A New Year...

...forget it - unless there's Chocolate.

There were a couple of images that I really liked from the latest "CADC" progressive challenge 10 selection - this was probably my favourite.
The image brings to mind a number of sayings...A balanced diet is a cookie in one hand and chocolate in the other...is probably the most obvious.
This particular image was supplied by Bugaboo Stamps. They have so many fun and quirky characters in their range.

This card is a pale blue patterned card for the card blank. A paper doily (from the 99p Store), a ribbon from a recent Papermania collection and the image coloured using Copic pens.

The challenge suggested using a theme of new beginnings - whether that be...New Year, new job, new you etc. Hope you like...................................

Betty Blue...

...with something new.

Mum's nickname whilst growing up was 'Betty Blue' because her favourite colour was...you guessed it - Blue!!!

She really loves the colour - the front of her bungalow is blue, the side fence is blue, the kitchen & extention are decorated in lemon...AND BLUE - I think you get the picture LOL

So it was a 'no brainer' to turn this...
...into this...
...which in turn became...
...this!

Mum loves her new scarf and it seems to have been a perfect match for the fleece jacket that she recently bought herself. Enjoy your scarf, Betty Blue...............................

Aren't these super...

...sooooooooooooooo pretty.
Yes I have been drooling over lots of Andy's creations over at Pinnacle Crafts because he has been playing with lots of the thin dies.

I have a few Spellbinder dies, Nesties, Go Kreate, xCut & Marianne but nowhere near the numbers that I know some of my crafting friends have. With just a few exceptions, most of my collection are fairly standard shape sets - oval, square, circle, label, tag.

Andy has been using quite a few Memory Box dies recently so I made up my mind that I would splash out at the next 'Members' weekend - and these are the 3 that I grabbed.
Frostyville border.
Madera corner.
La Rue Heart.

All three are quite delicate but I have seen them used in the flesh, so to speak, and the effect is beautiful.

Now I've noticed some comments on various forums from folk who have not been happy with the cutting of many of these thin dies and some have stated that they feel they have wasted their money - this is such a shame as there is such a wonderful variety of designs available in this format.

I had problems with my very first Spellbinder set (scalloped ovals) and despite using card shims - I would always end up with part of the die un-cut. I have a Big Shot machine and I thought the problem was that as I had used a Cuttlebug in craft classes with no problems.

It wasn't.

At the suggestion of a fellow crafter, I invested in a Multiplatform plate and I have to say that it was the best thing I could have done. My thin dies work a treat and with the help of my tan mats I can even emboss them without a problem.

Since buying my Multiplatform the only problem I have encountered was as a result of the materials I used - not the dies.

So my next course of action will be to have a play with these lovelies...............................................

Blueberries, Grapes...

...Strawberries & Cream - with a hint of Chocolate.

Sounds yummy doesn't it but before you start looking for these goodies to tuck into I have to warn you there is nothing edible in the coming photos.

I was all set to give you a peek of some new colours that had just come in at my local Yarn shop - but the batteries on the camera gave-out. So whilst I was waiting for them to charge, I got stuck in.

I have been waiting for a 'blue' to arrive. Up until now the nearest has been a blue/green mix that you have all seen recently on here.
Lovely mix of shades and there is just the hint of silver scattered through the yarn. This is my next lot of knitting to make a start upon.
The various brands of yarn that have been available locally have had some lovely mauve/grape shades and here are 3 scarves I finished about a week ago. One 'ruffle' scarf is just shades of mauve whilst the other is darker shades and has quite visible silver edging. The third scarf was a different type of yarn (much more expensive - but I wanted to give it a try). It is very blingy and knits as frills rather than ruffles - nice effect but I won't be buying any more...it wasn't much fun to knit with. These will soon be winging their way to Germany.
This is what I got stuck into last night - soft Strawberries & Cream shades with milk chocolate thrown in for good measure and just a hint of silver.

