Brains are wierd

I had just entitled my blog "Interesting title to follow" which suggested a rather dull week until I remembered something that I find interesting that happened this week...

My darling hubby has just started off his own blog Little things please little minds partly to record his New Years Resolution of Poetry learning. (NB his URL has "thebish" in it. He is not, and never will be a bishop, it is just his nickname on Bolton Wanderers forums. He is fond of purple though). I of course have been INCREDIBLY supportive and not made any snarky comments or suggested that really he should learn Bad Sir Brian Botany as that is real poetry.
But actually I am rather proud of his acheivements.

He was rehearsing his "Death be not proud" (well not his exactly, John Donne done wrote it first) when I noted that a line in it reminded me structure and rhythm wise of a line of verse that I knew somewhere in the back of my brain, only all I could remember was "tum te tum, blah, blah blah, blah - I am to learn". And that possibly Shakespeare wrote it. Thanks to the power of Google it took me 5 minutes to discover that it was Shakespeare - and is indeed the opening speech of the Merchant of Venice.

In sooth, I know not why I am so sad:
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;

And since seeing it in print I have discovered that I can now recite it off by heart as I learnt it for my O Level English Lit in 1981 (yikes that is a long time ago). I wonder what else is lurking in my brain that I haven't remembered that I know? And it gives me something to quote back at Phil. Though I may give Bad Sir Brian a go too. I am awfully fond of AAMilne's poetry. But Winnie the Pooh gets on my wick (gasp! did I really say that out loud. Hope you'll still speak to me)

I did remember (albeit just in time) that I was in charge of Daring Cardmakers this week. It is ages ago that I came up with the theme and I can't remember why. (Not even Google can help with this one) Maybe I was driving past a golf course...

Hole in One

I'd like you to make a card that has at least one hole in it. Could be a card with an aperture or one that features a border punch with holes in or you can use a hole punch to create a pattern. See how inventive you can be!

I have to admit that this card is version 2
Version 1 was me attempting the pattern with a hole punch. Part of the problem was that I used the cropadile and it is just a bit heavy for little old me. Then I tried to cut out around the pattern then realised it was one hot mess and started again. Most of the elements from this card are from the December Crafty Templates card kit (now sold out). I punched with a Martha Stewart punch the border on the bottom, realised the card was then wonky and so cut a little of the back. I think more needs to go as it is still a tad squiffy! (My blog doesn't have that title for nothing you know).

The sequins don't show up proper like on the photo but they are leather look! There is lots of card candy in there and yes, another successful bow and this time the ribbon goes all the way round so I am even cracking on with the tension. I must remember to use my straighteners on that end though! the chandalier paper is actually a sparkly cream and dark brown and everything tones together better than the photo suggests. I don't know if it works more at an angle...

In other news... thanks to a better work life balance this week I have only one photo from the 2008 holiday to scrap! Yay me. Then there is the rest of the day trip to France 2009 before starting a new holiday album. Its the only "themed" album I do apart from Faithscrapping and really is more about our family than any sights. Because we do more slobbing than sight seeing. However I can tell you know that the Weymouth 09 album will have more sights and nature thanks to Phil's new found photography skills. Oh yes.

Back to the end of 08 though. I have a Bazzill lickety split album which means some of the pages have pockets to put photos and journalling in to. They are hard to photograph though
Here is one using BG Offbeat which talks about how Hywel always ends up having his birthday on holiday. Well he did, but those days are over as we have now had to move our hols due to A level and GCSE results. His 18th is on a Sunday though. ie Mum and Dad will be working...

Then another double layout. Go me
All October Afternoon Nightlight. I'm sad that I didn't get the light right on the letters. They are Piggy Tales chipboard covered in UTEE - the last layer being black which gives a luscious almost plastic look to them. Sigh. I am back in with UTEE - except I tend to emboss on the floor near the plug and then get backache. I suffer for my art you know. The journalling is about how alien it is to enjoy rides like these. The eagle eyed among you will note that only 3 Nevards are on this ride and that Emrys is as sensible as I am.

