Is it a bird, is it a plane... no- it’s a car and a new challenge over at My Partner in Crafting Crime!! :)

Hey everyone!! :)

Firstly, apologies for that shocking post title- I really find thinking them up harder than making the card or writing the rest of the post put together sometimes!!lol Well, as if we needed any other convincing beyond the freezing cold winds to prove that ‘summer’ (such as it was here in the UK, anyway!! :( ) is behind us, then here it is- the kids are back in school, the nights are drawing in... and we over at My Partner in Crafting Crime are back from our summer break with some fab new challenges in store for you!! :) Now that’s a nicer thought, isn’t it!?! :) :) 

To get us all back into things this fortnight, our theme is ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ ...which is fairly self-explanatory really, and we're making it extra easy for you as it's our first week back... just use any mode of transport in your project!! :) A great chance to get one of those pesky Male cards we all struggle with done!!lol We have two fab sponsors this time: Bows and Berries Digital Stamps and Glitterbabe Digis so do pop over to their shops and have a look around!! :)

Okay, on to my card!! ;) The original idea for this one came after I'd been browsing the fabulous inspiration over at Clean & Simple Stamping and came together from elements of various sketches I liked. The card was made for an order from a friend for a birthday card for her b-i-l who had recently lost his mum so she wanted it to be fairly simple, not too bright and also to incorporate his love of cars. She also wanted to avoid typical 'happy b’day' sentiments.

I started by making my own 5"x7" card blank from a sheet of A3 as I knew I wanted to round the two right hand corners and wasn't sure that would look right if the spine was at the top.

I stamped the car image (which is from DoCrafts- either Papermania or Anita's ranges, I'm not sure and it's buried deep in one of my stamp boxes again now! :S ) in black pigment ink, masking the text on the bottom of the stamp with paper while I inked up, and embossed with clear powder. Then I cut and embossed it with a Nestie and, with the die still in place, masked the car and added the sky and road with Distress Inks and Cut’n’Dry.

I used my MS Zig Zag punch- indispensable for male cards!!- and Hougie board to add a bit of interest to the border strips- had the brief not been to keep it so simple I might have added a bit of dark raffia or something similar for a bit of texture.

In keeping with the circular theme, I altered one of the sentiments I created last year in my graphics program and printed in dark blue to match. I’m not quite sure about the way it looks, though... maybe it’s just a tad too big?!

I was a little concerned I had gone too muted with the colours but she was happy with it and I was pleased with the style :) I may have to try a similar layout with brighter colours... I think I'd either make the sentiment smaller or put it somewhere else entirely, though, if I did! :)

'The List'...

White A3 cardstock to make a 5"x7" base
Image: Wood mounted car stamp from DoCrafts
Black Versacolour ink pad, clear embossing powder and heat tool
Circle Nesties
Distress Inks: Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone
Martha Stewart Zig Zag punch
Hougie Board and embossing stylus
Digi Stamp Sentiment created in my graphics program

I’d like to enter this in the following Challenges: Di Digi Designs - Anything Goes :) ; Totally Gorjuss - It's A Man Thing :) ; Fairy Fun Fridays - Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog's Tails :) ; Crafting For All Seasons - Birthdays :) ; Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes :) ; Cards For Men - Anything But A Square :)

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post- such a lovely welcome back to Blogland!! :) I’ve managed to visit a few of you in the last week or so and will hopefully be able to continue to catch up with you all a few at a time- just having to try to be a bit careful with the time spent on the computer and just generally trying not to overdo things at the mo’ :S I hope you’re all okay and enjoyed your weekends!! :) Don’t forget to stop by the PCC blog and have a look at the great work from the rest of the team and I hope you'll join in with us!! :)

Christmas is coming... (help!! :S) lol

Hello there!! :)

I hope you're all okay and enjoying the warm weather over the last few days!! :) It’s gloomy here today but still warm- we’ll no doubt be back to needing cardis to keep warm enough soon, though!! :S I've gone from one extreme to the other on the cardmaking front, too, and from the hot and sunny beach card of last week straight to my first Christmas card of the year...

