A nice surprise!

On Christmas Eve I had a lovely surprise as the German Glitter Glass from Meyer Imports which I won in a blog candy draw arrived from America. I have taken pictures but they simply do not capture the bedazzling colours adequately.

The colours are, from the top, Red, Copper, Gold, Pale Yellow-green, Pale Blue, Violet, Black, White and Silver and they are sumptuous. I thought I would have to pat down Sian when she left because she loved them in their cunning wee bottles. I did offer to give them to her but she does not craft and said it was better that I kept them to use!

Huge thanks to Jon Meyer; I have a link to his blog and to a UK distributor of the product in my sidebar - not that I am doing this for gain but because I was so thrilled to have been chosen to receive this gorgeous gift.

While this gift came all the way from the USA in time for Christmas Day, I still await a present for Morgan which was apparently dispatched from Bradford on 30th November and is in a 'backlog', also apparently. I have never had problems with Internet shopping until this incident and had to buy an alternative gift. I wonder how long the backlog is expected to be - if it arrives before July she can have it for her birthday!

It was disappointing but was only a small glitch in our festivities....... it is so quiet now that they have all gone back to their homes. Our children are loaned to us for such a small period of time and I am so proud of the two wonderful young women they have become but sometimes I have a sentimental wish that they were the little girls they once were, just for a wee while! I am getting all mushy because 'Mary Poppins' is on in the background and 'Feed the Birds' is being sung. I used to sing this for my sisters when we were young and I sang it to my two when they were small so it always puts me in a reminiscent frame of mind!

With tears dripping on the keyboard and the sound of Julie Andrews, I will say cheerio for now.

Hazel x

Well, another Christmas Day, St Stephens Day and Boxing Day have passed and now we have Hogmanay to look forward to and 2011 to see in. I have had little chance to do anything except celebrate and I have not even had a chance to play with my pressies yet. Well, a little play - Morgan gave me a Japanese doll kit and I spent some of yesterday and some of today painting and decorating them. I ventured out to the town today as our kettle needed to be replaced - developed a leak - and it was pandemonium trying to get onto the Retail Park - my daughter reckoned it was the allure of the Next sale and sure enough all the traffic seemed to be heading there - I got a new energy efficient kettle which met with Mr H's approval, although he was unable to come out with us due to prior commitments watching footie on the TV.

Here are the Kokeshi I decorated.

They are similar in size to the Momiji dolls and the paint in the kit was a bit rubbish so I used my own and rather than use the decals provided I painted on the faces and the other bits. I think it looks better and I love the little cuties I have called Cherry-Cherry, China Blue, Smiles and Flower.

I have got some card ideas fomenting for the New Year, so bring on 2011.

Best wishes, Hazel x

Last post before Christmas.

Of course, just by saying 'last' it's a challenge and I'll want to do another 'last'. However, the next couple of days are going to be busy so I might not get the time to blog or to visit all the blogs I follow. Of course I will probably also have to fight for computer time with my daughters.

Morgan is on the train from London even as I type and should arrive and be picked up by yours truly at 20 past 10 from Runcorn. Sian and Dan are not driving up from Nottingham tonight as Dan is very poorly. Hopefully tomorrow or maybe Christmas Eve (or Mr H's Birthday as we know it!).

 I have to say that prior to being introduced to the world of blogs I was not aware of how many talented and funny people 'inhabited' this world and I am glad I got involved as I have been all over the place looking at blogs. So to everyone that pops in and whose sites I have popped into

and a

love Hazel xx

Good Yule to everyone.

In the depth of winter, when the sun comes out briefly if it comes out at all, our ancient forebears celebrated to give themselves heart and hope; to fortify their courage and to see them through to Spring. I love this idea of making merry to snub your nose at the harsh conditions and the dreech and dreary days and nights. It is not just a coincidence that we celebrate Christmas now - the early church 'guardians' could not force our ancestors to give up their pagan celebrations so incorporated the christian message with older superstitions.

Easter is another example. Personally I can live with the two concepts sitting side by side and  include Hanukkah and Kwanzaa alongside too because as human beings we all need to celebrate when things seem bad, even if it is just to count our blessings in family, friends and community. This season is about hope for a better future, whatever your faith or creed. So, having used a hundred words when two would do, I would like to wish you and yours all a Good Yule. Kind Wishes, Hazel x

Dreaming of a White Christmas anyone?