And now to one of my all time faves - which has the title in the photo. I didn't think it needed any other reallyThis actually has a mix of Scenic Route; October Afternoon and CHatterbox (I think) papers with a mix of embellishments from the same company and an old Crafty Templates card kit. I added lots of black smudges so that the black smudge already there would not be lonely. But I liked the bashed up edges contrasting with the prettiness of the rest.
Here is a close up of the wordsIronically it has been suggested at breakfast today that the time of "you smell" is over. I'm not holding my breath but it has been such a big part of family life that I am kind of sad if that is true :)

Sermon today - this week the reading is the Wedding at Cana when Jesus turns water into wine and Paul writing about how we all have different spiritual gifts. We are also making people elders and turning bread and wine into a real sharing of CHrist's sacrifice for us. SO a lot to fit in and I haven't yet worked out the key to it. Which probably means I'll be playing a lot of Bejewelled Blitz (it does help you know)

And you probably don't need another reminder but just in case Haiti appeal

Dreams Come True

I had a dream of a day yesterday
Firstly I got the go ahead to tell you about this
You can preorder the new Funky Hand CD which has a whole new revolutionary interface that is just wonderful. The way you can do Wordbooks - wow! it has really inspired the design team so tune in to Create and Craft at 12 noon this Saturday (16th) for an indepth look at some of the things you can do and the gorgeous colour ways and patterns Anice has come up with.
I know it sounds really gushy but I mean it - it is fab!

Then, I got to have a crafty play for most of the day. Could have done more if Procrastination were not my middle name. (It is isn't really. I keep meaning to change it by deed poll but somehow keep putting it off). Actually this first layout I finished Sunday night as it was super quick. Wasn't dry til yesterday though...
Its a double pager inspired by Louise Nelson - I have a way to go before managing her seemingly random stripped back scrapping that is always a work of art style but it was fun giving it a try!

We took loads of photos the day we went to a modern art gallery in Den Haag. The stuff outside was so much better than the stuff inside (see below!) I was going to add a few more photos but in the end went for just two because more distracted - especially from the beautiful mask statue which I have to say was excellently photographed by Phil (no really, I HAVE to say it...)
I used glimmer mists and stencils - both the blue and green I have on this page and just the green on the other. I think I need to buy more mists as I am ending up with loads of similarly coloured pages!
Then all that was needed was a tiny strip of KandCo papers, some MM mini alpha stickers, glass leaf beads and tiny buttons and some punched and utee'd shapes.
I have fallen in love with doing this again. First I embossed with ordinary silver embossing powder and then I sprinkled a peppermint green UTEE on the tope to get this patina look (think that is the right word)
The butterfly had the green and some turquoise UTEE sprinkled on as well. Finally I used Bazzill gem templates to make the swirls using Stickles.

The next layout wouldn't photograph properly. The colour is a butterscotch/bronze NOT orange
I used an old Sketchy Thursday sketch. I just love these and have a few printed up to get my juices going! The papers are MME Andra Victoria a Christmas present from the wonderful Glynis!). The scallop is chipboard from the old QVC box. I have so much chipboard in there and never get it our so have taken a few pieces that I HAVE to use in the next few weeks. I painted it with Butterscotch Paint Dabber. I used that and black paint to go round most of the papers and photos. the big sitcker is an American Crafts one which I glittered on the back and then added colour with a gold Smooch ink. Round the top of the circle (typically decided to do this after everyting else was stuck down) I used a KandCo stamp with Versamark and added gold swooshing powder (can't think what it is called). You only really see it when you angle the page or put the flash on
So it is a subtle effect. You can also see that I used Doodlebug glitter letter stickers. IN the corner are some quilled flowers with card candy on the top.

And finally for now this week's Sketchy Thursday layout - I hadn't realised til now it was for this week so will quickly submit it!
I used a mixture of Fancy Pants papers, a hint of glimmer mists (magenta and blue) with touches of white and black. The white scallop is a Bazzill Just the Edge and the lettering is Doodlebug. The whole think is so sparkly in real life!

I have nearly finished another Double layout. It didn't get finished yesterday as I had to stop for movie night last night. We saw "Let the Right One In" which made us all feel posh as it is in Swedish with English subtitles. It is a wonderful vampire story - just gory and tense enough!

Hope you have lots of dreams come true this week!

And the answer is...

that the service this morning happened. We had slush and sleet rather than snow and a few hardy souls made it there. I'm so glad we did! We sang no songs (gasp!) and thought about how we are called by name and that God has our names written on our hands - a bit like David Beckham having his kids tattooed on his body! And that we are all much beloved by God.

I went to a party last night wearing inappropriate shoes. It was a quiet party (well more that, it was one that church members were at so I had to behave myself to a certain extent!) but I was so fed up of warm and sensible shoes that I wore my pink leather mary janes instead. Phil wore his "lovely" silver/bronze winkle pickers that he bought for himself for Christmas (size 11!) and we slithered not a jot but giggled quite a bit!

