Christmas countdown - applies to December only!

At work [my NHS job], we deal with a company who organises for consultants to take our out patient clinics at weekends in a bid to reduce the waiting lists for lots of specialties.  Each year they gift the staff a new calendar.  This being almost my first year in the post as departmental secretary, and an eye for altering/crafting, I asked my colleagues to keep some of these back for me so that I could recycle.

I saw the block style calendars in the Range at the weekend - they were cheaper than Asda's block calendars but even at almost £7 a set!  Those wooden block style calendars were quite popular to alter at one point I am sure but thought it a little expensive "just because" LOL.  Then it occurred to me that I still had the above calendars stashed away in a drawer.  I even chopped down the pre-printed calendar bits that flip over from month to month, and recycled those by covering them in patterned cardstock and cut out numbers from the Sizzix Lollipop number series.  

I must apologise now for the calendar I made was actually for a "sleep countdown" for the festive season - yes I am quite a bit ahead of time but I am never this organised and wanted to have this done.  I have another 2-3 to make.  This is the prototype!

 

How the back looks:

The front and numbers put in place:

yup, 'fraid so, this is Santa Claus!

I layered certain areas of this die cut, with a little chalking from Stamping Up, given Santa the rosy cheek look.

Nouveau was the Sizzix Sizzlet alphabet used for "How Many Sleeps.....?"

Scrapbook of Marianne's High School Prom from 2010 complete at last!

I have been working on this on and off over the last couple of years!  Today on a rare day off work, I managed to complete it and bind it all together using the bind it all!

Rediscovering the BIA

 Aiming for the vintage look:

 part of the double layout including above LO

Another rediscovery - an old punch from Creative Memories:

A wee bit of bling embellishment instead of dotting the "i"

FREEBIE STAMP USED FOR GIFT TAG

 I bought a stamp magazine whilst in Hobbycraft at the beginning of the week.  The magazine didnt actually inspire me but I thought the stamp would be good enhancement to a masculine gift tag. Plus "Mr A" enjoys the birds too so thought this would be an ideal subject.....

 Tag edge stamped with the Stamping up ink... Stazon black for the stamp itself.  I used a variety of colours from the my Stamping Up pen collection.

 For the man in my life.......

I eventually got round to mowing the rear garden lawn yesterday once I got home from work.  Got the strimmer out to tidy things up and almost took it to the long grasses growing beneath my daughter's bedroom window and these caught my eyes......

there were loads of them!

The humble envelope

I recall making these a few years back - though I had my special trimmer which doubled as a scorer if the blade was removed [I now use that at work as we don't have access to any paper trimmers or guillotines].  Only trouble is, I could not for the life of me, find what I was looking for on my own blog though I pretty sure I did a project and loaded on here - ho hum I am simply a little rusty finding my way round my own blog!

Back to where I was - I started off with the above C5 sized envelope. Sealed the opening and then trimmed it off as it was not required nor part of the design.  Scored a certain width on the 3 remaining edges and 'moulded' into shape to get the block base bag effect.

Create an embellishment using patterned cardstock to the width of the'bag', stamp some accents and secure with double sided sticky tape or the ATG gun which is very handy!

I bought a couple of bags of chocolate eggs that you can buy for and Easter egg hunt....and filled these bags with some of those eggs.

I am hoping the above photo turns the right way round as blogger isnt playing ball or it is simply something I am not doing right as this pic was edited and showing as portrait orientation.

Here is one not so girly!

The first in a very long while - using stamps and die cuts.....

Jeezo!! A lot has changed over the last couple of years.  I havent been maintaining my blog neither due to huge changes in my life.  Those changes include the ending of my marriage - my decision and one I had not made lightly, To me, it simply reached the end of the road.  Anyways, all those changes means that a lot of good has come out from it too.  The biggest thing to have gone by the wayside has been my crafting......

BUT I have done some crafting on and off over time and tonight I dug out my Stampin' Up stamps and tools etc.  I do hope to have created something this week.  I am soooooo out of date in the crafting world.  I have not bought sizzix dies for a long time and don't know what's hot and what's not in the crafting world.....it seems I am relearning again!

This is the new me, I hope you like?! xxx

A night out with the girls!

Last night a group of us girls met up to go for a meal at International Starters, Leith, Edinburgh. You had a choice of starters from around the world in these categories: Mediterranean, Asian, The Americas and Scotland. From these categories we all chose differnt foods from these categories. I was Americas and picked the loaded potato skins here is the menu which will be easier to understand rather than my daft explanation! It's a fabby idea I think! The meal was delicious as was the company!

The desserts looked scrummy - I didn't try any because I was too stuffed with what I'd already eaten!

Congratulations to Leanne!

All wrapped up with bow and gift card:

Almost complete - as you can almost see, some of the "ingredients" which are
discreetly hidden by nappies and muslin squares:Yay - the satin ribbon/bows + ribbon teddy topper in situ:

A close-up of hand made ribbon bow + Sizzix baby carriage die-cut gift tag:

Gift tag only with Sizzix Sizzlet "Cherish" alphabet used:

I'd received a phone call last Friday from the secretary from Alwynne's primary school with a request to make a nappy cake for one their members of staff, Leanne. Leanne has a lot of patience and is indeed a lovely lady who normally cares for a special needs kiddy at the school. The nappy cake was to be made in time for her finishing up work to go on maternity leave today [which is also our end of term]! Usually I prefer at least 2 week's notice but I made an exception seeing as I had been all organised with making the teachers end of term thank you gifts.

Instead of the usual "neutral" colours such as pastel yellow. mint, cream tones, I wanted something a little more modern and used chocolate brown and a pale mint shade.

Now, there is an error here [which has now been rectified], I wonder if any of you will have noticed it?!

The Teachers Thank You Cards

Both Miss Marr's and Mrs Mistlebrook's "Thank You" cards:

Mrs Mistlebrook's card - a combination of scalloped and layerd edges + machine stitching:
[sentiment from Stampin' Up!]

Miss Marr's "Thank You" card - close-up of dimensional adhesive pads in use: