Winter Warmer

We have finally arrived at the last day of January. Although the snow has gone and it has been quite mild this week the cold weather is set to return again for the weekend with some night time frosts. This cold weather has made it really important to find ways of snuggling up and keeping warm. Last summer (now that seems a long time ago now) I wrote a post about my favourite summer tipple, Pimm's. Some of my overseas friends had never tasted Pimm's and I wrote a little about the history of it here. If you want to "feel" some summer sunshine have a re read of that post. It certainly made me long for sunny days and blue skies.

I mentioned in that post that I had not been able to get the other Pimm's, which is still made, Number 3 cup,or Winter Warmer as it is known. Again it is a secret mixture and this one is brandy based.Well that has all changed as I found out that some Waitrose supermarkets  stock it and recently my Mum and Dad managed to pick me up a bottle.

I checked the ingredients for a winter warmer which is 3 parts of apple juice to one part Pimm's

Pour the juice and Pimm's into a saucepan and gently warm; don't let the mixture boil.

I put a few segments of satsuma, a few cloves and a grating of cinnamon into a glass

And then sipped slowly.....mmmm.....

and yes, it is absolutely delicious. It has a rich mulled taste with a hint of orange zest and spices but it has not the usual bitterness that you often get with mulled wine and gluhwein...it is just sooooo mellow and a great winter warmer. If you can find the Pimm's No 3 do try it. We enjoyed a glass of it at the weekend and will have another this!

My card challenge today is trying to also bring some sunshine to the winter and I used one of the first stamps I ever bought from Lili of the Valley

I made this card as a recent commission and as you can see I can now personalise my cards. If you would like anything similar just email me or contact me via my Etsy Shop here This card was made for a sweet little girl's upcoming 1st birthday.

Here she is in close up. I coloured her
with my Promarkers. I have added 2 of my new Memory Box corner die cuts.
I printed my own sentiment which I then cut using my spellbinder small fancy oval to cut out. I added Dimensional Magic to the wings which is quite hard to see.
The backing paper is covered with sweet little hearts. To add some bling I used glamour dust on the dandelions.


I would like to enter my card into the following challenges.

I love Promarkers Love is all around #153
Forever Friends Ribbon or lace #54
Bearly Mine hearts galore there are hearts galore here, the whole backing paper is covered with them ;0)
Sweet Stampin Ribbon
Whoopsi Daisy For a child
Bunny Zoe anything goes
Whimsy Card Challenges fancy edges
The Inky Chicks Bingo my line is sentiment/image/bow
Simon Says anything goes
Natalie and Amy something old/something new #6
Crafts and Me favourite embellishment #118 my fave embellie here is that lush organza satin edged ribbon
Woopsi Daisy For a child
Pan Pastels seeing stars there are stars on the oval die cut of my sentiment
Cute Card Thursday A different corner #254 I have used my new Memory Box corner die on 2 corners of my card
Crafty Ribbons Challenge anything goes #38

It's my day off work today so I am heading off to get some cards made as I have couple of commissions I am working on. It's nearly the weekend (again) and I hope you all have a wonderful one. We have a nice quiet one planned so with a bit of luck I can also fit in some crafting time too.

Keep warm and carry on crafting. Thanks as always for visiting and all your lovely comments.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x