Few Christmas cards.

My hand is back to normal and I've started making my Christmas cards. I'm sticking to variations of the one design this year because for some reason, I don't really like making them.

The image is a Meljens digi and doesn't require a lot of fancy colouring in or a fancy layout. I added the sentiment on the computer.

The red and blue papers were free with a magazine a couple of months ago and the green is from my scraps.

The holly sprigs are also a Meljens digi which I scaled right down and cut out. The little mittens stamp is Hobbycraft's own brand. It is one of the little clear ones they do for about £1 each. I put a little blob of liquid pearls on the marshmallows and a sprinkling of glitter glue. The cards are 5"x5".

The lovely Speedy is having his Kidney transplant on Monday. Him and his sister both go into Liverpool Royal on Sunday late afternoon. There is not much sleep going on at the Speed household lately I tell ya. He's terrified of doctors and hospitals,( as most of us are)  which is why he got into this state in the first place. It's not just the operation, it's the worrying about whether his body will reject the kidney. With modern medicine this shouldn't happen though. I want you all to keep your fingers, and legs crossed for the next week or so!  I'll keep you all informed. Thanks to the ladies who have sent him cards. He's made up with them. There are more to come so I'll do a  "show post" when they have all arrived and have been opened.

Taking a little break.

Hello everyone. It's been a week since my last post and I've had to make myself do this one today. To be truthful I'm feeling a little bit despondent where my blog is concerned. I don't know whether it's because of this busy time of the year or whether I just don't want to keep it up. Therefore, I've decided to have a bit of a "trial separation" in the hope that I'll miss it and try again in the new year.
Meanwhile here is my last Christmas card for the year. Yippee!!

Well, it's actually one of a pair I made for mum and mum in law. The image is by Meljens Designs. I don.t know the origin of the paper but it's one I downloaded ages ago. It was originally pink but I changed it to sepia in picasa. That's not glitter around the edges, it's actually the design of the paper. I love my fiskars deckle scissors because it doesn't matter if you can't cut straight, lol.

I do hope I'll be back in a few weeks time. I still want to make things but I'm a bit fed up of editing photos, doing links, etc. Maybe I've just got my lazy head on.
I hope you all have the best Christmas ever. I'm going out to a local hotel for my Christmas dinner as my kitchen closes for the day.

So merry Christmas, happy new year and hopefully I'll sort myself out.

I'm at my target weight again today but as of Saturday I'm going to stuff my face for a few weeks then back to the diet.

A couple of Christmas cards.

Quick post before I get ready for work. These are a couple of cards I made for an order. They are both in my easy "go to" layout.

Both images are by Meljens designs from Whimsy Stamps.

 A few scraps, a bit of ribbon and plenty of Stickles and we're done.

Weight this week still 9st 3lb, one over target.

A card for Teacher.

I wasn't going to blog this card as it was for a special order for someone who used to teach and I thought everyone would be more into Christmas stuff at the moment. Then I realised a teacher card is probably one of the most needed but hardest to come up with ideas for at this time of year.

So here it is. It could easily be made into a Christrmas teacher thank you card. It took me ages to find a suitable image but I eventually found this one from Colouring Pages 4 Kids  HERE. It's a great site with loads of different free images.

I didn't keep the link to the apples but I found them from Google images/line drawings. I just typed apples into the search box. I resized them and applied glossy accents after colouring them.

 My sleigh's virgin outing was such fun yesterday. There is a Christmas market in town which is pretty abysmal, but we hung out and had a mulled wine and a mince pie and everyone was commenting on my sleigh and asking where I got the lights from etc. One bloke ( who I knew) asked  where they where plugged in and I gave him such an X rated answer, lol. You should have seen his face. He saw the funny side though. He should have known what sort of answer I'd give him.

The Sleigh is Ready.

Well it's December again and time to hit the streets with my sleigh. I've bought some new lights which are bigger and brighter than my old ones.

