When snowflakes turn out to be....

.... stars!!!! How can that be? While doing my grocery shopping online befor Christmas I noticed Asda had some snowflake decortions at a very reasonable price so I added them to my order. My order was delivered but the snowflakes had sold out so they substituted them with star decorations. When I saw them they were the most hideous dark glittery stars I have ever seen, so a quick soak in water and the glitter was removed revealing a grey plastic star, so out came the old torn book pages and the glue and I covered the stars. I then rubbed a red ink pad along the edges and the raised centers, now I had stars that were more to my liking.

This got me thinking about what else I could make as Christmas decorations as Christmas was looming ever nearer, but I didn't want to spend much so off I went out into the old sheds to see what I could find.........
I put these finds together with a poinsetta, one of my stars, a couple of candy canes and a wee spray of fake snow and voila.....a festive display to sit in the corner of my hall. With the freshly cut pine logs there is a lovely smell as you enter the croft asthey start to dry out ready for the fire.

This just left the fireplace to be decorated, I usually make a very traditional holly and ivy garland, but this year I wanted something just a little different. I still made a quite traditional display of some spruce and pine foliage and cones which I gathered while out walking the dogs after a storm. I wrapped a cyclimen in a pot in tissue paper to match the tea light lanterns I made a couple of days ago. I then used a deers antler to hang a couple of stars and sparkly decorations from.  To tie in with the old book page stars I used a 1" punch to cut lots of circles which I just stitched together on my sewing machine to make a paper chain to drape over the mirror.

To finish the fireplace off I filled a jar with more pine foliage, glued some cones to wire and arranged in the foliage. I then placed this in a basket and added a few logs and cones to hide the jarand another wee spray of fake snow. The only trouble is Shug, one of our dogs, has taken a liking to chewing the cones, so I am forever having to replace cones in the basket :-)

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and you are all looking forward to the New Year.

A quick n easy Christmas make...

.... that is recycling too :-)

I was wanting something different from just candles on my fireplace this year so I made myself some lanterns. I used 3 small jars (one was a small seafood sauce jar to give you an idea of the size) and some tissue paper that I had saved from the parcel my new dress arrived in. I cut squares, sat the jar in the middle, pulled up the edges and tied with raffia. I trimmed the edges and opened them up slightly so they didn't catch fire from the tea lights in the bottom of the jars. They look ok in the day........

.....but look so much better in the evening when they are lit

I will have to decorate the rest of the fireplace now........ I wonder what I will do?

I made some....

....Christmas decorations today as I thought I better start making this house look a little festive. I started by printing off my Christmas designs onto card, plain colour on one side and a christmas tree pattern on the other side, these are available at Ainjewelz shop on Etsy.


I then cut circles using various size punches, sewed them in a strip on my sewing machine. I left enough thread to make a loop at the top and enough thread at the bottom to thread on a couple of beads and tie in a knot. I've hung these at the end of my curtain rails where they spin in the rising heat or is it the draughts in the house :)

I also made some bunting from the same designs to hang along the front of my dresser. I punched small holes in the card triangles and threaded them onto string. As I had a few circle leftover from my other decorations I stuck these on to a couple of the triangle flags.
I'm quite pleased with how these have turned out and I have a few more ideas that I'm going to try out later, but I really must get the rest of my Christmas cards made and sent out.

I'm back to my normal....

......blog whenever I can fit it in. Three days blogging in a row last week was definetly a one off, I can't see that happening again :-)

I had ordered a couple of my mixed media creations to be printed on canvas a couple of weeks ago. They are now hanging on my walls in my art/craft/computer/dining room (multifunctional room). I used a different canvas print company than the one I've used previously. I liked their very reasonable prices, the chunky 3.8cm deep frame, good colour match, fast service and help with sending a large file. The only thing that I think that could of been better is the stretching of the canvas which I feel could of been a little tighter on the larger canvas (58cm x 58cm). I liked the option of having the sides of the canvas printed a colour, instead of the image being wrapped around the frame, I chose black which was perfect for this image.

The Morning Sun mixed media canvas print (58cm x 58cm)

The other canvas I had printed at A3 size (29.7cm x 42cms), this too looks good with the chunky 3.8cm deep frame, I opted to have the image on the sides of the frame mirrored and this works really well with this design.

The Red Butterfly mixed media canvas print (29.7cm x 42cms)
This definetly needs a better title :-)

I will definetly use Viva Print & Design Ltd again .

After creating a page in my Art Journal last week featuring my grandsons and their sisters, I found time at the end of the week to create another page featuring my grandaughter Ellie Louise, just a bit of fun which is now my festive desktop background on my computer.

I was getting worried about Bertie the buzzard, as I hadn't seen him for 5 days and he is getting to be a familiar sight on his post outside the croft, but he is back and looking well. The dogs running around the garden don't bother him, he know he's safe up there. I love watching him, he is so graceful when he flies, I threw him a sausage the other day but he just looked at me as if I was mad. Just wait till the snow arrives Bertie, I bet you'll be thankful for a sausage then :)

OMG! I've managed to blog 3 days in a row....

..... and this is so unlike me.
Yesterday I felt a little creative but just couldn't concentrate on anything, so I made a background in my art journal and because I was thinking about my grandkids I printed off their faces, stuck apples on their heads and just lost myself in doodles. This is just 5 of my grandkids, they are all brothers n sisters. I have another Grandaughter Ellie, who is going to get her own page in my art journal and I know just the face photo I'm going to use for her. I will post he doodle when it is completed.

The fungi on the log is still there, which I am very surprised about when there are 3 dogs running around outside and last night we had torrential rain and wild wild wind. They are slightly larger (I think!). I wonder how many more days they will survive? This is turning into fungi watch lol

Bertie the buzzard made his usual morning visit and then I spied him in the field across the lane, looks like he was eyeing up one of the local pheasants (not a great photo, I would love a better lens for my camera).

As it was quite a nice day I decided I would walk to the village shop with the dogs, taking the shortcut through the woods. This turned out to be not such a good idea, as I got to the end of the woods I met the local gamekeeper, there was going to be a pheasant shoot in the woods (poor pheasants) so I would have to walk the long way home. Oh well! I do need the exercise and it was a nice day for a walk and the dogs seemed to enjoy it. I also know now where there are some beautiful highland cows for me to photograph and I love highland cows. If I ever won the lottery
highland cows would be at the top of my to buy list :)