Here is the card I made for the birthday boy. I used a Basic Grey Archaic pad and loads of layering
the card blank is a square kraft one. I added some thickers (inked and glittered) and a Craftwork Cards candy to finish off the sentiment.

Then this afternoon I made a layout using the Sarah's Cards December sketch. Its the first time since I saw it that I have had to scrap just for me in this way - and uses photos from the day trip to France that Phil and I took last summer.

Update: better photo now!
Everything is by October Afternoon apart from the MM Tiny Alphas ; Studio Calico Twine and BG chipboard turned over and glittered - a tip I picked up from Debbie .

I will do more scrapping tomorrow - its the holiday 2008 album - I'm always a year behind!

Blogger is my temperamental mistress...

Not so much here - although the failure to stay in the lines yesterday was annoying...
but on Daring Cardmakers where it has taken me three goes to put my contribution on. Update - four as I just checked and it wasn't there again! This is because we are often posting at the same time and blogger NEVER puts me first. Still it is all sorted now and for the most part blogger seems to work much better than in the past.

We have a lot less snow today but the big question is - what about the weekend and especially the Sunday service? The church I am at is off the main road and lots of people walk. I think I am tempted to say it will be on and have something small and informal (what even more than usual?) but I will be at a meeting at the place this afternoon so will judge better then. It is the baptism of Jesus that is the focus this Sunday - the beginning of his ministry and one of the occasions when God's voice is heard ("You are my own dear Son I am pleased with you"), which is a chance to reflect on what our Ministry is and how we hear the voice of God speaking in our lives.

Sunday's coming - but today is Friday which means Daring Cardmakers of course. We are trying something new and once a month will have a Dare based on the birthstone for the month. January's stone is Garnet which is kind of a deep red/maroon/purple sort of colour in my opinion! My take on it was influenced by the lovely Crafty Templates "Lovely Letters" card kit for January.
My starting point was this sketch from Emma's Paperie and particularly the first card below it made by Jessica Witty. Actually my card looks very little like the sketch! Everything but the ribbon, flower and stamps are from the Lovely Letters kit. The stamps are Penny Black and the other bits from stash. And see that bow - by George I think I have cracked it!

Here's another card based on another Emma's Paperie sketch and the Hilary Kanwisher card below it.
The papers are all American Crafts - I just love these colours together. I used Nesties 8 and lots of hand cut items.

Wherever you are - if it has snowed - keep warm and safe. If it hasn't - make the most of it!

Tiddley pom

The more it
SNOWs- tiddely-pom,
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
On
Snowing

And nobody
KNOWS-tiddely-pom,
How cold my
TOES-tiddely-pom
How cold my
TOES-tiddely-pom
Are
Growing.

so says Winnie the Pooh and so says me. It has a tune in my head! 
I do have to keep reminding myself
that I am not on holiday any more just because some of the schools are closed!
2 kids can walk to school and theirs is shut. One has a 45 minute bus ride and his is open!!!
And for those of you who live in Canada or snowy parts of the US laugh away
as we have hardly any snow or freezing temps compared to yours

We have had a lovely time since I last posted.
We saw the Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre
which was super scary and then we have been snowed in (ish) since then! 
The house is a long way from normal
but I've decided that I want to spend this year SLOWLY decluttering - we'll see!

It is Salt day today and my take on the challenge might be a bit surprising.
Stacy asked us to reflect on 1 Corinthians 13.
Now usually I would head straight for the Love is... section
but this time the phrase that jumped out was "But if I have no love I am nothing".
And from there the song "What about the love" by Amy Grant sprang to mind 
(actually not by Amy Grant but she is the one I know singing it)
If you want a close up of the lyrics you will find them here)
because you can't really read them on my layout!
I do wish that I had done it a little differently.
But I had written out the heart before I sprayed it with Glimmer Mist
and the writing ran.
So I turned over and did it again.
Now I wish I had also stamped a background something
and stuck it down before i wrote on it
so that there was better overlap with the photo.
But do you know what? I'm not going to!
It took ages to get the photo right with the finger in focus and Phil blurred
(oooh isn't he stern!)
The papers are all October Afternoon Report Card.
The blue cardstock is from a Costco kit

Here are close ups of the Scripture and the key part of the song

(I'm having trouble with fonts and columns today - hope you can read it fine!)

