Friday 21 December 2012

Calorie FREE Christmas Treat

Ok - I  may have lied about the calorie free bit ! ;-)

This is a delicious, quick and easy treat that I saw on Pinterest and had to try.
Not only is it great for 'tearing and sharing', but it also fills the house with the wonderful aroma of cinnamon.



You simply cut a round, white loaf,  hedgehog style butter it, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake until warm.
Drizzle with icing and tuck in!
(Click on the Pinterest link to find the full recipe)

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Tuesday 18 December 2012

Saturday 15 December 2012

Meet me under the Mistletoe

Hello everyone... how are you all?
Did you have treacherous ice yesterday?

I had an early call from both my girls.
Someone skidded into the back of Maria's mini, as it was parked outside her house!! So she now has to have that repaired next week. She managed to get to work - but it sounds like most people were just sliding on their bums!!
Annabel slipped and fell - then spent 4 hours in a very busy A & E. Fortunately no broken bones, only bruised and swollen.
So, I hope you all kept safe.

Here's my very last Christmas card - for my hubby - 
nice and simple - just like him ;-)


I used a free mistletoe digi, that I found here
You can see better below how I layered it, coloured it with Copics, added some stickles glitter and used white gems for the berries.
I made the sentiment on my comp.

 

Right - now I am off to do some Christmas baking.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.   xxx

Challenges.
Charisma Cardz - Christmas Makes
Perfect Sentiments - Anything Christmas, with a Sentiment
Craft Us Crazy - Christmas/Winter and/or Favourite Embellie
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes with a Holiday Sentiment
Digi Galore - Christmas Digi

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Home for the Holidays

Now that these cards have made it to their destination, I can blog them. 
I made one for each of my girls, Maria and Annabel.
I am so excited that they are both going to be heading home for the holidays.



This is definitely my favourite card of the year - and really represents the more CAS style I have been doing of late.

I made the image up with a couple of digis from Digi Stamp Boutique - the car is from the 'we've moved' set and the tree is 'Xmas frame' tree. 

I wanted to keep everything nice and crisp and sharp, so instead of colouring the image I used digi papers from Pink Petticoat ( leaves and stripes).
I also made the sentiment on my comp.


I really wanted to add some glitter to the stars on the tree, but in the interest of CAS I stopped myself  :-)
 
Then to finish off, I tied some whispy string around the card and added a little star charm with  baker's twine.
I would have preferred a snowflake, but I didn't have any left.



Challenges
Digi Stamp Boutique -  December Challenge
Stamping Sensations -  Tree - mendous
Papercraft Star - Christmas Tree
Dream Valley - Christmas  
Creative Card Crew  - Star
Hooked on Craft - Christmas 

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Monday 10 December 2012

Tree Day :-)


Ok - so with moving and all, we toyed with the idea this year of an artificial tree - 
for about 10 seconds. ;-)
I'm not ready to go there yet!
Instead, hubby kitted himself up in his best lumberjack attire, grabbed his chainsaw 
and trudged off, into the deep snow,  to cut down this beauty.


This year we only had to cut a foot off the bottom to get it to fit into the house!!

And here's my mantelpiece. 
Pretty simple for me, but very pretty in the dark.
Say hello to Suzie - who insisted on being in the picture :-)


Have you got your decs up?
Please post some pics - I love looking at all the sparkle.

By the way - you know hubby got this tree at the local garden centre - right?  ;-)

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Saturday 8 December 2012

Festive Friends

I don't want to gloat, but most of my Christmas cards are now in the hands of the postie :-)
I just have a couple more to make - hopefully!!



Here's one that made it to my 'production line'.
I was on the look out for a 'family' style stamp and thought this cutie from Sugar Nellie was just perfect. 
It's coloured with Copics and sprinkled with my fabourite Glamour Dust.


 You can't really make it out on the main picture, but you can see below that there is a piece of fine net on the card base, 
just to add a little texture.
I had the devil of a job sticking everything onto it!!


Challenges
One Stop Craft - Christmas Friends
Winter Wonderland - Red & Blue
PaperPlay - Christmas is Coming
Moving Along With the Times - Clean & Simple
Charisma Cardz - Christmas
**NEW**   Christmas at Sweet Stamping - Anything Goes

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Thursday 6 December 2012

Christmas Cones

I lurve 'things' !!
Pretty, little things, that don't cost the earth.
So when I come across a 'thing', I do this little OMG clappy dance :-)
See my silver stand and glass dome - that was a 'thing'.
Isn't it gorgeous? 
Look at the little, silver stag head on the top. 
I am on the lookout for some tiny silver baubles to fill  the dome.

But... I'm really here to show you my Christmas Topiary Trees.
I made these at the weekend, after seeing them all over blogland.
You can make them in anything to match your decor and they are very easy to do.



I used some 12 x 12 christmas paper, rolled into a cone shape. 
You can use anything really, as you're going to cover it, but make sure it's quite sturdy. (mine crumpled a bit at the bottom with the glue I used).

With dabs of tacky glue,  just wind round whatever  material you like to cover the cone.
I used some whispy, hemp string, some silver tinsel and some white wool.
The white wool cone is really gorgeous IRL, as it's sprinkled all over with glamour dust.

Google 'christmas cone trees' for some really amazing designs.



Challenges
Tuesday Alchemy - Anything but a card
Top Tip Tuesday -  Christmas
Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday
Ladybug Crafts -Sparklicious
CRAFT - Christmas

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Wednesday 5 December 2012

Mademoiselle Noel

How is your Christmas card pile coming along?
I think I am almost done - just a few family cards to make.
I got the shock of my life buying stamps yesterday -
  90p a card - eek!!
Will have to have a major re-think next year.

Here's a girly card for my niece.
(Sorry about the rubbish photo - IRL there is lots of sparkle on her fur trim)


When I saw how simple this was, I went a little giddy with the liquid pearls :-)
I've also just realised that my mademoiselle noel is floating in mid air!!
I will add a little shading, under her feet, before she goes in the post.
 

Challenges.
Oozak - Anything Goes + Red
Penny Black & More - It's your choice
Penny Black Saturday - Glitter & Sparkle
Stamptacular - Christmas Photo Inspiration (I went with the red/white theme)
CASology - Sparkle
Top Tip Tuesday - Christmas


Supplies.
Stamp - Penny Black, Mademoiselle Noel coloured with Copics.
Corner stamp - I think it's from Lili of the Valley!
Let it snow stamp - From the Penny Black Christmas Critters set.
Red gem, liquid pearls, glamour dust