I will be going out with it for a few early doors drinkies after a bit of late afternoon shopping tomorrow. People have already been asking when I'm bringing it out as it gets them in the festive mood. You know what that means though.......yes it'll probably pee down all afternoon.
I've been of work this week using my hols and sods law, I've not been well again. This cough/cold keeps coming back and I've not felt like doing much at all. I've managed to finish my Christmas card orders though. I know I'm using capitals here but I do mean to shout. THANK YOU TO ALL THE GENEROUS ARTISTS WHO HAVE BEEN GIVING FREE CHRISTMAS IMAGES!!  They have helped such a lot. I don't really like making Christmas cards but new images cropping up makes it much more enjoyable.
As this is supposed to be a card making blog I suppose I'd better show you one. Not a Christmas one either.

Another free image this time thank you to Doodle Pantry. There's a whole page of them there. I'm not sure about the paper as I've lost the cover but it's from a 12 x 12 stack and it could be DCWV. The card is 6"X6".

Target weight 9st 2lb. Today 9st 3lb. Lets face it the only way is up for the next few weeks, lol.

Christmas bargain quickies.

Quick post this morning as I'm off to the Hospital with Speedy for his check up. I was in B&M last week and found a card of 24 gift tags for 89p. I made a set of 24 5x5 cards.

 The card bases and envelopes were in a kit and have been sitting around as I don't really get on well with cream card bases. The photo is a bit naff, it was getting dark. I gave them to Patrick, my boss as a little thank you for letting me sell my cards in his shop. They do other colours. If anyone is needing to do loads of cards they would be an alternative to resorting to shop bought ones.

Santa pringles cans.

I went for a drink to a pub in Chester and spotted 2 Small Pringles cans on a vacated table. I pounced on them before the bar staff could clear them away. I've seen so many of these and other containers and jars altered for Christmas pressies and thought I'd have a go.

Good what a bit of red and black paper can do. The buckle was made with silver glitter card and  scalloped plain square punches. I bought a huge reel of the braid at Abakhan for £1 last year and have used loads of it on various gift boxes. I glued a circle of red paper to the lid and edged it with silver stickles.A week later I went back to the pub in the hope of scrounging a couple more tins but guess what? They don't sell them any more. Typical !!

Friday weight, 9st 2lb (target weight) Christmas is coming though............

Grinch pills for the grown ups.

When I was sitting glued to Pinterest for far too long I came across this idea for Grinch pills.

 Speedy calls one of his mates the Grinch because he's such a miserable so and so and he asked me to make some to take to the pub at Christmas.Well, you know what I'm like, I can't possibly make something so tasteful and decided to make my own version.

D'you know what? I've worked in a newsagent for nearly 7 years and have always assumed spearmint softmints where green, lol. There's always something to learn in any job !! I bought these from poundland in a pack of 4 rolls and was gobsmacked when I opened them.  Still I'm sure they'll still work.

I found the little Grinch clip art from google images.

I'm about half way through my Christmas shopping. I'm off next week so hopefully I can get it finished. In a moment of weakness I've gone and promised speedy ( who thinks he's Father Christmas ) we can put the tree up this weekend. Eeeeek!!

Naughty stocking fillers.

These are neither use nor ornament really.They serve no purpose except for providing their recipient with a cheap chuckle after opening all the boring socks.

They are the result of killing time in Tesco while waiting for Speedy to meet me.I should never be left unattended in a shop for too long, lol. I saw these balloons, 20 for £2 and thought "they remind me of something". They just needed to be blown up for 5 minutes or so to make then look a bit more convincing.

I made up the little poem and found the santa clipart on google images. The bags are the size used for C6 cards. The Works usually have them for 99p but be warned, they are slightly too small for C6 envelopes but fine for gift bags. Feel free to copy the idea if you know someone who's up for a laugh.

Another spice box.

Well, here we go again, back to trying to take decent photos in electric light. This is the best I can get these to their true colours.

