Julie's Blog - Catch Me Crafting

Spots and Dots, and Stars!

2012-02-18T09:07:00.000Z

Morning all - lovely Saturday here again! I've managed another double today and my card is for the new challenges at Basic Grey and CES Challenges.

At CES the theme is Spots and Dots

and at Basic Grey it's Wish Upon a Star!

My gorgeous image is from Mo Manning which you can find here, and I've used it for a new baby card.

My Basic Grey papers are Hello Luscious and Indie Bloom, both purchased from Crafty Emma's store. Also from Emma's are the Baker's Twine, Buttons, Pin and charm. She also has a great stock of Pro and Flexmarkers! Oh and the card blank!!

Look at those little chubby feet - gorgeous!!

The Star is Born sentiment, I did on the computer and then cut round a star shape, the teeny baby love tags are Stampin Up sentiment stamps and so is the punch for them. The Boy sentiment is from stash and the clouds a Memory Box Die.

The star ribbon is from the days when Primark used to wrap their pj sets with ribbon!!

Well, hope you like and hope you can join in one or both of the challenges!! If you'd like a bit inspiration click on the following links to see the wonderful makes of my fab teamies at Basic Grey and CES Challenges.

At CES Challenges we have a fantastic £10 voucher to spend in Crafty Emma's Store - lots of new goodies in!!

At Basic Grey Challenges, we have our usual fabulous sponsor, Simon Says Stamps with a terrific $25 dollar voucher to spend with them!

That's it from me today, I'm off up to Hertfordshire shortly to have lunch with my lovely boy !! Enjoy your weekend!!

Let's go to the Hop (Oh Baby) with Mo's! Dream Team and Colour Create - BOGOF

2012-02-16T07:00:00.066Z

Yes I have a Double today - one card for both this month's hop with Mo's Dream Team and our new challenge at Colour Create.

You may have gathered from my title that the theme at Mo's this month is Music as chosen by me!! So, the music theme can be reflected in the image (as long as it's one of Mo's of course), papers or embellishments.

And here is the gorgeous photo inspiration for our new Colour Create Challenge - Lilac, Blue, Kraft and White are your colours with the optional extra of making a paper charm, chosen by my wonderful teamie, Sabrina.

For my card, I've chosen the super cute Cupid in Love - who says Valentine's cards have to be red!! This was actually for my husband and I think the colours work rarther well for a male valentine recipient.

My papers are mostly from my scrap drawer so no names I'm afraid but the music sheet is by Lili of the Valley, the Heart is a Memory Box die combo and the love sentiment and envelope is from a Penny Black set, Clearly in Love. The music food of love sentiment is from a very old Debbie Moore set that was a bargain at fair a few years ago.

I've made my little heart charm from a corrugated coffee cup sleeve with a little Gold Acrylic Dabber - like this idea alot, thanks Sabrina!!

Now if you're hopping along with usat Mo's, I'm at the very start so hopefully you won't miss any of the gorgeousmakes by the rest of Mo's Dream Team. To carry on, just head on over to thefabulous Debby4000, who I'm sure will have some wonderful dimensional work thatshe is the absolute master of. Don't forget to leave a comment on all of thecards on the hop as somewhere there are hidden two lovely $5 vouchers tospend in Mo's Digital Pencil store.

At Colour Create we have a surpriseprize this month, wouldn't you like to know what that is - love surprisesespecially when they're the crafty kind!!

Thanks for staying with me this far -happy hopping and happy creating!!!

Whiff of Joy Challenge 123

2012-02-15T08:00:00.000Z

Hello again, bloggers. Hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's evenings, don't go in for it a great deal here, although we do exchange cards and I got some choccies and some Kopparberg cider which is delicious - he knows the way to my heart!!

Back to my card and this is for the new challenge at Whiff of Joy, where our uber- talented teamie, Jane has provided this fab sketch.

For my card, I've used Baking Tray of Love which you can find here (along with the gorgeous new release of images and dies TODAY!) My papers are Crate Paper Farmhouse and MME Honey Cake and the recipe is from Lili of the Valley.

Lots of flowers, including my new favourite resin roses from Ebay. And a handmade torn flower made with the MME papers.

Rest of my bits from stash and can't remember the origin, sorry!

My fabulous teamies have got some awesome cards to share with you and inspire you so hop on over here if you'd like a peek!. If you need any more, we're being sponsored by Whiff of Joy this fortnight with 15% off your next order for one lucky winner!

That's it for today, I did manage to do a bit of hopping last night, but still very much in catch up mode at the minute - thanks for being patient with me!!

SNS Challenge 81

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000Z

Morning, can't believe the weekend has just gone!! Where is what I'd like to know! Oh I hate Mondays, apart from the fact that it's time for our new challenge at Sketch N Stash! This challenge's sketch has been designed by the fabulous Danielle and it's a beauty!

I've used a Saturated Canary digi image, PricillaPie and she was a joy to colour!

Do you know, I can't remember the make of the papers I used but they sure are pretty!! Oops just remembered - it's from a Tilda pad that I bought at the Bluewater show a couple of weeks ago!

My stash items are the flourishes which were made with a Quickutz die that was one of the first dies I ever had about 6 years ago! The blue sparkly ribbon I've had even longer and was part of a great boot fair bulk buy - I didn't know then what I would use the ribbon for but just knew it was gorgeous and cheap!! The other new item apart from the paper and the image, is the EK success petal punch which you can also roll up the strip to make a flower.

A little close up to show the liquid pearl dimension that I used in her hair, not sure about that to be honest.

That's the pictures and now for our sponsor, who, this challenge is the fabulous Crafty Emma's Store.

Crafty Emma's store supplies a fabulous range of crafting items and wedding stationery.

Emma is offering a gorgeous £10 Voucher (excluding postage) to be spent in the store! Hope that will inspire you to play along with us over the next fortnight, but if you need a little more inspiration, check out the stunning cards of my SNS teamies here!!

Happy Monday y'all!

CES Challlenge DT Card - Lots of Layers

2012-02-11T11:00:00.001Z

Sorry I'm a bit late posting my card this morning, but I have just had the most lovely lie-in! It's been a busy week and my bed was so warm and toasty this morning that I just didn't want to get up so I didn't!

Onto my card and this is my new card for CES Challenges where our theme this week, as chosen by our fabby Karen, is Layers - at least Three!!

I bought this Kanban glamorous lady at least a year ago as part of a pair. Used the other one but was always nervous of colouring this one because of her feather boa! All layered up and embellished I think she looks ok, doesn't she?

From Crafty Emma's store, I've used Prima Moulin Rouge papers, 6x6 card blank, Promarkers and Flex Markers, Webster's Trim, Ribbon and Ribbon slider, diamante pins, and Acrylic flat back gems. She also has lots of yummy flowers in stock.

I've also used some gorgeous little resin flowers and the cameo that I purchased from Ebay. The feathers were from stash. Lots of punches including my favourite Fiskars rose border punch.

You can see the rest of the DT's gorgeous creations here over on the Challenge blog.

As always, we have a lovely prize of a £10 voucher to spend in Crafty Emma's Online Store and she has lots of lovely new papers in stock or coming in very soon!! So hope you can join us over the next week!

To Grammy's

2012-02-09T22:53:00.001Z

Evening - meant to post this much earlier this evening but got a bit waylaid!! This is a fabby new Mo Manning image called To Grammy's and I just couldn't wait to colour her up! I've matched her up with some Graphic 45 and DCWV papers.

I also decorated the inside with a Tim Holtz die cut house and fence and then just lots of pretty flowers and some vintage lace round the image mat.

This little sweetie is going to be a firm favourite of mine I can tell!

Going to try and get a spot of hopping in now before bed time!! Thanks for looking!!

Basic Grey and CES Challenges - a combo!!

2012-02-04T08:00:00.000Z

Morning all - hope it's not too cold for you and watch out for that snow!!

I'm popping in to show you my DT card for both Basic Grey and CES Challenges!

At Basic Grey, the theme is Love/Valentines and at CES, our fabulous Vicky has given us this gorgeous sketch to work with, and a theme of Wings - so you can use the sketch or use something with wings or do both as I've done!!

I just had to use this little beauty from Mo Manning, she's called Adele and can be found here.

My papers are Basic Grey Sweet Threads and Emma has a special deal on these at the minute over at Crafty Emma's Store (20% off last time I checked!!). My wooden buttons, Webster's Twine, flowers, loose pearls and card blank are also all from Emma's Store.

Now onto the important bit - prizes!!

As always, our wonderful sponsor at Basic Grey Challenges, Simon Says Stamp is offering one lucky winner a fab $25 shopping spree in the Simon Says Superstore, just think of the goodies you could treat yourself to with that !!

(Please note: This is a voucher code that entitles the winner to a $25 saving off their order in Simon Says Stamp, P+P charges will still apply unless the conditions are met to earn free P+P, please check here if you would like to see these conditions)

Please remember that you do have to use at least one BasicGrey product to be able to qualify for this amazing prize !

The prize over at CES Challenges is non too shabby either - a £10 voucher to spend in Crafty Emma's Store!!

Image:Mo's Digital Pencil - Adele

Colouring Medium:Promarkers and Flexmarkers

Design Papers: Basic Grey Sweet Threads 6x6 pad
Punches: Martha Stewart Butterfly punch

Embellishments: Webster's Twine

Well, that's all from me folks, have a great day whatever you may be doing, but keep warm while you're doing it!!!

A little sugar for you!!

2012-02-03T19:31:00.000Z

Hello! No card tonight but just popping to let you know about some fab candy that my oldest and bestest mate Lesley, at Grenouille Greetings, is offering to celebrate her very recent special birthday!! Look at all the yumminess!! Just pop over to Lesley's blog here to join in!

Oh, and by the way, it's Friday - have a great weekend!

New Colour Create Challenge

2012-02-02T07:37:00.000Z

Morning all and I'm back with a rather yummy challenge for you today with the new theme at Colour Create. This has been chosen by our fabby Shanna - don't they look delicious. So our colours for you are:

Dark Brown, Light Brown and either White or Cream with the optional extra of hearts.

The image I've used has to be one of my all time favourites from Sugar Nellie and she normally has three hearts hanging above her which I had to cut off to make her fit in my frame! I liked them though and so used my Tim Holtz Tattered Tree die to make a branch to hang the three pearl hearts from! Sadly I can't remember where I got the hearts from!!

More unknown papers from my longtime stash - nice to use stuff that has been lurking for a while!

This fortnight's prize is a surprise candy which will be something gorgeous and yummy like the chocs in our pic!! The lovely ladies that make up the Colour Create DT have truly made some awesome cards for this challenge, so take a peek here and get yourself inspired to play along with us!!

Whiff of Joy- it's very Black and White really!

2012-02-01T08:00:00.002Z

That's the theme for our new Whiff of Joy challenge - Black and White Images. Think I should have coloured even her skin in monochrome but do you know, it scared me!! So I couldn't but did manage her black hair which I was quite pleased with.

Used all my different grey Promarkers for her dress and shoes. Don't know who made the backing paper, it's been lurking in my stash for years! I doodled round the edge of the flowers which fell nicely into each corner when I cut the sheet! The sentiment is a Krafting Kimmie that came with a stamp.

My fabbie teamies at Whiff of Joy have been a bit braver than me and gone the whole monochrome hog - take a look here at their awesome creations!

Thanks for visiting, and hope to see you soon!

New Mo Image and new Portabello papers!!

2012-01-31T20:26:00.001Z

Hello everyone, I've been missing in action for the last 10 days or so, I know. Life getting in the way and hadn't really felt like card making for a little while. Back though with this gorgeous new Mo Manning image, called With Love which you can find here. I've also noticed a couple of new followers - hello, and thank you so much for following!!

Loving with a capital L, these new Portabello Road papers and stamps by Papermania. Bought them at Sandown a couple of weeks ago, along with the Union Jack stamp by Crafty Individuals. You can just see it behind the image and I love the way the Portabello papers tie in with the flower pattern on the flag.

