Glad to see ....

.... the back of 2013!!  Happy New Year to everyone - hoping 2014 is good to you all.  We had a lovely Christmas, restful and relaxing, a nice finish to what was a thoroughly and utterly crappy year.  Oh well, don't look back is what I say!!

I had intentions of doing lots of crafting, but we made a snap decision to decorate Jed's bedroom. It hadn't been painted since before he was born, and although it wasn't terribly babyish, it did need to be done now he's almost 12 and nearly finished primary school. Daisy was away for a week so that meant he could sleep in her room.  We are super-slow and pernickety decorators, so to have a deadline of a week was quite a challenge.  But we did it!!!  Then back to work this Monday.  Sigh!

My husband wanted a thank you card for a very nice and generous customer, he said "Oh something quick and simple will do".  What???  Quick and simple???  Do you know me at all???  Two days (!) later, I had this:

Update 21/01- this card was picked as Top 3 on Creative Colors - thank you!

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday and I'm also entering the following challenges: Craft your Passion ("Fancy Borders/Edges" - the little tab is a die-cut), Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge ("Blues"), Creative Card Crew and Papertake Weekly ("Anything Goes"), Shopping our Stash ("Use something new" - I've used the buttons which came in a big jar that my Secret Santa gave me just before Christmas), ABC Challenge ("C is for Colourful"), Creative Colours and Moving along with the Times ("Thank you").

I used some incredibly old SEI papers - I think they date from 2008.  I made the flower embellishment by rough-cutting it from patterned paper, glueing down onto a couple of layers of white card and then fussy cutting it.  Here's a close-up of the detail on the card:
 

 

Recipe:

Papers: SEI "Dill Blossom"

Die: Nestabilities "Labels 8"

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug

Font: "Shelter Me" - dafont

Other: Buttons from stash

Thanks for looking!

Julie's Little ....

.... Helper!  Have to share this picture of my cat wrapping the Christmas presents with me the other night.  This is the "before" picture - had there been another photo it would have been Jess going all ninja on the string and me sucking the scratch on my hand!!

Hoping you all had a lovely Christmas.  We had a lovely day, very laid-back and stress-free - that's because we went to my step-mother's for dinner!!! 

Thanks for looking!

I'm a crazy ....

.... scavenging lady!!  At the side of most motorways and suburban roads here, there are bushes growing more or less wild that, in summer, have either red or greenish/yellow leaves, and in winter, the bare branches are also red or greenish/yellow.   I think they're called dogwood, but I am open to correction on that!!  I've been eyeballing them for years as I drive past, thinking "I bet I could make a wreath out of those".  Well this was the year. I decided to make it for my son's teacher, and here's the story!!

Last weekend, my daughter and I made a bunch of pom-poms in a few different sizes.

On Monday, I walked up to the bypass near our house, armed with a pair of secateurs and a sack.  The kids refused to come with me, wonder why!!  With the traffic whizzing past, I scrambled around in the bushes, cut a pile of suitably shaped branches and then carried them home.

Tuesday, I washed the roadside grime off them, and began twisting them into shape.  At this point, the cat joined in - those branches were whippy - and she thought this was the.best.game.ever - there were twigs, cat and claws flying through the air!!!

Last night, with today's last-day-of-school deadline imminent, I grabbed my new hot glue gun and stuck down the pom-poms, some jingle bells and a ribbon and bow.  Wow, how did I ever craft so long without hot glue - it's such a doddle to use - instant drying, super stickiness - fantastic.

And this morning, before school, I hung the finished wreath on my front door and took photos - still not fully daylight and it was a "red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning" kind of sky so the light was a bit wonky, but here it is:

A closer look:

And even closer:

I'm really chuffed with how it turned out and even my daughter (my harshest critic!!!) said "It doesn't look homemade, it looks professional" - not bad for a virtually cost-free project!!

I'm going to enter the following challenges: City Crafter ("Jingle Bells"), Craft Your Passion ("Christmas Anything but a card"), Brown Sugar ("Anything Goes") and Make it Monday.

I'm so happy, we're now on holidays - two full weeks off - hallelujah!

Thanks for looking!

The last teacher's ....

.... Christmas card, ever!!  My son is in his final year of primary school, and next year in secondary school, he will have way too many teachers for individual gifts and cards!!  So this is the very last time I'll have this particular task to add to the Christmas panic!!  Yippee!!  I still haven't finished the present, there'll be a morning-dark picture taken tomorrow before we head in to school, but here's the card I made:

I used a recent Deconstructed Sketch and I'm also entering the following challenges: Basic Grey Challenges ("Anything Goes" - very sad, their last challenge - this was the first challenge blog I ever entered back in the day), Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge ("Use a stamp"), Stampin for the Weekend ("Use some Red"), Papertake Weekly ("Last Christmas card of the Year") and Creative Inspirations ("Anything Goes").

