It's that time of the month again!

Hello Friends

No!  Not that time of the month, but Rudolph Day time with my Buddy Sandra!!  

Normally I make a card or two, but earlier this month, whilst looking for something completely different,  I came across a box from a famous smelly cosmetics shop which did contain some bath bombs and the packaging was popcorn.  Typical crafter not wanting to waste anything, I sat down with some beads, beading thread, long needle and glass of wine in front of a good program (Gibbs of course!) and threaded the popcorn and beads to make a Christmas decoration for our tree, or maybe the Playhouse Tree as it is using snippets of sorts. 

Hope you like....

If you want to join in the fun of Rudolph Day, click HERE for the details.

I also want to apologise for not being around much this week.  I have been a little distracted since my visit to the hospital on Wednesday and receiving some unpleasant news.  Not one for being down for long I shall be around stalking visiting you very soon.  Just bear with me for the moment please.

Hugs

Hettie

Rudolph Day February!

Hello Friends

And a Happy Rudolph Day to you all!  I presume by now you know what Rudolph Day is?  No?!!!  It is the 25th of the month and a few of us nutters err bloggers, make Christmas cards every 25th of the month to ease the stress of getting them done later in the year!  We then share them with Mrs Rudolph Day HERE. It does certainly help!

So here are three I have made on the weekend. I do apologise now for the quality of the photos but they were taken with a flash and the first card now looks a little washed out, but I assure you it isn't in real life.  It has been years since I made these velum trees, hand embossed - yes pre-Big Shot days and then painted by hand!!

This image on this second card is actually fabric and has been mounted on to cardstock. Again, absolutely years old.  Some ribbon that has been looking for a card to go on for ages, my new Spellbinders corner die and a K&Co panel for the back.  The edges of the panels and the card itself have been inked with silver/black ink which schparkles but you cannot see that here!

And this Noel was cut on my Silhouette absolutely ages ago.  Then I found some snowflakes and cut a couple more on a small piece of card, as well as the music score.  The large snowflake was given to me by a good friend.

                                  

(Pity you cannot see all the pewter shimmeriness on this one!!)

ALL these cards have been made using bits out of my Snippets boxes/basket, or have been given to me so no whole pieces of paper or packets of unopened embellishments have been used!!  I shall be taking these down to the Playground just as soon as someone tells me that the brazier is on and the hot chestnuts are ready!

Another Amsterdam picture for you.  This was taken for Mrs Rudolph Day who I knows loves Nutella!  Just to give you indication as to how big those larger jars are, the jar which I have (roughly) drawn a heart around is the size of a standard jar that we can buy in the UK!!  I would have enquired about taking a large jar home for Sandra but I don't think it would have fitted in my case, nor would I be able to lift the case into the overhead lockers!  It is the thought that counts!! As you can see McDonalds abounds in Amsterdam too!

That's all Folks!!

Thanks for calling by and please leave me a comment so I know you have been!  Why not  make some Christmas cards and link up with the Rudolph Day?  The weather is appropriate right now!

Hettie

P.S.  My lovely friend Di has told me that my Noel card fits in just nicely with Crafty Hazelnut's theme this month.  I have been meaning to join in with this challenge for ages so I shall make a start now!!  Hazel is looking for just one word this week.  Click HERE to go and see the others that have entered.  I shall also include it with her monthly challenge HERE which is Anything Goes as long as it is Christmas.   

Do you remember.....

....these?

Hello Friends

Do you remember me making all these Christmas Trees using the Tim Holtz rosette dies?  Well, I was giving them as presents for various family and friends, but I wanted to make them a lickle schnazzy with their own custom made boxes instead of wrapping them with tissue paper.  

So a little fiddling with my Silhouette machine and some trial 'n' errors and these are what I came up with...