I saw several cards made with Donalda’s Sketch for last week’s LOTV Challenge and loved them but typically knew I wouldn’t be able to get anything done in time... but, after rediscovering some LOTVs I stamped and coloured but didn’t get round to using last Christmas, all neatly tidied away in a folder with the leftovers of the digi christmas papers I made last year, I came over all inspired- a rarity it seems atm :S – and decided I’d make my first Christmas card of the year ...what happened to the idea of keeping going after Xmas last year to avoid the last minute panic, I really don’t know!!lol 

Anyway, this is the adorable James and he’s been coloured in PMs in my fav colours of last Xmas- Greys and Slate applied with Blender- with just a smidgen (yeah, right!!) of Crystal Stickles and Clear Glaze :) He wasn’t meant to be cut out like this but I had a moment with my C’bug and the image shifted in the die as I tried to emboss it- I haven’t had that happen for ages and I was not a happy bunny with the image already coloured... but now I think it looks better this way as you see more of the coloured papers rather than just a white square and must remember to do it more often!!lol

These are also (big surprise!!lol) my fav colourway of the papers I made last year to go with my fav PM and DI colours when I couldn’t find any that I liked to buy, and I still love that I don’t have to think about what colours will go... makes it so much easier!! :) I didn’t get to use them as much as I wanted to last year as I ended up not able to make all my cards so I think I’ll be using them a fair bit this year again... do hope you won’t all get bored of seeing them!! :S I finished off the sketch with some ribbon, some ink and stickles around the papers and one of my sentiment tickets also left from last year :) Nothing too complicated... but that’s the best way with Christmas cards really, isn’t it- for all but the really special ones anyway!! :)

The List:

• 6"x6" white blank
• Image: James Bear All Wrapped Up - Lotv
• ProMarkers to colour: Cool Greys and Slate applied with the Blender pen
• My own design Digi Papers and Digistamp Ticket Sentiment- left from last year
• Color Box Chalk ink pad - Wisteria
• Copy paper coloured with Slate PM for matting
• Crystal Stickles
• Sakura Clear Glaze pen
• Lilac Pearls
• White Dotty Organza Ribbon coloured with Amethyst PM

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Lotv - Celebrate :) ; Fab 'n' Funky - Bermuda Triangle :) ; Dream Valley - Ribbon :) ; Totally Papercrafts - Bingo (I've used Gems (my pearls), Glitter and Ribbon) :) ; Allsorts - Free and Easy :) ; Winter Wonderland - Christmas Buffet (I've used Patterned Paper, Ribbon and Gems (pearls) :) ; An Oldie But A Goodie - Anything Goes :) ; ABC Christmas - Monochrome :) ; Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes :)

And, as all my papers- not to mention the image and ticket- are from last year’s leftovers, I’d also like to join in with Jules’ fab Sunday Snippet challenge- I love the inspiration(al reminder!!) from Jules each week to think about what leftover bits and pieces I might have hanging around!!lol

Before I pop off to link up- might take me a while!! :S lol – I want to say a huge ‘Thank You!!’ to all the lovely people who’ve left me comments recently!! :) I am still not feeling up to commenting on nearly as many of your fab creations as I’d like- though thanks to my fancy new phone, I am at least getting to see them more than I would if I had to be feeling up to using the comp- and I truly appreciate every one of you taking who’s taken the time to leave me comments despite that... it makes my day to read them, especially on the days I’m struggling more!! :) I’ll hopefully be back on Thursday with my DT card for the next Forever Friends Monthly Challenge :)

                                           

New Stash... and a new challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime :)

Hello again!! :)

Sorry that this post is a little late- should have been up yesterday but I'm really struggling at the mo', had a v bad M.E. day yesterday indeed and was in no state to even think about let alone type a post :S Slightly better today so I’m going to try to make something sensible out of the bits I started typing on Sunday night- when I was already feeling rather befuddled and ill- so apologies if it’s a bit disjointed!! :S lol ...Anyway...

It’s time for a new challenge over at My Partner In Crafting Crime and this fortnight we’d like to see you using ‘Twine, Jute or String’ on your cards- a nice and easy one for you!! :) - and we’re sponsored again by the fab Bows & Berries Digital Stamps Shop!! :)

I used a fab digi from our sponsors Bows & Berries, which I won when I came in the Top Three in their own challenge a few weeks ago- as soon as I saw this gorgeous Mannequin I wanted to try and colour it to look like it was covered in black velvet- and I have to say I’m quite pleased with the way it came out as it’s the first time I’ve tried colouring anything this dark before :) – and it needed a rich, deep colour to go with it... purple’s always an easy decision for me, especially as I found this gorgeous plum Baker’s Twine at the Ribbon Girl a few weeks back (the perfect excuse to finally place my order and get the seam binding, lace and buttons I've had my eye on for ages, too- all firsts for me!!lol)!! :) I decoupaged the body of the mannequin, too, for a bit of extra depth, which I think adds something :)

