Not long to go...

...and we will be welcoming in another New Year.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have visited here in 2013 - your comments and support have meant so much. Thank you to those of you who felt that you wanted to come back so you decided to follow me - that is very much appreciated.

However you are celebrating the end of the old and the start of the new...I hope you have a wonderful time and I look forward to seeing you in 2014.........................................................................

That was a Year...

...that was!

2013 has been a tiring year with lots of travel for work and as a result, I haven't done the amount of crafting that I would have wished to. However, Debby has now asked for our "Favourite five Creations of 2013" and I've just been browsing through to see what I've made and what have been my favourites.

There have been lots of things that I have made this year that I loved but keeping in mind that it had to be "Five" items, I had to make some decisions and this is the collection that I ended up with...

In March I attended a couple of "Andy Skinner Style" workshops - I really enjoyed both but this was what I made at the one that was run by Andy Skinner himself...

...I loved my clock so much that it was up on the wall in my study as soon as I got home (even before I'd unpacked my totes LOL).
July saw the annual Christmas in July event over at Catch the Bug. I shared a teddy card as one of my favourite Christmas creations but this one had to make it onto this list...

..."JJ" is one of the digi ranges over at Bugaboo stamps and I just thought this would be perfect for a friend of mine. This 'miss' is such fun and I just loved this image. All coloured using alcohol ink pens.
Ignacio over at Nicecrane Designs offered some Halloween freebies back in August and I got a bit carried away making this trick-or-treat sweetie pot...

 ...I just loved the way it all came together.
More recently, UKS held a Christmas project hop and the project that 'kicked-off' the event was what inspired this...

 ...a recipe book. It was the perfect project for using some of Ignacio's 'food' images on and in addition to this, Ignacio has created some wonderful bookplate type swirls that I am using to finish it off with - I'll be doing a more detailed post of the finished item soon.
Now this is one project but I had to show you two photos of it...

...the lovely embossed and waxed box, which when turned around...

...reveals two 'books'. The books are actually storage boxes where you can hide treats or treasures.

So there you have it, my five favourite creations from 2013. Over all, I think it is a close run thing between the clock and the embossed box of books as to which was my absolute favourite. If you click on any of the photos you will see a larger image which will let you see the details of the items more clearly.

Why not hop over to Debby's blog to see what other folk have shared as their favourite creations of the year..........................................................................................

Wishing you All...

...I hope you all have a wonderful time.

Love and Hugs to you All...................................................................................................

You know how it is...

...you sit down for a quick blog hop and one thing leads to another.

I went for a quick catch up over at Marianne's blog and ended up hopping over to have a look at Debby's request for folk to share their five favourite Christmas cards.

So here we go...

This was my first Christmas card completed after being invited to join Ignacio's DT over at Nicecrane Designs...

 ...the Christmas image was a delight to colour and it worked beautifully with the Craftwork cards "Christmas Post" range.
Back in July when most folk were thinking of Sunshine and Summer holidays, I was taking part in the Bugaboo/Catch the Bug "Christmas in July" challenge...

...I just love this little bear sitting on his candy cane.
Marianne is a really bad influence (LOL). I had seen her use this stamp on her blog and couldn't resist any longer...

...this version was made using just black & white CS and sparkly white WOW embossing powder.
Andy at Pinnacle Crafts is another bad influence on me. Andy had been using the Fabulous Shoes on some super cards but I've 'jumped' in with the Fabulous Fashion...

 ...I even dug out some charms that had been hiding away in my stash.
I think of all the cards I made this year using this Stampendous stamp, this has to be my favourite...

...keeping it simple with distress inks and just a touch of colouring - it was just how I wanted it to look (no leaky elbow syndrome on this occasion).

There you have it, my favourite five Christmas cards for 2013. Lots of folk have been sharing their favourites here in Blogland so if you are looking for some inspiration for Christmas 2014, just go for a hop...............................................................................................

Over for another year...

...well, almost.

My fireplace has been decorated with just a couple of bits this year - my rusted greetings sign took pride of place and I added a tartan bow to the corner...

 ...for some reason, red tartans mean 'Christmas' to me so it is not surprising that the Santa on my stocking is wearing a tartan hat.
My rustic tree came out again this year with just a couple of new decorations added...

 ...it is not the largest of trees but I do love the glow of the lights against the gold coloured wicker.
This is a little bit of fun that I had forgotten about...

..lots of little teddies clambering all over a decorated wreath. It is a bisque wreath that was hand decorated using acrylic paints - I have another one that I made that is a village scene that lights up but felt the teddies needed an 'airing' this year.
I love a bargain - don't we all - and I had seen this range of candle accessories last year but thought they were rather expensive. Around about September, Clinton Cards had them reduced (I thought it was to clear last year's stock ready for this year's new designs) and the whole range was marked down to half price...

 ...even better when I got to the till - they had reduced them even further so I went back and got the smaller version of this too. Strangely enough, they were not clearing ready for a new design as these hit the shelves again in the run up to Christmas and they were actually a lot dearer than they had been last year. I definitely got a bargain there.
Now lots of folk have been taking part in "Elf on the Shelf" - I haven't but...

