How silently, how silently........

......the wonderous gift is given!!



There is something so special about receiving something hand made, and I am sure most of you out there enjoy giving something YOU have hand made to someone special.

We had a quiz during our managers meeting last week and it was to see how ready we all were for Christmas...one of the questions was 'have you finished writing all your cards?' I got extra points because I had not only finished writing them all I had made them all as well!!!



Sorry about the bad photo above, stil experimenting with my light tent!!





I have seen similar cards to this next one on many other blogs and I really wanted to give the wreath a try as I absolutely love it.....I think mine has come out looking a little square but over all I am really pleased with how it turned out.







This next photo is of a project I got from Andrea Walfords 12 weeks of Christmas......this is week number 5, you can find them here http://andreawalford.com/ although I received week 11 yesterday so it is nearly finished.





I got the idea for the little stamped tea lights from my amazing up line Michelle.....thanks lovely!!!

With a very tight Christmas coming up everyone is receiving something small, a hand made gift.......



Well thanks for stopping by, hope you like what you see, pop back anytime!



Stay safe



Kylie xx

JOY to the world!!!

Happy Friday everyone!!!



Apart from being on a very long and tedious training course for 2 days this week the whole thing seems to have gone quite quickly!! I also had a meeting to go to in Colchester yesterday which meant another day out of the office.......I got some work done today but I think Monday will be a massive chatch up day!!



So here are the next installments of Christmas cards........cant remember where I first saw this idea, I think it was actually a wall hanging and I just used it on a card instead.



Wasn't sure about the dp behind the letters at first but my lovely other half said it looked better with than without......have to trust them at some point!!









I am really not that keen on this next card.......although I love the clean lines and it came out better than I had hoped. This dp is not one of my favorites but with soooooooooo many cards to make I had to come up with different ideas and use different colours so......what do you think??

Mmmmmmmm...........I still not sure.................

Well let me know what you think, I would love to hear from you!!

Stay safe

Kylie xx

Liqueur coffee and christmas cards.....

Ok, lets start with the traditional........sorry the photos havent come out too well but its the best one can do in poor lighting.......despite using my new little light tent!!



I totally love the Winter Post stamp set and have used it loads for many of my Christmas cards and projects......





......it just gives a really lovely oldie worldie feel to the cards and everyone who has seen them says how much they love them.

Brrrrrrrrr.......this next card makes me want to reach for the hot chocolate or as we have discovered recently, using a generous helping of an irish cream liqueur in your coffee in place of milk.......mmmmmmmm!!!!

Watch out for those liqueur coffees....they can be a little moreish, but warm you right down to your toes!!

Hope you have enjoyed the cards, have a few more to post and a few more projects to get photographed so should be back later in the week with more.

It has been a busy week for us so apologies for not getting more crafting and posting done but unfortunately life gets in the way!! Back to work on Monday so things may slow down a little but I will do my best!

Stay safe

Kylie xx

Christmas get together!

Hi everyone, how wonderful are Sunday nights when you dont have to go to work the next day!!!
Wanted to just say again what a great time I had round Michelle's on Friday night and also show you the wonderful swaps I got from the other girls......

First of all here is the card that Michelle made...

Love the sentiment and the large oval punches!!!

Next came the gift card holder from Sharon (hi Sharon, it was lovely to meet you!).......

Then there was the little chocolate box (complete with chocolates!!) from Germaine (hope to see you again soon)....

And last but not least was this very yummy mug filled with mocha chocolate goodness from Alison........recipe included!!!

All the girls are extremely talented and I hope that now we are all going to meet up once a month that some of their talent rubs off........at the very least I get some inspiration!

The last project I want to show you is a little acetate box filled with mints which I am going to give out to all my hard working staff......it has been a tough 6 months with many changes at work and they have all done so well. Thanks girls xx

Well thats it for now.........quite a long post for me really, but there was so much to show you all.

Have a good week and hopefully I will be back with some more projects soon.



