Time For Me

Sketch N Stash DT Card #79

2012-01-16T09:30:00.001Z

Hi everyone, I'm here today with this fortnight's Sketch N Stash DT card. The designer this time around was the lovely Julie, and what a great sketch it is too.
I seem to be going through a bit of a 'less is more' phase, so I left off the embellishments this time around and concentrated on the lovely image and papers. Unfortunately my scanner didn't seem to like the card too much, in real life the colour palette is pinks, creams and browns.

Card Details:
* Image - A Day For Daisies - 'Mum Girl'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers and Spectrum Noir pens
* Papers - DCWV, My Minds Eye and Papermania
* Die - Spellbinders - 'Picot Edge Circles'
* Everything else from my stash

We're being sponsored this fortnight by My Mum's Craft Shop who are offering one lucky winner a £10 gift voucher, so I'd say it's definitely worth joining in.
I hope you'll manage to join in with us again this time around, if you're in need of inspiration just pop over to the challenge blog and see what gorgeousness all my teamies have come up with. Oh, and while you're there don't forget to check out the winner and Top 3 from our last challenge.

Sketch N Stash DT Card #78

2012-01-02T09:30:00.002Z

Hi everyone, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year and are not suffering too much this morning?

It's time for another Sketch N Stash Challenge and this time our sketch is from the lovely Michelle and I couldn't resist using this adorable digi from Heather Ellis, just look at that wonderful expression isn't she too sweet?
I recently purchased this wonderful Marianne 'Chinese Rose' die, I've admired it so much when I've seen it on other people's creations (Edna, take heed as you're mainly responsible for this!) Unfortunately, I don't seem to have mastered the technique involved and it's not looking it's best here. I think a lot more practice is required, so if any of you have any hints or tips I'd be very grateful.

Card Details:
* Image - Heather Ellis 'Pure Innocence 034'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Company and DCWV
* Sentiment - Pink Petticoat 'Girly Curly'
* Dies - Marianne Designs Creatables 'Chinese Rose'
* Everything else from my stash

We have a brand new sponsor for this brand new year, Heather Ellis I'm sure you are familiar with her wonderful digis, but if not please visit her. I love the simplicity of her drawings, no wonder this range is called 'Pure Innocence'

I hope you can manage to join us again this time, we're looking forward to spending another year with you, looking at your gorgeous creations and scratching our heads over choosing our 'Top 3'
Pop over to the challenge blog to see who made it last time and who our lucky winner was.

A Christmas Wish

2011-12-23T09:00:00.001Z

Hi everyone,
I'm so sorry that I haven't been about for a while (other than my scheduled DT posts) but I'm afraid that real life has taken over recently, however I'm hoping that normal service will be resumed after the New Year ha ha!

It's my wonderful hubby's 60th birthday today and we celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary last week on the 16th, so with one thing and another December is a busy old month for us.
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year and I look forward to catching up with you all again very soon.

Until then, take care my dear friends
lots of love,

Sketch N Stash DT Card #77

2011-12-19T09:30:00.004Z

Hi everyone, time for another sketch at Sketch N Stash and this fortnight it's the turn of the lovely Sue to be our sketch designer. It's such a fabulous sketch that I hope you'll be able to join in with us.

Card Details:
* Image - Just Some Lines 'Gabriella Girl 1'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - My Mind's Eye 'Bloom & Grow' and K & Co.
* Sentiment - Cuddly Buddly
* Everything else from my stash

This fortnight we're being sponsored by the hugely talented Jehanne of Just Some Lines who is offering our lucky winner a massive $15 of digis of their choice. Wow such a fabulous prize! So what are you all waiting for, get crafting!!

I loved what you all created from my sketch last time and I had a HUGE struggle trying to pick my 'Top 3' (I thought they were all gorgeous!) but I eventually managed to whittle it down to just three, so do please visit our challenge blog and check them out, together with the wonderful designs from our DT and don't forget to see if you were last fortnight's lucky winner.

Sketch N Stash DT Card #76

2011-12-05T09:30:00.005Z

Hi everyone, it's that time again (where did that last 2 weeks go?)
My DT card for this fortnight's Sketch N Stash Challenge is actually MY sketch. Now please join in with this, as I don't really 'do' sketches so you'll probably never get another of mine (who shouted just as well?! ha ha!)
I used one of my new 'Adorable' digis from Sugar Nellie, I just couldn't resist purchasing a couple of these cuties.

How lovely it is to get back to being able to use whatever I want on my cards, rather than making Xmas cards because I have to. Next year I'm determined to make the occasional ones all through the year. Hooray for those all year round Christmas Challenges!

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie - Adorables 'Victoria'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - My Minds Eye and Joanna Sheen
* Punch - MS Doily Lace
* Dies - Cuttlebug 'Vintage' and Nestability 'Classic Scallop Rectangles'
* Everything else from my stash

This fortnight, our regular sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering our lucky winner a $15 voucher to spend in their fabulous shop. We are so grateful for their continued sponsorship and generosity.

I do hope you'll manage to join in with us for this challenge (and not just because it's my sketch, honestly) We love to see your work and always have such a difficult time choosing our 'Top 3' so pop over and check out who made it this time and who our lucky winner was.

Ice and Snow

2011-11-24T12:49:00.000Z

Hi everyone,
No, my title doesn't refer to the weather forecast, it's the theme for the Sugar Bowl's latest challenge. I'm entering this card using 'Gayle's Sketch' which is the other part of their challenge and I've used lots of sparkle, glitter card and icy blue coloured gems to give the feeling of ice and snow. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be showing up too well on the scan.

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie - 'Elise'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Dovecraft 'Winter Wonderland'
* Punch - MS 'Embossed Zig Zag' and Paper Shapers 'Wave Flourish'
* Everything else from my stash

I won this lovely Sugar Nellie stamp ages ago in a challenge but this is the first time she's seen ink as, I'm ashamed to say, I'd forgotten all about her. She's not actually a Christmas stamp, but I thought she worked quite well for this challenge.

I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear that I think I've now finished making all my xmas cards, so I should be able to stop complaining about how I hate making them and get back to making what I want. The funny thing is, that now I know I don't have to make any more I think I may join in with one or two of the xmas challenges and make a start on next year's cards, how contrary am I?

Sketch N Stash DT Card #75

2011-11-21T09:30:00.008Z

Hi everyone, it's time for another fabulous sketch at Sketch N Stash and this fortnight the sketch is from Kevin who recently joined our happy DT. I do hope you'll be able to join in with us and show support for his first sketch design for us.

Card Details:
* Image - Meljen 'Topsy Turvy Cake'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - I think they were some freebies from a magazine years ago!
* Everything else from my stash

Our sponsor for this challenge is Meljen Designs and they are generously offering our winner 4 digi images of their choice. So don't hang around, get crafting and enter the challenge!
If you're in need of some inspiration, just take a look at the wonderful creations from the DT and don't forget to check out if you were our last winner or one of our Top 3.

If you've already been over to the challenge blog, you'll see that we have some new teamies joining our happy band. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome:
Jen, Sarah-Jane, Doreen and Andie
Please do visit them and say 'Hi' if you have the time.

Saucy Steampunk

2011-11-09T09:30:00.002Z

Hi everyone, daily postings from me seem to be becoming a habit, definitely one I'm enjoying, but almost certainly one that won't last. Posting every day is a bit too much for me, so once I've caught up with my backlog of cards I think my posts will go back to every few days.
Recently, I was lucky enough to win the Kenny K challenge and this little cutie is one of the digis I chose. Actually, if I'm honest, it was my hubby who chose this one and another similar, I can't imagine what attracted him to them, can you?
I must admit, I don't really 'get' steampunk, but I do love these saucy girls from Kenny K!
I'm entering this card for the following challenges:
Kenny K - Challenge - #68 'Celebration'
Wild Orchid Challenge - #36 'Brown and Blue'

Card Details:
* Image - Kenny K 'Captain Locke'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Everything else from my stash

My youngest son starts a new job next week, working for Mencap. Then on Saturday he turned up, out of the blue, having decided to surprise us with a visit. He thought it may be the last chance he got to see us before Christmas, so he took the train, a 4.5 hour journey! Bless him, he's so thoughtful, this is just typical of him
Luckily, I'd already scheduled my latest posts, but as I'm determined to make the most of our time together before he goes back, I may not be about again for a couple of days.

