Seasonal

Apparently it’s that time of year again…

Saturday 21st November.

As is always the day after the storm passes through, there is blue sky and sunshine to enjoy and complement the brilliant white snow.  Sadly after a very mild November which saw a lot of trees holding on to their leaves, this turned out to be a very destructive storm as the snow was very heavy and wet.  The leaves then allow a lot more of the snow to accumulate, putting a lot of extra stress on to the trees and a lot came down taking the power with them.  We were fortunate in that regard, but 40,000 folks in metro Detroit were not.

Our giant Smokebush on the side of our house succumbed unfortunately.  I took the first and last photos above standing right underneath it yesterday, this morning two thirds of it was on the ground.

We can’t clean it up until later this week, when the warmer temps will melt the snow again, so we took ourselves off to our local State Park and strapped the bits of plastic to our feet again for the first time this season.  Conditions were less than perfect, what with wet snow and warm ground, but it was nice to be out enjoying the fresh air and getting some exercise.

Despite two little falls I managed ok… which is more than can be said about Andrew!  In fairness he’s trying to get the compacted snow off the base of his ski’s, but it would make a great photo for a caption contest!

Sparkles Challenge ~ Anything But A Card

Late to the party again but there has been a lot going on round here in the last week!

Our new monthly challenge at Sparkles Challenges is up and my lovely teamie Cathy, chose Anything But A Card, and boy did the DT have a lot of fun with this as we’ve all made something different.

We have an amazing three sponsors this month!

Bugaboo Stamps

Crafty Bren’s Embroidered Toppers

Marianne Designs Prize Package

Christmas is right around the corner so it might be a good time to knock those homemade gifts off your list.  That was my plan as I made these lovely cabled socks for my friend for her Christmas gift.

They’re called Wheatsheaf Socks and I made them with Holiday Yarns Flock Sock in the colour Amethyst.  I think they’ve turned in to my most favourite pair this year, so I hope she likes them.

I’ve also made a hat and cowl set for the gift pile but I couldn’t get my husband to help me take photos this past weekend, so socks it is!

We’d love to see what you can come up with for this challenge, have fun.

 

Sparkles Christmas Challenge ~ Christmas Decorations

Hello again peeps, November!!  EEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!  Well, if you haven’t made your Christmas cards yet, I have bad news for you, it’s November!  Yikes.  Moving swiftly on, we have a new challenge at Sparkles Christmas starting today. We have the wonderfully simple theme of Christmas Decorations, lots of choice for you there so we expect to see lots of great entries again!

We are lucky to be sponsored by two fantastic sponsors this time round, and they are:

Who are offering a $25 voucher and

Who are offering a 10 pound voucher.

 

I used a really cute stamp that just doesn’t get enough love, this is Fluffy’s Garland from Stampendous, and as usual, Fluffy is getting into all kinds of trouble!

I used Christmas paper from DCWV, all from the scrap box and mounted it on to green card.  Fluffy was stamped and coloured with Prisma pencils and the baubles were covered with Stickles glitter glue and then Glossy Accents when the glitter had dried, so they’re incredibly sparkly and shiny in real life.  The die cut is from Memory Box and I added some red and gold pearls and gems to finish it off.  Nice and simple this month from me!

I hop you have time to join in with us again, please pop over to the main blog to see more wonderful inspiration from my team mates.