Stay safe



Kylie xx

Back on line!!

Finally managed to sort out my technical problems and we are back on line again!! Despite work being mega busy, I have managed to get all my Christmas cards made and they are just waiting to be posted off now.......need to get the ones for Australia in the post this week otherwise they may never get there!!

As most of you will already know, I dont really make stocks of cards, although I am thinking this is a good idea....... as I like to make cards with the individual in mind, I also tend not to make cards that are the same, so with 30 odd Christmas cards to make it got a little difficult towards the end to come up with different ideas!!!

With the weather now turning so bad and it getting dark around 4.30pm I have invested in a small 'light tent' so that I can still take photos of my cards, although getting the light shining in the right spot is a bit of an art in its self!!

After a very long week at work, I was looking forward to finishing up yesterday as I have booked a week of annual leave. My upline Michelle had a get together at her house last night and although I was falling asleep on my feet, I mustered up the energy to go..............and I was soooooooooo pleased I did as I met Sharon and Germaine for the first time and of course Alison was there and it was just really nice to sit and do some crafting with other people, relax and have a bit of fun!!

So a big thank you to Michelle, it was a great night and looking forward to the next one!!

Stay safe

Kylie xxx

Problems!!!!

Apologies for the lack of blogging this week.........we are experiencing some technical difficulties with our phone line so posting this from work!

Hopefully will be back up and running by the middle of next week.

Hope all is well out there for everyone, my best wishes to anyone who is suffering with flooding, thankfully we have not been effected by it!!

Take care, stay safe and see you soon.

Kylie xx

All Christmased out!!!!

There is still 6 or so weeks left to go and I am already a little fed up to to eye balls with Christmas.........not really!! Although it is not my most favorite time of year I do enjoy seeing all the colour and sparkle in the shops and our little village really do a fantastic job with the Christmas lights.......I might even be so bold as to say I enjoy a cold Christmas!!!



Dont get me wrong......Christmas in Australia is wonderful and as a child having Christmas during our summer hols was fab, but there just seems to be something right about being cold at Christmas, roaring fires, a little snow maybe!! Can you believe that people sit down to a pipping hot Chrismas meal in the middle of summer!!! The Aussies have become a bit better at doing it their way with BBQ's on the beach and lots of seafood for lunch instead of the traditional stuff.



Ok rambling now, on to the cards.............





I think I have mentioned in previous posts that I tried the old stamp a stack but it just doesnt feel right for me.......I like to make individual cards, each of them as different as possible and then I choose who gets which card.....or I will make them specifically for individuals in mind.

These 2 cards I have sent home to family in Australia so no peeking on my blog guys!!! Too late eh.......

Sorry its only another quick one but I have managed to book a week off work at the end of the month so I will try and spend a bit more time crafting and blogging.........going to have some ME time......ha, chance will be fine thing!!!

Stay safe everyone

Kylie xx

Bad blogger!!!

Apologies for my lack of blogging but I have been busy at my craft desk trying to get my Christmas cards made ready to post to Australia.......work is frantic at the moment and so there has been noooooooo time to sit at the computer to blog!!!

So thought I would quickly pop by tonight and do a very short blog with a card just so that you wont forget I am here!!!!

Well I hope you like this card as much as I do...........I love the dark, more vintage green and red.

Hope all is well out there for everyone!!

Stay safe

Kylie xx

CASED!!

Now these cards where made a couple of weeks ago but with work keeping me sooooooooooooo busy, it has been difficult to keep the creative juices flowing so I sat with the old and new SU Ideas books and sought out some inspiration.......... although I have used the general layout and colours of cards in the book I have changed them slightly so that they are not exactly the same.



On this first card I wanted to try out one of my new stamp sets, Office Accoutrement..... retired now I know but I treated myself on my last order with a few retired items, gotta get 'em while you can!!

