What's on Your Worktop Wednesday No. 130

Well what's on my worktop is my marathon that I have finally finished.  I think it is the reason I now have a bad back as I was so scrunched up doing it and fiddling around with it.  Has it been worth the effort and pain, well I think so, I am quietly pleased with it and did enjoy making it.  All in all it didn't take too long - about 2 1/2 days work.  It is not an original I have completely copied it from someone else.  I saw it on "Always about Colour" blog and it was done by Chris and I really liked it so I have copied it.  As it is not an original idea of my own I won't be entering any challenges with it but I can hardly wait to fill it with goodies which will be today as it is December first tomorrow - OMG!!  I did manage to have a tidy up in my craft room yesterday but you can't really it and I think its got a bit messy again, why do I bother?  Its obviously not meant to be tidy.  If you head over to the Leader of the Pack's blog, Julia you can check out the other worktops from around the world - I can guarantee its very addictive (my family always said I was a nosey parker!!).  Anyway here it is:

Right I'm off now to join in all the fun over at Julia's - see you tomorrow, take care xx

Tri-fold!

Hope you are all enjoying your week. My back is still troubling me so I am hoping it will be ok by weekend because Dave and I have planned to go into Manchester first thing for our annual Christmas trip round the Christmas markets etc. - fingers crossed. I am trying to be organised for Christmas so I made my cranberry sauce yesterday which was a bargain, I got two bags of fresh cranberries for £1 at the market in Poulton yesterday. They were a bit on the ripe side but I gave them a good wash and picked the really over ripe ones out and it made a big pan of sauce!! I shall make my stuffing next week that will be two things crossed off the list!!

I have made a tri fold card today which is a first for me so you will have to bear with me. Looked up how to do it on You Tube which is great for any little craft how do you do it questions you have. Its a bit difficult to photograph so, unfortunately, there are a few pictures!

Here\'s a picture of the tag:

And the sentiment on the tag:

I certainly enjoyed doing it and will do one again. The image is a digi which I have coloured with Copics. I have added a bell to her hat tied with Bakers Twine. The papers are a pad I bought in Las Vegas and are very scrummy they have glitter on but you can\'t see it in these pictures. The snowflakes are a mixture of Spellbinders and Whimsy, the tree and tag are Marianne and the snowflake border I have tucked the tag in is a Spellbinder. The brad is from Las Vegas and the pearls are from my stash. The Seasons Greeting ribbon you can just see is from my stash by American Crafts (had it years it must be vintage by now!). I would like to enter the following challenges:

Bunny Zoe\'s Crafts - Anything Christmas with Pearls
Craft Your Passion - Tis The Season
Lexi\'s Creations - One for the Boys
Victorine Stamps - Use Ribbon
Little Clair\'s - Shaped Card
Just Some Lines - Tic Tac Toe (Ribbon, digi, brad)
Totally Papercrafts - Christmas
Crimbo Crackers - Santa
Delightful Sketches Challenge - Red and Green
Southern Girls - Bingo (Diecuts, Gems and Ribbon)
Purple Butterfly Crafts - Baby its Cold Out
Well I'm going to finish my vintage card I started the other day, thanks for looking, please leave a comment its always lovely to read them and take care xx

Pretty in Pink!

Well hope you are all enjoying your weekends whatever you are doing.  I'm about to go and get the Sunday dinner on the go!  That's if I can stand up, after years in nursing my back has a tendancy to "go" every now and then and for the last few days it has been niggling on and off but today its quite painful.  Its a real pain in the neck (or should that be back??) but when I started nursing you had nothing like hoists and slides you just got stuck in!!  So I shall be hobbling down to the kitchen like Old Mother Hubbard! The lucky thing is that it doesn't usually last too long - lol. 

The card I have today is not all pink but pink and green, just for a change:

I must have taken about 10 pictures and fiddled with them all and this is the best I can get!!  The image is by Gayle Cook for Fairydoodles and I have coloured it with Prisma pencils.  The papers are a variety of Prima "Madeline", Memory Box "Pixie" (which i have only just realised is not a Christmas pad, Pink Petticoat Gingham and the card stock is Anna Griffin which I have had years and years.  I have cut out the heart with a Nellie Snellen die, embossed it and distressed with some acrylic paint and added glitter.  All the other shapes are Shapeabilities.  The sentiment is Anna Griffin and I have added some pearls. I will enter the following challenges:

So Artful - Sew Pretty (Dressmaker's form)
Sweet n Sassy - Favourite Things (Pink and Shapeabilities)
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Papercraft Star - Anything Goes
Sassy Cheryls - Anything Goes
Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment it is always nice to read what you say, take care x

Candy Card

I'd like to start by welcoming my new followers and thank them so much.

