My Favourite Cards of 2009...

I posted my favourite 5 Christmas cards of the year last week on Christmas Eve...and was going to pick my favourite 5 cards of 2009 to post tonight...but I've seen quite a few people selecting a card from each month...and I thought it might be an interesting way to see how my style has progressed over the course of the year...so I've done the same, so I'm afraid there are 12 cards on this post! lol

If you want any details of items used on any of the cards, click on the month above the card, and it will take you to the original post for that card.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Before I sign off for the year, I'd just like to say a big thank you to all of my lovely followers & visitors for the lovely comments you've left me this year, and wish you all a very Happy New Year! :0)

Troublesome Teens!

The cards I find most difficult to make are for teenage boys...I never was one, don't really know any...I do teach a few, but I suspect that most teenage boys aren't into classical music! lol
Anyway, my friend Samantha's son, Ashley, turns 13 next month, so I've tried to make a card suitable to send him.
I followed the fab Papertake Weekly Challenge sketch...nice and simple...and am also entering this card into a couple of other challenges: Charisma Cardz 'Celebration'...they are also having a blog hop with lots of prizes on offer to celebrate their first birthday this week; and My Time to Craft's 'Anything Goes'. I have no idea what make of stamp the image is...it was sent to me in a swap...but if you do recognise it, please let me know what it is. I used my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots', 'Spots & Dots' and 'Diamond Plate' folders to create the background, distressing the edges with my distressing tool. The sentiment stamp is from a little Studio G set, the brads are Papermania, the star was cut using a Nestie, and the numbers were cut using the Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet.

ABC Christmas Challenge Blog Hop Winner...

Thank you to all of you who joined with the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop...and left lovely comments on my project! :0)

I do hope that many of you will join in with our challenges...the first one starts today...you can see my project on the post below.

Well, on to the winner of my blog hop candy...I used Random.Org to select the number.......

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

42 

Timestamp: 2009-12-30 10:46:04 UTC

Congratulations Pauline C!!!

Your package of Christmas themed candy will be winging it's way to you very shortly! :0)

ABC Christmas Challenge - A is for...

Woo - hoo! Welcome to the first challenge for the ABC Christmas Challenge!
Thank you so much to all of you who joined in with our blog hop fun...I'll be back later to announce the winner of my blog hop candy.

Now, on to the challenge...well obviously the letter is 'A'...lol...and the theme is:

'A is for Angels'

...and Samantha has chosen the 'extra' element of 'Charms or Beads' on your projects.

I decided to go beading mad, and have made an angel entirely out of beads...well there is a little bit of wire in there too! lol
Here's a photo of my angel being modelled by my Christmas tree:

I followed a pattern that I found here, but I adapted it to use smaller beads.

The design team have really gone to town, and have created some stunning projects for our first challenge to inspire you to join in and get a head start on next year's Christmas preparations...so make sure you stop by the ABC Christmas Challenge blog. As it's our first challenge...and the season of giving...there are 3...yes 3 prizes on offer including a £10 voucher from this week's sponsor Charm Supplies.

ABC Christmas Challenge - Blog Hop!

*This post will remain at the top until the blog hop finishes...please scroll down for newer posts*

Welcome to the first stop on the ABC Christmas Challenge Blog Hop!

We thought we'd have a little Christmas Eve fun to celebrate the launch of the new ABC Christmas Challenge blog...and offer you some candy. Each DT member has created a project to represent a letter...you will need to visit each of their blogs to collect each letter in order, then use them to fill in the spaces in our mystery Christmas Eve words to enter the ABC Christmas Challenge candy.

_A_ _A'_-_O_IN_

Here's my project:

My letter is 'S'...so I've made a beaded snowflake ornament. I threaded a mixture of red and gold beads on to a wire snowflake, then made loops at the ends to hold the beads in place.

I'm also entering this into Our Creative Corner's 'Snow or Smowflakes' challenge, and the Allsorts Challenge to make 'Anything BUT a card'.

I have put together a package of Christmas stamped images, and embellishments for my candy...perfect for you to join in some of our upcoming challenges. In order to be in with a chance of winning my candy, please leave me a link to your blog (once you've posted on your blog about our blog hop) with Mr Linky below.



Don't forget, that in order to enter the candy on the ABC Christmas Challenge blog, you'll need to collect the other missing letters from the rest of the design team's blogs...then use them to fill in the spaces in our Christmas Eve words...and email us the complete words (abcchristmaschallenge&hotmail.co.uk). The deadline to enter all of the candies is midnight on December 29th...the night before our first challenge!

Now head on over to Jan's blog...to see her fab project...collect her letter...and another chance to win!

Happy Hopping!

1st Birthday Celebration

I seem to stuck in a bit of a pink & blue phase at the moment...but this easel card is for a little girl's first birthday, so I had to go for pastel colours. The image is 'Celebration' by Ladybug & Friends, which I watercoloured to match the My Mind's Eye '29th Street Market' papers. I followed the Create4Fun Challenge sketch...although I did rotate AND flip it...but I think you can still see the basic sketch...just! lol
I used my star and circle Nesties, and embossed the shapes using the Cuttlebug 'Spots & Dots' and 'Swiss Dots' folders. The number one was cut using the Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet, the brads are by Papermania, the sentiment stamp is Hero Arts (from the 'Anytime Messages' set), and the satin ribbon was a present from my lovely Secret Santa! :0)

This is your last call for the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop...here's a link to the first stop...it ends at midnight tonight...but we'll be back with more fun tomorrow, when our first challenge goes live.

