Holidays are coming...

...Holidays are coming.

I'm sure that this image of Santa is well known all around the world - it is the Coca Cola Santa...
...he is such a cheerful, jolly image that brings a 'feel good' factor to the holidays.

I received a very excited email from my niece out in Germany.

Apparently the lorries from the cola advert are regularly seen touring around Europe and arrangements had been made for one to stop off at one of the UK bases near to where my niece's husband is stationed. They went to have a look and took some photos.
Kristy said the lorries are HUGE and it was quite difficult getting decent pics with the lights & the darkness over such a long distance.
However, they did manage to get these and although they are a bit dark it is still lovely to have them as a keepsake.
Dan & Kristy took a neighbour's 6yr old to see the Santa that was also there.
Overall though, I think Kristy was the most excite one amongst them LOL
Certainly something to put in the scrapbook as a lovely memory.

Now I know why her email was so hyper LOL........................

Food for...

...thought.

With the party season almost upon us I thought these would be perfect...
...food markers to help identify the goodies on the different servers for your festive gatherings.

The images are all digis that came free as part of cdacpc7...why not hop over to the website here and see what is going on. Each of the images has been provided by a different designer.
Apple (Happi Scrappin' Doodles)
Bull (Crafting with Jack)
Crab (Tiffany Doodles)
Chick (Sugar Creek Hollow).

These are quick and fun to do and far more interesting than just bits of paper with 'beef' or 'apple' written on them. All it takes is some printed/stamped images a bit of colouring and some cocktail sticks and away you go.

I'll be entering these for the cdacpc7 challenge and also linking to the current "Friday Inspiration" over at Simply Christmas............................

I am trying...

...yes, I can hear you - I know I can be very trying LOL

I'm actually referring to my attempts to catch up with commenting on all the wonderful blogs that I follow - I am sorry if I've missed some and apologise for arriving like a London bus (nothing for ages then 3, or more, all at once) on others.

Home PC really isn't very well so I am trying to catch up from Mum's laptop and my work PC when I can - I think I've managed to visit just about everyone but there are some sites I can't comment on from my work PC - sorry.

Hope everything is going well with preparations for Christmas and another sorry from me for those of you I've scared silly with my very visable 'countdown' **giggle** I'm afraid I need it as a boot up the backside to try and keep me on track with everything for the holidays......................

All Boxed up...

...and ready to go.

This weekend was the last Members Weekend at Pinnacle Crafts for 2011 - so a last chance to grab a bargain at 30% off,

I grabbed a pack of Hunkydory boxed Christmas cards and this is the first that I have made.
The printed images on all the sheets are beautiful.
Everything needed to create 6 of these cards is included in the kit...including the acetate sheets for the 'window' of the card.
Isn't this a lovely Santa...
The box part of the card even has a built-in support so that it can stand up.
There are also a variety of sentiments included in the kit so there are plenty for use with other projects.

I think I will use a couple of the boxes for my own designs and use the decoupage provided on some other cards. Beautiful quality materials and certainly fab value for money. For folk who want something a little more special but don't have a lot of time, this kit is ideal as it can be used 'as is' or embellished in what ever way you wish. I was very pleased with my purchase......................

It arrived...

...all safe & sound.

Mind you, it is surprising anything arrives safely these days...it couldn't have been marked any clearer "Signature required" but guess what - I found it on the door mat; the postie didn't even knock grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Inside the envelope was this lovely little parcel - so prettily wrapped.
Inside the parcel was one of Kerryanne's lovely fabric gift card holders.
Christmas has certainly arrived early and I will be looking forward to spending this on some super goodies.

Thank you so very much Kerryanne.............................

On 30 December 2006...

...I was sent this list.

The idea was that you highlighted the items you had done. Well I just wondered if there were any more that I had achieved since.

The items I had already done back in 2006 are highlighted by being in bold - anything I've done since has ** at the start & finish...

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain (albeit a small one)
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you’ and meant it
9. Hugged a tree (too much watching Ground Force, me thinks)
10. Bungee jumped
11. **Visited Paris - the outskirts on the way to Southern France**
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. **Bet on a winning horse - only the one during a lovely evening at "Newmarket Nights"**
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. **Gone rock climbing - sort of...more clambering than climbing LOL**
49. **Midnight walk on the beach**
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. **Lounged around in bed all day - does a PJ day on the sofa count?**
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. **Kissed in the rain**
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites (forgot the Roman aquaduct in Southern France)
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch (forgot this one too, perhaps because they weren't very good...)
78. Won first prize in a costume contest (if this means fancy dress costume)
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. **Recorded music - forgot that our orchestra at school recorded some stuff for a youth competition**
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (cumulatively, if you count pregnancy! lol!)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. **Petted a stingray - at the London aquarium**
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. **Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol - in an arcade**
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school (took evening classes in English, History & Biology)
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. **Eaten fried green tomatoes ... yum! - wouldn't say 'yum' but they were okay**
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. **Had a booth at a street fair**
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

...not many more achieved, but a few.

Why not have a go yourself - feel free to copy the list and please let me know how you get on.

I can tell you all now that there are a few items on the list that I will never be checking off but you never know how many more I might manage in the next 5 years LOL............................................

I thought I might...

...make another Advent calendar.

Yep I know, I can be a glutten for punishment at times LOL
I've gone for classic B&W for this set and as I don't own a set of the Spellbinders box dies these ones are 4x4inch squares that I have scored using my Crafter's Companion - I've made 12 boxes so far.
A couple of designs are mainly snowflakes...
...as you can see.
My original thought was to stamp the lids using my Clarity small floral swirl stamp and a white Brilliance ink pad - I had forgotten just how wet these ink pads are and after getting in a right mess just stamping two lids, I decided 'enough was enough'...made a right mess of the stamp too which meant a major cleaning effort - not my favourite passtime. However, I must say that the ink pad did provide good colour on the black CS.
I used some Glitteration circle stickers on a couple of the boxes.