I know that we British are parodied worldwide for always talking about the weather but honestly the snow has just been dumped on St Helens in such a short space of time that it's gobsmacking and worthy of a mention. And it is still coming down. Alright, there are places where snow is a permanent feature but in this part of the country we hardly get deep snow in this kind of quantity. Its all to do with topography and the gulf stream and protection from the Pennines and the Welsh Mountains.

I think me & Mr H will be stopping in - I can hardly see my car: it's just a huge white mound. No Chinese takeaway for us tonight - I don't expect they would consider delivery, lol.

Hope you are warm and safe, wherever you are, cheerio from me for now, Hazel x

Careless Blogger

In the middle of blogging about half an hour ago and the wireless router lost Internet connection and I forgot to click save! Pathetic!

I'm blooming freezing even inside. Went to Fir Tree as per for some delicious grub and tasty take-home treats and hogged the table by the wood burning stove. It's the last time I remember being warm today. The temperature has plummeted. Bought Mr H a huge sack of salt so he is ready for icy conditions but neither of us has been able to locally locate a snow shovel - sold out apparently. So my husband does not consider himself to be fully ready to fight the weather!

I made another exploding box card

I used 1 12" sheet of red and 1 of yellow card and 160gsm paper from the Papermania 12" Christmas Paper Pack for the box. The images are free digi stamps from the Fat Cat range from 'Simply Cards and Papercraft' and I used my Promarkers to colour up and a touch of Crystal Stickles and my glitter gel pens to add sparkle. I would have liked the lid to have been green but I don't have 12" green card and neither did my favourite craft shop. Still the yellow of the lid is reproduced by the yellow stars on the paper and I like the result.

And that's it for today;  cheerio for now, Hazel x

Good Intentions

I have to admit that it is not easy to just stop making cards and since the last post I have made/completed three; they were either an emergency make - the baby card, or experiments - exploding box and Mr H's second birthday card.

My excuse for the baby card is that I have to give it to Lucy, from Mum and I, this Friday, as she is leaving Fir Tree for maternity leave on 23 Dec and not in Jan as originally planned. Mum and I have bought some classic children's story books for her as a gift and I made the card to accompany them. It was just a kit card so I only had to use scissors and sticky - no hauling out of stash!

There is no such excuse for the exploding box card - it was a template sent to me by my friend Bernadette, aka Berniebear on Docrafts, and if you know me then you will know that I love to try out new shapes, folds etc. I had already made the box before my self imposed ban so it was only a matter of decoration!

Side                                             Top                       Inside

Decoration was done with various digi stamps which I had printed out; Luna Bitterfrost ( the standing figure) is from Pollycraft and the baubles and big candles are from Birds Blog; I am afraid that the freebie bells provenance was not noted, so if you know, please advise so that I can give credit.( Credit goes to Dianes Digital Designs)  I used Promarkers, glitter gel pens, Crystal Stickles and ribbon from my stash to make it a bit more festive. I am thinking of doing a second one with some other digi stamps I ran off a while ago but did not use on my cards. Again I did not have to haul out my stash from its Christmas hibernation, so no harm done.

This next is a second birthday card for my husband and was inspired by a card I spotted in Fluffles gallery on Docrafts. She has okay-ed it for me to take inspiration and I cut it out free-hand from A4 card, 12" paper from K&Company, Ka-Zoo red hearts, and some lace from Crafts4U2Do. It made me laugh so much I thought Mr H would love it and Fluffles' husband apparently gave it a much longer look than he usually does to her creations! Now, Mr H is very supportive of my hobby but he does not appreciate my makes for their 'artistic' value - he just says everything is 'nice'. I am hoping this will grab his attention.

'Rear' view

Front View

Well, what do you think - too saucy for a man of 55 whose daughters will be home? I am looking forward to the denouement with a certain sense of unholy glee. I should have spent longer on it but there are evenings when he hovers so I hurried and I am not displeased with the outcome.

Finally managed to get Mum's cards done and posted. It was arduous as I don't know everyone who she sends cards to and can't remember; first names were particularly problematic and I'm afraid that our old neighbours in Currie were not 'named' as I never knew their first names as a child and ma couldn't recall them. I am sure I have missed people but there is no way of knowing!

Going to the dentist to get my crown cemented back in, so cheerio for now, Hazel x

Itching Fingers

My startling discovery this week is that it is not very easy just to stop crafting cold. I have had to fill my time with distractions like housework and shopping! Admittedly the shopping was for Mum and I did conciously avoid the craft shop so that I would not be tempted, but although I have accomplished lots, I have missed the satisfaction that creating brings. I have also wasted time doing silly things like the Advent Puzzle on Imag-E-nations from which I get digi stamps and other goodies. I cracked it but still don't know if my answer was correct or not.