I know I've posted this type of box before but I'm showing you this one because the spices are on special offer at Tesco, 2 for £2.50 at the moment so it makes an even cheaper stocking filler.The links for the free image is on this post along with some slightly better photos.

I've got quite a few of them made ready as they come in handy for work mates and little extras for people who are hard to buy for.

Remember me telling you about my boss with his packet of oats last week? Well, speedy has had to go one better. He fancied nachos with a bit of chilli last night so I decided to have chilli with rice for myself. He wanted to watch the end of the film so I dished mine up and left his chilli in a dish and grated some cheese for him. I told him the chilli was under the grill on low keeping warm and all he needed to do was put half of the cheese on top, grill it for a couple of minutes, put the nachos and the rest of the cheese on top and grill it again. Easy??? No!! He goes into the kitchen and comes back with a plate with a layer of grated cheese on it, lol. nothing else, just cheese. He said "do I put it under the grill like this then?" He hadn't listened to a word I'd said. What he was planning to do with the plate of grilled cheese, I just don't know. As you've guessed, I normally do all the cooking. Useless men!

More Christmas Quickies.

Morning all. A quickie post and some quickie cards.

Meljens digi stamp again.This design would be great for hot chocolate gift sets.The cards are five and a half inches square again.

I added the sentiment before printing out then coloured with Promarkers and added some stickles.

I'm off to work now. Channel 4 are filming a programme about small businesses in Chester today and they are coming to our shop early this morning. I hope they've gone by the time I get there as I hate cameras. Besides I'm on the wanted dead or alive list at the cop shop...........just joking.  Oh, and we have already been filmed for don't tell the bride in November. Me and Patrick must have looked right nerds as we didn't know what was going on. We thought it was an OTT stag party who had bought an amateur film crew along until they finally told us what they were doing. That should be entertaining, lol.

Weight today 9st 2lb, (Target weight).

I'm back !

Well. I don't know what happened but my blog has been poorly for a few days. I had one of those " malware" warnings flashing up and no-one including me could get into my blog. My mate who sorts peoples computers out for a living said Google would spot it and sort it out and not to worry about it. The good news is that he was right and according to Webmaster tools I'm clean as a whistle. The not so good news is that i didn't give a monkeys if my blog never came back.I felt relieved at not having to update it, not that I "have to" anyway but I feel I should. It's not the writing of the posts as much as the photo editing and trying to get a decent pic in bad light etc. I think I really started to get fed up of it when I started entering challenges as I find it such a pain finding suitable ones and linking up and so forth. It turned my hobby into a job and I've already got one of those. So I've decided not to enter any more for the time being and see if  that helps me. I don't want to stop blogging. I'd get fat for a start, if I didn't do my friday weigh ins, lol. Anyway, I hope i'ts just a temporary feeling and that it will go away soon.

In the meantime I've made a few simple Christmas cards.

It took me long enough to get these photos too look ok. The cards are five and a half inches square and are from Hobbycraft.

The image is by Meljens designs. I don't remember where i found the sentiment tickets but there are loads if you look in Google images/line drawings.

Here's a close up of the image with a dollop of Stickles to finish.

I've got a huge slow cooker full of beef, tomato and olive casserole to sort out now. I'm trying to get the freezer full of "ready meals" for the winter . Tesco 3 meat items for £10 are 4 items for £10 at the moment so I'm making the most of it while it lasts.
EDIT. Sorry it was 4 for £12 at Tesco but still good.

A few more Christmas cards.

Mornin' all. Guess where I went yesterday?

Yep, that's right. I went for a mammogram, lol. It was my first time and one of the girls I work with said she'd rather give birth so I was dreading it. When she calls in for her wages today I'll throttle her. There was nothing to it. A bit of a dull ache but that's all. They do not squash your boobs to within an inch of your life as I was expecting, just a small squash and she kept asking if it was ok to squash a bit more before she went any further. So if anyone's wondering, it's not bad at all and I'll definitely be going for my 3 yearly checks without getting worked up. While I was looking for info on the net I found this beauty.