The way the temps have dropped this week I think there will be plenty of opportunites to wear all these.............................

Today we bid farewell...

...to a member of our team at work.

I have managed Marion off and on for the last 5 years and she finally decided she was going to take her retirement. She has always been a very private person so she didn't want a lot of fuss or a party.

Colleagues had a collection for her but although I contributed, I wanted to do something of my own as well.
So a card and a ruffle scarf was packaged and presented.

Marion loves walking so the scarf will be ideal with the weather we are having at the moment...she was over the moon (apparently she had been admiring my scarf).

I wish her health & happiness in her retirement...................

Have you seen...

...these lovelies?

Letraset are bringing out a limited edition of Spring Promarkers (seems to be a popular concept - Mr Holtz has just had his Autumn & Winter Distress Ink pad stacks). The pens in this set are new colours specially aimed at the spring crafting ranges.

Colours include:
•Budding Rose
•March Hare
•Daffodil Bloom
•Fresh Meadow
•April Shower
•Morning Mist

Don't they sound lovely.

Some web outlets have them on pre-order as they are not yet available but I think I'll talk nicely to my local stockist and find out when they are due to receive them.

Oh, and just in case you missed it...Mr Holtz will be showing his new pens at CHA.
37 colours (the original 36 Distress Ink shades + Picket Fence). These react with water so just like the Distress ink pads you can use these to 'water-colour'.

Ooooo, lots of new pens to save up for............................

Anyone want...

...a cold & sore throat - I'm willing to share.

Everyone seems to be jetting off to CHA or getting excited about new lines about to hit the shops/web...and whilst I know I'm not the only one having to put up with cold, wet, grotty weather - it seems much worse when you have a 'cold in da dose'.

Hurry up summer-time - warmer, brighter weather always seems so much better..........................

Take...

...one of these...
Add a selection of this...
...lots of lovely browns and distress effects.

Ta-da!!!
...this is what resulted.
The PPs are from a mix of sources (some Graphic 45) and the film strip is from Mr Holtz (thank you Andy - I had fun playing with this).
I got so carried away with this little project Iwas still working on it at 'silly' o'clock this morning.
The PPs were just right for the finished effect I wanted to create - Moments in Time.

Images from the days of the silent movies capture moments in time and the references to clocks etc. help to reinforce this.

The altered canvas is a gift to go with the card shown in the previous post - hope the person receiving it likes the effect.................................

A birthday card...

...for a fella.

I didn't want anything cute or the usual fishing/sailing/football type images so I was pleased to find this sheet of CS toppers by Kanban...
...not quite steam-punk but images that are very popular at the moment.
Olde worlde and lovely subtle colours.
I even decided to carry the theme through to the inside with a touch of the imagery from the front.

What do you think?......................................

Oh...

...Blogger!!!

Blogger is still being pickie-choosie about where I can leave comments.

Some of my lovely bloggy friends must think I've abandoned them as it seems like an age since I've been able to leave them comments - the problem doesn't seem to be just with me either.

Over on UKS a number of folk have reported having similar problems.

For some reason on a number of sites when I click on 'comments' I get taken to a totally blank screen and then nothing happens - it hasn't frozen as I can close the window with no problem but I never get to the comments leaving part.

There are still some blogs where I can't scroll through the content and when I try that does freeze leading to a need to shutdown and restart the 'net.

Apologies to my friends who haven't heard from me for a while - I'm still visiting and where possible still checking out your lovely creations.

Oooooooooooo it is frustrating................................

Thursday night crop...

...and a little bit of altered crafting.

The thursday night crop that I attend once a fortnight is organised in 4-week blocks. At the last evening we received our 'kit' of materials for the 4-weeks (although there will likely be a few additions still to come) and one of the items was a Maya Road tin containing metal rounds (ribbon sliders).