A balm to my soul has been to look at other peoples creations (and leave admiring comments!) and to anticipate the arrival of my German glass glitter which has been shipped from the USA. And now there are only a few more sleeps before our lovely daughters come home. That's the best medicine for going cold-turkey from crafting; lots of catching up with the two most gorgeous creatures on the planet - I dare you to dispute this with me! They are the best creations of all the ones I've had a hand in, even if it was a joint venture with Mr H!

Mawkish or what; I can't get excited about an upload so I wax lyrical ad become sickly sweet instead. Think I had better start re-crafting on Boxing Day, lol. 

Off to do something worthy but unexciting, cheerio, Hazel x

Christmas Hiatus

I decided, unanimously, to put card-making on hold from now till the New Year because I have been making Christmas cards just for the doing of it (and the joy, it has to be said) and I need to get ready for Yule. I also have to organise my mothers schedule because she forgets so much. Mr H worries that this worries me and tries to say that I should not feel responsible but you can't teach an old dog new tricks and I will never stop feeling responsible for the happinessof my family. However, I draw the line at insisting - she needs to write her Christmas cards and I offered my assistance but she said no, that she would do them at the weekend. She will forget so I will have to keep 'nagging'; same with gifts. Part of me just wants to do it all for her but that's wrong and besides, out of my financial reach at this time of the year.

Whoops, this is developing into a 'pity party' and I don't do well with parties.

I'll post though it is a distraction which allows me to spend lots of time away from chores so I might not do so much - hahaha!

Have a great weekend, cheerio, Hazel x

Keeping Warm

It's all about the weather. Stayed in and pottered about yesterday and made a couple of cards.

This is my card for the digi challenge on do-crafts. The brief was to have an image of an animal of person wearing an item of clothing, coloured up with a medium that is not your usual one. I used watercolour pencils from Tesco and was frustrated that I couldn't get the medium to do what I wanted. Inclusion of one ribbon, three gems, circles and stars was required. The digi stamp is Bronson and Beaker from Pollycrafts. Circles are on the Dovecrafts backing paper and I added three wee green star gems in the top right corner.

The second of the Mo Manning Irma and Vieno stamps. I was trying the technique of threading ribbon through card without the aid of a punch - too easy; I like to try before investing in things. Mr H likes this card more than the next one because it's more Christmassy.

Shades of blue on this card and more handmade flowers. It's so relaxing making flowers and these look 'wintery'. The sentiment is from a free digi set by Lisa.

Mr H's birthday card. I could have done a winter image but I know he dreams of sun and sea and relaxing and this freebie Hambos stamp just seemed a natural choice.

Mr H has just informed me, in passing, that he awoke this morning in a depressed state of mind - I think he wishes too hard for the return of the sun. He loves the sun and sitting out in it and tans when the sky is overcast! I have to use Factor 50 and burn anyway, so tend to remain in the shade. I like the sunshine but as a view rather than to live full time in.

So we are back to weather; raining and cold in St Helens which will make it easier to venture out.

Cheerio for today, Hazel x

Back to craftland, just!

The previous blog was a bit 'down' for which I apologise but maybe it was not the best idea to try to come up with thoughts when I'd been to a funeral. Couldn't even be bothered to root through my stash for inspiration! Curled up under my throw with the new 'Oor Wullie' annual and nodded off; well, it was very cold and I needed to get warm.

Two days later and it is still very cold; no snow but the roads and pavements are doubling up as ice-rinks. The poor postie has been slipping and sliding all over the show! I stayed in yesterday and joined in some challenges on the Docrafts site. However the first image is of a carton I made on Sunday for a bag of handmade chocolates.

Crafted this from left over card strips and Papermania 12" double sided Christmas Pack paper and some digi stamp poinsettias from Becky Muir which I  resized and decoupaged, front and back.

The card which follows is Lisa's ( http://onehappylittlecrafter.blogspot.com)  Docraft challenge for a Tilda image where there is a restriction to use mainly white and to include some pearl element.

