Some Christmas Stitching!

Good afternoon from a very grey, dismal and damp Lancashire UK! After the frosty sunshine of yesterday, we're back to what I suppose is a typical November day for us, with dark grey skies, drizzling rain and the sort of chilly dampness that seems to invade the house.  Roll on spring!  The only 'nice' thing about this sort of weather is that I get a great sense of 'Home' and comfort when the fire gets lit, candles are lit (I've got a rather worrying fetish for candles...) and it all feels warm and cosy.

Anyway, I thought that I'd share a bit of cross stitch with you for a change today.

This little decoration was made with some gold-flecked aida fabric and odds and ends of green embroidery threads, and then some different coloured beads threaded and stitched across for the garlands.  The pattern came from an old American cross stitch magazine.  There are some fabulous American stitching patterns and magazines, but some are hard to find in the UK. However, I managed to pick up a couple from a second-hand book shop a while ago, and one of them had some fantastic Christmas decorations and patterns in - which is where this came from!  I've made several decorations from them which will probably be appearing on here over the coming weeks! I must confess that I love to decorate our home up at Christmas and probably go a bit OTT with white lights (I don't like coloured ones lol!), candles and cross stitched bits and pieces!

So hope you like it! 

But just before I go I'd just like to wish my eldest step-daughter Charlotte a very happy birthday today! 

This is our three gorgeous girls - and Charlotte is at the front! 

Back soon, Kim x 

I'd like to enter this cross stitch into the following challenges:-

Anything but a card - stitching

Gingerloft Challenge - a touch of gold

One Stop Craft Challenge - anything goes

Make it Monday - anything goes

Pin and Tack Blogspot - spark your creativity anything goes

Dreaming of spring gardens...

Lest we forget




Good morning all, and I hope that your weekend has been going well. It's what I think is described as a 'crisp' morning here, i.e. sunny, bright, and b****y freezing! Mind you, I'm quite happy to cope with the cold temperature when the pay-off is that the sun is shining!  Those who follow my blog on a fairly regular basis, and tolerate the moaning!, will be pleased to know that the decorating is now finished - woo hoo! I'm very pleased with it (thank goodness!), although it's nothing fancy, just a plain light cream, but everything feels fresh and clean and tidy.  However, I've a feeling that, this being our house, the 'tidy' bit won't last very long! A full day's wallpapering on Thursday very nearly finished me off - but I kept telling myself that it was good exercise...  When I was complaining of aching back and shoulders on Friday at work my boss looked amazed that I'd been decorating on my own. "Where's Colin?" he asked (of my non-decorating husband), "At work", I replied. Then I did explain that in the interests of marital harmony it was better for all concerned that we did these activities separately and not together! As my father died when I was very young, I grew up in an all-female household and so am firmly of the opinion that women are more than capable of taking on such tasks - we always did at home!

Anyway, less of the waffling (which seems to be the usual Sunday morning ritual now!).  As I look out over a rather sad and uninspiring garden I thought I'd share a card with you that hints at the promise of all that spring has to offer - when it finally gets here again!

I've used a gorgeous Sarah Kay stamp 'Gardens need many helpers' and coloured him with promarkers. 

The backing paper is from Teresa Collins. I've added a panel of coredinations card embossed with a CraftsToo folder, then used a DooHickey 'lovely fence', Spellbinders 'Fall Foliage' leaves and a Memory Box 'Arboscello Tree' dies. That cute wooden duck is from CraftyEmblies!

And inside

is a pocket to hold a packet of flower seeds! The papers here are from K&Co and coredinations (edged with some sheer ribbon) and the sentiment is from LOTV. 

Hope you like this little creation today. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday - I'll be busy doing all the usual jobs (after my 2 minutes silence at 11.00am) 

Back soon, Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Speedy & Friends - add a fence

Sweet Stampin - anything goes

ATCs and Cards with Attitude - anything goes

Jellypark Challenges - back to nature

The Stamp Man - emboss it

Do You Stack Up - leaves & trees

Sailboat Time!

Yes, I'm back again! It's time for a new challenge over at CraftyCatz and this week our lovely Sassy has chosen the theme of 'Anything Goes'! So, no excuse! A nice easy challenge for everyone.
My card this week uses one of the cute little guys from LOTV

I've coloured him with promarkers and stuck to quite a simple layout for this one (well, as CAS as my cards ever seem to get!). The backing papers are from First Edition.  I've added a few loops of twine and then found some cute alphabet beads in my stash (when I was moving all my stuff to decorate lol!) and threaded them onto some hessian twine.  The aqua gingham ribbon is from Joanna Sheen.

Hope you like this cute little chap! 

We're sponsored this week by 

so do join us at CraftyCatz this week! 

Back soon!

Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Lawnscaping challenge - use something from stash (alphabet beads)

Loves Rubber Stamps Challenge - anything goes

The CraftyPad - anything goes

Cute & Girly!

Good morning all and hope that your Friday is starting well. And as it's Friday it's time for a new challenge over at Totally Papercrafts - and the theme for this week, chosen by our lovely Wendy is 'Cute & Girly'! So a pretty easy one for me I have to confess!

Our sponsors this week are Saturated Canary and I've used one of Krista's gorgeous images, Nevaeh

I've coloured her with promarkers and pencils.  I love the folds on the dress! 

The backing papers are from the beautiful First Edition 'SummerBreeze'.  I've added some pretty lace from my stash (I tend to buy bits and pieces at my local haberdashery shop whenever something takes my fancy!). I've added a die cut swirl and flowers (Marianne dies) with added pearls. The sheer ribbon is from Joanna Sheen and the filigree butterfly is from Wild Orchid.

