Christmas Table Gift Boxes

I have had these Bo Bunny boxes since last Christmas - but I never got to use them last year.. So this year I decided to break three out and make gift boxes which served as table settings too. For Louise (me), Heather (my Mam) and Dave (my Mams boyfriend). I promised I would post some pictures, so here they are.

Oh, and this is one of the three bottles of cider I got to try, as I usually just have Woopecker or Strongbow, but that gets boring after a while. The three I tried were different varieties of fruit cider, yummy.

I have started making a few cards for the series of 'Christmas Crunch Sunday', so I will be making a start on those posts for the first one to go live on Sunday 2nd January 2011. Very excited!

Take care. xo

Merry Christmas Eve

Hidiho friends, I thought I would just write a quick post to wish you all..

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

&

ALL THE BEST FOR 2011!

I have just been finishing off setting the table for tomorrows dinner, which is going to be kind of special as it is CHRISTMAS DAY!! Wow, only one more sleep and Santa will be sneeking around our living rooms and laying out the presents. Not really, but I still like to think he could be real! Hehe.

I would just like to wish all my friends on the World Wide Web a cheerful and happy Christmas - and the best of starts to the New Year. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who leaves comments on my blog, or just visits, or both, the time out you take it truly appreciated, and every comment you leave enables me to gain more and more confidence and encourages me to go that extra step further with my crafting.

I will do my best to post a picture of our table from tomorrow sometime soon - it is very minimalist and simplistic, considering there will only be three people seated around it, it doesn't need much more. I will be going over to my boyfriends house later on in the evening tomorrow to celebrate Christmas there too (and to take his mountain of presents over), he has two little nephews, kids are what make Christmas - they get so excited bless them, I can't wait to see them.

Thats all for now I guess, oh, and one other thing..

Starting in the New Year I will be publishing a post every Sunday (or trying to..) - called Christmas Crunch Sunday where by I make one (or more - depending on how creative I'm feeling) Christmas cards to add to my stash throughout the year. This way I will definately have enough to send out from me, but also a few left over which, with any luck, I may be able to start selling to friends and family come November/early December time. So please, look out for those. :)

But for now, take care, stay warm, and enjoy the holidays!!

Peace. xo

Five Fave Christmas Cards 2010

Over at A Scrapjourney, Debby has set a challenge.. to choose five of your favourite Christmas cards from 2010, its going to be a toughie, but I'll definitely give it my best shot.


If you make your list and link it back to Debby's blog, there is some card candy up for grabs which includes two LOTV James Bear stamps for the lucky winner.

Because I simply LOVE James Bear - hes one cutie (although I LOVE LOTV in general..). On this card I decided to keep him white, instead of grey (my fav - then he resembles a Tatty Teddy) or brown, as the challenge I entered this card into called for a monochromatic colour scheme - obviously I chose shades of grey. Its got pearls and bling and stitching too, YUM! :)

I chose this card for two reasons, 1) I gave it to my Mam and her boyfriend for Christmas, and they loved it, and 2) the image of this card was published in Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine Issue 87, I was soooo pleased when I seen my email and photograph on the letters page of the magazine. It seems like all my cardmaking is heading in the right direction of late - having a photograph published, making my way onto two DT! :) Wow, I'm lucky.

Crochet flower? Hello!! One of the prettiest things I ever did see!! Boy, I wish I could make them myself, they're gorgeous. And they really make any project pop, 'cause of their prettiness but also 'cause of their texture. Vellum, love, heat embossing love, faux stitching love, stocking cut with my slice love. Love this card. :)

Ahhhh, Victoria Case, you beaut. I love this stamp, her hat, her gloves, her pile of snowballs. It has 'winter' written all over it. I entered this card into a sketch over at Mojo, I was very proud of it. Especially my stitching - achieved with my WRMK Sew Easy tool, and that gorgeous snowflake charm.

And finally, this is a picture of my first ever commissioned card. Made for one of my Mams friends to give to his son and daughter in law, for Christmas, obviously. The stamped image of the poinsettia was sent to my by a friend on the Trimcraft forum (I love that place) and I coloured it in using ProMarkers. The white embossed lace circle is a stamp from Hero Arts - delish to say the least. Gotta love a bit of heat embossing.

So there you have it, my top 5 Christmas cards for 2010. I can see a reoccurring theme here - can you? Excessive use of Kraft cardstock perhaps? Hehe, I love the stuff, it goes with everything! Why not pop on over to Debby's blog and take a look.

--*Merry Christmas - and all the health and happiness for the New Year!*--

LOTV - Jenny Bear, All Shopped Out

Afternoon, :) hope you are all well. It started pouring with rain here this morning, so with any luck that will wash away what is left of the ice and slush, its getting terrible again around the side streets, but hey, you didn't come here to hear about that waffle did you.

