Oh baubles!

Last year my husband made me a wooden Christmas tree, next thing my daughter wanted one, then some of her friends, my mum, my sister, my friend, her daughter etc., etc., etc., you get the picture, I think he ended up making about 15, the trees came supplied with the lights fitted too.

Last year he got a few requests that came too close to Christmas, so we told people to remind us this year, we thought they would probably forget, but they didn't and he has been busy for weeks now making more, just like last year, somebody sees somebody else's and they want one, then a different person sees theirs and on it goes, at times my living room looked like a forest, trees scattered about everywhere waiting to go to their new homes LOL!.

Here's my tree from last year, I just took the few ornaments off the shelves, leaving the hanging ones still pinned on, removed the batteries from the lights and then wrapped it in a couple of bin bags and stored it at the back of a cupboard, this year I just pulled it out, added batteries and shelf ornaments and it was good to go.

I also got my hooks out and crocheted some Christmas baubles, about a dozen in total although most of them have been stolen appropriated by my daughter, here are just a few.

Thanks for popping in,

take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

It's either all or nothing!

After being away from the blog for about 9 weeks and then posting every 4 days, (sometimes less), to try and catch up, here I am again only 2 days after my last post. I came across a couple of cards that I had forgotten to blog, one of them from last year, so thought I would get it done now.

This one was made for my friends husband

I came across the instructions on the internet and just had to use them.

This one was made for my friend Donna's 50th birthday, I used my Silhouette to cut out the figure and all the wording.

I also found a couple of Christmas cards from last year too, 

I found the wreath digi stamp for free at Blackberry Jelly HERE, I printed it out to the size I needed to fit the gems, then cut it out leaving a border, I added black glitter to the outlines and filled the spaces with different coloured stick on gems  then attached it to the card front with foam pads.

For this one I used wire cutters to cut the centre bar from an oval diamante ribbon buckle and used it as the O in JOY, the poinsettia is a Sue Wilson die and the letters are from an old discontinued die from my stash.

The gems on the first card and the diamante buckle are from Meiflower.

Thanks for stopping by,

take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

Birthday bakes and a dragon

Both of my grandsons had birthdays while I was away from the blog and I had the task pleasure of making them each a birthday cake. When I asked Will what he would like he said Hyperspace Mountain!!! (they had just come home from Disneyland Paris at the time), well there was no way I could reproduce that, luckily he eventually decided that he wanted something with a pig (his favourite animal), so I made him a pig in mud cake, which didn't stretch my limited skills too much.

 The "mud" is a whole giant bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk, melted and poured over the top, the cake has three layers and is sandwiched together and coated with chocolate buttercream again made using lots of Dairy Milk, can you guess what his favourite chocolate is? LOL!

I have to admit by the time it was done, the sight and smell of chocolate made me feel nauseous, unfortunately that didn't last long, hehe!

Charlie wanted Ben Ten and in his words "lots of chocolate like Will's please", so after sandwiching the cake together with vanilla buttercream I covered it in Dairy Milk chocolate buttercream icing, coated the sides with crushed Cadbury's flakes, covered the top with a personalised icing topper ordered from eBay and then after piping buttercream swirls around the top and bottom I added giant chocolate buttons to the base

Eric and I also made the boys a chocolate bouquet each, Eric drew up a template and then cut out the boxes, I put them together and then we arranged all their favourite sweets and chocolates in them. I don't have a photo of Charlies as I forgot to take one, but his was red and had lots of Aero peppermint mint bubbles in it.

We also got to help Will with a school art project. They had to make a mythological creature, he wanted to do a dragon with flames coming out of his mouth! We compromised with light up eyes and nostrils LOL!

Eric could the main part of the body from stiff corrugated card, it was a bit too fiddly for Will, but he cut all the other bits, he also helped Eric build the circuit for the lights and did most of the soldering after being shown what to do (that was his favourite part), once the model was finished he came to me for decorating. We covered the old box we used for the base with crumpled up tissue paper and tacky glue, then once dry he dabbed browns, blacks and greys all over it. He gave the Dragon a base coat of a creamy yellow colour before sponging on the orangey/red paint that he wanted to use, and once that was dry he rubbed some gold gilding wax into it.

The teacher was thrilled with it and has put photos up on the school website as well as putting the dragon on display.

Well that's it. I've just about caught up with everything I've been doing over the last couple of months while away from the blog, it's taken a while, but there was a lot to show, hope I haven't bored you too much.

