November again!

Hi all!
Well, I did promise I'd return with some piccies and updates so here I am!
How is everyone this beautiful,sunny, autumnal morning?

I have won a cardmaking challenge on the Cardmaking and Papercraft blog this month, which is lovely! It was the hallowe'en card challenge and here it is :

I also won the same blogs' baking themed challenge in September too :

So, onto more mundane stuff!
I've been very busy with the lawn mower today - on account of having 17 million----yes, 17 million!---leaves on my lawn! I have the most HUGE oak tree in my back garden and, this year, it has dropped  zillions of acorns and the usual  17 million leaves (honest, I've counted them!!!) all over the grass and as leaves are good for the soil if left to mulch down, they're not too helpful to the lawn so...UP they came!
Trouble is, once you go to all that effort to "hoover" them up, the darned tree just does it again! And, don't get me started on the tree in the front garden!
Anyhoo, hopefully the sun will stay shining brightly and I'll be able to do it again in a few days when the grass has again disappeared under uber amounts of foliage!
By the way, the oak tree does have squirrels living in it (occasionally) but, the little darlings (!) don't seem to want to eat or store ALL of the acorns. There are so many you'd think they'd have them stashed safely for the spring by now - picky little devils!
I have some flowers which are hanging on to summer by any means possible too! Alot of them are looking quite sorry for themselves but there are a few hardy blooms which just WON'T give up and snuggle down for the winter yet! Good for them I say!
Oh yes, and this morning, after the mowing, Mr.Robin came flying down to feast on any worms, bugs etc, which the vibrations of the mower on the grass had brought to the surface! He had a very good feast but didn't leave a tip - how rude!
Here are a few photos of my day so far :

Isn't Mr.Robin just sooo cute? I did have some other pics of him but they're not as clear as this one!

So, back to the crafty stuff.

Here are a couple of cards I've been making this past few days - dabbling really!

I've entered this monochrome card into the challenge at Cardmaking and Papercraft - their "First past the Post" article!
I used black and white cardstock and the free stamps which came with the latest issue of the mag.
I stamped the background with black Stazon using the poinsettia stamp, stamped the Merry Christmas stamp onto some white satin ribbon and used black sparkle embossing powder on the stamped flourish panel - also on the sentiment in the middle!
In fact, there's alot of faffing about with this but I think it came together really well.

This wreath was created with the free gifts with the latest issue of Papercrafts Inspiration magazine - but I didn't like it! 

To be honest, I didn't enjoy making it and it shows!

The 3d stars are made using a Tim Holtz die and the greeting is also from a Tim Holtz die set.

Still, maybe I can use this as a "trial and error" item! (Error being the operative word!!!)

That's it for now folks.

I've spent so long on this post I've actually forgotten what I'm going to craft today,so, I'm going to make a coffee and have a think!!!

TTFN

L xxxx