Cards, trees and...

...baubles.

Well I promised pics from the card workshop so here they are...



The cards as they look just sat on the side...then...



...the surprises LOL

The tree is so cute (a bit fiddly putting together) and I just love my bauble in a box.

Now I need to crack on and get the rest of my cards made.............

Christmas in...

...November.

Well, that's how it felt yesterday.

I went to the last Card Workshop of the year and it was a fantastic day - very festive :o)

Dawn's workshops are always fab but yesterday had to be the best so far.

We started by making a Christmas Tree shaped box card, then a small slider card. Tea break was accompanied by lovely warm mince pies but lunchtime was a real treat. The dining room was decorated for Christmas with a huge vase of baubles on the window sill and the table dressed in gold and burgandy. There were beautiful hand-made crackers (with real 'bangs') containing craft bits-n-bobs and the meal was wonderful - thanks to Dawns DH, Brian.

The afternoon session saw us making exploding boxes and decorating one of the baubles to go in it and a lovely stamped card with double folds and an apperture - afternoon tea brought Christmas cake c",)

It was a truely fab day but unfortunately the last for the year as the 'classroom' is a marquee and not suitable for using during the winter months. So the next workshop will not be until March :o(

I took some pics of lunch but I haven't been able to take any of the projects yet (poor light) so once I have them done I'll let you see what a fab time I had.........

Oh dear...

...is it really a week since I posted.

It just goes to prove, time is flying and Christmas will be here before we know it.

My excuse (as if I needed one LOL) is that I've been busy - I was asked to make an Advent box and a Sleeps 'til Santa for colleagues so they are done and out of the way - now I need to sort out filling all my advent boxes so they can be given...December is approaching at a gallop.

I got to have a play with the new "Slice" die cutting machine at Artbase on Saturday - if I didn't know Santa is a bit cash-strapped at the moment I would certainly be wanting one on my list...perhaps next year.

I need a new tree this year but so far I haven't seen any that I really like - I don't want to spend a fortune but I do want a nice one. Saw a lovely one at the entrance to Mum's local Sainsbury's but it was only store decoration - not one they have for sale :o( So I'll keep looking. Tesco trees are half price at the moment so I might have to go and have a look there.

There still seems so much to do. I've still got loads of cards to make, haven't even started on the prezzies yet...where does the time go...Oh dear....................

Knickers...

...sorry, don't mean to be rude LOL

In the days before Bridget Jones kindly shared her views on 'Big Knickers' with the world, they existed but were rarely referred to...........

Over on UKS there have been a number of threads about things that folk remember either with fond memories OR horror - sweets that are no longer available or have changed their names, favourite childrens programmes/books, music - a whole host of stuff.

Every generation seems to have it's own memories but one thing that seems to be a constant is "Embarrassing Parents" and this is where the introduction to this post comes in c",)

My Mum was for ever telling us how my Nan made her wear knickers with legs and a hankie pocket...she always said how embarrassing it was to have Nan check that she had a clean hankie in her pocket - you would think having been subjected to this she would have tried to avoid making similar mistakes but NO............

I remember well at primary school sniggering with my friends about religious knickers or as we called them HOLY knickers (as most kids will do, we played on the fact that they were holey knickers/airtex) the last thing any of us would have been seen dead in was a pair of these. So imagine my shame at having these bought for me by my Mum :o(

I became quite adept at making sure they were in the washing basket all the time and was relieved when the elastic finally gave out on them (probably due to all that washing LOL).

Over the years Mum managed to subject my sister and I to various 'wardrobe' embarrassments but despite this my niece has confided in me that her Mum has done exactly the same...

Do you remember your parents embarrassing you in this way? I'm sure you can think of some instances **big grin**........................

A different...

...type of advent.

I have made so many advent chests this year I thought I'd have a go at something else.



Using some board from the back of some note pads, some Dovecraft Christmas PP, red core-dination CS, black organza ribbon, gold CS, gold number peel-offs, gold stickles and the Cuttlebug cut/emboss trees, with embossing folders Snowflakes and Lace tree and of course my trusty BIA...I decided to make a "Sleeps 'til Santa" flip-over countdown advent.



Sorry the close-up is a bit fuzzy but I'm quite pleased with the way it came out even if the binding bit was a bit fiddly....................

Remembrance Day...

...is this coming Sunday.



I decided some time ago that I would buy a poppy each year but I wouldn't attach it to my coat as I was always losing them. It wasn't anything to do with the cost of buying another it was the fact that the sight of all those lost poppies scattered around was so sad. Now I either have my poppy on my desk at work or as for this year - it is being proudly shown on the dashboard of my car.

Whilst we take this opportunity to remember our brave service folk who gave their lives in various conflicts we shouldn't forget that many other folk died as a result of these terrible events. So with this in mind I would like to share with you all a project being undertaken by the Holocaust Children's Museum. They are hoping that people will send them butterflies to represent the children that died as a result of the Holocaust.




Full details can be found via this link (thank you Annette for bringing this to my attention) and the wonderful Dan has promised to come up with a template over on his blog that folk can share if they would like to take part so please keep an eye out for this.

I found the picture of butterflies above by Googling for this topic.

As it is the...

...1st November, I thought I'd better post the pic of the cards I made at the October workshop otherwise the November one will be here LOL



It was a fun day and although none of the cards were overly complicated they all involved different techniques - pyramage (sp?), penny slider, die-cuts, embossing, fabric, & stamping.

Can't wait for the November workshop............