As I made these cards a little while ago I cant remember where I saw this next one....I think it was on some elses blog so all credit to them......they used the new Medallion background stamp on theirs (will be purchasing this in the near future as I love it!!!) but I had to used a stamp from another set to get the desired effect

As Christmas seems to be everywhere at the moment I thought I would take and give a break from all that stuff and put some normal cards up to show you all.

Hope everyone is safe and well..........really should get back to the craft desk now and get some festive cards made.......I am soooo behind and was going to set myself a task of making at least one a night.......not made any so far this week so being terribly slack!!

Stay safe and thanks for looking

Kylie xx

Embossing is the business!!

As Christmas involves making soooooooo many cards at one time (if only I was more organised!!) embossing folders are a fantastic way of quickly puting together a card and making it look great, on this card below I have used the cuttlebug snowflake folder, and a stamp from the fantastic SU Winter Post set........sorry about the bad photo.....better one underneath!!

On this card I have used the same stamp but the cuttlebug Christmas Tree folder.......but not used it as a tree just for the pattern on one of my layers.

I am trying to make one Christmas card a night at the moment, but work is keeping me so busy I am totally shattered by the time I get home I just want to crash on the sofa and watch mind numbing tv.......must motivate myself!!

With this annoying postal strike it is hard to know whether to sent cards to Australia or just put together a generic email and send it to everyone.......no, I think even if they dont arrive on time, my family will appreciate a handmade card.....they better!!!!!

Hope you have enjoyed looking around, will try and post again during the week.

Stay safe

Kylie xx

Colour challenge...

Thought I would give the Christmas cards a break for a day........although I have started making cards that I need to give out.......I've made 2 so far....only another 25 or so to go!!!!



While I was on skype the other day with my Mum, we were talking about how us in the UK did not get any 'in' colours in the new catalogue.......but that in all of her magazines she subscribes to there is a colour combo that everyone is using at the moment.



She therefore set me a challenge to use the 3 colours.......we kind of worked them out to be So Saffron, Grey and Brocade Blue







I thought I would case one of the cards from the new ideas book and here is what I came up with.



I really like this colour combo and think I will use it again.......got a few birthdays coming up and friends of ours have just found out they are pregnant so this colour combo is nice and neutral until we find out what brand the baby is!!!!



Thanks for stopping by and having a look around, hope you like what you see!



Stay safe



Kylie xx

Cold Christmas.....

As I have been working on my Christmas cards, I keep showing each creation to Steve to get his opinion........he is totally Mr Christmas and I just really aint that bothered by the whole affair!! Anyway, Steve has this whole thing about Christmas being traditional and 'warm' so he really doesn't like all the lovely pale blue, white, silver, crisp green colours and just keeps saying to me 'GREEN, RED AND GOLD!!!! PEOPLE WANT TO SEE SOMETHING TO MAKE THEM FEEL WARM!!!!'

Ok so that made him sound like he was shouting at me but he really wasn't......bless him, he just likes traditional English Christmas stuff.....I will loose count of how many mince pies, mini Christmas puddings and brandy cream/butter he will eat between now and new year!! Again, all the traditional Christmas stuff like mince pies, christmas pud and Christmas cake I just cant stand........raspberries and ice cream for me!!! I do try my best to get 'festive' when the time comes but it is hard being so far away from family.....................

Righty ho, onto a couple of cards.....I made a point of buying some of the retired DP's as the Christmassy ones are just lovely although this is one that Steve didn't like......too cold apparently!!!








.......and one that he did!!

I used some little red gem stones on the woodcut holly stamp to make the berries stand out (as they should really be red!!)

Well thats it for tonight folks, hope you enjoyed looking around my blog, please leave a comment it is always great to get constructive feedback!

Stay safe

Kylie xx

More Christmas Card Chaos!!

Hi everyone....

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend!! I have had a massively busy week and another one to come but somehow I managed to sit at my craft desk and, like a crazy woman, I made loads of Christmas cards!!! Unfortunately none of them are for me to use for family and friends......it was an order from my local lady with the lovely shop, but I was grateful for the order as every penny counts!!

