Unforgivable

I am not even going to bore you with the reasons why my blog hasn’t been updated recently

Needless to say I hope that this is me returning on a daily basis, because I really do enjoy sharing stuff with those of you who are sticking with me, dropping by now and again just to check….

apart from working (I have two jobs) doing a magazine feature for paper craft Inspirations issue 70 (I know I mentioned this before) planning for that big festive holiday that is creeping up on me (Its not December yet so we still don’t mention its name in my house) I have committed myself to taking part in not one but TWO online classes.

I seriously NEED my head looking at !

I am attempting to take better seasonal photos this year, all my previous Christmas photos lack a certain something so I have joined Cheryl Johnson’s 12 day’s of Christmas and I’m hoping for better results this year.

Secondly I am, once again, attempting to do a Christmas journal, I am onboard with Shimelle Laine’s Journal your Christmas, this will be my fifth year, I took part in the very first test year as well as all the consecutive years, however I have to admit that I have only managed to finish ONE journal, but I am promising another one for this year, I have already made a third of the pages and got them in my binder.

Ok so you are all up to speed with me, for now, I’m going to leave you with a freebie from Inspired Bride Its a downloadable PDF that gives clear instructions on how to create a lovely floral patterned paper to print out at home and it can be adapted to any colour way. Download it here

Todays Freebie

Designed by my good self and orientated so that you can use it to produce some early Christmas Cards.

Naughty or Nice design

As is always the case with my freebie designs it is not to be used commercially in any way shape or form, it must not be manipulated or changed, your understanding is appreciated.

I am working on some more designs and will be showcasing them on “Festive Fridays” in the future

SO …

I have been a lapsed blogger again, and I was doing SO well !!

Excuses, hmmm let me see there are several :-

1. Well apart from having lots of must do paid work and a mag deadline loomimg (see Paper Craft Inspirations issue no:70)

2. Spending most of Monday in casualty, long and not very interesting story (see below)

3. Husband at home (hanging around like a bad smell) another unnecessary story, involving a possibly ruptured tendon, pain, anti inflammatories, a set of crutches and a weeks wait for an ortho appointment.

4. I’m trying to find time to design some great typographic Christmas designs for you guys to use on your cards and tags.

So as I don’t want to leave you all empty handed for the weekend, here are a couple of links. Emilie Ahern has a great sketch and two layouts using it on her blog, I felt very inspired looking at it.

Got my hands on a copy of the winter Garnet Hill catalogue, beautiful stuff, a bit like a US version of Boden, anyway this quilt really caught my eye it is gorgeous and I love the simplicity of this one too.

No Freebies Yesterday

Spent most of the day in casualty so the Monday Freebies didn’t materialise, I will however make up for it today.

As they Say….. WATCH THIS SPACE (Later, must do paid work FIRST)

Thank Crunchie its Friday

OK Inspiration, tricky one this morning, I am not very inspired myself and have a lot of “work” on at the moment, plus I have gone into over drive with list making, I now have a master list, EVERYTHING goes on this from “Buy Milk” to “redecorate cloakroom”. Then prioritise, taking stuff off it daily and weekly and obviously adding more to it. I’m also running a Christmas gift list and a Christmas food list. I know this all sounds a bit messy but it saves me carrying all this around in my head and feeling overwhelmed all the time, just knowing its written down makes me feel calmer.

Even though we have 50 days to THAT DAY all my thoughts seem to be festive related at the moment, that’s the key word too, thought, I am thinking about it but not really doing anything about it.

Whilst doing some festive research I cam across this site RE – Found Objects Its an interiors shop with a really inspiring site, lush photographs too and I really like their graphics.

Here is a taster ….

I might have to get a few of these and they won’t break the bank either.

Thursday’s Font

YAY its a freebie…

Calluna, a more traditional offering from me a regular, serif font but what appeals to me most about this font is the special characters that can be used to give certain letter combinations a unique look.

You can download this for free (only the regular weight) from myfonts.com but if you want to know more about the typeface, read about it and the designer here

Something Colourful

I have a thing at the moment about duck egg blue and strawberry

So without further ado, some photos to inspire.

Too pink for me but I’m still loving the combination of a hot and a cold colour

I’m afraid my tree won’t look anything like this, mine definitely falls into the traditional multicoloured category, but I would love to start with a blank tree and do a colour co-ordinated look, one year maybe !

This theme I adore even if it is a little too faded for my tastes.

Finally, a darker version of those colours, LUSH !

Tuesday’s To Do

Paper Windmills OR Pin Wheels whatever you prefer. These are going to be my simple paper ornament of choice this festive season, I am going to make a decoration for my table that involves a selection of these in different sizes, hopefully in a large glass bowl of some description filled with a string of battery powered white fairy lights

The alternatives I have come up with for what to make them out of are :-
scrapbook paper (obviously)
some Christmas Wrapping paper
some old newspaper print (just text)
copied text from a christmas story
Music scores of christmas crackers

If you don’t know how to make one here are some basic instructions and a template, just enlarge it to your chosen size.

1.Using the pinwheel pattern as a template, cut out two 4-inch squares and adhere them together with the pattern side out.
2.Make a cut at each corner towards the middle up to the circle.
3.Punch a hole in the corners as shown then start folding your corners towards the middle.
4.Place a brad through the holes and into the center.
5.Place brad through a plastic drinking straw

You can of course stick with the simple straight cut, but if you want to try something a little more complicated check this out on Heather Bailey’s Blog.

The day that got away !

Absolutely no idea what happened to today, it just kind of got away from me.

But I am going to post a freebie, here’s a quick link to some tags I really like, hand drawn, not I look I would go for but I love the simplicity of them and they would look great with a stamped image on the other side or backed in fancy patterned paper.

They would also look fab as a card topper or on a layout (as always)

Enjoy, download them here.