O Little Town of Bethlehem

In recent years I have used Hunkydory Crafts pre-coloured toppers with matching backing cards to make my Christmas cards.  They make life so much easier when you have a lot of cards to make. I just add a few embellishments from my crafty stash here and there.

I really enjoy Christmas Carols and O Little Town of Bethlehem is one of my favourites.  The first cards in this post were inspired by this carol.  These cards have a highly reflective surface and the light bounces off them.  I tried to angle the cards to avoid the worst of the glare but that does show the image at an odd angle.

Now it is time to drop in to see what all of those little elves have been up to, just a couple of photographs today.

Our first visit is to Daisy and Danny who have apparently, been swallowing their bubble gum.  It seems that what your mother always told you about bubble gum is true!

Those elves are so naughty, shall we see what Louise and Coco got up to?

They are playing in their ball pond and wanted to congratulate the children for writing to Santa.

Back tomorrow with more elf stories

Dionne 

Love on the Rocks UK - Rock Painting

When you have been out and about recently, have you come across any painted stones?  Rock painting has become quite the craze where we live and back in the summer my other half found this stone 'hidden' on top of a pillar box, quite close to where we live.  Our first, and only, find ... so far.

Unfortunately, the artwork on this stone had become a little damaged and we could not make out the picture.

On the reverse of the stone were instructions to post a photograph of our find on the Facebook page for 'Love on the rocks uk (Hiding Rocks ~ Making Smiles)'.

There was also a note that it was painted by MAH in 16 January 2021. Clearly it had been traveling some time, no wonder it was a bit battered.  We re-hide it a sent it on it's way again.


Dionne

Snowmen and Stags

Snowmen and Stags, two favourite themes of the Christmas card industry - and who am I to shun popular demand.  Here I am again with my Hunkydory pre-coloured toppers and matching backing cards.  They are a great idea when you are in a hurry or have a lot of cards to make.

In the kit they give you a few ideas on layout and design, this is one of them and a new fold for me.

I added some Flower Soft Polar White to this cards, although I am afraid it does not show in these photographs.

One of the Hunkydory sets I bought for this year gave you two of each image, so you are not seeing double with these cards.

I rather liked how this card turned out; so I made a second identical one.

See, two!

And I made two of this design as well.

Before we go off to see what those little elves have been up to today, I want to share with you the Christmas card I recieve from fellow crafter and talented card maker Carol (AKA The Crafty Stamper).  If you have a few minutes I urge you to check out her blog.

Shall we see what those naughty elves were up to a couple of nights ago?  Let's pop over to visit Daisy and Danny first.  Oh my, someone left the hair clippers out and they have found them ....

and they have found daddy asleep on the sofa, oh no!

Oh, look what they did to him.

Let's hope that Louise and Coco were better behaved.

They have organised a game for after school.

Ha ha, that was fun.

More tomorrow.

Dionne

Dogs Dressed-up as Reindeer?

Day 2 of my Christmas cards for this year.

This first set of cards features dogs dressed-up as reindeer - hence the post title.

All of my cards have been made using pre-coloured toppers with matching backing cards from Hunkydory crafts.  From each die-cut sheet I can usually get three or four cards. I then add the occasional embellishment from my craft stash.

This next set of cards have a Victorian theme.

Shall we see what the elves were up to the other night?  First up we have Louise and Coco who have bought Christmas stamps to go on the children's Christmas cards.  I think I can also see lolly pops and other treats!

Next we have Daisy and Danny, they have left the children little packs to write their letters to Santa, but where are Daisy and Danny?

Those naughty elves are swinging from the hall light fitting

I hope you have a good week, perhaps I shall see you again tomorrow.

Dionne

Christmas Countdown

It is always a great relief when all my Christmas cards are made, written and in the post. Every year I say I am going to start making them earlier, but I never do.  There have even been years when I left it so late that I was not sure that they would arrive before Christmas Day.  I have a rule that I cannot put my decorations up before my cards have been written - there is a practical side to this rule, I do not have a seperate craft room and sit card making in the lounge.  With card making materials everywhere it is impossible to get the decoration boxes out of the attic.

In recent years I have become an addict of the Hunkydory pre-coloured toppers with matching backing card, they make life so much easier when you have a lot of cards to make. I just add a few embellishments from my crafty stash here and there.

As in previous years, I thought that I would share a few cards every day, so you are not swamped with too many photographs with each post. Talking of photographs, I apologise up front for any glare, my camera picks up any shinny surfaces and these toppers are highly reflective, they look great in real life but not when you are trying to photograph them.   I have tried to angle them slightly to cut down on the glare.

I tried out some of the suggested designs in the card pack.

I know that most people are not waiting to see my cards, they are here to see what those elves have been up to this year.  For anyone visiting my blog for the first time I should explain that I have two nieces, both of whom have small children and the photographs capturing the antics of their visiting elves are taken by my nieces.  The elves in one household are called Daisy and Danny and they have been joined this year by two very naughty elves called Ant and Dec.  Naughty antics are not allowed at my other nieces house as they really upset her little girl, their elves are called Louise and Coco.

First to arrive this year were Daisy and Danny .....

They seem to have bought breakfast with them.

The next are Louise and Coco, they arrived with their suitcases packed, ready for a long stay .....

Louise and Coco have bought chocolate Advent calendars with them.

I shall back tomorrow with more cards.

Dionne 

Happy Advent 2021

Well, I'm back.

I want to apologise for being absent for so long. 2021 has been a very difficult year.  I have been busy crafting but I have not been able to share the results with you .... until now.  I had planned to start posting at the beginning of the month but, unfortunately, I did not have access to the internet for almost two weeks - thank you so much BT.

Therefore, this post is a little late but I hope the delay does not spoil any of our fun.  In the next few weeks I have a lot more Christmas cards, decorations and of course those naughty elves (which we have all found so amusing in the past) to share with you.

I am starting today with something a little new for me - Advent Cards.  I do not know whether Advent Cards are a thing with everyone but my dear friend and fellow crafter Lisette, AKA MrsBeez, has been sending them to me for years.  So, this year I decided to send a few to my close family and friends.

All of the materials came from my crafty stash.

I had three colour variation of the same basic design. Red with gold glitter lettering.

Gold glitter board with red lettering.

And finally gold glitter board with silver glitter board lettering.

I am sure you would like to see the card Mrs Beez sent to me this year to wish me a Happy Advent .....

My apologies for the reflective glare, my camera picks up all of the shine.

Have a good day, hopefully I shall be back later with more cards and those elves.

Dionne