A crafty journey

Christmas Wishes

2011-12-25T20:22:00.002Z

Christmas is the time for family and friends,right ?

Well please forgive me for being an absent friend
but you know what happened before with Darling Hubby.

He's doing really well but I haven't crafted a thing in all this time.
However,

I just couldn't let Christmas Day pass without wishing you all a

VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS

XXX

I have a Winner

2011-07-01T20:00:00.002+01:00

Hello Everyone x I hope you are all keeping well and are crafting away like mad and producing all your usual gorgeousness. I haven't managed to make anything myself and I have committed the worst sin ever for a crafter- I have bought some Birthday cards from a High Street store ! Shame on me (bowing my head in shame) but I just couldn't put glue to paper or ink to stamp to save my life just now.

Someone asked me the other day to give her one word that would describe me and I said "Tired"!!
It's true but never fear,after a good break and a little holiday,I hope to be back, bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

In the meantime,what is much more important is that I have a WINNER of my First Blogaversary Candy . I didn't have the help of my Grandson this time but after checking that you had followed the rules I asked (shy) Hubby to do the honours and he pulled a name from the 'hat'....................

and it is you ...................................... MAGGIE

I see you are my newest Follower Maggie and you are very welcome. If you will send me your Postal Address I will get the Candy to you very soon.

Thank-you to everyone who entered and I am sorry I can't send you all some Candy but I do send you my love and hugs xxx

A Brick Wall

2011-06-28T22:32:00.001+01:00

Have you ever hit a brick wall ?
I have - metaphorically speaking that is !

No crafting.
No nothing.
No worry.
I'll be back after a good rest.

In the meantime my Blogaversary Candy Giveaway Deadline is fast approaching.Just a couple of days to go and then I will pick a winner.
Hugs to you all xxx

An Apology and a Bit of News

2011-06-21T08:00:00.003+01:00

An apology from me today because I don't have a card to show you. The little light at the end of the long tunnel I wrote about last week went out : (
I did manage to get to the workshop last Thursday at The Scrapbook Shop and it was good but I haven't managed to finish the project yet so I can't show you what I made.Sorry.
Also, I have reluctantly stepped down from the Design Team at My Time To Craft Challenge . Too much is taking up my time at home and something had to 'give'. It wasn't fair on the rest of the team so with great regret and sadness I reluctantly stepped down. I am really sorry about it because I loved working with the rest of the DT and I will miss them.
Finally,I may not be crafting much but when I do, I promise to show you what I make. I will also try to visit you when I can.
Lastly,I still have my Candy up for grabs until the 30th June so if you would like to win it please click on the link in the side bar and follow the rules.( PLUS If I get 50 followers I will add more goodies to the Candy)
That's it folks but I hope to see you again soon. Hugs x

Hearts for Daddy

2011-06-14T08:35:00.001+01:00

Good Morning Peeps xxx How are you today ? I think I am feeling a little less stressed.I might be actually seeing a light,albeit a tiny light,at the end of a very long tunnel. Hubby is getting better,I have had a bit of time with my sister and she is going back to Italy tomorrow and I have booked myself a place on a workshop at my favourite craft shop (The Scrapbook Shop) for a bit of 'me time'. Hopefully I will be able to show you what I make later.

As for today, it is time for another Challenge at My Time To Craft Challenge and this week we would love to see your creations that include an EXTRA IMAGE (use more than one image). Here is my little effort which you may think looks familiar.

Some of you will remember the Heart Bunting I made for my Hubby's Birthday,well I used the same papers to make this little card and the hanging mobile hearts with the addition of some Craft card.

Now it is your turn to show us your gorgeous creations at My Time To Craft Challenge and what about joining us on the Design Team - you have until 20th June to put your name down on Mr Linky Thingy - go on you know you want to join the BESTEST DT EVER !
PS.Sorry about the poor quality photos

A boost

2011-06-08T11:54:00.001+01:00

Stunned and gob-smacked to have been picked by Ann on the DT at The Paper Players
with this little offering as one of their A Cut Above :

Ann said this about my card :
Who can resist a cute, scruffy face? Not I! And for this reason I selected this adorable card by Maria. Maria used a perfect color palette and executed a simple design to place the focus where it should be...right smack dab on what has to be one of the cutest doggy stamps I have ever seen! To further accent the image, she printed off a customized sentiment and designed and cut out the bones! This is a perfect example of whimsy done right! And now I am off to the cupboard to fetch those Boxer Twins a treat or two! Congrats, Maria, for being my choice for A Cut Above!

It is so uplifting when something like this happens x Thank you Ann and everyone who came and visited me because of this little card. x

Wildlife Reserve

2011-06-07T08:50:00.001+01:00

Good Morning Folks x I hope you are all keeping well and are not feeling too stressed unlike me ( ... taking a deep breath !!) Today is a special day because it is Tuesday and that means that there is another fab challenge at My Time To Craft Challenge. This week the theme is entitled Wildlife Reserve and we would love to see your super creations.The Design Team have some great samples for you BUT ........
I am sorry that I don't have anything to show you today but as I said yesterday, panic is knocking at my door. I have it bolted and padlocked but you never know. LOL ( Yes I can still laugh )
Before I go, I want to say THANK YOU for your continued support,especially to those we have left me lovely comments and remember, I have candy on offer for you lovely peeps xxx

Panic is setting in !!

2011-06-06T11:00:00.001+01:00

Morning All xxx

I think everything has caught up with me and I need to step back and review what is going on in my life, so with that in mind I am going to take a bit of a break. I am NOT going to stop crafting,nor am I going to stop visiting your blogs to see your wonderful work but I am going to step back a bit before panic sets in.

As well as coping with my Hubby's illness and all that that entailed,he has many appointments including a twice a week/8 week Rehab Programme at the hospital which starts today and on top of that my sister is coming to stay with us this week. She lives in Italy with her Italian husband and I haven't seen her for 4 years so we are very excited about her coming over and we have lots of visits to do as well as lots of catching up.

I will be back tomorrow to tell you about the challenge at My Time to Craft Challenge and I may get the chance to show the odd card I made a while ago but for now I just wanted to say I'm here and you are not forgotten !

See ya later alligator xxx

PS.Don't forget I have Candy on offer x

Non-fattening Candy

2011-06-03T22:27:00.000+01:00

A reminder that I have some Candy up for grabs for my followers. All you have to do is be a follower and leave me a comment HERE
PS. If you are good I might even add a little more to the stash ;-)

Give a dog a bone ..........

2011-05-31T09:10:00.002+01:00

.......... and he will __________ (fill in the blank/s) lol
This week at My Time to Craft Challenge the theme is 'Very Funny' - anything that makes you smile or chuckle - and this little dog makes me smile and chuckle : )

He is sweet and I love his cheeky antics. The stamp is called Bonnie Westies and is by Little Claire Designs. I stamped the design on to Neenah card and used a mix of Promarkers and Copics to add minimum colouring here and there. I'm not very good at colouring in animals so don't look too closely.

I wanted to keep the design reasonably simple so I stuck with a limited colour palette of blue and white with a bit of brown. You have noticed the string of bones of course and you will forgive me for using bunting again - I think I am getting obsessed by it so watch out for more.I drew the bones onto scraps of Bazzill card,cut them out and strung them together with Butchers Twine.The bunting is simply fastened onto the front of the base card.The blue background paper was printed from the Polka Doodles Paper Boutique Vol 3. You can't tell from the photo but it has various doggie related words on it such as bark,growl,and woof. The stamped image has been mounted onto a white scalloped square cut using a nestie, which matches the base scalloped square card.

To complete the design I added the ..... give a dog a bone ..... sentiment which I made on the computer and cut out with a Spellbinders Shapeability Label Die using a technique I picked up HERE from my team mate Chrissy (Thank-you Chrissy it only took me 3 goes to get it right. lol). Finally,I added tiny black gems to the noses - not sure if they look right but I love added dimension so I just went for it !!!

It would be great if you joined us this week with our challenge over at My Time to Craft Challenge with your Very Funny creations x

Well I'm off now as Hubby has his 6 week review at the hospital today so hoping all goes well - see ya later x
Update - Very happy to say the Doc was pleased with Hubby's progress - everything is healing well and all the signs are good for a full recovery . He is now discharged from that particular hospital and he just needs to continue with the Rehab Programme at Durham. Huge relief x Thanks so much for all your concern and best wishes xxx
I would love to enter the following Challenges :
1.The Paper Players 49 - Anything Goes
2. Make it Monday 39 -Always Anything Goes
3.Ladybug Crafts Ink 39 - Make your own Embellishments

My First Blogaversary

2011-05-26T18:25:00.001+01:00

WOW!! Where has the last year gone ? I can hardly believe that I took my first tentative steps into Blogland 12 months ago and even more surprising that I am still here.
Seriously, it does surprise me because it is not always easy for me to keep motivated and be productive.I don't want to go into the difficulties but the real reason I am still here is YOU ! If it wasn't for my amazing followers and the lovely people who drop-in to see me now and then I honestly don't think I would still be blogging.
So it is all your doing LOL
In an appreciation of your support and encouragement I have put together a little Candy for my followers.

What you have to do to win this Candy :
1.Be a follower or become a follower
2.Put a picture of my candy on the side bar of your Blog (I will check hehe!)
3.Leave me a comment under this Post so that I can put your name into the 'hat'
That's it except to say that the Candy is open until Thursday 30th June and I intend to draw the name from a 'hat' a day later.
Here is a list of what's included :

Go Green Born to Shop clear stamp set - by Docraft
Pack of 10 self-adhesive Springs - by Piggy Tails
Red and white Decorative Sticky Tape (30m Roll) -by Dots and Spots
4 Petaloo Peony flowers - green and peach
4 metal charms

Bye for now xxx

Happy Birthday Bunting

2011-05-24T10:12:00.002+01:00

It is my darling husbands birthday tomorrow and he never likes any fuss so what will he make of this :-

Does it look 'girlie' ? In real life the colours are much deeper and quite masculine I think but probably I should have made straight edged hearts and not scalloped. Nevermind,I hope it appeals to his never-to-be shown feminine side LOL

It just so happens that the theme at My Time to Craft Challenge today is Die Cuts so I was able to combine my DT work with making something special for the birthday celebrations. (I have made a few more things to go with the bunting but I can't show you yet - hopefully on another day x)

The Recipe :
Cut scalloped white hearts from card stock
Cut straight edged hearts from patterned paper (in this case Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934)
Adhere patterned hearts to white hearts
Cut lettering in black card stock (I used Tim Holtz Vintage Market Die)
Adhere lettering to centre of hearts
Punch small hole near top of hearts
Use ribbon or Butchers Twine to string hearts together as desired
Display banner as required

I would love to know what you think of my banner so please leave me a comment if you have time x
AND did you see my post yesterday ? A sneak peep at some candy I am putting together for my lovely followers,coming very soon !

I would love to enter the following Challenges :
1.Truly Scrumptious 57 - Anything Goes
2.Crafty Catz 83 - Anything Goes
3. Make it Monday 38 - Anything Goes
4. Polka Doodles 20 - Anything but a Card

It is nearly 1 year

2011-05-23T20:40:00.000+01:00

I can hardly believe that it is nearly 1 year since I started this blog. It was a very scary prospect because I hadn't done anything like it before and the nearest I had got to blogging was on a craft forum (now closed) and on facebook (plodding along nicely - not fb, me on fb lol).
Anyway the point of this post is to say that I intend putting some Candy together to celebrate my First Blogaversity so watch this space and here is a sneak peek ;-)

More details soon xxx

Saving Daisy

2011-05-19T21:45:00.000+01:00

Awww ! Isn't she so cute !!!

