Happy Christmas!

Well, I made it to the end of my to do list and can't keep my eyes open much longer!

I just wanted to pop by and wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas and all the best for 2016.

Thank you for your visits here during 2015.

Elaine

Yes, definitely feeling Christmassy now!

Phew! The list is getting shorter and this morning once I have my veg shopping done I wont be going near the shops until after the big day! Although I don't go too mad on food shopping I still think we could withstand a small siege for at least a fortnight! There is even time to pop into a neighbours for our traditional Christmas visit and I have made some gingerbread cookies to take.

Here is another of my Christmas designs. I made these back in July! I bought a bag of cheap sequins (possibly in Poundland) and off I went! Sorry the pic is a little blurry, I zoomed in to avoid looking at all the mess on my desk!

The dies and stamps are by WPlus9 again. I die cut the words in red or black glitter card and then stamped in red or black. These were great quickish cards to make. Sticking on the sequins was done in front of the TV on a lap tray so I didn't really notice the time it took!

I finally managed to make OH's card yesterday. Fortunately we don't exchange those until Christmas Eve traditionally!

Hope you are still managing to keep sane!

Elaine x

It's beginning to feel a little like Christmas!

I don't usually do cute stamps and cards, but these little bunnies hanging carrots on the Christmas tree was irresistible as a card motif for my special veggie friends.

 

This is a Penny Black cling stamp, I used Versafine to stamp into watercolour paper. I coloured the image with Aquarelle watercolour pencils and then die cut and shaded with a little Vintage Photo distress ink. I heat embossed the sentiment (which is from a great Kaisercraft set) in gold.

 

I think things are a little more under control for my festive prep than the last time I posted. My last two parcels for the post were actually wrapped and taken to the post office this morning. More decorations have been put up today and I have even made some last minute mincemeat (better late than never!). This afternoon's job is present wrapping with half an eye on a schmaltzy Christmas film in front of the log burner, before I put my feet up in front of the Strictly Come Dancing final tonight on TV!  

Hope things are going well for you.

Elaine x

Feeling festive?

Right now I am running to stand still and meeting myself coming back to mix my metaphors slightly!!!

Here is another of my Christmas card designs.

The trees are stamped using the Stampin Up Wonderland set. I love these tall trees, them give such a gorgeous image and it layers up so nicely as well. I added some ink shading with different Distress Inks. The sentiment comes from a freebie stamp from a magazine. I finished off with a flourish stamp and some teeny tiny gems.

I'm not sure I am feeling that festive as yet. I keep trying to get in the groove cooking gingerbread cookies and playing Christmas CDs, but there is so much to do and not enough time so I am a little stressed!. Still, things are being ticked off the huge December "To Do" list at a faster rate than I am adding more tasks, so I must be making some progress!

Elaine

More Christmas

Phew! Most of our Christmas cards got posted yesterday! That feels like a good thing ticked off my massive December list. Here is another of my cards and one of my favourite designs this year.

 

This uses the Ornamental Pine stamp set from Stampin Up and the design is like quite a number that have appeared on Pinterest. This was one of those designs that actually takes quite a while as you have to let the ink dry properly between stages - the actual pine stamp, the ink shading and then the snow embossing. I stamped the snow using a stamp from the SU set Gorgeous Grunge. The cones are decoupaged. I added a few tiny gems for a little sparkle too.

 

Amazingly all my different card designs this year have fitted through the postal slot for thickness - result! All the more amazing as I have added gems and sequins.

 

I started to put a few decorations up last night as I have a visitor for the weekend. Quite a bit earlier than usual, but it has brightened the place and me up considerably. Photos to follow, but my mantelpiece is looking more like the pic in my blog header now.

 

I hope you are also getting some pleasure from your Christmas preparations and are finding time to stop and breathe some spicy scents and enjoy the experience!

 

Elaine x

Christmas is coming!

Goodness where has the time gone since my last post? So much for being retired, my feet don't seem to touch the ground. I certainly seem to manage to keep myself busy one way and another. My new(ish) hobby of crochet continues to bring me a lot of pleasure. It is also a useful way to add to my stash of Christmas gifts and I have enjoyed being able to make a number of different garments and blankets. There is something so nice about making snuggly things for your loved ones.

Today I am sharing one of my Christmas card designs. I am so pleased that I have managed to make all my cards this year by making smallish batches of several different designs.

I must confess this is a CASE of a card by Dawn Woleslagle I  spotted on the W Plus 9 Design Team blog when theses stamps were launched. These stamps are available in the UK from Make the Day Special, one of my favourite mail order companies these days as they carry a really original selection of products. The deer and bird images are die cut with a matching die set. The sentiment is from Kaisercraft. I die cut the snow drifts using a Die-Namics set. The finishing touch was a little glitter glue.

I hope all is going well with your Christmas preparations and I plan to be back a bit more during December to share more of my Christmas designs and other Christmas preparations.

Happy Weekend!

Elaine

Mists and mellow fruitfulness?

It seems to have been ages since I posted here, so I have a rather long, but I hope not too boring post today.

The first project I am sharing today is a 8 x 8 canvas made as a housewarming gift. I used a variety of techniques and mediums, using gelatos and acrylic paint to colour through stencils, collaging different papers, stamping onto tissue and adding home made crochet flowers with button centres. This took a couple of hours to make and as you might imagine it was a pleasant time of messy creative play.

My recently rediscovered love of crochet has continued to keep me busy. I finished my Cosy blanket following the pattern of Lucy at Attic 24. This pic reminds me of one of the pleasures of making a blanket - that you can sit under it when it gets bigger. Not a benefit to making a blanket in the summer months though for sure!

I also started and finished (just yesterday) another lap blanket using the leftover yarn from my Cosy and Lily Pond blankets. These are both presents for family members. I really love the idea of making cosy crocheted gifts for my loved ones. I have just started on a crochet wrap in some gorgeous yarn for my Mum which is already growing nicely and is a very easy pattern.

 

This was my first attempt at doing overlay crochet, following the lovely Circles of the Sun pattern. Now this is a real challenge, not least as the yarn is rather prone to splitting, but I keep telling myself it is a good learning experience! There are also some incredible tutorial videos over on the In a Nutshell blog, that lady is a saint to spend the time to make such helpful films!!! I have a lot of practising to do with this pattern I think!

 



I love this time of year. The light has a gorgeous quality, as I witnessed on a recent walk around the grounds, and along the beach of Osborne House.

There are beautiful colours out there in the trees and plants, fruits and veggies seem abundant in the garden and there is a bit of a nip in the air (but not too much). I always feel like it is time to gather in the harvest and prepare to batten down the hatches and get our homes and larders ready for winter.

Despite some neglect this year due to other demands in our lives, the garden has come up trumps with some lovely produce. Plenty of interesting tomatoes and some useful, if rather small onions.

 

 

I have been busy with preserving some of the harvest and some bought in goodies, including chutney, amazing seeing a panful like ....

...... this transform into rich thick loveliness. I think my camera steamed up a little at this point!

 

 

I made some stamped labels for the finished article using some magnetic WRMK alphabet stamps I got in the charity shop. They make rather wonky lettering which I rather like. The lids will be covered with some pretty paper before the chutney goes to new homes.

 

Some of our damson harvest has been transformed into jam.

The latest yields of crab apples picked yesterday are destined to become mint and crab apple jelly this week.

We haven't really had much in the way of mists here yet to be honest, but we have certainly had plenty of fruitfulness!!!

Happy autumn!