Happy Christmas?

I hope you all had a Happy Christmas.  We had a lovely one with my Mum and Brother in Law coming for Christmas dinner, going out with Mum and my Brothers family for Boxing Day and then so far a mix of chillax and starting to decorate front room and hoping the days go mega slow until we get back to work on the 4th January.  Both Darren and I are very lucky we don't have to go back until the 4th, it gives us the longest time off together as a family of this year!!  As we didn't have much of a holiday together this past year. 

Here are a few pictures from my Christmas break so far..  I say a few but I found slightly more that I wanted to share with you :)  so bear with me .

First up is a picture of the gorgeous but very naughty Donuts Holes that Darren made with the

Gourmet 3 in 1 sweet treat maker.  Very yummy!  my Mum knows how much Darren loves baking and then eating the bakes! LOL  So we made these today.

Here is Caiden with his main pressie - a Halo Megablocks Phantom

And Darren is the poor guy that has to make all this Halo that Caiden gets.  All 900+ bricks!

He has a great collection of Halo Megablocks and plays with them and looks after them very well.  I was lucky to get a pre owned deal off ebay and for the price of this one

phantom we ended up getting 2 large vehicles so Darren as I type is in the process of

making that second one.

Sue my SIL found the perfect gift for me :)

Harvey in Warhammer heaven.  He had made an army list for Christmas

and between us, Nanny, Grandma, Grumps and Uncle Dave/Aunty Sue we got all on his list!

Here he is in full concentration and yesterday he could not wait to go to the yearly "Unboxing Day" at Warhammer store where people bring in all their new models and build and paint.

He is still loving Warhammer and taking his time building all the models he has got will take

a while, painting even longer!

Next up a FANTABULOUS machine called the SILHOUETTE MINT

machine.  I got this before Christmas but hadnt shared it before now.  It makes stamps that you design.  Once you have designed the stamp it literally comes out in less than a minute.

You then add the special MINT INK and wait 10 minutes for the ink to load

and then you are ready for approx 50 impressions.   Once run out you re ink.

I'll be doing a blog post dedicated to this machine very soon.

This was a stamp I designed for my Mum for her to use on the back of her cards.

This was a surprise gift from Darren for me and my Crafty Palace

Now TV and means I can get box sets and sky 1 in my shed.

YIPPEEE I can now watch Game of Thrones when it comes back :)

Christmas Day = family games and we enjoyed playing Simpsons Cluedo

which was Harvey's pressie.  We also played others but attention spans were waning

in the house as we had such an early morning!

Just the week before Christmas I went snowman crazy and I made

lots of these cute little guys :)  I ended up making about 15 of these and giving

them as little decorations to work friends.

Lots and lots of my facebook friends got one of these for Christmas.  Adult

colouring books are all the rage and my Mum got this for me. 

Once I get a chance I will enjoy doing this.

A cute collection of Owls :) from my boys - Pencil pot,

Cute hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil owls

and a frame that has Darren and I's wedding photo.

Now with my new mint machine came yet again more frustration to not ever

being able to get on the family pc.  So I had the Mint, Minc, Silhouette and 

Craft Artist software all needing a PC to work but never getting access to it.

So I asked Darren if I could get myself a laptop just for my stuff and 

I have ended up with the gadget craft table in the front room.

We are redecorating hence the ripped off paper.  But it's very exciting to have 

a place I can use all my gadgets when I want to.  VERY VERY Lucky girl!

So as you can see all in all a lovely Christmas.  Everyone very happy

lovely time spent with family who we don't see enough of

(my brother and family and my BIL too)

Too much food, certainly too many donut holes!! LOL

As I said, I will be back very soon with a in depth look at the MINT MACHINE.

The machine starter kit is in stock at Crafts U LOVE but we are waiting

for the accessories to come in.  

I do hope you all had a lovely time with your family and friends.

Caz xx

A Birthday Card

I made this card for a lovely lady Joan who I work with.  Its her birthday 25th December so we always make sure we spoil her on her special birthday :)

I have been so busy lately with Christmas projects it was lovely to make something different and of course I could not wait to play with the NEW releases.. Coming January Karen Burniston Designs.