If you don't know Daisy's story please click on this link Kirsty

It would be wonderful if you could help by buying a raffle ticket and you could win a HUGE stack of crafty goodies too.Please hurry as the raffle closes on 24th May.

Toybox Treasures

2011-05-17T08:49:00.001+01:00

Over at My Time To Craft Challenge this week the theme is Toybox Treasures and for my DT card I went back to one of my favourite designers for inspiration and made this great shaped design.

Have you guessed who the designer is ?
Here is another image with a few additional props :

Yep ! It is from the creative mind of Nikky Hall at Polka Doodles.I used the Two by Two template from the Paper Boutique volume 3. As I was pressed for time this week (my 'nursing' duties take up a lot of my time I'm afraid ) I utilized the print,cut and create templates. They are brilliant and I would recommend them to anyone.Why not go and have a look.

Here is the back of the card and as you can see it is also printed with a mirror image.

This strange photo shows you the inside of the design which I printed a blue and white spot design (again from the Cd). The sentiment too is PD.I cut it with a scallop Nestie and matted it on to a larger scallop cut from left over card. I did the same with a small flower punch. You may have noticed that the front design is layered and that the back is flat. I used foam pads to give dimension to the front layers and Glossy Accents to make the windows shiny.
The design lends itself to a few occasions I think - a child's birthday,birth of Twins,Engagement or even a New Home.In this case I settled on the sentiment "Congratulations" (it covers a few of the above) and used a stamp from Waltzing Mouse Stamps cut again with a Spellbinders die. Oh! nearly forgot - I couldn't resist the little bow ; )
I would love to enter the following challenges :-
1.The Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenge 9 - Babies
2.Make it Monday 37 - Anything Goes
3.A Spoonful of Sugar 152 - Anything Goes

I love a scallop or two

2011-05-10T08:07:00.004+01:00

Morning Peeps x I hope you are enjoying a good start to this lovely Tuesday and it progresses into a wonderful day for you all x I don't know why I feel happy today but it might have something to do with having my super Hubby home for a whole week !! No more long journeys to the hospital every day and lots more 'us' time - heaven !!
I am also quite happy with my My Time To Craft Challenge DT card this week,especially as my Mojo up and left and only reappeared the other day - phew !! I had serious words with him (it has to be a him to be so naughty !!) Anyway,here is my little effort:

Cream backdrop showing a cream card base isn't the best way to show my design this week,so forgive me for poor photography but this first shot is to show the layers I have used to give depth and dimension.

The challenge this week at MTTCC,as you might have gathered, is Scallops and I have made full use of them by using red and white scallops cut from Bazzill card as my main focus.The cake image was stamped on to Neenah card using a free stamp set from Molly Blooms. It was free with Simply Homemade Magazine a while back.By the way,it is the first time I have used Neenah card and I must say I was very pleased with the quality and performance. I'd definitely give it 10/10.

I deliberately kept the base card plain because I felt there was enough going on with the shaped card and the added banners,hearts,stars and button elements.A patterned background,I felt,would detract from the main design but you decide and tell me what you think.I won't be offended if you don't agree.I used Promarkers to colour in the main image and all the other elements and secured them in place with foam pads.The final touches included adding faux stitching,Glossy Accents and 2 red gems as cherries on the cakes.

I would like to enter this into :
1.Make it Monday - 36 (Anything Goes)
2.Papertake Weekly - Fancy a punch ?

Fancy a Burger or Two ?

2011-05-05T09:11:00.001+01:00

Do you mind if I show you some fabulous crafty work one of my daughters has done ??? I hope not. But if you do,please excuse a proud Mum xxx

Can you guess the size ?

Wouldn't fill me !!

And here are the components :

I looove this and so clever,especially when you realise the actual sizes she has created.

Natalie has inherited her Dad's patience. If you would like to see more of her crafts please pop over to
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

HAPPY HAPPY NEWS

2011-05-04T08:17:00.000+01:00

HIP HIP HOORAY !!!!

HUBBY IS HOME AT LAST

AFTER 6 LONG WEEKS IN HOSPITAL

A big

THANK-YOU

for all the lovely messages of support

He is doing fine - he just needs to build up his strength now.

xxx HUGS xxx

My first twisted easel

2011-05-03T10:25:00.002+01:00

I hope you don't mind that I have used another LOTV image to do my DT card for this weeks challenge at My Time To Craft Challenge but because they are so lovely I just can't resist using them. Can you guess the theme just by looking at my card ?

Yep ! You got it right !! A Red and White Challenge. A bit obvious I think especially as I went totally OTT with the colour scheme.

I have made many easel cards as they are a favourite of mine but this is the first time I have made a 'twisted' easel.It wasn't difficult but I see that you clever people now do double and triple easels - wow! I might get around to it one day but I will never catch up lol.
Okay here is my recipe :
White Bazzill 6"x6" as the base card
Floral backing paper from Crafters Companion
Red card from stash
White paper from stash
LOTV cute square
LOTV stamped sentiment
Martha Stewart Punch around the Page
Nestie scalloped circle die
2 red gems
3 hand-made flowers (shown on previous tutorial and highlighted in picture below)

It would be great if you joined us at MTTCC this week. Why not pop over to see the fabulous examples the other team members have made for you ? - go on you know you want to xxx

I would be pleased to enter this into :-
1. Paper Cupcakes - Birthday challenge
2.Totally Gorjuss 78 - 3-2-1
( 3 hand-made flowers,2 punch around the page,1 circle sentiment )

Two more Thank - You Cards

2011-05-02T13:11:00.001+01:00

Fingers crossed we will be able to give our thanks to the great staff at The James Cook Hospital very,very soon (hopefully this week !)

I have used this cute little nurse image from Heather Ellis and I coloured her with Promarkers to coordinate with the colours from the designer papers from Cosmo Cricket - Garden Variety. The sentiment is from Waltzing Stamps and I used a Woodware Tag punch to cut the shape.I used my Nesties to cut the circles and tried the 'out of the box' technique for the first time.

This version is using the same Heather Ellis image but the colour scheme is more girlie to again coordinate with the mix of papers I have chosen. The pink card is Bazzill,the gingham background paper is Crafters Companion and the floral paper is from Pink Petticoat Vintage Rose. The sentiment this time is Papermania and cut using this time a small Woodware Tag punch. I used my oval Nesties again with the same 'out of the box' technique.

I would like to enter the following challenges:
1.Craft your passion 56 - Anything Goes
2.Pollycraft 91 - Anything Goes
3.Papercutz 89 - Anything Goes
4.Wags and Whiskers 53 - Use Dies or Punches

Thanks a Bunch

2011-04-29T09:19:00.002+01:00

I haven't made many cards lately as you know but here is the first of the Thank-You cards I have set myself to make for the nurses and hope to give in the next week or two. As you can see I have incorporated the Thanks a bunch circle sentiment that I showed you yesterday.

I have used the lovely image "Busy Doing Nothing" from Sheena Douglass that I have used before and which I stamped,as before, on to watercolour card and coloured with watercolour paints.You may have guessed that she is my favourite.

As you can see I have used several layers in my design. First the base card is an 8"x 8" scalloped edge card from Craft UK.The pretty blue background paper is from Cute Companions Vol 1. I made the doily on my Silhouette machine and threaded satin ribbon through some of the holes and I think the result is effective.

The image is layered on to blue metallic card from DCWV as is the circle sentiment which I generated on my computer.I used a scrap of the same card for the MS Butterfly (another favourite). I can't remember the make of the flowers which I bought ages ago but I think you will be seeing a lot of them as I have a shoe box full of them in lots of different colours lol . Finally,did you notice the shine on the dress ribbon ? I wanted it to look like satin so I added Glossy Accents and it seemed to work.

I am hoping to enter this card into the following challenges (the first for a while !!)
1.Craft your passion challenge 55 - Show us your layers
2.Top Tip Tuesday challenge 31 - Square Challenge
3.Simon Says Stamp challenge - Anything Goes
4.Charisma Cardz 17 - May Flowers
5.Moving along with the times 96 - Anything Goes
6.Sarah Hurley 40 - Butterflies

Thanks a Bunch Freebie

2011-04-28T11:15:00.001+01:00

Dear Hubby is still in hospital but we can see a light at the end of a very long tunnel at last ! So in anticipation of handing out Thank-You cards sometime soon to well deserved,hard-working nursing staff, I have been trying my hand at producing a suitable circle sentiment.This is what I came up with :

It is simple but effective I hope. I originally designed it to fit one of my punches and copied and pasted it several times to fit on an A4 sheet. I wasn't sure how to show a single image here in it's original size but by taking it into a design programme such as My Craft Studio it can easily be altered to any size you wish.

I'm sure most of you will know better than me how to do these things but if anyone wants to copy this image they are welcome to do so although it would be nice if you could mention from where it come and include a link to my blog. Thanks a bunch xxx

Perfect Pets

2011-04-26T10:18:00.002+01:00

Have you got a perfect pet ? We have - our Suzy Cat. She is so cute and no trouble at all, infact she has been good company for me lately although she much prefers Hubby. However, promise not to tell her but I would love a little doggie.One to go for walks with and groom and play ball. I love the idea of this great doggie image from LOTV with his young master - going everywhere together.
Don't you ?

This is my DT card for My Time To Craft Challenge which this week is entitled Perfect Pets. I am not entirely happy with my design this week and if I had the time (and energy) I would re-do it.
I know what's not quite right with it but I'm not telling !

The design started with an 8"x8" white square card base which I covered with a background paper that I made by stamping on a dog image over a distressed design from the Basic Grey basic white paper pack.The dog stamp was part of a free gift with a recent magazine purchase.The LOTV image was stamped onto watercolour card and coloured with watercolour paints. The spot paper is from the Basic Grey Kioshi paper pad and I pulled out the colours from this for my colour scheme for the image and orange glitter card.The circle doily is Marianne and the sentiment is LOTV.
We will be so pleased to see your Perfect Pet designs at MTTCC this week so do come and join us with your perfect pets.

Good Friday

2011-04-22T19:11:00.000+01:00

I should be happy tonight.
Hubby was allowed out of hospital for a few hours this afternoon and our son brought him all the way home just so he could spend a little time in his own home with me.He has now been in hospital 31 days and he is going stir crazy. He should have been home on Monday but he got a blood infection which knocked back his progress.He is still very weak and has lost a lot of weight. We haven't been told yet but it could be another week before he gets the all clear and finally gets discharged.
It can't come soon enough for me - then I will be happy.

Thank-you to everyone who has sent me kind messages x

Easter Wishes to You All

2011-04-19T11:04:00.003+01:00

I have had a hectic time since last Thursday and it continues but I was able to put a simple card together yesterday for this weeks My Time To Craft Challenge which has the theme of Easter Wishes.

I used this super sweet image from Clearly Vintage and teamed it with a background paper from the Popcorn Bear Cd : Birthday. I printed the image twice and decoupaged one cut out image of the girl and the rabbit onto the other with foam pads to give added dimension.

For a change I have made a gate fold card base made with Yellow Bazzill Dot and I used the same card for the Marianne Creatables fancy corners and the image mat.

The opened card shows the insert that you can create also using the Cd. To complete the design I added a little glitter to the flowers and two butterflies cut from the same background paper and embellished with blue gems.

(A short update : Hubby had his Bypass last Thursday but is still in hospital because he now has an infection and has been really poorly.He is as weak as a kitten. I'm so hoping that today he will have improved as the antibiotics do their job.)