Altered Tin

I altered an old tin a while ago, and turned it into a place to store my (ever increasing) stash of buttons (you can see it here if you like)...and when my Mum saw it, she decided that she had to have one too! So, this is the one I made for her:


It started life as this:


I covered the body of the tin with some My Mind's Eye paper (from the 'Adore' range)...then added some strips around the centre with some die cut lettering (cut using the Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet) in co-ordinating coloured card, then sealed the whole lot with a couple of coats of Mod Podge.

I decorated the lid with a couple of Poppicrafts flowers on some Nestie shapes held in place with a Papermania pearl brad.


I'm going to enter this into a couple of challenges: the One Stop Craft Challenge where the theme is 'Recycling'; and the Get Sketchy 'Trash to Treasure' challenge.

Don't forget to enter the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop...it ends at mid-night tonight...the first stop is here.

Party Time!

Whilst having a rootle through the stamped images at the bottom of my image box (it's an A4 sized Really Useful Box, so it's easy to lose track of what I've got! lol) I found this fab Penny Black hedgehog image (called 'Cake Dance') which is just perfect for this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge where the theme is 'Party!'. I used the sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches...rotating it to fit the image. The papers are from the Papermania 'Sweet Nothings' pack, the sentiment stamp is by Inkadinkado ('Happy Birthday Ticket'), and the buttons are also Papermania.


There's still time to join in the fun of the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop before the first challenge launches on Wednesday...click here for the first stop.

2010 Calendar

I managed to sneak some photos of one of the Papermill Shop Calendars that I decorated as a Christmas gift...and as there are a lot of photos...I've turned them into a slideshow:

The images are mainly Penny Black stamps, but I did sneak in a couple of Whipper Snappers, a Whiff of Joy and a Forever Friends. The papers are a mixture of BasicGrey, My Mind's Eye, Fancy Pants Designs, K&Co and Daisy D's. The embellishments are a mixture of Poppicrafts flowers & ribbons, Woodware and Papermania buttons, Craftwork Cards card candy, and raffia lace in assorted colours from Hobbycraft. I used a few Cuttlebug folders: 'Swiss Dots', 'Tiny Bubbles', 'Moroccan Screen' and 'Victoria', the Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die, and a few different shaped Nesties.

Don't forget that there's still time to join in with the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop...you can find the first stop here.

Holiday Havoc Candy

Paul has a bit of a thing for the Sizzix box dies...and creates some stunning boxes with them. To celebrate the holidays, he has put together 5 sets of die cuts to give away as candy.

Click the banner above to visit his fab blog...and enter the candy....closes January 1st.

Bruno Bear

I was sent this lovely Bruno Bear with Cupcake image (by Whiff of Joy) a while ago, by my lovely friend Samantha...but I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use him. I've combined a few challenges too: the Whiff of Joy Challenge sketch; the Our Creative Corner theme of 'Food or Drink'...well he is holding a cupcake; the Cupcake Craft Challenge to make a card for a 'Celebration'; and the Charisma Cardz Challenge of 'Anything - but Christmas!'. I've used some of my new stash on this card...the sparkly ribbon & pink pearls were a gift from my crafty Secret Santa (thank you!), and the Cuttlebug 'Diamond Plate' folder was a gift from my brother. The paper is My Mind's Eye ('29th Street Market') and the sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts (from the 'Anytime Messages' set).


Right, I'm off to have another little play...but before I go, just a quick reminder...don't forget to enter the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop...there's lots of fabby candy on offer! The first stop is here.

More Presents...

Well, I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday...and that Santa brought you some crafting goodies ;0)
He brought me a digital camera...not strictly a craft item...but hopefully you'll notice an improvement in the quality of the photos on here...once I've figured out how it all works! lol

Now that the recipients have received these...it's safe for me to show you some more of the gifts I made this Christmas. A couple of beaded bracelets...the first one uses a mixture of green freshwater pearls, moss agate and some silver filigree beads, all threaded on to tiger tail, with a toggle clasp.


The second one follows the same design, but this time with tiger's eye and magnetic hematite beads.


These two frames are from the Papermania Bare Basics range...simply covered with some My Mind's Eye '29th Street Market' paper.


And finally, some altered notebooks (I bought these from the Craft Barn)...covered front and back with a mixture of K&Co and My Mind's Eye papers, with a simple ribbon bow and letters cut using the Cuttlebug 'Olivia' alphabet.


I did also make a couple of the Create a Calendars from the Papermill...but I didn't get them finished in time to photograph...but I may try to snaffle them back to pop on here in the next few days.

Don't forget, there's still time to enter the ABC Christmas Challenge blog hop, if you haven't already done so...there's candy! lol

My Favourite Christmas Cards of 2009...

My lovely Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge design team buddy Debby, has asked us to join her in remembering our favourite 5 Christmas cards of the year. She's selected some real stunners for us to admire again. I've been making Christmas cards all year through this year...and after browsing through all of them...I've selected these as my favourite 5:

This wee mouse is one of my favourite Christmas stamps...and the colour combination of silver and teal, was definitely one I used a lot this year.


This adorable image was one of my favourite new stamps this year...which I've paired with some yummy BasicGrey 'Figgy Pudding' papers...I bought masses of these in the January sales...and have nearly used them all up!


I also had a bit of a thing for all white Christmas cards...the perfect way to show off my favourite Cuttlebug folders!


I tried to resist...I really didn't 'need' any more Christmas papers this year...but I just had to have the 'Eskimo Kisses' pad...such gorgeous colours!


And finally...with yet more of the 'Eskimo Kisses' papers...one of the fab Whiff of Joy gnomes...with lots of my favourite things on this card.


I've loved browsing through everyone else's top 5 Christmas cards...what a lovely idea Debby!

Don't forget...I have Christmas candy here on my ABC Christmas Challenge Blog Hop post.

Finally, I'd like to wish all of my lovely blogging buddies a

Very Merry Christmas,
and a
Happy New Year!