Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar

Better known as the Three Wise Men. How about these little guys, then? I think they are absolutely fabulous. They have such happy, smiley faces - obviously so pleased to be bringing their gifts to the little King.

I am entering Winter Wonderland this week. I haven't entered it for a couple of weeks but I like this challenge; you can really see the weeks passing to Christmas and my Christmas card box is getting a bit fuller at last. I love the little clock at the side of their blog counting down the days to Christmas - how sad am I! Their challenge is a choice of a sketch or panto or both.

My recipe:
Image: The Three Kings - Hi Hopes
Coloured with a mixture of Faber Castelle and Inktense pencils
DP's: Wassail - Basic Grey
Cardstock: Coredinations
Poinsettias: Hobbyhouse
Tools: Cuttlebug; Nestabilities Labels and Tags
Ribbon from stash
Sentiment: computer generated
Stickles
Glammer Dust
Cosmic Shimmer Mist

Sorry the photo's not the absolute best - there's a bit of glare where the light's hitting the glammer dust but they are such lovely wee men I couldn't not give them a bit of bling. I'm going to buy my own camera and take lessons then I can't blame anyone else when my photos aren't up to scratch!

Thanks for dropping by.

Lynne.x

Winter Wonderland - Twas the Night Before Christmas

Evening all

Hope you are all well and had a good weekend. Just a quick post from me tonight. This is my entry for this week's Winter Wonderland for which the theme is "Home for the Holidays". This has been one of those cards! I had to do a long card for this one, which I'm not comfortable with but I like the wee mouse in his "house" and I didn't like the image on a square card. Then I wanted to put a charm on and I couldn't find the jump rings. Now it's photographed, I think it looks like it's missing something on the front. Perhaps it's just a sentiment or maybe it needs another flower?

Inside:

My recipe:

Images: Elzybells - Don't know the wee mouse's name - sorry
Elzybells - The Night Before Christmas Sentiment
Coloured with Inktense and Watercolour pencils
D.Ps: K & Company - Green Starlight Printed Flat Paper
Green and Red Cardstock: QVC - from an old Christmas pack
Hero Arts Flowers
Red Promarker
Brads - Papermania
Spacers - stash
Ribbon - Anitas
Gems - Paper Adventures
Silver Glammer Dust

Hope you like my little mouse in his home - snug as a bug in a rug. According to Winter Wonderland, it's only 18 weeks to Christmas. I've only got 5 Christmas cards in my box so even if I make a card a week, I'll be nowhere near the number I wanted to be at. So much for the good resolutions, eh?

See you next time.

Lynne.x

Winter Wonderland Altered Paper Bag

Hi folks.

Hope you are all doing ok. I've got my entry for Winter Wonderland all lined up for this week because I've been waiting for Santa to come up! I knew they wouldn't be able to wait long to spotlight the old boy (who would?) so I've been thinking about this project for a while. It's an altered paper bag which I'm going to use to fill with little bits and pieces for a Christmas present when the time comes. It's the first time I've done anything like this and I really enjoyed making it.

I'm absolutely crazy for Christmas, it's my favourite time of year - much better than holidays and even birthdays when you're just another year older! All those gorgeous Christmas cards and beautifully wrapped presents, lovely smells and different things to eat. I start preparing in about September! As you can imagine, it's never a problem to make a Christmas project.

I thought a paper bag would make a wee change and you can do anything you want for this challenge, it doesn't have to be a card.

Inside:

Back:

This is my recipe:

Image: Santa with tree by Sugar Nellie
Coloured with Promarker Pens and Glamour Dust
A paper bag which I cut to size and left a bit on the side for the clip
A clip such as you would find on an office file (they are called 2 piece filing clips)
DP: Paper Adventures Holiday Joy Multi Stripes
Cardstock: QVC from a Christmas pack
Green, red and white velvet paper for the flowers
Various stamps, brads, snowflake charm, stickers and ribbons from stash
Silver Stickles
Christmas stickers from PSX
Computer generated sentiments on back
Verse inside "borrowed" from a piece of scrapbooking paper with no name on it, sorry
Tools: Cuttlebug; Oval Nesties; Leone Em Branch Punch; Small and Medium retro flower punches (they've disappeared from my Wish List!)