Alternative Christmas Colours

2011-11-08T09:30:00.001Z

Hi everyone, today's card uses an unusual colour palette for a Christmas card, but I think I quite like it. Unfortunately, the sparkly gems didn't scan as true colours, they match the papers perfectly in real life.
I've used another of Mo's adorable images. I've had this one a couple of years now, but I still love to use it every Christmas.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
The Sugar Bowl - Sketch
Charisma Cardz - Cutesy Projects
Crafts & Me - Let the Music Move You
Colour Create - Turquoise, Deep Pink and Ivory

Card Details:
* Image - Digital Pencil Too - Monique
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Blueberry Hill'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm getting into quite a routine with my cardmaking now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but it will still be nice when I've finished all the xmas cards and can make what I want again.

Sketch N Stash DT Card #74

2011-11-07T09:30:00.010Z

Hi everyone, time for another fabulous sketch at Sketch N Stash and this fortnight it's the turn of the lovely Vicky to be our sketch designer. It's such a fabulous sketch too, I hope you'll be able to join in with us.

Well, I'm sure you'll be surprised to see that I used the sketch to make a xmas card. Isn't this little fella a cutie pie? Unfortunately, I haven't got a clue where I got him from, I'm afraid. It was part of a xmas digi kit that I purchased a couple of years ago and have never got around to using before, so if anyone knows, please leave a comment so that I can give credit to the artist.

Card Details:
* Papers - Papermania 'Naughty and Nice' & Dovecraft 'Winter Wonderland'
* Everything else from my stash

Once again we're being sponsored by our generous regular sponsors Simon Says Stamp and they are offering our lucky winner a $15 voucher to spend in their store, so if you join in that lucky person may be you!
Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the other DT cards, they're fabulous, as always. And if you entered our last challenge, please check out whether you were our lucky winner or one of our Top 3.

Tom, Dick and Harry

2011-11-06T10:30:00.001Z

Hi everyone, a few cards today, sort of variations on a theme really.
I wanted to enter this week's Bah Humbug challenge as I've missed so many, and I had a few Snowmen images that I wanted to use, so I scoured about for a CAS sketch and actually found two that I thought would suit these little cuties.
I named them Tom, Dick and Harry for no other reason than that there were three of them. When we moved to this house earlier in the year, we inherited three goldfish in a pond and I named them Tom, Dick and Harry too, talk about a lack of imagination...sheesh!

These cards are being entered into the following challenges:
Bah! Humbug! - Snowmen
Deconstructing Jen - Sketch #26 (2nd card)
Hanna and Friends - Sketch #118 (1st and 3rd cards)
Simon Says Stamp - Buttons (faux ones on 2nd card)

Card Details:
* Images - PC Crafter 'Cold Hands Warm Feet'
* Papers - HOTP, Papermania and Dovecraft
* Punch - MS 'Eyelet Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

The good news is... I do believe I'm actually getting there with my cards (at last!) the bad news is...I still have a few more to make, so you haven't seen an end of them yet I'm afraid!

A Whiff of Joy

2011-11-05T09:30:00.002Z

Hi everyone, I'll bet you're surprised to see me with a Christmas card again today aren't you?......NOT LOL!
Today, my card uses a Whiff of Joy stamp which hasn't seen the light of day for a while, such a shame because I think it's an adorable image. I do tend to forget about some of my older stamps and get too caught up in new things.
I had to use these lovely HOTP papers again as I just loved the richness of the colour but it's mostly all gone now except for some scraps (sob, sob)

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Whiff of Joy - Karina's Sketch
Stampavie and more - Anything Goes
The ABC Challenge - C for Crochet Flowers

Card Details:
* Image - Whiff of Joy - 'Uru and Bird'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot off the Press & DCWV
* Sentiment - Pink Petticoat 'Girly Curly Sentiments'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm so looking forward to getting these xmas cards finished now so that I can move on to other things again! I WILL join in regularly next year with the Christmas challenge blogs (I seem to be having a sense of Deja Vu here, surely I haven't ever said this before!!??!!)

Festive Sparkle

2011-11-04T09:30:00.004Z

Hi everyone, another day, another Christmas card, at least that's how it's feeling for me at the moment but if I carry on at this rate I may get them all finished in time (fingers crossed!)
Today's card uses another of the gorgeous xmas images that I recently purchased from Mo's, this one is called 'Boughs for the Wreath' and I love the slightly vintage look of it.
I used absolutely masses of 'Diamond Dust' on this card, both for the snow and also for that snowflake embellishment, but unfortunately, it hasn't shown up very well.

I'm entering this for the following challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - #126
I love Promarkers - Glitter & Glitz
Creative Inspirations - Lashings of Sparkle
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (plus a bit of bling)

Card Details:
* Image - Digital Pencil Too 'Boughs for the Wreath'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Dovecraft 'Winter Wonderland'
* Dies - Nestabilities
* Everything else from my stash

It's highly likely that I'll be back with another card tomorrow, I hope you don't get fed up with looking at them as much as I'm getting fed up with making them! See how easily I get bored with doing the same thing, now you know why I dislike xmas cards so much, don't you?

A Vintage Christmas

2011-11-03T09:30:00.001Z

Hi everyone, today's card is another one for the Xmas box and this time I've used the traditional Christmas colours of red, green and gold. I have to admit to really liking the richness of this colour palette and I think I may have to use this colour combo again.
This is another 8" x 8" 'biggy' as it's designated for my best friend and her husband.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - Sketch # 179
ABC Christmas Challenge - V for Vintage
Crimbo Crackers - Challenge #1 Anything Goes

Card Details:
* Image - Digital Pencil Too 'Holly Fairy'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot Off The Press
* Punch - MS 'Doily Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

I've used Mo's Holly Fairy again, this is probably my all time favourite image for Christmas cards, I bought her a couple of years ago and use her on some of my cards every year. I just have to try to make sure I don't send her to the same people every year ha ha!
The beautiful gold sparkly ribbon was part of a gift from my dear friend Barb last year. She had bought lots of stunning christmas ribbons and sent me a selection as she knows we don't have access to the same gorgeousness here in the UK.

A Pastel Christmas Card

2011-11-02T09:30:00.003Z

Hi everyone, well here I am again with another Christmas card, that's another one for the box, thank goodness the numbers are starting to swell a bit now.
This is one of the new Teddy Bo and Bea images I purchased the other day, (I'm sure you'll be seeing the others sometime soon) isn't she so sweet?

I'm entering this card for the following challenges:
The Sweet Stop - Sketch #132
Teddy Bo - Pastels
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Anything Goes

Card Details:
* Image - TeddyBea #162
* Colouring medium - Promarkers and Spectrum Noir pens
* Sentiment Ticket - Magnolia
* Papers - An assortment from my stash (mostly K & Co)
* Punch - EK Success 'Retro Flower'
* Everything else from my stash

I decided to use an A5 card for this sketch, now it's finished I think that was probably a mistake as I've got too much blank space. It probably would have been much better on a square card......ah well, {sigh!}

Christmas Creatures

2011-10-31T16:33:00.001Z

Hi everyone, today's card is another Christmas one. I really, really need to catch up with making these so I've scoured the Christmas Challenges to try to gather some inspiration. Those of you who know me, will know that I don't like making cards for the festive season at all!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Bah! Humbug! - Die Cuts
Jingle Belles - Creatures
One Stop Craft Challenge - No Sentiments
Winter Wonderland - Clean and Simple (well this is about as CAS as I get!)

Card Details:
* Image - Just Some Lines freebie - 'Christmas Robin'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Naughty and Nice'
* Dies -Nestabilities 'Labels One' & Nellie's Borders 23
* Punch - EK Success Corner Punch
* Everything else from my stash

I'm hoping to catch up with some blog-hopping, commenting and making further xmas cards tomorrow so you may be seeing me again soon.