Take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

1,200 tiny stick on gems later...

I may have mentioned a few times in previous posts that I have been busy making wedding stationery.  It's not my favourite thing to do as I don't enjoy the repetitive nature of it, and I did swear a few years ago that I wouldn't do any more unless my daughter and her partner, who have been together for 17 years up to now, decide to make it official, fat chance!

When my bestest friend asked me if I would do her daughters stationery I just couldn't say no. Up to now I have only made her Save the Dates, 60 of them, each with a little heart of gems encircling the day. As I couldn't find the right sized hearts I ended up making them myself by punching hearts out of acetate and then patiently sticking 20 gems around the outside of each heart, it took a while let me tell you!

The original sample was all silver,  as at that point they hadn't decided on a colour scheme but they eventually decided on a cerise pink to go with the silver and the bow became a daisy. The calendars are backed with self adhesive magnet sheets so that they can be stuck to the fridge.

In the photo we have the original sample, the daisies and hearts in the process of being made and the finished product, bagged up and ready to go, photo's are all taken with my phone so aren't the best.

While I was preparing samples for Alison my daughter came along and asked me if I would do the daytime and evening invitations for her half brother and fiancee, and as usual I couldn't say no.

Kathryn knew exactly what she wanted, sending me a pic she had found on the internet, and wondering if I could reproduce it. Luckily it was easy enough to replicate, consisting of mainly printing, cutting and layering, although adding the lace bands, with the triple wrap of string and flowers to 75 invitations took a good few days.

I knew that once these were all done and dusted I could have a bit of a break from wedding stationery, although I will be mad busy next year getting all Alison's day and evening invitations made, along with her order of service, table plan, menus and place cards. No rest for the wicked hey!

Thanks for popping in and taking a look,
take care,
hugs,
Colette xx

How many tickles...

...does it take to make an Octopus laugh?.. - ... why ten tickles of course! 😁😁😁

Sorry I couldn't help myself.

The reason for my silly octopus joke is that I wanted to share with you a pic of Octavia, my little octopus friend, wellll I say little, but she is actually about 45 inches across from the tip of one tentacle to the tip of the opposite one. 

I came across the pattern in one of my crochet magazines last year and have wanted to make her ever since and I finally managed it during my wedding invitation marathon, crocheting a bit each evening as a break from all the repetitiveness of the invitations.

 She usually sits on top of one of armchairs in the bay window and in the evening when the blinds are shut and the lights are on, from the outside you can see the silhouette of her head and the chair, which makes it look like there is someone sitting there, so my house always looks octipi-ed, hehe!. She serves a dual purpose as Charlie loves to play with her, usually flinging her around and fighting with her during the day, and then she works security of an evening LOL!.

Over the past few months I have also made a couple of security blanket loveys, I made the pink and lemon one first, just because I wanted to, then a friend asked if I would make it in lemon and grey for a new baby boy and when I found out my niece was expecting a little girl in the New Year, I made her the unicorn one.

finally...

What does an Octopus say when it changes a light bulb...

Many hands make light work!!! (groan)

and on that note, I am off to do some work myself.

Thanks for calling,

take care,

Colette xx 

A bit of this and a bit of that!

Here are a few more of the things I made while I was away from the blog, mostly presents for people.

My friend Tina from the Chix with Stix group, celebrated her 50th birthday in October, but she had a lot going on in her life as her partner wasn't too well and was in hospital the week of her birthday so the Chix decided to make a fuss of her at our Tuesday meet up. We put up banners and brought food and drink along to have a little party. I decided to make a table centrepiece using my Silhouette machine.

The whole thing including the cake stand is made from paper and card, all cut out with my Silhouette machine and put together with my own fair hands LOL!

Another friend renewed her vows, they had the ceremony in the same place as they were married at Ashton memorial in Williamson Park, Lancaster. She laid on a coach to get us all up there from Huyton and as the place doesn't have any catering facilities she had hired a fish and chip van to feed us all. The weather wasn't brilliant but we had a lovely day and evening. I thought I would make Sue and Ian a box photo frame as a gift, I added a saying to the centre that can be removed and replaced with a photo.

The embossed background was made using Tied Together embossing folder by Couture Creations, I added a tiny Meiflower Ab stick on gems to each of the points where the pattern crossed, and the flowers were out of my stash.