You must know I love my Promarkers, and my collection increases one by one very slowly, so this was a challenge indeed. For Christmas Morning Tilda I used pastel blue, yellow, caramel and tan Promarkers for the socks, candle and hair respectively. She is raised off the swirly panel , which is embossed using the Craft Concepts Cottage Floral folder, on foam pads. This is matted onto a pearlised panel punched with my Martha Stewart punch duo. I made the flowers and white holly leaves and used pearls in the flower centres and some white organza ribbon to add interest. The top ribbon and bow, the card candy (JGD crafts) and the wee star buttons (Trimcraft) are pale blue but add a bit of interest as well and are allowed. Can you tell that I made a note of what I'd used? What a clever clogs, lol.

Today I am finishing off another challenge card; it's the digi challenge, which I love but the challenge is not to use your usual colouring medium in colouring the digi. Yikes, my promarkers will be striking! I used a set of watercolour pencils from Tesco and I am not too unhappy with the result but it's not a sharp result. You can judge for yourselves tomorrow.

I bought another Irma and Vieno digi from Mo Manning while in the process of buying a gift voucher for the lucky winner of the digi challenge I hosted on Docrafts. I hope to have them completed in time for tomorrow but it's likely I will face lots of distractions! I think I have picked up a bug as I have a constant feeling of nausea and a sharp headache and dreadful wind (hem hem) - it's nothing much but very inconvenient; I'm not going out to the accompaniment of my own trumpet section!!!

Yes folks, we have reached the lowest point when I resort to 'toilet' humour, so I will wish you all a good day and cheerio for now!

Hazel x

No new cards; too busy writing and sending the ones I've already made. Trouble is when you make your own cards they tend to be thick and will not go through the slot at the Post Office so it cost me a small fortune to send all my babies out! I'll know to cut down on the embellies for next year!

Had a great time on Saturday helping Niven to make his Christmas cards. He's a wee star and talks nineteen to the dozen. I could have kicked myself that I never took my camera to capture his creations but its my age!

Very sad day today going to Frank's funeral. There was and still is a densely freezing fog hanging over the town and the pavements and roads are like sheets of ice but we got to the crematorium without too much trouble. My nephew has turned into a man; he'd come from Uni sporting a moustache and had a haircut and was wearing a suit (!) to honour his grandad. He seems to have sprouted overnight and reminded me so much of my own dad that the tears just spilled over. His two grandads liked to go to the Legion for a drink together back in the day and he was a credit to both of them today.

I think thats all for now, cheerio, Hazel x

'Internet Connection has expired'

Thats all I kept getting when I tried to log on to blogland yesterday, 'connection expired'. Maybe because the blog was not the first thing on my list. I logged in after 10pm because I had been writing all our Christmas cards - there is something wrong with the division of labour between Mr H and me; I get to make the cards and write them...doh! I digress, I looked at my emails first and was very shocked to find that I had been chosen on a Blog Candy at Meyer-Imports and had won the magnificent gift of fine German glitter glass, all because I had said in the comments how I felt. At that moment I felt humble, which is an odd thing I know but a total stranger had liked what I said enough to 'reward' me for it.

Enough intensity; Mum and I did make it to Fir Tree yesterday and had a great meal although it was very cold in the converted barn. Mum had to have two glasses of mulled wine as fortification- muggins here was driving so drank tea instead!The whole surrounding countryside looked bleakly beautiful with snow and frost on the trees and mist at low level and we saw pheasants gleaning for spilled grain in the fields and the largest flock of crows I've ever seen doing the same. Isn't the collective noun for crows 'a murder'? It was a proper spectacle and I had to stop the car and watch awhile.

Only wrote cards yesterday but have two from the day before. One for my Mum and one for Morag and I had to make boxes for them because I've been making loads of flowers which stand too proud to go in an envelope.

I used the Irma and Vieno image again and some ready cut die cuts fom JGD crafts and the flowers I made myself. I'm going to try all colour combos with this Mo Manning stamp because its so cheerful.

This little cutie is called Innocent and is a free digi stamp from somewhere I did not make a note of - okay, it was the early days, now I make a note! If you know the artist who created Innocent, please let me know. I won't bore you with all the details of the card but I loved making it with freebie papers from Creative Cardmaking.

It has taken me ages to finish this blog as my daughter has rung me twice from Luton Airport because her flight to Dublin scheduled for 6.30 am has been delayed. Not, apparently because of the weather but because their plane is stuck in Spain. She doesn't know what to do and her fiance thinks she's nuts hanging around and should go home so she phoned her auld Mum for some comfort.