I needed to make my DT card as well as a 21^st for a neighbour and wasn’t feeling well enough to make two cards in time so the two ideas got combined into this one design with a computer generated sentiment to personalise it and I tried to create a clustered effect with that and all the embellishments, which is a look I’ve been seeing a lot recently and really love :) My photos aren’t great for some reason and it did all look better in reality but the card had been given before I had chance to check the pics!! :S lol

A few close-ups of some of the details :)

The List:

• 6” x 6” white blank
•   Gorgeous Mannequin Digi Stamp from Bows & Berries Digi Stamp Shop :)
• Promarkers: Cool Greys 4 & 5, Black, Grey Green, Aubergine and Copic blender
• Core’dinations purple card
• Silver Linen-textured satin mirror board
• C’bug D’vine Swirls Embossing Folder
• Dusty Concorde Distress ink Pad
• Tim Holtz Paper Distresser tool
• Seam Binding, Baker’s Twine and Pearl Button from The Ribbon Girl
• Digi Sentiment designed in my graphics program
• Nesties: Labels 4, Large Circles and Petite Scalloped Circles
• Pearl Hat Pins
• Glitter filled domes
• Purple Flat-backed Pearls
• Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze pens

I’m going to come back later and try to find some challenges to enter this in as I haven’t been up to looking around much yet...

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges: OSAAT - Anything Goes :) ; Creative Craft Challenges - Vintage/Distressed :) ; Crafty Cardmakers - Embossing :) ; The Shabby Tea Room - Monochromatic :) ; Stamps R Us - Goin' Digital :) ; There's Magic In the Air - Embossing :) ; Paper Sundaes - Birthday Creations :); PaperPlay - Anything Goes :)

I also made a candle as a gift to go with the card, which I thought I’d show you, too- if I don't show you now, I'll probably forget for months!!lol

I used the same colours though I used a different stamp as our neighbours have a gorgeous little dog and so this Pampered Pets one seemed perfect!! :)

Hope you’re all well and had a good weekend!! :) Thank you for visiting and I hope I’ll be able to get back to blog hopping a bit myself soon- as Mr Blogger’s malfunctions last week showed, it really is an addiction and I miss visiting you all like mad!! :) Please pop over to the main PCC blog, too, and have a look at the fab Twine creations from the rest of the DT!! :)

  

Christmas Bunnies In Blue :)

Hi :)

This is a quick post to share another of the Christmas cards I made last year and never got posted... hope nobody will mind or be too bored but it seems a shame not to share them!! :) This one is the one I made for my dad and Step-mum and uses the gorgeous LOTV Bunnies image- can't believe I almost didn't actually buy this stamp... and it turned out to be one of my favourites- not only is it so incredibly cute but I love colouring it the various different colourways and mediums I've tried!! :)

It's pretty similar to ones I've posted before- though I like that the larger size difference between the card and first paper layer and the brighter ink gives the whole thing a much lighter, cleaner feel than some of my other similar cards, no idea why I decided to do that at the time, thought!!lol - so I won't witter on too long about it but for anyone who's new to my blog, I used:

• LOTV's Christmas Bunnies - Stocking image stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Promarkers
• Stardust Stickles and Sakura Clear Stardust on the image
• Nestie Labels (4?) die
• My own digi papers and a new version of my ticket sentiments
• MS Aspen Snowflake border punch
• Tim Holtz Paper Distresser and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink on all edges
• White Organza Ribbon and Flat-backed Pearls to finish

And a few close-ups :)

As this one was made before Christmas and because I want this to be a quick post, I'm not going to enter it in any challenges but I'm hoping I'll be back soon with the card I mentioned the other day :) Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on my last card and the well wishes, too- I've had a better day or two which was nice but then followed by another dodgy one yesterday... just seems to be the way of it at the mo' but I really appreciate all your kind words :) One thing I will say is that it makes it easier that it's already staying lighter for so much longer in the evenings- I know some people hate this time of year, when the excitement of Christmas is over and there seems nothing to look forward to 'til summer, but I like the sense of things getting better with more light and lovely flowers popping up- it's late September/early October I hate, when it's already cold and so much darker and then you remember that there's still a month before the clocks change and it all gets even worse- and I can tell it makes me feel different from mid-January!! :) :) Right, I'll stop rambling now!!lol Hope you're all enjoying the feeling of spring around the corner and having a good weekend, too!! :)

hugs,  

Gifts Galore!! :) And ‘Happy New Year!!!’ to you all!!! :)