Anything Goes!

2011-10-28T15:58:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, my card today was made for a special friend who is going through a rough time at the moment, I just wanted to let her know I was thinking of her, so I hope she likes it.

I'm entering this into 2 card challenges whose themes are 'Anything Goes'
The first is Simon Says Stamp and the second is Charisma Cardz.

Card Details:
* Image - Sandi Gore Evans 'Angel Blessings' Kit from Daisie Company
* Papers - Cuddly Buddly 'Peppy Papers'
* Die - Marianne Designs 'Creatable Labels'
* Punch - MS PATP 'Deco Fan'
* Everything else from my stash

I need to concentrate on a few more Christmas cards again now, so you may see me back with something new in a couple of days.
Take care sweeties,

A Christmas Card Challenge

2011-10-26T09:30:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone, today I have a Christmas card to share with you and this will (hopefully) be the first of quite a few festive cards.
This is a large 8x8 card and is destined for a very special friend, I hope she'll like it. I'm entering it into CraftyHazelNut's Christmas Challenge where they are asking us to 'make a scene'
I'm also entering this week's DP2 challenge to use your fave Mo image. This is my fave (at the moment) 'cos it's the newest, but how anyone could have just one favourite image from Mo defeats me!

I was really starting to go into panic mode about getting my xmas cards made. I started the year off quite well by joining in with a few of the Christmas Challenges, mainly because I thought they would help me avoid my normal last minute rush but then, due to preparing to move etc. it all ground to a halt and I haven't made any since heaven knows when.
Fingers crossed, I still have time to get enough cards made before December is upon us.

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning 'Hanging Stockings'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Naughty & Nice' and unknown papers from a friend.
* Dies - Spellbinders 'Create A Flake'
* Sentiment - Computer generated
* Everything else from my stash

I try to avoid a visit to Mo's Digital Pencil too often as I find it nearly impossible to choose just one or two images, she is so talented that I always want everything in her shop. So this time I made a short list of about half a dozen digis in my basket and then asked DH to help me choose, the 2 images I bought were actually both his choice. Don't you just love the hopeful expression on that little dog's face, I wonder what he wants in his stocking?

Sketch N Stash DT Card #73

2011-10-24T09:30:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, I'm here again ready for this fortnight's Sketch N Stash Challenge.
We just can't believe all the brilliant entries submitted each challenge, choosing our Top 3 just gets harder and harder!
This time it's the lovely Gemma's turn to create a sketch, and what a fabulous one it is too. I hope you'll all manage to join in with us for her first sketch as a DT member.

Card Details:
* Image - Pollycraft - Sharing Sherbert 'Daydream'
* Sentiment - Gina Jane 'Friendship Post'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot off the Press and Joanna Sheen
* Everything else from my stash

For this challenge, we're being sponsored by the fabulous Pollycraft who are offering our lucky winner 10 digis of their choice. A fabulous prize but 'you've got to be in it to win it' so start creating!

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the rest of the DT cards, also see who won our last challenge and who were our Top 3.

A Sassy Sketch

2011-10-21T09:30:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, I did warn you I might be back again today, didn't I?

My card today is for Sassy Cheryl's challenge where they want us to use their gorgeous sketch plus pink. I'm also entering it into My Time To Craft's challenge of 'Punches and Dies'.

Card Details:
* Image - Sassy Cheryl's freebie - 'Bubble Blower'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Jak Heath - Candy Pink 'Spots'
* Punches - MS 'Doiley Lace' and 'Monarch Butterfly'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm sure I'll be back again soon, as I keep getting inspired by the challenge cards on my favourite blogs.
So many challenges, so little time!

A Couple Of Challenges - Oh How I've Missed Them.

2011-10-19T15:45:00.000+01:00

Hello me lovelies, it's me again and this time with a card for a couple of challenges. I can't remember the last time I managed to enter some!
I thought I'd enter the Kenny K challenge where they wanted to see 'Autumnal Colours' and then I hunted about for a sketch I liked. When I decided on this one from Sweet Sketch Wednesday I hadn't realised how big it would turn out, so then I had to make it an A5 sized card rather than my usual square one, but it's nice to have a change.
It also had me panicking as there was rather a lot of blank space left (now you know why I can't do CAS!) but then I spotted another lovely challenge at Anything Goes asking for 'some form of lettering' (not just a sentiment) so that, plus some corners solved the problem.
Now that I'm finished and ready to post I realise that it's Wednesday, so of course, there's now a new sketch over at my sketch challenge blog. Still, two out of three ain't bad and I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things soon, ha ha!

Card Details:
* Image - Kenny K - 'Download Diva'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co and old ones from Dovecraft (can't remember their name)
* Punch - EK Success Corner Punch
* Everything else from my stash

I'm in the process of making another card for some more challenges, so you may see me again tomorrow too. I know, I know, people tell me you can have too much of a good thing, but I've never understood the concept of less is more!

Take care sweeties,

I'm Sorry That I'm Such A Terrible Person!

2011-10-17T15:07:00.000+01:00

Hello my lovelies,
I'll bet you can't believe that I'm posting when it's not a Sketch N Stash Challenge day can you?
I'm so sorry, I know that I've been a terrible blogger lately, what can I say? There's no real excuse except that lots has been happening at 'Chez Chrissie'
(If you are bored enough to want to know more, it may be a good idea to get yourself a nice cup of coffee first as this is a long, long post!!)
The new bungalow had oil heating and after lots (and lots and lots!) of discussion we finally decided to change to gas, so we had the road dug up and gas and a new boiler installed. Then the loft was newly insulated and so we're now toasty warm.
We also had major problems with our new bedroom furniture. After 12 weeks of our money being in their bank whilst we waited for delivery and finally issuing them with a threat to cancel, the company tried to fob us off with ex-showroom units and make out it was our delivered order. Oh, and still charge us full price of course! Needless to say we were NOT happy and requested our money back PDQ! That, of course, meant starting the search again!!!!! However, I'm happy to report that I now have something a little nicer than cardboard boxes for our clothes and I'm very happy with it.
My lovely DH had been having problems with his knees for a while (and not because I make him grovel at my feet all the time!) and it's now been discovered that he's got osteoporosis and he's awaiting an op. They're not sure if they will fix one knee at a time or both together yet. He's taking it all very calmly, but I'm going into a panic at the whole thing!
Add to this all the normal problems that come with moving hundreds of miles away from friends, family and loved ones plus conservatory roof leaks, overflowing toilet cisterns, practically non-existent broadband signals etc. etc. and you start to get the idea.
Regardless of all that, we are both so happy to be living in this house, in this village, in this part of the world that we know it was the right move for us. I'll try to get some photos popped up at some point.
On a brighter note it was my birthday on the 3rd, I shan't tell you how very old I am (suffice to say I get my bus pass this time next year!) and I want to thank all my lovely friends for such gorgeous cards and prezzies. The final count was 40 cards, just unbelievable! DH took some photos although more cards arrived later and so were missed out, but here are the photos if you'd like to take a look.

I've actually managed to finally finish sorting my new craft room (she says hopefully) so I may get to do a bit more card making and blogging anytime soon. I certainly hope so as I've been getting withdrawal symptoms from chatting to all my crafting buddies. For those to whom I owe an e-mail (or two or three) I'll be in touch any day now.
Once again my apologies for losing touch with you all lately and thanks to those who managed to get this far through my posting, bless you!

Sketch N Stash DT Card #72

2011-10-10T09:30:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, time for another fabulous sketch at Sketch N Stash and this fortnight it's our Angie's turn to be a designer. A lovely, easy sketch and your choice as to where you put your sentiment and embellishments, what could be better, so please try and join in with us.
I decided this was the perfect sketch to use as my card for my best friend's hubby as it wasn't too fussy and I carried on the 'simple' theme by using a lovely image from Tiddly Inks called 'Light My Life' which I thought was perfect for a man's card.
I find it much more difficult to make a card for males, mainly because I can't use use any pretty papers or embellishments, but DH gave this one the 'thumbs up' so it must look quite masculine!