This afternoon I will be making some cards with my great-nephew Niven so there will be glitter and glue all over the place (me, not him, lol)

Cheerio for now, Hazel x

Cold, Colder, Coldest!

Oh it's reet nippy in't Northwest but not as snowy as elsewhere - all my arthritis is cold so I have cold knees & hips. I have seen a lovely blog called Pinkpuds by Mina who is giving some blog candy to lucky winners - see my sidebar to her site - all she asks is that you tell her what crafty goodies you want from Santa! Her cards are gorg!

I've two today.

This is another Mo Manning digi and I love the child looking back at his/her footprints in the snow. Used my Promarkers and had fun with the dad's jeans; just consider them distressed denim! The card is 6x6" and the image is matted onto white card sprayed with Shimmer Mist, which incidently is all over my hands (klutz or what?)  I made all the embellies, which were great fun!

The second card is A5 size and the image is a free digi from a french blog which I did not make a note of; Promarker and Lace Stickles to colour and mounted on foam with brads at each corner. The pouch is made with the reverse side of the PM 12"Christmas Pack backing paper I used and measures 10.5 x 7.5cm or 3.25x 4.25". It easily holds scratchies, as demonstrated, or gift cards or even cash as the pouch is fastened with self adhesive velcro. I got the idea from watching a demo on CUP TV but just downloading and cutting is not my thing so I hatched a cunning plan........! I can't stop, it's a sickness. I loved the result so much that I finished it off last night when I usually would wait till the better light in the morning. Hoist by my own petard; the holly berries are orange not red, as I thought they were!!

I'm excited because Morag's dog is coming to her this afternoon and she needs a bit of cheering! Also my darling Mum has bought me a Martha Stewart punch for Christmas, ooh the luxury of the easy-to-punch punch. It gave her enormous satisfaction to tell me I was getting a punch from her for Christmas! It made me laugh too but I looked at her sideyways because she was a bit too delighted, if you ask me!

Internet buys have started to arrive, from as far away as Italy, so Morgan will definately get her Roberto Benini DVD for Christmas (she speaks Italian and French fluently).

Arrivederchi Tuotti, Hazel x

The First Day of December

I am determined to get the gingerbread card on today.

Hooray, it's not the better of the two pics I took but I reckon that the other one was jinxed when it would not upload. I used my gingerbread man cookie cutter to make the large cookie and white gel pen to 'ice' it. The backing paper is a free on from Issue 21 of Creative Cardmaking and the recipe is from the Dairy Book of Home Cookery. The wee gingie lady was part of a set that my daughter Sian sent me and was the inspiration for my cunning plan. The sentiment reads: 'A warm kitchen and the smell of gingerbread..... Christmas is here!

This card is for Clare Curds weekly challenge on the Do crafts site. The digi stamp is from Mo Manning called Irma and Vieno go skiing and was coloured with Promarker and Diamond stickles. The card is 6" square and the stamp is matted on lavender spotted card and lavender card. I made the flowers after seeing a demo by Sheila Halliwell on Docrafts - I didn't have the tools but wanted to have a go and punched flowers out of the lavender cardstock with some pink and a pink gem in the centre and green card leaves. It was fun. The sentiment is a PM peel of on lavender card on double sided foam. The pearls are lavender and from my stash along with the ribbon. I then realised an ordinary envelope would not do with the flowers so I made a box from two A4 sheets of 250mg card, without a template, just a sketch and my score board. I had barely used the scoreboard till I started making the easel drawer cards but it is really useful for this sort of project.

Not much on today; I'm off to collect a prescription and then nip to my mums and get her to write her Christmas Cards for New Zealand then I can post them along with my own. No more snow from yesterday and if I get out of the street in the car, slide-free, the main roads are clear!

Wishing you all a great day, Hazel x

Snow at last!

It snowed in Merseyside in the night but nowhere nearly as much as elsewhere. About 1cm but Mr H reckons it will snow again today. It is like living in the Meteorological Service. He skips down stairs to tell me what to expect weather-wise or who has died. He reads the paper online, upstairs and is solemn if it is a death he is reporting. I was so sorry to hear about Leslie Neilson yesterday; he made me LOL in his films.

I've got some cards to display:

Brenda, I can't stop and now other people want them - what have you started? This was a small box, 10.5 square with Lily of the Valley stamp coloured with Promarkers and Stickles.

