A Flurry of Memories...

a snow flurry, that is!

I was looking for something in an as yet not unpacked box when I came across this pullover/jumper/sweater/jersey (depending on where you live an what you call such a garment!)

I bought the pattern book for it way back in 1994 (a magazine called 'Baby & Peuter' and published in Belguim) Yes, the date is right! 20 years ago!
This sweater is knitted in size 4 which means I would have knitted it in 1995/1996 as the wearer of said garment turned 4 in 1996!

Here's the back

It was worn quite a bit and the wool/yarn is deliciously soft!

He has such a cute face...

I love all the little details with the bright colours and seed stitches!

Needless to say, said wearer is now a young man...and so far I've only found one picture of him wearing this one. I hope I'll find more in my box of pictures-that-need-to-be-scanned one day!

That  brings back memories AND make my fingers itch to knit and knit and knit!

Heritage Album Cover

The wordart in Lonetta Avelar's latest kit was the clincher for me to use for the cover of my heritage album. The kit is gorgeously vintage ....just beautiful. I did choose a lot of the pinks for the cover, but there's plenty of neutrals to make a more masculine page with this one too!

Here's my book cover :

and here is the Old Volumes Collection

Beautiful stuff!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Here's a little gingerbread house that will last till next year too! I really like real gingerbread, but although I would LOVE to eat it all...that is NOT a good idea. I think I should stick to this kind of gingerbread house from now on :

A little village of these will make such  nice table decor. Just pair with greenery. Real or paper. Or make one for each table setting, complete with little (LED) tea light. Very cozy, and makes a cute gift for guests to take home!

I used one of the files from Gingerbread Chalet Village. It took me a good 5 minutes to decide which one to make. Crazy, I know...

And isn't that card great too?

BTW this came together really quickly (if you don't all the little details I added, that is) so they would be perfect to whip up last minute!

Merry Christmas!

Wintry Penguin Greetings!

I like to send a friendly card with a note or letter. Somehow it seems to that it makes mail just that little 'happier' Like this cute little penguin. Won't your day be just a little warmer were you to pull this from an envelope?
Let's spread the warmth around, with the quick to cut files from Designs on Cloud 9 this card came together in no time at all. The waiting time was all for the glitter glue to dry!

The dimension shows up a little more on this picture. I attached the snowflakes with sticky dots and the snowflakes and sentiment stamps are by Stampendous, which I picked up from my local Michaels store.

It would be fun to whip up a gift set of these adorable little penguins.

Free Kit - 'Santa's Sweets' from SVG Cuts

Run, don't walk! over to SVG Cuts. They are giving away this delightful "Santa's Sweets" cut-set. This is the perfect opportunity for you to try their files if you are still unfamiliar with their products.

I think the candy cane dispenser is a great idea. Without the holes for the canes, it will make a great decorative house. These really are not exclusively Christmas only...one needs gift boxes all year long!

Thank you Leo and Mary!

Merry Christmas all!

Traditional Christmas - Scrapbooking

Have you see the 'Christmas Traditional' Collection by Rina Kroes? It may be an older set, but is still one of my go-to collections. And the quality is top notch. (no longer available)

Some of the extras available : Take a look HERE for the full collection

Take a look at all of the items in Rina's Christmas store HERE

I made a 12 x 12 page overlay freebie for you.

Download it HERE


And this older freebie QP is still available too (I changed the 12x12 page into a 12x9 for my photobook LO)

Download HERE

Hope you're having lots of fun getting ready for Christmas!

Bold Beauty - Scrapbooking

Lonetta Avelar (Creative Victorian Designs) released a new kit collection yesterday : the gorgeous 'Bold Beauty' Take a look at the whole collection HERE

Although it does have a Christmas theme, I found it perfect for my page featuring pictures of my mother in 1941. It certainly is appropriate for year long scrapping. I just love those wonderful colours! Yummy!
They work so well with these old black and white pictures I have.