It made me titter. I bet there'd be no shortage of women applying for that job. Revenge would be so sweet.

Anyway,  on to my cards.

Just simple ones with a Meljens image and some scraps of paper. The sentiment stamp is from a Penny Black clear set.

That's it from me for now. I'll look for some challenges when I get home from work.

Paulette at TLC Creations will be adding a free digi image to her blog every time she gets a new follower until sunday, so what are you waiting for? Get following.

Challenges. Craft us Crazy. Anything goes.
                  Moving along with the times.  Birds.
                  Divas by design. Christmas

Target weight 9st 2lb.  Today's weight, a naughty 9st 3lb.

Unearthed some antiques.

I was rummaging around in my craft room and came across some strange wooden things. They had pictures on them and I vaguely remembered them from the olden days. I googled them and found them to be a primitive crafting item. Apparently people used to dip them into pads of ink and press them onto card. Yes.......I'm talking about rubber stamps, lol. It's been such a long time since I've used one I almost forgot I had them. So I made a card just to see if they still work.

Hey,  it worked !! Just joking. I'm so used to all these kind people designing free digi stamps and having access to a new one every day, I'm getting spoilt.  This little Forever Friends stamp is one of my favourite Christmas stamps. I like to paper piece his dressing gown. I got the papers from Artstamps when it was on at Wrexham about 4 years ago.They are made by the English Paper Company and i got little packs for £1 each. I haven't been able to go since then, I've either been working or at someones wedding. I'ts on tomorrow and yes I'm at work.

The circle sentiment is from When the Scrap Hits the Fun HERE.

Challenges, Party time Tuesdays, Anything goes.
                   Crafty Creations.Christmas in july.
                   Forever Friends, Pastel colours.


Target weight 9st 2lb.  Todays weight 9st 3lb.  ( 2 words,  Speedy, & Cheese...........)

Would you believe it ?!!

After slating my new camera in my last post, I take it all back. I was taking pics of this card with my Sony and the batteries went. I hadn't got any more charged up so i had to "resort" to my new one. I don't know what it was playing at on Sunday but these photos have turned out much better. On the same settings too.Oh, well, sorry Mr Fuji.

Maybe it was the dull light on Sunday. I'm so glad I haven't got to take it back to the shop as it had quite good reviews. Anyway, the card. The image is of course one of Meljens. The paper is from my very first paper pack which i bought 4 years ago. Lord knows what it is as I don't have the packaging. 

The little "jingle all the way" caption is from TLC. The card base is 6"x6".

Christmas is quite a way away yet but the days are getting shorter and it will soon be dark by mid afternoon so I've spent quite a bit of time sorting out my stocking filler ideas. I've made quite a few samples to make more of but i feel it's a bit too early to blog them yet as they might get forgotten along the wayside so I'll leave them for a few more weeks. There'll be a few cheapie ideas for cooks this year.

Time to look for some challenges then see to something for dinner.

Challenges.  Meljens. Buttons and bows.

                   Simply Create, Christmas time

                   Crafty Emmas. Christmas.

                   Creative Inspirations, Christmas in July.

                   KB Cute Monday, Use a digi.

" That card" again and a catasrtophe.

Evening all. What a day had yesterday. I was glad to get to work for a rest,lol.
My boss is a bit bah humbug about Christmas, or at least he pretends to be. I don't think he'd be too chuffed if  mum and dad said OK we'll cancel it then, no pressies this year. I thought i'd recycle a card design i used a couple of weeks back and make a version of  it for him.

His name is Patrick but everyone calls him Pasta. Hopefully it might raise a glimmer of a smile,lol. Another case of having to take the pic in electric light because suddenly it was dark.I had been too preoccupied to notice the light fading. My heating went off, my bathroom and kitchen sink pipes were frozen all day, and i wrapped about 70 stocking filler gifts. Hubby came home to " fiddle" with the heating and one of the pipes spewed water every where. Of course the pipe was in a cupboard full of junk which had to be pulled out fast. Managed to stop it and get the heating back on but the engineer is coming out tomorrow as the pipework has been done wrong. Glad we are renting as we would cop for the bill otherwise. And most of the contents of the cupboard is now in the bin where it belongs.
Things can only get better................................

