Blue and Grey!

 Hello Everyone, I hope you are well, and life is being good to you. We are speeding through January, almost half way through now, but have you noticed the days are getting longer, closing the curtains at 5pm instead of 4pm, so we're moving on.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my last cards, I always appreciate your visits and the kind comments.

I've spent a bit of time trying to make Damian's birthday card  today, which have ended up in the bin, both of them, so I'll have to start again, good job I've still got a bit of time, I'm just not really in the mood for card making ,and finding it difficult to think up ideas, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Anyway, I've got a page from Johanna's Christmas Colouring Book,

 I used Caran d'Ache Luminance coloured pencils in shades of blue and grey, I wanted to keep to a monochrome pallet. I inked the corners with DI. I'm rather pleased with how this picture turned out. Here's the book it's from,

Well that's me for tonight, feet up and a watch of the TV, Alistair will make a cuppa in a wee while, he's a good soul. Cheerio for now,

Black and Gold for the CCC!

 Happy New Year to You All, I hope everyone enjoyed their festivities and are now looking forward to the year ahead.

Alistair and I had a lovely Christmas Day with Damian, Moreen and all the pets. Both Milo and Rowan were very excited to see us, and both claimed Alistair's knees, but Alfie the gorgeous cat won out as he fitted on the knees perfectly, it was all so funny to watch. We has a lovely Vegetarian dinner, and I walked over the road afterwards to make sure Teallach was alright. Damian and the dogs came with me and it was like walking on diamonds, what a thick frost, and bright stars, but perishing cold, just what was needed after a wonderful dinner.

New Year was quiet, we struggled to say up for the bells, I just wanted to go to bed with my book. There was nothing good on the TV either, gone are the days when the Hogmanay programmes were good with Stanley Baxter, Francie and Josie , Jimmy Logan.....who I can hear you say, my Scottish Blogging Friends will know who I'm talking about lol.

Anyhoo, it's good to get back to normal...whatever that is.

So, this is the first Christmas Card Club Challenge of 2022 and I'm leading off with a Black and Gold theme, here is what I've come up with;

 Papers are from Dovecraft Time to Sparkle pad, where all the papers are black and gold. The die is one I bought at The Works a year or so ago, then finished it off with some black sequins.

Strips of black and gold glitter card, a SU tree and sentiment stamp embossed in gold, a gold bow and s few golden gems. Totally simple.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the other CCC girls make, so remember to have a look as they always have fabulous cards.

That's me for now, I hope you are all well and keeping safe from the virus, it remains very worrying. It's raging in Inverness, so we are carrying on as we have been for the last how ever long it's been, so take care and be back soon,

Happy Christmas!

 

Well here we are, It's Christmas Eve, and by now if I've not got everything needed, too bad, lol.

It's a lovely bright day here but very cold, quite a difference form yesterday, when it was foggy drizzle all day. Planning a wee walk later.

I just wanted to thank all my lovely followers for  all the visits and lovely comments that you leave throughout the year, I do appreciate your time and the encouragement you give. Thank you too for the beautiful Christmas cards that we've received from Blogging Friends, Lots of beautiful creations.

One of the things I enjoy about Christmas is the various films of  Dicken's A Christmas Carol, and right now I'm watching one that I've never seen before, with Albert Finney as Scrooge, it's a musical so  quite a bit different, and I have to say that Albert Finney makes a brilliant Scrooge, I could never see past Alistair Sim in the part, but maybe this one is my favourite.

Hopefully, this Christmas folks will be able to be with their loved ones, it was very difficult last year for many folks. I was reminded by my lovely friend Rita who sent a picture via Instagram of the soldiers in the trenches in the 1914 war, with the caption of This was Their Christmas Day, a stark reminder that for many Christmas can be a right off. The awful destruction in many countries by natural disasters where people are left homeless at best and dead loved ones at worst, will be no Christmas for them.  For many people Christmas is a sad and lonely time, so I always try to keep things in perspective and celebrate the fact that I can indeed spend time with my family, we have all we need, by comparison to others.

You know we haven't come that far along the road from Dicken's time, just a thought.

Have a wonderful Christmas, however you celebrate it, and let's hope that 2022 will be a much better year for all with Health and Happiness, and a light at the end of the tunnel regarding this pandemic. Take care of yourselves, keep safe and see you all in the New Year, I'm going to have a bit of a break from Blogger,

Last Birthday of 2021!

Hello Everyone, I hope you are well and keeping yourself safe, this new Omicron is quite a worry as it's growing exponentially, and of course we all want to have Christmas with our families this year, wherever possible. So let's hope the general public behave themselves, use common sense and not follow the Clown from No. 10, but the Scientists' recommendations.

