White out

Another of the cards completed at the workshop with Jennie. A wooden Tim Holtz angel was coverind in a 3D medium (cant recall what it is called but will look it up) and then stamped on. When it dried a metallic wax was used to colour it. The angel sits in an envelope which has been stamped, distressed and embellished

Seems the year is closing as it started, surprisingly early the country is yet again covered in a blanket of cold white snow - yes my pet hate. I have just been back-reading my blog to see when we suffered from the last downfall, and it was January, although up north I think a few people had their fair share just after christmas. It seems this year we have had more snow than sun.

Councils do seem to have done a much better job of keeping the country running though, and many of the roads were gritted or salted and I saw snow ploughs out in force. Driving all the way to Dover was still horrendous though, more due to overcareful drivers crawling along perfectly drivable, ploughed and gritted roads at a top max speed of 15 mph. This in fact far from keeping us all safer made driving much more hazardous, as those piling up behind had to suddenly brake and then continue to apply brakes to stop from sliding into these fools. I learnt to drive in the snow so know that slow speeds can be even more dangerous than driving with care, attention and the knowledge of what to do to avoid skids and slides.

Still a 50 min journey along major roads still took nearly 2 hours and meant I finally arrived at work 10 mins after my parent workshop should have started. As luck(?) would have it, many of those booked on the course were ill and unable to attend, but it was still great fun, and I got paid good money to chat with some great people, craft away merrily while sharing stories (the whole point of the workshop) munch mince pies and drink hot chocolate.

I was glad we went up to see Kelly and Ollie on Saturday before the snow settled. Apparently they have had over 9 inches since we left after having a lovely lunch and watching the footie with them. Kelly is celebrating getting a new job with way more prospects while Ollie was just happy to NOT be decorating the bathroom especially since the plumber is having so many probles over it (see Kelly's blog) but what has been done so far looked good, and I love her new bathroom tiles.

Laura and Wayne also managed to call in to ours before the snow arrived, Laura is looking very tired which is to be expected as the autumn term revs up for christmas - who'd be a teacher eh? Its a good job both Laura and I get so excited about the season, and we chatted happily about our plans, and our christmas lists.

I am still slowly making christmas cards, I am trying to come up with some ideas for cards that are light weight but still show off some degree of handmade care to send to my relies in far flung countries. I have discovered something I like on The clipart fairy's blog but am still playing with it. In the meantime here are a few more other cards I have made.

playing with my new music stamp for the background, a cuttlebug embossing folder, some more masking to make the holy and a really old Hero arts stamp for the sentiment. All coloured by sponging with Distress Inks.

Another old stamp, not sure of the make but think it might also be HA, this time used metalic paints to colour in, masked off to stamp the swirls behind.