Someone made a comment about the pretty little tin so I thought I would have a play.
This is what I came up with - the tin has been coloured using Adirondack inks in Watermelon/Mountain Rose/Meadow. The tree is a flat-back button embellishment that was also part of the kit.
The tin is slightly more than 1&3/4 inches square so I cut a strip of white CS slightly less than 1&3/4 inches wide from a sheet of 12x12 and folded it concertina style.
I used some ink to add a bit of colour to the CS and then applied some PP panels. A piece of satin ribbon and a gem brad act as a 'pull'.
Just to show how teenie this is I took a pic with it sitting on my hand.

This is a work in progress and I need to decide what other decoration I'll be adding, although it won't be anything too bulky because the tin is quite shallow.

So not much scrapping got done last night but I had fun playing with the inks.............................

What's hiding in...

...your stash?

To be honest, I dread to think what is buried in amongst all that lot...some long lost treasures and probably a fair number of 'horrors' best left buried LOL.

Anyhoo, whilst rummaging for some A4 CS the other day I came across a couple of decoupage sheets that I thought I had used ages ago (I obviously bought doubles **rollseyes**) so last night I made up a couple of cards - afterall, they were probably about to celebrate their 4th or 5th birthday **hehehe**
With Valentines day fast approaching I thought this little bear was very appropriate...
...and just look at all those layers.
This little miss is so sweet - perfect for a Mother's day card.
I just love her pretty bonnet.
Lots of detail and again loads of layers.

So that's two cards made and a bit of stash used up - wonder what I'll find next.......................................

Look what else...

...one calendar can produce.

I decided to sit down and cut out all the elements from my old calendar that I thought would be useful in my paper crafting.
With very little effort I have 12 lovely images that I can use to make cards with - I've cut some out in more detail but also left some rectangular (for the time being)
As you can see, it is very easy to cut the images out in fancy shapes and there are additional elements (hearts) that can be saved for future use.
Now what would a calendar be without the months of the year. This particular calendar had each of the months on a banner - sooooooooooooo easy to cut out and perfect to use on those scrapbook pages or even when constructing your own calendars.

Everything has been tucked away in a wallet to keep it safe and readily to hand when I want to use any of the images. I'll be sitting down and making a start on the rest of my old calendars.

If you are still hanging on to your old calendars because you like the pictures but are not sure what you want to do with them - just trim them down and store them ready for use. A complete calendar just glares at you and you will probably end up throwing it away - if you reduce it to useable elements it will be far easier to make use of it. Go on, give it a try..............................

Just one layer...

...is what they want to see over at "Less is More" - oh, and don't forget to include a bird LOL

As Copics/Promarkers tend to show through to the other side of the CS I decided to go for a different method of colouring.
The background was roughly sponged with Ranger's *Jenni Bowlin* Malted Milk ink pad and then shaded over the top with a selection of browns from my Inktense pencils
The chicken image came free with the January issue of Craft Stamper and I shaded it with the Inktense pencils without using water to blend so that the effect had a bit more texture like feathers. The base card was a 5x5 ivory card blank from Papermania.

It wasn't until I had finished this little notelet that I realised my chicken looks very patriotic colourwise **hehehe** could be the influence of all the new ranges that are hitting the stores at the moment in readiness for the Jubilee & the Olympics.................................

It's Digi time...

...for those winter/Christmas babies.

The folk over at "CHNC" want to see a digi image and/or paper used on a creation and I have to admit that I'd almost forgotten about the "CDACPC9" challenge but I found the perfect image amongst the digi freebies that were provided for this stage of the progressive challenges.
I decided to keep this one quite simple and feel it would work for either a new baby/baby's first Christmas/first birthday of a Winter/Christmas baby. The card has been created from white CS and then the front was covered with some icy looking blue CS.
The image has been coloured using Copic pens. The image (supplied as part of CDACPC9) is a baby on a moon shaped ornament by 'Just Some Lines'. It was a lovely image to colour.

Why not hop over to both sites and have a look at the creations that folk have been producing - it might help to kick-start the old mojo....................

Not a good day...