Well that's a good start then

I managed to miss my cue to launch this month's Get Funky challenge.
Big oops.
This year is going well already then!
The last few days have been a whirlwind of dogs, walks, a very small but lively Watchnight service, food, Dr Who (sob) and naps as I have come over quite weary! And obviously a sleep in this morning... which wasn't really a great idea as I have oodles to do including a craft club this afternoon and a service for tomorrow night to prepare so that we can play our new family board game - Arkham Horror - on Sunday afternoon (it takes 2-4 hours. Still, better than monopoly). Oh. Dear.

Anyway I shall get on then, despite my embarrassment.
Ahem,
ladies and gentlemen I am delighted to introduce to you this month's Get Funky challenge

Spots and Stripes

My card showcases the new Funky Hand CD Dreams Come True which will be launched very soon. It has all sorts of wonderful new features including digi stamps like this cup and tea pot. How cool that they have spots on them (there is another cup with stripes too!). The papers are all from one of the colourways on the new CD.

I decided to try some paper rolls. They look effective and are very easy to do (but it probably means that this card needs hand delivering not posting!). I cut some of my card into strips of various lengths, inked the edges and rolled them up, starting the roll round a pencil and then tightening it. I put a little double sided tape on the end of the strip. They are all attached along another lenght of double sided tape.

The digi images were cut out and layered onto Nesties Label 1 die cuts with foam pads. The spots and the holes in the border puched strip were filled in with different stickles. And that's about it! I love these colours together and the options on the cd are amazing. Monday is the day for making my samples ready for the Create and Craft launch coming very soon and I can't wait.

So back to thinking about the beginning of John's gospel - In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (for the rest see here)
Which talks about how amazing it is that God helped us to understand himself by coming as the Word (Jesus) who was always part of God. I like to think of it as God saying "well if you want a job doing, do it yourself" - which is why Jesus was born, lived and died for us.
There, that's sorted then!
(Well its a start anyway)

Don't forget that if you join in the Get Funky challenge that you could win a £20 Funky Hand voucher to spend in the shop!

All is calm

Yesterday my parents left. Today my mother in law and Auntie Jones and their 5 dogs between them should have arrived but they are delayed until tomorrow. Which actually means we are ready for them. But have had some quiet just the family time too. (tonight we laughed together at the Not the Nine O Clock News retrospective. I used to watch it on a black and white tv on my own rather in colour with my parents so I could laugh at the rude bits. I'm glad we are able to laugh at the rude bits together. Though I refused to explain to Carys what was so funny about the last song they sang...)

And Christmas went pretty well. I think the moment at 12:30 in the morning as we returned from church when my mum suddenly remembered she was responsible for the turkey and we went to fetch the meat tray from the bottom of the oven where all good vegetarians keep them all year round and could not find it (but it stays there. SO who has pinched it?!!!) so Phil had to go to church and borrow a meat tray from there at very late o'clock - will remain in the memory.
The slinkies were very popular stocking fillers. Not to slink down the stairs but to work as executive toys. Everyone liked their pressies. I was thrilled with my corner rounder (what the one you picked out yourself? Yes but I didn't wrap it) I didn't melt down (well except for a massive head ache Boxing Day which sent me to bed after making lunch and before eating it). All good.

And the services were wonderful (though I say so myself!) Pyjama service there were 15-20 kids and their families - most of whom don't come to church so it is building up to be an unexpected outreach worship. Midnight was full of expectant awe and wonder (except when two of the advent candles wouldn't light. Pah! At least the Christ candle did as it failing to light kind of blows part of the point of the service that the Light of the World has come) And Christmas Day was full of love and joy and laughter and celebration - even though the heating had failed to come on. I allowed myself to keep my coat on. That lasted halfway through the service. I think the fingerless gloves stayed the whole way through. Can't do that any other worship!!! It is lovely having these three services so close together, each with a different dimension of celebrating God with us. And then of course it was Sunday again all too soon! (How can I say that? I meant hurray - more worship time together! With heating!)

