ArtyFartyAnnie

I met up with my younger son Tom today - he came up from London on the train and we met in Norwich for lunch at the new Jamie Oliver Italian place - YUM! I still can't bend in the middle but it was worth it :o) Anyway, Tom happened to mention that his birthday card (which I lovingly created and sent to him at the beginning of October) didn't arrive - or possibly it did, and was pinched by another tenant in the hope that there might be some cash inside. There wasn't, thank goodness. They probably lit a fag with it or something. Hey ho ... As it happens, I took a photo of the card, so I promised Tom I would post it on here so he could see it - here you go Tom Happy Birthday! and thanks for a lovely day :o) (in the middle you can see one of the squished bottle tops I was telling you about) and here's the inside (with some of the washi tape I was also telling you about) Love from Mum XXX :o)

The challenge over at Tag Tuesday this week is to decorate a Christmas ornament - I decided to make a little tree which can hang as a tag or stand up on the mantelpiece. I just cut a tree shape and attached an A frame at the back so it can stand, then had lots of fun covering the shape with lots of torn paper strips, washi tape and scraps of doiley. I added a row of little pompoms along the bottom, a piece of lace tape to the bucket, lots of red Stickles and green sequins for twinkle, a star gem and finally some festive twine through the top. Can't wait to see what all the other Taggers have come up with - check it out for yourself  - it's always brilliant to see all the different takes on the same theme. Of course, next Tuesday is the Big Day - we will all be doing festive tags, as well as a show and tell about the Christmas Tag Swap - very exciting! :o)

I've been playing with some more gorgeous Graphic 45 papers - the Nutcracker Sweet collection.  I love the illustrations, the rich colours and the quality of these papers. This time I've used them to make John's Christmas card. It's become a bit of a tradition to make him a card rather than buy one and I like to try and come up with something unusual, but I was a bit stumped for ideas this year, until I came across this brilliant template from Helen at ACraftProject - it's called The Surprise Package and the template comes with full instructions and links to video tutorials. I thought it would work perfectly with the G45 papers When you open the envelope, the cube inside pops out like this ( Helen's video shows this much better!) This one shows the outside of the envelope and one of the four decorated faces of the cube. Here's another face of the cube - the letters spell J-O-H-N (luckily my husband has a four-letter name!) And another .....

Is this cute or what?! This was a present from John's grandson Bailey and he made it all himself - it's a little Christmas cake which has been magically transformed into a snowman, sitting in a beautiful sparkly basket. He has silver buttons, chocolate drops for eyes, his nose is a jelly tot, his scarf is made of liquorice and he has a chocolate button for a hat. It's brilliant - thanks Bailey!!! xxx :o)

... and solving CSI Case File #50! This is my second week as CSI Special Investigator for December - all very exciting! Here's the Case File (click on the image to enlarge) Pop over for a look at the Case File #50 reveal , where you can find more detailed clues to solving the case, download the fabulous CSI Coordinates ( free printables specially designed each week by Michele Singh ) and see all the inspirational pages designed by the CSI Detectives - can't tell you how chuffed I am to see my stuff alongside the work of people whose work I find so inspiring - wooHOO! Still can't quite believe it (maybe they made a mistake ... maybe they asked the wrong Annie or something but now they're to polite to say!?) Anyway enough waffle! Here's my page I thought this beautifully subtle colour palette was perfect for a boy page. This is all about my Mr Right - we found each other via eHarmony in 2010, married in 2011 and are now Living Happily Ever After! T...

Here's a page inspired by Shimelle's tutorial ANFSCD over at UKScrappers (click on the image to enlarge) Caution: this page contains ADULT LANGUAGE!!! It shows three of my scrappin buddies - from L-R: Julie, Sally and Trina - and it's all about how much fun we have and how little actual scrappin gets done! Happy Christmas Girls! xxx ps Karen and Amanda - you're next!

How cute is this?! A row of delicious mince pies in their school Christmas Play My little stepgrandson Bailey is the one with the star (of course!)  Brings it all back ... in fact it's hard to believe it's about 20 years since I last made a costume for a school play ... ... aaah, those were the days ... teatowels on heads, fur fabric donkey tails stitched to leotards ... one year Richard was at the front of the stage wearing a leotard affair over the top of his pants; he got bored waiting for his next line and occupied himself by getting hold of his knicker elastic and streeeeeeetching it as far as it would go, whilst bending up and down at the knees like a small brown furry Dixon of Dock Green. It was MESMERISING and totally distracted the audience from the actual play. Richard was completely unaware, but we nearly wet ourselves trying not to laugh out loud and had to leave the hall before we disgraced ourselves. Still makes me giggle now ... Memorable quotes ... ...