Not sure how I'm going to decorate the other 12 or how I'm going to 'house' them as they are flatter boxes than my last lot. Something to think about...................

A Splash of...

...Colour.

Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. I had a lovely day in so far as I had lunch with some friends but the weather was pretty yuck. I'm not sure what it's been like where you are but we have had some grotty days with very few bright spells - in fact, Monday & Tuesday were very foggy here and despite this there were still idiots on the road with no lights on (I won't go there otherwise I'll be up on my soapbox for ages LOL).

Nothing helps to brighten a dull day more than a lovely bunch of flowers and these were a gift from a friend at work...




...and the poinsetta was a 'cheapy' that I picked up (not sure it will make it to Christmas but it is bright and cheery).

A lovely splash of colour on a dull and dismal day....................

Aren't I a lucky girl...

...I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present.

For those of you who know of Kerryanne English's blog you will be aware that she is currently holding another "Simply Christmas" event this year.

She did one last year with a view to bringing 'home' back into the preparations for Christmas and she wonderfully agreed to do another this year. There have been some super tutorials and followers of the blog have been sharing their Christmas creations. Do hop over there and take a look - there is lots to inspire.

The lovely Kerryanne offered this...
...for a draw amongst the commenting folk on the blog......I won!!! **mega happy dance**

I couldn't believe it when she notified me - how fab is that. I think this is the perfect way to celebrate my birthday.............................

Advent calendar...

...all done & dusted and ready to share at the Simply Christmas Inspiration Friday party.

Lots of photos coming up so you might want to make yourselves comfy.

Remember that pile of cut out boxes on my desk the other day? Well all the boxes have been constructed and for ease of transporting I had them sitting in the lid of a photocopy paper box (the one I use when spraying or misting stuff).
As you can see, there are four of each design box and they have all been coloured with 'Gold' and 'Red Gold' Letraset Metallic markers.
I highlighted some of the images with Stardust gel pen (doesn't show too well in these photos).
Next step was to add the numbers. The circles are punched from some ivory pearl card using a tiny X-cut scalloped circle punch. The numbers are copper colour peel-offs. The 'Red Gold' metallic marker was used to edge the circles...
...and 3D glue dots used to attach them to the side of the lids.
All the boxes were then filled and placed into a custom made housing.
The idea being that the housing has four openings (one on each side) and the boxes can be slid out in number order and the contents retrieved.
As a box is removed the next one drops down to take its place and the empty box can be placed back in the housing by removing the lid. I decorated the sides of the lid with white glitter card that had been punched using a Martha Stewart border punch. This one is actually a Halloween one called 'gloop' (I think) but doesn't it look like snow hanging from a rooftop.
Here is a view showing the boxes partly out of the housing...
...and here they are pushed right in - flush with the sides of the housing.
Here is the finished item. An advent tower.

The decoration has been kept fairly simple but I have kept to the overall colour scheme of gold & bronze/copper. This project was quite a lot of work but very enjoyable. Thank you Pauline for such a lovely idea.

So there you have it, my 2011 advent calendar ready and waiting for December 1st to arrive...............................

New for 2011...

...a new advent calendar.

Okay, so from the mess on the desk it probably doesn't look very much like an advent calendar but...
...I am getting there.

Pauline took part one of the advent calendar class today (Friday) and for a 2hr class we certainly had our work cut out for us. The boxes were cut for us using Spellbinders dies and the Grand Calibre...this was done to speed things up a bit as there really is a lot involved.
24 boxes with lids had to be folded and creased in all the right places and then half of them had to be 'distressed' - I used Ranger Distress ink pad 'antique linen'. All the lids had to have a sentiment stamped on top - for this I used 'vintage photo'.
This is the first completed box (I've since added some stickles). All the bottom parts of the boxes had to be stamped with a selection of Christmas images. Pauline set some 'homework' to be completed before part two of this class next week...to colour and decorate the boxes (if we wished) but all the boxes must be constructed by next lesson. For most of the ladies this means a week to get things done - for me, I have to have everything ready for Monday as that was the day that I could get off work. One busy weekend coming up.
The distressed lids didn't look quite right so I've added a second colour to the edges - 'old paper'.

I've coloured, I've stickled and I've DST'd all the tabs. In part two we make a large box to hold the small boxes so I'll show you the pics when it is all done..........................................

Children in Need...

...events have been going nicely at work.

Thursday was the Tombola day and here are some photos of the goodies folk had donated.


We won't know the final total raised until Wednesday next week but I'll let you know when we know what the figure is..............................

No Christmas Craft Day...

...today.

Poor Dawn (Bareham) who runs the monthly card workshop has been unwell so unfortunately the Christmas craft day had to be cancelled. Rather than cancel my day off I've just had a mooch around.

Boy has it been cold today...despite a bit of sunshine the temps never made it into double figures here so it was rather brrrrr!!!

A wander around Barleylands and a bit of lunch was followed by a wander around Wickford and then home.

As I had been intending to spend today crafting, I thought I'd better make something...you know...show willing LOL

This is a card that I've made from a Hunkydory kit that I picked up.
Very quick and easy as everything is die-cut ready and just needs putting together. This is just one of 4 cards in the kit. All are beautifully foiled in either gold or silver and there are lots of bits left that can be used on other cards.
There are a variety of sentiments that you can chose from either coloured like the image (as in this case) or matching with the card blank.
The image is a die-cut pyrimage scene which fits perfectly in the aperture but this could be used on another card and the card blank could be used to frame another image of your choice.

Sometimes it is nice to just be able to make something without having to think too much about it - this kit certainly fits that bill..........................