Good bye 2010...............

I am thankful to say goodbye to 2010

it has been a difficult year

but another notch on the belt nonetheless

I am also happy for 2010 to leave us as 2011

brings a whole new year of creativity

I am particularly happy.....

in reality....

I am over the moon ecstatic

as I have been accepted on the design team of

The Studio

what better way to end the year!!

So from February 2011

you will see my creations

over at The Studio.

(this picture is one of my favourites

of our Christmas tree this year

and I intend to scrap it!!)

The creativity does not stop there

I have lots in store for

Get Creative

throughout 2011

so stay tuned here and there LOL

Have your selves a

fabulous New Year

drink plenty of bubbly

and play that music loud!!

Later......

Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree,

Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree, for me
Been an awful good girl
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

I have been a good girl......

cause

here are some of my pressies....

Nikon lens mug....

yes it really is a mug!!! LOL

the latest dvd from...

the funniest man alive...

he is also a very creative ..

and talented musician

he makes me laugh so hard I cry

Yes I know I am revealing my age....

but I needed to remember my teens.....

I not only drink the stuff...but i like to wear it

green tea series by Elizabeth Arden

and the best gift of all

a hand made desk organiser

made by C3!!.....

Oh and I did some scrapping too late very late one night

this one is for The Studio

December 5th challenge

the challenge was to make a LO

without a title....

it was difficult

the pic is of the precocious teen J

playing with her mac

This layout was made in about 20minutes

the extremely busy pattern paper (Sassafralass)

left no real room for creativity

I snipped off it decorative border

and placed it next to the photo of the cutest little kitten I have ever seen

added some paper whimsys from the same line

and 2 brads

oh and AC thickers!

hope you all had a wonderful Christmas

If you do not hear from me before the New Year

may 2011 be the most fabulous (yeah I know bad grammar)

and creative year yet!!

later...........

The no gift...gift!!

What on earth am I talking about?

................well.................

how many times have you given money......

as a gift to a loved one

or how many times have you received money as a gift?

how many times has the money been in a white paper envelope?

or

in a card

or worse secretly pushed into your hand or pocket!!

well I was inspired to make this

card/envelope/pouch

to place the money you are gifting

Here is what you need....

Then you decorate as you like....

I went to town with the misting embossing etc....

I think the pictures are pretty self explanatory

so give it a go......

later..

The ' i ' dilema!................

No!!

I am not having a problem with my

Id, ego or superego

although I am sure Freud would beg to differ!

my problem lays elsewhere...

we are mostly an " i " family

let me break it down for you...

papa bear has an iphone

daughter bear (teen) has an itouch

baby bear has an ipod

(not my doing!!!

blame it on Aussie grandma bear

who indulges said baby bear)

Now for the dilema.....

I bought a hoodie for daughter bears itouch

as a novelty gift for Christmas.

Of course I then realised that baby bear will be jealous

.........tough! you say....

I agree

but who wants the drama on Christmas day I ask you??????

So I decided to make him a pouch for his nano pod

It was fun and relatively fast....

life always gets in the way of crafting!

What you need

Fold a strip of felt in thirds

making a pouch and a flap

then stitch infamous blanket stitch

all around

I stiched a treble clef

on the top of the flap

added some scratch

on the inside of the pouch

and now his music is safe in its pod!!

Please note that the only " i " mama bear has

is the " i " in irini!!!

I accept doantions!!!.....

later.........

Novelty gifts part 2

Okay..

so it's been freakishly cold the last few days

and every time I sit down

to a cup of hot steaming tea

it is cold in no time

so.......

I thought my mug needs a

little something to keep it warm

so.....

tadaaaaa....

felt jacket/cozy/you give it a name!!

It was fun to make and I am sure if you were

to give it as a gift to someone with a sense of humour

they will appreciate it!!!

here goes.....

this is my Christmas mug

I pull it out of storage on the 1st of December

and put it away on the 7th of January

I used 2 pieces of felt

1 red piece for the body

1 white piece for the snowflake

(yes I am obsessed with snow flakes....)

embroidery floss

a button

sewing needle

I blanket stitched around the felt

The positioned the felt snowflake

and attached it with a bling brad

Then i got started on the strap

made an embarrasing button hole!!!

then buttoned it on my model......

and now she is ready to go.....