Card Details:
* Image - Tiddly Inks 'Light My Life'
* Sentiment - Woodware Stamps 'Circular Greetings'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co, My Mind's Eye and Hot Off The Press
* Punch - MS 'Double Scallop'
* Everything else from my stash

This fortnight's prize is being donated by our regular sponsor Simon Says Stamp and, as usual, they are generously offering our winner a $15 voucher to be spent in their store.
Pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the other DT cards (they're fabulous!) and don't forget to check whether you are our last fortnight's winner or one of our Top 3

Sketch N Stash DT Card #71

2011-09-26T09:30:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone, time for another Sketch N Stash Challenge and this time our sketch has been designed by Daniele, isn't it gorgeous? (I found it quite challenging this fortnight, but then I'm not good at anything where I have to get angles right so just don't look at my card too closely!!)

I notice that I'm back to using my Promarkers again. The Spectrum Noir pens are lovely, but there's just something about my beloved Promarkers. Maybe it's that divine smell? and of course I do have an awful lot of colours, whereas I only bought a few SN pens to start. I must persevere with these though as I'm sure the fact that they are refillable will be really useful.
The other team members have done beautiful things, as always, so do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look.

Card Details:
* Image - Meljen 'Happy Panda' digi
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania and Crafty Ann's
* Sentiment - Sentiments 4 You
* Everything else from my stash

This fortnight we're being sponsored by Meljen Designs again, and they are offering our lucky winner 4 images of their choice.
I just love this sweet Meljen Panda image, doesn't that expression just say 'Mmmm Yummy' to you?

It was my turn to choose the Top 3 and you certainly made it a difficult task. I always think it's nice to be able to choose your favourite sketches now and again, which is why my design week is always a free choice (that and the fact that I'm useless at designing sketches ha ha!) and judging by the amount of entries we received you certainly seemed to agree with me!
I do hope you'll find time to join in with us again this time and don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog to see if you are our lucky winner, or one of our Top 3 from the last challenge.

Sketch N Stash DT Card #70

2011-09-12T09:30:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone, I'm back with my latest DT card for Sketch N Stash and this fortnight we're offering a 'free choice' sketch.
Just take a look at the old sketches in the 'Sketch Catalogue' section on the challenge blog and pick which one you'd like to use (don't forget to let us know which one you've chosen though!)
I went for Sketch 55 for my card, I thought the layout would be just right as I decided to make a C5 sized card for a change.

This was a 'Thank You' card for a very special friend who recently sent me the most gorgeous 'New Home' gift, this wicker basket filled with a box of belgian choccies, a bottle of rose wine and a stunning miniature rose plant.

If you're reading this Sheila, you already know how important you are to me sweetie and how grateful I am to be able to call you my friend.

Card Details:
* Image - Penny Black 'Hitchin' A Ride'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers and Spectrum Noir Pens
* Papers - Papermania Colossal 'Spring Life'
* Punch - MS 'Eyelet Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

This fortnight's prize is from our wonderful regular sponsor Simon Says Stamp and they are offering our lucky winner a $15 voucher to be spent in their store so I hope you'll manage to join in with us.
If you're in need of any inspiration just pop over to the Challenge blog where the DT have come up with the most amazing creations again and while you're there see if you were lucky enough to have won or been nominated as one of our Top 3 from the last challenge.

Simon Says Stamp-tember

2011-09-03T12:06:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone,
I'm back today with a card for the Simon Says September Blog Hop just look at this...

For the second year in a row, Simon Says Stamp and Show & The Simon Says Stamp Challenge teams are joining forces to bring you a SUPER blog hop and treasure hunt to celebrate STAMPtember!

To help celebrate we will be giving a BIG BASKET OF CRAFTING GOODIES to the randomly chosen winner of this hop! PLUS three $25 VOUCHERS to the Simon Says Stamp Store ! The vouchers will be the hidden treasure on 3 Design Team blogs and you have to find them. You MUST enter the challenge and link your creations with the Inlinkz on the Stamp and Show Challenge to be able to win the Grand Prize or any of the $25 vouchers :-)

The DT creations are absolutely astonishing and have you seen the wonderful prize they are offering to the lucky winner? WOWZER!

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning 'Mummu'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - All from my scraps
* Punch - EK Success medium 'Retro Flower'
* Everything else from my stash

The fabulous sketch I've used is a past Sketch N Stash one (No. 66) I didn't get to use it at the time 'cos I was in the process of moving, but I love it.

I think I can also enter this card for the following challenges:
Craft Us Crazy 'Autumn Colours'
Charisma Cardz 'Anything Goes'
I Love ProMarkers 'Anything Goes'
Passion for ProMarkers 'Anything Goes'

I'm sorry that I haven't had a chance to visit you for a while (again!) real life keeps getting in the way, but I'm hoping to spend some time blog-hopping this weekend, so look out for a visit from me at last ha ha!

Is it just me?

2011-08-30T09:00:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone, no new card today, just a re-cap on a previous post.
Cast your minds back to June......no? well take a look at my previous post then, ha ha.
I posted the card below and said how I'd had to buy this image as it reminded me so much of a photograph I had of my youngest son when he was at playschool (he's 32 now!) and I promised that once I'd moved and sorted out my family photos I'd let you see, so here it is.
Now, what I want to know is......can you see a resemblance or is it just a 'mother love' thing?

Answers on a postcard please. No, seriously, I'd love to know what you think.

Sketch N Stash DT Card #69

2011-08-29T09:00:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, time for another Sketch N Stash challenge and today's lovely sketch was designed by our Julie. I've used one of my favourite KennyK images called Troublemaker (mmmm wonder if there's a connection there, surely not!! ha ha) She's certainly a pink girl isn't she?

I used one of Crafty Ann's tickets for my sentiment, I LOVE these and they are such a bargain (as are all of Ann's wonderful digis) If you haven't visited this shop yet, you're in for a treat, as well as her wonderful drawings Ann has some of the most fabulous and versatile backing papers. When I can't find anything that works with those 'tricky' images I often find myself reaching for these and they're always the perfect solution (the embossed papers are so realistic that it saves the bother of embossing them yourself!)

Card Details:
* Image - KennyK 'Troublemaker'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - So many different collections, I can't begin to tell you.
* Sentiment Ticket - Crafty Ann's Digi Shop
* Everything else from my stash

We're being sponsored this fortnight by the fabulous KennyK who are offering our lucky winner 5 images of their choice, so definitely worth joining in with us.
The DT have made some fabulous cards again, so pop over to the challenge blog to take a look and find out who the winner and Top 3 were from the last challenge.

A Couple of Challenges!

2011-08-27T20:14:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,
I know, I know..... it's not quite time for Sketch N Stash yet and you don't often see me otherwise!! ha ha. But I've actually managed to make a card that I can enter into a couple of challenges.

The card is actually for my Best Friend's wedding anniversary, but I wanted to use the adorable Teddy Bo and Teddy Bea again and I needed a sketch to get me going, so I went blog-hopping.
This is being entered into this week's TeddyBo Challenge 'Black & White plus one more colour' (I chose to use a sort of goldy-greeny (!!??!!) colour) and I found the fabulous sketch at Inspirational Card Sketches

Card Details:
* Image - TeddyBo 'Tea For two and Two For Tea'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Joanna Sheen
* Everything else from my stash

I hope to see you again on Monday for this fortnight's Sketch N Stash card!

Sketch N Stash DT Card #68

2011-08-15T09:05:00.008+01:00

Hi everyone it's lovely to be back with you, I've missed my crafting and blogging so much.

Well, the move to Norfolk is over and we're (kind of) settled. The good news is that we absolutely LOVE our new home and couldn't have wished for a friendlier village to live in. The bad news....I'm missing my 'boys' like crazy!!! They both came up last Friday for the weekend and that was the first time I'd seen them in over 4 weeks. That may not seem like a long time, but as we've always lived so near each other it was the longest I'd ever gone without seeing them. We had a lovely weekend, but once they left for home I shed a few tears, I was so sad to see them go. The emotional turmoil wasn't helped by the fact that it was my beloved Mum's birthday and I still miss her every single day.

