New Year's Eve and it's Michelle's Card!

Hello friends 

New Year's Eve - wow didn't that come around quickly!

Are you celebrating?

We don't tend to celebrate New Year's Eve but we do all 

get together New Year's Day, this year a takeaway 

as I think we all deserve a rest from festive cooking. 

Today's project is a card I made for my lovely friend Michelle,

it was her birthday yesterday so just before Christmas I locked 

myself away in my cabin to create this card.

It features Grand Cabinet and Layered Friends Forever.

I may have gone a little OTT with the photos!

The flowers are from another one of Becca's die sets 

Petite Double Bow and Flowers.

Cut from watercolour card and coloured with distress inks.

The leaves are from my trusty Homespun die set,

goodness that set is old!

Michelle likes purple so purple it had to be!

What I like most about these 3D die sets is the choices,

you can opt for where you insert the cut outs and mix and match.

There is a real sense of achievement when making a project like this,

and hearing those little 'clicks' when you insert each panel into place!

If you haven't seen how these 3D cards are assembled here is

Becca's video.

Items used today with clickable links:

Elegant 3D Grand Cabinet Card

Layered Friends Forever (Pre-Loved)

Be sure to check out all the 3D card options here and also

the Shadow Box collection inserts work too.

Before I go I want to say a big thank you to those who stop by my blog

and shop on our website. 

I and my family appreciate it more than you know.

Wishing you a fantastic New Year and a happy,

healthy, creative perfect 2019! 

Much love.

It's a Sprocket!

Hello friends

Blog posts are a little erratic at the moment,

it's that time of year when never quite sure what day it is

and thrown into the mix is going to work too.

Today I thought I would share with you details of my best 

Christmas pressie - a Sprocket!

My parents and boys bought this for me and it is 

a mini printer that bluetooth's to your phone.

Made by HP (they don't know I'm doing this plug for them by the way!) 

it uses special Zink photo paper (sort of a bit like the old Polaroid)

and prints 2 x 3 inch photos which are perfect for my memory jar.

I started my memory jar in January 2016,

I had seen these pop up on Pinterest and you can buy them 

but I thought why not use any jar?
I had a preserve jar and liked the fact that it was fairly wide.

Admittedly I didn't go too mad with the decorating, just a piece of ribbon!

I knew I had to keep it simple otherwise I would never maintain it 

so I chose to print photos of occasions and write a little message
on the reverse of each one.

I selected events that meant something to me, whether they be good or bad
(but I stuck with mostly good!)
As the year went on I really got into the swing of it.
The boys, friends, cinema trips, holiday, hospital (!), Bella - of course!

This is just some from my jar.

Here's 2018, I've still got a few more to print...

and my Sprocket is at the ready!

I'm continuing in 2019 and you never know I may even decorate the jar,

or possibly at this rate, use a larger one.

 Perhaps I may have inspired you to start a jar...?

Take care friends, hope you are having a restful

Chrismassy bit in the middle.

Emerging from the other side!

Hello friends

How was it? Did it go by in a blur?

I actually think the days of Christmas go faster than any

other time, it certainly feels that way.

My Christmas was lovely but involved a lot of cooking

so I'm vowing to make that a little different next year.

On the upside lots of leftovers so easy dinners for quite a while.

Here's a few pics of our festivities.

Christmas morning, cold, frosty and a chance to walk Bella.

The Hope and Chances' woodland cabin is in that little cluster

right hand side of this picture.  

Bit nippy in there when I checked on everything!

Bella in her festive jumper.

Back home the tree and mantle all set.

Turkey in the oven under the watchful eye of Pixel!

Dinner is served, just the three of us on Christmas Day, 

I ate my dinner in my PJ's - it was blissful!

Our eldest cat Imogen (19 this year) is in the distance,

she got an extra big bowl of turkey.

And Elliott and I checking out selfies in our Christmas jumpers,

We were playing with my Christmas gift - a Sprocket - 

a little printer that bluetooth's to your phone.

More details with another blog post soon.

Now to get back on crafty track a little bit,

announcing the Wednesday giveaway winner

a bundle of two brand Jane Davenport die sets!

Mertail and ...

Happy Little Unicorn

Thank you for all the comments and the winner is...

Patricia Youdell

Congratulations Patricia please email: 

hope-chances@live.co.uk

with your details and we will post your prize out to you.

I'm back in my city job today which is very quiet and a 

chance for me to type this blog post - ssshhhh!  

Take care friends, I'm back soon.

Gingerbread and a Festive Message

Hello friends

Happy Christmas Eve!

It's been a long time since I shared something other than craft
so here's a recipe (which has now become a favourite),

Elliott's gingerbread, easy and delicious.
He is a dab hand at Brownies too!

Ingredients:

Makes: 16 gingerbread men/stars/trees

350g (12 oz) plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

115g (4 oz) butter, cubed

175g (6 oz) soft light brown sugar

4 tablespoons golden syrup

1 egg, beaten

Method:

Prep:20min  ›  Cook:10min  ›  Ready in:30min 

Preheat the oven to 190 C / Gas mark 5. Lightly grease or line two baking trays.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs; stir in sugar. Beat syrup into egg then stir into flour mixture.