So get all girly and join us at Totally Papercrafts this week and the winner will receive 2 images from Saturated Canary!

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

FlutterbyWednesday - anything goes

I love Promarkers - pretty in pink

BearlyMine - anything goes

LEJ Designs - die cuts/punches

Unique CraftersChallenge - cute & girly

Traditional Christmas!

Good morning all and hope that your week is going well. Wednesday seems to have zoomed round quickly again! Tilly the Dog coped very well with Bonfire Night on Monday and all the fireworks going off (it did sound like a re-enactment of the Somme at times outside).  She tried to hide behind the sofa a couple of times but then couldn't turn round to get back again and I did have visions of my new wallpaper getting scratched as she tried some bizarre yoga positions to turn! So she had to shift into reverse gear and shuffle backwards - and it's quite funny watching our pudding of a dog doing a reverse waddle from the back of the sofa! But hopefully now most of the fireworks have finished - and the cold frosty weather we had has now changed to grey damp November drizzle.

Anyway, I'd like to share a card with you today that was made for the Whimsy Design Challenge - and a new challenge for November is starting over at Whimsy Inspires 'Traditional Christmas Colours' so that leaves plenty of scope for everyone!

This was made with a digi stamp from Whimsy - a Lia Stampz 'Andrew'.

I've coloured the image with promarkers and pencils. I made a tri-fold 6" square card. The backing papers are from First Edition with lovely traditional Christmas colours and images. 

The holly corners are from a Cheery Lynn die with some red beads for berries, and then some sheer ribbon and some red seam binding in a bow. 

So very traditional Christmas colours from me.  Do pop over to the Whimsy Inspires challenge and have a look at some of the fabulous samples the design team have produced - and then join in! 

Back soon,  Kim x

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Anything goes challenge - anything goes

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Kaboodle Doodle - anything goes

OLLCB - Christmas

Winter Fairy

Hi and hope that your week has started well? I've had another busy day - paintbrush in hand once more. We have quite a big room - well, it's two rooms that were knocked into one big lounge. Now please don't think I'm a moaner (!) but 99% of the time I do like having a big lounge.....- until it comes to decorating! And I'm sure it magically expands as I'm doing it! It's partly my fault I suppose for being so independent (or bossy as my husband probably defines it) and insisting that I can do the decorating on my own - but I will be so glad when it's done! Hey ho.
The other thing is that I'm missing doing my crafting! I try to make a little time on most days to do some crafting of some sort, but I've either had no time or been too tired to start this last few days! But I'm determined that the decorating should all be finished by this weekend - and hopefully some normality can resume!
Anyway, today's card is one I made a week or so ago (before the other sort of papercrafting and colouring took over lol!)

I got this stamp of 'Winter Fairy Talva' from Mo's Digi pencil because I thought she was gorgeous! I've coloured her with promarkers and pencils - although I'm still not too happy with her hair! I must practice my 'curly hair' colouring!  I stuck to shades of blue, with lots of added glitter and Stickles. I also added Glossy Accents to the icicles on her wings - but unfortunately it's not really showing up

The backing papers were printed from the Artylicious 'Seasons Greetings' cd from Chocolate Baroque, with lightly sanded coredinations card for matting. The snowflakes were from mirri card with a Tonic punch and some added pearls from stash. The sentiment is from LOTV and the sheer ribbon is from Joanna Sheen.

I decided to make this into a 6" square gatefold

Hope you like my Winter Fairy! 

I'll be back soon - and promise not to bore you with more decorating reports! 

We'll put the earmuffs back on Tilly ready for Bonfire night tonight! 

Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Mos Digital Challenge - anything goes

Addicted to Stamps - things with wings

Corrosive Challenges - more than one fold

Dream Valley Challenges - glitter

Glitter & Sparkle Challenges - glitter

One Stitch at a Time - anything goes

Pile it On Challenge - make it sparkle

Scrappers Delights - anything goes

The Ribbon Girls - sparkle

Not listening...!

Hope that your weekend has gone well? I seem to have had a really busy week, both trying to get on with the decorating at home and getting cards ready for the Whimsy new releases, so unfortunately haven't got a card to share with you today - although I know I usually post one on a Sunday!
We've had a slightly chaotic weekend, what with the house being in a greater than usual state of upheaval and we've also got builders coming in 2 weeks so need to get things ready for them! And to top it all we've had fireworks going off for Bonfire night celebrations - which started last night, have carried on tonight and will (hopefully!) come to an end tomorrow! Now grumpy Poppy doesn't particularly bother much about the noisy fireworks - she just glares at us all as if we've personally disturbed her. But unfortunately Tilly the Dog really isn't very keen. She doesn't have full blown panic attacks thankfully, but she gets quite stressed and paces about the lounge and tries to sit on your knee (all 24kgs of her....!). But just thought I'd share a couple of pics with you - when my delightful offspring decided they'd found a way to help her overcome her fear of the 'big bangs'....

Poor Tilly!  Lauren had worn her ear-muffs when they went out to watch the firework display at the nearby Castle (as it's definitely on the cold & frosty side here!) - but her and Jack decided that they suited the dog better.  I have to say, Tilly seemed quite content to wear them too! 

Hope that's made you smile.  If you ever need a smile, do have a look at some of the great pics people email to me that are on my 'Smile' page!

Back tomorrow with a card!

Kim x