This is Sweet Pea, a digi stamp from the Pink Cat Studio. I printed this 3 times and decoupaged it, after colouring with Promarkers. I added Diamond Stickles on the final layer. Made a simple easel out of red card and used mirror card to apply Sweet Pea to. I made this card for my friend Lucy and her partner who are expecting in the new year. The image is so very cute and Melissa from PCS is v clever.

I am having difficulty with uploading the gingerbread man recipe card but will keep trying.

For some reason I keep getting security error when trying to upload my card. Maybe tomorrow

Cheerio for now

Hazel x

Monday, Monday!

Everyone can sympathise with a busy Monday. No snow here yet but it tried, rather feebly, about 10am but now the sun is shining. Bitterly cold when I went into St Helens- I have decided to do my Christmas shopping guerrilla style. In, get what you want and out before the queues start to form. Going in early I was able to park for free too. I got the men's table presents (a small gift to open at Christmas lunch, a tradition that my family holds dear!) and Mark's present which I will send soon so that he gets it before going to Ireland. I also bought part of my sister Susan's gift. As long as the snows stays away I could do this for a couple of days and be finished!

I have posted a link to Brenda's Floral Fantasies blog as she is generously having a Blog Candy giveaway for December. She is also the inspiration behind my newest projects - Easel Drawer Cards, pics of which I will post below. I made the big one following her directions and decided that I could use it to put a CD or game in for Dan, my daughter's Signoth. (Significant other) Its hard to know what to call the men that my daughters have chosen when talking about them. I think of them as sons-in-law and now Mark is Morgan's fiance so I have decided Dan can be Sian's Signoth. When they first bought their home together my mum addressed a card to them as 'To Sian and her lover Dan'. Sian was a bit mortified and her voice reached a squeaking pitch when she rang to tell me of her Granny's perfidy!

This was made using a Cuddly Buddly Digi and paper from Papermania's Naughty and Nice. The lace, ribbon and embellishments are from my stash.

Mr H commented that the Drawer cards would be ideal for giving cash in at Christmas and so I had to make some more, only smaller!



Side View



The Tilda's were chosen by Mr H and I used the Naughty and Nice papers and some free papers from Creative Cardmaking. I can't remember who I got the Peas on Earth digi from but it was one of my first; if you know, please tell me and I will make a belated acknowledgement. (Thanks to Sally I can now tell you the stamp is from Whimsie Doodles!) I have really enjoyed making these so, thanks Brenda! (The smaller ones measure 11.5 cm square & the large one 15 cm square).

I have a plan for a gingerbread man recipe card which I am going to try out now, with luck I shall post it tomorrow.

Cheerio for the present, hugs, Hazelx

Frozen to the marrow.

It's sunny and -4 degrees at Fir Tree. No. I don't live there but I was at their Christmas Craft fair and bought a 'fair' few things for my family for Christmas so no reveal just in case. There were all sorts of crafts, including cards, wooden toys, homemade chocs (guess where I lingered? They were made by a young man in his early teens who had started it out as a school project and loved it so much that his dad had helped him to start his own business locally - I can tell you they were very good.), jewellery, photographs, art work, wreaths and plants. I can reveal that I bought a cyclamen for myself and considered buying a chilli plant for my youngest as they looked like bejewelled Christmas trees and she loves chillies.I am starting to sound like my mum "I saw such-and-such and was nearly buying it for you". The reason I didn't was because there is still enough time between now and Christmas Day for me to be responsible for plant death.

Sad news again. My sister Morag's father-in-law died this week. Although she is divorced she still kept in touch with her in-laws for the sake of her son. I also did, though not as much, as they were such kind and generous people.

Some good news too though. Morag has chosen a dog and it is coming to stay with her this Thursday. He is a 4 year old Bearded collie called Frodo. My sister is not a LOTR's fan and is debating a name change to a sound-alike, Mojo or Polo (she rejected my suggestion of Popo - why?) She has cheered up no end at the prospect of having something to lavish her attention on. Hopefully Frodo will sensibly take it in his stride!

I have a cunning plan for two cards, one using a Pink Cat digi and the other....wait and see. It's not rocket science but it's new to me.

Cheery bye for now, Hazel x

Friday fun!

Wow, had a great meal today at Fir Tree Farm with Mum - Roasted brisket ( an inch thick at least and so tender!) on a bed of pumpkin and thyme mash with veg (carrots, parsnip and cauliflower). It was over too soon! I haven't had such lovely brisket since my mother-in-law Maud died. She was a great cook and her Yorkshire puddings were legend - they looked like castles!

