Recycling for Christmas

Hello Everyone.  I would think you are all ready for the Man in the Red Suit arriving to-morrow.   Curtains are drawn and the tree and lamps are lit and it looks like being a lovely Christmas.   Outside its horrible with high winds and rain showers, but inside we are warm and cosy.   This was the table centre piece I made for Annie & Ronnie as they are kindly hosting this years family Christmas.   The base was from a used Prawn ring that I washed and saved earlier on this month and the Log branch and twigs were from my walks after the last storm.  I used my glue gun to make everything secure, and added some of my pine cones I have in a Christmas Basket.  I bought the little robins from a floristry shop.  There is also a little christmas tree at the back ,so it looks nice from all sides.  Now that Annie has it, I thought you would like to see it too.          Hugs Rita xxxx.    

Merry Christmas to All of You.

Merry Christmas to One and All

 Merry Christmas to All of You and a Happy and Healthy New Year

 

Hello my Friends in Blogland.   Well, the Christmas preparations will soon be behind us and life can return to normal.  I do love this time of the year, but it can be so tiring too.  I have spend the most part of to-day in the kitchen doing a big bake of goodies for Christmas.   I like to give our neighbours a treat at this time too as none of them bake.
My card to-day is for All of you lovely people who make this crafting world so great.   I have made so many crafty friends through Blogging and met quite a few of them too, and had such fun.
I am so excited to tell you I won the Countryview Crafts challenge for November  with my altered book,    I have been asked to be their Guest Designer for the January challenge too, how exciting is that. Great News.
So all that is left to say is Enjoy the Festive Season and Thank-You once again for being part of my blog life.    Hugs Rita xxxx

O Come All Ye Faithful

Hello Everyone.  I really meant to schedule this post last night as we had a busy day with 3 hospital appointments today.  It has been a very long day too, so I'm off to bed early in the hope I have a good night's sleep.
This was a card I made for another crafty friend that does not blog.  The backing paper was a free one from my lovely friend Astrid, and she always gives me such great inspiration.  I covered a piece of grunge board with hessian and used distress stain to add some festive colours, before adding the image.  I have no idea the make of the Christmas language stamp as it is very old.  I ran it through the crackle embossing folder before ageing it a little with Vintage Photo.    Hope you are all safe from the terrible stormy weather that's doing its rounds right now.   Take Care.   Hugs Rita xxxx

Christmas Greetings

Hello My Fellow Bloggers.  Hopefully things are less hectic for you by now.  Its so hard to imagine that a week today will be Christmas Day..  I still have a few Money wallets to make and my Baking too, but that will be done on Sunday.   My card today I made for my dear friend Jan and she got her scan results back yesterday and the cancer has not spread to any other organs, and has shrunk enough to let her get the operation in mid-January to remove the tumour.  So for her she can now celebrate Christmas with her husband and family.  I'm so happy to share this good news with you.  
The card is another 8 X 8 and matted with a Craftwork Cards backing paper.  The stamp I have had a good few years now and was from Imagination. Added my Bow and sentiment and I love this card. Very simple ,but it does it for me.  Hugs Rita xxxxx  

\i'm Entering into the following Challenge

Imagination-Crafts Challenge:  Merry Christmas

 

In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Hello Everyone.  Hopefully you are all getting into the spirit of all things Christmas.  I still have a few things to finish, but most of them will have to wait till the weekend at least.  The weather is so unpredictable at the moment too,  its a lovely fresh morning here today, with a bit of sunshine.
Well now, on to my post for today.   Taking on board a conversation I had with Annie last week , she said her favourite Carol was" In the Bleak Midwinter".   So that prompted me to do a framed creation instead of a card for her home at Christmas.   I started out with no idea of what I was doing and then I remembered my blogging friend  Val- Jael  telling me a while back that she went twigging,  and I then started to collect some twigs on my morning walk for the papers.. My frame was one that I had in my stash of recycling bits and bobs.  I coated it first with white emulsion and then gave it a coat of gesso, before using distress ink and pewter distress stain.  The beauitiful image is from Nicecrane Designs and is called Bonnie Annee.  I then painted my twigs before adding some diamond chips to get a really nice icy effect, my holly die cuts were also treated to the diamond chips.  The tiny pine cones were collected on a nature walk at Pencaitland many years ago.  To finish it off, I used a paper napkin adhered to the stand that I designed myself.  I thought it would be better than a wall hanging.  I really enjoyed getting messy and inky whilst creating this for my daughter.   I hope you have a good week and just remember to take time for yourselves as well.  Hugs Rita xxxxx