...I might have been ready for the cold snap but my car decided it wasn't.
Whilst my car had been prepared with anti-freeze and everything else needed for the winter months no one could have prepared for a dead battery. Not just flat...well and truely dead...not even the hint of a whirr.

Oh, and it seems loads of other folk have been having problems too due to the drop in temps as the minimum wait for the RAC was two hours.

Despite the long wait I have to give praise about the service I received. I received two calls from the call centre keeping me informed and a call from the engineer to say he would be with me in a few moments.

A good booster charge of the battery and a check of all the electrics and I was good to go. It appears something in the computerised system of the car had got stuck & drained the battery - by the battery going dead it has cleared the problem (it will still be booked in for a going over just to be safe).

There is something to be said for keeping machines simple; don't ya think?.....................

I'm ready...

...for the chilly temps that have been forecast for this weekend.

My hot water bottle cover is finished and on the bottle here...
...it feels lovely and soft and so very cosy and warm
Although I kept the knitting very simple I decided to decorate the top edge with a bit of crochet just to finish it off.

I'm rather pleased with the finished item - what do you think..................

Are you like me...

...you buy a pretty calendar with good intentions of using the pictures for something at the end of the year but never quite get around to it?
Well this year I intend to try and use as many of the images from my calendars as possible and this is the calendar I have used to make a start with. It wasn't very expensive (I think it was from the Card Factory - something like 59p or 3 for £1) but I just loved this little knitted character. Anyhoo, over at "CHNC" the current challenge is to make a card using something recycled...they are asking folk to breath new life into something - give it a new lease of life.

Not only have I recycled something but I've also made use of some bits that have been in my stash for some time.
The base card is a Papermania Kraft 8x8 card blank onto which I matted some Christmas PP from a cArt-us paper stack that I picked up in the sales. The image was the December picture from the calendar.
The glitter word 'believe' was from Making Memories and has been in my tote for ages and the red flower was a Papermania bloom that was left over from a pack (again found in my tote). The centre of the flower and the gems on the mistletoe were from the same sheet as the glitter word.

This is my entry for the current challenge, I've just got to think of some ideas on how to use the rest of these cute images.................................

Do you suffer from...

...Stash Mountains?

I know many crafters do...my problem is that my 'mountains' aren't just confined to paper crafts. My second biggest mountain has to be my yarn - I have loads of the stuff.

Just like my paper related stash, I know I should use what I have before adding to the pile but I do so love pretty, unusual yarns and I love to play...

I decided last night that I needed a new hot water bottle cover so I'm now in the process of knitting one.
I have lots of Double knit but I get bored with it because it takes so long to knit up. However, I have some lovely super soft DK yarns that I bought when making baby things for friends. I decided to combine two to give a thicker yarn.
I want this to knit up quickly so I am keeping it very simple by just using garter stitch. I managed this much last night before the old wrists & fingers started to complain.

Hopefully, this won't take me too long to do unless the 'arfa-ritus' plays up big time. I really do need to make a dent in this mountain.......................

What do you do...

...when you can't think of any ideas for cards?

Make a minibook of course...

I've been struggling for a few days to think of some ideas for making cards and returning to work Monday doesn't seem to have helped the motivation...so I thought I'd just have a play and this is what I came up with...
...a little BIA bound 6x6 inch minibook. I've only made the basic book but it was fun using up bits and pieces from my stash.
A little bit of decorative border punching - this one is from EK success (not sure what it is called) - and a fair bit of distress inking.
Some torn paper pockets to tuck stuff into.
Some PP matts with rounded corners.
A bit more border punching...
...and a bit of fancy frame work.

All fairly simple and straight forward with the punching, matts and pockets being repeated again to create a suitable number of pages. I will add more trims and embellies once I have decided what photos I'm going to use but for the time being it was just nice to get something made.

Think I'll get the knitting needles out and make a couple more scarves - that might help to spark the old imagination a bit...............................