SNOW AGAIN ! ! !

Well, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful . . .

I think we are in for a very long winter and goodness knows what January and February will bring as these are usually the real winter months !

We've had about 1 inch of snow today which is nothing compared to other parts of the UK . . BUT the fact that the side roads and most pavements were covered in black ice prior to the latest snowfall makes traveling on foot or by car treacherous.


Frosty the Snowman
Was a jolly happy soul . . .

The snowman Jack, Blair and I built over two weeks ago has finally melted away. All that remains is a large puddle of ice and a carrot ! Somehow I don't think that will be the only snowman of this winter :D


O Christmas tree O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches . . .

Our Christmas tree has been up since the 8th December, Jack loves it and likes to sit with only the tree lights lighting the room. We thought he might take the baubles off but so far it has stayed intact lol


He's making a list
Checking it twice . . .

The "LIST" is complete and if you are not on it you know you have been very naughty ;) Santa has only the wrapping and delivering to do now :D

MORE NEW STASH !!! . . .

I must stop going places where I find loads of lush new scrapbooking stash .. NOT lol

I have made a few little purchases recently and should now stop before I spend all the Christmas money lol

It's very hard for me to resist Christmas stash as I have a complete mental block with anything remotely festive and can't stop myself ( it's frightening to think what my attic will be like in another 5 years or so, it's groaning with decorations already)

On Thursday evening I ventured out to the crop in Stewarton. I'd had such a good time at the Sunday all day crop and having missed last week due to bad weather I was really looking forward to it. All the girls are so lovely and welcoming and it was good to relax and chat for a few hours :D The journey home was another matter and what should have taken about 25 mins took me an hour and a quarter !!! AND I didn't hit the motorway once lol. Alan has said he'll take me over this weekend so I know how to get there and back safely next week :D

So what have a bought . . . .










Not all Christmassy ;) and I did buy some My Mind's Eye, Fine and Dandy range but can't upload photos for some reason. The Prima papers and pad "too cute" are well, too cute lol and I have big plans for the Tando Christmas stuff ( including large trees which I haven't uploaded) . . . best get into my craft room tonight and get to work instead of just talking about it lol

MORE STAMPS . . . .

Thought I would show you a few of the Lili of The Valley stamps I bought last week, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these stamps and have quite a collection now :)
First is this darling little birdhouse complete with cute robin



Next is this baby Christmas image, how cute is this :D



This image reminds me of Nurse Nancy from The Twinkle lol, I love it :D




All the LOTV stamps are beautiful and after having seen the wonderful samples I know I'll be buying lots more . . . especially after 12th of this month when the new releases will be online :D

I'M GOING IN . . . . . .

I'm making a start on my Tesco Advent Calendar today :D
I have . . . paint (three lots), sanding block (hopefully not needed), papers, jewels, shimmers, glamour dust, embellies and lots of glue!!

Here's the before photo . . . in it's original glory (taken from last years brochure)



Also have the most adorable Twiddleybitz "attic town house" and "bird cage on pedestal" to alter for Christmas, so they'll need assembling and painting too :D

Before photo . . .




and they last before photo . . .

WOW ! ! BUSY OCTOBER . . .

I can't believe it's October and only 85 days till the big man arrives. lol

This is going to be a very busy month . . .

This weekend . . I was supposed to be having lunch with my sis tomorrow ( she's just back from holiday ) and meeting up with friends on Sunday . . both have had to be cancelled as my neck and shoulder are bad again :(
AND
3 birthdays
2 weekends away (1 Alan and 1 mine)
4 hospital appointments . . 1 down 3 to go . . .
1 doctor appointment
4 crops
1 craft fair
1 school meeting
and probably more to be added as the month progresses LOL
(edited 5/10)

Today I succumbed and bought the new Bo Bunny, Winter Joy paper range and some embellishments, well it would be very rude not to buy the bits that match the papers lol

I LOVE Christmas and this range is beautiful

Here's a little taster from the Bo Bunny website . . .

CHRISTMAS CRAFTING . . . .

I have started my Christmas crafting by digging out my Bucilla Christmas stocking I bought last year. I had started it but got too carried away making loads of other Christmas decorations and didn't have enough time to finish it :(
So, I've started early this year and it WILL be finished in plenty of time with NO excuses LOL.

Here's what it will be when it grows up :D

I CAN'T BELIEVE . . . .

It's September already!! AND . . . . it's nearly my favourite time of the year . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .. CHRISTMAS . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Runs for cover LOL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Couldn't resist blogging these photos of Jack, he's such a cutie :D





These were taken in St Andrews last month

night night

Val xxx

SANTA CAME TO VISIT

CRAFTS FOR CHRISTMAS...

This was the first tree skirt I made....it didn't become a tree skirt as I couldn't bring myself to cut it LOL so it stayed whole and became a table cover



I love Bucilla kits and this stocking was so quick to make.



My first Bucilla kit, made about 8 years ago and still looks as good as new! :D



The sleigh I threatened to post a few weeks ago LOL and some cream cartons with chocs inside YUM!!



Sleigh, cream cartons,snowman advent and yet another bucilla table cover/tree :Dskirt :D

Merry Christmas Everyone !

when IS Santa coming???
all the stocking were hung


this one needs examining!!!

SANTA'S BEEN !!!

I hope you all had a Wonderful and Joyful Christmas. I'm sure you were all on the "NICE" list LOL
I had a super time with my family and couldn't have asked for a happier day especially as this was Jack's second Christmas and he was really excited.
Jack helped us all to hang our stockings at the fireplace and was especially careful with Storm's stocking....he does love her so much :D
Santa came to our house late on Christmas Eve and we managed to take a few sneaky photos without being spotted LOL
Christmas morning arrived here at 9ish ( which was very good considering) and Jack's face was a picture when he came down stairs and saw all the presents left by Santa ( Grandpa's face was one of shock too ;)LOL)

Deck The Halls....

Where do the days go ? I can't believe it's only 2 weeks till Christmas ! Am I ready ...... eh...NO !!LOL
I have been very remiss in my blogging and uploading photos of my Christmas goodies but I have made ....
1 A sleigh.... no it's not a figment of my imagination LOL
2 Lots of cards
3 Tons of ickle soured cream containers filled with chocs
4 A few notepads decorated to suit each recipient
5 An address book ( still to be bound with BIA)
6 Some little pressies for table settings
7 A hanging NOEL banner ( just to have ribbon added )
8 In the middle of sewing a Bucilla stocking

Still a lot to do before the Big Man arrives ( no I don't mean Alan LOL)
Promise to upload photos tomorrow..... just for Margaret :wink:

Off to tie a thread round my finger
Val xxx

Sleigh Bells Ring ....

I've finished it !!! My Santa sleigh that is :) I'm really pleased with it and can't wait to fill it with goodies :)

Jack's Christmas Photo Shoot

Jack had his photo shoot yesterday morning and what fun we had ... including the photographers LOL . Lauren bought Jack a fab Santa suit and he loooked sooooo cute in it. Now, keeping the hood up for the photos ... that was another matter. In the end we had to admit defeat LOL

I haven't yet uploaded the photos of my Christmas crafting from my camera .... SURPRISE!!!! NOT! LOL.
I was productive again today and put the finishing touches to a sleigh I bought last October from "MDF Man" at the SECC. He has some super MDF blanks all primed ready for altering and at extremely reasonable prices. Fee and I bought more goodies this year but they may have to wait till Dec2010 to be altered LOL.

Off now to try and upload those photos ....

night night
Val xxx

Another Christmas Card....

I'm really trying to use my Stampin-up stamps :)
Materials used for this one-
Small white deckle edge card blank, MME patterned paper from the Alissa range ( background paper and tree) silver card cut using square nesties die, Stampin-up tree image, memento black ink, gel pens, quicky glue pen and glamour dust.
All materials available from "The Papercraft Company" (with the exception of SU stamp)



I have made more than 2 cards LOL !!!

I'm Back !!!

I've been poorly for the last ten days with the dreaded lurgy! Got "the bug" from baby Jack well, we are teaching him to share :lol:
Anyway...I was at my BF Fee's today and I actually made some cards...OK I finished 1 and prepared lots (again) Fee made 3 cards ( she would) don't think she prepared any though. he! he!

materials used for this card :-
white deckle edge card blank, Daisy Bucket patterned paper, nestabilities scallop and plain, silver card stock, white card stock, SU tree stamp, memento ink, quicky glue pen, glamour dust, red satin ribbon.
Please excuse photo, light was bad :(
all materials (except SU stamp)available from www.thepapercraftcompany.co.uk