I'm entering this into the following Challenges

Our Creative Corner :   A Very Vintage Christmas

Countryview Challenges:  Bah Humbug

Anything but a Card : Anything you Dream Up

I Believe in Father Christmas......

Hello Everyone.  Hope you are all safe from the rain and the winds.  Its been an awful day here. 
I've been catching up on things that needed doing in the house and now the tree and the decorations are all in place, I feeling as if I'm getting there.  Most of my shopping is done and only waiting on a few things I ordered online.  This is the A4 card I made for Molly and Hamish this year.  Usually I did one for each of them, but I love this Image from Debbie Moore and it was heavily decoupaged too. They both loved it even though they are older now.   Just doing some family bits and pieces now and maybe by next weekend I will be finished. I still have my baking to do as well.   Enjoy your Week-End.   Hugs Rita xxx

60th Birthday Card

Good Morning folks.  I hope you are all well and keeping free of the cold. poor Annie has a terrible time of it with this awful cold. She is a bit better now.  However, a very quick post from me to-day as we are taking OH to see the orthopaedic consultant to-day.  Annie is driving us there as its outside Glasgow.
My card and bag was for a 60th birthday.  So I started of with an 8 x 8 card and used mostly papers and elements from Craftwork Cards correspondence set. A real pleasure to work with too.  I made the roses and dipped them in the melt pot  ( Annies of course ) the leaves on the card are Fanciful flourish and the ones on the bag are dancing leaves.  I made a triple organza bow and put a finishing touch on the card.  I'll pay a visit to all your blogs when we get back from the hospital, could be a long day.    Hugs to All of You.   Rita xxxx

 

 Bag Front

 

 Bag Back

Christmas Craft Fair

Hello everyone on this miserable Sunday afternoon.  Its been raining all day and very dismal and dark.
 We went to Edinburgh yesterday with Anne and Ronnie to give some moral support to Carolyn our younger daughter who was doing her first ever craft fair.  The Craft Fair had a lovely atmosphere, but the day itself was not busy and not a lot of sales.  She did so much work to produce beautiful Cushions, Washbags and Tea-Cosy's,  Hamish and Molly did Handbag charms and Jewellery, luckily they sold a few of those.
There were seemingly three craft fairs on in the area on the same day, and this may be the reason it was quiet.  It was a long day for us as we traveled from West coast to East coast.  At night we went to the theatre where Hamish was playing his first lead part as Peter Pan and it was a superb show and a lovely ending to the day.  We got home very late last night and I think we are all resting up to-day.   Here are a few pictures of Carolyn's table and Molly complete with her Santa hat. Hopefully now I will get back into my stride again ,or maybe not ........ Hugs Rita xxxx

Bauble Card

Here I am again Folks.  It's nearly a week since I last posted and this is the first chance I've had to show a card I made last week.   We had the Decorators in Saturday and Sunday and with an 8.30am start on both days, so I had to remove as much as I possible could beforehand.   Mostly pictures etc as it was the hall and stairs that were being done, and the 10 doors were being varnished, so it was no mean feat.  Now I have it just about back to a semblance of order again and have been in my craft room to-day for the first time in a week.
My card today was pre-folded card and that saves time for Christmas cards.  The Ex-large Bauble template was one I saved from last year and I decorated it with a vellum and white card poinsettia.   The ribbon is from Mei-flower and ties like a dream.  S till have my cards for Saturday's Craft Fair to finish with inserts and that is me finished at least for the fair. I'm having my lovely daughter Annie to join us for dinner tonight ,so better get a move on.   Thank You all again for the lovely comments left on my altered book project.
  I do appreciate them all.
Take Care of Yourselves.    Hugs Rita xxxx