Today I had to pack up the craft room and turn it into a guest bedroom/quiet sitting room. Something will have to be done as there are more and more boxes and less space. Will I manage to use more and buy less in 2010? But before that I made some cards. I have one for the next Get Funky! Challenge (my first to set) which you can see on Saturday. But here are a few cards that I made to give the in laws as part of their Christmas presents. It is the time of year when I am short of cards so had to make more!
This uses Basic Grey Lemonade and my new corner chomper. That will feature A LOT. Sentiment is by Imagine That
Ditto for the papers. Auntie Sarah bloomer. Pom pom ribbon from somewhere (sorry!) and hand written sentiment
There is a bargain basement sale at Artbase at the mo so I popped in yesterday and scored 2 sheets of double sided Penny Lane patterned paper and some die cuts too all for £1. I've made 4 cards so far and there are still loads of bits left
2 something like this
and 2 something like that
the latter being developed from a sketch on Emma's Paperie
I was feeling like all my cards are samey so I went and had a look at this site and the sketches and what they produce are wonderful. You'll love it!
(Unless you are one of my non crafting friends then you will probably just shrug your shoulders and say "I couldn't care-a-less Lythan" which is also fine by me. Don't look at it then)

I also made two "simples" cards like this
using BG Boxer and a new sentiment stamp.

the final one for today is a secret
1: because it is for a friend whose birthday is in January
2: because it should have been part of the Christmas present and I couldn't give it up!
I treated myself to a Crafty Templates December card kit (now sold out) and it is just beautiful. Silver card blank; matt silver sequins, so much lushness. The hand made papers make wonderful rolled flowers. I punched the leaves out of the blue card in the kit and embossed them with silver, deliberately leaving some of the blue show through. That Hambly paper shimmers - it is beautiful though I do say so myself. (And there is a new kit up on the site - red and kraft so I will link you to that instead as they are fab value)

Now I really must go to bed. Tomorrow will be full of woofs and paws and happy new years!

Its nearly time...

I entered the Elzybells blog giveaway (didn't win for 25 days. Sob!) and we were asked what our fave thing about Christmas was. When the draws started I realised I had written a LOT more than most people. But it is so true

My favourite thing about Christmas is the worship i get to be part of - the pyjama service for kids on Christmas Eve (pj's and a soft toy to snuggle are mandatory); the midnight service - so full of wonder and expectation and then Christmas morning when we are all so happy (and tired!)

I've got the traditional making of the cashew nut and parsnip layer first - which is preceded by the traditional hunt for the recipe (its on a photocopied page). Delish but oh so fiddly. And a last minute present to buy as I have been let down by the BBC. And the snow. But then the shops will shut and it will be too late to do anything but anticipate and enjoy. By some Christmas miracle my voice is now fine. the ominous throat disappeared completely which was wonderful. And I am actually all ready service wise (not always a good thing mind as I get over confident then!). SO I had time to do the Salt challenge for today which I really didn't think would be feasible. Ruth came up with a lovely idea for this - Jesus Joy

I decided to use one of the spare pictures I had printed up and the left over items from the churhc Advent journal class which we did over 5 weeks. The last week's theme was Preparation which was about really looking forward to greeting Jesus and thinking about what his birth means for us today. The title had to be Joy to the World as it is my favourite carol. its the first one we sing every year on Christmas Day (ah the perks of being the Minister!)
I wanted to keep the layout minimal NOT as Phil sid, because I couldn't think of what to fill the page up with. The stripy paper and die cuts are from Kand Co Hannah. Really lovely double sided papers in that pad. the heart shape is a sizzix die cut from Cosmo Cricket early bird papers. The flourish is a Maya Road chipboard one covered in Dabber gold paint which I used round the edge of everything else. FOr some reason I knew I wanted a kraft circle journalling spot which is also an echo of a halo. The button is Bazzill and is tied with the gold string from a Tesco angel ornament that I used on some Christmas cards. The gold ribbon is a tiny scrap from Ikea. Oh and the letters are Adornit.

Here's a close up of the journalling

And now some pictures of my finished Advent journal. I did manage to muck up the holes for the wire. AGAIN. I panic and then don't think proerly. But so far it all stays together. I have made the photos small so this post isn't huge but you should be able to enlarge them by clicking on them. There is a lot of writing and not all will be in focus so it is not your eyes!


Happy Christmas!

I'm saying nothing

One of the worst things that can happen to a Minister is to lose their voice. The congregation may not think so but...
Mine's not gone. Yet. But I have an ominously sore throat. Its the bit at the bottom which is a bit of a weak spot. And tonight is the choir concert where I have to sing solos and the other sopranos tend to take their cue from me. Which would be ok - I could wreck my voice tonight if I didn't have three services to do on Sunday. And just one or two midweek! I guess even then we can work it through but it is so frustrating to feel ok apart from no voice and seeing other people doing what you should be doing. So if you are the kind, pray for me.