On a happier note I managed to join in with a card for SNS again (oh how I've missed those girls!!)
Our fabulous sketch for this challenge was designed by Sue and I loved using it. I had a special card to make for my Aunt's birthday and I was so pleased with how it came together with this sketch, I hope she will be too. This is an 8"x8" card so lots of space to fill, which was a bit scary after not crafting for so long!

Card Details:
* Image - Debbi Moore 'Splendour of Regency' CD
* Sentiment - Sentiments 4 You
* Colouring medium - Joanna Sheen 'Spectrum Noir' pens
* Papers - Hot Off The Press
* Punch - MS 'Doily Lace'
* Flowers - Joanna Sheen 'Kort and Godt' range
* Everything else from my stash

Now, some of you may be wondering why I have 'colouring medium' on the above list when I've used a CD image!!! well I thought it looked a bit 'washed out' so I coloured the regency lady with some of my new Spectrum Noir pens (I think these may become as well loved as my promarkers!)
I used some gold Cosmic Twinkles to highlight the 'frame corners' of the printed image and to add a bit of sparkle to the metal photo corner I used on the card and I even remembered to use one of my pearl hat pins, another first!

I hope you'll manage to join in with us for this challenge, we're being sponsored by the wonderful Bunny Zoe who's offering a fabulous prize to one lucky person. Do pop over to the challenge blog and check out the details, along with the stunning cards designed by the DT and while you're there don't forget to see if you are our lucky winner or one of our Top 3 from the last challenge.

Sketch N Stash DT Card - Challenge #64

2011-06-20T09:30:00.063+01:00

Hi everyone, here I am again for this fortnight's Sketch N Stash Challenge.
Well, you certainly all seemed to enjoy the last sketch, we had so many people joining in again so thank you for continuing to support our challenge blog.
Our sketch this time was designed by Vicky with the added choice of popping embellishments wherever you wish, I decided to leave well alone as the papers are quite fussy, so my card is really simple.
I've used one of Mo's images again and this little cutie is called 'Chickies' I also managed to find some papers in my stash that I thought went well with the image ( I know I'm a bit late for Easter LOL!)

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning digi 'Chickies'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Springtime'
* Sentiment - Pink Petticoat 'Girly Curly'
* Everything else from my stash

This fortnight's challenge is being sponsored by the fabby Meljen Designs who are offering our lucky winner 4 images of their choice, so I hope we'll see you all joining in with the challenge again this time and don't forget to check out the challenge blog for the winner of our Simon Says Stamp prize and our Top 3 from last time.

This will be my last DT card for a while. I made all my cards for June some time ago and scheduled the posts assuming that by then I'd be in the new house....Hrrumpph so much for that idea!!! I'm still waiting to get a firm moving date and all my crafting goodies are packed, so I won't be back crafting again until I'm settled. Please keep everything crossed for me that it won't be too much longer as DH and I are nearly ready to have a nervous breakdown lol!

Sketch N Stash DT Card - Challenge #63

2011-06-06T09:30:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone!
Time for another Sketch N Stash Challenge and this week's sketch was designed by our lovely Jill. I added some corner punches to my card as I wanted to cover up the cord I used for the teddy bear charm.

This fortnight's prize comes from our regular sponsor Simon Says Stamp and they are offering a lucky winner a $15 voucher to spend in their shop.
I couldn't resist buying a couple of the new 'Adorable' images from Funky Kits recently, they certainly came up with the right name for this range! This little sweetie is called 'Nathan' and I just had to have him as the image reminds me so much of a photo I have of my youngest son when he was about 2 or 3. He's 30 odd now, but I'll try and find the photo to show you once I've moved house and have managed to find all the family photo boxes (hopefully not much longer now!)

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Nathan'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'For Him'
* Punch - EK Success 'Photo Corners'
* Everything else from my stash

I can't wait to see what you all come up with for this sketch and don't forget to check out the last winner and our Top 3 at the challenge blog.

Sketch N Stash DT Card - Challenge #62

2011-05-23T09:30:00.014+01:00

Hi everyone, where do the week's go to?
It's time for another Sketch N Stash Challenge and this week the designer of our gorgeous sketch is the very talented Angie.
I've made TWO cards from this sketch to celebrate the fact that this fortnight we have TWO fabulous sponsors.

We are being sponsored again this fortnight by the fabulous KennyK who are offering a lucky winner 5 digis of their choice. I love being sponsored by them as we're always spoilt for choice with all their gorgeous images, but I finally decided on this cutie called 'Bling Baby' I just love her slightly hippy look!

Card Details:
* Image - KennyK 'Bling Baby'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers -Papermania 'For Him' & Jak Heath freebie'Spot' paper
* Punch -Nestability 'Scallop Circles'
* Everything else from my stash

We are also being sponsored by Lacey at Stamp and Create who is not only offering the winner a $25 voucher for her store but also offering any participants of this fortnight's challenge a 10% discount off their total purchases while her sponsorship lasts (see the challenge blog for further details)

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning 'What's Cookin?'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Cuddly Buddly 'Peppy Papers' and K & Co 'Daffodil Pad'
* Punch - MS 'Valentine Heart', 'Monarch Butterfly' & EK Success 'Retro Flower'
* Everything else from my stash

It seems to get harder and harder to choose the 'Top 3' for our challenges as the standard is so high, but don't forget to pop over and find out who made it and also who won last fortnight's prize.
While you're there, do check out the wonderful samples made by the girls, I really think we are so lucky as we must have the loveliest DT around, I love every one of 'em!

Sketch N Stash DT Card - Challenge #61

2011-05-09T09:30:00.008+01:00

Hi everyone, time for another challenge at Sketch N Stash and this time the sketch has been designed by our Daniele and I think it's just lovely.
I was getting withdrawal symptoms from not using the wonderful Teddy Bo images for a while, so here they are having a cuddle in the sunshine.

Card Details:
* Image - Fairydoodler 'TeddyBoBea 001'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - DCWV 'Old World' and Laura Ashley 'Contemporary'
* Everything else from my stash

This fortnight's challenge is again being sponsored by the fabulous Simon Says Stamp and they are offering one lucky person the chance to win a $15 voucher to spend in their shop.

Well, it was my turn to choose the Top 3 this time and none of you made my job very easy! I was left with a shortlist of about 30 to choose the final ones from!!!!
I'm always amazed by how many of you join in with us each time and you certainly seemed to like the idea of choosing your favourite sketch from our back catalogue, so thank you all for sharing your wonderful projects and creations with us.
Do pop over to the challenge blog to find out who won last time and my final choice for our Top 3 and don't forget to check out the DT's fabulous cards while you're there.

Simply Adorable

2011-04-28T17:04:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,
My card today is being entered into 2 challenges.The first is Cute Card Thursday and I designed my own sketch for this card.
The second is Simon Says Stamp where the theme is 'Anything Goes' and they are also having a lovely blog hop to celebrate their second anniversary.

This image is one of the new 'Adorable' Sugar Nellie digis, I couldn't resist buying this sweetie, together with a little boy image that reminds me so much of my youngest son when he was small.

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Melissa'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Blueberry Hill'
* Punch - MS PATP 'Cherish' & EK Success 'Photo Corners'
* Everything else from my stash

We've had nothing but problems regarding the house move this week, I'm just hoping things look a bit brighter next week. No wonder moving is high on the 'most stressful' list!!!

Sketch N Stash DT Card - Challenge #60

2011-04-25T09:30:00.013+01:00

Hi everyone, it's time for the Sketch N Stash challenge again!!!
This fortnight we have a choice of sketch for you to follow, you may choose any of the last 59 sketches (but please remember to post a piccy of the sketch you have chosen together with your creation)
I've chosen to follow sketch #46, although as you can see I've made a couple of changes in order for my image to fit .
I made the flowers myself from following THIS tutorial and the little beads around the frame are Cosmic Twinkles.
I'm also entering this card into the Truly Scrumptious challenge, whose theme is 'Vintage'

Card Details:
* Image - Cardmaking Heaven 'Ladies Oval Topper Selection'
* Embossing Folder - Craft Concepts 'Cottage Floral'
* Frame - Nellie Snellen 'Ovals Die Set'
* Punch - MS Doily Lace
* Everything else from my stash

The prize this fortnight is a gorgeous Faye Whittaker stamp set, so be sure to join in with us, oh and don't forget to check out the lucky winner and the Top 3 from the last challenge!