 

I used a plethora of Basic Grey on this card - papers from two different Christmas collections and a stamp from another.  How I love Basic Grey at Christmas!!  Here's a closer look at the little scene I created - the roof and windows have been stamped twice on different colours of card and decoupaged and popped up for dimension.  I wanted to put glitter on the snowy chimney and roof, but Jed said he didn't want to give his teacher a glittery card.  OK so!



Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Figgy Pudding" and "Jovial"

Stamps: Basic Grey "Nordic Holiday", Hero Arts "Stunning Snowflakes" background

Die: Nestabilities "Lacy Circles"

Other: Font "Yummy Cupcakes", white e.p.

Thanks for looking - wish me luck with finishing the teacher's present!

Don't forget the ....

.... Christmas birthdays!  My birthday is in December, but far enough away from Christmas to have always been treated separately by everyone.  But my friend's son has was born perilously close to Christmas, and it's very easy to overlook it.  He is old enough now to realise if people don't mark his special day, so I make a concerted effort to separate Christmas and his birthday.  I will send off his card so it will arrive in the post specially addressed to him on the right day (hopefully, fingers crossed the over-worked posties can make it happen!) and his birthday present will definitely not be wrapped in Christmas paper!!  Here's the card I made for him:

Update 19/12 - this card was chosen as one of the Top 3 on Charisma Cardz - thank you, ladies!

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday and I'm also entering the following challenges: Little Red Wagon ("Holiday Birthday") and Charisma Cardz ("Your Favourite Word" - I reckon Happy or Birthday are everyone's favourite words!).

I always hold on to string and cord, especially if it's coloured, from parcels, new clothes, old notebooks or whatever, so I was happy to recycle some black cord on this card.  I have no idea where I got it originally, but the hoarding is now justified!!  The card ended up being quite a bulky one with lots of dimension - here's a side-shot:

Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Cricket "Get Happy"

Font: Computer Generated - "Little Bird"

Punch: MS "Drippy Goo"

Other: Glossy Accents, eyelets and black cord from stash

Thanks for looking!

Dusting off ....

.... my long-neglected blog, oh dear, where has the last month gone?  I haven't been crafting much, but have a few bits and bobs to post, most recently I made another sympathy card, for my step-mum's friend.  Here's what I made:

I used a Deconstructed Sketch from a few weeks back, and I'm also entering Charisma Cardz ("All Distressed").  I love the duck egg blue/brown colour combination on this card - they are the recipient's favourite colours and I hope she likes the card.  I used some very old papers and fussy cut the little medallion.  Here's a side-shot of the layers on the card:

Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Cricket "Everafter"

Other: Hero Arts pearls, computer generated font

Next, my craft club had our final meeting before Christmas.  We always do a Secret Santa and I gussied up a plain kraft bag to wrap my gift in.  Here's how it ended up:

There are oodles of Christmas challenges out there - I'm entering ABC Challenge ("A is for Almost Christmas"), Totally Papercrafts ("Anything Christmassy but a card"), The Ribbon Girl ("Ho ho ho - Christmas challenge") and Corrosive Challenge ("Anything Goes").

I used some lovely Basic Grey papers, glammed up with some gold card, and made a matching gift tag - here's a pic of that:

 

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Little Black Dress"

Dies: Nestabilities "Pinking Circles"

Other: Pinking Shears, ribbon from stash

Thanks for looking - will hopefully post a bit more in the next few days!  Don't wait up, though!!

Indulging an ....

.... obsession - my husband is an aviation enthusiast, so I usually try to feature airplanes somewhere on cards for him.  Here's what I made recently for his birthday:

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday and I'm also entering the following challenges: Brown Sugar, Papertake Weekly and Charisma Cardz ("Anything Goes").  I printed an airplane outline and glued it to layers of cardstock, then cut out and covered with white enamel accents.  I also added another pop of white by embossing the stamp - as I had just used distress inks on the tag, the blasted e.p. stuck everywhere, so it is such unclean stamping - oh well!!  Here's a closer look at my bad stamping and good airplane:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Wander"

Stamp: Hero Arts "Silly Scapes"

Other: Seam binding from stash, white e.p., white Enamel Accents

Thanks for looking!