It was a bit scary approaching Kings Moss where Fir Tree is a the stone humpback bridge was closed for strengthening and they had erected a temporary bridge in its place. It looked like a piece of Mechanno construction, unlikely to carry the weight of my Punto. Mum commented after that she only got scared because she thought I had shut my eyes as I drove across! I drove slowly, convinced that the structure would collapse but my eyes were firmly fixed...... on the horizon! 

I am also posting a card to enter in the Pink Cat Design Studio Challenge.

The Kissing Penguins digi stamp is from Melissa at the Pink Cat Design Studio and it was one of the first digi's I ever bought or downloaded. I have made several cards using the kissing duo this year. The image was coloured with Promarkers and I added a touch of glitter glue (from a set of coloured  glitter glues from Tesco) 

I used Pastel Blue, Denim Blue, Lavender, Orchid, Black, Gold, Blush, Crimson and Pear Promarkers. The sentiment is one of my own and was coloured up with the Lavender Promarker. The image and sentiment were matted onto green snowflake paper and then onto black cardstock and then on to a 5" by 7" card  on which had been matted some red Core'dinations card. The snowflakes came from my stash but I don't know who made them. Apologies for the quality of the photography - it gets dark so fast at this time of year, lol.

I must get off and make our tea, unless Mr H is willing to do so (hugs sides with mirth!) so I will say cheerio for today!

Hugs, Hazel x

Blog Candies

Here goes with the details of blog candies:- I went to Bev Rochesters Blog (http://bevscrafts.blogspot.com ) as I am a follower and she has a Promarkers giveaway if you are interested but she also has a link to Meyer Imports who have a giveaway of a German Glass Glitter set (http://meyer-imports.typepad.com ). Had me at the word glitter, so I nipped over to take a look and its shiny heaven. Loads of people have entered but not to worry; its all about getting it out there.

Love you and leave you

Hazel x

PS I don't have the skill to 'hide' the URL's !

No snow!

Don't know about you but I have mixed feelings for snow. On the one hand, it is beautiful and magical and gives the dullest outlook a makeover and the fun you can have with snowballs and sledging..... on the other, it's cold when you land on it bum first and I hate when my car skids on it or gets stuck. But I'm for it when you weigh the balance up. Do you begin to have mixed feelings the older you get? Ho hum, my daily philosophy query!

I've made some other cards for Christmas:-

This is for my daughter Sian who likes bunnies.Its a Mo Manning digi stamp coloured with Promarkers and heavily loaded with gold and diamond Stickles. The stamp is matted onto embossed gold shiny cardstock and this is mounted onto a gold shimmer card blank. I used PM's poinsettsas and Red Stickles for the embellishments. Sian will just notice the bunny!

I always make my girlies more than one card each - and I always bought them more than one before I began to make them, so its not a show-off thing! Now they have partners I usually do an individual one each and a couples one (6 in all). Course, now I have Mark's family to make for too - lovely.

The two cards above are variations on the embossed acetate window theme using some left-over Kanban toppers. I went a bit barmy with the craft knife cutting the apertures so on the snowman card I edged the aperture with the same border as the toppers and on the Santa card I used paper to disguise the mistake! However, I have posted these and forgotten the final stage of putting a sentiment on! Blame it on the hormones or lack thereof! Too busy showing off to do a good job, my mum would say.

I was going to do a link to a free prize draw of some German glass glitter but my sister just came and I have forgotten the details. I'll have a blog hop and post it up later.

Cheerio, Hazel x

Blog-hopping

With the very best of intentions I logged on to post a blog and then got caught up looking at blogs and hopping from site to site. I've been doing it for one hour and twenty minutes! Mr H was very kind and made me toast and a cuppa whilst I was tapping away.

I have been able to upload onto the Do-crafts site earlier this morning and I was so pleased to be back. Nevertheless I will also post the pic here.

The digi stamp is from Pink Cat Studio Designs which is a great source of digis. I love digis because of the minimal storage requirements and the colouring opportunities. I used my promarkers and a white gel pen here on my serene skating polar bear. The backing papers are from PM's Deck the Halls pack. matted onto black cardstock. The two smaller panels have christmas ribbon and ricrac added. The ticket sentiment I made  on the computer having been inspired by Lisa who has the onehappylittlecrafter blog - http://onehappylittlecrafter.blogspot.com - and who gave some ticket sentiments away as freebies. She is rather good and you should pop over and have a gander.