All right I will stop being Mrs Moaning Hypochondriac now!
Carys' was in the Wizard of Oz at school on Wednesday playing the leader of the flying monkeys (dressed as Goths). The play was fabulous. The acting excellent especially the scarecrow who kept throwing himself over on the stage in a remarkable way. And the wicked witch (played by a boy) who melted by going down on the platform lift at the side of the stage.
Here is Carys being menacing on the stage...
and her publicity shot afterwards (actually just Phil playing about with photoshop)
She was v. good too.

In other news - we went for our annual shopping trip together (seriously, once or twice a year do we shop as a family. Clothes buying is an alien concept to the boys!). We went to get our Christmas Decorations - only with a full week to Christmas the shops have hardly any left (Tesco had got rid of theirs last Tuesday) and then Secret Santa in Poundland. We each have to buy a "lovely" present for one family member for a pound. And I made everyone buy a new 'Christmas costume' as I wasn't sure what size the boys were any more. it was more fun than we had expected which is a relief!

Which is why my Friday blog post is late. If it isn't updated any other day of the week the blog always is on Friday due to the Daring Cardmakers. This is the last Dare before the New Year and we say goodbye to my Funky Hand pal Dolly who is one of the most brilliant card makers I know. Sue chose a dare -

New Beginnings

As we are coming to the end of the year and fast approaching the start of not only a new year but a new decade, I’d like to see some cards celebrating something new.

It could be the New Year, a New Home, a New Addition to the family or even a New Day

which fitted well as I had a new home card to make. So, it seems did other DCM's! Still they are all very different.
Mine is made by cutting a card base from Kraft cardstock with the largest Nestie 8 and embossed the bottom halfwith Swiss Dots. I paper pieced a little house with Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg papers. Afterwards I wished I hd put a little grass in behind. I added some ribbon and teeny alpha stickers - not MM but I can't remember who. And that is it.
Phew - just as well I don't speak my blog posts as it ended up quite long!

So here they are - merry Christmas

Actually that is something that one of my cards rarely says - Merry Christmas. I am Happy with Happy but Merry for some reason, doesn't sound right to me. It is in the list of phrases that make me grit my teeth

• Merry Christmas
• and all the trimmings
• and without further ado
• what's the drill? (that's a family one)

I digress, for a change..
Anyway I have now made about 65 cards like this. Enough for me! And most of them are posted - a whole 4 days before the end of second class posting! Not the ones for abroad mind, they go last in our house! I try and come up with a fairly simple design every year but it turned out to have quite a few steps

1. print sentiment
2. round corners
3. choose 3 co-ordinating papers
4. cut star and trim to cut off one point.
5. trim second patterned paper and round corners
6. punch border on strip of third paper
7. ink edges of paper
8. add outlines with sparkly black pen
   
9. add sharpie pen outline to star and do glue pen and glitter routine.
   
10. put foam pads on the back of the star
11. stick everything down

I could never, ever, ever do wedding stationary. The thought of doing all that but to look identical each time would send me bonkers! (ok more bonkers)

Must get on with wrting nativity reflections - for a carol service this afternoon. I'm doing Mary remembers and we are only up to Joseph agreeing to marry her so far...

Its unbeleivably spotty

I think I have linked to this song before but you can never have enough Spotty Muldoon in your life.
And today I have a great excuse...
it's polka dot week at Daring Cardmakers.
Vanessa came up with this fabulous dare

Onto to this week's dare, set by me (Vanessa) and I thought we'd have a little break from all things Christmassy. So, for one week only over this festive period, we're having a no-Christmas and no-Winter zone! Its polka-dot week! Lets bring some warmth to our cards with polka dots, but I don't mean spots or dots in a variety of sizes, it has to be specifically polka-dots (i.e. a pattern of dots of equal size, equally spaced). However, you can have whatever colour(s) you choose as long as your card doesn't look cold and wintry!!

I luuuuuuurve spots. Spots and stripes together is even better. (a love I share with Emma at Imagine That). As it happens I had a brand new set of Papertrey Stamps crying out to be used - Polka Dot basics. The card didn't quite turn out as planned but I think I managed to save it!
I used kraft cardstock and rounded the corners then added polka dots to the bottom. The good thing about these stamps is that they are in a double row and come with an extra one dot to fill in the gaps. I embossed with white embossing powder. Then decided to use some distress ink on the bottom area. To be honest I wish I hadn't! Still it looks a bit better now with faux stitching and the dots outlined in black pen. I added some strips of Cosmo Cricket early bird papers. The butterfly is a Cuttlebug die. The dots on there were intially cream so I used a white pen over them then added white gliter with a glue pen. Still didn't look right until I added the Nestie frames. Do you like the bow? I think I have finally cracked it. A properly tied bow. At 44 I have finally got the knack (I've been a two loop girl. Blush. I think because being left handed I have to put it round the wrong way.) Now if I could only bring the bows to the front and the ties to the back...