I'll be back tomorrow with my DT card for Whiff of Joy so just getting back into the swing of things. Looking forward to a bit of blog hopping too.

Lots of love,

Basic Grey Challenges - Favourite Things

2012-01-22T10:54:00.000Z

I'm a day late with posting this but wanted to make sure the recipient received it yesterday. It's for our next challenge at Basic Grey Challenges where we want you to use your favourite things, as well as a Basic Grey product - although they could well be one of your favourite crafting items, the papers are certainly mine!!

I've made an easel card using Basic Grey papers - Out of Print, Little Black Dress and Basics White. One of my all time fave things are Tim Holtz dies and this On The Edge Doily die is a new one that has quickly become a favourite!! The image is a Krista Smith Digi at Saturated Canary - love, love, love all her images!!

On the bottom of the easel, I've used some cheesecloth, dyed with Cosmic Shimmer Mist in a lovely sparkly silver shade and added a bit of the cut -off round the bottom of the sentiment here. And of course, some gorgeous flowers and gingham ribbon, sorted!!

As always, our sponsor for this fortnight's challenge is the fabulous Simon Says Stamps and you could win an awesome $25 dollar spendette in their store!

Hope you can play along with us at Basic Grey Challenges over the next fortnight. Pop over here to see the wonderful cards made by my fab BG teamies if you want some inspiration!!

I'm also entering my card into the current Saturated Canary Challenge which is to use your dies and punches.

Have a great Sunday!

We're hopping at Mo's Digital Pencil- our first of 2012!

2012-01-19T07:00:00.002Z

This is my second post for today - please scroll down if you'd like to see my Pink, Green and Neutral card for the new Colour Create Challenge that started today, thank you!!!

Our theme for this month's hop at Mo's Dream Team has been chosen by the one and only Jane, who's feeling a bit loved up methinks as her theme is All You Need is Love!! And hopefully you will have arrived here from Jane's blog - if not and you want to hop along head back here to Jane's which is the start of this month's hop.

So, I've used the fabulous Date image and made an engagement congrats card for my nephew who has just announced his engagement to the gorgeous Kim!!

My papers are 12 x 12 7 Gypsies - the Lille collection purchased from The Artful Splodger. Lovely stroking papers they are! The sentiment is by Stampin Up and the embellies from stash!

Thanks for making it this far - it's time now for you to hop over to the next blog in the hop and that is the blog of the super talented Debby 4000. Don't forget to leave a comment on all the gorgeous makes of my Mo teamies - hidden among two of them will be a $5 dollar voucher to spend with Mo!!

New challenge at Colour Create

2012-01-19T06:45:00.001Z

Hello again! Back with our new challenge at Colour Create and today we have the most gorgeous of colour palettes as chosen by my fab teamie, Susie and the colours are Pink, Green and a neutral with the optional extra of hand made flowers.And here's your wonderful photo inspiration - what a lovely array of gorgeous things!!

We have a fab new sponsor too, Kenny K and so we've all used some of his awesome digi images. And if you can play along you could win some of these yourself to play with!!

I've gone with this gorgeous retro image, Bathing Beauty - I thought she'd be just perfect with the colours!

I've coloured her with a mix of Pro and Flex markers and used these oh so yummy Echo Park Papers, Victoria Garden papers. The sentiment and clapperboard die are by Whimsy stamps - loving these!! And I've made my flowers with Nestie and Marianne Creatable Dies with pearls or brads popped in the middle.

The gorgeous girlies at Colour Create have made some wonderful cards to share with you so take a look here.

Don't forget to check out my next post too as we're hopping this week at Mo's Digital Pencil!!

Whiff of Joy - Love is in the Air

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000Z

How quickly has that fortnight gone!! Can't believe that it's time for the new Whiff of Joy Challenge - this fortnight we have a theme of Love Is In The Air, great for all those valentine cards you need to send out!

This fortnight we're being sponsored by Whiff of Joy and you could win 15% off your next order - rather nice eh! There's a rather lovely release of new love themed stamps too - just perfect for the love fest coming up!!

For my card, I've used a gorgeous WOJ Good Luck Gnome- and it's actually the one that is carrying a sackful of four-leaf clovers that I've covered over with a variety of hearts, very versatile!!

And look, no design papers and very few embellies!! I just like the look of these gnomes in red and Kraft colours and the simplicity here. The sentiment is also Whiff of Joy from the General Sayings set, stamped onto a Nestie Die.

My fabulous teamies at the Whiff of Joy Challenge have made some stunning cards (as always!) to share with you, so take a peek here for a treat!

Be back tomorrow for a double post!!

Sketch N Stash - my sketch!!

2012-01-16T16:54:00.000Z

Sorry I'm so late posting this, life getting in the way, so I'll be brief!

My turn to design the sketch this challenge at Sketch N Stash and here it is, prettified by our Ange!!!

Hope you like it and hope you play along with us!!

Our sponsor for this challeng is My Mum's Craft Shop and they are giving the lucky winner a £10 voucher to spend with them!!

I've gone with this gorgeous Tilda which I think qualifies as the stash that has been lurking for more than 6 months!! (And the ribbon!!) My new goodies are the nestie frames and the Memory box corner dies. The papers are Authentique and the sentiment Cat's Life Press, both purchases from Crafty Emma's store.

Well that's it from me for today, have a good week.

CES Challenges - Vintage Dahling!!!

2012-01-14T08:00:00.000Z

Do you know I just don't know where last week went - nearly a whole week since I posted!!

Today's card is for the new challenge at CES Challenges and we have a great theme of Vintage Dahling

which is just up my street!

I've used this beautiful Mo Manning image, Sorry Shanna and coloured her with my Pro and Flex Markers. Love these papers - Prima Melody and Botanical mixed together and I've cut round the lacy frame of one piece which I think adds to the Vintage look. I've also used a Tim Holtz Bracket die and also his new Doily edge die but they're a bit covered up here!! Anyway, the papers are from Emma's Online Store as is the Websters trim with the brocade edging - it's gorgeous!! The sentiment is Cat's Life Press, also available at Emma's as well as the paper flowers.

We were overwhelmed with the number of entries to our challenge last week - amazing, thank you! Hope you can play along with this challenge - as always Emma is offering a £10 Voucher to the lucky winner so do play!! My lovely DT mateys have got some fabulous cards to share with you - you can check them out here.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

A just because card with Mo's Prairie Girl

2012-01-08T12:45:00.001Z

Hi there - a card for no other reason than I felt like making it and to enter a couple of challenges. I followed the sketch over at Sketch Saturday and I'm also entering the Anything Goes challenge at Mo's Digital Challenge.

The image I've used is Mo's Prairie Girl - just about one of the first I ever bought because of it's Little House on the Prairie connotations! Loved that series when I was young!! You can currently find her here on Mo's old site as I don't think Mo's transferred her yet to her new shop. I've coloured her with Flex and Promarkers and used the perfect combo of Crate Paper Farmhouse and Random papers (purchased from Emma's Online store). The pennants are cut with a Stampin Up punch and also stamped with a sentiment and flowers from their Tiny Tags set.

Off to do some more crafting this afternoon then back to work tomorrow :( - where has the weekend gone!!

CES and Basic Grey Challenges Double!

2012-01-07T09:30:00.000Z

Hello there and hoorah it's the weekend!! I'm off for a bit of shopping this morning and the rest of the weekend will hopefully be free for crafting!!

I've managed a double today for our new fortnightly Challenges at both Basic Grey and CES Challenges. At BG the theme is to use Something New and we have an Anything Goes theme at CES Challenges.

No colouring today - the card is for my daughter's 17th next week and so have gone for something a bit more arty for her. I've stamped the image (from set 49 by Cherry Pie Art Stamps) with Rosebud Mememto Ink and then inked all my edges with Vintage Photo and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks!!

My new items for the Basic Grey challenge are the chipboard flourish and corner. I've coloured them with Picket Fence Acrylic Dabber with a bit of Denim to tie in with my papers.

I've made this flower with vintage seam binding and then added the sparkly centre for a bit of bling! This is from Emma's Crafty On-Line Store along with the Basic Grey Lauderdale papers (sold out now but she has some other fab packs in stock!). The Websters Trim (blue lace under ribbon), acrylic flat back gems and smaller rose bud flowers are also from Emma's.

I used a Fiskars Corner and Border punch for the rose trellis border - one of my most fave ever punches and so easy to use!!

Over at Basic Grey we have our fabulous regular sponsor, Simon Says Stamps, staying with us for another year - yayhh!! They are giving a super generous $25 voucher to the lucky winner of our challenge for this fortnight!!

At CES Challenges Emma is offering a fab £10 voucher to spend in her on-line store and she has a great sale going on at the minute!!

Well I hope the above are enough to tempt you into playing along with us this fortnight - if you'd like some more inspiration, check our the wonderful makes from my brill teamies - Basic Grey here and CES here,!

Enjoy your Saturday!!

Colour Create - New Challenge, Sage Green, Red and Cream

2012-01-05T07:12:00.001Z

Another good morning to you! This time I'm here for our new challenge at Colour Create with this month's gorgeous picture chosen by our lovely Edna. The colours are Sage Green, Red and Cream with the optional extra of Buttons.

I wanted to use these gorgeous Time Piece papers from Bo Bunny which I received in our Secret Santa exchange here on Colour Create - they are yummy, thankyou!!! My image is a digi from Krista Smith's Saturated Canary - love her!

I've used some chipboard cogs, dabbed with Snowcap Acrylic Dabber and a little gold on top. I've then added some gold buttons as centre pieces to the cogs. The edging cogs are a Tim Holtz Die, the Ticket sentiment is by Stampology and the ribbon and charm are from stash.

Hope you like the colours this challenge and hope we'll see you playing along. You could win a fabby $5 dollar voucher to spend with our wonderful sponsor this month, Mo Manning, so some of her awesome images could be winging their way to your PC!!

You can check out the rest of the team's amazing makes this month, here at Colour Create!

New Challenge at Whiff of Joy

2012-01-04T09:00:00.005Z

Haha - once I've started up again, you can't get rid of me! Oh it does feel nice to be back in blogland!! I was back to work today proper after the holiday season - don't feel too bad and it was busy so the day went quickly.

On to my card, and it's for our new challenge at Whiff of Joy Challenges where our theme is Charms and Bling!

I've used the gorgeous Spring Leap stamp which can be found here. Coloured with Flex and Promarkers and I've used some papers - ohoh - the name of which escapes me!! I've also used a Tim Holtz Textured Fade embossing folder on purple core card and sanded it back. The flowers are mostly from stash, but the purple cabbage rose flower was part of a selection from Hubby for Christmas! My bling is in the shiny button in the middle of the bow, and the glittery flower petal!

We're back to our normal fortnightly challenge now and our sponsor for this challenge is Simon Says Stamps who are offering a $25 voucher to spend in their on-line store here. Lovely!!!

My fabbie teamies at Whiff of Joy have made some amazing cards as always, so do take a peek here if you'd like some inspiration! Look forward to seeing your wonderful creations over the next fortnight!!

My first DT card for 2012 @ Sketch N Stash!

2012-01-02T09:00:00.000Z

Hi everyone, yep, the first DT card for 2012 and it's for SNS with a great sketch designed by our fabulous Michele.

As you can see, I've used a gorgeous Heather Ellis digi image as we're being sponsored by Heather Ellis for this challenge with the chance to win 3 digi images of your choice!

I so love the Pure Innocence images by Heather and don't use them enough so it ws great that she's our sponsor which sort of gave me the kick to use one!

I've used my Flex and Promarkers to colour and used Authentique Splendid papers for my background. I dug out a Sizzix leaves die that has been in my stash for ages but the little postage stamp die is a new one for Christmas from best matey Lesley - it's a Paper Trey Ink one - how lucky am I!! The sentiment itself is Stampin Up.

Well, my fab teamies at SNS have got some wonderful cards to share with you, so looky here if you'd like some inspiration - hope you'll play along with us too!! Don't forget to let us know your new and older stash items ( I love reading what people got for Christmas in the way of crafty goodies too!!).

Thanks for popping in!!

Drum Roll ........Here's to a Happy and Healthy New Year!!

2011-12-31T18:35:00.000Z

Well, can't believe that it's New Year's Eve and nearly two weeks since I posted or did any blogging!! It's been a great Christmas but I'm glad that it is all very successfully over!! I've had some gorgeous pressies, including an air compressor which I'm sure will be great if I can just get a connector to use it with the Letrajet I also got!! Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated!

Tonight Nick and I are Derby and Joan - my three are all out at parties and events but you, know, it suits me! Happy just to chill and blog and enjoy a glass and a take away!

I've been playing this afternoon as you can see, using Mo's Drummer Boy image, called Shall I Play For You, which you can find here, and some Stampin Up Papers that have been in my stash awhile.

Wishing you a great evening, whatever you're doing and also a Peaceful, Happy and Healthy New Year!!

Lots of love

Sketch N Stash Challenge 77, my last Christmas card of 2011 and probably my last post before Christmas!

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000Z

Well I think this is a post of lasts- my last Christmas card for this year, my last DT card and probably my last post of the year too!

This is for the final 2011 challenge at Sketch N Stash and we have a fabulous sketch as designed by our very lovely Sue.

It's a great sketch, don't you think- even so I had to mess about with it a bit and change the shape of the image matt and move it to one side!

This luvverly Edwin image is a new stamp which I couldn't resist, and my old item is the paper which is some of last year's - I left my card fairly simple as I didn't want to cover the gorgeous Santa image on the paper. The Merry Christmas ribbon is from Marks and Spencers and the rest, remnants from stash.

Our final SNS challenge is being sponsored by Just Some Lines Digi Stamps with a $15 dollar voucher up for grabs to be spent with them.

Hope you can fit in some time to play along with us this fortnight - I shall look forward to seeing your gorgeous makes with the sketch. And do take a peek here at the cards made by my fabbie SNS teamies.

I apologise for not doing much blog hopping over the last few weeks, I have just not been able to fit much in! Thank you though for stopping by here and I will resume normal service once the festivities are over!

Finally, I'd just like to wish you all the happiest of Christmases and a healthy and happy New Year!

Lots of love and hugs.

CES Challenges for yesterday!!

2011-12-18T17:31:00.000Z

Hello - just a really quick post to share my card for the new challenge at CES Challenges!! This should have been posted yesterday but hadn't had a minute to make one!! We travelled up to Norwich yesterday to have a Christmas get-together with my Dad, my sisters and all the family and I have to say we had a fabulous day!! Went out to lunch then back to my sister, Louise's, for presents and games!! Now, Louise is a real animal lover and has a whole host of dogs, cats, budgies, hamsters which my hubby just isn't a fan of! But even he was holding the hamster and letting the budgie perch on his finger - wonders never cease!!

The day sort of inspired my card for the CES challenge which is

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY!!

I've used this fantastic Mo Manning image, Joy, which can be found here and I always think this is my sisters and I doing the happy dance!!

From Crafty Emma's Store, I've used Prima Printery papers, along with Promarkers and Flexmarkers, the card blank, silver ribbon and card candy.

I did manage to make my mince pies this afternoon but the day has just zoomed by!!! Need to make dinner now - no rest for the wicked!!!

Blog Hop at Mo's Digital Pencil and Colour Create rolled into One!

2011-12-15T07:00:00.001Z

Hello there - I'm hanging on in there, checking my lists and ticking things off! Have a stinking cold though which is a bit pants - at least it should be over for Christmas!!

On to today's post and my make is for this month's blog hop with Mo's Dream Team with a great theme of Non- Traditional Colours chosen by our wonderfully talented Kerttu!! Hopefully you should have arrived here from Jane's blog but if you want to go back to the start, just pop back to Kerrtu's blog. The next stop on the hop is then over to Debby 4000's blog.

My make also ties in with the new challenge at Colour Create which is Blue, Silver and White with the optional extra of embossing.

And here's your inspirational picture:

How pretty is that!

I went to the Craft Barn a few weeks ago and one of the projects I saw, was a make using these gorgeous alterable crowns. They were made by Chris Dark - check out her fabulous blog here if you don't know it - one of the Craft Barn designers, and as always, she was and is so inspirational that I decided to give them a go.

This is the first time that I've tried crackle glazing and have to say how thrilled I am with the result. The pearl edging was made with a Silver Viva Decor pen and the Santa sledge and reindeer, were also purchased at the Craft Barn.

And then on the inside is this little Christmas Scene using Mo's gorgeous Winifred which you can find here at Mo's Digital Pencil. I scaled down the size of the image ( the beauty of digi stamps) and coloured her with my PMs and Flex Markers.

We have a wonderful sponsor with us for this challenge at Colour Create, Michelle's Scrapbooking who are offering a special Christmas prize of a $30 dollar voucher to spend with them, wow!!

Don't forget too that if you're joining in the Blog Hop at Mo's Dream Team, there are two $5 vouchers to spend at Mo's Digital Pencil, hidden somewhere amongst the DT blogs for people who are kind enough to leave a coment!

It's a double although a very late double!!!

2011-12-11T00:25:00.000Z

I'm rather late with posting this DT card for the new challenges at both Basic Grey and CES Challenges. I did some Xmas shopping this morning and then met up with my M&S girlies for a christmas lunch - felt quite destressed, thanks girls!! Tonight we decorated our tree and watched a film so I'm just getting round to blogging this!

At Basic Grey we have a lovely Anything Goes theme which will run until after Christmas and at CES Challenges the theme is Traditional Christmas- think I stretched this a bit but they are traditional frosty snowman colours!!

Have you been keeping up with this year's 12 Tags of Christmas from Tim Holtz? I have and just love all the amazing work and technique he puts into each and every one! I haven't time to make them but my card was a little inspired by his fabulous makes. I've used his Snowman die and then embossed it with a snow effect folder with another one behind in Kraft to give it a bit of shadow. The paper is Basic Grey Out of Print purchased from Crafty Emma's Online Store. Other ingredients purchased from Emma's are the card blank, Webster's mesh fabric and tinsel, Cat's Life Press sentiment, Card Candy and acrylic gem.The snowflake is from the Tim Holtz die with a new Cheery Lyn die underneath.

If you play along with us at CES Challenges you could win a £10 spendette at Crafty Emma's Online store.

Over at Basic Grey Challenges we have our regular sponsor, Simon Says Stamps, with a $25 voucher up for grabs!

Off to bed now - can feel a sore throat coming on, grrrhh!! Tomorrow, it's a final bit of christmassyfying and hopefully some crafting!! Thanks for popping in, it's so manic at this time of year - I'm calling it Stressmas!!

Whiff of Joy Challenge 119 and a Sketch!

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000Z

Just popping in to show you my DT card for the new challenge over at Whiff of Joy Challenges following this fab sketch from our lovely Karina.

My image is from the recent Winter 2011 release - such a cutie!! I've used Webster's Christmas Papers again and the gold gauze is also Webster's trim.

The leaves and swirls are made with the Tim Holtz foliage die and I've added a few berry stamens from Hobby Craft. Then added some gold acrylic dabber to all the edges and the stamens.

The challenge will run for the next few weeks until after Christmas so you have lots of time to join in. Our sponsor for this Challenge is Whiff of Joy stamps with a lovely 15% discount off your next order - have you seen all the new mini stamps and embellies that are on-line now?

I have my work Christmas do tonight - Skating at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park! I'll report back soon if I don't suffer some serious injury!!

Mega Christmas Bonanza Challenge at PFP and my last for 6 months

2011-12-06T09:00:00.023Z

Hi again - well the time has come for me to hang up my Passion for Promarkers hat for the next 6 months as the fab girlies of Team One take over the reins.

We have a very special challenge for you though to celebrate the handover - after all it is only au revoir and not goodbye!! That challenge is a theme of:

Celebrations

So your card can be for Christmas, a birthday, an anniversary - very open ended really.

And here's my card - using a gorgeous Lili of the Valley image for an anniversary card.

The papers are Bo Bunny and the sentiment comes with the image which is punched out with a Stampin Up pair of punches. The flower is made up from a mixture of petals and the brad in the middle is from an old Laura Ashley set that I purchased a long time ago. The organsa ribbon is from my stash.

I'm also managing a challenge with this card - over at the Lili of the Valley Challenge they have a theme of Anything but a Christmas Card!

The challenge is going to run for the next four weeks, and we have some amazing prizes up for grabs:

Letraset

3 new packs of promarkers (metallics set, contemporary xmas set, modern xmas set),

Whiff of Joy

1 sentiment collection,

Pink Gem Designs

4 digi images

Joanna Sheen

6 packs of promarker fine liner sets

DigiStampBoutique

6 digi images of winner's choice

Saturated Canary

2 digi images

Bugaboo Stamps

7 digis (split into 2 prizes)

Tickled Pink Stamps

2 digis (from Lil Lolita, Lil Lad and Lil Pinkette ranges),

Crafts & Me

6 digis of winner's choice

Thanks for sticking with me this far down, hope you'll play along with us - you can see the rest of the awesome cards from Team Two here and Team One will be posting some more inspiration in a couple of weeks!

Toodlepip!!

Monday, Monday!

2011-12-05T09:00:00.002Z

Morning everyone - I'm a mad woman at the minute - had a melt down on Saturday putting up the Xmas decs!!! And back to work today, leaving my dining room a mess of baubles and tinsel as still not quite finished and there's the tree to buy next weekend and put up!!

Still, I've taken a deep breath and given myself a few minutes to show you my card for the new challenge at Sketch N Stash, following this wonderful sketch from our clever Chrissie - it's a gorgeous sketch too!!

I've gone with a fab Mo Elf (North Pole Employee set) that I bought last Christmas and still love this Christmas!!

That's the old item in my card with the ribbon (from M&S), the Echo park Happy Days paper and MS snowflake punch being rather newer!

Actually the sentiment punch is old too, from Stampin Up and so are the bells which have been in my stash since goodness knows when.

Our sponsor for this fortnight's challenge is Simon Says Stamp and they are offering a $15 voucher to spend in their on-line store.

Hope that will encourage you to play along with us but if you want some inspiration you can see all the gorgeous cards by the SNS DT here.

Off to finish getting ready for work now - have a good week!

CES Challenges - Bear time!

2011-12-03T08:00:00.000Z

I missed playing along with the girls at CES Challenges last week, so really happy to be back with them this week! We have a beary lovely theme for you - Bear Necessities!! So anything you like as long as there is a bear somewhere on your make!!

Well it had to be Teddy Bo didn't it, and I used this fabby fairy Teddy Bea which I'd cut out with a nestie and then overinked the edges so had to cut her out and then rather liked her like this and put some acetate at the back to give her some dimension!!

I love this Webster's Page from Emma's store and didn't want to cover it up with any other papers and love the way Teddy Bea is waving her magic wand over the tree to make it look like she's just magically decorated it! The papers are from Crafty Emma's Store as are the Webster's Page tinsel ( on the tree) the Webster's Page cardboard button, the petal point card blank, and the card candy. As usual I've used Promarkers and the fantastic new Flexmarkers which can also be found at Emma's and I think she has a special offer on those here at the minute!!

Do play along with us if you can, you could win a lovely £10 voucher to spend in Crafty Emma's Online store!! Looking forward to seeing the fabulous makes by the lovely girlies at CES Challenges - you can check them out here!!

Putting the decorations up today, well starting too - tend to go a bit mad, will try and take a few piccies to share with you later!

What's Red, White and Green all over? - our new challenge at Colour Create, boom boom!!

