
Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio black circles printed onto blue card to match James' tie

ProMarkers 

Washi Tape

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

I hope everyone is OK.  

Not sure if I should mention the re-arranged Christmas plans or not.  I just feel so sorry for all those people that may have gone out food shopping today to buy supplies for the Christmas they were planning to have when they woke up this morning.

BEST WISHES

Hi Everyone

Sorry for my absence .. .. .. it has been one very busy week .. .. .. and this one is looking like it is going the same way!  Every day is crammed with things that have "got to be done"!

I am so looking forward to Christmas and having some full days of "chill" time!

But my fingers have been itching for a bit of crafty play .. .. and this is what I have come up with:

This used:

Image:  Woodware Clear Magic Singles "JGS300" Going To Seed
Sentiment:  MFT "All Occasion Sentiments"

Backing Papers:  Craft Sensations "SeaView"
Butterfly Die:  Part of an Old Magazine Cover Gift

ProMarkers
Pearls

Crystal Glamour Dust

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me done and dusted for today.

I hope all your Christmas plans are coming nicely together.  Those "sleeps" before Santa arrives are reducing rather quickly!

TREERIFIC CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

Hope you have enjoyed your day .. .. .. plenty still to do here .. .. .. but I did find the bottom of the ironing basket today so that felt good! 

Here this evening with my teeny, tiny Tuesday card, which for anyone new to my blog measures a whole 3.5 inches square.

This used:

Image and Sentiment:  Mama Makes "Treerific Christmas"
Backing Paper from the snippet pile
ProMarkers
Spellbinder Circle Die
Glitter

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I wonder if this will be my last teeny tiny Christmas card of 2020?

CHRISTMAS CHEER

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good weekend and this new week is off to a good start for you.

Back to Christmas tonight for me with this little make:

This used:

Snowflake Stamps:  Hero Arts "CL622" Designer Snowflakes
Sentiment:  Penny Black "30-140" Christmas Cheer
White Embossing Powder
Distress Ink Pad:  Weathered Wood
Spellbinder Dies:  Oval & Scalloped Oval
Metallic Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I needed the Post Office today and whilst standing in the queue saw so many people posting off handfuls of Christmas cards.  I must admit to feeling a little envious, and was wishing that mine were all written and ready to post!  

Oh well .. .. one day soon!

Take care everyone.  I'll catch you again soon.

HOW MANY OF THESE WILL WE NEED?

Hi Everyone

I hope you have enjoyed your Sunday .. .. .. it has been a very dull and wet day here .. .. .. and it has been an admin rather than creating day (boo hoo!).

But Mum requested a card yesterday and needs me to take it with me when I see her tomorrow.  So here we go.  Tonight's play session:

This used:

Image:  Buddly Crafts Elines Digital Stamp "Baby Laundry"

Sentiment:  Waltzing Mouse Stamps "Little Darling Sentiments"
Backing Papers:  Pink Petticoat .. . now known as "The Lovely Studio"

Spellbinder Dies:  Circle and Scalloped Circle

Poppy Stamps Die Set "Stitched Market Tag"

ProMarkers

Nail Heads

Ribbon

Crystal Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So that is hopefully Mum happy tomorrow!

I wonder how many more of these I will be making over the next few months?  .. .. .. ..  I feel sure the first lockdown will have certainly created its own baby boom!

I hope the coming week is going to be a good one for you.

RECIPE TIME

Hi Everyone

Another sparkly new weekend ready for us to enjoy .. .. .. and possibly panic over how soon Christmas is going to be upon us.  The "number of sleeps" are quickly decreasing.

It is going to be a very different Christmas to those we have enjoyed in the past that's for sure.

I am still needing more Christmas cards here so am taking advantage of the many challenges that are offering inspiration.

One of the Christmas Challenges I have been playing along with this year is Fezziwigs Festive Frolics and for this fortnight Fezziwig says "follow the recipe".  

All you need to do is:

Stir in some love using:

1 Image

2 Papers

A Dash of Sparkle

and Tie It Up with Ribbon

That certainly sounds like Christmas to me!

Here is my offering:

This used:

Image and Sentiment:  Woodware Clear Magic "JGS523" Little Festive Branch
Backing Papers:  Scrapberry's "Happy Times" and "Story"
Metallic Ribbon
Crystal Glamour Dust
Glossy Accents
ProMarkers
Gems
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Enjoy the rest of your weekend .. .. I hope you manage to find a little bit of crafty time to lose yourself in.

Take care and stay safe.

THE SNOWMAN

Hi Everyone

Well this week has been flying by and I'm wishing it would slow down a little.  

So much I am wanting to get done .. .. and for some reason the busier I am the more I want to do .. .. which means more and more keeps getting added to my crafty list.  I find being busy quite exciting and a real motivator.