Here is a little card I made using another one of those gorgeous LOTV stamps. I coloured her in a while ago, but was waiting around to see what I actually wanted to do with her. A simple card was the answer, isn't it always.

There she is, in all of her purple glory, LOL. I used a strip of paper from Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather collection as well as a stamp from Tiny Tags by SU! for the background.

Pretty simple card, its going to stand on my desk throughout the Christmas period, thats if my Mam doesn't steal it and move it downstairs.

Thanks for stopping by, really quick post today I know, I have a LOT of uni work to be doing, I have been slacking the past few days. *slaps back of hand*

Over & Out. xo

WOYWW 79

Hey all, its been a while since I joined in here, but hey, I'm back now.

Lets not beat around the bush, I'm just gonna upload this picture and talk you through it, as usual.

Here goes..

So, first things first.. no laptop.. no Ribena. 'Whats going on?!' I hear you say. Do not worry.. 1. The Internet wasn't working, therefore no need to have my laptop take up space on the desk and 2. I had no cold water in the fridge in which to make a glass of Ribena with, hence the lack of Ribena goodness on the desk.

The main thing going on here is the little production line I've got going. Okay okay, I was only making four of the same card. Not the point. I like to have things in order. You can see a little 3 3/4"x3 3/4" card up in the right of the picture somewhere. Cutesy little thing, made with papers from Crate Paper - Snow Day collection and some Kraft (Bazzil) and More Mustard (SU!) cardstock. The More Mustard coordinates lovely with some of the papers from that collection. As does Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie and Bashful Blue. I wish I had taken a picture of the four cards when they were finished, as I altered them all slightly using a different colour. Shame.

Hmm. Not really much else going on that you haven't seen before. Once again, my left handedness prevails, with all the tools on the left hand side of my cutting mat, which I always work on. I was thinking about trying out a glass mat, but then I thought.. naaa, the money I use buying one, I could be buying paper packs instead. The biggest glass mat I have is the one for my Slice. Hehe.

You can see a new design of punch from SU!, again, on the right hand side of the picture. So handy, they 'fold' up so small. That particular one is the 'Jewellery Tag' punch, which coordinates perfectly with the 'Tiny Tags' stamp set.

As you can see, my paper 'bin' (little plastic box) is getting full again. I must say though, I don't throw half as much stuff out as I used to. Even the thinnest strip of paper/cardstock gets kept if it hasn't been cut into, you never know when it could come in handy for stamping a sentiment on.

My little Dovecraft tape runner adhesive on the left hand side of my cutting mat there, I wanted to try out some new tape runner adhesive, just as a comparison sorta thing, but me and my pink runner get along so fine, that I would feel as though I was betraying him if I was to go try another guy.

Thats it for my desk, now onto my Christmas Tree.

This picture? Does it NO justice.. what so ever. Like seriously. It looks crap. LOL. My gorgeous little (big - 6ft) tree is a colour known as 'Champagne' - or gold to us commoners. My Mam and me decided to decorate it with green baubles, and green baubles only. And honestly, I'm not just saying this, it looks spectacular. We went down the gold road as we have gold and cream wallpaper, and it totally sets the tree off. Shame we didn't have any gold and green wrapping paper for the presents too. It looks like Santa's has already visited our house, there are presents ALL over. I love Christmas :D.

Hope you are all well, and the snow is receding around your area.

xo

Mojo 168

Hey all, sorry its been a while since I last posted. I've been sooo busy, and then yesterday when I decided to do a post, my Internet decided not to work. Handy. Not.

So here I am with two, and a half, posts today. I plan on entering a card into Mojo 168, give you a view of a mountain of snow, then in a separate post get my picture entered into WOYWW, I'm bit later than Wednesday I know, but you gotta do what you can, right?! (Oh, my Christmas Tree will be making an appearance in that post too..)

So first things first, my card..

I decided to use a slice of paper from my new 6x6 Mitten Weather paper pad (I know its not new to other people..). Gorgeous colours and designs, and plenty of polka dots which I could just drool over. Moving on.. here's a close up of that gorgeous Charm which was sent as part of a pack of free gifts from Quixotic Paperie, and the stamp which is Victoria Case - Snow Fun.

  

I love her little hat and gloves, so cute. I added some stickles to the top of her boots, her collar and her hat, and some Glossy Accents to some of the snowballs, although you cannot tell at all from that picture. LOL.

So, onto that mountain of snow I was telling you about..

Umm.. the photo sort of speaks for itself. The fence behind it is about 6/7 foot, and that pile of snow was originally piled up on the path but its protruded onto the roadside, nightmare for driving past.