Medical Update

2011-04-15T13:30:00.000+01:00

My gorgeous Hubby had his Bypass Operation yesterday and I'm happy to say that everything went well and now he is on the road to recovery. It is early days but we feel confident that he has a great medical team looking after him and he will be home very soon.
I also want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has left me lovely messages. I want you to know that they mean a lot to me and they really help me to cope. XOX

On the Spot

2011-04-12T10:12:00.000+01:00

I have made my first card in nearly 3 weeks thanks to this weeks challenge at My Time To Craft. The theme this week is On the Spot so anything that has something to do with spots and dots - easy peasy !!

For obvious reasons you know that my mojo is rather low just now so I was pleased that I had treated myself to some lovely LOTV images recently. This is one of the cute squares so I didn't have to colour it in and it meant I could make a quick and easy card this week. The spots, regarding the challenge, are on the background paper and also on the dress.

I have teamed the image with a lemon and red colour scheme. The spot background paper is Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety,the lemon base card is Bazzill and the red card is from my stash. To complete the design I have added a white heart shaped doily,a metal heart charm,a die cut flourish from Marianne Creatables, cut from silver mirri card and a red organza bow.

I do hope you will join us at MTTCC this week as it's always lovely to see your fabulous creations.
Love to you all xxx

Nautical

2011-04-05T10:10:00.002+01:00

It is difficult for me to craft at this time so I hope you don't mind me showing you a few cards I made last year (and have already shown on here) which fit the theme at My Time To Craft Challenge this week.

The papers and images are all taken from Kirsty Wiseman's fabulous Cd, Colour Me Crazy.I really love these images and colours.
The rest of the DT have made some gorgeous samples to inspire you, so please pop along and have a look and I hope you have the time to join our challenge this week.
Hope to see you next week xxx

Added Note :
Just to explain : I'm finding it difficult to craft because I'm tired,I make a 50 mile round, road trip to the hospital each day,get home late and not surprisingly,my head is somewhere else. Sorry x

Mum's the Word

2011-03-29T10:48:00.000+01:00

Here is my DT card for the My Time to Craft Challenge which today is entitled Mum's the Word (or in my case Mam's the word ).The design is taken from the super Polka Doodles Paper Boutique I Cd which is probably my favourite PD Cd to-date.

The card is an A4 size and about 10.5" high.The flowers are formed and layered to give dimension. I added double layered MS punched butterflies which I glazed with Glossy Accents and added letters die cut from TH's Vintage Market ( I might change the Mam to Mum for D in L to send to her Mum if she wants it).

It is embellished front and back.The Tags can be positioned where preferred or left off altogether.

The inside is decorated with a large matching flower.
I do hope you pop along to MTTCC and join in the challenge this week as it will be great to have your support and see your creations x

A Personal Message
A BIG Thank-You to everyone who has sent their best wishes and kind words for me and my husband. It is wonderful to know that there are such good people in this mad world. Your prayers must be working because he is remarkable well considering everything. The staff at the James Cook Hospital are looking after him really well and hopefully he will get his operation in the next week or two and then be on his way to a full recovery.Love to you all xxx

An Update

2011-03-27T20:51:00.000+01:00

My darling husband has been very lucky to have survived a heart attack last Wednesday as now we know his heart has been in a poor condition for quite a while. The result is that he is in hospital waiting for Bypass surgery.He is being very positive and looks remarkably well considering. I on the other hand am worried sick and not surprisingly my moods are up and down.
I want to thank the wonderful people who have sent me best wishes,love and prayers for hubby's full recovery.Thank-you so much xxx
I hope to be back on Tuesday with my DT card for MTTCC which thankfully I made last week-end x

Excuse Me

2011-03-24T22:27:00.001Z

This is just a short note to ask you to excuse me for a short time while I deal with a medical emergency to my darling husband.If you are able, a prayer would be most welcome. Love and hugs to you all xxx

Ladies Day

2011-03-22T10:46:00.002Z

My DT card this week for My Time to Craft Challenge is vintage style and the theme is entitled Ladies Day.

The first thing that came to my mind was The Races - Cheltenham and Ascot. Ladies dressed in hats and all dolled up to the nines.Well I haven't included horses but I really liked this scene of Ladies (and Nanny with the children of course ) strolling in the Park in their best gowns and the Pooch groomed and prettied for his stroll too.

Not a brilliant photograph but there is no doubt that my design is monochromatic. I have used white,black and silver.The base card is a white 8"x 8" square card and I have used black Bazzill card for the matting.

I made the Butterfly background paper by stamping and heat embossing in Silver. I can't remember where I got the stamp and I have never used it before but I thought it stamped very well. The white scalloped mat was cut on my Silhouette.The black and white stripe paper is from Papermania Monochromatic Collection as was the Butterfly and flowers. The silver ribbon was from my stash. The image is a Freebie from Clearly Vintage and I added Glamour Dust to the bodice of her dress and a little to her face veil. I made the frame with a Spellbinders Frameabilities in a silver pearlescent card from stash and finally I added a Mother's Day sentiment.

I would love to enter this card into the following challenges :
1.Crafty Creations 110 - Mother's Day
2.Charisma Cardz 11 - To 'Die' for
3.Digi Doodles 51 - Anything Goes
4.Crafty Catz 74 - Mother's Day
5.Stampin' for the weekend 6 - For Mum/Mother's Day
6.CES 28- Inspired by a Song (Hello Dolly)
7.Ladybug Crafts Ink 20 - Monochromatic
8.Craft Your Days Away 16 - For Mum
9.Cup Cake 134 - Monochromatic
10.Incy Wincy Designs 86 - Embossing
11.Paper Cupcakes - Vintage
12The Shabby Tea Room 54 - Bingo (Die Cut,Embossing,Ribbon)

I'm a Bad Blogger

2011-03-21T11:21:00.003Z

I know I'm a Bad Blogger because I don't post more than once or twice a week but if I haven't made anything then I can't show you anything and then I get down because I think I am neglecting you (and I don't want to do that !). I don't particularly want to get into the habit of rambling on about my life. Firstly, because this blog is about crafty stuff and secondly,I lead a very dull life so I wouldn't want to bore you to death (are you still reading this or have you switched off ! lol )
The other reason I am a bad Blogger is because I haven't always passed on Awards that I have received. There are a few reasons : can I cover the conditions ? ; who do I pass them on to ? ; will they want them and acknowledge them ?
What's all this leading up to ?? Well the lovely Pat (My work in Progress) has today passed on this Award to me and I want to be a good Blogger and this time pass it on as per the conditions.

First THANK-YOU Pat for thinking of me. Now I have to tell you 7 things about me ( Are you sitting comfortably ? Don't worry I'll be quick )
1. My parents were Italian
2. I was born in England
3. I lived above Dad's Ice Cream / Sweet /Coffee shop
4. I love Ice Cream
5. I love Espresso Coffee
6. I love my gorgeous husband and family
7. I love my blog friends
Now I will try to pass on this Award to 15 blog friends. It is a pity I couldn't pass it on to all of my lovely 40 followers so my strategy this time is to go for the last 15 who joined me on my Journey UNLESS they already have the award (as far as I can tell). OK ? Please remember to acknowledge receipt of the Award PLEASE.
1. Alison - Ali's Thoughts
2. Jacki - Cards by Jacki
3. Pat - Pip's Pastimes
4. Debbie - Debbie's Craft Time
5. Lisa -sorry I don't have a link for Lisa
6. Sarah - Lazy Daisy
7. Ann - sorry I don't have a link for Ann
8. Nicoletta - I love Scrapbooking
9. Donna - Morning Glory Craft Cottage
10.Laurie - Designer Diva
11.Sue - Scoopy's Stuff
12.Shirley - Nannieflash
13.Lisa Jane - Mess 2 Magic
14.Yenni Natalia - Scrapcollector
15.Giovanna - Le Piccole cose di Gio

Now then - that took me nearly two hours to compose so now you know another reason why I'm a Bad Blogger - I'm too slow but I hope the above lovelies accept the award,knowledge it please and pass it on. Fingers crossed XXXX

Hand -Made Spiral Flowers

2011-03-16T21:47:00.000Z

A while back I tried my hand at making my own paper flowers and after a search on the internet I decided to make some based on a spiral design. Most of you will have seen them and probably you have made some yourself. However,the other day a visitor to my blog ( that's you Donna ) asked how I had made the flowers I had added to my cards. Well here is my small attempt at a tutorial :
The Recipe.
1.Circles of paper of any size you wish ( I used my 1.5 inch and 2.5 inch punches )
2.Scissors
3.Wet Glue

4.Cut into the circle to form a spiral

5.Starting at the outer point add a little glue and begin to roll up the spiral

6.Continue rolling and adding glue to the bottom edges of the spiral.Manipulate the tightness while the glue is still wet. Stick down the last bit which originally was the inner part of the spiral.Allow to fully dry.

These flowers can be made using plain,patterned and stamped papers and in lots of sizes. However they can be very deep so you have to take that into consideration when thinking about sending your creations by Mail.

Home Sweet Home

2011-03-15T11:13:00.004Z

Ask anybody and they will tell you I am a bit of a home girl. I like everything to do with houses and household things,except maybe the dreaded ironing. Mind you I have that down to a fine art these days and I might tell you my secrets one day if you are good to me - he-he x But getting down to today's business I want to tell you about the challenge at My Time To Craft Challenge. The theme this week is Keys and I came up with this offering :

For me, I thought immediately of houses so no surprise there but there are many ways of incorporating keys into your design and you just have to check out the great samples for inspiration from the DT. As you can see I have kept my design fairly plain and simple,both with the actual image and the colour scheme. I did wonder if it was too plain so I tried some distressing but decided "No,not this time".What do you think ?

Showing optional distressing

I liked it but I didn't go with it in the end.Instead I kept it plain and hoped the simple design would work particularly because I wanted only to high-light the central house. I did this by only colouring that building as the home in question.

Showing the heat embossing

This is a very poor photo but I am including it in the hope of showing that I heat embossed the houses and the sentiment. The embossing powder is the brown shade from Sheen Douglas WOW powders and I must say they are very fine and really good. The stamps are from October Afternoon and I used Kraft Card,Bazzill and Mirri Card. I cut the keys with a Nestie Shapeability Die.

The cards are only 120cm square and I thought perfect for a little New Home card so I made two (anyone moving soon ?).
I would like to enter this card into the following challenges :
1.Paper Sundaes 60 - Keep it Simple
2.Paper Cupcakes - Monochromatic
3.Do You Stack Up 10 - Layers (my design was lifted with foam pads)
4.One Stop Craft Challenge 122 - Clean and Simple
5.Papertake Weekly - Trio - Tastic
6.Try it Tuesday - Chocolate Therapy (The colour Brown)

A Gift

2011-03-13T16:56:00.002Z

It's a wonder I have this card to show you at all because everything went wrong and I had to re-do,re-adjust and re-photograph ! Grrr !! But I got here in the end even though the photo still isn't brilliant.

This is the other half of the Molly Blooms stamp I got free in a magazine a while back.I used the little boy with the balloons previously here. For the main ingredients I have used Pink Petticoat Vintage Rose papers (again free in a magazine) and Bazzill card for the base,mat and the Nestie frame. The design is based on a sketch at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge and I have added ribbon from stash,a sentiment from Craft Work Cards,foliage cut from a Marianne Creatables and a flower I hand made.

I would like to enter the following Challenges with this card :
1.Fussy and Fancy - A sketch by Mindy
2.Phindy's Friday Challenge 46 - Thinking of You
3.Daring Cardmakers - Home Baked (Make your own embellishment)
4.Raise the Bar 57 - Create your own G.R.E.E.N acrostic (G=Girl,R=Ribbon,E=Embellishment,E=Embellishment and N=Nestie)

More Pics as Requested

2011-03-10T18:46:00.000Z

I hope it's okay to show the card I got from Dorcas in it's full glory (I haven't asked her so I hope she doesn't mind).

