Apologies for my absence & The Liebster Award

Wow, it's 2015 and I haven't blogged since the beginning of December!  You can forgive me though as my 7 month old baby girl has been taking up a lot of my time, so I haven't done much crafting.

Even with my lack of blogging, I was nominated for a Liebster Award by the lovely Milka of Crafty Milka.  Many thanks to you Milka. 

I have seen this award previously on other blogs and wondered what it was all about. I am stealing the information Milka found on WordingWell as this seems quite in-keeping with what I've seen elsewhere. 

This award exists only on the Internet. It is given to bloggers by other bloggers. 

Award has German origins. The word "liebster" has several definitions: dearest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, welcome, sweetheart.

This award follows similar principles as a chain letter, in a sense it should be passed forward to a certain number of people. 

The choice lies within each of us to accept the award and continue forwarding it. 

You are not obligated to accept the award and can stop the chain. 

Over the time, variations have been made to the "rules". 

The Official Rules of the Liebster Award

If you have been nominated for the Liebster Award and you choose to accept it, write a blog post about the Liebster Award, following few simple rules.

1) Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their blog on your blog .

2) Display the award on your blog by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a "widget" or a "gadget". 

3) Answer 11 questions about yourself asked by the person who nominated you. 

4)  List 11 random facts about yourself. 

5) Nominate 5 - 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have less than 1000 followers.  

6) Create a new list of questions for the nominated bloggers to answer. 

7) List these rules in your post. 

8) Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster Award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it. 

If you will use information provided above (italic text) in your own blog post, please be kind and link back to the original post, not mine. 

Thank you

Milka asked these questions:

1) What made you decide to start a blog? 

I'd been crafting for a long time and was checking out the internet for ideas. I saw lots of other blogs and thought I would give it a go myself.

2) What is the most rewarding thing about blogging? 

I love other people being able to see my work and leaving lovely comments

3) What is your favorite craft?

I love papercraft and cardmaking
4) What time of a day do you do most of your crafting? 

Before having my baby, I was mostly crafting when my little boy was at nursery and in the evening when he went to bed

5) What do you do with all the items you create?

Some I make to give/send people and some I make to sell

6) What is your favorite color? 

Purple

7) What is your favorite instrument? 

I love the drums

8) What is your favorite season? 

Spring. Not too hot, not too cold and I love seeing the blossom on the trees

9) Which holiday is your favorite? 

I love Halloween as I get to dress up and do funky makeup

10) If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? 

I'd love to go to Egypt to see the pyramids

11) What makes the world go ´round for you? 

My two darling children

11 random facts about me

1) I was born in Bournemouth, UK

2) I have one sister

2) I'm a Libran

3) I love Cadbury chocolate

4) My favourite movie genre is horror and I especially love vampires

5) I named my son after a tv vampire

6) I used to be able to sit up all night playing computer games

7) Stephen King is my favourite author

8) I've tried many crafts including cross stitch, glass painting, encaustic art, and scrapbooking

9) I have weak muscles in my left eye, causing it to wander when I look up

10) I have four tattoos

11) I wore a red wedding dress

I would like to nominate the following blogs:

1) Rae Ann of All That Glitters is Smurphy
2) Jennifer of Jennifer D's Blog
3) Angela of Ange's Treasures
4) Kitty of KT Fit Kitty
5) Sandra of Crea-Sandra

I'd like to ask the following questions:

1) Where are you from originally?

2) What's the item you think is the best you've ever made?

3) What's your worst crafting mistake?

4) If you could craft something for any celebrity, who would it be and why?

5) What's your favourite food?

6) What style of music do you like?

7) What's your day job?

8) If you could only use one craft tool for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

9) Do you prefer physical or digital art/craft?

10) Where was your favourite holiday?

11) Describe yourself in three words

Many thanks again to Milka and I hope the award continues to be passed along

Jingle Bells Gift Tags

December is here and the countdown to Christmas is on. I always make my cards and last year I started making my own tags too.  Having a baby does make creating anything a bit difficult though, but having a BigShot really helps with this.  I've made these very simple and easy tags by printing an image several times and die-cutting into a circle, then glueing to a larger scalloped circle before punching a hole and adding twine. 
The image I have used is 'Jingle Bell Wreath' from MelJen's Designs, which I have added sentiments to using Photoshop.  I have coloured the image with Promarkers and a bit of gold glitter pen around the middle of the bells.

I would like to enter these tags into the following challenges:

1. Brown Sugar - #122 Anything Goes
2. Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes for Christmas
3. Crafting for All Seasons - #91 'Tis The Season
4. Crafts Galore - Anything Goes
5. Crafty Katz - Anything Goes
6. MelJen's Designs - #238 Tags
7. Paper Creator's Crafts - #33 All About Christmas
8. Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
9. The ABC Challenge - Y is for Yuletide

Hot Chocolate Gift Card

It's getting close to Christmas and I always have a look for a different type of gift card to make.  I have a Pinterest board of different types and the one I've chosen had a chocolate bar inside. I thought I would change this to hot chocolate sachets and I've also added a pocket for a gift card.

I've used the following materials to create this card:

• Card, vellum and ribbon from my stash
• Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink 'Frayed Burlap'
• Core'dinations Tim Holtz Distress Card
• BoBunny designer papers
• MelJen's Designs image 'Cocoa Cupcake'
• ProMarkers - Satin, Pastel Beige, Sandstone, Caramel, Cocoa, Burnt Sienna, Henna, Walnut, Berry Red, Tea Green, Mint Green & Pine

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. 613 Avenue Create - #98 Anything Goes
2. Brown Sugar - #120 Anything Goes
3. Crafting When We Can - #82 Use Your Markers
4. Creative Fingers - #56 Anything Goes
5. MelJen's Designs - #236 Hot Chocolate
6. Sister Act - #83 Anything Goes
7. That Craft Place - Anything Goes
8. The Corrosive Challenge - #212 Girly
9. The Crafter's Cafe - #91 Anything Goes