Merry Christmas and a Friday Oldie.................

Good morning folks.

Just a quicky to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Some of you show an oldie on a Friday so I'm showing this card, which I originally posted on 1st January this year and as its one of my personal favourites, I saved it and gave it to Mr D for his Christmas card this year.

Its an 8x8 so its big enough to share with you all and he doesn't mind sharing (Except that birthday cake lol!!!)

The original post details the ingredients if the recipe is required.

Hope your day is filled with love, laughter and happiness.................(hopefully the air wont be filled with the after effects of turkey, stuffing and sprouts!!!)

Merry Christmas, Selamat Hari Krismas, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel and Frohliche Weinachten everyone!!!

TTFN

Ang x

Happy Birthday Mr Duck...............

Good morning everyone. Hope you're all well and are all sorted for the festivities.

Thank you for your comments on Nesta's necklace. She does twinkle and sparkle when she wears it.

I apologise for being awol but as you will see, I have had Mr D's birthday, lots going on at work (the curse of retail at Christmas) and Christmas prep to contend with, whilst still twinging with my "itis"

I have been keeping up fairly well with my comments but hadn't had time to sort out the software conflict with my camera and laptop (why can't they just play nicely ?) I've just uninstalled then reinstalled it and got everything crossed they seem to be happy again.

Now, above is Mr D's cake. I thought that may grab folks attention on a reading list rather than his card lol!!!

You may remember I did an individual one for John in October but this is a full size chocolate cake with chocolate filling, covered in chocolate ganache and surrounded by Kit Kats.

The piggies are made with pink fondant and embellished with some CE ribbon.

Mr D is an absolute chocholic so this was nirvana for him (far too sweet for me)

Well, here's the card..............

"Don't make it too fussy or girlie"  Did my best on that one and the above was very well received. Its A4 in size (If you're going to have one, have a big one!!!)

Ingredients

A3 white card

Shades of blue card

Papermania embossing folder

That Special Touch Balloons border mask

Papermania "Husband " stamp

Various blue inks, including Chic Blue Grey, Blue Sky and Turquoise Pool Colour Clouds and Bahama Blue and Paris Dusk Mementos

I double stamped the "Husband" in two different inks to give it a shadow effect and the panels are on 3 different levels.

With his card, cake and pressies, along with his favourite tea of Toad in the Hole, Mr D was a very happy boy.

Well that's me for now folks.................................but here's one last snap of the cake for you chocolate lovers out there...................

Hope the last few days before Christmas aren't too fraught..............will be braving the food shop on Wednesday morning so spare a kind thought in this direction lol!!!

TTFN

Ang x

MAWTT December Challenge. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Good evening blogging chums. Hope everyone is well on this December Eve?

Well, I'm a bit late with this months MAWTT DT creation, which was due yesterday morning, as I'm having problems uploading my photos from my camera to my laptop. I keep geting messages about software conflicts. Don't know about the software but I certainly feel like having a conflict with the bloomin thing.

This month's theme for Team A has been chosen by the lovely Carole and is................................

To Someone Special at Christmas...........

As I am unable to upload the card that I had made, I'm showing a necklace I made for my best chum Nesta (and she is definitely someone very special, bless her) for Christmas a couple of years ago. Its made from Swarovski crystals, as are most of my jewellery makes as I just haven't found anything else that quite compares to the quality and sparkle. Everything else is silver and there is also a pair of earrings to go with it...............but, I'll keep those for another day lol!!!

It is one of my personal faves of pieces I have made and Nesta loved it as she wanted something glitzy to wear for a function.

Please pop over to MAWTT and see what the gals have come up with and why not enter the challenge too. As you can see, it doesn't need to be a card that you enter, just something that you made for someone special for Christmas.

Had a lovely meal and catch up with Wendy (Spanish Crafter and boss lady of MAWTT) and John on Saturday. I think she is heading back to sunny Spain tomorrow but its sad she doesn't live nearer as we all have such a laugh.

Well, that's me for now. Have to give the kitchen a tidy as we had a new cooker fitted this evening and it looks like there's been a fight in a polystyrene factory lol!!!

Keep warm and well and see you soon (technology allowing lol!!!)

