Hello and welcome

To the Stamp Man 2010 blog award blog hop!

You should have arrived from the challenge blog but you can start the blog hop by returning here.

So what do you have to do?

Firstly take this award alert picture and display it on your blog along with the actual award. Include in your post your favourite project for 2010 and add your details to the challenge blog.

Display your award with Ooodles of pride - go on you deserve it!

Then take a leisurely hop around the DT blogs and collect your letters from the blog.
Your letter to collect from me is
Y
You must leave a comment on all the blogs on the hop and once you have collected your letters work out the words (a little clue there) and email them to thestampman@btconnect.com
by Thursday 13th January 9pm GMT

This is my favourite project of 2010 for 3 reasons.
Firstly it was made at the summer Claxby retreat - always fun crafting for a whole weekend!
Secondly it was using my Favourite colour combo this year!
and lastly because the Hero Arts elegant weeds is such a beautiful stamp set. As luck would have it its also stocked by the Stamp man too!
So from here you need to visit my ever so talented team mate Vix
Don't forget to leave a comment and collect your letter to be in with a chance of winning the Hop!

Such a lucky Gal x

Sarah over at the art of moodling has invited us all to share our Christmas gifts. I have been especially lucky this year and love every single gift for the thought and love that has been put into choosing them.

First off books - I also got a book called the 12 days of Christmas but that's up by the side of my bed almost read already! I have felt so indulgent having the time to read and so look forward to getting into these too.

This was my pressie from my boys. I continue to explore the concepts of art journalling although I have not done any of late - i think all my creative juices have gone into other projects but I know its there when i want to dabble.

Someone knows my love of Sir Tim that's for sure how much fun will I have with these?

and wow with this too!

Music for my ears - I love Pink which many folk are quite surprised at although not as surprised as my youngest son was at the knowledge I used to be a huge fan of ACDC - i love it when I'm unpredictable to my kids LOL!

Another Sir Tim Goody - I love all his quotes but especially the top right hand one as dancing in the rain seems inevitable for me sometimes!

How about these beauties too Love love love them!

How warm and Christmassy is this to snuggle into? A gorgeous woolly scarf for those very cold and wintry days.

I cant tell you how lucky I feel to have got these beauties too - cant wait to get started on next years Christmas LOL

This is gorgeous - the pic does not do it justice. An altered notebook and frame from my lovely Pal Michelle x

and these gorgeous trinkets from my Pal Elaine.

My colleague at work Jacci always gets me the most wonderful calendars for Christmas as well as the most generous of gifts. She has given me most of the gifts featured here. A wonderfully generous soul she really does love the giving part of Christmas I was truly spoiled.

This is fab and was my secret Santa gift from the Tuesday card group. Lovingly stitched by hand I just think its wonderful. It also came with some home made brandy truffles which were scoffed in the blink of an eye LOL.

This is my most unexpected gift. I cried when I opened it as it really was not something I expected at all. An early birthday pressie from my Bro and SIL. (my birthday is August) he thinks he will be made redundant in the new year so they decided to make sure everyone had a gift in case they could not afford it through 2011. I really was over whelmed.

I also got other gifts too - a hairdryer heat gun, long coveted from my mum and some lovely simple gold sleepers for my eczema ridden ears. she also got me some lovely pink furry lined slipper boots which have been my preferred footwear all Christmas LOL.

I also got a fab scrapbook kit from pals Bee and Dee with oodles of ribbon on the gift to recycle! My secret Santa from work was a box of lily o brian chocs and a bottle of asti - predictably they are now no more! some smelly gift sets which are really welcome too. Some red candle sticks and some tree dec from my sis and also a tree dec from Jacci. A Christmas Santa from Michelle too who is standing proud on the fireplace so I was truly a lucky gal this Christmas - I hadn't realised I had been sooooo good!

Hope on over to Sarah's place and check out her post - she also got some stunning gifts and has already had fun playing!
Hope Christmas was happy for you x

Tuesday taggers - Old father Time

Wow where has the last decade gone? I can so clearly remember the year 2000 - we had all been poorly with the dreaded flu so on new years eve walked up t' rec to view the fireworks away from the crowds so we would not pass on our germs.

my little girl was only 5. In the last decade we have had 2 lots of GCSEs, A levels and university studies i really cannot believe hopw fast it has gone. I must be getting old LOL

Over on tuesday taggers we have been playing around with

old father time

To mark the passage of not just another year but into another decade.

So here is my take on the theme. I have used a traditional santa stamp to be the old father bit and made a wall hanging with claocks, keys, cogs and sequin waste. All stamps are from a retired stamp man set apart from the santa which is from habico. The little lock and key brads are by woodware - perfect for this sort of project. A little glossy accents, crackle glaze, wire and ribbon and its finished. inks used are distress inks forest moss, bundled sage, antique linen and aged mahogany.
This week TT is sponsored by the Craft Barn so do stop by and check out the challenge.

I'm Upcited!

