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I would like to wish everyone a very Happy 2012 and thank all of the wonderful 'blog people' who have helped me settle into this new experience and given me so much encouragement with the marvelous challenges and fantastic messages:) My birthday is January 1st and this time I am 70. My creative mind has become so active that I am sure the next year will be just as full and happy as the last.

I combined the challenge at Sketch Saturday  with the Retro/Music challenge at Moving Along with the Times . Terrific samples at both for inspiration. I always loved the designs in the Flower Power era and still do.

Here we are in the last week of December and at Just for Fun  they have an Anything Goes Challenge I was inspired by Von's sample and hunted for somethings similar that I had been given a long time ago and always meant to use. Nowhere near as good as the card that inspired me but this card is what I made for the challenge. Thank you for the wonderful challenges at Just for Fun and my introduction to Blogland.

At Craft-room Challenge it is anything goes so I am adding this card I have just made. Not what I would usually make but I just wanted to chill out and make things that are a bit different for a few days.

This is the third at Seems a Little Sketchy . It was a very nice sketch to follow and I will keep it to use in the future for sure. Thank you. I have used a photograph that was taken by my hubby last year--it is a wild orchid.

Last of the seasons at JFF this week and what fun it has been to escape from making Christmas cards and look ahead to the New Year with the challenges. There are still lots of autumn leaves around so I collected some and stood them in baby oil for a while to make them supple. After that I used punches to cut out shapes to make a couple of autum coloured flowers. Lastly I found this lovely quote by John Donne who is one of my favourite poets and has helped me many times in my life when he seemed to have a poem for every occassion.

Nice to feel the see the sun shining if only on this postcard :) This is serendipity meets paper piecing and they tangle with zentagles. I love the artwork of Bridget Wilkinson  and this postcard is made in her style-not sure what she would think of it but I am hoping to go to Whitby soon and that I can show it to her if she is at the gallery where she shows some of her work. Always great challenges at Just for Fun  and terrific work by the Dts and the people who enter their work.

Great challenge here at Craft-Room Challenge  . I don't seem to have many punches these days--I did lend some out so maybe they didn't come back home :(

What a great choice of subject for this challenge at Oldie but Goodie  Thought I would make a special Christmastime birthday card for a friend whose birthday is a few days before Christmas.

Always lovely to make tags and be able to use any technique you like. Here at TIOT  you can do just that. Some beautiful examples by the team

Combined these challenges at Sketch Saturday and One Stop Craft Shop Challenge I have tried lots of colour combinations on my Christmas cards this year but the traditional colours always look right somehow. I love making the ribbon flowers and now have lots to use on cards in the future.

I can't believe that what I had in mind earlier this week fitted in with the challenge at Just for Fun this week. I am having a buffet lunch for a few people later in the month but wanted it to be none Christmas if you know what I mean. I found some lovely serviettes that said Springtime Flowers though they aren't like any real flowers I have seen I would have also liked to buy a cake stand but they are now called muffin stands and seem to be very expensive. No worries I have made one and will be making a couple more so that I can fit more food on our small table. I have used two plastic plates and a plastic wine glass for this. The first thing I did was scan a serviette and print it out on paper. Cut out the flowers and make a small tube that will fit in the glass and stick lots of flowers to the tube. I also used some small bits of green ribbon to look like leaves. Then the arrangement was placed in the glass and the plate stuck on top with strong double sided tape. The bott

Oh Dear I am all out of ideas and energy to make more Christmas cards :(-well that's what I thought until yesterday when I realised it was Sketch Saturday day :) I seem to have very little left to use in my Christmas Crafty Box but there were a few stamped and coloured images so all was not lost. Also there was Let it Snow at the One Stop Craft Shop Challenge  so that inspired me as well. Still need more Christmas cards so off I go to see if there is anything else to inspire me. These aren't as fancy as a lot of the cards I have made this year but I will make up for it by writing a lot inside to make them like notelets instead of the usual impersonal inner.

Nice sketch at Moving Along with the Times  I am still making Christmas cards so use the challenges to do those

A reminder that winter is here at JFF  as we are challenge to make something that reminds us of this time of year. For me it always means spectacular skies at sunrise and sunset and as I have lived in the west of the uk and now in the east of the uk I have seen many of both. Vic has taken lots of photographs of sunsets and this is one of them taken in Cumbria where the sunsets are wonderful. I used it to decorate the front of a notebook together with a few stamps--the bird one didn't like the photopaper at all but it did make for an interesting effect-hopefully :( lol