It's a gorgeous creation, perfectly coloured and even more gorgeous in real life.

I got a surprise package in the Post today

2011-03-09T20:27:00.000Z

Here is a peek at the fabulous surprise I got in the Post today -

Do you know what it is,where it came from and who the fabulous person is who sent me this surprise TOTALLY OUT OF THE BLUE ? (The watermark is a bit of a give away lol )

Birthday Wishes

2011-03-08T10:15:00.007Z

Hope you don't mind but I've added an extra pic :

Good Morning friends x How are you today ? I'm happy today because it's Tuesday and you know what that means don't you ? Yes,you are so right,it's another fabulous challenge at My Time To Craft Challenge and this week the theme is Jewels. Isn't that a great theme ? We would love to see your creations that have anything to do with jewels. I had loads of ideas for this one from a Pirate Chest to a String of Pearls but I am still in 'fairy' mode so this is what I ended up making.

A sugar-sweet colour palette (very Spring-like) and I do think lemon and pink go well together especially when we are talking dressy-uppy little girls don't you think ? The whole design started with the Jewelled Crown which I bought over a year ago thinking it was perfect for adding to a card for my Grandaughter. The next thing was this perfect image from Polka Doodles which already had a crown but I was able to mask it to leave a space for the gem crown.She is actually a Christmas Stamp and her name is Fairy Polly. Say Hello to Polly lol

I stamped on to watercolour paper and coloured with watercolour paints again.I actually did 4 images altogether in order to practice,improve and make sure I had something worthwhile in the end. I'm happy to say that I now have 3 decent images all completed and added to a card design (yay!!Hope to show you another time). I added Glamour Dust to the wings and Stickles here and there for that fairy touch.

The DP's are BasicGrey Porcelain (all so pretty),the image is matted on to glitter card,the flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts and the sentiment is Craft Work Cards. I based the design on a sketch at Sweet Stampin Challenge.
I would like to enter this card into the following challenges :
1.Sweet Stampin Challenge - A Sketch
2.Basic Grey 39 - Wings
3.Ladybug Crafts Ink 18 - Spring Colours
4.Stampin for the Weekend 5 - Springtime
5.Crafty Calendar 18 - Spring
6.Incy Wincy Designs 84 - Pastel Colours
7.Wags n Whiskers 49 - More than one fold
8.Papertake Weekly - Lemon Zingy

In the Garden

2011-03-05T15:09:00.002Z

I don't know if this little girl has a name but I think she is really cute and I have been wanting to use her for a while. She was kindly given to me by Lindsey who has been encouraging me to colour in images. (It's not perfect Linds but I'm still trying x )

I coloured the image with Promarkers this time and used ink from a Big and Juicy ink pad to create the sky ( I didn't have anything else, so needs must !). The card base is Bazzill and the vibrant DP's are BasicGrey Lime Rickey.

I love dimension and layers on my cards so this time I have added flowers taken from a Polka Doodle CD - I think it was Sugar Birdies and I computer generated the sentiment which I have mounted on to a Piggy Tale Spring - quite appropriate I thought considering the 'Spring' challenges I hope to enter lol x

I would like to enter this into the following :
1.Scrapbook Sisters Card Challenge 25 - Spring
2.Fab'n'Funky Challenge 62 - Spring into Action
3.Creative Inspirations Challenge 101 - In the garden
4.Crazy4Challenges 77 - A Sketch ( I used this sketch for my card today)

I picked this Just for You

2011-03-01T11:12:00.003Z

Isn't this little girl just so cute ?

She is from the Sheena Douglas A little Bit Sketchy stamp set and I think this one is called Busy Doing Nothing. I picked her Just for You and of course for my DT card at My Time to Craft Challenge this week which has the theme of Infants. The theme is very broad and we would love to see your creations that include children or something for children.Come and join us as it would be wonderful to see your crafty makes.

My effort is another easel card but I based the design on the sketch at Phindy's Challenge Blog. As the image is quite large and my card is based on a 6"x6" card. I went with the easel design in order to allow more space for the sentiment. It also gave me the chance to use more of the pretty Pink Petticoat papers called Vintage Rose.

I have mentioned before that I struggle with colouring in images. I've tried Promarkers,Copics,Watercolour Pencils and a mixture of all three. This time I used watercolour paper and watercolour paints and I think I found it a little easier but it's early days and I will see how this works out. (Yesterday I posted a card that I also coloured with watercolour paints but this little cutie was my first attempt ).
I would love to enter this card into the following Challenges :
1.Phindy's Challenge 43- A Sketch
2.DYSU Challenge 8 -Anything Goes
3.Incy Wincy 83 - Spring is in the air
4.One Stop Challenge 120 - Spring Flowers
5.Crazy4Challenges 76 - Use Flowers
6.Sir Stampalot Challenge - March Challenge
(I hope the yellow hair counts !)

What's at the bottom of your garden ?

2011-02-28T23:32:00.003Z

I'd like to think that we had a fairy or two at the bottom of our garden but we actually have a compost bin and lots of weeds ! Never mind, it's unlikely but I can dream.

This is Gracie,one of the Fairy Flutterfly's from Polka Doodles. I stamped her on to watercolour paper and coloured her with watercolour paints. She is mounted onto glitter card and finished with Glamour Dust.I tried to keep the colours delicate but as usual it all looks different on the computer.

The papers are Sweet Blooms from ColorBok. I embellished the design with 2 ribbons,3 punched butterflies, and I added a butterfly charm. The sentiment is from Craftwork cards.
I would like to enter the following challenges with this card :
1. Cute Card Thursday Challenge 55 - A sketch
2. Crafty Creations 107 - At the bottom of my garden lives ..
3.The Creative Cottage 33 - Fabulous Florals
4.The Pixie Cottage 58 - Sketch or Something Cute
5.Polka Doodles Week 8 - Stashbox Stamps and Extras
6.CES Challenge 25 - Flowers and Flutterbys
7.Paper Sundae 58 - How Charming
8.Creative Inspirations 100 - Stripes

Do you wear a hat ?

2011-02-22T10:27:00.007Z

I have the grand total of 3 hats. Big brimmed creations that I bought for Weddings but I have never really got used to wearing a hat and although I was happy to 'get dressed up' it is not something that I get the chance to do very often. Anyway I digress. Today the theme at My Time To Craft Challenge is (you have guessed it) Hats !

I found the image of these gorgeous ladies at Clearly Vintage where Cora posts Copyright Free Images that you can use. She also has a range of vintage stamps that you can purchase. The image has been matted on to a die cut made using a Nestie.

I have used another Laura Ashley paper in a flocked Damask design in dark grey and salmon.The base card is Bazzill, chosen to coordinate with the DP. I based the design on a Sketch at Basic Grey Challenge . The other papers are Cosmo Cricket Material Girls and plain Velum.

The finishing touches are lace from Prima ,velvet ric rac from CandC,sentiment from Craftwork Cards and finally a metal charm in the shape of a hand mirror and 3 gems from my stash.

I would like to enter this card into the following Challenges :
1.Basic Grey Challenge 38 - A Sketch
Silly ME !! I cant enter BG Challenge even though I used their sketch. I didn't include any of their stuff : (
Have deleted my entry from their blog. boo hoo !!!
2.Crazy4Challenges 75 - Use Dies ...
3.Incy Wincy Designs 81 - Use punches or Dies
4.A Spoon Full of Sugar 140 - Birthday Wishes

Sweet Blog Award Update

2011-02-21T19:43:00.000Z

Yesterday I wrote that the very lovely and sweet Dorcas sent me a Sweet Award and that I was chuffed that she had even thought of me and I said I would be back with more sweetness. Well in order to accept the award properly I have to tell you 3 sweet things about me and pass on the award to 3 other sweet people.

I found this very hard to do, hence the delay.First I couldn't think of anything 'sweet' about me so I went to the next best thing - my family.
Number one - My husband. He really is the kindest,most caring and loving man you could ever meet. I know because we have been married for yonk-odd years and he must be the 'sweetest' to put up with me. lol
Number two - My children - Three of the sweetest human beings you will ever find. Kind,caring and loving.
Number three - My Grandchildren - Eight of them (yes I said 8 !!) All sweet,kind and loving. Just one example of their sweetness was when I was ill recently and two of the youngest ones showered me with love by making me drawings.

Okay,now on to the even harder bit !! Who ?
I would like to pass this on to :
Chrissie - who is always kind and helpful and keeps me right : )
Debbie - who is generous and sweet and cheers me up : )
Laney - who is a sweet lady who visits me often : )
I hope they will accept this award and maybe pass it on to 3 other people. Ideally I would have liked to pass this on to you all xox

Sweet Award

2011-02-20T14:40:00.000Z

I got a Sweet Award yesterday from a sweet lady and I just had to show it to you because I am sooooooooooo chuffed !!

Thank-you Dorcas but I should be giving this to you. You are kind,helpful and loyal and I will add, fun. Hugs x

I will be back to tell you a couple of sweet things and pass on this award to 3 more sweet people.
Ta ta for now x

A Special Friend

2011-02-19T14:54:00.002Z

I am still learning how to colour in with various mediums and I alternate between my few pens and few pencils but I very rarely feel I have done a good job. I actually find it very difficult. However,when I received my prize from Sketching Stamper I knew I would have to try harder to achieve a modicum of success. This is the result with the Sketching Stamper image called "On the phone".

You are probably thinking "That is very brown !" Well obviously it is and I think I have over done it a bit but I wanted to follow a few challenges. One specified Chocolate as the colour and the other Monochrome so that is why this design came about as it has.

As you can see I made an easel card mainly because I haven't made one for a while but I also thought that the image, which is quite big, needed a design that would allow room for embellishments. The papers are from Polka Doodles Cd Sundae of Seasons and the sentiments from my stash.

The close-up shows my colouring (don't look too close please) done this time with Copics. I paper pieced the dress and her hair band and added one of my hand made flowers to her shoulder which I thought was quite fashionable (Is it ?). I added 3 flowers that I punched with a Martha Stewart flower punch from the scraps of papers that were left over.
I am daring to enter this card into the following Challenges :
1.Polka Doodles week 7 - Chocolate
2.Stampin for the Weekend Challenge 4 - Monochrome ..
3.Totally Paper Crafts 54 - Do it with Digi's
4.Creative Card Crew - Friendship
5.Rainbow Lady's 140 - Use something from a CD
6.Phindy's Place 43 - Monochrome

Spots and Shiny Beads

2011-02-17T20:27:00.003Z

Just a little project to share tonight - can you guess what it is ?

Another view

Did you guess straight away what it was ?

I hope you guessed it was a cute,little bag because I made another of the little purses I am so fond .They are ideal for little gifts for little and not so little girls. For embellishment,I used 2 contrasting Prima flowers and added seed beads to the centre and used coordinating beads to construct the handle. I love ribbon for handles but I really like the look of this bead handle - I think it makes it more special.
I would like to enter this project into the following Challenges :
1.CRAFT Challenge 90 - Not a card
2.DYSU Challenge 7 - Dots
3.A Spoon Full of Sugar 139 - Anything but ....
4.Ladybug Craft Ink TLT 15 - Anything but a card
5.Moving Along with the Times Challenge 86 - Anything for a Little Girl but not a card

Going Around in Circles

2011-02-15T12:13:00.000Z

How did Wendy, at My Time To Craft Challenge, know that the theme Going Around in Circles exactly matches how I feel this week ? Strange ? Odd ? Not really, as I expect that most of us will feel like this a lot of the time. Especially when we are trying to juggle family,home,work and our obsession with crafting lol . Anyway,I got there in the end and here is my DT card for the challenge this week :

It is a simple design and one which I have been wanting to try out for a long time.First,I want to say again that on my computer the colours are not quite true. In real life the colours are much more subtle - not dark brown but more of a taupe with creams.

