Top ten

Hello everyone

I hope you all had a good Christmas and Santa brought you lots of goodies (maybe even some crafty ones). I was lucky enough to receive one or two crafty presents which I hope to be sharing with you next year. I had a great time spent with friends and family, ate lots and drank even more but hey it's Christmas.
Can you believe it's nearly the end of 2013? I really don't know where this year has gone. In true end of year style here are my top 10 creations of this year -

In no particular order here is my first choice -

 This one was completely out of my comfort zone but I was very pleased with the result.

 Back into my comfort zone with this one. I really liked the papers that I used for this card.

 I like the simplicity of this card.

 This card was the result of "I wonder what would happen if........?" and it worked so well.

 I love the holographic card stock I used for this card.

 One of my favourite Christmas cards.

 Another card that was a step out of my comfort zone but again I was very pleased with the results.

 Another favourite Christmas card.

 And another.

 I love this image form LOTV and have used it many times this year.

I hope you enjoyed my top 10. Have a fantastic New Year and I will see you in 2014.

Best wishes

Lesley 

Merry Christmas

Hello everyone

Look what I managed to get finished - 

Yes my Christmas cushion covers. It was a very late night last night to get them done but here they are in situ. Hooray.

The quilt in the background is one I made years ago.
This is my last post before the festive season begins and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has visited my blog this year and to those who have left such lovely comments. This has been a new adventure for me this year and I have really enjoyed sharing my cards and creations with you all.

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a very happy new year.

Merry Christmas to you all

I look forward to seeing you all in 2014 for more craftiness.

Lesley

What no Christmas card!!!!!!

Hello folks

Today's card is not a Christmas card. Have I gone mad I hear you say - no Christmas card the 2 days before Christmas, well I am all Christmased out (is there such a word) and I wanted something completely different.

Ingredients -

• Bebunni Special friend stamp set (from Crafter's Companion)
• Spectrum Noirs - BG1, BG2, PP1, PP2, IG1, IB1, HB1, HB2 and HB3
• Bonnets and bowties paper pad (from LOTV)
• black micron pen

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - anything goes

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

House Mouse Christmas

Good morning everyone

I hope your Christmas preparations are nearly complete and you are able to relax and craft this weekend. I made this card for my eldest son - 

The layout is sketch 50 from Dawny P's blog and the other ingredients are as follows - 

• House Mouse Reindeer stamp set
• Spectrum Noir pens - FS1, EB3, GB9, TN2, TN3, TN6, CR8, DR5, DR7, IB1, IB2, IG1, IG2, BGR1 and BGR3
• gold gel pen
• Boofle paper pad (from Docrafts)
• gold mirriboard
• gold Christmas peel off sentiment
• Spellbinder's rectangle nestie and Fleur de lis rectangle dies

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://www.spectrumnoir.com/challenge - food

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

The day before Xmas

Hello everyone

Let the festivities begin. Work is over for two weeks and tonight is the Strictly Come Dancing final. A great excuse for my friend and I to drink lots of pink fizz and wallow in a glitter fest! Brilliant.

Here is today's card -

Ingredients

• Day before Xmas stamp  (the third one I treated myself to recently)
• Promarkers - saffron, ivory, burnt sienna, raw sienna, satin, blush, dusky pink, sunkissed pink, wild cranberry, maroon, burgundy, marsh green, moss, olive and powder blue
• Woodland wishes paper pad (LOTV)
• Spellbinder's marvelous squares dies
• Die'sire holly die
• Marianne ivy die
• EK success punch
• cream lace
• velvet ribbon (from The Ribbon Girl)
• gems coloured with burgundy Promarker

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - anything goes

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Blue Christmas

Good Friday morning everyone.

Today it's my last day at work before Christmas - hooray!!!!!! Should be a lovely day to end a lovely festive week.

Here is a card I made for one of my work friends -

Again a quick rundown of what I used to make this card - 

• Christmas Tilda stamp
• Promarkers - satin, blush, dusky pink, sunkissed pink, warm grey 1, warm grey 3, warm grey 5, raw sienna, caramel, holly, pine, cool grey 1, cool grey 3, cool grey 4, pastel blue, arctic blue, sky blue, azure, true blue, saffron, ivory, powder blue and warm grey 2
• Frost Christmas paper pad (LOTV)
• white glitter card
• Spellbinder's floral ovals and poinsettia dies
• silver gems

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

 http://magnoliadownunderchallenges.blogspot.co.uk - challenge 226 Anything goes

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Tilda with presents

Good morning

This card had to be made very quickly as (would you believe it) I ran out of cards. Yes me who has been making Christmas cards since July ran out of cards. So here is the rushed one I had to make -

