Only me ….

 

Is there anybody there? …I hope you haven't all abandoned me for being such a ridiculously bad blogger!

I had such great plans for last week, no work, no family, I was going to craft ands blog all week  …I didn’t venture up into the attic for 5 whole days and the week just whizzed by in what seemed like a blur of cleaning and visiting

Last weekend we had our Lili of the Valley Christmas trip to London, we had a brilliant time and packed such a lot into a couple of days including theatre, shopping, museums, Christmas markets  …and of course lots of eating, drinking and girlie chat!

 

This first pic is on our balcony overlooking the London Eye, we had amazing views over the city…

 

 

…and this one is near Leicester Square on our theatre night to the Donmar Warehouse

 

 

 

I also went to visit my friend in Settle during the week, she moved away to the Lake District a few years ago but we still like to keep in touch, we’ve been friends since college days and it’s always nice to have a good old catch up. We always used to go and stay up there when our kids were little but now tend to just meet for lunch and shopping just the 2 of us

 

I have so many cards to show you because I’ve not been on for a while, I’ll put a couple on today but first news of a great Christmas Challenge at the Ribbon Girl, something a bit different…

 

Kids Christmas Craft Challenge 2013

 

Just for kids aged 16 and under

We know lots of you like to make cards or do various other crafts when your Mums, Aunties, Grandmas, Nanas, carers and big sisters and so on are all making cards or colouring in so we thought it would be nice to have a special challenge JUST FOR KIDS!   The challenge will run until 9pm (UK time) on Saturday 28th December

The winners will be announced on New Years Eve - we're sure you will have some time to fill in before Christmas and maybe some spare time between Christmas and New Year - you might even be hoping to get some new craft things in your stocking and this is a great opportunity to put them to good use

 

         

There will be 3 prizes of crafty goodies and the challenge will be judged by 3 popular UK crafters:

Dawn Phillips, Kath Stewart and Andrea Gourley  

The winners will have their project displayed on the blog, on The Ribbon Girl Facebook Page and on the front page of The Ribbon Girl online store website on 1st January 2014

You can enter any type of project, for example you could make a card - could be a thank you card, a birthday card, a get well soon card, you can do a drawing or painting, a piece of knitting, crochet or sewing - in fact, any type of craft you like to do as long as it is your own work

This challenge is open to all young people under the age of 16 years whether or not they are a relative of the Ribbon Girl Design Team or Guest Design Team Members, you an see the full details of how to enter on the Ribbon Girl blog

 

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Next is a Crafty Ribbons Christmas event running throughout December. Lili of the Valley are sponsoring one of the days and Elise and I made a card each

There are some fabulous giveaways and you still have time to enter so make sure you go back over the posts, there is uggins of inspiration and you can find it all here 

 

This was my card and I used one of our Art Pads, they are so great if you don’t have time to stamp and colour. This lovely image is in the Christmas Angels pad and is also available as a stamp called Little Ivy

 

 

I chose to make an easel card for a change, here’s what I used;

 

LOTV Christmas Handwritten Phrases

Doohickey poinsettia die

EK success corner punch

LOTV Krafty Christmas and Classic Christmas papers

Tim Holtz ideaology brads

Lace and twine from the Ribbon Girl

Red and green stickles, had these years, I never use coloured glitter but they look amazing round the bottom of her dress and on the ivy

 

 

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I’ve missed a couple of Papertake Weekly posts (sorry Dawny!)

I did have cards ready so I’ll show you those over the holidays

This week the challenge is to choose your favourite theme from 2013. It was hard to pick but I chose…

old, new, borrowed, blue which was from July

I had a new baby card to make for a friend so this was perfect…

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve again used the Lili of the Art pads, this little cutie is in the Toddlers pad and you can also get him as a stamp called Baby Boy

The papers are from the new Winter Wishes pad, I love the colours and will use these papers all year round

I made some tags with his name and date of birth on and then the lace, pearls, charm, twine etc are from the Ribbon Girl (where else?)

 

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Thanks for stopping by, I will find time over the holidays to visit all your blogs and see what you’ve been up to

Jess is home unexpectedly for Christmas, she had an offer of a job in a North Yorkshire racing yard which was too good to miss so she moved last week and gets a couple of days off over Christmas as the rotas were already done so that was a lovely surprise. It will be great to have her nearer home, I didn’t like her being so far away and missed her a lot as you know

 

I’ll be sharing some of favourite 2013 cards from the Lili of the Valley design team on the Ideas to Inspire blog tomorrow and then the rest of them on New years day so do stop by if you get a spare minute (I know, I know  …turkey and pressies, you’ll be up to your eyes in it!!)