2011-12-01T10:34:00.001Z

Good morning, bloggers!! Grrhhh to Mr Blogger this morning!! Was just finishing off my post for Colour Create for publishing at 8.00 this morning and he was being norty!!! Lost all my text and links!!

Not been around much lately, so sorry - it's that time of year isn't - busy, busy. Hope I'm not boring you too much either with all my Christmas cards - still have another 25 to make!! Eek!

This one is for our new challenge at Colour Create and our colours are RED, WHITE and GREEN with the optional extra of Snowflakes!! The perfect Christmas combo as chosen by our wonderful Sylvia!

Hope you likey as we all did on the DT and play along with us. What could be better incentive than the gorgeous set of stamps below from our sponsor for this challenge:

High Hopes Rubber Stamps

Aren't they gorgeous.

For my card I've used some more gorgeousness from Mo Manning, the little cutie that is Bella Loves Christmas which you can find here at Mo's Digital Pencil.

Not too happy with my pic on this one - or maybe it is just my colouring! I swear her skirt seems more blended than this on the real life version! The camera always seems to pick up every imperfection and I may have to revisit this to adjust!!

The senitment is cut from the same paper as the backing mat and layered up onto a TH Snowflurry border die cut. The holly band is a fabric trim with dew drops for the berries. Lots of glitter and a few pearls and there you have it.

I loved the colour combo as did my Colour Create teamies - take a peek at their gorgeous work here.

That's it for now folks, enjoy your Thursday!

Passion for Promarkers Challenge 128

2011-11-29T09:00:00.000Z

The weeks are rushing by and are you ready? No, me neither but have done a few lists like this little lady!! Lists always put my mind at rest!!

This is my card for the new challenge at Passion for Promarkers and we have a lovely sketch from the fabulous Tracy!

I couldn't resist purchasing some more of Kristas digital images at Saturated Canary - isn't she a beauty.

Still loving my flexmarkers here, together with my PMs. The papers are lots of bits from scraps so no makes, I'm afraid. The round shape at the back is a lovely red spotty doily! The inked edge is one of the new limited edition Christmas Distress Inks from Tim Holtz - this one is called Iced Spruce and it's a lovely grey tone!

Really enjoyed using the sketch, thanks Tracy! My 2nd 6 month stint at PFP is almost up and it will soon be time for Team One to take the reins!! It's been wonderful being back playing along with the awesome girls on PFP.

Our sponsor this week is the fabulous Sugar Nellie - so do please play along with us!!

Basic Grey Lost and Found Challenge

2011-11-26T08:18:00.000Z

Morning everyone, hope you're looking forward to your Saturday. I'm off to do some Christmas shopping shortly - bet it's going to be manic!

I should have two cards to show you today, this one for Basic Grey , but also should have shown you one for CES Challenges but just ran out of time to make one - sorry girls!

Anyway, this is for Basic Grey Challenges and this fortnight our theme is LOST AND FOUND - we want to see you use something found around the house! Now, my fellow teamies at BG have really been inventive and used some fabulous household items but I've gone more down the recycling route!

I received a Lis Earle beauty catalogue a few weeks ago and the cover was this beautiful christmas tree card, so rather than look at all the goodies inside the catalogue, I removed the cover and put it in my Christmas storage! The turquoise star at the top was on some candles that I purchased a long, long time ago.

Of course it is a Basic Grey Challenge and I have used Nordic Holiday 6x6 papers (which you can barely see!) and also Lauderdale papers which are a little more apparent ( the dotty papers).

The image is by the wonderful Mo Manning which you can find here, coloured using PMs and FMs. The silver snowflakes are from M&S from their Christmas gift wrapping range this year. There's a few Christmas tree die cuts on there too, the front one I heat embossed with and then added some tiny seed beads with some Viva Liquid Pearl. I then finished it all off with loads os Snow Cap Dabber round the edges.

As always on BG, our fabulous sponsor is Simon Says Stamps with a $25 voucher going to one lucky entrant in the challenge!

Well that's it from me today but don't forget to check out the gorgeous makes by my teamies at Basic Grey Challenges ( and my lovely maties at CES Challenges for this week's challenge here!)

Whiff of Joy #117 - Pins and Lace pretty please!

2011-11-23T08:00:00.003Z

It's Whiff of Joy Wednesday and today's new challenge has a theme of Pins and Lace. I've used this little lovely by Elizabeth Bell from the new winter collection, she is so cute!

My papers are Memory Box and the sentiment was a freebie from Craft Stamper Magazine. My lace element is some vintage lace from my stash and I've also used the Doily lace punch from Martha Stewart.

I made the large beaded pin myself using a Whiff of Joy pin base and then just threaded a few beads on - simple!!

This fortnight's challenge is being sponsored by Simon Says Stamps with a very nice, thankyou, $25 voucher to spend in their on-line store!

Oh and we have some new teamies at WOJ - a warm welcome lovely ladies!! If you'd like to see their cards and the rest of the team's awesome creations, take a hop over to the challenge blog here.

PFP day today!!

2011-11-22T09:00:00.003Z

Well at least Monday is out of the way, but it does mean we are speeding ever closer to the holiday season!! I'm in full Christmas card mode now, so sorry if I'm being a bit boring but I've got about another 30 to make!! (Must do some quickies!!)

Anyhow, this Crimbo card makes number 51 and is for our new challenge at Passion For Promarkers with a theme of

Swirls and Sparkles which has been chosen this week by our fabulous Michele!

I decided to ink up a very much neglected Sugar Nellie image and so followed the sketch over on the Sugar Nellie blog, just tweeking it a bit to fit in with my layout!

The papers are My Minds Eye Signature Christmas which come ready swirled and ready sparkled!! The die cut swirls are a Sizzix die and the sentiment and the swirly frame are from Waltzing Mouse and then cut with a nestie die. The flower is cut from the same MME papers using a Spellbinder rose die.

Our sponsor this week is Letraset and you could win one of their fabulous stamping kits!!

The fab PFP DT have got some awesome cards to share with you this week, so try and take a peek if you get a minute!!

Sketch N Stash is here again!

2011-11-21T09:00:00.001Z

Morning all!

This is my DT card for our new challenge at Sketch N Stash with the new sketch designed by Kevin - great sketch!

I've used this new image from Mo Manning called Ragged Santa. Despite his patched up Santa suit he still looks so happy!! I've coloured him with my PMs and FMs and then mounted him up on an embossed circle.

The papers are DCWV, a present button from Hobbycraft and the felt stars are frm Paper Chase! The little leaping reindeer was bought from a craft fair with ribbon from my stash.

This fortnight, our sponsor is Meljen Designs with four lovely images of your choice up for grabs!

Do hope you can play along with us at SNS over the next fortnight! And if you need some inpsiration to get you started, check out the fabulous DT work here!

Have a great week!

CES Challenges - Snowflakes - and another gorgeous Tilda!!

2011-11-19T08:00:00.003Z

Hello everyone - I feel so glad the week is over! Had an horrendous day yesterday - lost my cool with Virgin Mobile - a new phone and they still couldn't get it to work after 3 weeks and umpteen phone calls - absolutely chronic customer service. Lost it with them in the office!! It is now functioning but I think it's technology is a bit wasted on me!Then in the evening, we had a team building session about body language and there was the prospect of role playing and acting, which I just do not do!! So after being fired up by Virgin, I was ready to lose my cool again and refuse to play along! Luckily, there was alcohol present and the role playing didn't materialise so I still have a job!

This is my DT card for CES Challenges, and this week's theme, as chosen by our lovely Kaylou, is Snowflakes - very festive and great to be able to add another card to the Christmas pile!

Another new Tilda - I am so in love with the new and very recent collections!! I've coloured her with my Promarkers and Flexmarkers, and used some paper from the Authentique Journey collection. These are all available from Crafty Emma's Store, along with the Cat's Life Press Sentiment, the Divine Twine, Charm and Acrylic gems.The snowflake border is an MS around the page set, and the bigger snowflakes are also made using an MS punch.

I'm off to get cracking on the Chrismtas Shopping today - I've barely got any full weekends left in December so need to make a start!! What is it, 6 weeks away? Yikes!!

Hope you can play along with us at CES Challenges this week - there's a lovely £10 voucher up for grabs for one lucky entrant! The girls at CES have done their usual magic and have some great cards to show you - check them out here!

I need to have a good catch up this weekend, with all my favourite blogs, so hope to pop by soon!!

It's time for our Monthly Blog Hop at Mos!!

2011-11-17T07:00:00.007Z

(Please scroll down to the post below for my card for today's new Colour Create Challenge - thank you!!)

I love the third Thursday in the month as it means the fabulous ladies at Mo's Dream Team all come together to have a little blog hopperoony!! Hopefully, you will have arrived here from Jane's blog but if you haven't and want to join in from the beginning then nip on over to Lori's blog who has chosen this month's theme which is:

Make a Gift

Now, I'm normally a card kind of girl but I recently had a great trip to The Craft Barn where they had lots of fab demos for Christmas Gift ideas and so I decided to make a wall hanging for a baby's room!

The picture below shows the four hectagonal frames linked together with ribbon but it's nightmare getting a good photo to show it properly.

The frames are wooden Tando frames from the mini Printer Tray sets that I split up to make them go further - painted with acrylic and then stamped with white ink using a crackle effect stamp by Crafty Individuals. I've then used two Mo images, Wynken, Blynken and Nod which was in my first pic, and I think has got to be a new favourite and then the gorgeous Michael on his fluffy cloud which was one of my first ever Mo purchases!!

I've used my Promarkers and Flexmarkers to colour and added the BABY letters (by K&Co), one on each frame! The wooden stars are also by Tando which I've coloured with gold acrylic

Right, your next stop on the hop is over to one our fabulous guest designers on Mo's Dream Team at the moment, the lovely Debby4000 and I'm so looking forward to seeing what she has created! The rest of the team too - I know there'll be some stunning work, so hope you'll be able to join in with our hop this month. Don't forget that somewhere amongst the team, are a couple of $5 vouchers to spend at Mo's Digital Pencil - you could be one of the lucky commentators to win one so don't forget to leave a comment on each of the DT's posts!

Have fun!!!

Colour Create Challenge 84 - Pink, Gold and White - luverly!!

2011-11-17T06:58:00.002Z

This is my card for our new challenge at Colour Create with this fabulous inspirational picture chosen by my fab teamie there, Kerry!! And the colours she has chosen are

PINK, GOLD AND WHITE witht the optional extra of Bling!!

Love the picture and love the colour combo!! I've used a new Tilda from the winter release and sat her on a Tim Holtz scary twig branch die that I've added a border of glittery icicles to, punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

Loving this fantastic new TH pine cone die ( and the weathered clock die punch at the back). I've then added some gold braid, the gold flower is from a recent family wedding ( on the table candles!!) some pearl stamens and more glittery styrofoam balls! I've whitened a wooden snowflake and added a little circlet from a vintage piece of christmas decoration that I only use very occasionally!! The sentiment is Magnolia and the tag is edged with a gold Krylon pen. And there's some cotton scrim across the back too!!

Our fabulous sponsor this week is Michelle's Scrapbooking with a yummy $15 dollar voucher to spend with them!

Michelle's Scrapbooking & More is now carrying La Blanche stamps, La La Land stamps and have just released a new line from The Pixie Cottage. Stop by and see the wonderful selection of stamps, copics, dies, embossing folders and more. Check out their clearance section for some really great deals! They also offer gift certificates for the perfect holiday gift!

Do take a look at the stunning cards from my awesome teamies at Colour Create, including our new members - they've done us proud!!

That's it from me today - have a good one!!

PFP Challenge No 126

2011-11-15T09:00:00.000Z

Back for the new PFP challenge but first a big thankyou for al your lovely Kraft makes last week, don't forget to check out the PFP challenge blog later to check out the lucky winner and top five.