Ingredients -

• Tilda with presents stamp (I treated myself recently to 3 new Tilda's - isn't she cute!)
• Promarkers - satin, blush, dusky pink, sunkissed pink, wild cranberry, maroon, burgundy, moss green, olive, almond, putty, warm grey 2, terracotta, chestnut, burnt umber and arctic blue
• Woodland wishes paper pad from LOTV
• velvet ribbon and cream lace from the Ribbon Girl
• Spellbinder's labels 11, fleur de lis rectangle and poinsettia dies
• gold gems

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

 http://magnoliadownunderchallenges.blogspot.co.uk - challenge 226 anything goes

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

A pink Christmas

Hello everyone

Yeah it's a pink Christmas today. My favourite kind of Christmas. The challenge at In the pink challenge blog is Christmas and here is my card - 

I really enjoyed making this card - lots of pink, lots of glitter and yes that is Frantage you can see. I took it slow and managed to keep the frantage on the card and not all over me and the floor.
Here are the ingredients - 

• Tilda with presents stamp (this another one I treated myself to - she's sooooo cute)
• Promarkers - satin, blush, dusky pink, sunkissed pink, caramel, raw sienna, cocoa, blossom, carnation, rose pink, pink lobster, magenta, baby pink, pale pink, henna, arctic blue and warm grey 2.
• Pink centura pearl
• Papers from my Christmas stash (I think it was a Tatty teddy pack)
• Lace from the Ribbon Girl
• Ribbon from my stash
• spun sugar distress ink
• Stampendous encrusted jewel kit
• Spellbinder's labels 11, elegant labels 4 and matting basics A dies
• Memory Box precious snowflakes die
• Gems coloured with rose pink Promarker

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge -

http://inthepinkchallenge.blogspot.co.uk - challenge # 34 - It's Christmas

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Let it snow

Good morning everyone

Here is today's card - 

Again a very washed out photo - sorry. I blame the weather it has been so grey and dull recently and I just can't get the right amount of light to take the photos. It is either too dark or if I use a daylight lamp too bright. Never mind it's only a few days to the shortest day and then things will begin to get lighter (who am I kidding). Enough waffle here are the ingredients for this card - 

• LOTV's James - snow angel (ST467)
• Promarkers - cool grey 1, cool grey 2, cool grey 3, pastel blue, arctic blue, sky blue, true blue and azure
• LOTV's frosty Christmas paper pad
• White glitter card
• Die'sire Chantilly lace stamping frame die
• Memory Box frostyville corner and Linderman snowflake dies
• Daisy and Dandelion sentiment
• pearls

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges - 

http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - let it snow

http://www.allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - week 237 snowflakes

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Christmas Tilda

Good Monday morning to you all.

I hope you are all well. I am scheduling this post as hopefully I am on my way to work having recovered from my bug. This week is going to be a very busy one with Christmas productions, a trip to see Santa, a Christmas party and a pantomime. Then relax it's CHRISTMAS!!!

Here is today's card - 

Firstly let me apologise for the dreadful photo (yes it's one of mine) I just could not get the colours to look right. It looks very washed out.

Ingredients

• Woodland wishes paper pad (from LOTV)
• velvet ribbon from the Ribbon Girls
• lace from my stash
• Spellbinder's oval nestie, floral ovals and poinsettia dies
• Marianne ivy die
• Die'sire lace border 6 die
• Promarkers - satin, blush, dusky pink, sunkissed pink, wild cranberry, maroon, burgundy, moss, olive green, almond, putty, pine, holly, cocoa, chestnut, terracotta, burnt umber, arctic blue and warm grey 2.

(The colour is much better on this photo).

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://ilovepromarkers.blogspot.co.uk - challenge198 follow that sketch

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

A winner

Hello everyone

Sorry I have been awol for a few days but I have been feeling a little under the weather - struck down with a rather nasty bug but seem to be on the mend today.

As you may have noticed from the blinkies down the side of my blog I have had a couple of winners in October and November.

This card came in the top three of the October Crafter's Companion's challenge

and this one was selected as the winner for the Crafter's Companion's November challenge.

The prize for winning this challenge was £30 to spend at Crafter's Companion which I did very easily and this is what I bought - 

The sweet treat boards and Chantilly lace stamping frame die set.

I decided to have a go at making the bird house first and here it is - 

Ingredients -

• sweet treat - sweet things board
• white centura pearl card and pastel coloured core'dinations
• kraft card
• rose embossalicious embossing folder
• antique linen distress inks
• Chantilly lace stamping frames die, large rose quilling die and stamen quilling die
• lace, ribbon and buttons from my stash
• black gem

I would like to enter this bird house into the following challenge - 

  http://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/blog/crafterscompetition/2013/12/december-2013-challenge-ribbon-thread-or-twine/

Many thanks for stopping by.