DP2 Challenge #79 - The Carnival

2011-04-23T16:05:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone!
Today's card is to celebrate Mo & Zo's bloghop 'The Carnival', it's a HUGE blog-hop but seeing the fabulous cards and creations from the DTs involved was well worth it. I've been inspired to buy not only Mo's $1 special image 'Cotton Candy' but also this one called 'A Little Smooch'
I'm entering this card into the DP2 challenge and it's also going into My Time Made Easy as I used their sketch.

Card Details:
* Image - DP2 'A Little Smooch'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania and K & Co
* Punch - MS 'Deco Fan'
* Everything else from my stash

My eldest son has just persuaded me to try playing 'Lord of the Rings' online, so I may not be doing so much crafting if I get addicted to it. To be honest, I really need something to keep my mind occupied at the moment as it stops me thinking of all the things that could go wrong with our house move!

Teddy Bo Challenge - TAG IT!

2011-04-22T13:35:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,
I'm sorry I didn't get this card posted on Wednesday as planned, but as it was such a beautiful day DH and I decided to visit Mottisfont Abbey for the day. It's a National Trust property near to where we live and we often go there, it's such a lovely and peaceful place.
My eldest son came over for the day yesterday so I didn't get a chance again and I'm expecting my youngest son today, so this is quickly being posted before he arrives.

Apologies for the wonky (technical term) photo, DH took loads for me and this was the best, the sunlight seems to play havoc with the colours. I usually scan my cards, but the flowers made that impossible here.
This is my card for Teddy Bo's current challenge, they want to see a tag on your card which gave me a chance to use my new Marianne tag die, I used my Marianne frame die too. The end result of these is lovely, but it's a bit of a pain getting the dies out in one piece.
As I confessed in my previous post I bought a new image for this challenge as I wanted to give it a slightly vintage look (not sure that I succeeded)

Card Details:
* Image - Teddy Bea 'Bea with a little friend'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Blueberry Hill'
* Punch - MS Doily Lace
* Dies - Marianne Design 'Cirkels' (this is the correct spelling!) & 'Labels' dies
* Sentiment - Woodware 'Circular Greetings'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm looking forward to doing some more crafting in the next few days as I've been very naughty again and had another little spending spree. My ever patient DH won't be too pleased (more stuff to pack for the move) but I'm sure Joanna Sheen loves me at the moment!

Happy Birthday!

2011-04-19T19:22:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone!
The Just Magnolia and hAngler & sTangler Challenge is celebrating it's 2nd birthday and although I haven't managed to join in with them for as many challenges as I would have liked, I really wanted to make a card to celebrate their birthday
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS!!!!
I thought I'd use one of the sweet H&S images instead of a Tilda (it was a hard choice) and this little cutie is one of my favourites.

Card Details:
* Image - hAngler & sTangler
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Tag - K & Co 'Wild Raspberry' tag pad
* Punch - MS Doily Lace
* Sentiment - Pink Petticoat 'Curly Girly'
* Everything else from my stash

As I seem to be finding time to do some crafting at the moment, I'm hoping to be back tomorrow with an entry for this week's Teddy Bo challenge, you know how much I love these so you won't be surprised to learn that I couldn't resist buying a new image today.
In fact, I seem to have been a little naughty today as I also bought some digis from Funky Kits and another MS punch from Joanna Sheen. Oh well, that's addiction for you!

Tulips from Andover

2011-04-17T15:20:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone!
I know the song title is really Tulips from Amsterdam, but these ones are from Andover, sent with my love.
I've not been managing to much crafting, posting or blog visiting lately, but I wanted to join in with the lovely TeddyBo challenge if I could and I think I may have just scraped in in time. Their theme is 'Punch It Out' and they want to see us use some of those punches we all have hundreds of!
Things here seem to have calmed down a bit (temporarily, I'm sure) so I managed to get a card done and I'm hoping to visit some of my favourite places later on today.

Card Details:
* Image - Teddy Bo - 'I Love You Bunches'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Punches - MS 'Cherish' ATP and 'Embossed Zig Zag'
* Sentiment - Lily of the Valley 'Girly Curly Sentiments'
* Everything else from my stash

On the house move front, we've organised everything we can and now we've reached that horrible 'just waiting' period when the stress sets in because you have time to imagine all the things that could possibly go wrong.
The survey results were good and the quotes for removals were horrendous (as expected, after all it is about 150 miles away!) Anyway, I'm keeping everything crossed that it all goes smoothly and quickly, because now I've mentally moved out I just want to get on with things.

Sketch N Stash DT Card - Challenge #59

2011-04-11T09:30:00.015+01:00

Hi everyone, time for another Sketch N Stash challenge. This week's sketch is by Julie and I loved using it, I think I'll be using this one a lot!
I just couldn't stay away from these little cuties any longer, so yet another of the Sugar Nellie images today, this one is 'Verity' and I think she's gorgeous. I re-sized her this time so she's in close-up instead of the full length image.

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Verity'
* Sentiment - Sentiments 4 You
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Basic Grey (not sure which ones as the front of the pad has vanished)
* Punch - MS 'Doily Lace' & EK Success 'Photo Corners'
* Everything else from my stash

Our prize this fortnight is from our main sponsor, the ever generous Steph at Simon Says Stamp and she is offering our lucky winner a $15 voucher to spend in the shop, so definitely worth joining in for.
Don't forget to take a look at the DT cards for some inspiration and also check to see who won our last challenge and the who the Top 3 are.
I can't believe how many of you continue to join in with us each fortnight, thank you all so much for your continued support and we love visiting and checking out all your wonderful creations. Please remember though that the whole point of our challenge is to follow the sketch, of course you can make changes to it but we must still be able to see the original in there somewhere. If your card bears no resemblance to the sketch I'm afraid it will be deleted, I think this is only fair on the other entrants for the prizes.

On the personal front (if you're interested, you may want to make a coffee first as this could be a LONG post!!!!!)
We recently spent a week house hunting in Norfolk and viewed so many properties that I was actually sick of looking at houses (I never thought I'd say that!) We saw some lovely places, but none of them was right for us, so we decided we'd go back up there again once our property had sold and take another look around then.
On our last day one of the Estate Agents persuaded us to view a final property in our favourite location, we'd already seen and discounted this property on the internet and didn't really want to go as we knew that it wasn't what we wanted, but we decided to check it out anyway. We walked in and both knew immediately that this was the one!
It has oil heating (we wanted gas) has most of it's garden to the side (I wanted a private, rear garden) has a stream running across the bottom of the rear part of the garden (DH has a phobia about living near water in case of flooding) and is much bigger than we need AND WE LOVE IT!

Since our return last week we've sold our house, had our offer accepted on the bungalow, had a survey carried out, arranged a solicitor and removals firm and we're now counting the days to our 'Escape to the Country' and this new chapter in our lives.
In view of all this, I must apologise for not posting or commenting very much, but I look forward to getting back into things properly once I'm settled and all my craft stash is unpacked.
Thanks, if you've managed to stay with me through this very long post that's what I call a 'follower' ha ha!!

Sketch N Stash DT Card - Challenge #58

2011-03-28T09:00:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone, I'm back for the latest Sketch N Stash challenge which features a sketch from our lovely Vicky.
We have 2 sponsors again this fortnight, our regular sponsor Simon Says Stamp who are offering a $15 voucher as their prize

and Meljen's Designs who are giving away 4 digi images of the winner's choice

I've chosen one of Meljen's digis as the main feature on my card, I think this sweet little blue bird of happiness is so cute and just perfect for a notelet to a friend.