This week's challenge has been chosen by our lovely Debs and the theme is White on White! And as we're being sponsored this week by The Digistamp Boutique,some of the DT have used their gorgeously cute images for this week's DT samples!!

As have I - isn't this little bear couple just too cute!

As it's white on white, I've gone with lots of embossing, wth a Tando Holly mask for the backing, and I've then embossed the Marianne Die trees with a Cuttlebug star folder. I've also used this Memory Box snowflake edge die and a Marianne Mistletoe die. Some white card candy for the mistletoe berries and then more of the styrofoam glittered balls in the ribbon centre! And then just a generous helping of glitter and some Viva pearl for the buttons.

As I said, our sponsor this week is the DigiStamp Boutique, with the winner to choose SIX images of their choice!!

Hope you can play along with us this week - take a peek here at the rest of the fabulous work from my DT buddies!!

Two Challenges and Two DT cards but could I have done One?

2011-11-12T08:00:00.007Z

Yayyyy Saturday - it's been such a looooonnnngggg week!! And I expect the weekend will zoom by! So slow at work and not enough hours in the evenings at the moment, so very, very sorry that I've not managed to pop round to see anyone and not sure it will get any better at the weekend. Today, I'm off to see my gorgeous girlfriends (who I went to Italy with in May) and cannot believe that we've not managed a get together since May!! Shocking, so looking forward to a day with them!!

Of course, first I need to show you two cards, one for Basic Grey Challenges, which has a Mix and Match theme, and one for CES Challenges, which is my choice, and that is Roses and Ribbons!!

First up is my card for CES Challenges

I decided to go with this awesome Simply Sassy image from Sugar Nellie which I've christmassified with berries and snowflakes!! Coloured with the brilliant new Flexmarkers and Promarkers, and layered up onto Echo Park Season's Greetings papers all to be found in Emma's store here.

I've added some Crystal Glamour Dust to the roses and berries to make them look frosty. The little white balls are from a huge bag of glittered styrofoam balls which I think are meant to look decorative in glass vases with flower displays!

You could win a £10 voucher to spend in Crafty Emma's online store if you join in the challenge this week, - hope to see you playing along!!

My next card is for the new Basic Grey challenge that starts today and runs for the next fortnight! I could almost have used this for CES Challenges - it has the ribbon and a rosette! I wanted to do something really girlie though for CES and I needed to make a card for Nick's Uncle so girlie wouldn't have done it!!

Here I 've used a mixture of BG Indie Bloom, Out of Print and Manilla 6x6 pads, and the rosette is made from a 12x12 sheet from the Sublime range. The stamp is a Paper Artsy stamp and I thought it was appropriate as the Uncle is one of 6 boys, with my MIL being the only girl. The orange button in the centre of the ribbon is actually a vintage one that my MIL gave me and picks up the colours of the rosette perfectly!!

At Basic Grey challenges, we have our regular sponsor and that is Simon Says Stamps who are giving away a $25 dollar voucher to the lucky winner of the BG Challenge!!

Hope you can play along with one or both challenge and I shall look forward to visiting you and being inspired!!

WOJ with Sketch Saturday

2011-11-09T08:00:00.012Z

Back again with my card for the new Whiff of Joy challenge and we have a winter wonderful theme for this fortnight - Let It Snow! Think I went to town with this one!!

Love, love, love this angel Uru! Coloured with Pro and Flex Markers and then I masked the image off and airbrushed the background! With a new Personal Impression Christmas Sentiment set that I purchased from the Glitter Pot recently, came this time little snowflurry stamp which I've heat embossed all around the image- really love this little stamp! The Let it Snow sentiment is from the same set. The small snow flakes are the left overs from the MS punch around the page Snowflake set and of course the snowflurry edger die i from Memory Box!!

Oh, and I followed the fabby sketch from Sketch Saturday so I'm entering it into that challenge.

The Whiff of Joy team have made some awesome cards to inspire you so do take a peek here. We are also being sponsored by Whiff of Joy this week and you could win a 15% off voucher to spend in their store - lots of yummy stuff in stock!!

P.S. I did my first zumba class last night with my girls - it was brilliant but I was totally shattered!!

PFP day - just where did that week go!!

2011-11-08T12:46:00.001Z

PFP day today and it's my turn to choose the theme which is:

Kraft and one other colour!

Well I love Kraft and red for Christmas cards so that's what I've gone with.

This is another one of Mo Manning's cute and cheeky elves- follow the link for more cheekiness!! Coloured with a mix of my Promarkers and Flexmarkers - have I said how brilliant they are!! I've followed the bauble theme through and used a TH Movers and Shapers combo for the joy bauble and the two smaller ones are Marianne dies. The back Kraft panel is embossed with a cuttlebug bauble folder and then I've run some gold acrylic over it for some richness. The white snowflake bauble is glittered but not really picking up here.

I've gone round the edge of the image mat with a Krylon gold leaf pen and the backing papers are Crate Paper I think! The Merry Christmas ribbon is from good old Marks and Sparks!

My awesome teamies at PFP have made some great cards with the colours so check them out here. If you want to play along with us this week, you could win a fab prize from Some Odd Girl who are offering 3 digis of your choice if you are the lucky winner of our challenge!

Couldn't get internet access to post this earlier, fingers crossed now!!

Sketch N Stash Challenge No 74

2011-11-07T09:00:00.002Z

Hello - hope everyone had a great weekend, busy here! I went down to The Craft Barn Saturday morning where they were doing lots of demos and I so enjoyed it! Felt totally inspired and bought a few must- haves, cough cough!! Saturday night my three had a bonfire/firework do for their friends and then Sunday morning, it was The Old Crocks! Not me but the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally which goes past just at the top of my road!! Fab seeing all the old cars and anyone who braves the cold then gets a lovely cooked breakfast! I then spent the afternoon sorting out my ribbons - what a mess they were in and so many!!

Back to Sketch N Stash, this is our new sketch as designed by our wonderful Vicky.

I've used this gorgeous Gingerbread Tilda and coloured her with a mix of Promarkers and Flexmarkers. The lamp post is a Tim Holtz die and the tree a Marianne die. And of course, one of the fabulous new Memory Box dies for the snowflake flurry!

Lots of distressing the edges and also used my Ranger Snow Cap dabber - love how this looks so fluffy!! Lastly a few white pom poms with added glitter for the snowballs!

Our challenge this fortnight is being sponsored by the brill Simon Says Stamps who with the chance to win a $15 voucher to spend with them.

As ever, the fab ladies and gent at SNS have made some wonderful cards to share with you so do pop on over to the blog for a peek! Thanks for being here and hope you can play along with us this fortnight.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Totally Tilda - Christmas but with no Reds, Greens or Blues
Just Magnolia - Anything Goes
Magnolia-licious - Photo Inspiration

CES new challenge - Entertain us!!

2011-11-05T08:00:00.001Z

I've got my CES DT hat on today and it's time for our new challenge, after our two week New Beginnings challenge to celebrate the birth of our gorgeous Emma's gorgeous Olivia! Have your seen her pics over on Emma's blog here - she is a little darling!! We had lots of cards entered into the challenge - don't forget to check out the winners and top picks!!

We're back to our normal weekly challenge now at CES Challenges and we have a fab challenge, as chosen by our gorgeous Caroline and that is Entertain Us - make a card inspired by a song or a film!! Loved this challenge and went with a song - Santa Baby!

I've used this gorgeous Christmas image from Mo's Digital Pencil, called Little Present (you can find her here). She's coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers with added glossy accents on her boots, buckle and bauble earring!! Just a shame my pic hasn't picked it up!

My papers are a mix of Crate Paper Portrait and Echo Park Victoria Garden, both purchased from Crafty Emma's On-Line store, along with the Webster's Tinsel, pins, pearls and pearl heart. The twinkling that you can just pick up on the flowers is Crystal Glamour dust also from Emma's store. I picked up the little slate tag from a charity shop a few weeks ago - they are so cute and you can write any message you like on them! I used a white gel pen for mine.

Don't forget that you could win a wonderful £10 voucher (excluding postage) to spend in Crafty Emma's Store so do play along with us this week!

My teamies at CES have got some awesome makes to share with you - I always love to see the different inspiration songs/films that people use in this type of challenge!!

Happy Saturday to you all!

Colour Create Challenge No 83 - Turquoise, Deep Pink and Ivory

2011-11-03T07:00:00.006Z

Hello everyone - it's Thursday and so time for our newest challenge at Colour Create with this fortnight's Colour Inspiration being chosen by yours truly!!

Yes, I've chosen Turquoise, Deep Pink and Ivory, with the optional extra of Glitter and here's the piccie:

Ooh I love a bit of glitter and sparkle!!

I've used a gorgeous Tilda for my image - you really can't beat them for colouring, love them!!

I used a new deckle edged nestie and left it in the frame while I distressed the edges. The snowflake border is from the English Stamp Company and came as part of set which I really don't use enough. The bauble is a Tim Holtz die - so glad I bought these!!

My glitter element can be seen on her pressie, the ribbon and then lots of stickle round the central mat and in the middle of each snowflake!! I also heat embossed the snowflakes with some crystal embossing powder but it doesn't show up too well in my pics.

At Colour Create this week, we're being sponsored by Bunny Zoe Crafts to the tune of a rather nice £10 gift voucher!

Oh and welcome to our fab four new design team members over at Colour Create - great having you with us ladies! They've made some wonderful cards for their debut challenge with us, as have my other fab teamies at CC so do check them out if you get the chance!!

I've had a really hectic week at home in the evenings this week, so sorry if I've not been able to visit you! Honestly, it's so quiet at work at the moment and I could very usefully fill my time blogging but don't think it would go down too well with my bosses!! Thank you so much for all your fab comments, here though, it means so much to me!

We're going to the Zoo, zoo, zoo - you can come too, too, too!

2011-11-01T09:00:00.002Z

LOL - have you got the song running through your head now? At Passion for Promarkers this week, we have a great theme for you - A Day at the Zoo! So anything you might see during a day at the zoo - I'm sure we'll have lots of people joining us!!

The image is a free image that I found by googling but you can find it here at Anne Bodil's blog. Love it!! I've used my new Flexmarkers to colour - they are fabulous!!! The papers are October Afternoon and I've used a couple of embossing folders for the sentiment and the little laced border.

I followed the latest sketch at Sketch Saturday so I'm entering it into their challenge.

This week, the fabulous Joanna Sheen is sponsoring us to the tune of a £10 voucher to spend in the on-line store and she has free postage!

Hope you want to join us for our PFP day trip to the zoo - look here if you'd like to see the rest of the DT's awesome cards this week! Have fun!

Irma and Vieno

2011-10-30T20:13:00.002Z

Evening - just sitting here watching the X-Factor and thought I'd show you this Christmas Card made for no other reason than Christmas!!! It's another darling Mo image and I love the joy in the faces of this little pair of friends, Irmo and Vieno - puts a smile on my face :). You can find the image here at Mo's Digital Pencil.

It's actually a very simple card, don't think it needs an awful lot else with this lovely MS Punch around the page set.A little bit fluffiness for their fur trim and these yummy pearl snowflake buttons!

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Challenges - Anything Goes

Digi Doodles Shops Best - Anything Goes

The Crafty Pad - Friendship

Back to work tomorrow - boo hiss to Sunday nights!!

Basic Grey Challenge - Anything Goes this time!!!

2011-10-29T10:56:00.000+01:00

Morning - boy have I overslept this morning! Must have needed it though!! Straight into todays's post and it's to show you my latest card for Basic Grey Challenges where we have a super easy theme for you this fortnight - Anything Goes!! Couldn't get any better could it, but you just have to remember to use a Basic Grey product ( and let us know what you've used, pretty please).

I've used this fabulous Teddy Bea baby bear image - just too cute and I'm sure will get lots of use!! I've coloured her with a mix of promarkers, flexmarkers and a few Copics and then layerd her up using gorgeous BG Two Scoops papers. The crochet flower on the bow was made by my fab friend Lesley's mummy who so kindly gave some to me!! The smaller dual colour ones were from a craft fair. The large flower was made using a TH Tattered Florals die and punched out of BG Manilla papers. The rest has been loitering in my stash!!