Knead the dough until smooth. Roll out to 1/2 cm thick on a lightly floured surface; stamp or cut out desired gingerbread men shapes.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden and puffed, about 10-12 minutes. Let them sit on the tray for a few minutes before moving to a wire rack.  Yum!

And now a festive message from all of us.

Enormous thanks to you all for stopping by the blog

and shopping on the website.

It's been a year of many changes but we are hanging on in there!

We wouldn't be able to carry on without the loyalty of 

our customers, we truly appreciate you.

Here's H&C HQ on a rather snowy day, right now it is bathed in rain!

2019 brings a new website (at last!) 

one that works nicely on mobiles and iPads

There will be different giveaways and lots more.

I'll be returning to do more workshops (local ones as well as travelling)

and spreading the love of craft everywhere! 

Without further ado...wishing you a wonderful 

Christmas and a happy, healthy, creative New Year.

Much love.

Bags of Money!

Hello friends

Today sharing with you a festive project I created for the 

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L blog.

Reindeer Treat Bags or bags of money!

So simple to make. 

Little cello bags and using Mistletoe Gatefold to fold over

and secure the bag closed.

I used Reindeer as the topper and added loops of gold twine 

for a softer touch.

You need not put chocolate in the bag, these would make great

reindeer treat bags - perhaps put in a carrot or seed reindeer food.

Or maybe gingerbread?  Elliott recently made gingerbread and it was 

lovely, I failed at my attempt to make it so I think I'll leave the baking to him!

For the full money bag tutorial please pop over to the Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

blog here and if you have a minute leave a comment,

I truly appreciate that.

Items used with clickable links:

Mistletoe Gatefold (in the sale!)

Adhesive Sheets

3D Foam Squares

Extreme Double Sided Tape 

Thank you for the kind messages asking about Mum,

she's really quite poorly at the moment as she now has 

shingles, which is really unfair on top of everything else.

We are hopefully keeping her bright and fingers crossed

she feels better for Christmas.

Take care friends, I'm back with one more post

before the big day!

Friday Die Day

Hello friends

Not long now!

This week's Friday Die Day is featuring one of the new Spellbinders

stamp sets - Thanks a Bunch.

There's a total of 31 stamps in this set!

I started out by trimming the front of the card on the right hand side

and stamping 'thanks' onto the base vertically.

I stamped with a variety of the stamps onto white card using reds,

green and pink.  Fussy cut those - not too many, just enough before 

I got bored!

Onto my card front I affixed the 'waffle cone' and stamped directly

onto the card with flowers and foliage, randomly! 

Definitely randomly!

Affixed the fussy cut items with 3D Foam Circles and tied twine.

Added 'a bunch' stamp and a few gemstones too.

Aside from the fussy cutting it was quick and fun to make.

A stamp set that could be used for many seasons including festive

thank you cards.

Items used today with clickable links:

Thanks a Bunch stamp set (with a festive reduction!)

3D Foam Circles.

Take care friends, wishing you a great weekend,

hope it isn't too manic.

I'll be back before the big day.

Giveaway and it's a double!

Hello friends

It's Wednesday and that means...

Last week's giveaway was a pre-loved die set - Coffee Woman.

Thank you for all the comments and the winner is...

Christi

Congratulations please email: 

hope-chances@live.co.uk

with your details and we will post your prize out to you.

Now onto this week's giveaway,
which is a little bit more special
It is a bundle - TWO BRAND NEW Jane Davenport die sets!

Mertail and ...

Happy Little Unicorn

I've chosen a bigger giveaway this week as not only is it the final one of 

2018 but also I'm switching things around a little in 2019,

keep your eyes peeled.

There will still be giveaways as I really like doing them!

If you would like to win this week's giveaway

please leave a comment on today's post.

A winner will be picked and announced after Christmas.

(Please claim your prize within a month of announcement).

If you like Jane Davenport items be sure to check them out on the 

website here and all items are reduced!

Take care friends, have a great Wednesday,

this time next week it's Boxing Day - eeek!

Gin!

Hello friends

I had to wait to this afternoon to share this post with you as 

these are little treats I made for my friends in Milton Keynes.

Each month we meet up to craft (apparently that's all my fault!) 

With it being Christmas and we are rather partial to gin,

I thought I would adorn some little miniature bottles.

Typed and printed Christmas Spirit onto card and die cut as tags.

Tied these on with twine.

Die cut holly (Peppermint Stick die set), coloured with distress ink.

Mini Poinsettia (of course!)

Punched a hole through the holly and tied this, along with

a snowflake charm, onto the bottle with gold thin twine.

You could add names as they would make perfect

table favours/place cards, well if you like a tipple that is.

Mini Poinsettias are available pre-cut in a pack on the 

website here.

Snowflake charms are available in both 

Festive Fun and Woodland Winter charm collections here.

This is one of my favourite types of craft, 

embellishing and adorning something.

I could be swayed here because it is gin too! 

Lettering progress - ummm slow! 

I found a box and popped everything inside and that's dangerous

because as they say 'out of sight - out of mind'.

I'm actually going to book myself time in my diary to do it,

I think that's a plan.  It's definitely my 2019 project.

Take care friends, keep warm and as I always say,

it's mittens weather!