Card Details:
* Image - Meljen Designs 'Bird's Little Letter'
* Sentiment - Pink Petticoat 'Girly Curly'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Blueberry Hill'
* Everything else from my stash

I hope you can join in this fortnight and don't forget to pop by the challenge blog for some gorgeous inspiration from the other DT girlies and also to find out who won our last challenge and who this fortnight's Top 3 are.

Sketch N Stash DT Card - Challenge #57

2011-03-14T09:00:00.006Z

Hi everyone, well here we are again for this fortnight's Sketch n Stash challenge!
The sketch was designed by our lovely Sue and this fortnight we're being sponsored by Whimsy Stamps who are offering a $15 voucher to the winner of this challenge.
I've used one of Katie's lovely images but Whimsy also host digi images by Chrissy and Meljen as well as their own designs.
I really fell for this adorable 'Furry Friends' image, although I don't think I've done it justice here. I've decided I'm not very good at colouring animals, think I need to find a tutorial somewhere to show me how.

Card Details:
* Image - Whimsy Stamps 'Furry Friends'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Spring Life'
* Sentiment - Pink Petticoat 'Girly Curly' sentiments
* Everything else from my stash

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog to check out the other DT cards and also see who was lucky enough to win last fortnight's prize from Pink Gem. I do hope you'll manage to join in the fun with us again this time.

Here I am again!

2011-03-05T16:31:00.000Z

Hi everyone, I'm back with another card today, well fancy that!
This little cutie is one of a new batch of 'Teddy Bos' that recently pleaded with me to buy them. As if Teddy Bea isn't adorable enough on her own, just look at that little puppy she's cuddling (oh how I wish I could colour animals decently!)
I happened to have a quick peek at my bloglist this morning and caught sight of this week's Teddy Bo challenge, and... well, I thought it would be rude not to join in. I found a few other challenges that I think this card fits too.

Teddy Bo - Duck Egg Blue and Brown
Charisma Cardz - Four Legged Friends
Try it on Tuesday - Inspired by a song (Puppy Love)
Passion for Promarkers - Sugar Rush

I used a mixture of coloured pencils with Sansador for blending and Promarkers to colour this image. The sentiments are digis from Crafty Sentiments, the circle sentiment frame is my new Marianne die, this is the first time I've used one of their dies and it was so difficult trying to get it out that it made me curse!

Card Details:
* Image - Teddy Bea 'Puppy Love'
* Sentiment - Crafty Sentiments Designs 'Birthday Celebrations'
* Colouring medium - Coloured pencils and Promarkers
* Punch - MS Doily Lace
* Mats - Nestabilities and Marianne 'Circles'
* Everything else from my stash

On the moving front, the property should go onto the internet on Monday and into our local paper for the first time next Friday.
I've submitted some bits and pieces to a specialised auction house and we have a general auction house to go to next week with more stuff. We're planning on doing a boot sale with everything that's left after that and hopefully by then we should have got rid of all the things we stashed in the loft five years ago!

I'm hoping to do some blog hopping and commenting tomorrow to catch up with my favourite blogs, so you may hear from me again then.

Making It Count

2011-03-04T16:30:00.000Z

Hi everyone, I've finished all my chores for today so I thought I'd take the chance to check out some challenges and see if I could enter the above card for any of them.
I made this birthday card for a lovely crafting buddy of mine and now I know she's received it I can use it on my blog. It was an 8 x 8 card, so quite large and I tried to give it a distressed vintage look as I know this is her favourite style.

It actually fitted with a number of the challenges this week, so I'm entering it for as many as possible. As I'm not likely to be able to enter many in the near future I thought I may as well 'make it count' by getting it to fit as many as I could!

The challenges are:
Sweet Stampin - Oh So Girly
Crazy 4 Challenges - Use Flowers
Wild Orchid - Anything Goes
Anything Goes - Distressing
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - Feminine Birthday in Blues and Greens
Crafty Ann's Challenge - Birthday Card
Totally Papercrafts - Pearls and Lace

Card Details:
* Stamped Sentiment - My Favourite Things Die-namics 'Polka Dot Greetings Die & Stamp Set'
* Papers - Hot Off The Press 'Paper Pizazz' & Coredinations 'Whitewash'
* Punch - MS PATP 'Vintage Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

I used lots of Distress Ink around the papers and flowers and plenty of Glimmer Mist and Glamour Dust then finished off with a lovely lace bow tied with my fabby new 'Bow-Easy' I even remembered to use one of my pile of doilies, which I usually forget until after I've finished the card!

Meeting myself coming back!!......

2011-03-02T15:16:00.000Z

Hi everyone, now, you may think this a strange title, but trust me when I say this is exactly the state of mind I'm in at present, so this post is to apologise for not being around recently and to explain why.
Get yourselves settled with a mug of coffee 'cos it's gonna be a long one!

Our problem started because we are one of the millions of couples 'lucky' enough to have been conned years ago, into taking out a low cost endowment mortgage that is now not going to repay our mortgage, add to this that we are both retired now and on a limited income.
Rewind about 5 years when we decided that we could not face having a huge mortgage shortfall once we were in our 60s, so we sold our lovely house and moved into a mid terraced new build. This meant we could repay our mortgage, move to this convenient little house and have no further worries. Yeah, right!
Having tried to squeeze all of the stash from our various hobbies into the new house (DH has even more stuff than I do!) we realised that we needed a bigger property, DH is also finding the stairs becoming more of a concern due to his ongoing health problems, so what we really need then is a bungalow.
Now, our part of Hampshire is beautiful and we love it, but it's definitely NOT the bungalow capital of the UK, nor is it renowned for it's reasonably priced housing, so after happily living here for the last thirty odd years we are about to move to Norfolk.
We have spent the last couple of weeks sorting out the house, emptying the loft, packing all our hobbies into boxes and hiring a storage container to put them in. Yesterday we signed with our local estate agents, so our house will be 'on the market' by the weekend, I've booked a week in Norfolk house-hunting for later this month and as soon as we sell and find somewhere to buy, we'll be off.
We're also leaving both our sons here. DH doesn't mind that (I think it's a man thing!) but I do, I'll miss them so much. I'll also miss our town, we've lived here since moving from London nearly 40 years ago when we got married.
So if you don't see me about much you know why and I apologise now to all the people who's blogs I usually visit. I'll keep you up to date with what's happening and my DT posts are scheduled for a while so you'll occasionally see things here.
I look forward to catching up with you all when I get settled, until then take care and wish me luck!

Sketch N Stash DT Card Challenge #56

2011-02-28T09:00:00.006Z

Hi everyone,
I'm back with my DT card for the new challenge at Sketch N Stash. The sketch this week has been designed by the lovely Lizzy and was another fabulous layout!

This fortnight we're lucky enough to be sponsored by the gorgeous Pink Gem Designs who are offering one lucky person the chance to win download digi papers for both baby boys and girls, take a look on the challenge blog for more details.
I've used their adorable 'Cool Dude Frog' I just toad-ally fell in love with him.....
.....sorry, I just couldn't resist, I'll go and sit on the naughty step now!!

Card Details:
* Image - Pink Gem Designs 'Cool Dude Frog'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co, Basic Grey and My Mind's Eye
* Punch - EK Success
* Everything else from my stash

We had a record number of entries for the last challenge and the DT would love it if you could manage to join in with us this fortnight, so why not take a look at the challenge blog and the gorgeous cards the team have made and while you're there don't forget to check who won the Simon Says Stamp and Bunny Zoe prizes from the last challenge.

V is for Vintage

2011-02-16T11:26:00.001Z

Hi everyone, today's card is another change from the cuties.
When I first started cardmaking my passion was vintage style cards, especially the Art Deco period and I couldn't understand the fascination with 'cute' at all. Oh, how we change!
Since becoming 'hooked' with cute images, I hardly ever manage to make vintage any more and I do find myself missing it, even more so since fellow DT buddy Daniele joined Sketch n Stash (if you haven't seen her gorgeous vintage cards, do take a look!)
Anyway, long story short, I decided to make a vintage card for a change and luckily, I found that it even fits a few challenges, so here they are:

Raise The Bar - A Valentine card with no pink or red
One Stop Craft Challenge - Love is in the Air
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Love
Paper Sundaes - Pick Your Topping (I've used flowers and lace)
The Shabby Tea Room - Keeping Warm (colour inspiration)

I really enjoyed this, in fact I think you can expect to see lots more vintage style cards in the future (as well as the cuties, not instead of) I hope you like it too?