Well I finally finished my advent calender on Thursday what a relief!  Today I have made a card with some of the luscious candy I won on Debbie's blog - thank youx

Its so bright today but the winter sun is always low down so its really difficult to photograph.  The stamp is from Debbie - Santa Edwin and I have coloured him with Copics.  The papers are from My Minds Eye - 12 Days of Christmas, they are double sided so I always find it difficult to use these!!  The ribbon was from Debbie and the brad I have used is from my stash (very old).  I have used my Edgeabilities on the Kraft Paper and distressed it, the sentiment and the snowflakes with Fired Brick Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from Cuddly Buddy and I have cut it out with Nestabilities, I also did the same with the image and mat.  The snowflakes are Spellbinders and I have cut them out from an old cardboard box.  I would like to enter the following challenges:

Totally Papercrafts - Christmas
4 Crafty Chicks - Snowflakes
Charisma Cardz - Snowflakes
Crimbo Crackers - Santa
The House that Stamps Built - Christmas Challenge with Snowflake
Scrapbook Sisters - Christmas Time

Hope you all enjoy your weekend, my DH and I are off out for brunch.  Take care xx

Thank you Debbie!!

Just a quick post to thank Debbie for her delicious candy which I received yesterday.  Here it is in all its glory:

It really is sooooooooooo good I am going to enjoy playing with it this weekend - a big THANK YOU to Debbiexxxxxxxxxxxx

Back to Pink

Morning bloggers.  I am going to post early this morning because I really need to finish my Advent Calender today!!  I am quite pleased with my progress yesterday and am hoping I can finish it today!  So I have a card to show that I made a few weeks ago, in beautiful pink!!

The image is a Sarah Kay by Stampavie and I coloured it with my Copics, the sentiment is from Hero Arts.  I have used some True Snow and added glitter to the snow around her feet, not sure is you can see the glitter in this picture though! The paper is Magnolia and also Pink Petticoat and I have used my Nesties to cut the frames out.  The doily is also a die but I can't remember who by I have distressed the edges with TH spun sugar DI.  I also used my edgies for the heart border.  I made the flower and distressed that with spun sugar DI. The corner has been embossed with pink embossing powder and is from Wild Orchid Crafts as are the pins.  Finished off with some white ribbon.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Cooking It Up with Katie - Recipe (Punch, ink and embossing)
Crafts and Me - Shabby Chic/Vintage
Inky Impressions - Make your own Embellishment (I made the flower)
Papercraft Star - Anything Goes
City Crafter - Pink Christmas
Crafts Sentiments Design - Use Metal
Party Time Tuesday - Snow
Shopping our Stash - Winter or Christmas related
Forever Friends - Christmas is Coming must also have an animal on project
Kaboodle Doodles - Baby its Cold Outside

Thank you so much for looking and any comments you may leave, they are  greatly appreciated, take care xx

What's on Your Worktop Wednesday No. 129

Well I feel I have been a bit remiss lately in revealing the splendour of my worktop to one and sundry.  I don't know if that's because I've been too busy or because I can't actually find my worktop underneath all the different things on the go and the remains of things past (mmm reminiscent of A Christmas Carol methinks!!)  Anyway, I have decided to bite the bullet today and just go for it and reveal all - tada:

This is an Advent Box which I have had to do for months and months and of course not touched it until I realised the 1st of December is actually next week so the panic is on now! I have painted all the insides of the little boxes and stamped most of them, the green ones on the desk are waiting to be stamped.  The ones on my desk with bands round have been glued and are drying out and the ones in the actual Advent Box are glued, painted and waiting to be decorated. My husband just has to file the little pieces of wood to make the shelves and then I can complete the picture for the middle.  I have painted the outside in the green and blue and I'm going to stamp it the same as the inside of the boxes.  All the little boxes have paper to cover them and that needs to be done.  I am hoping if I get a move on I will just about get it done!! 

To see what other worktops are like around the nation and world pop over to Julia's place and you can have a peek around, if you are feeling particularly foolhardy brave you can join in the fun - it is addictive I guarantee.  Thanks for looking, please leave a comment and take care xx

p.s. Bev is giving away a £25 voucher which will be drawn Friday nights:

The Holly and the Ivy - well there's some holly!!