Sorry thats a term from one of the kids which really means excited LOL but hey its Christmas eve tomorrow and these little rascals will be really upcited tomorrow thats for sure. Here is a pic of my nephew and niece from last weekend - its for a holiday diary and so has them at my house with the buns they made and decorated. They are coming for tea tomorrow which will be a perfect day to give them this

decorated by my pal Michelle - you can't quite see the words but it says Hes been. The idea is to set it for the time you want the kids to get up on Christmas morning - having no numbers they wont be able to tell the time but of course a rough estimate of where the numbers are gives Mum and Dad all the freedom of an extra hour if they so wish.

Here is its little gift box - made quickly this afternoon after my fisrt Christmas visitors had gone. We had Meghans friend and her Mum round for lunch of Christmas pizza and salad. the Christmas pizza was a bargain at morrisons and perfect for the meal as Lucy is a very fussy eater. It had turkey, bacon and cranberry on it so a real Christmassy feel but at the bargain price of 39 p each so yes the freezer is full of them !

and just so you can get your blog hopping mitts on in plenty of time here is advance notice of something exciting happening with The Stamp Man. If you fancy taking the picture to add to your blog please do its going to be a fun filled event!

Happy Christmas folks x

Janet

Tuesday taggers showcase your year!

So over at Tuesday Taggers we have a showcase challenge - you can showcase your favourite, up to 6, of this year! There is a fab prize so hop on over for all the instructions

This project was a really unusual one for me and a little bit of a challenge

It was also a thank you for a special someone which made it even more fun to make you can see the original post here

This one is much more recent but one I still very much enjoyed playing with - the original post is here

This one I have not shown before but I am thrilled to say it made the craft stamper mini cards swap!

This was made as a birthday card for Jill from the Stamp Man - I loved the collage effect. You can see the original post here

I have not done much scrapbooking this year but here is a page I did do of my wedding day almost 25 years ago! The original post is here

and this card was so much fun to play with. the idea came from Mr holtz himself on one of his tags but here it is adapted to make a card - this was quickly snapped up by babs at work who buys my cards regularly! Original post here

So hope you like my showcase - dont forget to leave a comment to be in win the chance of winning the Tuesday taggers prize - check it all out here

MIA but my world is rockin!

Sorry about the week off folks! I am now enjoying my Christmas break from work but to pay the price for my hols I was sooooo busy last week!

This weekend was sooo hectic too - we had our niece and nephew to stay who are 5 &7 and on the go from morn till night - boy am I bushwhacked but we had such fun making Christmas cards and presents for Mummy and Daddy - punch art place cards for their Christmas day lunch and baking biscuits and buns as well as squeezing in some time on the Wii, watching TV and the lovely Raymond Briggs the Snowman stage show on DVD. We are both pooped as were the kids! My SiL sent this funny link today which about sums up how much energy went into the whole weekend!

You can see it here

I must mention all the faces are my kids and their cousins!

I now have all my kids at home - no 2 son came back from Uni yesterday despite the awful weather in London and today he said the most beautiful thing I have ever ever heard. This is the biggy rockin my world today!

"Mum - I have realised from chatting with folk at Uni that I have had the most wonderful up bringing. I have been shielded from bad things and I am grateful to every member of my family and extended family but especially for what you and Dad have done for me. I know it was not easy sometimes and that I did not make it easy either but I really want to say thank you".

My job as a mum has been worth every difficult day and hard decision made for that one statement - I now have 2 men for sons and I could not be prouder. Hop on over to the Celtic House where Monday rocks this week!

Project 7

You will recognise this colour scheme if you are a regular visitor as its been my favourite all year! Stampin up nearly navy card stock and ink. The stamps are of course Tim Holtz arranged in a collage fashion I have done some water brushing to the Noel down the side and then added glossy accents to make it pop even more. This has just been posted off to some special peeps back in Lincolnshire - Hope they like it x

Project 6

I think this little house is my favourite project from my Claxby weekend and it came in my secret santa gift. A tiny little bird house which I have covered with off cuts from my Bo Bunny papers. The edges of the house have been coloured with peeled paint distress ink then all the papers carefully measured to fit and the edges of those inked too. The cute little robin is a stamp borrowed from my lovely pal Georgina and is just the perfect size for the house. A little sparkle for him too from Georginas glitter collection x

Here is the back of the house - those bo bunny papers are perfect for this! Now I have a reminder of my Claxby Christmas weekend for my tree. My 2nd one too as last year we decorated baubles. I do hope we have many more weekends at Christmas like this x Thanks Bee and Kate for organising such a wonderful weekend x

Project 5

This was a project Michelle led for us on Sunday evening. Its a cheap alarm clock available here which has been altered to make a Father Christmas alarm clock. The idea is Mummy or Daddy set the time for when the children can get up. When the alarm rings it means he's been! I love this project and have been dying to make it. The Santa is by Paperartsy stamped in coffee archival then fired brick and peeled paint distress ink dusted over it. Michelle added the He's been letters using her hot foiling machine and the addition of ribbon and pearls finishes the look. You can see what my other pals did here - Michelle and Emma

This was another fast project taking less than an hour to do - the hardest bit was putting the clock back together lol!

