The countdown ....

.... is on.  Cards all made, 2/3 of them written and posted, almost all gifts bought, none yet wrapped - no probs!!

It's our final challenge for 2011 on PaperPlay today, and the theme is, you'll never guess - Christmas!!!  Thank heavens, 'cos I've made nothing but Christmas cards for the last fortnight.  Here's my finished design:

As usual, it's pretty simple, due to having to mass produce.  I wish I had had time to stitch some red stitching - it would have been sooooo pretty, but I would have had to start the darn things in August to achieve that.  Here's a shot of a bunch all done (tried more but I kept knocking them over like a house of cards!):

The paper is a gorgeous BG "Nordic Holiday" one, I adore the colours - so rich and festive - and the stamp is also from the same line.  Cute.  I added a lot of stickles to the roofs of the houses and to the paper to make it even more festive.  Here's a close-up of a house:

I'm entering this into quite a few challenges, all with Christmassy themes.  They are: ABC Challenge, Crafts and Me, Creative Card Crew, Papertake Weekly, Paper Sundaes, Totally Gorjuss, and Stampin' for the Weekend.
Thanks for looking!

Ever left everything ....

.... until the last minute? That's me this Christmas - I still haven't started the Christmas shopping, the house is a tip, the days are definitely ticking away faster than they should be!! Eeek!!

On the plus side, my card from a few posts ago here has been picked as one of the Top 3 on CES Challenges (yayy - a blinkie!!).

I had time between batches of Christmas cards to do a commission. One of my colleagues asked me to do a graduation card, I hmmed and hawed because I didn't think I would have time, but then she told me the name of the graduate - and she was such a lovely child when she was at our school a million years ago that I had to say yes. So I was in the craftroom most of the weekend between Christmas cards and this:

I used the sketch from this week's Sketch Saturday, and I'm also entering it into quite a few challenges that it fits, namely: The Crafty Pad ("Give it a Punch"), Charisma Cardz ("Spots"), Cute Card Thursday ("It's just a number"), Crafts and Me ("Pearls and Swirls"), Simon Says Stamp ("Anything Goes") - and, this might be a bit cheeky, Mo's Digital Challenge ("Great Outdoors" - it does say the topic is broad - Mo's DT - can we say this girl has just ran outside waving her degree and throwing her mortarboard in the air? If not, I completely understand!).

I used this lovely image from Mo - that robe was hard to colour in black, really it's ended up faded grey but I hadn't time to go over it again. I decided to match it with black/cream papers and add a few touches of bling to make it nice and celebratory. Here's a close-up of the image:

Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Cricket "Circa 1934"

Image: Mo Manning "Grad Girl"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Fiskars "Threading Water" punch, Hero Arts Smooth Gems, Prima swirl, needle + thread

After I finished, we went into town to meet friends for a coffee, Grafton Street looked gorgeous all lit up and festive in the dark. Here's a pic I found on the internet - not a great shot but you get the idea:

Thanks for looking!

Still. Haven't. Made ....

.... that bloomin' nephew's card, even though I said I would! That's because Christmas is galloping nearer every day, and this week's PaperPlay Challenge is upon us too. Our challenge is "Tags and Wrapping", and our sponsor is Simon Says Stamp

My teamies have made some absolutely stunning gift sets - it really wouldn't matter what was inside 'cos the wrapping is so beautiful.  Pop over and have a look!

I've just finished knitting a scarf as a Christmas gift for my son's teacher, it turned out really nicely and I decided to package it nicely too.  So here's how it turned out:

We've had yuck weather the past few days, it's currently lashing rain with accompanying howling gale, so the pics are atrocious.  Sorry!!  This does look very festive in real life, lovely BG red papers, with kraft bag and black cardstock, accessorised with starry red ribbon and sparkly snowflakes.

I forgot to take a pic of the scarf itself, and now that it's safely tied into the packaging, I'm not going to risk taking it out again.  You can see a peep of it through that round acetate window, though.

Thanks for looking - now, I've got a teenage nephew card to do (deja vu, anyone?!!).