LOST!

As you can see there has been a distinct lack of posting here in December! Apart from the obvious secrecy of my creations over the last few weeks (all my Christmas gifts) I've had a great trauma - I'VE LOST MY CAMERA! It had all my recent photos still on it as I hadn't even had time to download during the last frantic few days before Christmas, and all the family photos taken over the holiday. So as you can expect I'm very upset about it!
So what to post? Well I do have a photo of the Christmas theme ATCs I made for the Passion for Papertrey swap. I used the Made of Snow set for my snowman and the wreath is from Believe. He's coloured with my beloved Copics and has silver wire arms with his red mittens glued on. The border punch is a Martha Stewart design. Thanks so much to the other swappers for the lovely designs I received back. I love them all and look forward to another swap soon.

A Birthday Tenner

I haven't been able to post for the last couple of weeks or so but I have been busy even though I'm away from home for about half the week. I've lots of 'work-in- progress' secret things on the go for Christmas - don't know how I'll finish everything! Anyway I had to make a couple of birthday cards this week and I can show them here as the recipients certainly won't be reading this blog......

This is my take on Aime's wonderful PTI prize-winning card. I thought this was absolutely brilliant creation when I saw it and filed the idea away for the right birthday girl its her birthday next week. Like Aimes I used Papertrey's On My Couch stamp set, plus Copics and SU's twill tape - which is great for stamping on. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Ho, ho, ho - A Passion for Papertrey Challenge 17

I love Lauren's new template "Time for Takeout" - its a great size and shape for small gift giving. I've been crocheting these little fruity bag charms and flower hair clips/brooches for my niece to give to her friends for Christmas and this little box and my other fav template "Tucked Away" have turned out to be just what I needed to turn them into pretty gift packages.

Both templates have smaller versions included in the download which I think are just right for hanging on the tree or even for creating an advent calendar (the perfect size for a Christmas chocolate or two) so I'm hoping to get some of those made too - I'm getting really ambitious now!!
I've been lucky enough to buy a few PTI Christmas sets second hand over the last 12 months - I've used here (in no particular order!) Polka Dot Basics, Snowfall, Holiday Treats, 2008 Holiday Tags Collection and my lovely new set Holiday Button Bits.

I hope my niece likes them as she mumbled something about needing £100 to go gift shopping for her friends! My sister nearly fell off her chair.....

Oh no- I've just realised I'm too late to enter the challenge again! Don't know how many times I've done that. Never mind - it made me crack on with them anyway!

All that Glitters - Mo's DP Challenge 5

I really don't like glitter much so I baulked at this challenge - but that's what makes challenges so interesting. Mo wants three different bling types this week and I hope I've managed to keep to the rules by using silver ribbon, some star gems and Sakura glitter pens. I've wanted to colour this beautiful fairy for some time but never got round to it - but here she is and I really like the effect of the Sakura pens but they don't show up well on the photo I'm afraid. As usual I've kept the card simple and just used a piece of handmade paper for the background and nothing else.

I did intend to enter her for the Copic Colour Challenge too but didn't get my entry in in time! I must try harder next week!

Apple Pie - Copic Colour Challenge 37

The colours to use this week are Blush, Yellowish Green and Sand.

I've had an idea that I wanted to put together a few recipe cards in some sort of pretty album as a gift for one of my sisters who says she wants to cook more instead of buying convenience food. So here's card number one - Apple Pie, one of my son's favourites!

This sweet image is from one of my copyright-free books and the pie stamps are from Papertrey's My Punny Valentine set.

The garden has some ancient apple trees which almost always fruit profusely even though I'm guilty of doing nothing to look after them. I collect as much fruit as possible for storing and give away as many as I can get family and friends to accept, but there's always lots of apples that end up damaged and bruised on the ground as windfalls, which can't be stored. I just have to console myself with the thought that they provide a good food source for the birds and other garden creatures which have to face the cold months ahead on short ration.

A Day at the Seaside - 31st October!

We had a shopping trip to Llandudno today and along with many others walked back to the car along the promenade at dusk. The pier lights looked lovely reflecting in the calm sea. Looking at these photos I can easily imagine this is the South of France not North Wales. I'm very lucky to have been born and bred in such a beautiful part of the country.


On a crafty note, I was really pleased to find this Dovecraft 3" Snowflake paper punch for £6 (an item that's been on my wish list for some time) as well as two little jars of vintage-type buttons that I think can easily pass for Papertrey buttons. A very nice little haul from the Craftland store in Mostyn Street. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Mo's Challenge 3 - Anything but a card

Not much time to craft this week but I've just managed to squeeze in at the end of Mo's third challenge - which is to create 'anything but a card'. So here's mine. This is Dani, one of Mo's brilliant teenage girls - I love them all but this one is especially for my shopaholic niece Faye. I've decorated a Timeless Template from Lauren's Cash or Charge Collection - new this month - a little pillow box which will hold a shop gift card and any other little gift I can squeeze in.

As well as Dani I've used stamps from Papertrey's Polka Dot Basics and Boxes Bags & Tags. So as A Passion for Papertrey's current challenge is to incorporate dots into a project, I think I can enter Dani there too! Hooray! Don't you just love it when that happens!