I have also been chasing some blog candy and will do the links after this post goes on but why not see for yourselves at http://bearlymine.blogspot.com and http://whimsystamps.blogspot.com . It sounds as if that's what I spend my days at but it's not; I followed a link from Kimmi's Blog which led to another and so on and so on. Anyway it's nice to join in.

I must really go now and get a shower and dressed - what a shambles my day has become through logging in before 8am just so I could try to upload successfully!

Cheerio from a less than fragrant Hazel x (lol, in case you were taking it seriously)

Exhausted.

For those who want to know, me and Mr H loved Harry P & the Deadly Hallows. My sister reckons it is unseemly for a woman of my advanced years to like what she sees as a children's book (which she hasn't read) so I am not going to say more.

It has been a bit of a tiring day has our little outing to seek a dog to take the place of Miles. And sad; there are so many dogs that need a home and it seems horrid to choose one over another when they stand at the wire and look beseechingly at you. I had tears.... it was cold.....windchill....I wanted to take them home, okay! Call me marshmallow.

Morag could not choose either and so we broke for lunch at Bents Garden Centre - huge queues but lovely butties; I had soup and all I could taste was celery - in leek and potato soup! Mum and Morag had smoked salmon and prawns on onion foccacio - was I green with it; actually as green as my soup! There are just some flavours that overpower my palate, celery is one and coriander (fresh) is another and I normally don't add them to my cooking. I am making too much over a bowl of soup so I am stopping now!

After lunch we went to a second rescue centre and Morag could not decide. She felt apologetic for dragging us along but we were happy to be with her despite being knackered. After I had dropped them off at their respective homes, I treated myself to a Martha Stewart punch at Crafts 4 U 2 Do and have elicited a promise from them to show me a cricut cutting machine when I next pop by - and they have got plans to set up a crafting club & asked would I be interested. How good was that?

No pictures today; I am in the middle of making a card  for a challenge on Do-crafts which I am hosting. I will post it up here when I finish it.

Cheerio for the present, Hazel xx

(This is the dog I would want if Mr H wasn't such a grouchy gizzard; ain't it cute?)

Guilty of Hubris

May I explain? Yesterday I replied to an email from my friend Bernadette and told her that I would post my new card makes on my blog as it always worked compared to the lack of success I was having uploading to my Do-craft gallery. Naturally, I was not able to; the Internet link crashed for the umpteenth time and I could not even post the blog. Granted, it could have worked later on but I am getting too frustrated with the whole technology black hole in my life so went to Carole's Crafts for a reviving mooch and to buy the latest Creative Cardmaking. Oil on troubled waters right enough and it set me up for a long and relaxing natter with Bernadette on our first phone call to each other. We met through Do-crafts and for me it was like finding someone who I knew already and who knew me. We chatted for ages and Mr H says there must be dozens of three-legged donkeys round here as I can talk the hind leg off a donkey and yesterday was a marathon. Why do men disparage womens chat when it is the fuel on which society feeds? It is how wisdom and folklore pass on and so much more - if it was left to men, it would be all monosyllabic grunts and no emotion!
So much for the philosophy, I am going to try to upload the star cards:

This is a card I made for my daughter Morgan whose favourite colour is pink. I love the star card shape which Bernadette sent me - can you tell? One tip; mixing diamond and red Stickles may make it look pink when wet but it dries red and diamond so I did not achieve the look I was after!

Same shape, different Tilda's and colours and very therapeutic to make.

This next one is for my great nephew Niven and I used an idea in a craft mag which I can't just lay my hands on. It is Mr H's favourite in this batch and uses patchwork, acetate panels, faux stitching and decoupage.

The acetate is embossed before sticking over the aperture and there is paper on the inside of the card showing through. The Santa decoupage is from Jolly Nation with some gold Stickles on the belt buckle.

I have been messing about with different folds but not entirely sure of the results. I will post pics soon and you can reach your own conclusions. Maybe I am too slavish when it comes to trying new things but I like the effort if not the results!

Mr H and I are off to see the new Harry Potter film today; Mr H has worked out the optimum time to avoid noisy kids and therefore whispering and rustling! He can't hear me shouting to him that his tea is ready but rustling and chomping in the pictures drives him mad. I'm looking forward to the film but not the 3 hour sit which will involve a quick dash to the loo at some point, I'm sure, and I'll miss Voldemort doing something dastardly which will be the best bit in the film! Ho hum.

Review to follow; cheerio for the present. Hazel x