Hello everyone!! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!?! Mine went a bit pear-shaped (though I did still have a nice time in an odd sort of way!! :) ) and I’m still not feeling great so I hope you’ll forgive this being an incredibly short, not very informative post only I remembered I wanted to enter this in the Crafter’s Companion Challenge and need to do it –like, right now!! ;D

So, here’s a card I made the week before Xmas for a friend following the sketch at Crafter’s Companion- I loved working with this sketch sooo much, so simple but a joy to make!! :)

The fab LOTV image is coloured with PMs and the card is basically using the same items as my previous Xmas cards so please have a look below and forgive me for not being upto managing the detail at the mo’!! (Will come back and do it properly later if I can) :S The only things I’ve not used before are the Crafter’s Companion Spray and Sparkle in Sliver, which I used to get the gorgeous sparkle on the snowflakes, and the fab Chocolate Box Card Candy!! :)

 

A few close-ups :) Was really pleased with the way the light caught the Dew Drops!! :)

So, I’d like to enter this in these challenges: Crafter’s Companion – Fab Sketch :) ; LOTV – New Beginnings (this is the first time I’d used this stamp) :)

All that’s left is for me to wish you all a very, very happy and healthy 2011 for yourselves and all your loved ones!!! :) :)

hugs,

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas...with a birthday card!! :D

Evening all and a very Happy Christmas Eve to you!! :)

Well, I had a feeling I wouldn't keep that pace of posting up all week but I'm back and, in typically contrary fashion, I actually have a birthday card to show you tonight on Christmas Eve!! :) My lovely mum’s birthday was on the 22nd- gets kinda hectic this time of year around here!! ;) – and this is the card I made for her... and, miracle of miracles, it was actually finished the night before her birthday for once!! :)

Now, before you start scratching your heads and thinking I’ve gone mad- I know it’s technically a Christmas stamp but my mum loves rabbits (she had one as a toy all through her childhood and infact it’s still in a cupboard somewhere!! :) ) and also, she’s always telling me that not all Christmas stamps are exclusively for Christmas and could be used for winter birthdays, too (I think she may be trying to get me to buy less stuff but that kind of thing goes in one ear and out the other, I’m afraid!! Hehe!!) so I took her at her word!! :)

I used:

• Gorgeous LOTV Christmas Bunnies Stamp
• Promarkers and Prismas to colour- PMs on the image with Prismas to finish and Prismas for the sky – I was trying to emulate (from memory) the scene featuring this image in the LOV Cute Squares collection, think mine came out a bit more purple but mum loves purple as much as me so that’s okay!! :)
• Papers from: Basic Grey’s ‘Kioshi’ pad (the purples) and a jumbo My Mind’s Eye pad called ‘So Delightful’ (the teals) which I got from QVC and love, love, love the colour and pattern on this one :)
• Milled Lavender and Broken China DIs and Tim Holtz Tool to lightly distress the paper, image panel and sentiment
• Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die
• Crystal Stickles
• 8mm and 4mm pearls
• Grossgrain Ribbon - in just the right purples, thankfully!!
• One of my Digi Sentiment Rounds personalised to say ‘mum’

And some close-ups of the details including the goregeous paper and new flowers :)

I’d like to enter this in the following Challenges: Sketch & Stash 51 – Your Choice – I chose Sketch #48 and my new stash is the LOTV stamp, MME papers and TH Tattered Florals Die :) ; Totally Gorjuss – For Someone Special :) ; I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes :)

OOOPS!!! Edited to include the Sketch I used, which I forgot :/ Didn't really have a clue beyond the image I wanted to use before I saw this a few hours before making the card so it's kind of an important component!! :)

Right, I shall go and link those up then back to the frantic last minute Xmas stuff for me- I still have my mum’s card to make amongst a host of other things!! :/ Have been busy making some last minute cards and gifts today but just really needed to lie back with a cuppa and rest up a bit (my mind is in overdrive but my body is flagging just a tad!!lol) so this seemed a good way to make it happen and share something else with you all to tide the blog over Xmas!! :)

