Happy New Year!!

I can't believe we are now in 2012...where did last year go? I hope you all had a good Christmas and haven't got too much of a hangover this morning. If you have, or even if you haven't, get a cuppa, put your feet up and relax coz I've got a mega long post for you today!

Since changing jobs just over a couple of years ago and returning to full time work, my spare time has diminished considerably. So it has been lovely in between all the festivities to have a bit of me time. I've been working on this l'il project over the last week, popping into the craft room at every opportunity.

I feel the lack of crafty time has sapped my creative energy recently and I feel I have got a bit stuck in a rut, especially with colour. So what better way to kick start my mojo with a photo that has inspired this collection.

Isn't this a fab colour combination? I don't think I've ever put pink, yellow and black together. I love it.

photo credit

First up is a photo of a few of my creations...

I've used a B Line leafy stamp that I've had for ages to stamp the background. The ribbon is by Papertrey called Lavender Moon...a lovely pinky lilac. I've coupled with some mustard coloured ribbon from my stash.

The sentiment is also by Papertrey as is the die cut "you". A little punched heart highlights one of the words to add a bit of extra interest. The heart punch was part of a whole load of SU stash that I received from mum as a Christmas pressie! Thanks mum.

Next up is a lovely little gift envelope made using a free downloadable template which you can find here. I've resized it in Paint Shop Pro to measure approx 10cm x 11cm, but of course can be resized to suit.

This time I've added some leaves using my new Sizzlets Little Leaves die and the tag is from Papertrey's Tiny Tag set. The little glass bowl is from a charity shop.

Just for fun I decorated a tin using another Papertey Tiny Tag.

I started to carried away and looked around the house to see what else I could adorn and found this bottle from Lakeland. I may use it just to put flowers in but it does come with a cork so it could easily used to put something lovely in like bubble bath etc.




The next photo shows my lovely little mini cake stand with a dome lid from The Range. Isn't it just adorable?

I've simply attached some ribbon and a sentiment by SU called You're Sweet.

The doily was die cut by hand using a Cheery Lynn doily die called "English Tea Party". Measuring 5" x 5" it fits perfectly inside my cake stand. It did take a few goes to get it to die cut cleanly as it so intricate.

I was wondering what to put in it so I handmade some chocolate bark with glace cherries and walnuts. Very simple to make...just melt dark and white chocolate, swirl the light and dark chocolate together to create the bark effect and add the topping before it cools.

Perfect to put in my cake dome.

I had enough leaft over to store in a another jar, this one is by Laura Ashley.

I created the tag using a Waltzingmouse sentiment.

Phew, well done if you got to the bottom of this post. It may be a long time before I can create a collection like this again, but I hope you have enjoyed it. Thank you for stopping by!