I did stamp round the white border using a MS round the page stamp set but you can barely see it!! I also bordered the image with an MS loopy punch which is also only just visible!!

That just leaves me to tell you that as always, our wonderful sponsor is Simon Says Stamps who are offering a wonderful $25 dollar voucher to spend with them!

Don't forget though to be eligible you must use a Basic Grey item!!

Catch you later!

WOJ Challenge 116 - a Sketch

2011-10-26T07:05:00.000+01:00

Hello again - three for three from me- three cards in three days!!

This time I'm here to show you my card for our new challenge over at Whiff of Joy Challenges and we have a fab sketch for you as design by our wonderful Karina.

This is one of the new- this- year gnomes at WOJ - such a fab image! I've teamed it with these gorgeously rich Basic Grey Jovial papers which I've had a while and they're still yummy!!

The poinsettia is a Marianne die and the sentiment a banner die from Spellbinder. I picked up the reindeer chippie from Hobbycraft last weekend!

This week we're being sponsored by our regular sponsor, Simon Says Stamps with a fab voucher for the lucky winner.

Don't forget, if you do play along with us, you need to use a Whiff of Joy image!! Check out the fab makes by the WOJ team here - you won't be disappointed!!

PFP Challlenge - For a Child

2011-10-25T09:00:00.000+01:00

Hello again, hope your Monday wasn't too bad, that's it out of the way for this week! As it's Tuesday, it must be PFP day in my little crafting world, and this week our challenge theme is For A Child, as chosen by our fabby Denise.

Hope you're not all sick of Christmas cards yet, as I've added another to my count - 40 of 80 made so far!!!

I've merged two images, one a fabby cuty from the Gorjuss Girl range which has been lacking in love recently, so here she is teamed with this fabulous Toadstool image from Tatty Stocking. Think you can see in the top pic that I've glossy accented the toadstool and added a little dimension with it's spots by layering them up and then glittering them. I used my Flexmarkers to cover my girly, they're lovely!! The three D embellies are from My Minds Eye and the Papers, Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey. Lots of glittering to finish - kiddies love sparkle,don't they!

We're being sponsored this week by Letraset who have provided a lovely Stamping Set to the lucky winner of the the challenge.

Hope you will join us at PFP this week- and if you'd like to see my teamies' awesome creations at PFP, pop over to here.

New sketch at SNS - number 73

2011-10-24T09:00:00.007+01:00

Morning bloggers and just where did that weekend go? It goes so quickly!!

Still Monday does mean it's time for the new challenge at Sketch N Stash. Didn't you all love the last one - wow, we had so many fabulous entries!!

The sketch for the next fortnight has been chosen by our wonderful Gemma and here it is - fab isn't it!! Hope you like it enough to play along - we're being sponsored by Pollycraft and there are 10 - yes. 10, digi images to be won!!

For my card, I 've used a Penny Black image - another purchase from my recent visit to The Glitter Pot, along with the Bo Bunny Papers. The corner snowflake die is by Memory Box and the sentiment by Waltzing Mouse - this is my item that has been in my stash more than 6 months - just!! Well, and the pearls! (Don't forget that you need to tell us what has been in your stash awhile!)

I had real trouble with this card first of all, well my colouring to be exact, think this was my third attempt!! I was also inspired by a card that my lovely matey, Alex, had coloured - she teaches Copics colouring at the GP so that may tell you how awesome her colouring is!! Maybe it was the large expanse on the present, not sure, but ended up rather pleased with it in the end!

Thanks so much for continuing to pop by - I get a thrill everytime someone leaves a comment - they pop into my in box at work too, and they do brighten up a dull day of tax codes and salary queries!!

Happy Monday all!!

New Beginnings - a TWO week challenge at CES this time only

2011-10-22T09:27:00.000+01:00

Morning all and happy Saturday!

We have a two week challenge this time around at CES Challenges. Emma, our fabbie boss at CES, is due to give birth any day, so we're all going to be cyber Aunties!! To help with the celebrations when baby does arrive, our theme this time is

New Beginnings! And it's going to be a two week challenge, this time around, so lots of time to join in! It doesn't have to be a new baby card, it could be a new job, new home, anything along those lines!

Emma is giving away a rather fab £10 voucher to spend in her online store, and she has a sale on at the minute so grab your stash and play along!!

I've used a gorgeous Day for Daisies image for my card - it was a freebie from ages ago and has been in my collection for an age and never used!! But I think it's gorgeous, as are all the DFD images!

My papers are Alla Prima by Prima, available at Crafty Emma's Online Store, as are the flowers, Edged Card Blank, pearls, Bakers Twine, Charm, and Flexmarkers and Promarkers The sentiment on the tag is from Stampin Up.

My fellow cyber aunties-in-waiting have got some gorgeous cards to share with you and I have to say that we've all gone with the baby theme - it's our version of pacing around the hospital waiting for news!!! You can check them out here (and for any news that baby has arrived!!)

I'm going off shopping this morning - a bit of a mad rush around so that I can get back to finish a DT card later, don't like to be far from my Craft Room at the weekend!!

Have a lovely day whatever you're up to!

Colour Create and we're hopping at Mo's Dream Team

2011-10-20T07:00:00.090+01:00

Yayyyhh - it's the Third Thursday in the month which means that my fabbie teamies at Mo's Dream Team get together for a little Blog hop! (If you're here to see my Colour Create card, please scroll down!)

This month's theme is The Colours of Autumn as set by our super- talented Jak. If you're hopping along with us, hopefully you arrived here from Jane's blog and the next person to hop over to is Heidy.

I've used this wonderful new set of Carollers, each of which your can buy separately or as a set of four as I did and you can find them here! And I finally got the hang of merging digital images, having followed this great tutorial by another fabbie teamie at Mo's, Debbie Pamment- the link is here.

Because the scene is so christmassy, I struggled with autumn colours a little and maybe they're leaning more towards Christmas. But their clothes are definitely autumn colours!! The little paper wreath is from an Anna Griffin Christmas set that I bought years ago and keeps on giving! Great for a frame for the sentiment.

Hope you can join us in the blog hop this month - don't forget that there are two $5 dollar 'vouchers' hidden somewhere along the way, and you could be the lucky commentor!

Now on to my card for our new Challenge at Colour Create and here's your picture to get those creative juices flowing! The colour palette is:

Burgundy, Green, Cream and Gold
with the optional extra of Dimension

Another Mo image from me - just can't get enough of them at the moment and this one is the so cute Ragged Angel

I've added some glitter to her wings and the flowers for a bit of sparkle and distressed the edges with some gold stain!

Can you see the gorgeous Holly die cut which is cut with a new Memory Box die - so delicate and yummy!! The roses were made with a couple of dies - the large one a Spellbinder and the small, a Marianne Creatable - my bit of dimension!

At Colour Create this week, we have a fab sponsor, The Rubber Room, so play along to be in with a chance to win something yummy from them!

Stunning makes from my teamies at Colour Create too so don't forget to pop on over there for a look see!

That's my long post fiinished - thanks for stopping by - have a great day!!

Passion for Promarkers - Stars are the order of the day

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000+01:00

Yes, Tuesdays are PFP day in my alternate reality!!! Today's theme of Stars has been chosen by my fabbie teamie, Lisa. I decided to dust off a Tilda, so love this girl but haven't used her much lately, so it was lovely to colour her up. After colouring her dress, I then decided I wanted to paper piece her dress, using this gorgeous knitted design paper from the Basic Grey Nordic pad. What I wasn't going to do was paper piece the candy cane and heart biscuits that were peeking out of her pockets! So I improvise and punched a teeny apple and hearts instead - much more healthy!!!

The mistletoe die is a new one from Marianne's creatables, as is the little label die from a new range of stamps and die sets by Sizzix/Hero Arts. Love this little die as it's perfect for sentiments and almost looks like a speech bubble here! The sentiment is from a Paula Pascal set of Christmas sentiments - just some of my purchases from my recent visit to the Glitter Pot!! I've heat embossed my stars and the mistletoe flower with a translucent glittery powder, although not showing up very well here.

This week, our challenge is being sponsored by Crafter's Companion to the tune of a fantastic £20 voucher to spend with them so what are you hanging about here for!! Get cracking on those Starry creations and play along!!

Oh and do go starry-eyed over the gorgeous creations by my PFP teamies which you can see here!

Swimming for Katie

2011-10-17T07:00:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone. I'm here with a very special post today - to help support a fundraising effort for a dear friend of many in the blogging community, Katie Renz. You will probably have seen the start of the drive last week, which is to help Katie who is battling with gastric cancer. If you're not familiar with her, Katie’s cancer story started just before Christmas last year. This young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant mother of 3 with her infectious smile was suddenly diagnosed with an inoperable cancer, virtually overnight. A few tummy aches and then stage 4 gastric cancer. Her first post about it is here. The idea of “Swimming for Katie” came from her recent post here.

This exclusive stamp used in my sample, designed by Becky Oehlers is available as a clear stamp, as well as a digis or a dig and SVG cut file. 100% of the profits go to Katie's fund to help her and her young family. Her husband Kevin and her three young children need our help and support. In addition to the Keep Swimming Octopus, Marianne Walker and True =D Doodle Designs both also donated digis that are for sale. Direct donations are also being accepted. Information central is HERE.

Jak, our teamie at Mo's Dream Team, is very close to Katie and asked us if we'd like to join in the drive to help raise funds for Katie, her treatment and family. Being a mum of three myself, there was only one answer for me so here's my card, with the fabulous image designed by Becky.

Hopefully, you will have arrived from Joyce's Blog here but if not, you can find a full list of bloggers joining in at the bottom of my post.

Please follow the link here to see all the images/items that are available to purchase with all funds going to help Katie keep swimming!

Sadly, Katie has had to return to hospital for further treatment, but the fighting spirit of her and her family is totally inspiring and is a lesson to us all. You can read her latest post here.

I hope you will join me in supporting Katie through a purchase or donation. The following is a list of everyone who has projects posted today.

Mina http://pinkpuds.blogspot.com/

Alice http://aliceslittlewonderland.blogspot.com/

Cathy http://inkitupstampitout.blogspot.com/

Debbie http://debbiepsplace.blogspot.com/

Heidy http://heidysscrappies.blogspot.com/

Jane http://janeyscards.blogspot.com/

Jeni http://jeniflipflop.blogspot.com/

Joyce http://gramstreasures.blogspot.com/

Julie http://catchmecrafting.blogspot.com/

Karen http://www.kjssummerwinekorner.blogspot.com/

Lori http://byloridesigns.blogspot.com/

Tammy http://tammy-tammyspot.blogspot.com/

Toni http://cuppa-craft.blogspot.com/

As you can see, Karen is the next stop on today's hop, so pop on over to see her card and the rest of today's supporters.

I hope you will be inspired by them and moved to purchase or donate. Thank you!

Double DT day ( no, not double G&T!) - Basic Grey and CES Challenges

2011-10-15T08:00:00.001+01:00

Hello, it's the weekend, and I must say that I had a very civilised start to mine last night! At Victoria Station they were giving away free Vodka and Cokes, so I thought it would be rude not to!! That would be great every evening on the commute home!!

Anyway, on to my cards for today and first up is my card for Basic Grey Challenges and we have a very popular theme at the moment of Autumn/Halloween!! (Looks like my image also took a trip through Victoria last night - he's definitely had one or two!)

Yep, another wonderful Oz image from Mo's Digital Pencil, told you I was loving them. You can find him here.

My Basic Grey item are these wonderful, rich autumny papers from the Indian Summer 6x6 pad. I've made another easel card, so that I could make this fab pile of leaves and hope that I've acheived the sense of him kicking happily through the pile!!

