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