They were all cut from smooth white cardstock and then I placed DI re-inkers into mini misters with some water and perfect pearls.  I chose the colours of DI re-inkers and sprayed the boxes to match the trees which were going to be inside.  I then folded the boxes and inked the edges and then decorated the reverse with either Making Memories trees or glittered TH lamp posts. When I was spraying the boxes, I placed the card Snippets underneath the boxes I was spraying, so that they would pick up some of the ink.  Then using the SU tag stamps I stamped the tags using various DIs and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then punched the tags using the SU tag punch and stamped the word Joy using a Hero Arts stamp.  Another tag was cut to add the name of the recipient, some Snippets of ribbon and hey presto I had some swish looking tree boxes.  And a bonus is I can enter these into the Playground, assuming it is open!!

I have delayed posting these until after Christmas as I did not want any recipients seeing them before the day!

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas.  I cannot believe it is New Year's Eve tomorrow.  Has anyone got any plans to celebrate bringing the New Year?  

Thanks for popping by.  I know I have been a little quiet on the blogging front but it is Christmas.

Happy New Year to you all and thank you ALL for sharing my crafting fun and adventures throughout the year.

Hugs 

Hettie

I have been playing....

........................With my new toy!!

Hello Peeps

I have been a bit of a naughty Blogger this last few days.  Hubby and I were taking some time out and spending some time together and I have not been playing on the computer.  We went to Bath on Sunday for the last day of the Christmas Market and then Hereford on Monday.  It was lovely that we had a little time with no agenda or requirements.  Back to normal now, whatever "normal" is!  Tee Hee!

On Friday at my friend Lesley's house I got to play with my Memory Box die which I bought at the NEC last month.  So here is a card I threw together using it....

The tree is cut from Docrafts glitter cardstock, which had to be run through the Big Shot a few times.  I grabbed another dark piece of the same glitter cardstock to see the effect and liked it so much I decided that was going to be the background.  I found a Snippet of silver cardstock and then mounted it again on a piece of purple/grey cardstock before adhering it to the card itself.  

I was looking for some suitable brads to add to the corners and came across these snowflake eyelets which I must have had with my Cropadile some xxx years ago!!  

So there it is.  One card with no inking, no stamping, no ribbon, no sentiment, no distressing, no glossy accents - just CAS!!  Not like me at all but I like it!  I did use a Snippet so I can pop it into the Playground for all to see!

TTFN

Hettie

x

Tim's November Tag Take 2

Hello again!  

My Friend Lesley and I are having a Crafting Day next week (on a school day too!) and, having seen a few projects that I have done recently, Lesley has asked me if I would show her on Friday how to do the resist technique as she is not sure how to go about it.    

Well I was sitting in my room the other evening, there were a few inks on my desk, and a tag and one thing led to another.......Who could "resist" the lure of new stamps ey?  So now I have two tags for Tim Holtz's November tag!  

I used my TH tag die and SU vanilla cardstock, the same stamp set as I used for the original stamp set, but as you can see the Tree one.  This time I used some paper tape, lace and ribbon (that ribbon is sooo precious I only use it on special projects!).  Some pins in the ribbon and string at the top and hey presto.

I decided to add just a little texture by adding glossy accents to the baubles.  It is a shame the lighting in the mornings is sooo pants lately as you cannot see the perfect pearls mist on there!

Thanks for calling by.

TTFN

Hettie

O Tannenbaum - Tim Holtz style!

Hello Peeps

Just thought I would show you some silliness I have been making for friends and family, and our Dining Room table for Christmas.  You may recall I made two a little while ago, one of which I gave to my Mum when she was poorly, and that I was looking for more flower pots.  Well I found some slightly smaller ones and to be honest I think these are slightly  better in proportion to the trees.  Though the photo does not show them very well, these have all been sprayed with either Glimmer Mist or Perfect Pearls.  

I have quite a forest of trees here as you can see.  I just carried on until I ran out of pots, though I wanted to keep one as I have another idea up my sleeve!  I started making these on Saturday at my friend's so I let her have the first one I made, which is not pictured here. 

Some of them I have put the muses on to reflect the recipient e.g. G for my nephew whose surname is Griffiths and M for Michelle, whose husband was instrumental in getting an essential part of the trees for me.