...I do have these two little lasses tucked at the foot of my tree. I dread to think that they might have been trying to ski down the present pile **giggle**

So this year my decorations in the lounge went for a mix of Rustic and Victoriana rather than the Shabby Chic vision that I had in mind. Never mind, as you can see from the countdown above - I have plenty of time to get prepared for next year LOL (I promise to move the countdown shortly - I know there are those of you out there of a delicate disposition who are only just getting over this Christmas).

Today is also the last day where Christmas things can be linked up to Kerryanne English's Friday link party over at the Shabby Art Boutique. Why not hop over there and take a look at all the goodies that folk have been sharing..............................................................

Some early...

...Christmas arrivals.

I was lucky enough to come home to a couple brown parcels this past week.

The little gingerbread man who lives by my toaster was eager to see inside...

 ...the first parcel contained the Polkadoodle House stamps that I won over at "Going Buggy"...

 ...Enfys was so quick getting them in the post - she promised that she would try to get them to me before Christmas and that she did - aren't they cute.
The other parcel was a lovely surprise all the way from USA...

...a beautiful ornament and a card full of pretty lace...

 ...just look at that lace held in place with a lovely pin and did you notice that snowflake - isn't it adorable.
The ornament is the lovely work of a super lady called Lynn Stevens...

...my photos really do not do her work justice...

...Lynn makes the most amazing pieces - you need to hop over to her blog "Trash to Treasure Art" to take a look at her fabulous creations.

Thank you both for sending these to me - it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.........................................................................................

Oh Christmas Tree...

...or should I say trees!!!

Chelmsford have a weekly street market but in the run up to Christmas it has been there more frequently. With all the lights and street decorations it has created a lovely atmosphere.

There are lights in the trees...

...all over the stalls. The Christmas tree stands at the Meadows end of the High Street...

...and gives a starting point to all the street decorations. The photos are not wonderful...

...but I just wanted to capture the glow given off by all the fabulous lights.

Back in Stratford and I promised you some photos of the tree with the lights on...

 ...it wasn't yet dark but the lights had come on and this was the view from the top of the station steps that lead to the Westfield shopping centre.
Once it was dark, this is what it looked like...

 ...viewed from across the entrance to the Bus station. This one was from outside the Rail station...

 ...lots of lights and a hotdog stall...

 ...you can just make out the "Shoal" in the background (the titanium trees at the entrance to the shopping mall).
Back home things are on a slightly smaller scale...

...these are the lights and trees in my hallway...

 ...aqua/white/silver was the colour scheme I decided to go with...

 ...and this is probably the tidiest the hallway has been all year LOL.
This is my Christmas "jelly-fish" - well that's what it looks like in all the photos that I've taken...

 

...it doesn't matter what angle I try, it still doesn't look as good as it does in real life. Never mind, I'm happy with it - even if the making of it has covered the whole of my kitchen floor in glitter.

No more going to work for two whole weeks - yipeeeeeeeeeee!!!.................................................

Christmas Crop...

...and Carvery.

The Eastwood Scrappers have held a couple of their 'all-day' crops at the local Toby Carvery this year and the lovely Carol has allowed Suzie (Weasel) to drag me along.

Saturday was the Christmas crop and as you can see...

 ...the function room was a hive of activity...

 ...and suitably dressed for the occasion...

...Santa hats were the order of dress but many got ditched as concentration and crafting took over.
Over on UK Scrappers there is a Christmas event going on with a new project appearing everyday up to 23 December. Charmed Cards & Crafts very kindly kicked things off with a lovely project to make a recipe book so I thought I'd give it a go. This is what I managed at the crop...

 Ignacio over at Nicecrane Designs recently supplied the DT with a selection of cooking/baking images to link in with Thanksgiving. I didn't think I would get much use out of these as we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in the UK - I was wrong...the images were perfect for this project.

I managed to complete the book and as you can see it contains plenty of pages...

 ...and I kept the colour scheme to white & burgundy for the base.
I still need to decorate the pages but as you can see...

...the Nicecrane images will fit this purpose beautifully.
The project tutorial came with a downloadable embellishment pack...

...which included recipe & note cards that can be printed 'page size'...

 ...or 'tag size'. There are also printables to help identify the different sections of the recipe book.
The pages in the book are a mix of flat pages...

 ...and ones with pockets - surprisingly I have started decorating the Christmas pages before the rest **giggle**
The coloured Thanksgiving images from Nicecrane were just perfect for decorating the covers...

 ...and by cropping this one to an oval shape...

...I've keep the wonderful image but managed to remove the Thanksgiving sentiment.
The Nicecrane sets that I have used are...

... Vintage Thanksgiving Greeting III, which you can find here...

...and Vintage Baking Digi Stamps, which you can find here.
Don't forget to hop over to the Nicecrane blog for some super inspiration from the DT and whilst you are having a hop about - pop over to UK Scrappers to have a look at all the projects the Members & Sponsors are sharing in the run up to Christmas................................................................