In the deep mid Winter...

Frosty winds may blow... Hi Blogland.. After a brief hiatus for the Christmas and New Year Holidays the Cuttlbug Blog Spot Challenge is back.. This weeks theme is Winter.. And although we here in the South East of the UK are basking in somewhat unseasonably warm January weather we are most definitely in Winter.. Just wait until it starts turning colder at the end of the week bbbrrrrrrr...
So, that's the theme of this weeks challenge. Winter... using texture, buttons, twine, ribbon etc...I could have gone with a wintry scene as requested, but I just kept on seeing Christmas, so I decided to go with some frosty flowers instead... Now, I know this main picture doesn't capture the frosty nature of these flowers! But, just wait and take a look at them a little further down this post to see them encapsulated in all of their frosty glory.. Sorry, I've been watching too much of Nigella over the holiday's!! She just loves an exaggerated description or two don't you think?!Any hoozlebee's, starting off my project was quite simple.. I chose an Art Deco image from a Decoupage set from the Glitter Girls and cut it out.. It was the Blue of the dress that caught my eye and gave me the colour theme to work with...To cut my flowers I used the Spellbinders Die Spiral Blossoms #1 (S4-351).Cutting out the shape and then Quilling (rolling) them into shape securing them with Pinflair Glue.Next, I took some fibrous cordand inserted it into each flower to give them a frosty look...To continue the "Art Deco" theme, I embossed a piece of Matt Silk card stock using the Deep Sea Diver Embossing Folder which is part of the World Fair range of embossing folders from Couture Creations.. Deep Sea Diver!! Where do they get these names from!!?Once this was embossed I added it to my wintry swirl background paper,adding my Deco Ladyand frosty flowers...Finishing off the project with some complimentary "Deco" Buttons...Very apt for a wintry Birthday I think.. Don't forget to hop on over to the Cuttlebug Blog Spot to see what my fellow Design Team Members have come up with under this theme, and whilst you are there why not take part in this weeks challenge?!
Thanks for checking us out...
See you soon..
Andy..

Happy Birthday Reene

Hi Everyone, Today is a very dear friends Birthday. She is as fanatical about her Cricut as I am.. and makes some truly amazing cards. I don't know about you but I find it almost impossible to make a card for a fellow crafter. I almost challenge myself to create something beyond belief which gives me a headache!!! Anyhoo as she loves her Cricut as much as me, I thought I would give her just that, in the way of a Cricut card, Literally!! I have a cart called Store Front. It has lots of ProvoCraft symbols on it, including a Cricut Machine, CuttleBug and Cricut image. I used chalks to make the blue background and embossed each line to look like a different cart.. The words on each cart are just peel off letters. Hope you like, although today more importantly I hope she likes.. Happy Birthday Reene... have a great day...
Oh also, there is a play on words here, her family are keen Cricketer's (the sport) so the term Cricut and Cricket works on 2 levels here... I hope...!
And here is Joanne's card for Reene...

What is there left to be said but WOW,WOW,WOW. So much work and effort has been put into this, well I was going to say card but work of art would be more appropriate I think...

This week in our lessons we are doing Quilling. (Quilling, or paper filigree, is the art of rolling and gluing thin strips of paper into different shapes to create decorative designs).
It's not something I can do but Pauline, who has the patience of a saint, is a dab hand at it..

Thanks for checking us out.