I hope you are all well and looking forward to tomorrow- I wish you all a very Happy Christmas Time, however and with whomever you are spending it!! :) :) And let’s hope Santa’s been frequenting a few craft shops (or making use of t’internet like me!! ;) ) and brings us all lots of lovely goodies to make our cards and bloghopping even more fun in the new year!! :)

Much love and thanks to you all for the wonderful welcome into blogland you’ve shown me this year and all your inspiration and encouragement along the way- it’s been so much fun already,

hugs,

Let It Snow!! :)

Hello again!! :)

Wow- it got as ‘warm’ as -8oC here today!! I couldn’t believe it when I turned my computer on at midday and it said it was -10oC!! :{ I hope you’re all coping okay with it, anyway!! :)

Another Christmas card to share tonight- this one is for my 4 year old cousin- and my Uncle, his fiancé and her daughter but I must confess I made it with him in mind!! ;)

So it has a suitably fun and lively LOTV James Bear image and plenty of blue!! He’s remarkably appreciative of my efforts for a 4yr old boy so I’m pretty sure he’ll like it!! :)

I used:

• Gorgeous LOTV stamp: James Bear- Sledging :)
• Promarkers (and I can actually remember the colours!!) to colour: Cool Greys 1, 2, 3 & 4; Pastel and Denim Blues for the presents; Sandstone and Caramel for the sledge with Cool Grey 1 over the top to tone the brown in with the rest
• Nestie Labels 2, I drew round the outside of the one I used to die-cut the image to get the mat
• Two of my digi papers again, altered from the tealy blue version to be a bit more grey-blue
• TH Distressing Tool and Stormy Sky DI on edges of all the papers, image and mat layer
• Perfect Pearls Shimmer Spray on the snowflake paper :)
• One of my digi tickets for the sentiment
• Snowflakes from the Cricut again :)
• Dew Drops and Gems from stash
• Stickles in Stardust on the image and to fix the Dew Drops/Gems and Frosted Lace on the snowflakes

And a few close-ups :) You can even see the shimmer spray on the last couple- it's sooo pretty and perfect for Xmas cards, I'm so glad I treated myself to it this side of Xmas :)

I really enjoyed making this card and am really happy with the way all the colours worked together :) I’m also loving having so many sparkly and shimmery bits to play with...to think I didn’t really like the idea of glitter and gems when I started crafting- what I can have been thinking I really don’t know ‘cos I can’t get enough on a card now!! ;D

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Crafts & Me – Moody Blues :) ; Passion for Promarkers – Anything Goes :) ; Fussy and Fancy – Snow :) ; CES – Anything Goes :)

Right, off to link up- must admit I’m enjoying posting more cards, more often...not sure how long it’ll last though!! ;) I’ve managed to get another Xmas card done tonight, was hoping I might find just a little more energy to make a start on another but think that’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow now... ah, also need to make one for my mum’s birthday on Wednesday, too... hmmm... wonder if mum’s got any of those shop bought Xmas cards still lying around... :S ;)

hugs,

Getting my skates on for Christmas!!! ;)

Hello!! :)

Well, as my post title suggests, I’ve been thinking about Christmas cards this week...unfortunately, though, this is the only one I’ve finished so far so much more speedy metaphorical skating will be needed in the next month or so- anybody know how exactly it came to be November already, by the way ‘cause I think I must’ve missed at least six months of this year somehow!?! :S It's completely dark here already and decidedly chilly again- but sitting here with the lights on, anticipating a lovely warm cuppa in a minute and with the delicious smell of our Christmas cake baking in the oven waffting up the stairs is making me feel really quite cosy and cheerful- if rather hungry!!lol - despite the too quick marching of time!! :)

Anyway, I’ve chalked one more card off the list, at least, and it’s another gorgeous Lili of the Valley image taking centre stage:

I followed the fab sketch by Bev over at the LOTV challenge this week and I also used another colour of the Snowflake Digi Paper I made in my graphics program a while back along with a Digi Ticket sentiment that I made in the same program last week to fit with Crafty Cardmakers’ Digital Plus challenge :)