The best aroma ever.

You know when you supposed to be gift wrapping card making etc and you suddenly find yourself blog hopping and finding yourself getting further and further away from home and loving it? Well i found this site called Stone Gable. It is written by a lady who does lots of entertaining with lots of menus and table settings. The post which particularly interested me was this one.

This is a pic from Stone Gable blog. and HERE  is the link for this Christmas pot pourri Recipe. As Yvonne says don't leave this unattended on a hob. Remember a few years ago it was the in thing to have balti dishes on stands with tea lights underneath like these.

I used to work at Culpeper the Herbalist and we used to sell these Balti dishes. We also used to sell a "bestseller Christmas spice oil" and this recipe gives an exact replica of that aroma before the present owner messed about with it. It is simmering away on my coffee table now and it takes me back. It is gorgeous. The best substitute if you have no simmering dish is to wrap the ingredients in some kitchen towel and stuff behind a radiator. Or bring to a simmer on the stove and switch off. So Christmassey, nothing like the stuff you get in shops in the form of candles and "oils". Omit the star anise if you have to, it wont make a huge difference. Thank you so much Yvonne. xx

Another digi freebie.

What a horrible day it was yesterday. I was so glad i went out on Wednesday and finished (?) my Christmas shopping. So i stayed in and churned out another load of bags of chocolate t*ts and reindeer s**t for when i take the sleigh out on Saturday.
I also made my last few cards which is a massive relief. Here's the one i made for the 2 mums using a free digital frame from HERE. It is part of a set.

I had actually written them and a couple of others and put them in envelopes before i realised i hadn't taken any pics. It was dark so i had to use my craft lamp which isn't ideal for photos, it doesn't look as stark in the flesh. The mice and the greeting are both Penny Black. The holly was made with an X Cut Botanicals punch. I coloured some pearls with my promarkers for the berries. It doesn't show in the picture but i've added a bit of chalk around the frame.
Time to get myself off to work now, thanks fo looking.  Di.xx ( PS, Sorry i haven't been commenting on peoples blogs much this week as time is short but i'll be a better blogging buddy when i've got everything sorted.xx).

Target weight 9st 2lb. Today's weight 9st 2lb, only by the skin of my teeth though. I imagine it's going to go up quite a bit from now until January but at least i know i can get it off again.

Another Meljens Freebie.

What would i do without these freebies. Frankly i'm bored with my existing Christmas stamps and when i got an order for 6 cards i was so glad of these freebies. I've printed sheets of these and others from Meljens ready to colour for next year.

This holly stamp can be found at Meljens HERE. So handy and so easy to colour. Thank you Melissa.

2 cards made in next to no time in the little time i've got. I've been making choc gifts until they come out of my ears, i didn't expect people to be wanting them on such a scale, lesson learned for next year,lol. In the meantime my sleigh has been out Saturday and last night. A friend of ours won a meal for 2 in a raffle at a local pub and gave it to us for Christmas and we went last night. We were a bit apprehensive as it is a pub we don't normally go to but i must admit it's improved somewhat since we last went and we enjoyed our meal.
There is light at the end of the tunnel with the Christmas shopping and the wrapping is getting done. Poor Speedy is going on Sunday morning to do his annual shopping for one person......bless....... i feel so sorry for him,....NOT !

Chutney Gift.

Real quickie post and a quickie gift as i need to get wrapping up and writing my cards( pet hate). There is absolutely nothing crafty or skillful going on with this one. Just an idea for jazzing up a couple of jars of chutney.

Just a bit of cello, a bit of ribbon and a tag. Cheap stocking filler, as Gordon Ramsay would say, "done".
 Right, ...........off to wrap.    Thanks for stopping by.   Di.xx