(Early) Christmas Cards 2013 (9) & A new furry addition to the household :)

What a week and what a weekend! Each day of this week brought something new and  each was busy for me one way or the other. The weekend is just passing by. I really don't know where this time is flying. Day after day and night after night and we are already at the end of September. To be honest, I haven't done much this week - just a few cards in the evenings to add to the overall Christmas card collection So I'm showing you the two new ones :) This time a little more traditional take on Christmas cards with lots of green accents. I missed some green shades after such a long time making red and white Scandinavian ones. 

I absolutely love that lacey die cut Christmas tree (Cheery Lynn dies) and the red heat-embossed reindeer from A Muse Studio stamp set. The poinsettia on vine punched border is Martha Stewart's punch.

Little details - tags, strings, borders, charms is what I've always liked :) I'm still in love with bakers twines too. I keep seeing a lot of them on eBay and in craft shops. They add a lot to the festive charm.

And another go at Christmas greens but this time with a bit of yellow too :) The image is comes from a Noolibird stamp I bought last year and this cute folky bird in a festive wreath has always been one of my favourites in my stamp collection. 

This year another punch joined up my collection - a Woodware punch - Large Holly Leaf - how did I do without it before? I find it so useful and I just love the shapely holly leaves it punches. I feel tempted to use it on each of my cards! 

And finally, last, but not least - meet Cookie - our new addition to the household :-)))) We got her yesterday from a woman who apparently saved her life from an outdoor fire. She's full of beans and she's just trying to settle down. She's about 10 weeks old.

I just melted when I saw her photo on facebook. The white whiskers and the "milky" moustache simply captured my heart.

She's so little and so everywhere! I haven't had a little kitten at home for ages! I'm getting used to it again.

She's so sweet and she loves a lot of TLC. She is not liking our old cat Stinky though. She's very distrustful towards him and giving him lots of hissing and growling at the moment. I hope they will make friends in the end because Stinky is a real can't-be-bothered docile cat.

Linking Hand-made Monday no. 136 tonight. I'm really curious what other crafters have been up to.

(Early) Christmas Cards 2013 (6): Nordic Blue (1)

Nothing much to share this time. Now with the work back (back to school in my case) I'm struggling with catching up with reading your blogs and writing mine. Definitely less time now for faffing around on the internet ;)

I'm still on building up my Christmas cards collection. Been experimenting with some cold frosty colours. This time it's a cool Nordic blue look :) These cards are mostly about punching, stamping and glueing. Nothing more than that. Simple is how I like it. I used Martha Stewart Himalayan Snowflake punch for the card below. The backing papers come from a card pack - a freebie to a card making magazine from the past. 

The Noel and reindeer stamp and the other little stamps come from A Muse Studio and the stamped snowflake border comes from a Scandinavian set of stamps by Martha Stewart. The punched floral border is Poinsettia on vine MS punch. 

Now, I can finally put to use my entire collection of Nordic-looking stamps I've been collecting for months :))) Yay!

Off to make some more cards now. Working on some Vintage Scandinavian this time :)

Cross Stitch Buddies and a Stamped Cross Stitch Card

Life and job can be sometimes hard and frustrating for some of us and we all need a moment of sweetneness in our lives to keep us going. Therefore not long ago, as I was shopping online, I came across some nice mugs with a cross stitch design on them and I thought it would be a good idea to get one for myself and my cross stitching colleague Andrea just to make her smile and have something to treasure :) Cross stitch pattern, real or printed has been very trendy recently and the mugs will make a nice gadget for a cross stitcher :) Don't we all appreciate those precious crafting moments with a cuppa next to our side, be it tea, coffee or hot chocolate.

So I got these:

...and this one extra ;) Coz I'm feeling crafty all the time ;) I also like the red white and black cartoony characters on it.

For my colleague I got a personalized one with her name! Was so chuffed to be able to find one! And found one with my name too! :) Bliss.

Now, we are cross stitching Buddies :)

I also made her a little card with cross stitch motifs to complete the gift :) The border cross stitch heart is a lovely stamp from Noolibird and the big cross stitch heart heat-embossed in white comes from a stamp set from Viva Decor. The cute band-aid stamp is a retired A Muse Studio stamp and so is the mug stamp inside the card. 

I really enjoyed making this gift :) It was well received. I'm happy.
Have a good evening everyone. x x