I turned my LO into a freebie for you (thank you Lonetta for your permission!)

Download the freebie HERE

Before we know it, Christmas will be here! Yikes!

Dimensional Snowflakes - Crochet

Yup, I'm still at it and will be for a while yet : crocheting snowflakes. Especially since I found this book : "Dimensional Snowflakes" by Jo Ann Maxwell at Annie's Craft Store. 12 beautiful looking crocheting goodness snowflakes!

Naturally I had to try it straight away - I even started with Number 1 - I think it turned out really pretty!

I did my usual pinning it out and 'starching' it. This is the center piece.

And the slightly smaller pieces I pinned and shaped at a 90 degree angle (as per the instructions in the book btw) I made a little fold able board covered in wax paper. 

When dry you stick the 2 folded pieces onto the center flat flake. Add a hanger, and glitter/beads/bling if you like and you're all done!

Until the tree is up, I think I'll just store my dimensional flake in this fella's hat!

Whooot!

Snowflake Box Cards

It must be winter, considering all the snowflakes around here...

I made these last week - where did the time go that I only get to post this now?!?

I used another cut files from the SVG Cuts ' Christmas Box Cards Set. Scroll down on the Cards Page to see a couple of the other cards included in this set.

Seen front and back. The 'Merry Christmas' stamp is from the Bo Bunny 'Sentiments Stamps' Set. The longer sentiment stamp is no longer available.

I covered some flakes with sparkly embossing powders and to some I added some glitter glue.

The snowflake patterned vellum is from an old book of printed vellum by Paper Pizzaz. I thought it would would add another dimension to the multi layer card.

I really like how the light shines through the vellum, showing off the snowflake.

A variety of sequins in different shades of blue added the final touch.

Sadly I feel like I'm fast running out of time... to do all the things I would like to do. I'm SURE there must be less hours in a day during November and December...

Whispers of Winter Freebies

For those new visitors to the blog who would/might have missed out on this one...

You can find the Whispers of Winter Collection at Rina' Kroes' Scrapbook-Elements store. (no longer available)

The overlay is available HERE

And a Quick Page Freebie is available HERE

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!

Skating Penguin Magnet

My little snowflake bearing penguins was looking pretty lonely all by itself on the fridge door. It was time to introduce a friend. You can read about him on the 'Cards' page, just scroll down a bit

I started with a file from 'Fun On The Ice' over at Designs On Cloud 9

After sorting the pieces out for cutting, I also cut a solid backing piece for the shape. I felt the skate blades and the ear muffs needed some support. Below is a screen shot of the tracing and the offset (shadow) in the Make The Cut software I gave it the tiniest white border all around as well. That was not strictly necessary but I thought it might look nice.

Next I laid out the pieces of card stock and paper on the cutting mat. I use a Silhouette Cameo.

All the pieces are cut, including the white backing piece and 2 pieces of Silhouette chipboard. This chipboard is card stock weight, hence the double layer to get a sturdy backing.

All chalked and ready to assemble. I painted the metal bits (ie skate blades) with metallic silver craft paint. The scarf and ear muffs are cut from patterned paper.

Putting it all together. Starting with layering the backer pieces.

And adding the coloured bits, following the image in the png file that came with the cut file download. You can see the little offset border all around the final image.

I popped the scarf up a bit to add dimension.

Added a couple of magnets...

....and my penguin magnet is done!

And the first little guy is no longer all alone...

These little guys make me smile. And I like things that makes me smile. What makes you smile?

Snowflake Re-Run

Yes, much better. Now I like the snowflake!

Here they are side by side. The difference is quite big I think. Event the colour, which doesn't show up that much on the pictures. But the one on the right is a brighter white than the other.
The difference? The fuzzy flake on the left is a 100% polyester thread and the cleaner on on the right is 100% cotton. It's that simple...

Remember you can find the free pattern here at Petals to Picots