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So the last of the conferences was done and dusted (well almost dusted, lots of follow up stuff to do in work next week) on Tuesday followed by a site visit in some far off region of known space (Yeovil) on Thursday.  I can now get back to what passes for normal for a while!
I had loads of nasty stuff to catch up on like washing and other h****work type things but have managed to get another page of the tag type book done

Not very exciting, just another distress ink background stamped with some Crafty Individuals flourishes.  I had a skeleton leaf which I sprayed with golden fish cosmic shimmer mist and then I loved the image from Crafty Individuals which seemed to fit in with my autumn theme so I mounted that on to some Cosmo Cricket Gretel paper.  At least I got some crafting done!

Advent Tree

A few years ago (I can't remember exactly when, my age is catching up with me, but about three or four I think) I bought an advent tree from M&S for my DDs.  They are 24 and 25 this year but still love their advent calendars.  Anyway, this one from M&S was all very sophisticated in silver and black and was filled with fashion jewellery!  It made up part of their christmas present as it was fairly expensive.

Anyways, ever since I have thought I really should alter it, and finally I have!  So, without further ado, here is the grand unveiling:
Back View:

I gave the whole thing a coat of gesso as the original card had a shiny coating on it then painted it all with Viva Metallic paint in Olive to keep with the tree theme.  I then covered the back and sides with K&Co paper from the Winter Wonderland pad in a deep green (again keeping with the tree theme).  The baubles are from the Seasonal grungeboard pack embossed in gold or painted red and embossed with holographic powder.  I've used a Paper Artsy Egg & Nog stamp and some holly from the Seasonal grungeboard pack and some red gems as a garland.  The bows were from the Craft Barn and then I cut up some Wassail papers for the parcels down the bottom.  The star is a wooden one from the Craft Barn painted red then spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer Golden Fish and edged with a Krylon gold pen.

Front View:

 
 

I just covered the drawers in a selection of K&Co papers from the Winter Wonderland pad, plus a few additional papers from Basic Grey Wassail and Eskimo Kisses.  I wanted this to look like a pile of presents so I made the big bow out of some wired gold ribbon at stuck it on the top with the tails dangling down.

I'm quite pleased with it, except I couldn't find any numbers the right size so I had to write them on by hand :(

Now if only I could get my mucky paws on one of those Tesco Advent Houses! 

 

Two awards! *blush*

Just one conference left now next week then I can relax :)  I got back to find I have been given two awards!! 

Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I would like to thank everyone who has made this possible........ lol.

First up Helen gave me this award:

I have to share 5 facts about my self and then pass the award on to 5 other people:

1. My three children are the centre of my universe
2. I was in an Irish bagpipe band when I was very young so yes, that means I used to play the bagpipes!
3. I love long walks in the countryside
4. I am fascinated by architecture
5. I love watching the sea crash against the cliffs

I am now passing this on to the following 5 people who inspire and intrigue me: Carmen Leandra Julie Virginia and Viola 

Second award was from Carmen 

Carmen wants to know more about me so I have to answer the following questions with one word answers.... me! one word!! EEEEK!

1. Where is your cell phone? Ummmm....

2. Your hair? A mess
3. Your mother? Pass
4. Your father? Browbeaten
5. Your favorite food? Chocolate
6. Your dream last night? Work
7. Your favorite drink? Fruit Juice
8. Your dream/goal? Fulfilled children
9. What room are you in? Lounge
10. Your hobby? Craft
11. Your fear? Letting people down
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Pass
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something that you aren't? Confident
15. Muffins? OK
16. Wish list item? Everything in Leandra & Lin's workrooms
17. Where did you grow up? London
18. Last thing you did? Cooked
19. What are you wearing? PJs
20. Your TV? Off
21. Your Pets? Cat
22. Friends? Funny
23. Your life? Chaotic
24. Your mood? Bemused
25. Missing Someone? Yes
26. Vehicle? Bus
27. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
28. Your favorite store? M&S
29. Your favorite colour? Red
30. When was the last time you laughed? This Morning
31. Last time you cried? Last Week
32. Your best friend?Al
33. One place that I go to over and over? Work
34. Facebook? Irregularly
35. Favorite place to eat? Anywhere

I'm not good at one word as you can tell!  Now I have to pass this on to five people I want to learn more about: Helen Ruth Hels Lin and Linda E 


Phew!