She also asked me to make her some general cards as well so I put together about 32 cards for her.......I did say I worked like a crazy woman!!!

I had a good look through all of the sketches I save and even used some of the designs from the new and old idea books, trying out different colour combo's and shifting things around so that they weren't exactly the same.

I managed to take photo's of all the cards.....Steve is going fishing again tomorrow so no camera for a few days (we have to share!!) but good news......it looks like he has found some work starting the end of this month. It means he will have to work away during the week but anything is better than nothing!!!

Well have a good week everyone, hopefully I will find some spare time to pop back during the week to post some more Christmas cards.

Thanks for browsing.......

Stay safe

Kylie xx

Christmas Chaos!!

Unfortunately I have only been able to take pictures of a couple of cards due to the weather and being very very busy this weekend, but I have managed to make quite a few cards. I had a call from my friend who buys my cards and she has put in an order so I need to get my crafty butt into gear and get some made........then of course there are all the ones for family and friends to make yet as well!!!!



I am only going to post one card today as I will do the other one in a day or two (Steve going fishing tomorrow and taking the camera!!).



I got the idea for this card from the new Stampin Up Catalogue but changed it to make it more individual.

I tried to do the layering with the stamps and I think it came out ok.....I like it anyway!

Well hope you all had a good weekend, back to work tomorrow (no rest for the wicked, which is why I am always working!!!)

Stay safe

Kylie xx

Mums are the best!!!

Firstly I would like to show you a card that I received today, now.... although the card was blank inside it was filled to the brim with so much love, care and kindness it was overflowing!! It was made by my amazing Mum who under estimates her own talent......where do you think I got mine from Mum!!!

Although the sentiment speaks volumes.........I know my Mum thinks of me every day, and she knows that she is always in my heart and thoughts. Thank you so very much for being there, despite the distance....................... I love you xx

Stay safe

Kylie xx

Its new and packed full of fantastic products!!

I'm talking of course about the new UK Stampin' Up catalogue!! I got mine a few weeks ago and have not put it down since, it smells all new and fresh!!!



The wish list is steadly growing and my bank account steadly shrinking........only joking, not made any purchases yet. As with most people the credit crunch means the belt has had to be pulled tight and it may be some time before it gets loosened, but just looking through the catalogue is great fun and so inspirational.

Work isnt making much time for crafting at the moment so time spent at my desk is only for those essential birthdays and special occassions that deserve a hand made card.



Well, you can see the new catalogue on the left hand side, click on the picture to view its magical contents and please contact me if you would like to place an order or host a workshop.



Happy browsing.....



Stay safe



Kylie xx

Its coming..........!!

It pains me to even say the word this early in the year so I am not going to........but Steve has already got me buying mince pies!!!

So what I have for you today is a little selection of those cards which we all need to make tons of and then get in the post on time (well, thats me anyway....why I have such a problem with posting I dont know!!!)

I wanted to do a bit of stamp a stack for myself, keeping all the designs simple for ease and speed but I think I will just do what I always do and individualise cards for people........I like to make cards specifically with the person/people in mind.........rambling now so here are the pics! x

Sorry about this photo.....didn't really turn out that well!!!

I am loving the Winter Post set and I think I will be using it on many of this years cards.........

and my Woodcut Holly wheel was just perfect for this card!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and browsing, hope to see you here again soon.

Stay safe

Kylie xx

Me and my Dad!!!

Just a quick post to show you a picture of me and my Dad in Cambridge today......we had a wonderful day just mooching around looking at all the lovely old buildings. It was nice just to spend some time with him.............not looking forward to Saturday morning when we have to say goodbye......many tears I thinks!!!

This was taken just outside Kings College in Cambridge.........he has been such a tourist with his video camera and digital.....bless!!!! Love him sooooo much. Of course his wife Wendy and my Steve were there as well but this photo is just so lovely I couldn't resist posting it.

Kylie xx