The DP is Laura Ashley again and because it is highly decorative I allowed it to dominate the background. The gold and white circles and the sentiment are from Craft Work Cards and I used foam pads to adhere them to the background in order to give the dimension this design needs to make it more effective.I have been saving them for this type of design and now I have done it, I want to do more. Finally,to complete the design I added a few gems to the circles.

Over the Moon !

2011-02-12T23:18:00.000Z

Today I was thrilled and honoured to see my name on 3 (yes 3!!) different Challenges as a winner ! How lucky am I ? But I can tell you it has lifted my spirits and given me much needed encouragement to keep going.

This card was chosen at the CRAFT Challenge as 1st of the Top 3 and also one of the Top 3 at The Pixie Cottage Challenge. I really am honoured as there is nothing better than a fellow crafter liking your work.

With this card I was the Random Winner at Allsorts Challenge Blog and that was pure luck as I was number 266 and they had a massive 465 entries - wow !

Hearts and Flowers

2011-02-08T10:25:00.001Z

I have achieved 2 goals for today's post. First I have completed my card for the challenge this week at My Time to Craft Challenge which is Hearts and Flowers and secondly I personalised this Valentines Day card for my darling Hubby.

It is very feminine with the pale pinks and greens but I don't think he will see it as too fluffy and sentimental. He might not admit it but he likes a bit of fluffiness now and then - in moderation you understand as he is British and all that stereotypical thingy-mejig stuff lol

Okay the recipe : I did well again this week because I purchased another craft magazine and to be honest only because it had what looked like a super free gift. It was. A super,free stack of Pink Perfection, Vintage Rose papers - gorgeous !! I used 2 of the papers which matched perfectly with the die-cut hearts from Carol Wilson that I have had stored away for a special project I hope to make one of these days. To complete the design I added the gorgeous, sparkly letters and the silver ribbon bows. The final touch was the sentiment from Kay and Company which I had also in my stash.
Will he like it ?
I would like to enter this card in to the following challenges :
1.Allsorts Week 89 - It must be love,love,love
2.Crazy 4 Challenges 73 - Valentines Day
3.Secret Crafter Saturday 120 - Valentines
4.Polka Doodles Week 5 - With Hearts
5.Raise The Bar Challenge 52 - Hearts
6.Crafty Calendar Challenge 17 - Love

Thinking of You

2011-02-06T11:07:00.003Z

The shops are awash with Valentines Day stuff and you can't go anywhere or do anything without bumping into a red heart or two !! I'm not against it - infact I love a show of love and affection however not everyone,for whatever reason,can join in with this fun. I'm not going any deeper with this but it's there and with this in mind I came up with this little offering.

Actually,the design of this card lends itself very well to many occasions. It just so happens that I decided on Thinking of You because the little bird seems so alone in his little cage but it could have been Missing You or even Welcome Home. Change the colours to red/pink and it could be that special Valentines Day card.

For this card and this occasion I have gone with muted colours again. The papers are Laura Ashley, the cage,bird and foliage are from Marianne Design dies and I pulled everything together with cream ribbon, buttons and flowers.I hand-made the central flower from cream Moondust paper - my first attempt !!
I would like to enter this card into the following challenges :
1.Delightful Challenge - Come Fly with Me
2.The Pixie Cottage Challenge 55 - Sketch or Buttons
3.Dutch Dare Card Challenge 98 - Buttons,Buttons.Whose got the Buttons
4.CRAFT Challenge 88 - In the Roll of a Die
5.Sarah Hurley Challenge 28 - Die Cuts
6.Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes plus flowers

Look what I got in the post today !!

2011-02-05T12:06:00.003Z

Aren't I the lucky one ?
A fabulous card, lovingly and skilfully hand-made by Dorcas and sent to little old me as part of the Pay It Forward game (see my side bar) and it certainly made me smile all over my face !!

THANK-YOU DORCAS I AM SO HAPPY TO HAVE RECEIVED THIS WONDERFUL CARD X
The image is such fun and your colouring is perfect. I love the colour scheme ,the way you mat and layer your design and the machining - how do you get your stitching so straight ? (Note to self - practise every-day !!)

My First Blog Candy Winner

2011-02-02T15:01:00.002Z

My First Blog Candy!

My First Blog Candy Winner!
I offered my Followers a Polka Doodles Cd rom called Love and Cherish .

All you had to do to win was be a Follower and follow the few rules.

The odds of winning were good as only 5 followers left a comment.

I was very happy to put all 5 names into the 'hat' and with the help of our super cute, youngest Grandson Joshua

he picked a winner ...........drum roll ...............

The WINNER IS PAT !!!!!

Please email me your address and I will get this super Cd to you very,very soon xxx
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL -
As a thank you to all 5 who entered I will also send Laney,Lindsey,Chrysalis and Anne either a card that I have made or a little bit of Candy if they too send me an email with their address.
Thank-you folks and I hope to hear from you soon xox

I'm in such a Flourish !!

2011-02-01T10:53:00.002Z

Doesn't time fly when you are enjoying yourself ? I have been very busy this week and before I realised where I was it was Tuesday again ( funny how the days come around every seven days isn't it ?).

The theme at My Time to Craft Challenge this week is Flourishes and actually I love a good flourish so I was more than happy to get cracking on a suitable design - infact on two designs !

I chose the DP first,it's an Anna Griffin design that I bought a few years ago but I don't know the name of it and just in case your screen shows different ,the colour is green. I teamed the DP with a coordinating Bazzill cardstock from my stash and the base card is a square, scalloped card from Craft UK.

I had recently purchased a Marianne Design die which included these fabulous flourishes so I was able to incorporate these into my design. Frankly,I hesitated incase two were too much but I threw caution to the wind and 'blinged it up' with the two silver flourishes.(It's meant to be a special card for a special occasion anyway).

Finally,the image I decided to use jumped out at me from my little stash of stamps - the Papermania Signature Chatsworth Vintage Collection. I went everywhere to get these stamps (last year ?) but hadn't actually got around to using them until now! I absolutely love them - the bird cage,the chandelier,the chair,etc. x I love them that much I went on to make more cards in a similar design with similar papers but I will keep them for another time.
As you can see from the images,I machine stitched one of the layers and added a sentiment taken from the same collection. The final touch is the addition of a little more bling in the way of two sparkling gems. Finito !! I hope you like them xx
PS.I'm going to keep you in suspense about the winner of my Blog Candy - I will now announce it tomorrow xxx
I would like to enter the following challenge :
1.Paper players Challenge 32 - Anything Goes
2.Gingerloft Challenge 10 - Things that fly ( Birds in the cage)
3.Kaboodle Doodles Challenge 52 - Make it Monochromatic !

My Blog Candy deadline is tomorrow

2011-01-30T21:10:00.001Z

Eee!!! 24 hours and counting down to tomorrows deadline !!!!
There is still time to enter here

Evening All

2011-01-27T20:35:00.001Z

Good Evening lovely followers,bloggers and visitors xxx

This is just a short post to remind everyone that my Little Candy giveaway is fast approaching the deadline.You only have until Monday to enter to win this super - fabby Polka Doodles Cd. Just for you I am making one change - I WILL POST ANYWHERE - so not just to the UK !!!!
Click here to enter - go on you know you want too !!

You make me smile

2011-01-26T10:17:00.000Z

I am so in love with is little boy x He is so cute and I just want to cuddle him x I just had to use him again x

Can you remember I told you a couple of posts back that I got him free with a magazine ? He came with an equally cute little girl and some sentiments and no surprise that she will be making an appearance here very soon.

The Recipe today :

Brown -light and dark shades - coloured Bazzill cardstock
Molly Blooms Acrylic Stamps
Blue/white Polka Dot paper from Kirsty Wiseman's Colour Me Crazy Cd
Promarkers and Copics
Thickers/American Crafts Number 5
Buttons and white card from stash
Glossy Accents and glitter on balloon

I would like to enter the following Challenges:
1.Charisma Cardz Challenge 3 - Magic Numbers
2.Papercutz Challenge 75 - It's your Choice
3.Stamp Something - Cute Somethings
4.Sweet Stampin Challenge - Clear as Mud ( Brown and 1 other colour)
5.Woodware USA Clear Stamps 11 - Anything Goes

Emboss,emboss,emboss ...

2011-01-25T10:58:00.003Z

The great theme at My Time to Craft Challenge this week is Emboss,emboss,emboss and I have been itching to get some ideas down on to paper/card for this challenge. The trouble was, the embossing powders I had ordered to do the design I had in mind, still hadn't arrived when the deadline approached ! Panic ? Me ? Never ! haha!! As it happened I went to a local Papercraft Show on Sunday and although I was worried about not being at home and actually crafting, I definitely wanted to go because we don't have many shows in my part of the world and I didn't want to miss it. I needn't have worried because I definitely came away with lots of inspiration and a few little purchases including a super embossing folder that I used to make this little card :

The embossing folder is called Sycamore and it's by Craft Concepts - I love it and it was reduced (even better ) !! It embossed cleanly and with good depth so I decided to try to bring out the image even further with a little chalking. I used a creamy lemon colour which I thought coordinated well with the base card I had used.

I am using a lot of buttons on my work at the moment even though I don't have a great stash of them but luckily these buttons work well with the 2 Kioshi Basicgrey papers I have used.

To complete the design I used a spotted ribbon in lilac and stamped a sentiment from the Papertrey Button Bits stamp set on to lilac card which I then cut with a Nesties label die.
I would like to enter this card into the following Challenges :
1.Craft Your Days Away Challenge 12 - LOVE
2.Everybody Art Challenge 126 - My favourite thing (Buttons)
3.Craft Your Passion Challenge 42 - Use 2 Patterned Papers

Happy Birthday Little Man

2011-01-22T20:30:00.002Z

Last week-end I did something I don't do very often - no I didn't down a couple of bottles of Red nor did I scoff a full box of Chocolates ( or anything else editable !) No, it was much better than that - I bought a craft magazine because it had a super set of free stamps from Molly's Blooms.You have probably seen the magazine and stamps. Anyway,it gave me the inspiration to try and do something with them.Here is my effort :

To start with I chose some of my favourite papers from Polka Doodles Not for the Girls Cd and then I coloured the stamped image of the boy with Promarkers to coordinate with the papers.I am still learning how to colour in images successfully and I veer mainly from using Watercolour Pencils to Promarkers or even a mixture of both. I can spend hours practising but most of my efforts sit in a box and never get used on a card.Some are okay but inspiration fails when I come to using them but this time I managed to come up with this design.

To complete the design I used coordinating glitter card and ribbon,used Glossy Accents on the balloon and layered paper and card stars to add dimension. I'm not totally,100% happy with it but I do love the colours and the little man is very,very cute.

I would like to enter this card into the following Challenges :

1.Creative Card Crew - For Men

2.Allsorts Challenge 87 - Male / Boy

Pay it Forward

2011-01-20T22:32:00.001Z

I have just joined in a fabulous game over at Dorcas Designs Blog called Pay it Forward and this is how it goes :

I promise to send something handmade to the first five people who comment on this post. However, there's a catch. You must post this, offering something handmade to five other people.

The rules state that it must be something handmade or homemade by you and needs to be sent to five other people during 2011.

I can't promise exactly when but it WILL come!

If you'd like to join in the fun, then be the first 5 people to post a comment and something handmade or homemade will be coming your way at some point this year.

Isn't this a fun game ?

Come play and join the fun !

By the way,if you haven't come across Dorcas Designs before, then you are missing something special - go see - her work rocks !!