For you coffee drinkers out there.....

if you own one of these Starbucks coffee cups

here is what you can do.....

I just knitted a strip with variegated wool

sewed the ends together

and attached wooden buttons...

too cute.....

hot coffee for longer.....

(not clinically proven.....so do not sue me)

I think they are fun gifts!!

later......

shoot to thrill...............

We are freezing our jollies off!!!!!!

central heating is on only once a day!!

I woke up to this yesterday

then it started snowing again...

all day!!!

magical.......

a perfect excuse to stay home

covered by warm blankets

drinking warm beverages

or beverages that warm you

i.e red wine (any excuse)

pop corn and movies

it was a perfect day yesterday......

until my external hard drive

fell on the ground

wiping out all my data....

I am crushed

because there were numerous data bases

for work on there

plus all my Get Creative challenge blog

projects....

what can I say

the pitfalls of technology!...

and please dont ask me if I backed every thing up

it was my backup!!

you see the irony!!

anyway......

Hand made gifts

I just could not stop making these!

What are they?

................(drum roll)..............

they are post it/sticky note covers!!!

Aren't they the cutest things you have ever see?

head on over to

Get Creative and learn more about

the designer Anzouya

of these perfect little handmade gifts

later................

Blog Candy Winner!!!......

Finally .....

thought I would not get the chance

to blog today!!

the winner of my blog candy.....

is.......

..........................................

........................................

(drum rolling)

.....................................

Alex

Alex congratulations

please send me your snail mail address

to

lioliairini@yahoo.co.uk

Later.......

Blog Candy!! .....

Thank you......

for all your wonderful comments.....

as promised here is a pic of what is being given away.

As I love people passing by my blog and leaving comments

I am delaying (hehehehehe)....

the day I announce the winner of this kit,

which is inspired by Teresa Collins ...

so if you love dramatic colours (black white and red)

and would love a chance of winning this

you have until Wednesday...

so if you read my blog...

or you stalk it...

and you do not leave a messge

here is your chance

become a follower...

(sneaky huh....rounding up followers with bribes!! LOL)

Later......

Shake a leg......

Okay!!

I had to make another post

for the purpose of uploading to

The Studio

my second layout

which is for the

November 28th challenge

we had to use a sketch and make it mono chromatic

well I did not exactly succeed

but I did try to keep it in the

purple haze that I was going for!

sorry the pics of the babes are so bad they are from my SIL

mobile phone

expect another layout soon with the same pics

maybe they (the twins parents)will get the hint and send me some new ones

bahumbug!!!

The look on Deans face cracks me up

his eyes are smiling but his mouth is smirking!!

too cute....

Givin the dog a bone.......

finally some layouts.......

this is for

The Studio

challenge 7th of November

the twist

scrap something about friendship

but NO pattern paper

of course I used my faithful Mr Huey white mist

using a paper doilie as a mask

then went to town with embellishments!

later....

2 reasons to celebrate

Firstly my little man C3......

won 1st place...

in his freestyle (swimmimg) race yesterday at school

Secondly this old blog of mine is 2 years old

Attention all my followers

(not very many of them hehehe insert red faced smiley)

I am putting together a little gift

or what is referred to as

BLOG CANDY

as most of my followers are scrappers

it will be some stash

to create with...

So......

stay tuned I will be back with a pic

and announce the winner on Monday

(cause I have a busy weekend and I still have to find what to offer as candy)

Later......

Oh what JOY!!!......

It's the first of December!

what a magical month it is going to be!!

I can't wait......

the house is decorated the trees are up!!

5 this year!

Yes you read right!

pics to follow tomorrow ...

because today is the December 1st challenge over at

Get Creative challenge blog

the challenge is to make an ornament...

for your tree

or as a decoration for your house

or as an embellishment on a layout

or christmas card!

I made a fabric banner to decorate the house

and here is how.....

Maya Road fabric banner....

I painted a generous layer of gesso

once the gesso dried I used a snow flake as a mask

and misted with glimmer mist

While waiting for the banner to dry

I cut out the word JOY from chipboard

Then misted again with Maya Road mists

So once every thing dried...

I started embellishing

with stickers...brads and snowflakes!

Hope you like it.....

Later......