Oh My Goodness I have just seen that I have won Debbie's candy whoppe thank you so much Debbie xxx
Happy Tuesday everyone hope your week is going ok!  Welcome to my new followers and a big Thank You to themxx I don't know about you but I keep making Christmas cards and have no idea of how many I've got or need, I think I need to do a quick tally when I get chance.  It doesn't really matter if I have too many because I really enjoy making them and that's what its all about I guess.  So on to today's card which I have made with traditional colours.  I was a bit pushed for time with one thing and another so I have used a picture to make it to save on colouring time!!

I think the image was a download from Twisted Papers Vintage Images, I've had it a while!  The DP is Marianne as is the die I have made the vellum poinsetta with.  The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat and I have distressed it with Fired Brick DI.  The corner is from Wild Orchid Crafts and I have embossed it with red embossing powder and added some gems to that and the sentiment.  The nesties are all Spellbinders.  The Holly ribbon is from a local haberdashery store.  I would like to enter the following challenges:

Sketch n Stash - Sketch and Stash (my image)
Sparkles Forum - Vintage Christmas
Just Some Lines - Tic Tac Toe
Thanks so much for looking and any comments you may leave it is always nice to read them, take care xx

Hark the Herald Angel (s)

Happy Monday to you all and hope you all had a great weekend and are all refreshed for the week ahead.  I would like to welcome my new followers and thank you so much for becoming followers!

How's your Christmas shopping going?  Not long to go now - gulp! I have another Christmas card today which I made to enter the LOTV challenge which is to make a card for someone special.  I have used one of their stamps and tried to keep the colouring to a minimum so it would be monochromatic really as I quite like that look at the moment. 

The papers are from Pink Petticoat and the backing card is Coredinations.  I have embossed the piece at the back and sanded it down.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid and I have distressed them with some acrylic paint then dipped them in Twinklets. I found the little heart on my worktop, it was left over from punching out a birdcage out of an old cat food box and was one of the bits left over that you would throw away so I painted it in acrylic and covered it in Twinklets.  I would like to enter the following challenges:

LOTV - Card for Somenone Special
CES Challenge - Snowflakes (I've used snowflake embossing folder)
One Stop Craft Challenge - Blue
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays - Embossing
Just Some Lines - Tic Tac Toe (Embossing, Ribbon and die cuts)
Crafty Ann's Challenge - Monochromatic and/or sketch
Crafty Catz Challenge - Snowflakes
Paperworks Co - Photo Inspiration
DYSU - Splash of Blue
Delightful Challenges - Bingo (Pattern Paper, Die cuts and Flowers)
Thanks so much for looking, please take care xx

Birthday Girl

Well that was my little baby yesterday actually, she was 37 OMG only feels like yesterday!!  We had a bit of a family dinner at our house and it was lovely although I did suffer a bit overnight (you know spinning room syndrome).  I have been busy getting ready for her birthday and have not really had much time to craft apart from making my cupcake wrappers for Stacey's birthday which everyone enjoyed:

The black and white one is supposed to have black icing but I don't think I put enough colouring in and it was a bit grey!! They are Red Velvet cupcakes from the yummy Hummingbird Bakery cookbook which is a fab book all the recipes I have done from it turn out as described no flops!!

Anyway I think I will go and curl up on the sofa and snooze read for a while, enjoy the rest of your week-ends and take care xx

Black and White

I've made another Christmas card today - well the final countdown is on, isn't it?  It's one for a man i.e. my DH so I have made it fairly simple with not too much embellishment but I still had to have a bit of sparkle and bling, I think you can get away with it at Christmas can't you?

I have followed a sketch from Sketch N Stash.  The stash I have used is my plain candy which I have not used for ages and almost forgotten about but I wanted something plain for the tag and didn't want to use metal brads as I was trying to keep to just black and white (although in the end I added a little silver star to the tree).  The Little Clair stamp is also from my stash and I have only used it once before although I do really like it I have embossed it with Black Sparkle EP which I really like and don't have much left.  The papers are downloaded from Pink Petticoat which I got ages ago and I think this is the first time I have used them so really I have used loads from my stash!!  The snowflakes are a Whimsy die and Spellbinders.  I have used my Edgeability border and a Spellbinders tag, the sentiment is computer generated.  The black card at the bottom and for the snowflakes is glitter card which you can just about see what you can see plenty of is bits of glitter on the card from it!!!  I would like to enter the following challenges:

Sketch n Stash - Sketch and use stash (see above for what I have used)
Cards for Men - Nearly Christmas
Craft your Passion - Let it Snow
Critter Sketch Challenge - Monochrome
Heart Song Inspiration - Gold or Glitter
The Pink Elephant - Embossing
One Stitch at a Time - Black and White
Moving Along with the Times - Let it Snow
Divas by Design - Monochromatic
Paper Pretties - Colour Challenge - non-traditional colours
The Paper Shelter - Snowflakes

Thanks so much for looking, take care xx

Craft Barn Candy

Just a quick post to tell you that the Craft Barn have this fab candy up for grabs until 25th November:

OMG isn't it fab?  Pop over there and enter - remember you've gotta be in it to win it!!

