School's Out - It's Snowing!

This is the view from our front door this morning.  

Fresh virgin snow always looks so pretty.  I especially love how everything looks so clean and everyday sounds seem slightly muffled ... like everywhere's wrapped in cotton wool.   But there's no denying that the arrival of snow brings havoc and disruption, as has been reported on all the news channels this weekend.  Here in Fife, every school and nursery is closed today and there's more snow forecast for later so the kids are happy ... if the squeals of delight from outside are anything to go by!  Snowmen and igloos will be the order of the day I think.

We have plenty of soup in the cupboard though ... so reckon we'll just snuggle down in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate and a packet (or 2) of choccy biccies to wait for the thaw. 

For those unfortunate people who have no choice but to venture out in it ... take care and stay safe xxx

Bah Humbug Blues

Over at Bah! Humbug Challenges, the DT have set the final challenge for this year and are preparing to wind down for Christmas ... unlike everywhere else in blogland where they are winding things up as the magic month approaches.
We will really miss our Friday get-togethers with the loyal friends who have supported us throughout our debut year and "Humbugger Hall" will seem very cold and lonely without them. So it is fitting that this week our challenge theme is "Feeling The Blues" 
Icy blue card and pretty snowflake paper, combined with silver mirri card provide a perfect base for this beautiful large white snowflake, which is from a set of tree decorations I spied in Asda.  I just lurrrrve the texture and hint of sparkle but if you are tempted to get some yourself, then take the precaution of opening the packet in a shoebox or something similar and spray both sides with cheap hairspray before use to help reduce the 'shedding' of bits.

Silver snowflakes and some ice blue glitter ribbon were added to embellish the greeting which was stamped with a Pearlescent Blue Dew Drop ink pad and cut with a scalloped punch, before being popped on with silicon glue.

Inside was decorated with a leftover strip of mirri card which had been diecut with Marianne Snowflake for another project and was conveniently lying on the desk, along with a sparkly peel off greeting matted onto mirri card.

A couple of blue star gems are the final finishing touch to the snowflakes.
I will be entering my card into Simon Says Stamp Challenge -Let It Snow which qualifies me for entry to Lorraine's sponsored Blog Candy for the chance to win an adorable House Mouse stamp.  Am also joining in with Wild Rose Studio's Blog Hop as the layout follows Dawny P's sketch ... if you turn it 90 degrees. There's a fantastic prize on offer and all the DT members have a stamp to give away, so plenty of chances to win.

There's lots still to do at Humbugger Hall before we close and padlock the huge iron gates for the last time and settle down to hibernate with the dust and cobwebs. Including the announcement of our Special Prize Draw winners next week, which will be very exciting, so don't miss it.
Meanwhile there's a challenge for you to be getting on with ... so GET ON WITH IT!   Remember to leave us a link or we may be forced to let the Humbug Hounds out ... and you wouldn't want us to do that as they haven't been fed since .... ermmmm ... January!

Bah! Humbug! 45

Our Bah! Humbug! Challenge this week is a colour theme and we want you to pick through your 'purples' and show us some Lilac.
I have been itching to ink up the new November release Waltzing Mouse Stamps that arrived earlier this week and, (as time has once again been my enemy), I opted to keep things as simple as possible. 
I chose to stamp this holly, from 'Around Christmastime' set, onto some lavender card and then heat embossed with silver powder, before cutting out with a scalloped circle punch and adding some purple adhesive pearls. 
Then I found some lilac card and dragged out the Cuttlebug and a couple of Christmassy embossing folders for the next stage.  

First I used the 'Mistletoe' folder on a square of lilac card, and matted it to silver mirri with double-sided tape, before adding a few random pearls.  Then, on an identical square, I decided to use only part of the 'Snowflake Frame' folder on opposite edges.  
To do this, you place the card into the folder as normal, place your 2nd 'B' plate over the portion you want embossed and then roll the sandwich through the cuttlebug, making sure you hit reverse when you reach the edge of that 2nd 'B' plate.  Do this on both edges and remember  YOU MUSTN'T GO ALL THE WAY!  
(Hmmm ... that phrase sounds very familiar but can't recall for the life of me where I've heard it before ... )  Ahem .... *snigger*
Now there's every chance that my rather inadequate instructions have totally confused you ... actually I think I've confused myself and I know that I know what I mean!  However, I'm sure you will understand once you try it for yourself and if not then I'll find a link to a tutorial for you.
OK ... back to the card ... 

Pearlescent lavender ink was roughly rubbed over the embossed snowflakes and this square was cut diagonally.  The triangle edges were then heat embossed with silver and matted onto a slightly larger triangle of lavender card before attaching on top of the embossed square.   