The girls have been doing a great job running the blog and there is still a new card every day while I am off

 

We’re going to the cinema now and although I’m setting off with good intentions I know I’ll end up with a huge tub of popcorn and scoff the lot  …it’s the law I think  …and it’s Christmas!!

 

Have a a fabulous Christmas everyone

 

Big hugs and sloppy festive kisses for you all, my lovely crafty friends xxx

 

 

 

 

Nativity Angels

 

 

Hey everyone, what are you up to over the weekend?

I had planned to nip into town today for a bit of last minute shopping but I saw the rain and changed my mind, I’m such a wimp! I did most of my shopping when we went to Stratford Upon Avon, it’s a lovely place and the rest I’ve ordered online so I’m quite organised with my pressies. I’d love to make my own cards but I’ll end up buying them (again!) as there just aren’t enough hours in the day at the moment.

I had to laugh at all your comments about the scrap of lace, it’s back in my box and I’m happy to know that everyone is as frugal as me with their stash (except you Mary, shame on you!)

 

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As it’s the first challenge of the month we have our usual Anything Goes at Papertake Weekly

The optional extra is to make a clean and simples (CAS) or less is more card, I fancied trying this and spent 2 nights faffing about   …it’s harder than it looks and my efforts ended up in the bin

I wanted to try but this is only an option and if you don’t want to use this theme then you don’t have to

I told Dawny I’d have to give it a miss this week so I haven’t got a card on the blog but then I remembered this one that I did for Creative Stamping magazine a while back, I think it would be classed as Clean and Simple so thought I’d show you…

 

 

 

I used Nativity Angels, Lili of the Valley of course, and a Marianne stitched border die

That’s about it really and I like it, it made a change not to do a square card!

The sentiment was done on the computer and I just finished it off with some little gems

 

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Hope you like it, have a fabulous weekend everyone

 

 

Christmas Challenge…

 

 

 

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you’re enjoying the weekend

Time is whizzing by and I can’t believe that we’re into December now

 

Jess is working Christmas and New Year so won’t be coming home, our first Christmas without her so it will be strange and a bit sad. I’m sure she’ll be more than happy staying with her beloved horses, they get to finish at lunchtime and all make a meal together to celebrate so she’ll be just fine and have a great time I’m sure

 

We went to visit her last weekend and took her presents, Joe dragged himself away from his friends and came with us. I managed to get a rare picture of them and we spent some lovely time together…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the final challenge of the year at The Ribbon Girl and it's a huge one; a Christmas themed challenge with ideas and inspiration galore from the whole Design Team

We would like to see all your Christmas projects, it can be a card, fabric, paper craft or knitted projects etc as long as it’s festive  …and it's as easy as that!

Because it’s the last challenge of 2013 there are some great prizes to be won prizes including a £10 voucher from LOTV, £10 voucher from Ribbon Girl and a few special products from the Ribbon Girl online store

 

I made a little gift box, it’s from an IPod so is lovely and sturdy, and it was plain black so a good base colour for these lovely Lili of the Valley Classic Christmas papers

 

 

 

 

Apart from the Lili of the Valley Grungy Christmas message everything else I used is from The Ribbon Girl

 

 

The flowers were white, I coloured them with distress stain to match the papers

 

 

I put some pearls on the bottom to make little ‘feet’

 

 

Here’s a list of all my supplies;

Stickles

Tulle

Dark green open weave ribbon

Rebecca lace

Flatback pearls

Button twine

Pearl bead string

Jute mesh ribbon

Darjeeling white mini blossom flowers

Darjeeling white blossom flowers

Rusty jingle bells 18mm and 13mm

Teardrop pin wheel

 

 

Hope you like it! There was so much fabulous work from the design team that Mary will be showcasing it all week on the blog and Facebook so do make sure you keep checking back as you will be amazed at some of the projects!

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Finally, a question …

I know us crafters can be bit precious with our stash! I threw this scrap of lace away today and then promptly fished it back out of the bin thinking maybe I can use it on a little tag!

 

 

…is that really taking things a bit too far, it’s about 4cm long?

Shall I just grit my teeth, be brave and throw it away!!!

 

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Have a lovely Sunday evening everyone, it’s Keith's birthday today so we’re going out tonight to eat and drink far too much!