Lesley

Birthday box

Hello everyone

A scheduled post from me today - knee deep in the old Christmas panic!! This is a box I made for my sister's birthday. I needed a pretty way to send her a voucher which isn't the most exciting of presents to recieve but there is a good reason for this type of present. She is an avid reader who travels a lot and she recently bourght herself one of these electronic book readers (it's easier to take away than several paperbacks) so the voucher is to purchase some books online.
So here's the box -

The ingredients are -

• First edition summer breeze paper pad
• peach core'dinations cardstock
• white centura pearl
• spellbinder's bitty blossoms, spiral blossom one and foliage dies

Inside is a card I made a few weeks ago - you can find the link here.

She is spending her birthday this year in Egypt so hopefully will enjoy using her present.
Happy birthday Janette.

I would like to enter this box into the following challenge - 

http://www.allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - week 236 anything but Christmas

Thanks for stopping by.

Lesley

Christmas box

Good morning folks and how are we all today? Well I hope.

Today's post are the boxes I made with my trusty Ultimate Pro for the heart wreaths I made recently -

The ingredients are -

• white centura pearl
• green and red core'dinations
• paper from Dovecraft's Tis the Season paper pad
• Spellbinder's poinsettia die
• Crafter's Companion's Die'sire holly die
• Marianne ivy die

Bit of a photo overload coming up - 
 

I hope your Christmas preparations are going from strength to strength. Things here are slowly getting finished. I managed to complete my long to do list over the weekend - even managed to write some of the cards I've made!! However its looks unlikely that my Christmas patchwork cushion covers will ever see the light of day. Never mind I could always do them in January for next Christmas (highly unlikely!!!)

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

PS sorry for the brief posts this just seems to be the quickest way to blog and cope with the Christmas preparations. Normal service will resume in the new year.

Bird house

Hello everyone

This is the birdhouse I mentioned in my blog a couple of days ago -

It was featured in a recent copy of Cardmaking and papercraft magazine and I thought it would make a lovely little gift for my son's teacher with some sweets inside.
The ingredients are -

• kraftcard (from Craftwork cards)
• papers from the Dovecraft's Tis the Season paper pad
• Spellbinder's circle and scalloped circle dies
• Memory Box Frostyville border die
• white centura pearl
• Xcut border punch

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Traditional Christmas

Good morning folks

Can you believe it's the weekend again. I really don't know where the weeks are going before we know it the big day will have been and gone. Another busy weekend for me - I really must write some Christmas cards, I have 2 large candy canes to make (school production props), a birdhouse to complete, several boxes and envelopes to make and my house needs a good clean before we put up the tree. Anyway enough of the chat - here is today's creation -

It's a Christmas wreath done in traditional colours of red green and gold. It began life as a plain white heart shaped wreath from a large chain store and with a little help from some dies - 

• Spellbinder's poinsettia dies
• Crafter's Companion's Die'sire holly die
• Marrianne ivy die

some cardstock

• plain red (from my stash)
• red coredinations
• green coredinations
• gold mirriboard

and some embellishments from The Ribbon Girl -

• red Christmas ribbon
• red crinkle ribbon
• red berries

This how it looks now.

I would like to enter this into the following challenge -

www.ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk - Ho Ho Ho Christmas challenge

I hope your Christmas preparations go smoothly this weekend. Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Frosty the Snowman

Good evening

Sorry for my lack of blogging recently but things have been rather hectic in this house with all the festive preparations - yes I have actually started my Christmas shopping for presents and food!! Turkey ordered - feeling very proud of myself.
Have also been crafting like a good un for Christmas and birthday presents and generally finishing off things - its amazing how many cards I've made recently without envelopes so it's going to be a night in with my Ultimate Pro I think. Also been making props for the school production - getting very close to the big day now!!!!

The Allsorts challenge this week is 'inspired by a Christmas song or carol' and this is my card inspired by the song 'Frosty the Snowman' - 

As I am pressed for time tonight this is going to be a quick rundown of ingredients I'm afraid. So here goes - 

• Stamp from Crafter's Companion's Barkley range called Friends and family
• Spectrum Noirs - IG1, IG2, IG5, IG10, TB1, TB2, TB4, BG1, BG2, OR1, OR3, GB2, GB4, PP4, DR5, DG2, CG1, DG3, CG3 and IB1
• Spellbinder's oval nestie dies
• Memory Box precious snowflake die
• LOTV's handwritten Christmas phrases (sentiment)
• papers from LOTV Frosty Christmas pad
• blue gems from The Ribbon Girl
• lots of glitter!!!!! 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://www.allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - week 235 - Inspired by a Christmas song or carol

Thank you for stopping by

Lesley