Bits and Bobs and a very Happy Christmas!

Hi friends
Back as promised with a couple of things to share relative to the season (that are not cards), and something  non Christmas too.
 In-between my card making, baking and cake decorating I have been doing some other 'bits'.

First off at the beginning of the month I went to Samuel Taylor's and did a 'make and take' paper pine cone. I was thrilled with the result and so made some for friends and family to hang on their trees.

Next up the favours for the Christmas table this year (I made 6 altogether) these are from 'Whichcraft'. I covered them in my chosen papers (old Craftwork Cards......see I knew it would come in) to match my colour scheme (blue and silver), and have added a few after dinner mints........so if you are peeking at this and coming to dinner then you know what to expect......and if you are not, what you are missing out on!...... fairly quick and effective to do!

Something not so festive now, some sugar carnations a friend asked me to do for a cake she was making for her sons wedding. It is a while since I made some of these so I really enjoyed doing it.

Lastly I leave you with a picture I took in the craft store at Bents Garden Centre in Greater Manchester. It is a pillar! and I thought it was so novel.Those cotton reels were enormous!

Right that's it...well there is one more bit but that will have to wait till after Christmas or I may spoil it if the recipient has time to read my blog!..........so......

Hope you are all ready for Christmas now and able to find some relaxing time over the holidays. Thank you so much for your company along the way this year, I feel I have made some wonderful friends both near and far.

That just leaves me to wish each and everyone of my blogging buddies and those who visit me but do not make it known....a very

Thank you for stopping by....see you later
Hugs
Carole xx

Card and cake!!

Card and cake.....the name of my blog, so I thought you would all be wondering what happened to the cake side of things....so read on......

Warning----- long post so tea and cake may be required.

Hi everyone and a very warm welcome to my new follower, I hope you like what you see here and if you do please leave me a comment so that I might visit you too.

Another week has flown by, the weather here has been a bit mixed and today wet and very very windy. The star has blown off the top of the outside Christmas tree....second time now,  so job for hubby in the morning! I wouldn't mind but it is tied to a metal stake up the top branch but still it has broken free.

Are you all ready?.....sorry are you tired of being asked that? I am ready..........for Christmas that is, until I find another something that I might just sneak in before THE BIG DAY!..........yes it's one day and we have prepared for weeks and stressed about everything that there is to stress about, and no doubt still will be doing until Boxing Day when we will all have collapsed in a jelly heap on the sofa in front of the telly and ........dare I say it..... be planning our next crafting challenge for the New Year.

Right time is at a premium for everyone so I will press on. This is my last Christmas Card for 2014, and as it is hubby's then it is probably one of the most important ones.

It is a 7x7 inch card that I covered with some paper from my stash, it's dark green with gold embossing on it. Next was the white embossed layer using the Vintage Holly folder from Crafters Companion.....I love this folder. I used a linen texture card and I dipped the edges of the card in Versamark and heat embossed with Wow pale gold powder.

The holly is a stamp from my stash that I have had a long time and it has not seen much use but I thought it mirrored the embossing folder so well. I stamped it on the same background paper several times again using Versamark and then embossed in the pale gold ......cut it out and a bit of decoupage.The berries are part of the stamp and were given the glitter glue treatment though you cannot see it on the photo...sorry..bad light.
The sentiment is computer generated on the linen card again, edged with gold in the same way as the background and the tiny holly leaves and berries are a memory box die............they are so small and the berries are even a die...so so tiny!!

Hubby is pleased with it and I guess I am too!

I feel quite sad that I have so much stuff for Christmas that I have not used yet and ideas going round in my head still, but next year I intend to start in February and play Christmas!..........if only so I can justify being tempted next season with even more!

Are you still here?.........and awake?..oh good......on to the cake then..........

Penguins building a snowman! Not much to say about this really...it was pretty quick to do......which is what I needed. I fancied some penguins this year so I set to and made a chubby little family....not perfect by any means but they make me smile when I look at them.
Here is a close up

 They wouldn't win any competitions but hey what the heck!
 The snow that is glistening is magic sparkles!
I expect it will remain uncut on Christmas day as everyone will be too full so it could be 'Weight Watchers' for hubby and I next year!