TTFN

Ang x

Four Cards and an Envelope.................and Prize Winner

Good morning everyone. Well, my post is like Four Weddings and a Funeral but without the swearing (maybe), Hugh Grant (gladly) and great poetry (sadly).
Hope you are all ok? I still have my "itis" so my sympathies to all of you who mentioned that  you are suffering from your own itises. Have a couple of days off in between working days so I'm trying not to lift or stretch (easier said than done as so many things you go to do automatically),

Mr D has performed his husbandly duties (steady on ladies!) and pulled one of you (down girls !!!) from the bowl and the winner of my 300 Post Paddle Prize is......................................drumroll

Sue J (Olliesmam)

Congratulations Sue and thank you for your lovely comments and support.

I think you have my email so if you'd like to email me your address, I shall forward some goodies ooop North for you.

Thank you to all who comment, I am eternally grateful for your visits but blame Mr D for not picking you lol!!!

I would also like to welcome Amanda to The Pond. She has a fab blog and is a friend of our Kate. Thank you for paddling.

Now, you may think you have seen this card before and you'd be right. It was featured on my last post for the HOC blog hop but the lighting was so bad on the photo, I only used one photo on the post and said I would re-do the photos. I have changed the snap on the blog hop post.

These are the entire collection of re-done snaps and hopefully the lighting now does the card justice.

The parcels are all at staggered heights, flat, 1 foam pad and 2 pads to give a bit of dimension. I also tied some gold thread around them with little bows, which was very fiddly as the thread is so fine.

Ingredients

Cream card

Pink pearl card

Gold mirror card

Burgundy card

Papers from MHK Designs

SB 2012 Holiday Tree die

Presscut Large Square Nesting dies (an excellent set of dies)

SW Snowflake Lattice embossing folder

Cosmic Shimmer Pastel Pink PVA Pearls

Gold thread

Teeny gold bling

A few of you liked the offset tree. My automatic instinct was to plonk the tree in the middle but then I thought it would look less contrived if I didn't.

 I cut a burgundy "shadow" for Mynn's lovely paper that I cut the tree from to make it stand out a bit.
I wanted to show all the pics, without now adding to the hop post so I hope you don't mind.

I have also included 3 pics of some Hunkydory cards. I had to make 3 in a hurry as we were visiting friends and at the last minute, realised we wouldn't see them again before Christmas so being tight, I wanted to hand deliver the cards rather than post all 3.

A few folks had done some HD cards recently and I thought its a shame I've got all these packs so I dipped in and added my own twists, like some embossing, die cuts and some lovely snowflake peel offs (shhhhhhh, don't tell Lockers) from Lidl.

I used the whole background cards for them as it made it quicker and the backgrounds are so pretty, just offsetting the folds and trimmed to fit 8x8 envelopes.
I also like to zhuzh up the envelopes, as you can see.

Thank you for bearing with this picture heavy post.

This morning, I shall be going the Duty Free sale at the NEC with Nesta and stocking up on perfumes and face creams and maybe the odd handbag.............

Whatever you are up to, have a great day and a brilliant weekend.

TTFN

Ang x

House of Cards End of Term Blog Hop............

Hi everyone!  Can you believe we've are at the end of our fourth term here at 

House of Cards?  Unfortunately we are saying a fond farewell to some of our DT members, including me. I've had a fabulous 2 years on the team but have decided to step down to make way for someone else as life is throwing lots at me at the moment lol!!! To say goodbye and thank you, HoC are celebrating with a blog hop!  You should have arrived here from Monika 

Here is my take on the inspiration.............................

So, are you ready to get hopping?!  We've got some fabulous sponsors to share with you!  Make sure you leave a comment at each person's blog along the way because the prizes are hidden and we'll be doing random drawings from the blogs where they are hiding! :)  After you're done, make a creation to share with us here, too, for another chance to win!

The patterned papers on my card came from this sponsor................

MHKDesigns

Prize: Any three products of your choice!

MHKDesigns is a vintage digital stamp Etsy shop owned and operated by Mynnette Kitchen from On A Stampage.  She creates vintage stamp sets and digital paper packs for all your crafting needs.  Contact her with any requests you have at mhkdesigns.etsy@gmail.com!

Now get to hoppin'!  Your next stop is Pat!  Don't forget to link up a project with us after completing the hop for an extra chance to win a mystery prize from one of our fabulous sponsors, too!

Have fun.
Ang x