The trees and fences are Tim Holtz dies Iand think you can just see here that I've lifted a few of them off the page with acetate, as I did with Mr Scarecrow - it gives a great feel of movement in real life, if you know what I mean!

The pumpkins are an MS punch, borrowed from my matey, Lesley and I thought I'd try making a 3D one!! Doesn't quite work as it loses a bit of it's roundness but it's not stuck down so looks ok for the pic!

If you do nothing else today, go and check out the awesome makes from my teamies at Basic Grey Challenges - they are wonderful!!

Our sponsor at BG, as always, is the wonderful Simon Says Stamps, and as always, we have a fabbie $25 dollar shopping voucher (excluding P&P). Please play along with us - just don't forget to use a Basic Grey product and point it out in your post!!

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On to my next DT card which is for this week's challenge over at CES Challenges which is Forever Autumn so more lovely autumnal colours and papers!

Oh and another Mo image too - she surely know how to bring these characters to life!! This time, he's an Alice Wonderland character, of course The Mad Hatter!

My papers are Bo Bunny Time Piece which I bought from Emma's Online Store. Other items from the store are the 6x6 card blanks, Promarkers and Flex Markers and Card Candy. BTW, it's only a week before Emma's baby is due - good luck, Emma and enjoy every moment!! More Tim Holtz dies - the clock and cog dies and the sentiment was a freebie with a magazine and is the perefect size to go with this cog!

Yet again, my fabbie CES teamies, have some gorgeous cards to share with you so do go take a look! Do join in with us too as you could win a fabby £10 voucher to spend in Crafty Emma's Store!!

Well, thanks for keeping with me to the end and hope you can play along with both challenges!! Why not combine the two - now why didn't I think of that!!

We're off to See the Wizard.....

2011-10-13T21:35:00.000+01:00

Well actually I think she's already seen him and is clicking her heels to get home!!! This was made for my niece and her fiance, who have just moved into their first house in readiness for their new baby due in the new year! How exciting for them.

I just love all things Wizard of Oz as do most of our family so this wonderful image from Mo's Digital Pencil, called Kansas, seemed appropriate. I've teamed her up with the new Graphic 45 Wizard of Oz papers - lovely poppies on these ones!! The sign post I cobbled together from a Tim Holtz bracket die and Nestie tag die!

This perfect sentiment is by Cat's Life Press purchased from Crafty Emmas - love it!!

You can't quite see it in my pics but her shoes are all red and sparkly as of course they should be!!

I'm loving all of Mo's Oz images - watch out for another card coming soon!! I can't wait until she adds the Tin Man and Lion to the set, and then you can have the Glinda the Good Witch, the Wicked Witch of the West, Dorothy, the Scarecrow all together!! What a fab scene that would make!

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Delightful Challenges - Colours of Fall

Meljens Designs - Use a Ribbon

The Play Date Cafe - Colour Inspiration

Crafts and Me - the colour Orange

I Love Promarkers - Fall colours

Bearly-Mine Challenges - Easel does it

Thanks for popping in and hellloooo to my new followers - "waves"!

Whiff of Joy Challenge 114 - Anything but square

2011-10-12T08:00:00.002+01:00

Hello - back again for the new challenge at Whiff of Joy. Before I say anything, I think I need to apologise for the rubbish pics! I just couldn't seem to get them right, with my daylight lamp. all sorts of Heath Robinson light boxes, nothing helped!! So I've picked the best of a bad bunch!

On to the challenge, and this fortnight's theme is Anything but Square - we want to see your shaped cards or creations. I've gone with a kind of hanging triptych! Love, love, love WOJ gnomes and this one, Uru and Bird, is no exception! Have also just received a few of the new releases for this Christmas - yummy!!!

The gorgeous felt reindeer is from The Ribbon Girl - I was a little disappointed when these arrived as they are so much bigger than I expected but, as they say necessity is the mother of invention, and I think it looks perfect for the third hanging element! Makes the card seem more of a decoration. The papers are Crate Paper, Peppermint, from Crafty Emma's as is the sentiment and red pearl.

We're being sponsored by Whiff of Joy this fortnight and you could win a voucher to receive 15% of your next order!!

You can see some stunning makes from my lovely DT buddies for this challenge, so pop on over to the challenge blog here if you can!! Shall look forward to see your gorgeous creations too!!

PFP Challenge 120 - Christmas Critters!

2011-10-11T09:00:00.000+01:00

We're getting ready for Christmas this week over at Passion for Promarkers with our theme of Christmas Critters, as chosen by our lovely Andie. And as we're being sponsored this week by Digi Stamp Boutique, we've been playing with some of their gorgeously cute Christmas Images. Love the little robin singing his heart out!!

My paper is from Crate Paper and as it's quite bold, I've restrained myself from adding too many embellies!! The little toadstool peg, I found in Tiger, so cute, and the sentiment is Cat's Life Press. I borrowed my friend, Lesley's, punch for the button,

Well, that's it really - a rather simple card but I like it.

Don't forget, we're being sponsored by Digi Stamp Boutique and you could win 6 images of your choice!

Don't forget to check out the rest of the cards from my lovely teamies at PFP - you won't be disappointed!!

Sketch N Stash Challenge No 72

2011-10-10T09:00:00.001+01:00

Hi there! Well I've had a lovely few days off work, and sadly, it's time go back. First though, it's time to share with you my card for the latest challenge at Sketch N Stash, with a great sketch by our fabbie Angie:

I've used this sweet nutcracker image from Kraftin Kimmie. I've coloured with my Promarkers and Flexmarkers and used some gorgeous new Xmas papers that I've just received from Crafty Emma's store. I think they're Echo Park Season's Greetings but do you know, I can't quite remember and I'm too lazy to go and check!! The sentiment is from Cat's Life Press, also from Emma's, and the rest of the bits and bobs are from stash.

Our sponsor for this fortnight's challenge is Simon Says Stamps and they're giving away a $15 dollar voucher to one lucky entrant!!

Hope you play along with us and hope to see some fabbie entrants over the next couple of weeks!!

Thanks so much for popping in, very much appreciated!!

CES Challenges - Seeing Red and sorry I'm late!!

2011-10-08T21:55:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, sorry I'm so late posting my card for the latest challenge at CES challenges. I've been away for a couple of days, first to my fabby matey's, Lesley for a day of crafting and general frivolity ( and treated to a meal out too!) and then today we drove down to Burgess Hill for a visit to The Glitter Pot and another fantastic day of crafting with another fabby friend, Alex! Just got back and can't tell you how much I enjoyed it!!

I had meant to schedule this before I left yesterday morning, but had an unexpected visit to the Dr's with my lovely Em, who it turns out has got shingles!! A reactivation of the chicken pox virus caused by her stressing out about all her A level school work! Quite common in youngsters of her age apparently, I always thought is was an older person's disease. Luckily, she could carry on as usual, as it's a very mild case and not contagious.

Anyway, back to the point, and this week at CES Challenges, the theme is

Seeing Red

as set by our wonderful Jenny. Yep, anything you like as long as it's mainly red!

I've gone with this gorgeous Santa Sassy from Funky Kits, and matched her with Basic Grey Nordic Holiday Papers from Emma's Online Store. The scalloped edge card blank is from a mixed set of edged cards that Emma stocks, and the little rhinestones at the centre of the snowflakes are also from Emma's. The snow flakes are the left overs from a MS border punch! The felt snowflake braid at the bottom is from Marks and Spencer would you believe from their gift wrap selection!!

My lovely DT buddies at Crafty Emma's have made some wonderful cards to share, so do take a peek- hope you'll be inspired enough to play along with us and give yourself a chance of winning a yummy £10 voucher to spend in Crafty Emma's Online Store ( excluding postage).

Right, just off to unpack, then will try and pop round to see what I've missed over the last few days!!

Colour Create - Lilac, Grey and White MMmmmm!!

2011-10-06T08:00:00.001+01:00

Morning - Happy Thursday to me!! I've got two days off work, having an MOT today on myself! Haircut, pedicure and then rushing around doing a few bits of shopping!!

First job of the day though is to share with you my card for our new challenge at Colour Create with a wonderful colour scheme chosen by our fabulous Mina:

Lilac, Grey and White

(with the optional extra of snowflakes)

Not a normal colour combo for me but I love it and think it's perfect for frosty winter scenes and crimbo cards. I've used this beautiful fairy from Mos Digital Pencil, Teen Fairy Pia which you can find here. Coloured with my PMs and the new FlexMarkers - love them and cannot wait to get my hands on the whole set of colours!!!

The border is punched with an MS round the page set (and the cut out means you get loads of little snowflakes to keep for later projects!). You may also just make out that I've embossed the white mat with a snowflake design - it'a Tando Mask and great for embossing too. The snowflakes embellies are cut with a Marianne design set, in acetate and then dipped in Twinklets glass glitter. Rest of the stuff is stash that has no name!!!

Our fabulous and regular sponsor, Michelle's Scrapbooking, is with us this fortnight so you could win something yummy from her selection.

I shall look forward to seeing your gorgeous makes over the next couple of weeks - oh and don't forget to check out the beautiful cards here from my DT mateys- fab cards!!

Off to be Mum's Taxi service now, so have a good day and see you later!

PFP Challenge - Altered something and funny looks from work again!!

2011-10-04T09:00:00.003+01:00

Time for a new challenge at PFP Challenges and this week the theme is Altered But Not Square as chosen by our wonderful Anja. Well I'm not normally one for altering much, but as luck would have it, I had purloined this biscuit cannister (Tescos, I believe) from work when someone brought in some holiday treats!! I got the usual odd looks but that didn't stop me - hey half the work was done already with the gorgeous swirly patterned paper already in situ!!

The image is from Funky Kits, one of the gorgeous Simply Sassy girls, and I've gone for a Steampunk(ish) feel with my embellies. The arches are the Tim Holtz clock die, and the Dream die is also from Sir T of H! The netting is cotton scrim and the flower which you may just see below is handmade from scraps. Just added a little bunch of keys charm and that was it - thought I could have used more embellies but I like it as it is!

The fabulous Joanna Sheen is sponsoring us this week, to the tune of a £10 voucher to spend in her store ( and she doesn't charge postage - gotta love her, and I've always found her service to be flawless!)

Look forward to seeing some wonderful objects transformed into works of art!! My lovely teamies at PFP have made some gorgeous creations if you'd like to pop on over for a peek here!

White Rabbits and Double DT day for Basic Grey and CES Challenges- two cards though!!

2011-10-01T08:00:00.003+01:00

Hello peeps - Have you said White Rabbits this morning, now it's the 1st of the month? October 1st - can you believe it - and it's been glorious here in London!! Hardly the sort of weather for my first card which is for our new challenge at Basic Grey Challenges where our theme is Nursery Rhymes or Fairy Tales. I've gone with Hanzel and Gretel although it could also be the Gingerbread Man! And of course Christmas themed!!

My card is made with another fantastic image from Mo Manning. Witches Trick which you can find here. Can't tell you how much I love her, so great to colour!!

I cut out the Gingerbread man shaped card with the Tim Holtz die that I got last year - just missing the edge so that the arms joined up! The flower is made with my Basic Grey item - again the Nordic Holidays 6x6 pad, another big fave of mine at the minute. ( Purchased from Crafty Emma's Online store!!)

I've then dabbed the edges with Snowcap TH acrylic dabber for the snowy effect The only thing I'm not so happy with is his face - made out of Card Candy - any suggestions?

There are so many wonderful images out there for this theme and the DT team over at Basic Grey Challenges have done themselves proud with the cards!! Do take a look!

If you want to play along, as usual we are being sponsored by Simon Says stamps, and you could win a $25 dollar voucher to spend in the on-line store!

I'm entering this card into the Simon Says Challenge whose theme is Anything Goes this time around.

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CES Challenge - Gorgeous Girls!!

This is my card for this week's theme at CES Challenges ( well, I don't think the warty witch above quite fit the bill for this challenge, do you!!)