I’ve used Skating Along, which I stamped in Memento London Fog and coloured with Promarkers...but it was such a long time ago that I’m afraid I have no clue which colours I used except the Cool Greys and Duck Egg as I’d just got that one and was playing around to see what I could do with it!! I do seem to remember that it took me a long time of going back over with different colours to be even close to happy with the blue/green tones but you live and learn!! ;) Then I added some Crystal Stickles to the fur on her hat and coat and some Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze :) The matting layer beneath the image is paper coloured with Duck Egg PM and that and the image piece are punched with a decorative corner punch and very lightly edged with Broken China DI for a little more definition :)

I punched the snowflake strip with my MS Deep Edge Trim Snowflake punch from white card I’d coloured with Duck Egg PM and then edged that and my snowflake paper with a little more Broken China (I used my TH Paper Distresser very lightly on the paper edge, too). I made the paper by simply arranging some snowflakes from a free dingbats font I downloaded (called Faux Snow) on a page and then changing the colours to tones of blue that would go with my PMs. I made the papers a while ago in several colourways and patterns to go with the different colour groups of PMs I’m enjoying working with at the mo’ as I was struggling to find papers I liked online :) (Apologies if I'm boring anybody who’s already read about the papers in the post for the card I previously used them for but, as it’s part of one of the challenges, I thought I should explain again!! :) )

I made the sentiment ticket last week after finally discovering- totally by accident!! :D - how to get the inverted corners on a rectangle :) The snowflakes are from the same font as in the papers and I printed out quite a few tickets coloured to match the various papers I’ve made :) The edge is lightly distressed again with the TH tool and DI :)

The ribbon is white organza coloured with Duck Egg PM :D The snowflakes are cut from white card with the Marianne D Swedish Ice Star die and coloured with -guess what!?!- yup, Duck Egg PM!! :D If I’d thought ahead, I would’ve just written at the beginning that I’d coloured all my embellishments myself with the same pen as the image...ah, well!! ;D The smaller snowflake has some Broken China, too, and then both have a coating of Stickles- Crystal on the small ones and Frosted Lace on the larger ones- I’ve not tried this Stickles before and, to be honest, it was slightly underwhelming in the pot (enforced mail-order shopping has many of those kind of disappointing moments) but I actually love it now I’ve tried it (enforced mail-order shopping has a few of those happily surprising moments!! :) ) and think it’s perfect for snowflakes :) :) I put the smaller one on top of the larger while the Stickles was still wet and then left them to dry overnight but when I came back to it earlier to attach them to the card, I think I maybe should have left them separate and used foam pads to attach them together for a bit more depth?!

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: LOTV – Sketch by Bev which I loved using :) ; Crafty Cardmakers – Digital Plus :) ; Lexi’s Creations – Anything Goes :) ; The ABC Challenge - G is for Glitter :) ; Die Cut Dreams – Use a Christmas Digi (if the digi papers and sentiment count even though I stamped the image?!) :) ; Bah! Humbug! - Presents (she’s obviously been shopping for them!!) :) ; ABC Christmas Challenge – W is for Winter Wonderland with the optional extra of white ( I know it’s not quite how it’s meant but, as well as my finished card having quite a lot of white, I’ve just realised that literally everything I used started off white- paper, cardstock, even ribbon- ‘til I went mad with the Duck Egg and DI!!! ;)) ) :)

Right, I shall pop off and link those up then have a browse around some of your fab blogs to see what I fancy trying next!! :) I really do need to get cracking in earnest on those Christmas cards- and gifts ‘cos I’m meant to be making most of those this year, too...nothing like making life easy for yourself, eh!?! ;) I did go a bit mad last week actually and ordered quite a few new stamps- some more LOTVs and my first ever Sugar Nellies as I found a fab stamp which will be perfect for my lil sis’ 16th birthday card at the end of the month...but of course I couldn’t just buy one stamp now could I!?!lol- so whatever I do will probably include some of those!! Can’t wait to get playing!! :) Hope you’re all well at the mo’ and having a good week so far!! :)

Edited to add: The cake's done!!! :D :D

Thought I'd just add in a pic as it's now out of the oven- still warm and smelling even more tempting...the yoghurt and fruit I just ate (as I'm trying to be good at the mo' :[ ) really hasn't helped with the craving for cake!! We always put almonds on the top as my mum doesn't like icing- or having to ice the cake!!- so this is the decoration...I actually can't stand almonds but I've learnt there's no point in mentioning that so I just enjoy the delicious cake and leave them on the plate for her!! :D
hugs,