Christmas is still on the crafty list and this is today's offering:

This used:

Image:  2009 S.Ent. Ltd "The Snowman". (Another stamp that is years and years old .. .. yet I can remember buying it like it was yesterday from Dunelm .. .. when it used to have a craft department)
Backing Papers:  A mish mash from my snippet mountain
Sentiment:  Woodware Clear Magic Singles "FRS771" Merry & Bright
Tumbled Glass Distress Ink
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine

The image was cut out and attached to the card front using foam pads.

Today's card actually fits into three challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge where we are encouraged to use up our snippets .. .. .. everything here, other than the card base came from my snippet mountain.  Even the scrap of white card I stamped the image onto. 

This is a brilliant challenge and one where there is lots of friendship and fun .. .. .. Di (the lovely lady who runs the challenge) works really hard on the challenge and her numbers have been steadily increasing.  It would be great if we could get her to the magical 500 followers as a Christmas reward.

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme is "Twas the Night Before Christmas" - which means they want to see anything that might happen on Christmas Eve or you can take inspiration from the poem itself.  For me Christmas Eve is "The Snowman" film.  I love it.

The As You Like It Challenge where they want your card to showcase your favourite Christmas film and you need to say why.  For me this film marks the start of Christmas and it usually plays on my favourite day of Christmas.  Christmas Eve!  

So that is me for today.

I'll catch you again soon.

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

I hope all is well with you.   

Swinging by today with a card for this month's Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme is always "anything goes" but with an optional theme of playing along with the bingo/tic tac toe board.

This is what I came us with (sorry it is another Christmas card .. .. I promise I will be drawing a line under them soon .. .. but only for a little while).

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "4014K" Hand-mailed
Sentiment:  LOTV Christmas Tag Clear Stamp Set (no longer available as a stamp but available as a digi set)
Backing Paper:  From the Snippet Box
ProMarkers
Diamond Stickles
Crystal Glamour Dust

and here is the Bingo/Tic Tac Toe board if you fancy playing along:

I went diagonal using Patterned Papers, Penny Black Stamped Image and Clean & Simple (though I did dip my toe into the Sparkle and Shine box on my way past it LOL!!)

Hopefully catch you again soon.

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Tuesday .. .. and not only that it has been the first day of  December too .. .. .. which means we are now on the very steep downward slope towards Christmas.

A few more Christmas makes to cram in for me .. .. and this is a teeny tiny one, which for anyone new to my blog measures a whole 3.5 inches square.

This used:

Memory Box Die:  Snowflake Heart

Sentiment:  BeeCrafty "Yuletide Doodle Art"

and that is it!

The snowflake heart die is one of my favourite dies.  Not only do I love the heart itself, but I also love the snowflake waste which I use lots and lots.  I have a small box full of diecut snowflakes and at least a quarter of the box must be these teeny tiny ones.  They are so cute.

Catch you again soon.  Stay safe and well.

MORE CHRISTMAS

Hi Everyone

A quick Christmas card this evening that is for taking over rather smartish to Fezziwigs Festive Frolics Challenge.  The challenge is nearly over so I had better run quickly .. .. ..

The theme this fortnight has been "Decorating the Tree" and this is my very late decorated tree:

This used:

Christmas Tree Die:  MFT "MFT-1429" Christmas Tree Window
Backing Papers:  Make & Create "Magical Christmas"
ProMarkers
Glossy Accents
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  I had my wedding work boxes out again .. .. my remaining "happy couples" have their wedding dates coming up in the first half of next year and I was revisitng  their boxes and making new stationery for them.  I do hope all is going to go ahead smoothly for them this time around.  They have already cancelled their weddings once and will have waited a whole year for their special day to come around again..  

JINGLE BELLS - JINGLE BELLS

Hi Everyone

How has your day gone?

It has been very dark and dismal weather-wise in my neck of the woods, with quite a bit of rain .. .. .. the perfect kind of day for staying cosy and warm inside.

Today is the last day of my designs for making quick Christmas cards and what could be quicker than putting a card front together using digi images, adding your own sentiment and then saving it in your file called "images set out for printing".  It might take a little while to get the images exactly how you want them .. .. but once done it is there for always (if you remember to back up your files regularly).

So this is my last quick Christmas make: 

This used:

Images:  Fresh Cuts Studio  Christmas Starry Forest
Image Backing: Huckleberry Hearts "Watercolour Clip Art"  (the same one I used yesterday). 
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Mountains of Christmas"
My Trusty Sewing Machine

.. .. and that is it.

Quite a sweet little image and a cosy little place to spend Christmas don't you think?  You definitely wouldn't be accused of breaking the "no more than three families rule" if you were staying there would you.  It might be a little cramped with just two occupants though!!  LOL!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.