For my card, I've used this oh-so-gorgeous image from Crafts and Me!! I've matched her up with these awesome My Mind's Eye Papers - A Beautiful Life, purchased from Crafty Emmas On line Store, along with the 6x6 card blanks, flowers and leaves, pins, pearls and dew drops, and the wooden buttons!!

The frame was cut with the Fiskars Rose Border and corner punch and the lace is a bit of vintage that I had in my stash! All the mats and image were distressed with TH inks - Vintage Photo, mostly.

Crafty Emma's store is of course our regular sponsor and you could win a fabby £10 voucher to spend with her - and she has 20% off nearly everything at the moment - bargain!!

I'm entering this card into the Crafts and Me challenge where the theme is Flowers!

Have fun with the challenges, make the most of the weather and I'll see you soon!!

Whiff of Joy - Sparkle and Swirls - Challenge 114

2011-09-28T08:00:00.001+01:00

This is my card for our new challenge at Whiff of Joy Challenges for the next fortnight and we have a theme for you this time - Sparkle and Swirls, easy peasy!! Ive used one of the beautiful new Fairy tale inspired images, Snow White. together with the Rose Trellis. Think you can see my sparkle roses quite well in the above Pic!

My papers are Prima Pixie Glen, the flower is TH Tattered florals, and the swirl is a Sizzix die, also from the TH range I think. I've threaded a leaf vine through my fence, both MS punches, and the sentiment is Stampin Up. And can you see the rose trellis border on the matting - this is the 2 in 1 border punch from Fiskars - so in love with it, it's so easy to use!!

Do hope you can play along with us - it's the perfect theme for those Xmas cards if you need to get started. Don't forget you just need to use a Whiff of Joy image or die to be eligible for our prize draw. Check out the awesome makes from my teamies at WOJ - fabulous!!!

Passion For Promarkers - Planes, Trains and Automobiles

2011-09-27T09:00:00.000+01:00

Hello again - only me! A bit of a change of style for me today, and not sure what to think! Anyhoo, we have a theme of Planes, Trains and Automobiles at PFP, as chosen by my fabbie teamie Tracy. I had thought to make a Magnolia image car, using the cute little Magnolia car which has somehow found it's way into my stash! Then I remembered I needed to make a card for my BIL and I don't think Tilda would go down too well with him. The car stamp is quite appropriate though as he has a vintage sports car that he's doing/done up so I've coloured the car here in the same colours! Wanted it to look a bit grungy just not sure if I 've fully acheived it! The papers are Basic Grey Wander which I like but it overall it doesn't really thrill me!

My gorgeous teamies at PFP have done far better than me and having some stunning cards to show you so try and hop over to the PFP Challenge blog and even play along with us if you can! We're being sponsored by the fabulous Letraset this week, so what more incentive do you need!

Sketch N Stash Monday Challenge

2011-09-26T09:00:00.000+01:00

Bleugh - I do hate Monday morning! Such a busy weekend too that I don't feel that rested! Wonderful wedding on Saturday and yesterday was OH's birthday and we went out to lunch with our three lovelies! But busy, you know, which means no time for card making!

Anyway, it's time for a new challenge at Sketch N Stash and this week's sketch has been designed by our fabbie Danielle.

I used the sketch for Nick's birthday card - he's quite a film fanatic, hence the theme!

The image is Susie Stocking from Saturated Canary and the image I won as my suggestion for her name was chosen!! I think it looks like she's looking rather wistfully up at the old Movie Stars in the backing papers!!I'd bought these gorgeoue Graphic 45 Curtain Call papers from Sandown last week with this card in mind so hence her monochromatic -ish colouring her!! I've tried before to colour black hair like this and this is the first time that I've come anywhere near to feeling happy with it! Practise, practise, practise!! The large film strip was cut with a Tim Holtz die, and the acetate film strip and ticket sentiments are also TH. These last two are my items that have been in my stash for more than 6 months.

We're being sponsored at SNS this challenge by Meljen Designs and there are four digi images up for grabs!!

Hope you can join in the challenge this coming fortnight and hope your Monday is bearable!!

CES Recycling!!!

2011-09-24T08:00:00.002+01:00

Saturday greetings!! I won't be about much over the weekend - have a wedding today, and the weather is looking good!! Tomorrow, is hubby's birthday and I think we're going out for lunch with Harry coming home from Uni - he can't resist a free lunch!

It's time for a new challenge over at CES Challenges and our fabby Sheena has chosen the theme of recycling! ( We've just got new food leftover recycling bins today so very topical in our house!).

I'm not very creative when it comes to recycling and you may look at my card and wonder what on earth looks reused, so I've taken a pic to prove that there is something recycled - old file dividers from work that were going to be thrown away ( well, I think they recylce them there too) and so I asked if I could bring them home!!

They do give me some strange looks when I talk about my hobby! Bloggy friends, DTs, Challenges - they think I've lost the plot!!

So hopefully you can see the file matting!!

This is a LOTV from last Christmas- so cute- coloured with PMs and the patterned paper is Webster's page - Home for the Holidays. These are from Crafty Emma's, along with the Card Candy, Ribbon, Cat's Life Press Winter stamp, and Rhinestone Flatbacked Gems in the centre of the punched snowflakes.

I've heat embossed the Marianne tree shapes with holographic power so they look a bit sparkly.

Really quite a simple card to make, but I really like the little scene and will probably do a few more Christmas cards like this, IF I can find some time!!

My lovely buddies over on CES Challenges have been far more inventive than me in the recyled items that they've used so do go and have a nosy on the challenge blog! I shall also look forward to see what you manage to recycle on your cards!! There's a £10 voucher up for grabs for the lucky winner to spend in Crafty Emma's On line store so get recycling!!

I'm entering my card into the Lili Of The Valley Challenge which has a theme of Aqua, White and Glitter.

Colour Create Challenge No 80 - Lime, Aqua and White

2011-09-22T07:00:00.001+01:00

So lovely to think it's Thursday already, nearly the weekend. The other thing about Thursdays means it's time for our new challenge at Colour Create with this wonderful colour mix being chosen by my fabbie teamie, Sharon L.

When I chose this wonderful image, Winifred, by Mo Manning, I'd had in mind to add to my Christmas card count and make a card all frosty and crispy!! However, I came across these gorgeous WRMK papers, Vintage Blue, when I was trying to decide what papers to use and thought they were a match made in heaven with the inspiration photo.

So, I'm not really too sure if Winifred, as a wintery sort of image, goes with these more springlike papers, what do you think? I still like the overall card though, which is the main thing, I suppose. The corner ribbon slot die cut and ribbon are new purchases from Sandown at the weekend, I did enjoy it!! The butterfly is an MS punch, and is also the optional extra that Sharon has chosen for the challenge this fortnight.

My lovely teamies at Colour Create have made some yummy cards for the challenge, so pop on over and take a peek. Oh, and we have a little DT call going out this week, so if you think you'd like to join our happy little band of colour fanatics, why not apply!!

See you over the next fortnight!

2011-09-20T09:00:00.002+01:00

Hi there - it 's Tuesday and time for our new challenge at Passion for Promarkers, and this week we have a gorgeous sketch from our gorgeous Michele:

Great isn't it, and as we're being sponsored by the Digi Stamp Boutique, I 've used this fabby Girl sitting on present!!

The papers are a new Echo Park pad - Happy Days that I got from Crafty Emmas and they are so yummy!! I've paper pieced the present too in the same papers and added my own ribbon and bow rather than use the one on the image. the snowflakes are made with a Martha Stewart stamp and punch set and the sentiment is Waltzing Mouse.

Our sponsor this week, is of cours the fab Digi Stamp Boutique who are offering the lucky winner no less than 6 of their gorgeous digi images!!

That 's it from me for now. Busy, busy at work and at weekends at the moment, so may not be around much this week but will try and visit soon!!

Candy Winner!

2011-09-19T22:26:00.000+01:00

Hello there

Sorry this is a bit late tonight! Forgot I had a Canape making team building session at work tonight!! Yep honestly!!! Anyhow, I got through it and my team won!!! So I've come home with a nice shiny new kitchen knife!!

And I've got a rather fabby couple of paper pads to go to .....drum roll please,

- the fabby Danielle -

No 19 in the list of commentators, the number chosen by random.org generator!!

I'm so pleased too, as Danielle really is always stopping by and leaving me encouraging words, so my candy has gone to someone it was meant for!

Thanks so much for playing along and thank you again for all your support.

I promised a little candy!!

2011-09-18T20:00:00.000+01:00

And here it is - a couple of the newest paper pads out from My Minds Eye ( A Beautiful Life) and Crate Paper (Farmer's Market) fresh out at Crafty Emma's store! Of course I have also bought these for me but let me tell you I nearly kept them both just for stroking!!! I'm going to leave this up until next Sunday - the 18th - and will announce the winner on Monday 19th.

This is my way of saying thank you to all the fab people out there who stop by and leave a comment when, as they will know, I can't always find the time to get back on such a regular basis! You don't need to post about this on your own blog, just leave a comment below and I'll choose a winner by random.org.

Thank you my lovely bloggy friends, you know who you are!!xxxx

CES and Basic Grey Challenges - Lots of Embellies and Brown and Pink

2011-09-17T08:00:00.004+01:00

To me that sounds like a match made in heaven which is just as well, as I ran out of time this week to make separate cards for each challenge. Nightmare week at work but won't bore you with that!

Back to the business at hand, at CES Challenges we want to see at least 4 different types of embellishments and at Basic Grey Challenges we have a colour theme of Brown And Pink. At BG of course, you have to use a Basic Grey product!!

For my card, I've used my gorgeous new BG pad, Nordic Holiday, along with pearl ribbon sliders, divine twine, wooden stars, glittery buttons, pink rhinestones, and Websters trim - the white netting ( that's well over four!) all from Crafty Emma's Store. I've sprinkled some Gold Glamour Dust, that Emma also sells, onto the wooden stars, having first whitened them with acrylic paint. The rhinestone swirls were a birthday present and the spotty organza ribbon's from stash. Oh, and this gorgeous fairy image is by Mo Manning - the Good Witch, Glinda, from The Wizard of Oz - one of my most favouritest Mo images!!

Two fabby prizes for the winner of each challenge too.

Emma is offering a £10 voucher to the winner of our Embellie challenge at CES.

Follow the link here to Crafty Emma's store to have a little browse just in case your entry is chosen!!

At Basic Grey Challenges we have our regular sponsor, Simon Says Stamps, offering a little spenderette in their online store with a rather nice $25 voucher up for grabs!!

Both sets of my lovely DT maties have got some wondrous cards to share with you so, if you do nothing else week go and take a peek!

Thanks for popping in!!

No card but look what I won!!

2011-09-16T19:38:00.001+01:00

Hello Bloggy Buddies

Krista Smith of Saturated Canary, and the awesome artist behind the Sugar Nellie Simply Sassy range had a competition on FaceBook to name one of her stunning new digi images that you can now purchase from her Etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SaturatedCanaryDigis?ref=si_shop

The prize was the digi itself ( above - a bit small but hey you can see it! ) I think the glory was in naming her!! Can you guess - I won for choosing the name Suzie Stockings!!

I've extracted Krista's post from FB below:

Name the Stamp Winner...Julie Baker wrote: Oh name her after me - I look just like that in my dreams!! Failing that, how about Suzie Stocking - she looks a bit of a tease!! Fabulous!... This made me laugh-- and I also thought it was perfect...Suzie Stockings. Mz. Julie Baker please email me at krista7smith@yahoo.com for your image!:) Thank you ALL for playing along!:):) It was a super hard choice

What a great start to the weekend. Busy, busy, off to take son back to Uni tomorrow and then I'm off to Sandown on Sunday to the Craft Show with best matey Lesley! Oh and I need to make about three cards!!

Enjoy yours whatever you're doing!!