All that remained to do now was add the punched holly circle, stamp and emboss the fabby sentiment, which is from the WMS 'Festive Foliage' set, and add a lilac bow.
At first I thought the 'mistletoe' embossing looked a bit boring and I was tempted to add some sparkle.  However, I've decided I quite like the contrast between the matt look and the pearlescent sheen of both panels so am going to leave it be for now.
Incidently, I used the remaining triangular section to decorate inside but forgot to take a photo.

Bah! Humbug! 44

Apologies for being so late this week - this post was scheduled for this morning but ended up in 'draft somehow.  Anyway ... am here now.
This week's card features one of the most universally instantly recognisable Christmas characters of all time!  Little Rudi ... and his secret twin brother ... have been playing around with the tree lights and got themselves in a little bit of a guddle.  Tut tut ... but their really cute expressions melt the heart so it's difficult to be cross with them for too long.   

Let me tell you, they weren't the only one's to 'get in a guddle' this week either!  Everything was layered up and looking fine until the very last moment when disaster struck!  The red stickles bottle split open, just as I was adding the last wee bit of sparkle to the letters and spewed red, sticky, sparkly, gloopy mess, all over the almost completed card!  Don't you just hate it when that happens? GRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr ... the air was a glorious shade of blue as I desperately tried to save something ... ANYTHING!  But alas t'was to no avail.  The card was a definite 'bin job' and I had to start all over again.   

Apologies that the letters look a little curled up,  but the glitter and the snow weren't quite dry when I took the photos.  They look fine now and if I get a chance I will re-take photos.

Fortunately I had a spare set of images and letters printed off and knew exactly what I wanted to do, having already done it once,  so it didn't take long to cut them out and put it all together. AGAIN.  The only thing missing on this version are the red berries on the tree, but that will be rectified when my new bottle of red stickles arrives LOL!  Well ... you've gotta' larf!
Hopefully my fellow Bah Humbuggers and our Guest Designer Pat had a less stressful time with their projects.   We have also announced a winner for our Embossing Folder Prize so check out Bah! Humbug! right now to see if it's you.

Birthday Princess

At the Sugar Bowl this week, there is a sketch to follow and, as always, a fabulous prize is up for grabs for one lucky winner.
My entry uses the Sugar Nellie Manga Princess image, stamped in black onto white card and her hair and skin were coloured with Promarkers.   Her dress and tiara were paper-pieced using pretty My Mind's Eye paper with a subtle floral pattern.  

The petticoat was also paper-pieced but with white card which was sparkled up using Cotton Candy Stickles and the image was then mounted onto blue paper with foam pads for dimension before being cut around with decorative scissors.

The floral backing paper is a 6" x 6" sheet from the same MME pad, adhered to a cream tent fold card blank.   Aqua Stickles were rubbed over the embossed circle which had been cut with wavy-edged scissors to match the lower panel, before I added a rub-on greeting and placed a holographic 3D butterfly to hover daintily over the edge of the image. 

The inside was simply decorated with the leftover strips matted onto card leaving a narrow border. 
Hopefully the Birthday Princess for whom this card is intended will forgive me for neglecting to add any ribbons or bows, which was the Sugar Bowl optional theme, but I kind've ran out of room.

WMS - Tag Challenge

I have been trying all day to upload this tag as my entry for Waltzing Mouse Stamps 'Tag You're It' Challenge with the opportunity of potentially winning up to £125 worth of goodies.  YES I KNOW!   
IT'S AN AWESOME PRIZE

Elf Shoe Silhouette Tag

Inside View

Holograhic Embossing Powder

Anyhow ... I've been struggling all day and this will probably going to be my last chance as the deadline closes in about an hour, so please forgive me for not supplying all the 'deets' - will be back later!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 43

It's the final month of challenges for 2010 over at Bah! Humbug! and we have a brand new Guest Designer Pat of Pip's Pastimes joining us.  So if you haven't already made a start on your Christmas cards this year ... and if not then WHY not? ... then you might benefit from checking out our projects this week to get you in the mood.
My Fancy Fold offering is quite simply an ordinary gatefold card with a couple of extra folds thrown in on the front panels for added interest.    

The fabulous green and gold Christmas tree paper is from Dovecraft Vintage Christmas Collection and is matted onto gold mirri card to really bring out the warm tones.   

After cutting the main piece for the back panel, I cut one of the trees from the remains to pop onto the front for some added dimension.  I can't decide whether to add some adhesive gems or not - what do you think?

The large snowflakes are a Marianne die cut from gold mirri card and the tiny ones are made with a small snowflake punch.   The stamped greeting has been heat embossed with gold on black card and is one of the messages from a Buzzcraft Christmas set - a recent sale bargain.
My fellow Bah! Humbuggers are waiting to show you their projects too and if you need any further persuasion to get out your Christmas stash and join in then we have a wee prize up for grabs this week for one lucky random entry.

Sugar Nellie Sneaky Peek

Oh My Giddy Aunt!  

Just check out these adorable new soon-to-be-released beauties I've spotted over at Sugar Nellie Stamps