The stamping inside isn't the best because of the glitter paper but I think it adds to the distressed look and I quite like it.

Thanks for looking- hope you like it.

Lynne.

Winter Wonderland

Hi folks

Just been watching the Michael Jackson Memorial Service on tele. Oh my, how sad was that? I don't know why I put myself through these things - I've been weeping buckets. I can't bear watching people being upset. How brave was Jermaine? And that poor wee Paris obviously loved her dad to bits. He was the same age as me - I feel like I've grown up with people like him and Donny Osmond and David Cassidy. I can't get my head around the fact that he's actually dead. I know we still have his music but there was much more to him than that, although he made fabulous music and I loved it. Most people don't know about all the other things he did. I feel so sad and boy, am I going to miss that smile.

Goodness only knows what happened to my last challenge - I thought I could enter it for three challenges but where I got the idea I could enter it for A Spoonful of Sugar I don't know. I thought it was summer but it turned out to be something like ribbons and bows! I think I've got a void where there's supposed to be a brain. Never mind, I enjoyed making the card and my mother liked it well enough.

This is my entry for this week's Winter Wonderland which is Christmas Past - I know 'cos I've double checked. I love this image; my daughter bought me it a couple of years ago and it's exactly my idea of what Santa should look like - all olde worlde, kind and smiley. I love the way he peers over his glasses and his eyes twinkle. This challenge is your own idea of Christmas Past or nostaliga, so I can't really go wrong this time, can I? I know I'm definitely a more is more kind of person when it comes to embellishments but I've kept this card quite plain because I wanted Santa to stand out. I've put some diamond glaze on his specs to make them look real - I think you might just be able to see it in the photo.

Hope you like him.

Card Recipe:

Image: Rubber Stampede (I don't think it has a name)
Coloured with Water colour pencils and loads of stickles
Paper: Crafts House Plum Pudding - Marzipan
Card: QVC Christmas pack
Gold mirri card: Tesco, kids section
Brad: Dovecraft
Ribbon, Gems and Charm: Stash
Stickles: Frosted lace and red
Diamond glaze
Tools: Cuttlebug, Swiss dots embossing folder

Off to watch some more Michael. Thanks for dropping by.

Lynne.

Three Challenge Card

Hi folks

I really must think of a different title! Hope you are all well. Haven't managed to do an awful lot this week, despite being off work. That's what happens when you spend the time in crafts shops and not crafting.

I've made this card for three challenges: Whiff of Joy, Winter Wonderland and Sketch and Stash. WOJ is paper piecing (I haven't done this before), Winter Wonderland is Snow (I absolutely love Christmas so snow should be easy enough) and Sketch and Stash which is to use the sketch and a piece of new stash (I used my new water colour pencils - I'm adding to my collection bit by bit) and although the swirly ribbon isn't just bought, I've never used it before. The sketch was a dream to work with, by the way. I really liked it.

Card Recipe:
Image: Herb by WOJ coloured with watercolour pencils
Papers: Paper Adventures - Holiday Joy Blue Swirl
Small piece of velum with snowflake paper behind (sorry, you can't see the snowflakes on the photo)
Blue cardstock: Coredinations
Silver mirri card from the kids section at Tesco
Swirly Ribbon: Papermania
Gems: Kanban
Snowflakes: Kay and Company
Silver Stickles
Tools: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots Folder (for the vellum)

I haven't managed to do the inside yet because I finished this at 1.20 am this morning so I wasn't going to start on the inside at that time. I wanted to get the card done to meet the challenge deadlines and I might not get time tomorrow since we're visiting some boys called Take That - just in case I haven't told you all 50 times already! Am I excited like a kid or what?

In case you are interested in some new images you might not already have, my daughter, Suzanne, is giving away a lovely image folder, packed with images. You can find her blog here if you want to enter.

Thanks for dropping by and for all the lovely comments you've been leaving.

Lynne.x