On My First Christmas......

Hi everyone! So....are you all ready for Christmas?! I think I am nearly finished with all of the preparations now. All presents bought, family visited, food order placed, tree bought and decorated. All that's left is to wrap the presents and write my cards. Phew! For some reason, this years prep seemed 1000% more hectic that usual - I barely feel I've spent anytime at home the last couple of weeks! Anyone else feel like that or is it just me being a drama queen?!

I have managed to make a few things though. I made some gorgeous little gift bags and also some nice pieces of jewellery to give to friends and family for Christmas. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures..... Silly Stacey!

However, I did manage to snap a few pics of these cards which I was asked to make by the daughter of one of my colleages. She wanted cards for her little baby boy to give to his grandparents for Christmas. For both of the cards, I adapted one of the Pink Petticoat 'Sweet Cheeks' images simply by adding 'on my' in Paint Shop Pro.

I layered up some plain New Leaf Pink Petticoat paper onto a square card blank and matted onto this some Olive 'O Christmas Tree' paper. I coloured some white ribbon with Promarkers so that it coordinated and wrapped this around the card. The main image was altered slight in Paint Shop Pro and then coloured with Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor. I highlighted with Stickles, mounted onto a Nestie rectangle and added the panel to the card with 3D pads. I finished the card with adhesive gems in each of the corners.

This second card is {secretly!} my favourite! I matted Duck Egg Blue solid paper onto a card blank and then followed this with smaller coordinating layers of 'O Christmas Tree' papers in Merry Christmas and Snowflake designs. I tied white satin ribbon around the central panel and added my Sweet Cheeks image to the card using 3D foam pads. Once again, the finished card was embellished with adhesive gems.

I'm planning to do a little bit of blog hopping today as it is dead at work {naughty I know!}, so don't be surprised if you all get inundated with lots of comments from me as I try my bestest to catch up on all of the beautiful projects you have made over the last couple of weeks!

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What a bad blogger I am.......

I just want to apologise for being such an awful blogger of late. I've barely made it around your blogs and I haven't been posting all that much either. I think it is mostly down to work and Christmas prep distractions but I really just haven't had the will to blog lately. I don't think it helps that the computer is in the spare room and it is blinking freezing in there at the moment! Anyway, I'm sorry for being naughty and for neglecting you all! I will try harder in the new year I promise!

Well, I'm still on the christmas card mission..... and getting nowhere fast really! I've been playing with the CC Design downloads again. Can't leave them alone, they are so cute! I've fancied having a go at a round card for ages so now seemed like as good a time as any!

I cut the blank from pearlescent cardstock, using the largest of my circular Nesties and my trusty cuttlebug. I then cut two further circles of of MME Be Merry papers, trimming one down so that it formed a band across the centre of the card. I coloured my CC angel with Promarkers and added Stickles to her wings for a little bit of sparkle. Once dry, I added her to the centre of the card with 3D pads. Finally, I tidied up the top of the card with a piece of ribbon which was originally a hanging hook inside one of my jumpers!

I hope all of your christmas preparations are going well and that you aren't finding your gift buying too stressful! Take care, wrap up warm and I promise I will be visiting you all soon!

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See, I told you that I love these images.....!

Yep, as promised, here is yet another Christmas card that I have made with my fab CC Designs angels. But aren't they adorable?!

This one was pretty simple....as are most of my cards! I took some gorgeous My Minds Eye Christmas papers, inked the edges and layered them onto coordinating Bazzill Smoothie cardstock. I studded the corners with silver brads and added a strip of stripy MME paper across the centre of the card. The central CC Designs image is mounted onto a Nestie circle and coloured with Promarkers. I finished my little cutie off with a touch of Stickles on her wings and halo.

Do you know what? There are yet more of these angels to come.....I just love them so much!

I've got 2 awards in the last couple of days from Sandra, Beth & Sally-Ann - thanks ladies!
Sandra and Beth passed on this little beauty....
"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind blogger's aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight blogger's who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I think my 8 lucky ladies are going to be...

Beth & Sandra (I know they gave it to me but I still feel this sentiment applies to them!), Sally-Ann, Dawn, Vicky, Nikki, Amy and Terrie. The reason that I have chosen these ladies is because, no matter how ropey a card I post, this lovely lot are always the first to "ooh and aah" and leave gorgeous little comments. Thank you so much, I appreciate you more than you know!

The second award came from Sally-Ann......

"Pick 5 bloggers that you consider as your best blogging buddies and deserve this award for their contribution towards the blogging community, no matter what language.State the name of the author of each blog as well as a link to each one's blogs.Each blogger (upon acceptance) of this award should do a post and show the award on their blog and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award."

Umm, who shall I go for this time..... Well, I actually think all of the people I named for the Proximity award also deserve this award so consider yourselves awarded twice you lot!

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I'm Getting Addicted to CC Angels.....

Blimey it's cold....brrr! It has {finally} got me in the mood to make Christmas cards though! I've made quite a few over the last couple of days which I will gradually upload throughout the week. Don't want to bombard you do I?!

I made this card using my gorgeous My Minds Eye papers. I have virtually the whole set of these and I love this one in particular as my Mum used to read me this poem every single Christmas Eve when I was little. The image is from the CC Designs 'Angel' download which I am utterly in love with. All I can say is, you will be seeing these designs ALOT over the coming days ;o) Anyway, I coloured my little angel with ProMarkers and Stickles and mounted her onto a couple of Nestie circles. As always, I finished my card with ribbon and adhesive gems.

Thanks for all your kind wishes re: the Flutterby design team - what lovely peeps you are?!
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A Spoon Full of Sugar Sketch Challenge & Christmas Card #1!

Wow, the 2nd post of the day. You don't get that from me very often! This card was made following the sketch on the A Spoon Full of Sugar challenge blog. It's also a card full of firsts.... it's the first time I've taken part in a 'Spoon Full of Sugar' challenge, it's the first time I've used these papers, it's the first time I've used these stamps and..........it's my first ever Christmas card!

I started by mounting a square of Feather Boa Bazzill Bling on to a square card blank. I then layered up slices of Dovecraft Christmas Blues paper according to the sketch, matting it on to yet more Bazzill (no idea what colour this time though!). I coloured Maggie with Prismacolors and Sansodor and highlighted her star with sparkly Stickles. I tied ribbon around the whole thing and added then mounted the image onto the card with foam pads. The sentiment came courtesy of a £1 clear stamp set and was highlighted with some star shaped gems. As usual, yet more gems finished the card!

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A Million Miles Outside of My Comfort Zone......!

My friend at work recently asked me to make 2 cards - one for her nephew (age 6, loves tanks and soldiers) and one for her neice (aged 7, pink & girly and Bratz obsessed!). I haven't started the soldier card yet but made a stab at the girly one last night.........

What do you think?! As you can tell, I decided to follow the Bratz theme. I mounted black and white matted card onto a bright pink card blank. I did a Google search and managed to find a load of Bratz colouring pages on the net. I printed one of them off and coloured using my Whisper pens. I then mounted the image on to the card using (hundreds!) of 3D pads. I downloaded the Bratz font (Funkhouse) and printed a out a '7' and the name 'Emma'. I coloured the 7 with Stickles and doodled a pink border to match the rest of the card. I finished the whole thing with some black ribbon and some black brads.

I am really pleased with how this card has turned out as I have never done anything like this before and it was a very big challenge. I was definately working outside my comfort zone! I was so nervous before I showed it to my friend but she absolutely loved it so I was very relieved!

I fear the soldier is going to be even more of a challenge.............!
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