Dotty About Dots !

2011-01-18T10:26:00.035Z

. . . . . Are you as daft about dots as I am ? . . . . . . If the answer is yes then you are in for a treat this week as the Theme at My Time To Craft Challenge this week is Dots and Spots or if you prefer Spots and Dots lol (Sorry I couldn't resist. You can tell I don't get out much can't you ?). Lots of ideas went through my mind for this challenge but I ended up making this little Dotty Purse.

I like making things other than cards and like a lot of ladies I love purses and bags. This design is from K and Company Kit which I bought a few years ago. They are perfect for small gift boxes and I have made and given away several already and there are still loads left to make.

It is not obvious from this photo but I added a green and blue Tartan ribbon to the band around the purse which I was pleased to use as I have had it for about 10 years (wow). I made the handle from beads and ribbon I got yonks ago with a Magazine which were intended to make a bracelet (wow wow).The tags were part of the kit and I secured them with a metal ring.

I hope you like my little effort this week and you get the time to pop over to MTTCC and see the fabulous inspirational work by the other team member.Also a little reminder about my Candy Giveaway which closes at the end of the month - the link is on the side bar x
I hope my little purse qualifies for the following challenge :
1.Craft Your Days Away Challenge 11 - Anything Goes

Blog Candy Reminder

2011-01-13T11:39:00.000Z

The front cover

This is a photograph of the actual Polka Doodles Love and Cherish CD rom that I have as Candy for my lovely Followers. I wanted to show that the CD is brand new,unused and waiting for a lovely crafter to explore and use the fabulous designs and images to full effect.
All you have to do to win this Candy is to click on the link on my side bar and follow the rules.
Go on - don't be shy x
You have a very good chance of winning this fab candy but time is running out !!

The back cover

Chocolate Anyone ?

2011-01-11T11:00:00.004Z

Oh! if only I could !! I'm still on my diet so when I was given the theme for this weeks challenge at My Time to Craft Challenge I wondered how I would cope. I thought that maybe I should taste a few chocolates to give me inspiration but I was good and came up with these paper sweeties instead which are calorie free. Not the same as the real thing but I did get quite inspired in the crafty sort of way,which is much better and less fattening lol

I actually came up with several ideas for this challenge but settled for this design which, as you can see, represents 9 square chocolates,in paper cases presented on a doily. I also made a shallow box to complete the design.

'Iced' Decoration


A close up of the Lid showing the Tag

The Challenge is not just about Chocolate Sweets,the Theme is Chocolate and the DT have come up with a great selection (heehee) of design ideas to inspire you.It would be great if you had time to join us this week.
The ingredients I used were :-
3 Shades of Brown Card from American Crafts
White paper for the Doily
Pink Pearlescent Card from stash
Liquid Pearls in Petal Pink and White Opal
Sentiment stamp from Papertrey
Punch around the Page from Martha Stewart
Tag Punch from Woodware
Satan Ribbon from stash
I would like to enter the following challenges:
1.Craft Your Days Away Challenge 11 - Anything Goes
2.Tip Top Tuesday Challenge 17 - Anything Goes
3.The Cuttlebug Spot- Inspired by a Song
(Sweets for My Sweet - The Drifters)
4.Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge 64 - Food and Drink
(Chocolates are a delicious food - yum yum x)

First Ever Blog Award

2011-01-05T15:31:00.001Z

I have just received my first ever Blog Award and it came from Chrissie aka Simply One of a Kind. Thank-you Chrissie for thinking of me x

Digi's with Attitude have some fabulous images and this award comes along with a $5 Gift Certificate, if you complete the requirements.

In order to qualify for the $5.00 Digi’s With Attitude! Gift Certificate you must state 3 things that make you different from everyone else and you must nominate 5 Blogs. Lastly, you must display the Blog Award Badge (above) in your sidebar and link it back to the Digi with Attitude Blog

If you have been awarded the “I got the Attitude! Blog Award” and you have followed all the steps please email dwacblog@live.com to claim your Gift Certificate. Include your full name and your Blog name. Only one gift Certificate per person / Blog.

Gift Certificates will be sent to you within 48 hours of receipt on a business day via a reply to the email received.

OK now I need to tell you three things which make me different from anyone else which is impossible really so forgive me if I'm the same as you :

My parents were Italian
My childhood home was an Ice Cream and Sweet Shop
I had lots of friends (lol)

Now I would like to pass on the award to :
1.Lindsey - Loopy Lindsey's Craft Corner
2.Debbie - Love Paper Crafting
3.Wendy - Crafty Butterfly Blog
4.Cheryl - Cheryl's Creative Cards & ATC's
5.Patricia - My Work in Progress

Fingers crossed that I have done everything right x Happy Crafting Everyone x

Up in the Air

2011-01-04T12:13:00.001Z

What does "Up in the air " mean to you ? Well at the moment to me it means 2 things :
1. My whole routine is up in the air and the pieces haven't fallen to earth yet
and
2.It's the fabulous theme at My Time To Craft Challenge this week

Version 1

I finally got myself semi-sorted and actually put together 2 cards using the Everyday Button Bits Stamps from Papertrey Ink.I bought them over a year ago but have hardly done anything with them however when I saw the theme for this week at MTTCC I immediately thought of the Hot Air Balloon stamps and set about trying to come up with a card design as my DT contribution.
I stuck with a simple,mainly white design which I thought would emphasise the main feature - the buttons. To give more interest I embossed the white card using two different embossing folders from Provo Craft (Swiss Dots and the never used before Bloom Dots).To complete the design I used foam pads to add dimension and lift (very appropriate I think lol)

Version 2


A close up

I would like to enter this card design into the following challenges :
1.Simply Create - Challenge 34 I'm the Boss ...
2.Ladybird Crafts Ink TLT - Challenge 9 Anything Goes
3.Paper Sundaes - Challenge 50 Something New

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE !!

2010-12-31T16:23:00.000Z

Couldn't let 2010 go without saying Thank-You to my lovely followers and all visitors to my little Blog

and wishing you all a

VERY HAPPY AND SPECIAL 2011

Santa Baby

2010-12-21T09:58:00.002Z

Morning all x I hope your Christmas preparations are going well and you are looking forward to the big day. Our preparations are moving in the right direction. I have done very little crafting but especially for you I have pulled out all the stops and made not 1 but 2 cards to finish off my crafting for 2010.Tomorrow my craft room will be tidied (eeek !),tools stored away,table cleaned and dismantled and basically the house prepared for 16 visitors for the big event !
But now (drum roll) I would like to share with you these cards which follow today's challenge at MTTCC - Santa Baby.

I used the Corset Clarity Stamp which I have had for a while but hadn't used and I coloured the stamped images with Promarkers. The background paper is from Kirsty Wiseman's Colourful Christmas Cd. (I think). The holly was left over from a Holly Wreath Christmas card I did previously and I completed the designs with silver mirri card and glitter,a few gems and red ribbon all from stash. I am not sure if you can tell from the photo but with the second card I stamped the image twice and layered a cut out version on to a base image which gives a little 3D .

As I haven't made Hubby a card I thought I might surprise him with the first one thinking I could be his Santa Baby this year ( wink wink say no more !! ) but he came in just as I was doing this Post, picked up the card and said " ooh ! Who is this for? I could have sent you that one as you are my Sugar Baby " Aww !!!

Lastly,just another reminder that I have Candy to be won and so far only one lovely follower has entered. The candy is open until the end of January so you still have plenty of time.Hugs x

Today is Tuesday

2010-12-14T21:55:00.000Z

Forgive me for stating the facts - Today is Tuesday and as you already know, it has been Tuesday all day !! The problem is I forgot !! I have been rather distracted with all the Christmas preparations and I think I have finally ground to a halt ! However I will always have enough energy left to tell you about the latest challenges at My Time To Craft Challenge. The brief this week is called Around the World Tour and we would like you to create a card which depicts a Country of your choice. It is a great challenge and gives you lots of scope to wander to a favourite Country. I hope you will have time to visit the Blog,see the DT cards and maybe enter the challenge.

PS. Don't forget to enter your name in my little Blog Candy - Hugs x

A little Candy as promised

2010-12-13T17:00:00.004Z

Good Evening All. I hope this Monday evening is finding you well and you are not panicking about everything that still needs to be done - unlike me !! All of a sudden I feel swamped, so like a lot of people I need to take a deep breath and stay calm !
As promised I am offering a little Candy in gratitude to winning a fabby prize from the Polka Doodles recent Blog Hop and what is more appropriate than to offer a prize of the Love and Cherish Cd rom from PD ?

The Cd ( This is a picture from their web site and not the actual one I have at home which has a slightly different front cover ) has over 1000 printable elements and is perfect for all your Valentine and Wedding Cards that will be coming up next year.

If you would like to win this CD you MUST :

BE A FOLLOWER ( all new followers are more than welcome),

LEAVE A COMMENT UNDER THIS POST TELLING ME ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF (don't be shy !!)

I am sorry but I can only post the Cd to a UK address.
EDIT- Just for you I will now post this Cd to any Worldwide address

I will leave the Candy OPEN until 31st January 2011 so you have plenty of time to enter and it lets us get over the Christmas and New Year Festivities.On 31st January I will put the names into a 'hat' and draw a winner which I will announce the following day.
There are not many of you therefore you will have a very good chance of being the winner so I do hope you will enter. Good Luck x

Who's a lucky girl ?

2010-12-09T18:54:00.001Z

ME !!!!!

I'm sure you will know, or at least have guessed, that I am a big fan of Polka Doodles and I have most of Nikky Hall's Cd's. I think her designs are unique and I and many other people looooove them !

So why am I a lucky girl ?
Well, because I received this today -

I was the very lucky winner of this prize on Nikky's Blog - it was one of the prizes on the recent Polka Doodles Blog Hop. Isn't it a fantastic prize ? I still can't believe that I was so lucky (still jumping up and down with excitement) x
I feel so fortunate and therefore I would like to share my good luck with my lovely followers. Over the next few days I am going to put together a little bit of Candy for you to win - so watch this space ! I will be back very soon !!!

Reindeer Greetings

2010-12-07T12:20:00.009Z

Good Morning Everyone.
Greetings from me and my friend Rudolph x
(That should be Good Afternoon now !)

I knew I wanted to make this card even before I found out that the theme at MY TIME TO CRAFT CHALLENGE was set this week as Reindeer Greetings. I feel in love with him when I saw Nikky showcase her then new, Polka Doodles CD, Paper Boutique Vol II, on Create and Craft months ago and I knew I wanted to make him. I even purchased the red sparkle paper at a Craft Fair back in the Summer (yes we did have one - can you remember?) especially for Rudolf's nose !!!

Basically all you have to do is choose either a coloured or blank version of the design template,print it out,cut it out and assemble it the way you want it to look.It might look complicated but it isn't - you just need a steady hand and a bit of patience - simples !! For my version I added black glitter to his eye-lashes,white glitter to his hat and green glitter to the Holly leaves,Glossy Accents to the berries and to complete the design I used a white Sakura pen to add high-lights to his shiny nose. Aww x
Well I am a little behind with my usual routine thanks to me being abducted by my DD1 and taken off to do Christmas Shopping at The Metrocentre yesterday for "a few hours" which turned into a marathon 8 hour session of me following said daughter from shop to shop on her spending spree ! I enjoyed it really except I was so hyper after drinking so much coffee at Costa and Starbucks that I couldn't sleep last night - lol

I am hoping I can come back and maybe enter a few challenges with this card later today but we will have to see - fingers crossed x
1.A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge 133 - Christmas Card
2.The CD Sunday Challenge - Christmas Sparkle
3.2 Sisters Challenge Blog Challenge 16 - Sparkly Christmas
4.Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge 112 - Christmas

Counting the Days to Christmas

2010-12-05T23:04:00.001Z

How many Advent Calendars have you put up this last week ? Well if you have children and you are like our family then you will have at least one per child - full of yummy things to eat ! My children have their own homes and family now and I did make Advent Calendars for them but today I want to share one of two I made for our home. This one is much more healthy - no sweeties - shame I hear you say !!!