Home again

Good morning everyone.  I returned from my week in Las Vegas on Friday and had a great time.  I'm still trying to catch up on everything and have not been a very good blogger.  It is my daughter's birthday on Saturday so I am also trying to get ready for that!  What with Christmas shopping, washing and unpacking and cleaning I don't know where the time has gone.  I have done some crafting but not cards,  I am making some cupcake wrappers for my daughter's birthday as I was going to buy some on line and couldn't find any I really liked plus they were 4.75 plus postage and I thought I may as well make some so that is what I have been doing as well as toppers to go on them.  I have also been making an advent box which is still not finished and doing a Christmas tree from the Poundshop as per The Crafty Elf's tutorial.  So today I am going to post a card I made a while ago.  It is a male card which I always find a bit difficult and I have used a stamp that I have had ages, really like but never used!!

The image is by Inkadinkado and I have inked it with a Memento London Fog ink pad.  Cut it out with a Spellbinders nestie and matted onto another nestie.  The backing is Coredinations which I have dry embossed and then sanded so it shows through.  The candi I have coloured to match and then distressed with crackle paint and the seagull is from my stash.  I would like to enter the following challenges:

Bearly Mine Challenge - One for the Boyz
Creative Craft Challenge - Minimalistic
Shopping our Stash - Never been inked (my stamp)
Critter Sketch Challenge - Monochrome
The Pink Elephant Challenge - Embossing
Lollipop Crafts - Embossing and No Designer Paper
Creations by Gill M - Men's Monochromatic
Fairy Fun Fridays - No Black Lines
I will be round to catch up with you all at some point today, thanks for looking and take care xx

Away I go!

Well I am now either on my way or have arrived in Las Vegas, so no blogging from me for a while.  But I will be doing plenty of this:

A fair bit of this:

And some of this:

Catch up with you all when I get home, take care xx

Getting Ready!!

Morning everyone!  Today is What's on your Workdesk Wednesday over at Julia's place.  As usual my workdesk is a complete an utter shambles. BUT I am going away on my girly holiday tomorrow so I don't care and I am not even going to show you a picture of it ha ha (cause I'm too embarrassed really).  Instead I shall show you a picture of my new home for the next 7 nights:

Yippee that's where I'll be (no, not in the lake but rather the hotel!!).  We shall be having a great time shopping, slurping sipping cocktails and a bit of gambling (shock horror - just a bit I said).  What more could a girl ask for oh yes and Rod Stewart on Saturday night!!

As I haven't made any cards (too busy packing and cleaning and baking for DH) I have an old one I will post today:

Cor its very bright isn't it?  Can't remember anything about it (that is definitely my age) apart from its a Magnolia stamp or rather two.  If you get chance bob over to Julia's and have a look at everyone else's workdesks - very addictive. 

I'll catch up with you all later today hopefully then I'll be back in about 9 days yeehaw!! Take care xx

Goldfinger, well rather wreath that is!

Hope you are all recovered from a night of ghostly occurrences and witchy goings on!! We were rather slow to get going with the trick or treaters but then picked up and it was great to see them all dressed up.  One rather winsome witch had long witchy fingers and everytime she picked up a sweet she dropped it!!

Well now we are into November and the countdown to Christmas has well and truly begun - panic stations everyone!!  It is such a gorgeous day here in Blackpool it has been sunny all day and quite mild, we did have some rain this morning but it was still sunny whilst it was raining!  I have made another wreath Christmas card today again following Crafty Elf's tutorial which you can find in detail here.  I decided to go for a white and gold theme today for a change. 

I have used the Swiss dots embossing folder again and three types of gold card for the wreath.  The ribbon is from a local haberdashery shop.  The dove is from Hobbicraft which started out with a pattern on it but I covered it in gold embossing powder.  I don't know what I'll do once Christmas is over for inspiration for cards - start on next years perhaps????

Thanks so much for looking please leave a comment if you have been as it is always nice to hear from everyone and visit your blogs.  Take care xx