So, thats the first and a half of two and a half posts for today. Hope you enjoy. :)

[Weather Update: the snow is beginning to melt dramatically now, thank goodness. We had a massive avalanche of snow falling from the roof this morning, I sat bolt upright.. my heart nearly stopped as I didn't know what it was at first. Even the sides streets look like they're recovering, there is just a lot of standing water around now, but we haven't had temperatures below 0 since Tuesday night - things are looking up. But apparently this area is going to receive fresh snow fall again next week.. Uh oh.]

xo

LOTV Christmas

Hey all, I have two cards to share with you today, I made them through the week when my LOTV order arrived.
I went down the route of a 'girl' style card and a 'boy' style card using stamps from LOTV.

The stamps I used were Christmas Candle and James Bear - Deck the Halls. Coloured in with ProMarkers. Both images were inked around the edges with Old Photo Distress Ink. I used patterned paper from Basic Grey and My Minds Eye. The greetings are from a set by Hero Arts.

[Weather Update: We haven't had any new snowfall for almost two days now, and the temperature seems to be staying above freezing through the day - only just, so most of the icicles have melted, but the side streets are still very icy. We are expected to recieve some new snowfall within the next few days. Great.]

Hope you are all warm and well!! xo

James Bear in the S-N-O-W.. & DT Call

a bit like the rest of us then.. ay? I know people say they love the snow, I AM one of those people, but sometimes, enough is enough? To be honest, I'm just sick of shovelling paths. LOL

Anyway, as some of you may know my order from LOTV arrived yesterday. Excited much! :) I just had to break out the stamps and make some cards with them. I have a couple more to show you aside from this one, but I will pace myself and post them at a later date.

Here is one I came up with in a slight hurry this morning. [I wanted it done before my expedition to try and make it round to the Post Office - for those interested, I made it there and back relatively safely, although I though I was going down more than once..]

How damn cute is James Bear?! WOW!! I am relatively new to LOTV stamp, and boy and I glad I stumbled across them. They are gorgeous designs.

I would like to enter this card into two challenges:
Paper Play Challenges - Week 48 - Monochrome
LOTV - Challenge 76 - A Few of My Favourite Things

For the Monochrome challenge, obviously the card is all black/grey/white, and as for a few of my fave things? Jeez.. where do I start?!
I had to get a bit of real and faux stitching on there, almost ALL of my cards feature stitching in some form. Then there is my rounded corner, I love my We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, what a beauty of a tool. I love border punches, the Fiskars - Apron Lace features down the side of my card, as well as brads and pearls somewhere on there. Ribbon? Everyone loves ribbon right? One thing that is missing which I am loving using at the moment, is buttons!! But  hey, there are limits to how much you can decorate a card, LOL.

Well, thats all I got for ya right now. Might be back later with a few more cards, depends on how much time I got. Gotta sort out/organise uni stuff. I can't function if things aren't organised properly. So that is first on my list. Then I gotta catch up on Trimcraft and find something for tea. I'm dreading opening that freezer door. LOL.

Hope you are all well and the snow hasn't got you housebound!! xo

[Edit: I would like to enter this for the chance to win a DT place at Pear Tree Designs].

Mojo Monday 167

Hey all, I thought I would give Mojo a go late last night, around half 1 this morning actually, as I couldn't sleep and I needed to keep my hands busy. I sort of changed the sketch a little to suit what I fancied doing. Infact, I liked the layout so much I made two. :)

Here is the one I would like to enter into Mojo Monday 167

For this card I used some My Minds Eye patterned paper 'The Merry Days of Christmas', which is from last year I think. I love the cool blues and burnt reds they use in this series. I cut a snowflake from American Crafts cardstock with my Making Memories slice, and adorned it with Star Dust Stickles. The sentiment was generated on the computer, distressed with Old Paper Distress Ink, curled and cut and place into position. I added the ribbon and buttons as extra little embellishments. I love the addition of the staples, pearl and linen thread. :)

And here is the card I made following the same design..

This time using papers and a rub on from Basic Grey - Eskimo kisses collection, which is also from last year.

Thank you for stopping by! :)

Stay safe and warm. xo

My First EVER Commissioned Card

So, one of my Mams old friends has asked me to make him a card, from him and his wife to his son and his DIL. Well, wow. :)

I wanted to keep it simple yet make it elegant, but not making it too busy.

Heres what I came up with..

These pictures show the front, inside and back of the card. I made sure I stuck to the few basic rules, make sure lines were cut cleanly and straight, ensure stamping was tidy blah blah, as all of this makes even the simplest card look outstanding. I printed the inside of the card, I used Microsoft Office - Word to design it.

I hope it hits the mark, the guy is paying after all, although I haven't quite decided how much I want to charge him yet! LOL.

Please let me know what you think, and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to leave a comment or drop me an email at loulouwas@hotmail.com

Thank you for looking, and stay safe. xo

Snow Days/Nights

Hey guys. Wow - its been a loooong time since I last posted, for that I apologise, but these past few weeks have been H-E-C-T-I-C to say the very least. I have been snowed under, quite literally, with travel, uni work, house work, the lot. The weather here is gradually getting worse. It took me almost 50 minutes to travel a 10 minute journey yesterday. The roads are terrible, and the paths even worse. Although I'm glad to say that doesn't stop me going out, I'm just sure to drive with extra care and caution.