I decided when I made the layout for Salt that I needed to use up the papers by making the card. Obviously Daring Cardmakers was also on my mind as I ended up with quite a few dots on this one too...
The bird is the other way round as the paper is double sided! She is swiss dot embossed and inked. Lots of foam pads were used to create layers.

And I have realised I may need more Christmas cards so experimented with a frosted acetate one
I can't get it to stay close enough together to really see the back. I think frosted cards probably only want to have detail on the front not the back. The snowflake is a window sticker from a set of 12 from Poundland with some Glamour Dust on the top. I wrote peace with a white sharpie and then did the old glue and glitter routine!

I have Sunday's service to prepare. And need to make sure things are in place for the 2 carol services for the 20th. And really need to do a lot for the service on 3rd January. It is that sort of time of year when I need to juggle lots of things in my head and hope I manage them all. We had the penultimate Advent journal last night at church and actually having that time to reflect and "journal my advent" (only once a week, maybe I'll do it properly next year as a more faith filled Shimelle type thing. Or maybe not!) ha really helped me to prepare my heart for Christmas. I'll share the finished project next week.

God is with us

that is certainly how I felt on Saturday!
I went with a group from my churches to a United Reformed Church event in Birmingham which was to celebrate being Multicultural. We went in a minibus. Did you know that there is no parking in central Brum for minibuses? Phil (my hero and our intrepid driver) eventually parked it on a street right the other side of the inner ring road. By that time he had thanked me for having the foresight to print off a map of central Birmingham as the minibus obviously didn't have any juice flowing to the cigarette lighter as the Satnav died just on hitting the centre. Hmmmm. More on this in a minute

We were there not just because it is good to celebrate being multicultural but because my small church had won a special award for telling our story in an interesting way. You can see how I used my scrapping skills to finish the project off here (scroll down to 22 April) And our prize was a rather fancy pulpit fall that also has "We are a multicultural church" on the bottom pf it. We don't actually have a pulpit and we'll have to adapt our lecturn (the thing you stand behind to give a lecture or read from the Bible) but we will display it as we are mighty proud of it. Here I am with Esther who had only arrived back in the country from Africa the day before and our Moderator of General Assembly (not a very interesting name for an important short term job in our church) John Marsh who I first met when I was doing youth work for the URC on the Ginger Group 22 years ago

Then all we needed to do was leave Birmingham. Phil reckoned that the van was too far away for us all to walk there. He was right. So the two of us went to get the van while the others waited ready for a phone call to say we were outside. There is a lovely German market through the centre of Brum at the moment. It was heaving. People were allowed alcohol. It was raining. It was dark. It took us 30 mins to get to the van. And remember that inner ring road. We had to find our way round it to pick the others up. Birmingham centre also doesn't have roundabouts. It has circuses which are roundabouts with big buildings on them so you can't see your exits. Let me say that I know God was with us as we would never have found our way to the church to find the others any other way. He was certainly with Phil who ignored my suggestion, on seeing the motorway signs that we could just go without them. I was kidding. Almost.

And God with us is the Salt theme today. Pauline has written a wonderful reflection on it here.
I wanted to emphasize the fact that God coming as one of us meant entering into the whole human thing. It was also a great excuse to scrap this photo of my sister in law holding her grandson for the first time (eek how can my sister in law be a granny. We are not that old!)
The papers are all K and Co from the Urban Rhapsody scrap pad and I used an old Pencil Lines sketch to kick start the process. I liked the bird (would have been better facing the other way round) and the fact it said "blessed" on it so I highlighted it with glossy accents, a grungeboard star and a stick on pearl the two bits of grungeboard were inked with brown and yellow distress inks and then spritzed with pearl glimmer mist. the title is all Doodlebug letters

that's it for now must go and focus on how God will be with us again - Advent scrapbook journal tonight is on the Second Coming. Not something URC folk think about that much really. Maybe we should...