I have my final birthday card for the year to show you today, it's a male card for a friend's hubby,

 All of the stamps are from a Creative Stamping magazine earlier in the year.  I found some cogs in my stash and thought they would look good as an embellishment, I also found a stencil with cogs and coloured with DO, finishing up with some grey gem things.

Word has it the recipient was very pleased, that of course makes my happy.

Thank you once again for all the lovely comments you leave, especially taking the time at this very busy season.

That's all for today, I'll be back on Christmas Eve, to post my final card of the year, take care everyone,

Deer in the Forest!

Hello Blogging Friends and Visitors, I hope you are well and getting through your preparations for the Festive Season.  It's mainly just food that I need to concentrate on, but can't get that too early.

We are going to spend the Day with Damian and Moreen, so I don't need to do the cooking although I do make the soup, so it will be a bit of a surprise what Christmas Dinner will be as it will be vegetarian, but we have always enjoyed what was served and I have no doubts that this year will be as good. Alistair and I will have a more traditional dinner later in the week....although scaled down lol.

Thank you so much for the lovely comments from you on my last card, I really do appreciate them.

Here is my card for today,

I'm not sure where this lovely deer die is from, perhaps The Works or Hobby Craft. I've embossed a piece of blue card with a JND embossing folder and added little clear gems. Glitter card and a sentiment from Clearly Besotted, quite a simple card really.

Living quietly here, especially as my Aqua classes have now stopped till after the new year, but we drove to Ardsier this morning to have a walk by the see, it was cold though and the water was so grey and a bit wild, still the cobwebs got blown away. Anyhoo, time for some lunch now, so I'll say cheerio for now, hope you all stay safe,

Sharing Hot Chocolate!

 Hello there Blogging Friends and Visitors, I hope you are well and keeping cosy.

Well, the Christmas decorations are are all going up in our little caul de sac, so I've warned Alistair that he's on outside light duty on Saturday. We have a sort of tree/bush in the front garden and it gets lights wrapped around it each year. One household had there fabulous icicle lights around their house before December, mind you they has two children, but one by one other house hold are putting their trees and lights up. I love it, and it goes back to when my Mum was dying and I travelled back and forth from hospice to her home where I was staying at the time, feeling devastated and with tears streaming down my face, but I was noticing all these outside decorations of Santa stuck down chimneys, reindeers, gnomes whatever all lit up, and I have to say it got me through such a sad time, so ever since I've just loved all these houses that light up like Blackpool Illuminations, and if I could I would have more outside, but I just enjoy whatever the neighbours do. I know they are not everyone's cup of tea, but I think when thing aren't so good we need some magical lights. 

This was all back in 2004, but it still feels like yesterday, and it's coming up to both my Mum and Alistair's brother Jim's Anniversary, so it's a thoughtful time for us.

Anyhoo, here with another Christmas card,

This comes from a pad of decoupage papers that I bought from The Range, the brand is Deco Time, cute, whimsical characters in it. A simple wee card, and I just added some gold card and gems, with a little glitter.

I've had a day indoors trying to get some Christmas knitting done, and thankfully it's been quite a bright day so the light was fine, some days it's so dark, hopefully I'll get things finished to get them wrapped up for gifts.

Just to say before I sign off thank you for the lovely comments on my previous post, I really do appreciate them.

Cheerio for now, keep yourselves safe, and see you again,

Christmas Cheer for the CCC!

 Hello Everyone, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the weekend. Is everyone on top of the Christmas prep? I'm pretty well sorted, well thankfully I've not that much to do. All cards are made, written and stamped.....what a price postage is now and I think it's making quite a few folks rethink sending card now, don't blame them at all. I was wrapping some of the gifts this afternoon, so only the family ones to do now.

Anyhoo, it's the final Christmas Card Club challenge  for this year, and this time our Sylvia has chosen the theme with is Anything goes, so I've chosen a couple of fabulous digital images from Beccy's Place,

  These images are from the Christmas Cheer collection and are already coloured, so I only added paper, card, sparkle and Glossy Accents. There is something about hot chocolate that just cheers the soul I think. Occasionally I treat myself to a Costa's Gingerbread Latte when I'm out at the shops, and the cream is topped with a little gingerbread man biscuit, delicious!!, though it shoots my blood sugar up, but you have to live, lol'

Anyway Sylvie I hope these will do, and thank you for the challenge, I really enjoyed creating these cards.

Well, that's me for now, I'm going to schedule my post to go live tomorrow when the challenge is up.

Thank you for the lovely comments on my last post, I very much appreciate them.

Take care of yourselves as this now variation of the virus is taking hold, I hope you are triple jabbed by now,