As I raided my Christmas Snippets box (yes of course I keep Christmas Snippets separate from any other kind of Snippet) I shall be putting these into the Playground as well as, of course, putting these into the Rudolph Day Challenge.  You have until Saturday night to enter into the RD Challenge.  This is a lovely wax set to win.  

I have just realised you can see a Christmas Tree through the window here.  That tree was given to Hubby's parents by the chaps working at the Forestry Commission the year Hubby was born.  As you can see it is still growing strong!  I would like some mad volunteers to help me put lights on it one day!  Any volunteers?  Teehee!

Hugs

Hettie

CC2C - Christmas in July

Hello there!

Most of you who follow my blog will know that I take part in the Lovely Linda's Compendium of Curiosities II Challenge, whereby Linda sets a challenge every Friday by asking us to turn to page____ [fill in a number here] of the lovely Tim Holtz's Second Compendium of Curiosities book and make something using that technique.  

Most of you who follow my blog will also know that I LOVE Christmas.   What some of you who follow my blog may not know is that I have an absolute passion for Christmas trees!  I am quite happy to see a Christmas tree with just lights on, and if I go to a town or city at Christmas (especially Prague) I always make a bee line for the Christmas tree.  Which is why I am desperate to go to New York to see the Christmas tree in Times Square.  

So, when I saw Linda's challenge for this week, out of nowhere Christmas trees popped in to my head. I remembered that Mr Holtz had done a posting involving Christmas trees on his blog some time ago so an idea was born....

Linda asked us to turn to page 54 of the Compendium and make a project using Perfect Pearls Mist.  So these trees were made with Cordinations cardstock and then sprayed liberally with Perfect Pearls Mist.

The black tinsel is quite a fine tinsel with little stars in that were adorning some of my Christmas presents from my Buddy Mandy last Christmas!  As they are technically Snippets, I will be entering these into the Playground ready for Christmas!

And just so ya know what I used to make the trunks with, the first one was made using one of these.  No, I didn't break one to make it.  Some time ago when one of these spongey things was past it's best I thought to keep the handle as "it would come in use some day"!  I had to trim it and as I could not find the mitre block I just cut it with a saw on the end of the desk and managed to cut my finger with it!!  Big Owch!  I only had two of these tiny flower pots so I went online at lunchtime today and ordered some so I can make more!  I know they will make great little gifts at Christmas!

I cannot wait until the new Christmas trees from Ranger hit the shops over here.  When I saw what Mario did for the recent CHA show I was all for hopping on a plane and taking them off the display.  Not sure what Hubby would say about having 40-something different coloured trees adoring the house though!

I hope you like what I have done and if I have inspired you at all, then why not pick up a copy of the Compendium II book and join in with the challenges.  If you want to know how I made the trees, just search for Christmas Trees on Tim's blog.

Please sign in the Visitor's Book so I know you have been.  Thanks for looking.

Hugs

Hettie

Happy Rudolph Day

Hello Peeps

Sorry I am late tonight but it was the last episode of the current NCIS series!  Oooo!  Want to see the next series now but am going to have to wait!  

Anyhoos!  Happy Rudolph Day to you all!  Only four more RDs left before the Big One!  Scarey!!

Here is card number one for you.....

I actually made two of these, similar but with different papers.  The other one was not very photogenic I am afraid.  The background paper I have had for soooo long and what was left was in the bottom of my Christmas paper box so I cut it up and now have none left.  All the other papers used were snippets too so I will be joining in at the Playground with these.

And here is card number 2 for you to see.....

This card is a little different in making it up.  The Silver Christmas Tree was actually cut out of one of last year's Christmas cards which was sent to us.  I stamped my lovely new Darkroom Door Christmas trees directly on the card with Black Soot DI and sprinkled some schparkly embossing powder, added the silver tree with foam pads and tied a little ribbon around to add a little texture to the card.  The Peace on Earth was also in my Darkroom Door set, stamped with Black Soot and schparkly embossing powder and mounted on a little piece of black card.

So some recycling and use of snippets and I have three more cards ready for Christmas. 