Conference season :(

Been away most of the week at a conference, will be away Monday/Tuesday next week for another one and again the same two days the following week!! 
Anyways, after the snowman wall hanging I was in the Christmas mood so I made another wall hanging with Cosmo Cricket lacing cards from my TSV kit and more papers from the K&Co Winter Wonderland pad.

The top lacing card is mainly one of the papers from the pad which is just so gorgeous it didn't really need anything else.  I stamped a Paper Artsy Nut & Meg poinsetta onto grungepaper, coloured them with fired brick distress ink then sprayed with wild currant glimmer mist.  I blinged them up with some fired brick distress stickles and used micro beads for the centres.  I added a bit of christmas red stickles to the centre of the large poinsetta on the paper because you can never have too much sparkle at Christmas!
 

The second panel is covered with another of the papers then I painted some grungeboard snowflakes from the holiday pack with Viva metallic paint in ice blue.  After that I covered them in pearl glitter.  The letters are from a grungeboard alpha pack covered alternately in christmas red stickles and fired brick stickles.

The third panel is covered with yet another paper from the pad.  I then ran the smaller grungeboard reindeer from the holiday pack through the cuttlebug with the script embossing folder then inked it up with fired brick distress ink and sprayed with wild currant glimmer mist.  I then painted one of the holly sprays from the holiday pack with olive viva metallic paint and used christmas red stickles for the berries.

The final panel is again covered in another paper from the pad.  I ran the small grungeboard tree from the holiday pad through the bug again with the script folder and then painted it with olive viva.  The poinsettas are the same as on the first panel and the letters are the same as the second panel.

 I laced them together with a sparkly ribbon and here is the whole thing. (try to ignore the mark on the wall, I didn't notice it until I was cropping the pic on the PC!  Housework is a very occasional thing in my house)

 

Thought for the day

I've just been surfing around, catching up on blogs and boards and various points of interest, and I came across this wonderful post on Suze Weinberg's blog 
I love it, and I am particularly impressed by the last paragraph of the post:

With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.
So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. 

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think,

¨Good grief, look how smart I am...¨

 

This is not just my thought for the day.... it's the thought of the century!

 

Sunday Stampers Challenge - Snowmen

So there I was last weekend with a big circle of heavyweight cardboard (my DDs bought a Patisserie Valerie cream cake... yummy! and this was the cleaned up cake board) wondering what to do with it when I saw the Sunday Stampers Challenge on Hels blog here.  I've never done a challenge before but I thought I would give it a try.

I was tempted a while ago by a K&Co Winter Wonderland pad on QVC, and I have the holiday grungeboard pack and a couple of Stampers Anonymous Christmas collections by the beloved T!m so I was good to go.
Here is my effort:

I covered the board in one of the K&Co papers then painted a sort of snowdrifty landscape in titan white acrylic paint which I also used on the snowman grungeboard shape.  Once the paint was dry I stamped the trees from the Reindeer Games set in black and embossed with clear powder and the music and title from the Christmas Sounds set with versamark then embossed with silver.  The lampost is also from the Christmas Sounds set stamped on to grungepaper then cut out and stuck on with glossy accents.  I used a gold metallic pen to colour in the "lamp" part to look like it was lit.  I used some distress inks to colour the snowman parts then stuck him on with a bit of red and gold ribbon for a scarf.  I used an unidentified stamp of an owl with a chrismas hat on some shrink plastic to make a little friend for the snowman then went mad with some snow tex and pearl white glitter to make a snowy texture.  Unfortunately the bobble fell off the owl's hat when I was trying to flatten it after shrinking, but don't tell anyone!