I also made another frame for my daughter Stacy to give to a friend who had just had a baby, 

Betsy, the shoes and butterfly were all cut with my Silhouette machine. I decorated the initial letter with lots of Meiflower gems and pearls, and once again added something to the centre that could be removed and replaced with a photo.

Thanks for stopping by,

take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou?

On the last day of September we headed off to Italy for a couple of weeks. We were based in the lovely Garda town on the shores of the beautiful Lake Garda, During our holiday we managed to visit lots of lovely towns and cities that were round and about including Venice, Limone, Malcesine, Sirmione, The Dolomites in the South Tyrol and Verona to name but a few.

We had amazing weather, warmer than usual for the time of the year, although while we were walking around in summer clothes and I was slathering factor 50 sun lotion all over my face, the locals all had their winter coats on, it was obviously starting to feel cold to them.

We saw so many fabulous things, so I thought I would share a couple (or more) photos with you.

St Mark's church - St Mark's Square, Venice,

The fabulous Rainbow Lake at Carezza, on the way to the Dolomites. The colours in the water are amazing and the photos don't do it justice. It was a beautiful bright sunny day, but the Dolomites in the background had a dusting of snow.

More snow on the Dolomites.

Juliet's balcony in Verona, although it seems there wasn't an actual balcony there originally, it was added at a later date, after the place became well known, thanks to Shakespeare's play. The house really did belong to the Capulet family though, and there is also a house belonging to the Montague family in Verona.

The Roman Ampitheatre in Verona

Hope you enjoyed seeing a few of the sights,

thanks for dropping in,

take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

More Lavender

Making cards for magazines is not always easy, you have to work with the stuff they send you sometimes it's just not your thing, or the colours and designs they want are not your style, but there are other times when everything is perfectly suited to you and this is how I feel whenever I get a Nitwits commission.

I love making cards using digital products, and Nitwit collections are my favourite kits ever. The patterned papers are always gorgeous, getting a set of solid colours is always a bonus and the elements and full of detail and texture. The Lavender digital collection brought all the things I love together, including my favourite range of colours.

Here are the last three cards made for Papercraft Essentials 152 using this collection.

Thanks for dropping in,

take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

Better late than never!

While I was absent without leave, I was very busy, and totally forgot to blog these cards, which I had made for Papercraft Essentials issue 152, which was in the shops on the 19th October. 

The commission was to use Nitwits Lavender digital collection to make 7 cards, 4 of which I will show to today.

I loved the colours and the lacy elements in the kit and really enjoyed making these cards.

Thanks for stopping by,

take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

Catching up...

While I have been missing from my blog I have been doing a bit of baking, amongst other things. I used to do quite a bit of cake decorating about 25 years ago, but haven't bothered for a long time, my daughter and grandsons don't like jam, so shop bought birthday cakes have always been a bit of a problem.

A few weeks before her birthday my daughter posted a photo of a Unicorn birthday cake on her Facebook page, saying how much she would love a cake like that for her birthday even though she would be 34. I saw the pic and decided I would surprise her my making my own version of the cake, so I dug out what little cake decorating equipment I still had left, borrowed some from a friend and 

Ta-dah! a unicorn birthday cake filled with buttercream and no jam.

Not too bad considering how out of practice I am. Stacy was thrilled with the cake, 

especially when it was cut up and she saw the inside.

The only problem is that I have made a rod for my own back as she then decided that I could make the boys birthday cakes too LOL!

While I was in the cake decorating mood, I also decided to make a cake for my friend's husband to celebrate his 80th birthday, although he definitely didn't want a unicorn cake hehe!

I mentioned in the previous post that I am a member of 2 knit and natter groups, I also attend a hand-sewing group one morning a week, run by the local library, we are not a large group, but we are very friendly and all happy to share our skills and knowledge with each other.

We mainly do patchwork and quilting, but every year for the last few years I have made Stag's heads and given them away to friends and family, this year is no exception and over the past couple of month's I have made this handsome fellow, who now lives with my best friend Julie. 

Completely hand sewn and mounted on a plaque made by my very clever hubby.

Well I'm off now, but I promise the next post will contain cards!

Thanks for dropping in,

take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

It's been a while...

My blog has been poorly treated, abandoned and alone, in the great big world wide web, neglected and uncared for, what a bad blogger I am!

I do have an excuse, or three, or four or more LOL! In the past couple of months I have made wedding invitations, save the dates, cakes, photo frames and had a holiday!

