Wooh Hooooohhh!!!! It's Christmaaaaaasssss!!!!

I just had to come on and do a quick post to thank everyone for my gifts which I have now opened.  I won't embarrass anyone by mentioning names - but you all know who you are!!  I have had such a lovely build up to Christmas with receiving your beautiful handmade cards along with some surprise gifts - and now that I have had chance to open the presents I just want to thank each and everyone of you who took the time and trouble to either enter my Christmas Card Competition or who sent/gave me a present. THANK YOU ALL SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!

I hope that everyone else is having a wonderful time today. 

My Christmas Card Competition is now closed so I will be back at some point in the next few days to announce the winner so stay tuned!!   Plus of course there is The Stamp Man's Blog Hop to look forward to which begins this Sunday!! But meanwhile enjoy your Christmas time!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Hi guys!!  I just want to wish everyone who stops by my blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.  My thanks to everyone who has visited my blog, left me kind comments and also those who have opted to become followers.  It is so nice to know that I am not waffling on to myself!!

I have had such a lovely lead up to Christmas this year - not only have I had presents given to me from companies that I work closely with such as Stamp Addicts, The Craft Barn and The Glitter Pot but I also had a beautiful Christmas bouquet of flowers turn up yesterday from The Stamp Man and of course this year I have had some beautiful handmade Christmas cards coming through my letterbox.  So to everyone who has sent me a card or gift - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!  It has made this Christmas very special.

Don't forget that The Stamp Man are going to be running something very special on their blog starting from 27th December so if you can do stop by as not only will there be candy on offer but some awards too!!

Before I go this card is one of the designs that I made to send out this year.  I just love this Sarah Kay image she is so sweet!!  She was coloured using copic markers and then combined with SEI background papers - all of which came from The Craft Barn.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Oh Christmas Tree!!

Today I thought I'd show you a few close up photos of my tree after telling you all about the saga of putting it up yesterday.  The photos that I took of the tree as a whole looked absolute rubbish and didn't do the tree justice at all as it looks far prettier in real life!!  These will give you a taster of what it does look like though.

Here's a close up of the cute little snowman from above.

















This bauble is actually silver with white glittery snowflakes.
















And here's one of our snow balls!
















Another of our cute snowmen.














These snowmen baubles have been going for years and are really fragile!!


So as you can see our tree has quite a frosty feel this year.  As well as all the white and silver that you have seen we do have a few light blue/aqua coloured baubles on the tree too.

How Long Does It Take To Put Up A Christmas Tree??

Hi Guys.  You won't believe this but yesterday it literally took me all day to put up and decorate our Christmas tree!!  This year we went ahead and finally bought a new tree as our old one was well and truly past it.  Last year we had a real one but this year with all the upheaval that is currently going on with our extension we decided to have an artificial one for this year.  So about a week ago we went out and chose a new tree.  Well yesterday when I opened up the box I discovered that you have to assemble this tree branch by branch so that was my first challenge!!  Actually I've got to say that once I'd sorted out all the individual branches it was quite easy to do - it just took a long time spreading them all out as I was going!  My next challenge was putting the lights on it - I always find this the hardest bit as I either have too many lights at the top and run out before I get to the bottom of the tree or I find I haven't got enough lights at the top of the tree and have loads at the bottom so it normally takes a couple of attempts for me to get it just right!!  Anyway about four attempts later the tree finally had it's lights on and then when I stepped back and looked at the tree I realised that this tree required thicker tinsel than what we normally use on our trees so it was then a mad dash to the shops to try and find some thick silver tinsel.  About 90 minutes later I was back home armed with my tinsel and could then begin decorating it.  My final challenge was then threading up some new baubles that we bought last year so that I could actually hang them on the tree which was a really fiddly job!!  Anyway tree is now decorated complete with a couple of presents under it too.  I did take some photos of the tree which I will load up so you can see it but unfortunately the photos that I took don't do the tree justice at all as it is far prettier in real life!!  So with all this tree decorating I just didn't get chance to blog yesterday!

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As you already know I was at The Glitter Pot on Thursday teaching a couple of classes and I had such a nice day there so a huge thank you to the ladies who were on the classes for making it such a pleasant day.  One of the ladies brought along a card for my competition and also presented me with a present at the end of the day for under my tree!!  I won't embarrass the lady in question by naming her but she knows who she is and once again I send a huge thank you to her as it really made my day.  Whilst I was there I badgered the rest of the ladies on my class too about sending me a card so I'm hoping that they too will enter the competition.  I have had a few cards turn up for this and it has been soooooooo nice opening them up and seeing your wonderful creations!  And just before I departed The Glitter Pot I was presented with another present for under my tree - this time from the owners.  Then when I got home I found a couple of cards waiting for me too so all in all I had a wonderful day and really felt in the Christmas spirit!

Christmas Is Coming!!!

Oh how sad am I???  I am starting to get really excited now about Christmas as yesterday I braved the shops and did some more Christmas shopping.  It was lovely hearing all the Christmas songs in the shops and seeing the lights and all the store displays and I even met Father Christmas!! 

What is even nicer is that your Christmas Cards are starting to arrive too and yesterday I received my first card from abroad!!  Please do keep them coming as there is still plenty of time for you to enter the competition and it really is sooooooooooo nice seeing what you have made - I now can't wait for the postman to arrive each day! 

This card is very similar to one that I showed a while ago but with a different Sarah Kay image.  This particular one I designed some while ago for one of my classes at The Craft Barn.  The Sarah Kay image was stamped using Starlite Black Brilliance and coloured using Copics.  The papers are by SEI and are from their Christmas Mint collection.  All products can of course be bought from The Craft Barn.