Merry Christmas and a Happier New Year 2012

It's been a tough old year one way or another but now Christmas is almost upon us and we plan on making it a good one - it was dad's favourite time of the year so we should definitely be celebrating it, he wouldn't want us not to.

I received a beautiful Christmas gift recently from a good friend, Joanne - it's a lovely wall hanging consisting of three small frames decorated in some of my favourite colour combinations (and very wintry-looking).  I had thought of putting photos of Mia in it but then realised that the Crafty Individuals images (from their book series) would fit just right so I changed my mind and added three Christmas "angels" instead.  Here it is, now hanging on the living room wall alongside the fireplace, so I can view it every day.  Thanks, Joanne - I love it!

Last year Mia went completely silly when we tried to decorate the living room - she was quite happy for us to decorate the front room and hall with sparkly tinsel, Christmas tree, fairy lights and baubles, but when I tried to hang up tinsel in the living room she got very scared and refused to even come downstairs the next morning so it all had to be taken down.  Wondered how she'd react this year - well, she was again absolutely fine with the decos everywhere else, then we put up a very plain green garland (no sparkle at all) on the wall over the sofa, draped a couple more garlands around plus a wreath above the fireplace.  She gave it all the once over, went daft again about the garland over the sofa (which had to be removed), but decided that this year we could keep the rest of the garlands and the wreath up!  What a comic she is!

Looks like we won't be getting a white Christmas this year, in fact it's turned quite mild here this last day or two which doesn't seem quite right somehow, but at least it means we can get around quite easily without being snowed in!

I hope everyone has a happy and peaceful Christmas and here's hoping for good things to come in 2012.  For myself, I hope to get back into being more creative again as my artwork has rather been on the backburner for the past 12 months or so.

Mia and I wish Everyone a Very Merry Christmas

and Happy New Year 2012 !

Brrrr!!!

....... how's everyone doing in this freezing cold weather?  We've been lucky here not to have had any real snow (so far), just a few flakes, but it's definitely feeling Arctic with frozen and slippy pavements.  It was like an ice rink in our garden where water had frozen over the paving slabs.  I hope the rest of you are all keeping warm and safe, if you're surrounded by snow and finding it difficult to get out and about.  Wonder if we'll have another White Christmas this year?

I've now swapped out all the ATCs and Xmas Triptychs for the last swaps of the year and hopefully they'll all be posted out tomorrow.  Here are pics of the four Triptychs I received for the swap ..... aren't they lovely and all with a nostalgic Christmassy feel to them ......

Sheila's

Chris's

Sandra's

Hilda's

As I mentioned in a previous post, I won't be running any swaps during December, but hopefully will come up with some new ones again after the New Year.   

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS TRIPTYCH CHALLENGE SWAP

I was hoping to post the promised Christmas challenge a few days ago, but you know how it is, the realities of life have a habit of taking over and eating away at any free time!  However, here is my Christmas swap idea for you.

I'd like you to create ONE Vintage Christmas Triptych but larger than ATC size - I would suggest that the centre panel of the triptych be about 4" x 6", the other panels can be the same size or smaller (however you wish) and the tops can be any shape you like - rounded, gothic arches, triangular, etc.  You may join the panels together by whatever method you choose - for example, eyelets and ribbon, wire, small binding rings, beads.  Please use sturdy mountboard or chipboard for your triptych and add as much embellishment as you like, using your preferred techniques for decoration, and ensure that the triptych is able to stand up properly when completed.  Please remember to decorate the back of your triptych as well and add your name and any other details you wish - thanks.

Usual swap rules apply - your finished triptych should be with me by 30th November (if you join next month's ATC swap you can send them all together), plus postage and address label for return.  Please email me if you want to sign up for this swap and I'll let you know where to send your completed triptych.

I haven't created a Christmas triptych before but I did make an ATC-sized triptych with a "Goddess" theme some while back so here's a picture of it to give you an idea of the sort of thing I have in mind.  You may also find lots of ideas if you try googling for Christmas Triptychs. 

 Goddess Triptych - ATC Size

I hope some of you will fancy having a go at making a Vintage Christmas Triptych as I'm sure there'll be some fabulous creations and wouldn't it be lovely to have one to add to your own decorations this Christmas? 

Just a Little Reminder .....

...... to say that the Glitter Swap ATCs are due to me by next Thursday, 30th September.  There's still time to join in this swap if any of you are still thinking about whether to or not.  Next month I'm hoping to post details of a new swap with a Christmassy theme (sorry to bring Christmas up in September!) - it will be separate to the regular monthly swap - so I hope some of you will be interested in joining that one.  All I'll say now is that it won't be ATCs.

Out with the Old, In with the New .......

A rather belated Happy New Year 2010 to you all !  After a quiet Christmas at home, with family and friends, and being snowed in for a good part of the time too (impossible to get the car out of the drive for several days due to all the ice), I started the New Year off by wrenching my back - just one of those daft things, bent down to pick something up and ended up pulling a muscle!  As a result, I've been hobbling around for the past three days, not able to do very much at all, plus the damp weather triggered off a bout of arthritis in my wrists, so I've not been able to type more than a few lines or do any sort of craftwork - so frustrating!  I think I'm over the worst of it now and I hope you've all had a better start to the new year than I have.

Mia certainly enjoyed her first Christmas as part of our family - here she is surrounded by goodies, definitely in the mood for a party .......

I received some lovely crafty gifts from my family this year and here's a picture of what I got ..... a tag punch, TH distress embossing powders and rubber stamps, Cosmic Shimmer spray and pigment set, Viva Croco crackle and precious metal colours and a big pad of Fabriano art paper ..... lots to play with .....

So, it got me thinking about what to start the New Year off with by way of a little challenge, and I came up with the idea of combining the old and the new.  I'm sure we all have lots of bits and pieces lying around in our craft area/room/box, the leftovers from other projects, too useful to throw away, but you're not sure what to do with them - even a quick rummage in your wastebin might reveal some interesting bits that you've discarded - or what about all the leftovers from Christmas - tinsel, wrapping paper, ribbons, tags?  We have probably also got something stashed away that we bought some time ago, but have never yet plucked up the courage to use, or maybe, like me, you received some new crafting goodies for Christmas.

So ...... what I'd like you to do, if you fancy taking up the challenge, is create THREE ATCs using at least three "old" items to embellish each card and one "new" item - anything you like that you've not yet used in your art - could be a stamp, paper, ink, paint, its entirely up to you.  You can also create your ATCs in any theme or style you like.  How about it?  Just a little bit of fun to kickstart the New Year and get us all in the mood for creating over the next 12 months.

If you're interested in joining this swap, just send me an email to let me know (details of the swap are in the sidebar).

I'd love to have you join in this little challenge and hopefully there'll be plenty of you to make this a really good swap.

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL !

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I've been busy this past week, trying to get myself all organised for Christmas, so no time for crafting I'm afraid.  But this year, for the first time I can ever remember, certainly not whilst we've been living in this house (some 20+ years), plans have been thwarted by the weather (or more precisely, the snow)!  I know, I know, in other parts of the world the amount of snow the UK has been experiencing would be looked on as just a sprinkling, but here, it has caused real problems around the country - people stranded, cars abandoned or wrecked, broken limbs from falling over, and although main roads have been "gritted" to a degree all the side roads (ie where everybody lives) have been neglected. 

My car has been buried under a mound of snow for the past three days and is only now just emerging as the snow begins to thaw.  The same at my parents' home, they couldn't get beyond their drive today, everywhere is too icy - I had planned to take up some Christmas food and pressies for them this afternoon, but we've abandoned that idea for today.  Now all the food (that won't fit in my fridge) is chilling out in the garage until tomorrow.  Lindsay and David also have to make the journey over today so hope they don't encounter too many problems with the roads.  It's our dad's birthday tomorrow (Christmas Eve), so we are all supposed to be gathering at our house to celebrate ...... anyway, fingers crossed, it looks like the snow is finally starting to vanish, so all should be well by then.

Mind you, it has been lovely to look out at the snow in all its beauty, especially where it lies thick on the ground with no footprints in it.  We have an old tree at the edge of our driveway and the weight of the snow brought a large (and I mean LARGE) branch down onto the pavement (it's the size of a small Christmas tree!), so we had to drag that back onto the drive.  Luckily, it didn't land on a nearby parked car!

Yesterday evening the sky looked really dramatic too, all turning a fiery pink, as a backdrop to the snow-laden trees and rooftops - and the garden took on a mysterious, eerie glow as dusk fell.

Little Mia has been enjoying "helping" to wrap Christmas presents and exploring the radio - she couldn't figure out where the music was coming from and wondered if she could climb to the top of the aerial! 

We've tethered the top of the Christmas tree with string to avoid it toppling over ..... Mia has had great fun climbing up the trunk on the inside as far up as she can get before we catch her!  One night she came running into the living room with a garland of tinsel streaming out behind her which she could only have pulled off the tree ..... if only I'd had my camera to hand, it was such a funny sight! 

I hope you all have a very happy time over the Christmas/New Year holidays, however you choose to celebrate ..... and I'll be back posting again in 2010, hopefully refreshed and ready to go with new challenges and ideas! 

Guardian Angels

The Guardian Angel swap that I was running was swapped out at the beginning of this week - we were a very "select" group of four (I guess everyone was caught up too much in preparing for Christmas to take time out for this one - or maybe it didn't appeal).  Anyway, here are pics of the ATCs and ornaments that we all created - as you can see, everybody put a different interpretation into their designs .......

Joanne's

Sheila's

Lindsay's

Mine

I used Crafty Individuals frames and images to make my ornament, along with embossing, fabric and feathery embellishments.  The ATC, again, used a Crafty Individuals image (they're one of my favourite craft companies, can't you tell?), matted over a gauzy ribbon fabric, and embellished with gold stickles, beads, ribbon and dictionary "angel" definition.  (The stars are part of the ribbon's pattern).

Thanks to Joanne, Lindsay and Sheila for participating in this swap - I hope you all enjoyed it - I loved seeing what everyone created.

Today I took my parents out to the local garden centre for a spot of lunch and a bit of Christmas shopping - I love to see all the Christmas decorations laid out, the glittery baubles, the trees, sparkly fairy lights, scented candles, but we were amused by this Santa Claus taking time out in his hammock at the entrance to the garden centre, dreaming of some faraway golden beach no doubt (his stomach actually moved up and down as though he was really breathing - LOL) - I just had to take a photo of him ......

I wonder what you're dreaming of this Christmas?

A Little Christmas Giveaway

What dreadful weather we're having this week, it's not stopped raining and the gales are terrific (though we haven't been suffering the same as those poor folk up in Cumbria who've all had to leave their homes due to the massive flooding) ..... anyway, instead of going into town to do my Christmas shopping I've stayed home, catching up on some of my art swaps and projects.

I thought I would have a little Christmas themed giveaway.  I have two cross stitch/beadng kits to make Christmas tree ornaments, plus a Christmas Angel ATC, which I will send to the first person picked at random on FRIDAY, 4TH DECEMBER.  If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning these items, then please just leave a comment on my blog between now and Thursday, 3rd December - remember to include an email or blog address so that I can contact you if you win! 

Here are the two kits - a Charmed Santa Face and a Holiday Beaded Jewel ornament.  They aren't difficult to make, but they're lovely keepsakes for your Christmas tree.

I also created a Christmassy ATC to go along with the kits for the giveaway.  The background for this card is a photo of my Christmas tree last year, to which I've added a strip of deckle-edged alcohol-inked glossy card, stamped with festive words, layered over another strip of creamy paper, with a glittery ribbon secured between the layers.  The angel image is from one of Crafty Individual's little books and I've finished the ATC with a star brad (it was blue so I used a gold Krylon pen to change it and then added a little bit of sparkle with a Sakura Stardust gel pen) and some words cut from an old dictionary.

I've been making a few more ATCs this week as well, some for a "general theme" monthly partner swap that I take part in.  Here's what I've been making:-

I also completed all the pages for a board book swap - "Paraphernalia" - each page had a separate theme chosen by members of the swap.  It's now waiting to be packed up and posted out to its new home (I'll try and post pics of it tomorrow).

Finally, little Mia is 14 weeks old today, so I thought I'd post a few pics of her so you can see how much she has grown - all her Siamese features are becoming much more pronounced now, her face has a sweet chocolate mask, her ears, legs and tail are getting very dark brown and she has a darker line running along her spine too - her tail still has its pigtail curl though!  We also found out that Mia is three-quarters Siamese and one-quarter Bengal (what a mix!!!! ..... we're definitely in for some fun!) ...... her latest favourite game is to chase little balls of screwed up paper and retrieve them - she drops them at our feet ready and waiting for us to throw them again.

Here's Mia, in three quite different moods ........

looking sweet and innocent, washing herself (check out the little pink tongue) .....

........ in playful mood with her favourite ball of paper ......

and drinking water from her own special glass (Mia decided this is much more interesting than using a bowl) .......

My "Dream Journey" Journal came home!

As promised, here are pictures of the wonderful "Dream Journey" journal that came home to me a little while back.  This had been a round robin journal hosted by Ali Brandist - we each chose a title for our book and a rubber stamp that we didn't mind being without for a year, then we created the front and back covers, decorated them with the stamped image and words, and sent our books on to the next person in the RR circle.  Each person then created a page in that book, using the stamp they'd been sent and adding some words as well.  It was lovely to get the chance to see what other people created in each journal as they passed through our hands. 

When we started this journal, it seemed a long ways off before we'd see them again, but here they are, a year later, well-travelled and back home again.  I hope you enjoy looking at the pages in my journal as much as I do.

The front cover

Inside front cover and Page 1 by Mima Lewis

Pages 2 and 3 by Alison Brandist

Page 4 by Martha Rose Bond and Page 5 by Tracy Kaufman

Pages 6 and 7 by Karen Mercado

Pages 8 and 9 by Elena Vigil-Farinas

Pages 10 and 11 by Sandra Zengler

Pages 12 and 13 by Paula Sherman

Inside Back Covers

Back Cover

There is one double-page spread still blank in my journal as I'd added extra pages, so Graham has said that he would like to have a go at creating something on them for me too. 

I just love the feel of holding this little 4" x 4" chunky book in my hands, it is full of texture and embellishments, ribbons and charms - it is so charming and every time I look at it I see something new.  A big 'thank you' to all the artists who participated!

Now ..... if something like this appeals to enough of you, I'm thinking about organising a chunky book round robin through my blog after the New Year .... what do you all think?

Finally, I'd love to see more of you sign up to the Guardian Angel ATC and Ornament swap ...... if the 5th December deadline is putting anyone off, I may be able to extend the deadline by a few more days - but at the same time, I really don't want to leave it too late, I'd like everyone to receive their swaps before Christmas.  If you do fancy having a go, just drop me an email and I'll send full details.

New Swap - Guardian Angel ATC and Ornament

Lindsay let me know that my background went missing after I posted the witchy slideshow, so I just fixed it and used a different one for now - I think I must've deleted the original background when I was messing about adding a slideshow!

Okay - so as promised, here is a new Swap for you all.  I was chatting with my sister on the phone one day when I turned round and there on the windowsill next to me was a small white feather - the window was shut so I didn't know how it got there.  Lindsay said that seeing a feather like that unexpectedly meant my guardian angel was watching over me.  I'd never heard that before and it became the inspiration for this Swap.

In this Swap you will create one ATC with the image of a "guardian angel" (any style and medium) and one Christmas/Seasonal Ornament (the main body of this will be ATC-sized but any shape within that size and as heavily embellished/decorated as you like.  The embellishing can extend beyond the size of the ATC.  The ornament should also be decorated front and back and have some means of hanging eg a beaded loop or ribbons.

The deadline for this Swap will have to be 5TH DECEMBER in order to give me enough time to swap out and beat the Christmas post.  I've added the swap details in the sidebar.  If you want to participate in this swap, please email me to sign up and to receive full details of what is involved in this swap.  I do hope you'll all have a go at this one and give full reign to your imagination!

(Chunky book pics will be posted as soon as I can, as promised)!