My Stamp Man Blog Hop Winner is...

Sid!!!

Congratulations Sid, it's so nice to be giving a prize away to someone I know!!  You need to click here to make your choice of ASPECTS OF DESIGN STAMP SHEET!!

Jill did all the work of randomly generating winners, then we had to check everyone had left a comment on every blog so a lot of work.  Thanks for doing it though Jill, it was an amazing blog hop and I really appreciate every comment that was left :)

oh..WOW!

Look at my poor garden gnomes today!!!  It snowed all night, and then all day too, and by this evening they were completely buried!

This was the view we woke up to this am [it started snowing slightly 9pm last night, otherwise it had just been a hard frost yesterday]...

from our bedroom window

from George's window at the back of the house

The kids built a snowman this morning, and Sophie and I sledged before starting our igloo in the back garden.

I took some photographs down the road; there were plenty of people getting their cameras out, it was so beautiful.

We finished the igloo late this afternoon.  The boys were great at making 'bricks' by packing snow in the washing up bowl :) 

It does look more like a beehive than an igloo, but it's ace inside with candles lit.

Forecast a freeze tonight so this igloo should last us a while!  We're much more used to rain here in Manchester than this much snow.  It was such an unusual thing that ITV broadcast their national news live from Manchester tonight!!  Snow's on it's way down south tonight.  I think I need a play inside day tomorrow, every time I shut my eyes all I see is snow falling.  I spent 11 hours out there today, just went in for lunch!!

weird weather!

It shouldn't really feel weird but it does!  It doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind here.  We've just had a bit more snow, on top of the ice from yesterday.  It was -7C last night, but warmer tonight, although my laptop has a little snow symbol by the temp!!  My 3 children were sent home from school today as the boiler had broken.  George [15] had been lamenting that it never happened in schools round here (Oldham and Tameside had lots of closures on the radio this am) and hey presto, 45mins later he was phoning to say they were coming home.  It's all fixed now so they'll be back in tomorrow and I can get on with sorting out the house, and my craft room!  I'm having a major reorganisation in there...

 

...and I can finally get to my desk!!  Lots of sorting and moving of furniture to do on the other side of it though, I have to say!!!

weird crochet...and last day of the Stamp Man Blog Hop

Crochet keeps me sane!  Whilst the rest of the family were plugged into machinery (computer games, nintendo dsi, psp) I sat crocheting in front of the real fire and felt a bit like an old granny!!  Except I'm not sure this is what granny's crochet!!  :)

 

It's a bit of a late entry, but I'm hoping that, with postal delays, and closure between Christmas and New Year, that it'll still be accepted for Manchester Craft Village's Yarnbombing exhibit!  They're wrapping the balcony rail with crocheted or knitted pieces.  I meant to enter this earlier but completely forgot then over  Christmas remembered and gave it a go.  Even if it gets sent back, I had great fun making it :)

Especially as John Lewis had wool in their Sale so I treated myself to a couple of balls of thick, chunky wool.  And a lovely crochet book fell into my basket whilst I was buying a book for my Dad on Amazon, which gave me the instructions for the leaves etc  :)

 

If you've got a lazy Sunday ahead of you, don't forget that the Stamp Man blog hop, candy and award event finishes tonight, midnight GMT.  I've loved being a blog on this hop.  I've met new people, and found one lives close by - yay!!!  My contribution is HERE, but you need to start at THE STAMP MAN.  Happy Hopping!!

wishing you all a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May 2010 be full of flowers and happiness :)

Thankyou to all who leave comments [they are greatly appreciated], all my wonderful followers, and all those who lurk but still enjoy my blog :)  Happy New Year!

*********************

There's still a few more days of The Stamp Man blog hop left.  Scroll down for my contribution, or click HERE

*********************

pdcc#10: dusky pink, turquoise and dark brown

Yummy!! 

This is a popular colour combination and I found quite a few scrapbook papers in my collection with these colours.    However, it actually originated from a necklace a friend bought me earlier this year. If you need new colour inspiration, or just want a bit of a jump start to get going on a project, looking at something you own for a colour combo should always be successful - after all, you chose the accessory/clothing because you liked it!! In certain lights this necklace is more of an orange with turquoise and brown but during the transition from camera to computer it's become a more dusky pink, which I rather liked, so that's what I've used!.

I've been crocheting a lot recently and when I saw a card with some tiny crocheted flowers on I decided I'd give it a go.

So your challenge this week is to use

turquoise      dark brown      dusky pink

as the main colours in a project of your choice.  And since it's a new year, why not try something new in your work at the same time?  Happy New Year everyone!!

Apologies for the delay in this post; I have no idea why it didn't post as scheduled!

bird on a towel

Well, birds actually!  I made these for my sister-in-law for Christmas and think I might have to make some for me!!! 

 

A couple of weeks ago Sue and I had a play date at her house and she got out a little wooden ornament of a bird which we used as a template with card/grungepaper.  Neither of us got the project finished but I decided the shape was rather a nice one to use on a towel.  I used some William Morris patterned fabric I got in the summer, and added different eyes to my birds.  What I'm most impressed with however is how neat the back turned out!!! [Although you're probably not going to see this very well on a the nearly white blog background].

 

I will get the grungeboard version finished soon.  Need to get the wire out for the tail feathers and legs :)