Have a fab Thursday x

Janet

Project 4

I made 3 cards like this after everyone else had gone to bed on the Sunday night. I was wide awake and still full of crafting so I carried on. This card is using Stampin Up kraft card which is now called crumb cake. A really lovely quality card which I have stamped over using sepia archival ink with a snowflake from a Stampin up set called winters post. The huge snowflake is a nestibility dies and the reindeer is from the winters post set too. The tinest hint of frayed burlap distress ink and thats the card done. I like the colour scheme of this but also its simplicity - it would be a perfect mass produced Christmas card and is still very flat as there is only one layer of foam pads. A little sparkle of diamond stickles in the middle of the snowflakes gives it that glittery Christmas look.
Hope you like this one too x

Project no 3

Now this one took hours LOL! 3 cardboard photo cubes inked then covered with paper which has been torn, pricked then sewn I must have been completely mad!

I used to do lots of tearing and stitching on my papers mainly because I had nothing better to do LOL but actually its a look I still really like.

This embossed bauble it a stamp from Graphicus.

and these are Hero arts - see post from Monday as they are on sale.......

and this is another Graphicus one this time a leaping reinedeer. This is a gift for a relative for adding photographs of Christmas' to. The thing about home made presents is they dont actually cost a lot to do but if you added up my time on this one and I got paid what I usually do at work its worth £40! - More thought, time and effort than it takes for a few clicks on the computer to buy a gift thats for sure - wonder if it will be appreciated for that????

Thanks for stopping by today x Janet

Project no 2

More using up of those Cosmo Cricket papers - this time on a small scented candle tin from poundland. The candle inside has the rich smell of apples and is perfect for a work colleague who loves smelly candles!

The little snowflake on the top is from a nestibility set and thanks for the addition of ribbon to my pal Emma x

This project took minutes to achieve but I am really pleased with its new look. Hope she is too x

Project number 1

Here is one of the projects I did at the craft weekend. My SIL gave me this box 2 years ago it housed toiletries which she had been given for Christmas. I have sat and pondered many hours over what to do with it so took it away to play with.
Its now a decoration which lights up - the picture does not show the lights bit very well at all but it has electric tealights which shine through the bottom to light up the dangling baubles. The papers are leftovers from many other projects and are by Cosmo Cricket. The Baubles are stamped from a gorgeous hero arts set which just happens to be on sale here.

Here is the tea lights - its a shame it doesn't show it up better but I am pleased with the results and this is purely for me!

Just goes to show what can be done with some packaging!

Hope you are all managing to keep warm. Disaster has struck here - our dishwasher has frozen up so we are having to wash everything by hand! This happened after Christmas last winter too
I think I need to sort out a woolly cover for the pipes LOL
But I am busy doing some knitting - yes me knitting! I can't tell you what it is just yet but its a challenge I can tell you. My Mum is the knitter in our family but what she is knitting at the moment you would not believe
whispers - chicken jackets - yes thats right outdoor garments for chickens whatever next LOL!
Have a great day!

Christmas In Claxby

Last weekend saw the 2nd Christmas in Claxby retreat organised by Bee and Kate at the Viking Centre. Kitted out as a bunk barn its spacious and perfect for a meet up with chums and a wonderful place to craft in spacious surroundings.

It takes us around 3 hours to get there but once inside its like we have never been away. These folk are really special people and I am lucky to have them in my life - not just as friends but awesome crafters who share my passion and inspire me with theirs.

These pics were taken on the Sunday - Our official Christmas Day! We did of course drink plenty of Mulled Wine.

After which Bee and Kate still managed to cook up a feast!

The table is laid for the 8 of us Bee, Kate, Emma, Andy, Georgina, Joanne, Michelle and I

Here is Michelle and Georgina as you can see the mulled wine has taken effect!

Georgina and Joanne - Jo is recovering from some pretty major surgery and even though she felt unwell was still the life and soul of the party!

Kate and Bee who organised the whole thing - perfect hosts every time!

Emma and Andy - Em is deciding whether that chicken is in fact just for her LOL.

My Yummy Dinner! The works!

These are the scenes outside as we got ready to go on Monday. We wound up by 11-30 although we could have stayed till 4 but with the weather conditions we decided to get going whilst it was light and as warm as it was going to get LOL

The countryside around Claxby is stunning. So different to Craven where Michelle and I live which is surrounded by hills. The snow makes this even more beautiful!

This is the road out of Claxby - Good job we set off early huh?

Just look at the gorgeous trees.

And even more Gorgeous here are my fabulous friends from left to right

Joanne, Michelle, Emma, Georgina, Me, Kate and Bee. Andy is behind the camera this time.
Thank you friends for a wonderful start to the build up of Christmas.

I will share some of the things I made later in the week x

Keep warm

Janet