***2011***   Happy New Year   ***2011***

Wishing everyone all good things for the coming year!

Thanks to you all for visiting my little space in blogland, & following the blog (and my little notes on twitter!) 

I'm really looking forward to 2011 and all that it will bring!

Take care and see you in 2011!

Jo

**  PS - the blog's had a bit of a revamp for the new year - hope you like it!  **

Monochromatic Christmas...

Last week was a little (a lot) busy - but it all ended well and last night we went to see Ghost Stories in London... scary & it was lucky I wasn't holding popcorn or a drink because the people around me would've been wearing them (I jumped just a little bit) (lol)... it was very good - go see it if you can

One of the little jobs I had to do was a card order and here's part of it:

Still on a natural card base but this time keeping the colour scheme very monochromatic... love how these turned out - and were really quick to create ..... still keeping it simple!

and yes the new favourite snowflake punch was used again....  It was expensive and I'm getting my monies worth OK! lol (I'll get bored of it soon.... but not too soon!)

Snow's on its way again peeps - keep warm!*


*says me who went to London yesterday where it was colder than at home which is not normal (we're only 40 minutes away from London and on the coast) - I had to buy a hat & thicker scarf! lol  yes I know... any excuse to go shopping!... well we were in London - would have been rude not too - and I do like to do my bit for the economy!....

Banana Frog Day!!

...and a little bit of christmas over on the blog

(and yes this is my latest favourite punch... and i'm not afraid to use it... on anything and everything! lol)

A little sneak peek....

... of a DT piece I made for PaperArtsy.....

Christmas cards...

...this year's cards are sooo simple - in previous years they've been stamped, sewn, embossed (dry and wet),  but this year I've gone for a 'less is more' approach! - I was a cats whisker away from buying cards to send - shameful I know! shock, horror! Simple was the best way forward.
I  really like the papers by My Minds Eye and the Martha Stewart punch. The sentiment is Hero Arts.
I did consider stitching around the paper squares but remembered that I was on a deadline, and have a longish to-do list before christmas and so no stitching will be involved this year! ("Jo, put the cards down and move away from the craft table")

I love the traditional, slightly Nordic, feel of the cards... I love a bit of Kraft card stock.

ho ho ho

oooh baby its cold outside... so I've been staying in and making stuff....

I'm in Essex and I realise we don't have half the amount of snow as the rest of the country - yesterday on my way up the garden to feed the birds I stuck a ruler in the snow, when M told one his colleagues (based in Pickering, Yorkshire) how much snow we had the colleague scoffed a little & said "call that snow we've got 3ft's worth!"  !!

Ooh I'm glad I'm in Essex!  lol

but it looks like it warming up if these are anything to go by:

and below is the mother of all local icicles (from neighbours guttering) which is getting longer as the day goes on, thankfully its not anywhere that people could be walking under as it could do someone serious damage! (as anyone who has watched Grey's Anatomy knows! (remember Christina & the icicle!!) ouch!)

and one more snow picture:

small spiders web - I tried to find bigger ones but with no luck..... I wish I could remember where I saw a photo of spiders' webs on traffic lights - very cool - on someone's blog -sorry I can't remember who's it was (EDIT: it was Angela Weimer's blog! - go take a look: http://pagesbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-begining-to-lok-alot-like-christmas.html  its a really great picture...)

Aaaaanyhooo, enough about the weather...

I made this for M, its an advent thingy-ma-jig and each little box contains little notes or treats.  Made out of matchboxes and coasters, its small- measuring just under 10x10x10cm. The little boxes' labels work as a tab to pull them in & out and text was created on the PC. 
Papers are My Minds Eye, snowflakes are Nestabilities and Martha Stewart, ticket stamp is Purple Onion.
I'm pleased with how it turned out but next time I'm going to use sturdier and bigger matchboxes! lol

(if you want to know how to make one of these look in back issues of Craft Stamper (I'll look back when I get a minute and let you know which issue).

Tag-a-liscious 2/too...

As promised here is the other tag I made with the lovely embossing folders that the Postie delivered in a snow 'storm'...

All the embossing folders are Cuttlebug, tags cut with Tim Holtz tag die (big fave of mine!), inks are Distress (pitch black, peeled paint).

I like how the flame of the chandelier candles are deeper embossed than other bits (?) and so colour doesn't settle into them making them look bright.  Nice.

Bit of crochet, some vintage buttons, gems and a length of bobble trim - lush!

Hope you're all warm and safe.

Tag-a-licious! & bbrrrrr

It feels like I should be posting something festive today as its 1st December.... Eeek! 1st December!!

aaanyhoo,  I'm not going to! but here's a picture of our snow! lol  I'm in Essex and our snow isn't nearly as deep/impressive as some parts of the country but its enough (and too much at the same time! lol)

None of us has ventured out into the garden - not Me, M or Lola (fat chance of her braving it) or Bertie (give him half the chance & he'll go take a look) - but I will later to feed the wildlife.

The Postie made it round yesterday - he's a hardy soul (part of a Postie's job description?) and so I thought I'd make something with what he delivered so his delivery wasn't wasted (lol)... more tags.
btw Tim Holtz 12 tags of christmas started today over on his blog so if you're interested (and how could you not be) go and take a look - lots of loveliness and make sure you watch the video from a couple of days ago... genius)

aaanyhoo - tag:

The Postie delivered a parcel from Craft Obsessions - the romance/love pack of embossing folders for the Cuttlebug... had my eye of these for a while! I need/want to make an engagement card for a friend and they are perfect! (and on sale!) ... but I made a tag first..

 

I really like how the Glossy Accents sits on the lettering and gives it a bit of pop. I intended this tag to be more pink than red but could find the pink inks - but its a happy accident because I really like it.  The colour combo's like Basic Grey's Scarletts Letter papers - LOVED that range.... oooh ooh I could have used a bit of that on the background... ggrr why didn't I think of that earlier......

I also made a really nice green & black one which I'll show you tomorrow.....

Take care and stay warm!