Yesterday was the day of my dissertation presentation. For starters, I didn't even know if I would be able to make it into uni, so I got up really early, half 6, (not that I got a whole load of sleep - due to worry) to ensure I gave myself plenty of time to travel. Good job I did, as the traffic on the roads was sooo slow, and the metros were delayed. Great. Aside from all of that, I think my presentation went ok, we should be finding out our marks sometime next week, so fingers crossed! :)

Here are a few pictures. Firstly I wanted to share with you the weather around my area.. dense snow fall. I {love} it.

This all started onnnn.. Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and its steadily getting deeper and deeper. Me and a few of my neighbours have been doing our best to keep the paths clear, but at intervals throughout the day and night more snowfall arrives and out efforts are wasted. But, I don't mind, I LOVE this weather. Its so peaceful and picturesque, and darn chilly, which is just my cup of tea.

As for cards..

These are two I made whenever I got a spare 5 minutes to sit down, hence the relative simplicity of them. They don't follow a layout, they are more like elements placed strategically on the cards, but I think they work well. :) They aren't my usual size, in fact they are 5 1/2" squares. I love the detailing on the buttons on the mitten card, adorable. As for the bauble card, I think that is more suitable for an older recipient, due to the traditional colours and the elegance of it. If you want a supply list, please do not hestitate to leave a comment or drop me an email at loulouwas@hotmail.com. Thank you.

Thats all for now, I'm sure I'll be back a little later with some pictures of my first ever commissioned card, as well as a 21st birthday card for another of my friends.

Hope you are all keeping warm and well. I hope the snow isn't as bad in other parts of the country, we are almost at a stand still!!

xo

Mojo, Stash - Just Allsorts

Hey all, I have a few things to share with you in the post today. I have been rushed off my feet at uni, and gave myself a well deserved day off yesterday, and now its all back to rush rush rush. Its my friends 21st tonight, so me and all of our friends are going round hers to give her her present before she hits the town. So I'm writing the post while I make my tea.

First up, some new stash/tools I ordered from QVC not too long ago. I mentioned earlier on my blog that I was really interested in trying out the new WRMK Sew Easy tool.. so I decided to order it, and I don't regret it one bit.

WRMK - Sew Easy Tool + extra heads + floss

MME Lush Collection - Blue

Here are two recent (Christmas - because you can never have too many) cards.

This is the card I would like to enter into Mojo Monday 164. I tried my new Sew Easy tool out on this project. I am loving the results, it was so quick, easy, simple, effective. Wow! :) So much value for money. I am really impressed. All the negative comments this tool has been receiving is extraordinary, but I have experienced nothing of the sort.

Going through my stash I come across this adorable little creature from Basic Greys - Eskimo Kisses woolies! :) How cute please? So I decided I had to use him on a card. I wanted to keep it pretty simple so all eyes were on Mr. Deer! :)


Close up of the silver embossing. :)



If you would like a list of any of the products I have used to make these two cards please feel free to leave a comment of email at loulouwas@hotmail.com

Milka, Milka, Milka

Tell me, who doesn't like/love/crave/dream about Milka Chocolate, of all varieties?!

At the moment, these three are my favs:

Caramel,
Cookies & Cream
and Milk & White Chocolate.

HEAVEN

I must remember to not eat them all at once..

And while I've got this post going, here are two cards I made a while a go which I have just come across on the archive on my computer, so I thought I would upload them! :)

Thats all for now, I hope you have a nice day. I'm at uni 4-6, what a stupid time to timetable a lecture. Let me tell you now, no one shows up!!

xo

Joy; Snowflakes

Hey all, back with a scheduled post this afternoon. After recovering from my cousins wedding yesterday, and getting a slice of studying out of the way this morning, I decided to upload this card for you. :)

I decided to keep this card pretty simple, as I wanted a lot of the focus to be on the white embossed snowflakes which are from a set by Inkadinkadoo. I love their Christmas stamps, they are so detailed, yet they work really well on modern/simple cards! :)

Supplies

Solid card stock: Bazzill - Kraft; SU! - Rose Red

Stamp: Inkadinkadoo - Snowflakes Aplenty

Ink: Versamark

Tools: WRMK - Corner Chomper; Fiskars - Apron Lace border punch; MM - Slice (Just Chillin')

Miscellaneous: white gel pen; AC - White Zing embossing powder; Ranger - Glossy Accents

Thats all for now. Hope you are all keeping well in this chilly autumnal weather! :)

I'll be back very shortly with another card I made with a personalised age embellishment for a woman who plays for my darts team! :)

xo