It is 12" by 12" and was made using various Sizzix Advent Calendar Dies. My daughter Natalie bought the dies last year and she kindly let me borrow them - I think they are fabulous.

I chose traditional colours to make mine but Natalie is much more modern than me and she chose pastel colours.

All 25 images were cut,pieced,glued and embellished. It was time consuming and fiddly - not really my 'thing' but it was worth it I think. Mind you if you wanted to make them to sell the labour costs would be very high,especially at my speed ! lol The main card used is Bazzill with various bits from stash.

I would like to enter this into the following Challenges:
1.Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge PP25 - Anything But A Card
2.The Paper Players Challenge 27 - A Christmas Theme
3.ABC Christmas Challenge - Y For Yuletide

Yet Another Snowy Day

2010-12-01T20:32:00.002Z

It has been snowing here in the Northeast of England for the last 8 days and although it looks beautiful when it first falls it causes a lot of disruption.These days I prefer the white stuff on pictures, photographs, film or even through a window from a warm and cosy house.I took this photo the other day and the snow is even deeper today - brrrr !!!

A much better place for snow is on a Christmas card. I made another one today using the lovely Bunnies from LOTV. I love this image so forgive me for using it again. This time I have used a sketch from Papertake Weekly and teamed it with a lovely satin ribbon.

The Bunnies are so cute and I just love the little mouse in the bottom left corner delivering the presents - awww.

I have made quite a few Christmas cards now thanks to the inspiration from many fabulous challenge blogs and their design teams and this card is ear-marked for someone special. I hope she likes it x
I hope to enter this card into the following Challenges and say Thank-You to them all :
1. Papertake Weekly Challenge 51 - A Sketch
2.Creative Inspirations Challenge 48 - Christmas Gifts
3.One Stop Challenge 108 - Christmas Cuties

Sew Sweet Vintage

2010-11-30T11:28:00.003Z

Thanks to this weeks challenge at My Time To Craft Challenge I have managed to get my creative juices back on track.It is a great theme and we would like you to make a card with a Vintage feel. The theme allows for many interpretations for all sorts of occasions.My contribution will eventually travel several hundred miles to my sister in Italy for her birthday early next year (shh don't tell her).

Sewing was one of our favourite pass-times when we were still at home,infact we both went on to study Textiles/Dressmaking in further education. When the kids were little I made most of their clothes and it's only in relatively recent years that both of us haven't done much sewing.

I love the colours of these papers from Cosmo Cricket called Material Girl although I would not have said they were my favourite colours before I saw these papers. In real life they are vibrant and I think they suit the vintage feel of this card perfectly.Altogether I used 4 different designs from the paper stack and teamed them with cream,greens and a deep orange.

The sentiment label and cotton reel circle are also Cosmo Cricket,the Tailor's Dummy is from Clarity Stamps and I have added ribbon,buttons and lace from stash. The pins are also from stash but I coloured them with Promarkers to match the design.One last thing - I machine stitched the papers to the cream base card.

I hope to enter this card into the following Challenges:
1.Paper Cupcakes Magical Monday - Anything Goes
2.Papertake Weekly - Cut it out
3.Tip Top Tuesday - 12 Anything Goes
4.Ladybug Crafts - 5 Caz's Colour Wheel

Cute Christmas Bunnies

2010-11-27T15:50:00.001Z

Hello my friends I hope you didn't give up on me this week ! I have been looking at all your fabby creations but it has taken me until today to pull myself together and get some crafting done.It helped that I finally received a prize I won many weeks ago (Mr. Postie has been very naughty) and I have used one of the LOTV Cute Square which was the prize from the lovely Dawny in a Blog Hop.

Aren't these Bunnies just so adorable ? I have been wanting some LOTV images for a while so I was over the moon to win some.

I followed the Sketch from the LOTV Challenge this week and used my never-ending stack of the Daisy and Dandelion Christmas Collection - A Winter's Tale. I die-cut the papers and mirri card with a Nestie, punched a Martha Steward Snowflake Border and added some glittered K and Company Snowflakes. To finish I added a silver sentiment circle.
I would like to enter this card into the following Challenges :
1.LOTV Challenge Blog 75 - Bev's Sketch
2.Allsorts Challenge 80 - Monochrome
3.2 Sisters Challenge 15 - Non Traditional Christmas Colours
4.Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club Challenge 45 - Use a Die Cut

Tag Along

2010-11-23T10:41:00.000Z

Apologies for not being around since last week and I'm afraid it might be like this for awhile as appointments and family commitments have caught up with me.I hope you won't abandon me as I will be here but maybe not able to share my crafting as much as I would like. However,today is Tuesday and I wouldn't miss Challenge 116 at My Time To Craft and I hope you won't either. This week the theme is Tag Along (add a tag to your card).
I think you know how much I loved the Martha Stewart Gingerbread Stamps I used before so no surprise then to see that I have used them again.

This time I have used them individually on A6 size Kraft Cards but the techniques and materials are very similar.I used the Distressing Ink and Gingham again but this time used Stickles for the eyes and buttons and I felt the reversible red and green ribbon was ideal to compliment the colour scheme.

Window Fun

2010-11-16T10:38:00.000Z

Another week has passed and here we are with another super challenge at My Time to Craft Challenge today. The theme this week is entitled Window Fun. The DT have made some fabulous samples to inspire you and it would be great if you had a look and joined us this week with your wonderful offerings.

I chose to do a layered design with a scene showing a room which is set for Christmas.The tree is ready with it's tinsel and shiny red star and the wall is decorated with a Christmas picture.

I designed and cut out the window on my Silhouette and assemble the scene using papers from stash to represent wallpaper and a carpet. The tree was taken from KW Colourful Christmas Cd and double layered using foam pads for depth.I decorated the tree with Stickles for the tinsel and added some star gems for extra sparkle.The red star was highlighted with Glossy Accents to make it shine.

I order to make the window more realistic and to give it a little more strength,I added acetate to the back of the frame before it was adhered to the front of the card. Finally to finish,I added a little Flower Soft Polar White to represent snow on the window frame.
I hope to enter this into the following challenges:
1.2 Sisters Challenge 13 - Christmas
2.Craft Your Days Away Challenge 8 - Christmas Trees
3.Totally Gorjuss Challenge 56 - Traditional Christmas Colours

A Heathy Option

2010-11-15T22:26:00.001Z

Healthy eating and the obesity 'bombshell' especially regarding kids is such a worry, so I hope this more healthy option of a favourite fast-food meal will be just the thing for one of my Grandson's this month.

I have made this design before and it comes from Polka Doodles Not for the Girls Cd again.The Burger and Fries have been cut out and layered with foam pads for dimension and the printed blue paper folded to make the carton or pocket for the Fries.The tickets and sentiment strip are both on the Cd .

See what happens when you get a 'lift' - you start making cards again !!!! (see previous post!)

I needed a 'lift' today and I got one tonight

2010-11-15T19:53:00.002Z

Hope you don't mind me posting this but I have been struggling to produce anything crafty for days and 5 minutes ago I checked one of the challenges I had entered to see if winners had been announced. I actually let out a scream when I saw my name in the Top 3 !! I am excited,thrilled and very happy and I feel 'lifted'.

Thank-You 2 Sisters for liking this card :-

It may be because I am fairly new to this and I don't know about other crafters but I really do love people looking at my work and liking it. I enter challenges to share my work,not necessarily to win (although that is great) but most importantly for me are the lovely comments I get - that's the real buzz for me. Comments are the nourishment I need to feed my creativity xox

A surprise win

2010-11-13T17:42:00.000Z

Isn't it great to get a nice surprise ? Well I got a message today from Trish to say my handbag card had been selected at Simple Doodles for a Top 3 win and it was just the 'lift' I needed today.Its very exciting to know that people like some of my work and it gives me much needed encouragement to stay on this particular journey.
This is the card in question -

Thank-You Simple Doodles and thank-you everyone for looking xox

Rapsody of Roses

2010-11-09T10:45:00.000Z

Didn't I tell you I would be back with this design idea ? I might as well apologise now because I just can't get enough of this design and I know I will use it again. Do you forgive me ? Do you mind ?
This time I have made a bright and summery version as a very special card for a special friend who is celebrating her birthday this month.It is also my DT card today for My Time to Craft Challenge this week.

The fantastic flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the papers are K and Company Madeline.

As the papers are quite 'busy' I wanted a contrast to break-up the detail, so I chose quite a bright green Bazzill card stock as the base. To be honest I am not sure if it isn't too bright but at least it is cheerful.

The Roses are definitely the best bit of this card and if you haven't got your hands on some yet I would head over to have a look at them here - I'm sure you will love them too.

As for the rest of the design I used :-
Scraps from my box for the leaves,
2 Xcut Botanical Punches,
Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch,
Spellbinders Fancy Labels,
Sentiments from Craftwork Cards,
Ribbon and pearl-head pins from stash.
I am entering this card into the following challenges:
1.2 Sisters Challenge Blog 12 - Birthday
2.Crafters Companion Monthly Challenge 6 - A sketch or One for the Girls

Wishing You a Sweet Holiday

2010-11-08T15:37:00.001Z

At last I have had the inspiration to use the Martha Stewart Gingerbread Men stamps I purchased at least a year ago and although the photo doesn't do the colours justice, I am inclined to think that I have found THE Christmas card design I will reproduce to send to a lot of my friends. I looove them !!

I have based my design on a sketch at Waltzing Mouse but I also hope to enter other challenges too.

I don't do a lot of stamping mainly because I am still learning and I don't always get the results I want as you can probably tell with this effort and it puts me 'off '. Other reason's are my lack of stamps and inks - crucial you will know for this technique lol x However, I am hoping the subject justifies using far from perfect images - since when where gingerbread men expected to be perfect !
Now for the details.I have used Kraft Card for the card base,the mat and the tags. I distressed/inked the edges with Rangers Distress Ink (Brushed corduroy) and stamped with Archival Ink (Coffee). I cut,frayed and machine stitched red and white cotton Gingham to the base with red embroidery thread. To complete the design I added RED stitched ribbon and RED and GREEN bead gems to the tags - contrary to the colours in the photos!
I would like to enter this card into the following challenges :
1.Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge - 22
2.Totally Papercrafts Challenge 41 - Tag it ..
3.Delightful Challenges - Stitching
4.Charisma Cardz Challenge 44 - With love @ Christmas
5.Dutch Care Card Challenge - 90 - Clean and Simple

It's Windy Today !

2010-11-05T10:46:00.005Z

Actually it is windy today but although it is overcast and dull,the rain hasn't arrived - yet !!!
Today I would like to share with you a little project I attempted this week- a large card with a little extra !!

The card is 8"x 8" and I have used all papers and card from stash, as used in other recent designs.The fabulous image is from Polka Doodles Paper Boutique Vol.II (again) but this time the 'extra' is inside.