I thought I would try and catch up on everything I've been up to over the next couple of posts as I only have one magazine commission to show you (I took a break while I was making the wedding invitations) and to be honest the magazine came out in October, so I am really late posting it.

First up we had a family day out to London with my daughter, her partner, my grandsons, my daughter's partner's mum, myself and Eric. We were on the train at 6am in the morning, which meant getting up about 4.30! to get ready and get to the station. The boys slept all the way to London LOL!

Here's my lot sitting in front of a lion in Trafalgar square.

We returned home on the 6pm train and finally walked through our front door at about 9.30 that evening so it was quite a long day, but a good time was had by all.

I am a member of 2 local knit and natter groups (I don't knit so I crochet instead) one in the local library and another in our heritage hub, which goes my the name of Chix with Stix, one of our ladies asked if we would be interested in making blankets for Arrowe Park Hospital Paediatric Resus unit, where her daughter in law is a consultant, the blankets go to the very sick children, the colours and patterns help the nurses to distract them while they are being treated, they take the blanket up to the ward with them and  then home. It seems some of the children with ongoing problems bring their blankets back to the hospital with them whenever they attend.

We were lucky enough to get a donation of money to buy wool and between us so far have made about 40 blankets for the hospital. 

The project was even mentioned in the Liverpool Echo, you can check it out HERE I also made the blanket that is being held up by the staff 😊

I thought I would show you a picture of my favourite blanket, I really enjoyed making all the little applique pieces for this one.

Well that's it for now, but I will be back very soon with the next installment.

Thanks for stopping by,

Take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

Today is fabulous!

Today is my wedding anniversary, 28 years, so a big shout out to my lovely hubby and yesterday my oldest grandson was 12, 12! oh my goodness where have those years gone?

Here are the last three cards for my Simply Cards and Papercraft commission using Nitwits Idyllic digital scrapbooking kit.

These cards have lots of decoupage layers, I love adding decoupage to my cards, but sometimes I don't know when to stop! I know it is not everyone's cup of tea, but the cards can easily be made by just doubling up the image with foam pads in between, rather than doing all the decoupage layers.

On this card the hat is made up of about 5 layers of decoupage and the flower about 7, see I told you I don't know when to stop LOL!.

For this card I used the three label tags from the Lil'Bits elements kit, and re-sized them so that each one was smaller than the one before I turned them on their sides and layered them up with foam pads. The stopper and butterfly are both made up of two layers and the bow which is also from the kit is made up of three layers.

Lots of cutting out on this one, after gluing the border papers to each end I cut around them to give shaped edges, then decoupaged up the window box, flowers and butterfly.

Thanks for dropping by to take a look,

take care,

hugs,

Colette xx

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Whoa! don't get overexcited, he's not coming just yet, you've still got plenty of time to do your Christmas shopping, but if you are making your own Christmas cards you should be well underway by now, and if you need a little help then look no further than the latest Tonic bookazine, which is in the shops now and comes complete with a free kit containing a carol singer die set, winter village embossing folder, various stamps and papers.

I had a little commission for the bookazine, which entailed using some of the kit, with purple, lilac, pink and silver papers from my stash along with glitter and bling.

Here's what I came up with.

All the carol singers were made using the included dies, and the sentiment is one of the stamps from the kit.

The images and sentiment are all stamps from the free kit.

and here is the embossing folder in all it's glory, it is embossed into silver mirror card, but no matter how much I tried I just couldn't get a decent photo, so just had to use the best of a bad bunch.

The cardstock and papers where either in my stash or my scrap box, I only used the dies and stamps that came in the kit and a few little embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look,

hugs,

Colette xx

Idyllic!

I have some cards in the latest issue of Simply Cards and Papercraft, using the fabulous Nitwits Idyllic collection, I thoroughly enjoyed making the cards for this commission as digital is my first love! 

I am also a bit of a decoupage-aholic so about half of the six cards I made have lots of layers, the others just have some layers, today I will show you the ones with the least amount of cutting out.

The cards use papers and images from Nitwits fqb Idyllic digital scrapbooking kit and Lil' Bits Idyllic digital elements, the top one has the addition of ribbon, glitter and gems, the middle one, lace, glitter and gems and the bottom one punched flowers, ribbon, buttons and gems. I certainly had a gem fest LOL!

As usual all ribbons, gems and pearls are from Meiflower

The kits are fabulous, full of beautiful papers, great images and lots of pretty labels, tags and journal cards, you should definitely check them out.

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx