Red and White in the cafe

Hope everyone is bearing up and keeping warm in this wintry weather. We have been lucky with the amount of snowfall we have had but man is it super icy out there, I have been lucky to stay on my feet but had a couple of near misses, elegant on the ice I am not and definitely not a contender for Dancing on Ice (which incidentally starts soon whoopy).

Phew, I made this weeks Play Date Cafe challenge, I missed last weeks deadline by a mere 24 hours lol, err yes, I got mixed up on my days and went to enter on Wednesday duh!!

I actually struggled getting some non-Christmas inspiration using these colours which is why it has took me until now to make it lol, the colour scheme of red and white is not a favourite colour combo of mine (I live in a house full of Man Utd haters lol, the boys are avid Wanderer's fans). I am also entering this into Crafty Cardmakers "White and a splash" challenge!

I used Barn Door Distress ink sponged through sequin waste, I also made a round mask behind the sponging. Tim Holtz flourish stamped in barn door and distress embossing powders. Sentiment is from I Brake for Stamps (and quite apt for this icy weather) and the bird is from Artemio.

Here are a couple of wintry picture from yesterday morning, it was -7 with mist and freezing fog. The trees and shrubs looked amazing with their edges dipped in glitter glass! Kath of the Cubbyhole has loads of snow, much like the piccy I shared of my Fathers caravan / igloo the other day, she wanted to have a look at not other peoples desks, oh no that's another day, another blog and another story.. Kath is comparing snowdrifts!

Incy Wincy Christmas Decorations

This week over on Incy Wincy Designs we are being sponsored by Aspire to Thrive Childrens Charity, the winner get a $10 to the store.

Our challenge this week is to make a Christmas decoration, I know loads of you are putting up those trees this week so it is the perfect excuse! I have used this cute cottage image from the store.



I have kept it simple with this one using my scalloped nestie to die cut acetate, image is coloured with promarkers and glittered with glamour mist.

Don't forget you still have until midnight Wednesday 8th December to enter for the candy I am offering over on Creative Craft World!!

The big smoke

Hi all

As it is like an ice rink out there today I have spent the day crafting and cleaning (obviously the former was more pleasurable). Before I get onto today's post and creation I just wanted to thank the DT over on Let's Ink it Up for choosing my Advent Calendar as a top 3 in their recycling challenge! Wow I am chuffed an honoured, especially as it was a load of rubbish (well that's what is was made from not what it ended up as - I hope).

Thought I'd have a break from all the Christmas projects I have made recently and had a play altering a canvas, got lovely inky and messy fingers, just need to try and get it all off before work tomorrow lol!

I was inspired by this months theme over on Sir Stampalot which is Travel the World!! With all the stunningly beautiful places in the world to choose from, Maldives, Seychelles, Goa etc, where did I pick??? LONDON lol! Well they say there's no place like home and although I no longer live there I spent many happy year stomping around the streets of London.

I have used loads of distress inks on this one, mainly Vintage photo, fired brick and blue denim. I edged the canvas using tissue paper which I firstly coloured with distress inks then stamped on a map (PaperArtsy). The buses (Personal Impressions) were masked and then coloured in using promarkers, policeman (Personal Impressions) was masked and stamped onto paper coloured with distress inks. Portobello Road 9Personal Impressions) street sign was stamped onto mount board and triple embossed as was the phone box (coloured with promarkers). Crown (Tim Holtz Regal flourish) was embossed onto mount board and gems added for a bit of bling. Watch, cogs and watch face were from my lovely neighbour who collects bits and bobs for me when she does house clearances, key charm used as clock hand. underground map was printed from the Internet. The time stamp which shows Greenwich Mean Time (PaperArtsy) was stamped and then coloured using distress inks, Time charm is by Tim Holtz and held in place with a winder from an old broken watch. The watch straps were made using grunge paper, vintage photo distress inks and some scrapbooking work stickers.

I am also entering this into the following challenges:

Fussy and Fancy Friday - Anything but a card

Totally Stampalicious - Anything goes

OSAAT - Old stash new stash (new is mount board and old is tissue paper)

Colour combo on Sweet Pea Stampers

Hi all

Hope you are all warm in your neck of the woods and not having too much of the white stuff to contend with! It is blooming freezing here in Greater Manchester, but at least we don't have deep snow, we have been lucky so far to get away with a couple of inches! My poor Dad works away Monday - Friday and stays in his caravan (no he's not a gypsy lol) but the poor thing got well and truly snowed in this week, I will post a piccy below!

Today sees a new challenge over on Sweet Pea Stampers and this fortnight we have a gorgeous colour combination for you of purple, silver and white. All the DT cards look so striking in these colours, pop over to the blog to have a ganders. There are 3 FAB prizes on offer too!

I made my own backing paper using Tim Holtz swirl stamp and clear embossing powder, dust concord distress ink which I treated myself to last week), paper artsy butterfly embossed in silver, silver fairy charm, lace and flowers (which I have had forever lol) from my stash. I used Promarkers to colour the image and silver embossing powder to give the flowers a metallic look.

Here is a photo of my Dads caravan, don't think he quite had to dig himself out lol!

I am entering this into the following challenge:

In a Sweet Pea Dream - Monochromatic

Passion for Promarkers - Old (flowers) and new 9Dusty concord distress ink)

Allsorts - Monochrome (hope the silver is ok)

CCW Blog Candy

Hi all

To celebrate the end of our 30 day Christmas Countdown over on Creative Craft World I am offering some candy! My craft room is very nearly finished so I have been having a clearout!!

Christmas is fast approaching and we all hope our Christmas Countdown creations inspired you! All of the DT had a fab but frantic time bringing you a different project every day throughout November. It was really lovely to read some of the wonderful comments not only on the main blog but also on the individual DT’s blogs, it really kept us going! If you have been inspired to make anything we have showcased leave us a link to your blog as we would love to have a nosey.

We would also like to thank our followers new and old for joining us, don’t forget once we reach 200 followers there will be a special treat for one of our followers.

In the meantime I am offering this fantastic candy to one lucky commenter on the candy post over on Creative Craft World. There are loads of goodies for you to play with – Dovecraft 6 x 6 Bumper pack of Christmas papers, coordinating ribbons, card toppers and stickers. Pink Gem Clear stamp “Mimi Skating”, pot of flower soft, pack of mini roses, pack of hand made papers, manila tags for altering, die cut tags, pop up card blanks, brads and much more…


What do you need to do to be in with a chance of winning?

1. Post about this candy in the sidebar of your blog with a picture of the candy and a link back to Creative Craft World the blog
2. We would like to know which of the 30 countdown projects was your favourite and tell us why?
3. If you have made one of our projects post a link to your blog post and you will be entered into the draw twice.

You have until midnight Wednesday 8th December to enter!

Day 30 CCW Christmas countdown

Here we are at the end of our Countdown to Christmas … and not a day missed in the whole of November. We’ve been proud of our 30 daily projects and really hope you’ve enjoyed them as much as we have.

To finish we have a box of thank you cards made for you by Oona – a link to the instructions can be found at Creative Craft World The Blog.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Incy Wincy recipe

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!! Gosh I think the cold has frozen my brain cells, well what few I have which function anyway lol.

This week over on Incy Wincy Designs we have a recipe for you to follow:
1 image
2 papers
3 flowers

We have a FAB sponsor this week too, Meljen's Designs who is generously offering the winner 4 digi images!

The DT were each given a digi to work with and I chose this gorgeous flower, it is one of those images which is so verstile, I think it would look fab making backing paper with it.

Papers are MME, flowers from stash, stamps are Tim Holtz and flower coloured in using Promarkers.

Day 29 Christmas Countdown at CCW

Here we are at the penultimate day of our Christmas Countdown projects. :o( Today’s super fun project comes from Sarah W; Santa’s reindeers are going to be very well fed if we all leave out a packet for them!

A link to Sarah's instructions can be found at Creative Craft World the Blog.

Come back tomorrow for our last helping of Christmas Fun.

Day 28 Christmas Countdown at CCW

Day 28 and Sue has made this great Jacob’s Ladder for you. Do you remember playing with one as a child and being fascinated by how it worked? Now you can find out! A link to Sue’s instructions can be found on Creative Craft World The Blog.

See you tomorrow

Day 27 Christmas Countdown at CCW

Hi all

This is my last project in the Christmas Countdown, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have and have managed to get loads of ideas. Of course you can always refer back to the previous projects at
Creative Craft World The Blog

I will post the instruction for making this mini table tree later on, right now I am having difficulty stringing a sentence together I am that cream crackered lol!!!!

This is another recycled/upcycled project using cardboard from bunk bed packaging!

I have used a selection of stamps by Tim Holtz, Paper Artsy and Crafty Individuals. I also used loads of Distress inks and Tim Holtz embossing powders!

Edited to add the instructions are now ready and can be found here

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Let's Ink it Up - Recycling

Gingersnap Creations - Vintage Hues

The Stamp Man Challenge - Anything by Tim Christmas themed challenge!!