I added 2 page pockets that hold notepapers and envelopes which are designed to be used to say Thank-You for Christmas gifts.I used a stationery set design from Cute Companions Christmas Collection CD.
Typically after I had taken the photos I realised that the inner pages were a little plain and although I have now added stamped snowflake images and a greeting, I am sorry that I haven't been able to retake photos.Forgive me x
I would like to enter this into the following :
1.Dottie's World Challenge - Anything Goes - A Christmas Project
2.TipTop Tuesday Tip 8 - Christmas Inspired Challenge
3.Pollycraft Monday Challenge 68 -"It's Chill Time"
4.Patties Creations Design Challenge 3 - A Christmas Card or Creation
5. Bah! Humbug Challenge 43 - Fancy Folds

Even more Candy to be won and a new Blog to follow

2010-11-04T22:26:00.001Z

In my travels for MTTCC I visited Dorcas Designs Blog and I liked her work so much I became a follower. She is offering some great candy to celebrate getting 100 followers :

For a chance to win, all you have to do is leave her 3 interesting things about yourself and you don't even have to become a follower. Why not go and see what I said and leave your own comment ? Let me know if you win mind !!

More Candy to be Won

2010-11-04T16:37:00.000Z

There is some fabby delicious Candy to be won HERE and you have until next Monday to enter so be quick!

Happy Birthday Brother

2010-11-03T10:58:00.003Z

You have probably worked out by now that I am a big fan of Polka Doodles - Nicky Hall's fabulous designs. In this latest card I have used her Not for the Girls - definitely for the Men CD.

I made this card for one of my brothers as it is his birthday this month.I'm not saying he is as old as the cars on this poster but I think as a car lover,he will appreciate their classic style and design.

All of the papers and images were taken from the CD and all I added was the cream base card,gold mirri card,a bit of ribbon and 2 fancy tool brads.I used the 'poster' of the cars as the main focal point of the card and arranged it so that it could be removed from behind the ribbon to be viewed properly.

The sentiment and image on the back are from the CD too.
I hope to enter this into the following challenges:
1.Cards for Men Challenge 22 - Anything Goes (as long as it's male)
2.Papertake weekly Challenge - Penny for the Guy
3.Paper Sundaes Challenge 42 - For the Boys

A Win

2010-11-02T11:21:00.002Z

Forgive me for being excited by another win but I found out this morning that I was Challenge 65 Winner at OLLCB and I am very happy that people thought my work was good enough. It was with this card :

AND while I am here I want to add a BIG THANK-YOU to my lovely followers and I am sorry I haven't posted much this week but I am suffering with the dreaded C O L D !!! I'm still managing to do a little crafting but rather slowly however "I'll be back asap" xox

Quick and Cute

2010-11-02T10:41:00.003Z

It is Tuesday again and time for another challenge over at My Time To Craft. This week the theme is Quick and Cute. It is a perfect theme after the stress of half-term holidays and Halloween. Why not relax and enjoy making something quick and easy and instead of nasty ghosties and creepy things you can indulge in cuteness and sweetness ? Ah !

This card was definitely quick and easy to make and the mouse image is so cute. Not only that but the total cost was minimal because I used the My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary papers that came FREE in a Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine which I bought back in August and had never used.They are lovely summer colours and a nice change at this time of year.Even the sentiment was included in the paper stack.

The layers are raised using foam pads to give dimension,the image was coloured with Promarkers and I couldn't resist the final cuteness - two tiny pink flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Pop over to MTTCC this week and show us your quick and cute creations as I would love to see your fabby creations xox

Autumn Wreath

2010-10-26T12:47:00.002+01:00

I have been wanting to try this design idea for a while and now I have done it and I can see I will definitely be doing another. I think it lends itself to all sorts of possibilities don't you think ?

To start with I cut out a circular frame using my Nestabilities in a brown Bazzill and then I arranged and layered leaves that I had punched out with 3 of my Xcut Botanical Embossing Punches.I used various patterned papers from previous work that were basically scrap (I never throw anything away !)

The finished wreath was then adhered to a cream Bazzill base with foam pads to give it additional dimension. To finish I threaded a brown satin ribbon through a Shapabilities die cut fancy label which I had stamped with a Waltzing Mouse stamp. This was then wrapped around the front of the card. One final touch - the brown gems on the label (I love gems ).
I would like to enter this into the following Challenges:
1.For Fun Challenges - Red,Brown and Cream
2.Crafty Creations Challenge 90 - Red,Brown and Green
3.The Cuttlebug Spot Challenge - Welcome Fall
4.Rainbow Lady's Challenge 123 - Autumn Foliage
5.Daring Cardmakers - Autumn Leaves

Would you like to pick a pocket or two ?

2010-10-26T10:57:00.005+01:00

It is Tuesday and time for another challenge at My Time to Craft Challenge and this week we would like you to make a card or other project which includes a pocket - or two! It is a great theme and it would be fabtastic if you shared one of your creations with us.

I had great fun making this animal print, handbag shaped card. I don't watch soaps and I may be completely out of date but I thought it was very 'Betty Lynch' - have I got that right ?

I have used this shape before but it was much more twee last time. I had one sheet of animal print card so I was hoping nothing would go wrong when I cut out the shape on my Silhouette Digital Die Cutting Machine and I teamed it with a gold embossed card which I used for the back of the card,the pocket and trims.

I hand-stitched around the pocket before adhering it to the front of the card and added a fancy metal "Hello" brad. The tiny envelopes in the pocket where made using a punch and the same paper I used to line the inside of the card. The sentiments where stamped with Waltzing Mouse stamps.I couldn't resist adding ribbon and a heart charm.

To save card I could have made the back of the card with plain card but what the heck - this looks much better I think.

I have added this last photo just to show that I also added a pocket to the inside of the card together with two more tiny envelopes.
I would like to enter this into the following challenges :
1.Mejen's Designs Challenge 30 - Anything Goes
2.Paper Cupcakes - Magical Monday - Die Cuts
3.2 Sisters Challenge 10 - Anything Goes
4.Simple Doodles Challenge 29 - Shape it out

Cute Baby Carriage

2010-10-24T20:26:00.002+01:00

No apologies for using this super cute image again from Kirsty Wiseman's Colour Me Crazy CD as it is a favourite of mine and as I was asked to make a card for a baby girl this week I thought this would be very welcome (pun intended).I have based the design on a sketch from Cute Card Thursday but I also wanted to enter a few of my favourite challenge blogs.

The card base is a pink Bazzill cut to 6"x6" square and I used Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut the different sized squares other than the yellow Polka Dot which I cut with a trimmer to 51/2"x51/2". I also incorporated pink glitter card to give a little sparkle to the design. I matted and layered the shapes using foam pads to give dimension .The sentiment was computer generated and cut with a Tag punch.To complete the design I used Sakura Glaze Pens and a black marker to give some definition to the shapes.

I hope to enter this card into the following :

1. Cute Card Thursday Challenge 135 - A Sketch by Lynn

2.Kerber Weekly Challenge 10 - Kids and Babies using a Digi Design

3.Polka Doodles Week 42 - Welcome New Baby

Kirsty Wiseman's Wednesday Night Crop 201010

2010-10-21T11:43:00.001+01:00

I enjoyed another live crop with Kirsty and the gang and completed this Layout in super quick time but I was helped enormously by having this great photo I was given from Joshua's Mum who is now on a photographic course. She has only recently started the course so I am hoping I will get lots of great photos to scrap with as the year progresses.

I still can't get good photos of my work but I'm working on a solution.

I followed the sketch that we were given and used the limited papers I have so don't be surprised if you recognise papers and elements from previous work. The base card was Bazzill basic, layered with BasicGrey Basics. The patterned papers,tag and car embellishment are October Afternoon. I cut the title with a Provo Craft die.Otherthan a few hand drawn squiggles I think that is it except to tell you that monkey's name is HERE-HE-IS, named as you might have guessed by Josh - Awww ain't that cute :-)

Ghoulies,ghosties and long leggedy beasties

2010-10-19T10:37:00.004+01:00

After saying that I don't usually 'do' Halloween I was inspired to create this card and submit it as my second DT card for My Time To Craft Challenge 111.

The papers are from My Minds Eye Spiders Web (although the photo doesn't show their true colours and they are much better in real life),the base card is black Bazzill and most of the shapes were cut from some cheap black card I bought at a supermarket last year. I used black glitter card to form the landscape and orange glitter card for the moon.Yellow glitter card was also used behind the house to give the impression of light from the windows and door.

I am lucky to have a Silhouette Digital Cutter from Quickutz and I was able to easily cut most of the digital images on the machine. I came up with the idea of using the Grave Stones as the support for the easel after spotting a design in blog-land where a dog was used. I think it is a great idea and gives more dimension to the card.To complete the design I added die cut letters for the word BOO and a little white Sakura glaze to add a touch of moon-light to the Grave Stones.
I hope to enter this into the following Challenges :
1.Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge - week 2
2.Top Tip Tuesday - Top Tip 7 "Anything Goes"
3.Creative Inspirations - Challenge 45 - Halloween/Fall
4.Moving Along With The Times - challenge 68 -Halloween
5.Oh la la Creations - Challenge 65 - Scary Stuff
6.Bee Crafty - Challenge 40 - Halloween

HIP HIP HOORAY !!!

2010-10-17T19:26:00.001+01:00

I have just checked my Blog @ 19.21 and my followers have gone from 13 to 14 thanks to the lovely Chrissie. A Big (((( HUG)))) to all my fantastic followers xxx

Trick or Treat ?

2010-10-17T13:02:00.002+01:00

I have never, ever made a Halloween card or other Halloween related craft before now and to be honest as a family we have never really got into the 'spirit' (ha-ha) of Halloween. I think I am too much of a Scared-y-Cat !! Nevertheless, I have conquered my fear of ghosts and witches and put together this design to share with you.

I used one of those cheap brown bags from a pound shop and put together a design made up mainly from digital images,machine and hand-cut shapes and die-cut lettering. The background paper is Basics Kraft from BasicGrey and the yellow moon and tag is Bazzill basics.I used gardener's string to tie on the tag.

Intentionally,I high lighted the letters EAT in the word TREAT.
I hope to enter the following challenges :
1.Polka Doodles week 41 - Something Spooky
2.Karber weekly challenge 9 - Halloween
3.Stamping Royalty challenge 41 - Spooky Kooky aka Halloween
4.The Creative Cottage challenge 25 - Halloween
5.Stamp Something challenge - Halloween Somethings
6.Dutch Dare Card Challenge challenge 88 - Tagalicious

More fabby candy to be won

2010-10-15T17:31:00.000+01:00

There is some fantastic Candy to be won here and it's really,really worth having a look !! Go on you know you want to !!!

National Flag Colours

2010-10-14T22:09:00.003+01:00

I have put forward my first card as a Design Team member for My Time to Craft Challenge 110 - National Flag Colours. It was a little late due to Admin etc. so I am not sure if they will use it yet but at least I have made a start.

The papers and most of the elements are from Craftwork Cards Anglomania Range which I bought at the height of football fever during the World Cup. The quality of their papers is excellent and they are easy to work with - I love their card Candy too.

I made this one too -

I'm not superstitious

2010-10-13T19:31:00.000+01:00

I'm NOT superstitious but today is the 13th and I have 13 followers so wouldn't it be nice if someone else joined us and made it 14 ?

I promise I am not being greedy but ......

2010-10-13T19:15:00.000+01:00

Honest I'm not !! and if you go and have a look at this Candy at Pink Gem you won't be able to resist either !

I have won some Candy

2010-10-13T16:48:00.001+01:00

I was very excited and happy the other day (still grinning ) to find out that I had won some "Mystery Candy" from the lovely and very talented Lindsey . I had taken part in Craftycatz Birthday Blog Hop and like a good bunny I hopped about and left my comments at each of the DT Blogs as directed.
Today I am so pleased to show off my" Mystery Candy" which was personally chosen by Lindsey to compliment the small number of Promarkers I already have and which arrived today.

Aren't I a lucky girl ? and isn't Lindsey a lovely lady ? I am so happy :) Thanks again Lindsey xxx