On this card I have used Baker the Beaver

Cake pop Up and Pull card Edges

I love the Cake Pop up and how the candles sit on top.

And Baker is totally adorable.  Without his tail he could easy pass for a Hamster I reacon.

Funny thing! I have only just noticed that I forgot to add his teeth!  

Opps - left those on my desk somewhere :)

The Pull card edges have been made for use with the Pull Cards

but as you can see here you can get some great shapes and use them on any cards.

I hope you like the card as much as I enjoyed making it.

and here below are pictures of the dies.

I will be back soon with more.

Oh and UK customers, the New Elizabeth Crafts are on order and should be

at Crafts U Love middle January

.

A few recent makes

A little round up of makes made recently :)

This years snowman soup was make using Memory Box and Sizzix 

I made these Rosettes with the WRMK Punch

and Taylored Expressions stamps

I made this Handmade stamp using my Mint machine! If there is interest I will

do a video or photos on this machine.

I made a few of these pretty boxes too

And a few more bits here :)

So you see I have been crafting, but not showing you all, I do apologise

and I hope to blog a bit more now I have access to my own laptop.

Cazx

Karen Burniston - December Challenge Day 2

Welcome bloggers, back again so soon?  Oh yes, its day 2 of the Karen Burniston Challenge and today I am sharing this cute little Jolly the Mouse card.  He is "Home for the holidays" in his little festive nest.  He has made it look so  beautiful, complete with Holly leaves, stocking hung with care (hand cut by me) and some pretty sparkly stickers that he found whilst scampering around my shed :)  He's trying to wait up for "scamperpaws" which is the mouse version of Santa, but he is just too tired.

For this card I have used the following :

By Karen Burniston - Elizabeth Craft Designs

Circle Accordion with the centre chopped out to make the red snowflake frame,

Jolly The Mouse, just slightly adjusted to put tail on other side and droopy, oh so tired eyelids,

Merry and Bright Stamps

By Elizabeth Craft Designs

Leaf and Berry Branches

Holly Leaves and Berries 

Sparkle Dot Peel offs

I really enjoyed this challenge, and playing with these dies.  A welcome break

from Snowman soup that I have been working on for the last million nights.. OK slight

exaggeration there but it feels like it :)

As usual don't forget to check out the links on the left

my uber talented Karen Burniston Team mates.

Caz xx

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge December - Home for the holidays

Hi Bloggers and today I am back with the December Challenge.  December!!  where did that come from?  I have been flat out for a few weeks.  Burning the candle at both ends to make sure I can fit it all in finally feeling a bit in control but I haven't made even one Christmas card yet.  {hangs head in shame}

 I have cheated a bit on this challenge, well not cheated  as such but my design is loosely based on what Karen wanted. But I was please how it came out until I read what I was supposed to do and thought "opps".  Luckily Karen loved it too so all is good :)

This is what Karen Burniston had asked us for - Home for the Holidays - Let's see how you can interpret the phrase. Use the House, Holiday House or Barn (or are you making a tree house?) or some sort of "home" on a Holiday card.

Now quite clearly there is no home on my creation today, but it has been made "for the home".  I don't know about you I love to make things to display in my home for Christmas.  Most of the time we make for others and it is nice to keep something for yourself.

I decided to make a banner with the Gift Card Accordion and it was very very simple to make

I choose some lovely red and green papers and card, accents of white and green and decorated with Rudy the gorgeous reindeer.

Rudy looks rather dashing with his shiny antlers don't you think!

The pages of the Gift Card accordion were decorated with the Flourish Gift Frame

I used the page connectors to attach to the string with Elizabeth Craft Designs Tape.

The NOEL was made using the Elizabeth Craft Designs Alphabet Set.

Additional decoration for the pages was made easy using other dies from Karen's collection.

Namely the Katie Label Accordion  and the Accordion Fancy Label.

Just look how simple making a really fancy looking banner can be?  and it looks lovely adorning my fireplace.

Right it most definitely is passed my bedtime again!  and I really need some shut eye so I can get working on Tuesdays challenge card... Just called me "last minute Caz"  its the way I roll :)

Until Tuesday, Oh, and don't forget to check out the amazing cards that the other ladies have

created on this challenge by checking out the links on the left hand side.

Caz x