If you want it smaller then don't ask for small

that is the lesson I learned yesterday.
I missed tea at the normal time (not good practice I know) and at 9:50, heading home from something decided I needed carbs. Chips to be precise. But I can't eat much at one go. I'd phoned to check if Phil needed anything (he'd just eaten some chips!) and told him my quandary. "Just ask for half a portion" he suggested. I thought I would feel a ninny doing this so decided just to ask for a small chips and curry sauce. So I did. On the wall it said "chips and curry sauce£1.99" so I was surprised to be charged £2.20. I enquired about this
(you may be thinking it was only 21p but in my defence I am a.
a miser
b. very grumpy when I am hungry.
c. not kidding about the grumpiness. Ask Phil)
Apparently chips and curry sauce is in a tray - hence the 21p reduction in price which I surmise is because there are less chips so if I had asked for chips and curry sauce and not small chips and curry sauce I would have got a smaller portion.
They were very delicious.
I couldn't eat them all.
It was worth the 21p just for the way it has made me smile since I worked it all out.

In other news...
I really, really shouldn't be here as I am going to Birmingham all day tomorrow for a URC multicultural celebration. My church has won a prize for telling its story (about how we are v. small and learning to be multicultural and being a version of Jesus story about the mustard seed which you can find here) so I will have to look reasonably smart as well. Problem is I will have to leave home about 6:45 in the morning which is not my best time of day... And I have two services on Sunday (guess I won't be enjoying the Eastenders omnibus Sunday afternoon then)
so here is a quick recap of some of the crafting highlights of my week
1: Last week's Daring card"

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"

I want to see Christmas cards that are mainly white with just a hint of colouring on your embellishments or stamped image.

Drew a triangle on white cardstock. Cut it in three and embossed with different folders. Simples. The sentiment is from a big Papermania Bauble Decoration stamp
Lots of glamour dust and a little olive ink round the edge

2: This weeks Daring card. My word the others have done some amazing work this week.

Say it in "Sepia"
I've been sorting through some "Old" family photographs with the intention of Scrapbooking them and I just love the Sepia ones. So I thought it would be nice to see a "Thank You" card made using "sepia" tones. So that's just brown/white or brown/cream depending on your card base colour. .

Mine is again on the "simples" side. But I do have to make four of these by Sunday. This is it so far...Papertrey kraft cardstock cut to an American card size. Swirl embossing folder. Hero Arts clings stamp (which I can ink much better putting the card on the stamp and rubbing. Wierd.) Prisma colour penicls and ribbon & button from stash

3: I have a Layout featured on Docrafts using the new Doodlebug Christmas papers. oooh it is bright - but fun I think!
A WRMK Corner Chomper is an expensive bit of kit but as ever, I am yet again falling for the false premise that if I use the same tools as Kristina Werner I will make cards like Kristina Werner:) Also I am that lazy that the thought of only having to round two corners at a time not four sounds brilliant.

I'll see you sometime on the other side of the weekend!

Oooh again so soon?

How often do I post two days in a row? Not often. And this is just a quick one as I have ooooooooodles of work to do. Can't make any more cards until my white cardstock order arrives. But all I need to do is a print through of the message and everything else is ready to stick on. I have impressed myself. Sadly behind on every other aspect of Christmas.

But I have made a decoration. This probably ranks as the simplest decoration I could have possibly made for the latest Get Funky dare and I have another one planned. But it might have to just stay in my head for a wee while longer! Kath came up with a fab challenge

Deck the Halls! What I would like you to do this month is to create a Christmas decoration to decorate your wall...mantlepiece Christmas table or to hang on your tree.....a Christmas Gift or perhaps a box or gift wrapping

I was wondering what to do and then had yer actual brainwave. Why not print some Funky Hand paper onto acetate and start from there? SO that is what I did.
I chose a design from Funky Seasons that had a lot of white on the background so most of it came out clear. I used my Sizzix star (which has been worth its weight in gold this year) to die cut the shape. Then I inked the edges in blue, added glamour dust to the star and studded them with stick on gems. I may have added the button because I made a mess of the hole but it looks quite nice! Simples!

(Apparently the photo has nice bokey - no idea of how to spell that - I am just pleased that the out of focus means you can't see how truly messy our garden is...)

Anyway - now the challenge is yours! As usual you have a whole month to complete the challenge and all you have to do to enter is use at least one Funky Hand product and leave a link here to your creation so we can come and visit you and you could be the winner of a £20 Funky Hand voucher to spend on Funky Hand products....a great start to the new crafting year.
So what are you waiting for?!!!!