Happy Holidays!

Well Santa has been and gone and the week has passed so quickly! We hosted the Christmas celebrations this year for the first time ever and were a bit apprehensive about the cooking side of things, not because we can't cook but just because we hadn't ever experienced cooking Christmas dinner. However, everything went according to plan - we weren't stressed, cool calm and collected and everything seemed to go down a storm so good practise for next year! lol Lewis was delighted with what Santa had brought (he was in Toy Story heaven!) and we now have enough musical instruments to start a band - drum kit, guitar, keyboard, saxophone. We'd like to say a big thank you to all of the lovely relatives and friends who decided to purchase these wonderful gifts. NOT! We'll be needing a set of earplugs to hear ourselves think, all good fun! I wasn't as organised as I would have liked to have been this year in the week before and leading up to Christmas as having the flu really set me back and all of my plans went out of the window, including making Christmas cards. I didn't make anything like the number I would have liked and I would have liked to spend more time on the ones I did get around to making. But hey ho, maybe next year! I'll need to start now!



Santa was very good to me in the crafting department. I was lucky enough to get a cuttlebug machine and some dies (I so wanted one - thank you Santa) some round nesties to use with it, a 1" scallop round punch, the doily lace edge punch from martha stewart crafts, a threading water border punch and a ribbon slit border punch from fiskars and a scor-pal (which hasn't arrived yet). I did pretty well, didn't I? But, my best present of all was a hot air balloon ride with Steven which I need to do in the next 12 months. This gift was from Steven. I was so chuffed and excited with this as it is something which I have always wanted to do, so my dream has come true! I can't wait to get up in the air but think I'll restrain myself until the summer months, so forgive me if I mention it quite a few times before that big day arrives. I'm so excited!



Anyway, here are some of the Christmas cards I made. The light hasn't been that great when taking photos so they're not the best quality unfortunately.



The two cards above were made using the new Sugar Nellie stamps which I bought recently: Hug in a mug and Snowflake. I also bought Daisy and Rope Swing but haven't gotten around to using them yet! The paper is from DCWV Rose Tinted Christmas. I absolutely love it, there is such a great selection of papers. The sentiment is a Studio G stamp which I bought at the Papermill shop a while back.


I made this card with a Whiff of Joy image given to me by Linda when I did a recent image swap with her. She sent me an amazing selection of images so I need to get around to colouring more of them during the holidays. I think I will need to buy some of these stamps as they are gorgeous. The snowflake dies were kindly given to me by Mar also as part of an image swap and I just love them. Now I have my own cuttlebug, I'll need to get some tips from Mar on how to ge the same as hers as I loved the sparke of the card she has used.

I made this card for Steven using an image kindly given to me by Tab when I did an image swap with her recently. She makes the most amazing cards.


I made exactly the same card as this one for Lewis as I loved the paper and the image so much. The image is a download from Pollycraft called Wilbur and Albert and the paper was from a kit by Summer Driggs called Giving.

Well, this has been a long post for me for a change. I normally don't have as many cards to show! I do have more surprisingly but they can wait for another day, maybe tomorrow. I have lots of thank you cards to make next for the lovely presents Lewis received so I have started to have a think about what I might do and I also want to get started on making birthday cards so that I have a stash and I'm not running about like a heidless chicken as I normally do! We'll see! That's the plan anyway. Tomorrow Steven and I are going to Register House in Edinburgh to do some more research into our family trees, another one of my passions but again don't get enough time to do it! I have been researching for 3 years now and still have lots to do.

Anway, I'm off now to do a bit of blog hopping and catch up with everyones news and creations. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa was good to you!

Lainy xx

Birthday card

Evening all,

Just popped on here before the final of Strictly Come Dancing quickly to post a card that I made at the beginning of the week for Steven's aunts 60th birthday. I haven't had a minute before now to post it as I have been so busy at work this week trying to get things wrapped up for the holidays due to being off work all last week with the flu. Have recovered now but still have quite an annoying cough which I think may linger for a while. Thank you to everyone who left me get well wishes last week, that was very kind and cheered me up.


Anyway back to the card, I used a rubber romance stamp called "Girls Night Out" which I absolutely loved using along with liquid pearls for the first time on the number 60. Quite liked the effect of them, think I may need to buy some other colours. I was really happy with the card I made and Steven's aunt loved it too, so that was a bonus! There's nothing better than seeing someone really happy with something you have made or given to them - brings out the child in me!

I was busy making some other cards last night for family members and will post pictures of them tomorrow along with a picture of the fabulous Secret Santa gift that I received on Thursday from one of my SBS sisters! I was delighted with the contents and can't wait to use the scrummy goodies I received so a huge thank you to my "secret santa". My secret santa gift is on the way to my Secret SBS sister and hopefully they will receive it soon. I also got a gorgeous secret santa gift at work on Thursday so Thursday was a great day for me for receiving gifts.

I'm off now to watch the final of Strictly Come Dancing, my favourite programme as dancing is my number one passion. RACHEL to win!!!! I've voted several times already and will be again shortly.

Have a great night whatever you are doing and wherever you are!

Lainy x

Flu!

Apologies for my lack of blogging again! I had hoped to get lots of Christmas cards made at the weekend as well as getting my tree and decorations up but unfortunately I have been floored with a flu-like virus and have been in bed since Friday afternoon. Have been to the doctor this morning and guess what .....he wouldn't give me any antibiotics ...told me I'm doing all the right things and that I won't be any better until the middle/end of the week! Typical and so ironic that I was supposed to get the flu jag at work this morning! So it was back to bed for me on my return home and I have sneaked on here for ten minutes while Steven is away to the doctor as he now has it too and while Lewis is having a nap (he's been ill since last Thursday). I hope to be back at the end of the week!

Hope all is well with you wherever you are!

Chilly night! Brrrr!

Evening all,

Well, it is absolutely freezing here tonight and has been pretty cold all day today. It is forecasted to get really cold during the night, temperature predicted to be -7 so that will make driving interesting in the morning! I hate driving in icy conditions, I would much rather be tucked up in bed. Chance would be a fine thing - roll on the holidays. 13 days and counting!

I was a rebel last night and managed to get lots of crafting done in one night. I managed to make lots of cards which is highly unusual for me as I normally spend so much time making one. I seemed to be on a roll last night and fair enjoyed myself I have to say! I deliberately didn't bring any work home as I spent most of my Sunday working on things for school although that is the norm for me I have to say!

Anyway, here are my creations. The first two are a get well card for my mum as she has been in hospital for some surgery recently and also an anniversary card for my mum and dad (slightly late as you can see from the message!)

I have also been busy making some image wallets for some very special ladies who very kindly sent me some images and who won some PIF candy from me. I have been so slow in getting this done so many apologies! I hope it's worth the wait when they arrive!


The pictures were taken late last night so aren't the best quality! Well, that's it from me for tonight. I have lots of work to get done tonight as a result of having so much fun last night! The new Magnolia stamps I bought at the weekend from the Glitterpot arrived today and I'm desperate to ink them and turn them into Christmas cards, maybe tomorrow night if I'm lucky!