50th Anniversary photoframe

I spent months looking for a 50th Anniversary photoframe for my friends parents. We have both hunted the shops high and low. Most seem to be silver with 50th on them which we didnt want.

I went to NEC in November and seen these cute chipboard letters from http://www.customlaser.co.uk/ and that triggered a idea.

I also managed to pick up a photoframe in a shop reduced from £20.00, its 8" x 10" and will be ideal to put her photo in that she will be taking of the whole family

I added some crystal embillishments to top it off and voila!

50th Wedding anniversary Bookatrix

I made this for my friend to give to her mother and father. It was easy to make and I love the colour combinations The gold doily was cut out using my Silhouette SD , the flowers were a selection from Ebay. The butterfly is a peel off from Mad About Cards, fixed to acetate

Strawberry Vodka

My son has recently turned 18 so I decided to make some flavoured vodkas for him. The 1st one I`ve made is strawberry . I used skittles for this. I was told just drop the skittles in and shake every week for a couple of weeks.....to be continued

Anniversary card

For a change I thought I`d make an anniversary card

I just realised i havent put a 50th on it....oops

Otis enjoys the snow

Otis and gang crept out this morning to play out in the snow

This is my first attempts at a craft fair

I make lots of things to give to my family at christmas and when asked would I do a fair for the local church, I took some of my presents to sell.I done very well and by taking this picture I can see what I`d like to do different if I ever do another one

Nautical Feel Jewellery

I made this for a friend who goes cruising as a christmas gift. I`m trying to capture the essense of the sea.
I used memory wire for this and some nautical charms

Party

Otis had a party last night - the theme was halloween which made me chuckle. He dressed up and had a great time . Even if he made such a mess

He was also caught swinging from the chandelier having had too much to drink

Oh no Otis what have you done

Every year I collect special cookies for Santa, with cinnamon in to keep him warm.

Last night we went to bed and Otis and Mrs Sugar Socks and baby candy canes had opened the tim and helped themselves.

I was so disappointed as I had got the tin of goodies from La Palma and was keeping them for Christmas Day.

Otis you`re such a naughty Elf

Old candles

I have quite a few old plain candles hanging around so I thought I`d chrismassy them up a bit

This type of thing

So i stamped an image of matilda onto tissue paper and coloured it in, I then fixed it to the candle using an embossing tool, it came out better than I thought

And I put some bling on it to finish. So nice christmas ornament for me , which worked out free because I was going to throw the candle away

Otis makes a new friend

When we got up this morning otis and his family had decided to make some friends, so here they are my son wasnt very impressed but it gave us a laugh

Otis Sugar Socks Day 2

Today I had to go up to art club, and we were having what you yorkshire people call a "fuddle", I call it a buffet or party.

Everyone bought a plate of something to eat and when I opened my craft bag, Otis and his family popped out. So they went over to look at the food.

At this point not all the food was on the table as it was early.

Well more people came in with their things and after a bit I could see Otis "peek a booing" over the top of the food

PEEK A BOO

The family soon got bored and came over to see what I was doing, I noticed they had brought some food with them

I told them off as we hadnt started the food, they were very naughty and had helped themselves without asking ..sometimes you have to keep a close eye on them because otherwise they cause a lot of trouble.

So to make amends they wanted to help me paint

So they can be good if they try

Otis Sugar Socks

Otis Sugar Socks was late arriving this year due to the snow problems. He did tell Santa he`d behave himself as he now has a family, Mrs Sugar Socks and Baby Candy Canes, but unfortunately everytime santa looked around he was off playing and not helping with Christmas. So we got a letter asking could we look after him ....

Here he is with the family

He was so excited to be here and promptly checked out the christmas things.

Over the next couple of weeks he will be blogged most days as to what he will get upto.

If you want to do something similar yourselves check out this great website.
http://magicalholidayhome.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=140

Otis has previously appeared on my facebook page but will now be here due to demand

Wheres the christmas cupcakes gone?

Last night I made 24 cupcakes. 12 chocolate and 12 normal sponge one ones. I made a variety of toppings including, orange, strawberry, mint , coconut.

I thought I`d leave it until today to photograph them as the light wasnt very good and this is what I`m left with

5 cakes

NEC Stash

I had a FAB time at NEC, wasnt just the stash , it was the whole event, started by chatting to Nigel , create and craft, watched a demo and was on TV asking can we have create and craft 24hrs on freeview. Christmas band playing in the background.

I then wandered around the show, special thanks to Silhouette who spent a good 15 minutes showing me all the silhouette can do. I bought two sets of sketch pens, but the other products I`m definately going to purchase. OH was with me so maybe idea for him for my xmas presents, but he was too busy chewing their sweets which they kept giving him.

I bought a few things, but alot of things I didnt get as I`m lucky to have loads of craft shops near to pick things up.

Being a member of MSE i`ve become very cautious with my pennies and am constantly asked wheres the best price for??? Do you find this??

I also spent a bit of time in the Art part as I love painting. I did leave the exhibition before the end but that was because my conked out body wouldnt allow me to do anymore, otherwise I would have stayed until chucking out time.

Heres some of the purchases, I did purchase quite a few books and magazines and I havent photographed these.

Apart from the Silhouette pens and everything else, the gold and silver promarkers are brilliant. I`ve only photographed a couple of each item, but I bought several packs of each thing, because I know what I`m like, my usual saying is....I wish I`d bought more

I`ve wanted these for ages but couldnt justify the cost, so when I seen them and they were in my budget for the day, I just had to have them

I love backing papers, I have quite a collection, must use some.....I bought a few stamps as well, although i`m not bery good at it, my new years res, is to stamp more and improve. And the wooden embellishments are for a 50th Anniversary photo frame I`m working on , has anyone else noticed you cant buy them anywhere? and i have two 50th wedding anniversarys next year.

Christmas Gifts

I`ve been busy lately making the following, I have abigger family this year to make for with my daughters boyfriends family and dont know where the time goes, below is a selection of cheap and cheerful gifts I`ve made and I`ve enjoyed making them

These are Cadbury Dairy Milk and Chocolate Lollys

Here we have Bah humbug, after dinner chocolates santa stash chocolates and tuck shop treats

Christmas kisses, reindeer poop

Christmas Cards

Heres a few christmas cards, I`ve been making a few but keep forgetting to photograph them

Donald card background was made by using distress inks. Also the tree using distree inks, Donald Duck `s a decoupage and I used sparkly gems on tree

The snowman card

Backing papers - Kanban

Sentiments - My craft studio

I used snowflakes with sparkly gems

Mr & Mrs Reindeer Flannel

Heres my first reindeer flannels of the year.

First open your flannel so a diamonds pointing at you, then put a bar of soap in th middle
Pick up the corner nearest you and the furthest and hold above the soap and roll down
Next lift up the two sides and fasten above the soap , these are the years

Put a bell around mr reindeers years, And a bow over Mrs reindeer
Attach some pipe cleaners and shape into antlers and attach some miniture bells

Put on some eyes from hobbycraft
And  a red nose from ebay

On Mrs Reindeer chalk on some rouge cheeks

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Pots Of Gold

I decided to make some pots of gold, try and turn it int a bit of a family tradition. Last year two of the recipients won £5 each on the scratchcard, i was worried they`d hit the jackpot, but it made a nice present

The contents are :-
eclairs 29p in Asda
£1 scratchcard
Coins 2 for £1 in Home Bargains
Elves 20p in One Stop
Ferroro Roche BOGOF in CO-Op

Placed into a little wicker pot sprayed gold and gift wrapped

And the verse printed by Vista print

I have loads spare if anyone wants any. They`re the size of a postcard

Cupcakes....and Chocolate Sweets

I wanted to make some cupcakes, I`ve been watching cupcake wars recently and wanted to try my hand . So I made 4 cupcake flavours

Coffee & Gingerbread
Lime
coconut
Chocolate

They came up better than I thought they would and I packed 4 up out of a total of 20 for my friends present

I do want to make my own boxes but ran out of time so this is a shop bought one

I also thought I`d make some chocolates for here 1st attempt

I made cherry, fruit and nut , sherbet and marshmallow ( I blame Legendmum from MSE who gave me the link to look at chocolate slabs)

I made the mistake of putting the ingrediants in before the chocolate, but I suppose you can see what the chocolates are

Silhouette SD For CupCakes

My friends birthday is coming up and I want to make some cupcakes having watched cupcake wars the past week.

I started by cutting these out on my silhouette

Boot Sale & £1 shop bargains

My OH knows I love xmas so hes got me this countdown advent from a boot sale, it was 50p and I can change him everyday, just as soon as I work out how many days it is until Christmas

The other day I was in lakeland and forgot to get some american measuring cups. They wer £9.99 for 5 , so imagine my delight when OH bought these in the £1 shop, this was actually my second set, the 1st set I broke within seconds of receiving them

Robin Red Breast

Had a busy day yesterday, finally managed to sort out the craft room, and decided to make a card, the reult was this cute little character posting his card.

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He`s a Kanban topper and I`ve used glistening snow writer to accent the snow. And added a silver ribbon Its also a pop up card inside

My blog award

This is my 1st blog award and was awarded it by Elysia, one of my favourite ladies on MSE, what an unexpected surprise and I`m chuffed to bits .

A new craft and computer room - what a lovely surprise

My OH decided it would be a good idea if I moved up into the loft as heat rises, I`m always cold and hes warm.

So this is a lovely surprise....

All I have to do is organise it a bit better and hopefully, I`ll be able to find things