Fancy joining us with the Rudolph Day?  Just make a Christmas card and link it HERE in the next week and your name will be put into the draw for a set of stamps.

Thanks for looking and please leave a comment so I know you have been.  Love comments.

Hugs

Hettie

Creative Chemistry 101 - Day 6

Good Evening Peeps

Yes!  I am still plugging away but I now only have Days 9 and 10 to go.  Tonight though I have now discovered my new favourite "thing"!  Distress Markers.  I only bought 3 to play with as I wasn't sure how I would get on with them and they are a little expensive if you don't like them, but like them I do!!  Also, where I usually order them are only getting them in in dribs and drabs so there wasn't many to choose from.  I hope they get more in and soon as I now want more!

Here is what I have done with my limited supply - all on watercolour paper as I don't have the Speciality Stamping Paper either!  It is on my Wish List now!

I also stamped the butterflies again spraying with water before stamping like the Watercolour Stamping technique you may have seen on Tim's blog.  I didn't reink the stamp so it is second generation.  Love it!!  Hope you do.  Let me know what you think.

TTFN

Hettie 

Grungy Monday 39 - Tartan Tags

Hello Peeps

Over at Studio L3 the lovely Linda took us right back to 2009 and Day 3 of the 12 Tags of Christmas.  The technique was to make Tartan paper using Alcohol Inks.  Despite my love of Alcohol Inks and all things Scottish it has taken me until now to actually try this technique.  So here it is....

Wow.  Look at that sunlight comng through the window onto the tag!  I thought about moving the tag, but love the sunlight!

Here is a better shot with no shading from the sun.  You can now see the embellishments of a Dragonfly and two very small jingly bells.  The ribbon is silk which I have coloured using Distress Stains.  Gotta love the Distress Stains for this.

I mounted the coloured paper onto a tag after first stamping with some lovely Tim Holtz stamps, the sentiment is one of my favourites.  I have a scrapbook layout in mind to use this tag as an embellishment on.  It is of my friend and I with our Flora McDonald costumes on at the Burn's Night Dinner last year so maybe you will see the tag make an appearance soon.

I understand that Linda will be stopping the Grungy Monday Challenges now to make way for the Compendium Challenges II.  Looking forward to those especially as I already have my book!  Why not join us.

TTFN

Hettie

WOYWW 133 - It's Beginning to Look a Bit Like Christmas

Hello Peeps

I can hardly believe that this is the last WOYWW before Christmas and that we are only a few days from Christmas Day, the biggest event we Crafters tend to work for!!  And before you ask me YES I do still have some pressies on my desk needing completion!! Eeeeek!

My workdesk this week has been temporarily been moved downstairs between the kitchen worktop and the lounge.  Take a peek at what I am working on......

and........

The top pic are my hands yesterday evening after I had been playing with Sugarflair colouring in a bid to decorate our Christmas cake a little more than I usually do. My normal decorating is to roll out icing and then places something on the top with a large ribbon and bow round the side.  Hubby said it may be food colouring but I am not happy unless my fingers are coloured with something!!  LOL!!  They had hair dye on them a short while later!!

This year I have the idea of a Holly and Ivy theme.  Oops!!!  I will show you next week if it is good enough to share!!

Today I am working on my Christmas decorating which is a little later than usual but hey-ho.  I now have a lovely Dining Room to eat Christmas Dinner in this year - complete with curtains (the whole reason why I NEEDED the dining room decorated)!!!  As Bing Crosby is saying in White Christmas, which is playing (second time today!) - gotta have an angle!!

Right! Gotta do some more decorating including the dining room so I will be pouring myself a glass of something while I finish then I will pop over to see you later!

Don't forget to call by at the Desk Jockey Julia's blog to see the other desks of bloggers who reveal their desks on a Wednesday. 

I would like to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and a huge Thank You to all my Followers and People who pop by to see me now and again.  I always appreciate your comments.  Thank you all for encouraging me with my blog in it's first year!!

See ya all around in 2012!!

MWAH!!

Hettie