So there you have it, the cake bit of my blog and the first one since the wedding cake. Icing, marzipan, and other ingredients..........it is a fruit cake, are expensive now so it means that doing a cake just for practice is a no no really.Not quite so with a card............and this reminds me of some LOTV penguin stamps I have that are still un-inked.....maybe next year!

I hope you haven't been bored silly and if you have stayed with me this far....thank you so much, I enjoy your company and appreciate that your time is precious, and that if you choose to spend a little of it with me, it makes my day. Thank you for all your lovely comments that you leave me, you truly are a wonderful bunch.

Hopefully I will be back at the beginning of next week with some more bits that I have also been busy with. Have a wonderful weekend, be it shopping, baking, crafting or whatever makes you happy.
Take care my friends.
Love and hugs
Carole xx

Challenges entered:-
Papertake Weekly................Last Christmas Card.

'Potting Shed'

Good morning friends.
Hope you are well and the sun is shining where you are.It is much brighter here today and the wind has dropped thank goodness.........the Christmas wreath on the front door has spent more time inside than on the door as it bangs like fury in the wind!

My card today is the one that I made for hubby's birthday last week...........I still have his Christmas card to do mind! As he likes gardening I decided to use Craftwork Cards 'Potting Shed' collection.

I joined two 8x8 inch cards together for this and used the papers and the toppers from the set and cut out items from the papers for embellishments.The plant pots (hobbyart I think) on the front of the card were stamped on some of the paper from the pad and cut out.I decoupaged all the wellingtons though you can't see it on the photo and added glossy accents to the candi on the front of the card and the tools inside.

and the back

So there it is!

Right folks I have chores to do, the washer is humming and the dryer will be too shortly. I do miss hanging out the washing........I know... how sad am I but I do like the fresh smell when you bring it in.
The dusters and the hoover are calling.............as is the craft room........so a quick clean and then some crafting!

Thank you for stopping by and thank you if you leave a comment and make my day.

I hope you all have a great weekend...............nothing special doing here....wrapping the last of the presents I hope and then all that is left is the food side of things.......until I add more to my list!

Take care

Hugs Carole xx

Challenges entered :-
Alphabet Challenge..................... V for variety.....3 different design papers
Moving along with the Times.......December birthday
Seize the Birthday.........................Anything goes
That's Crafty.................................Anything goes

Imagination!

Hello blogging friends!
 I'm a bit behind this week................so much to do and so little time to do it all in, but then if I had finished all that I had planned then I would only find even more to do!

So how is the weekend going?.fast you say?............ well yes so is mine, but what I really meant is, are you doing anything special or nice? I hope so.

Hubby is on a long weekend to use up his annual leave so we are putting up decorations, wrapping parcels and trying to hopefully feel organised by the end of it all.I think a long week would be better judging by the length of the list!

On to my card which is for my mum and Step Dad.I can't take any credit here for the design.At the NEC I bought some Sparkle medium, acetate and stencils from Imagination Crafts and I have only just got around to playing with it. This is what I did, and even though I watched it demoed it was all a bit trial and error.............practice makes perfect.....perhaps by Easter!

Apologies for the pictures.The sun was shining (a rarity I know these days) and the acetate over the front of the card reflected so much light I had to seek out the best place for the pics..........on the bed in the spare room....very professional I know.but you don't mind do you?

I am sure you have seen this type of card before but in case you haven't here is a summary of what I did.

I used the fir tree stencil and diamond paste on to the printed background (also imagination crafts), but it didn't show up as much as I liked so I let it dry, replaced the stencil and used silver.....much better. I then did the same on a piece of acetate slightly bigger than my base.
The printed base was mounted on to a card base...I had to cut this myself as bought card bases are smaller than the printed sheet and I didn't want to sacrifice any of the design.The acetate is attached(glued) on the left side and a punched border glued over this. On the right I attached the border and then the free end of the acetate just tucks under the border. This way it goes flat for posting.........but bows out to display the card. Greeting inside on an insert.
Quite fiddly till I got the acetate to the right size and it is only just about 1/4 inch bigger than than the card base in the end.

Well I would love to stay and chat with you all but we are heading off to lunch with my Step-Dad's family today so I had best go and get myself glammed up a bit!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for stopping by in your busy schedules. I will catch up with you all when hubby is back at work!!

Take care, keep warm and well.
Love
Carole xx