Wee Stamps!

2011-02-15T18:44:00.001Z

Hi everyone, just popped in to give you the 'heads up' on a new line of digi stamps just released.
They are called Wee Stamps and these adorable creations are the brainchild of children's illustrator Sylvia Zet.
Pop over to her blog HERE to learn more

Naughty....but nice!

2011-02-15T09:00:00.005Z

Hi everyone, my card today fits some of the 'Valentine' challenges out there in challenge blogland.
I thought I'd have a change from the cute images I've been using, to a slightly naughtier one. I'm sure this is one that the men in our lives might enjoy a little more than teddies lol!
In case you weren't aware, I actually modelled for this and I think KennyK managed to catch the 'real me' perfectly (yeah, in my dreams!!!)
Regardless, I'm entering this into the following challenges:
KennyK's Challenge - Circles
Cute Card Thursday - Hearts and Flowers
Do It With Digis - Valentines
Papertake Weekly - Putting On The Glitz
Cupcake Crafts - I (heart) You
DH and I don't really 'do' Valentines (and not just because we're a bit long in the tooth now) we never have really, but as I'd made this for the challenges I thought I'd give it to him for the special day. My logic is that because I remembered and he didn't, he now owes me and I can treat myself to a little 'crafty' something.

Card Details:
* Image - KennyK 'Miss Fortune'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania (so old I don't know the range)
* Punch - MS 'Valentine Hearts'
* Everything else from my stash
I also used some black velvet ribbon and liberal amounts of Stickles 'Black Diamond' for added sparkle.

Sketch N Stash DT Card Challenge #55

2011-02-14T09:00:00.022Z

Hi everyone,
I'm back with my DT card for the new challenge at Sketch N Stash. The sketch this week has been designed by our Jackie and what a brilliant one it was (it actually induced me to use one of my precious ribbon sliders!)
I've used another of my sweet 'Teddy Bo' images from Fairy Doodler, I thought this was an appropriate one for today as it's Valentine's Day.
I'm popping this in to the Teddy Bo Challenge as an extra entry (hope that's allowed!)

This fortnight we are not only being sponsored by our wonderful regular monthly sponsor Simon Says Stamp
(who is offering a $15 voucher)

but also by the fabulous Bunny Zoe (whose prize is a £10 gift certificate)
Just check out Nikki's latest goodies HERE

Card Details:
* Image - Teddy Bo 'Tea For Two and Two For Tea'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Jak Heath 'Little Dots' (Iced Blue) and Papermania 'Blueberry Hill'
* Sentiment - Sentiments 4 You
* Everything else from my stash

We'd love it if you could manage to join in with us again this fortnight, so pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous DT cards for some inspiration.
While you're there, check out who was lucky enough to win the KennyK and Meljen prizes from our last challenge......who knows 'It could be You'!!

Christmas Love

2011-02-11T14:13:00.001Z

Hi everyone, well as any regular visitors will know Friday is normally Christmas Card Challenge Day for me and today is no exception. In fact, I think I've probably broken my own world record for getting it posted on my blog in the fastest time, everything just seemed to come together today (for a change) and I'm quite pleased with the end result (for another change).
As you can see, I've managed to use yet another of the adorable Teddy Bea images (I promise I'll give them a rest for a while now) This one is called 'Sweet Little Angel' and I think she certainly looks the part.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
ABC Christmas Challenge - The sketch, plus 'C is for Clean and Simple'
Bah! Humbug! - 'Doilies'
Jingle Belles - 'No Red, She Said'
Winter Wonderland - 'To The One I Love'

Card Details:
* Image - Teddy Bea 'Sweet Little Angel'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot Off The Press
* Everything else from my stash
The gold coloured doily was part of a free gift with a vintage christmas card magazine a couple of years ago, it's the first time I've used one and I do quite like it used like this. The peel-off sentiment was part of a Daisy and Dandelion set and I also used liberal amounts of Stickles 'Star Dust' to add lots of sparkle to the image.

A nice and easy card, just how I like 'em!

In The Pink

2011-02-09T09:00:00.005Z

Hi everyone, I didn't post my second card yesterday after all, I thought TWO Teddy cards in one day was a bit much so I saved it for today!
This is the adorable Teddy Bea again and this time she's on her swing, I think she's waiting for the love of her life, Teddy Bo to turn up.
I started off by using the CLP sketch until I managed to put my borders on the wrong part of the card so it doesn't fit with that now. Still, I think it matches a few challenges and they are:
A Spoonfull of Sugar - Let's see some love
Digital Tuesday - From The Heart
Passion for Promarkers - Let There Be Love
The Teddy Bo Challenge - In the Pink
I went for a delicate, summery look on this, I think I spoiled it with the dark shadow but I didn't have the energy to start again.

Card Details:
* Image - Fairy Doodler 'Bea Swing'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Pink Petticoat 'Vintage Rose'
* Everything else from my stash

When I popped over to FairyDoodler today I saw they had some new teddy images, I resisted but I don't know how long I can hold out for!

Seeing Red

2011-02-08T12:52:00.001Z

Hi everyone, today's card features a cute little couple called TeddyBo and TeddyBea.
Whilst blog-hopping the other day I came across a new (to me) site called FairyDoodler. Now I'm not normally a 'teddy' person, but I absolutely fell in love with these cuties (you may be seeing a lot more of them in the future)

I adore the fact that she loves him enough to knit him a jumper and that he loves her enough to wear it lolol!
This card qualifies for quite a few of the 'valentine' themes out there at the moment, so here goes:
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Seeing Red
Stamp with Fun -Love
Wild Orchid Challenge - Love is
Cutie Sunday - Hearts
By the Cute and Girly - Red Is All Around Us
Aren't their little hats just the cutest?

Card Details:
* Image - FairyDoodler 'Made with Love'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co, MyMinds Eye and Gemstones
* Punch - MS 'Doily Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

I used my Cuttlebug to emboss 'Swiss Dots' to the Gemstones cardstock and the little heart was a gift from a friend which I coloured with chalks.
I may be back later today with another Teddy card (see, I told ya I was in love!)

Reach For The Stars

2011-02-05T15:11:00.000Z

Hi everyone, I'm back as promised, with yet another Christmas card.
This one matches the criteria for a few challenges so here goes:
Winter Wonderland - their theme is 'Reach for the stars'
Totally Papercrafts - where the theme is 'Friendship'
Stamp Something - are asking us to 'Use a digi'
Fairy Tale Challenge - who want 'Snow and Ice'

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning 'A Thousand Stars'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Love Jesse Edwards'
* Punch - MS 'Garden Trellis' and 'Double Loops' corner punch
* Everything else from my stash

I actually got to use one of my chipboard shapes for this, I've had them years and this is the first time I've taken one out of the box! I used Tippex to whiten my star (I didn't have any paints, must remedy that) and then lots of 'Star Dust' Stickles for sparkle.

Buttons and Bows

2011-02-04T20:17:00.000Z

Hi everyone, me again and this time with another Christmas card. Oh I'm going to be so happy come Christmas and I've got loads of cards already made!
This one is for two challenges, the first being Bah! Humbug! where they are asking for 'buttons and bows' well I've only used one of each so I hope that counts.
The second challenge is Jingle Belles where the theme is 'Baby, it's cold outside' and they want to see scarves, mittens etc. I can see 3 pairs of mittens and 2 scarves on this, so that should be OK.

Card Details:
* Image - Karen's Doodles 'First Snowfall'
* Sentiment - Woodware 'Circular Greetings'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - DCWV 'Rose Tinted Christmas'
* Punch - EK Success 'Photo Corners'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm about half way through another card for some more Christmas challenges, just waiting for the glitter to dry, so I may be back tomorrow (if it all goes well)

Adorable 'Love'

2011-02-03T16:10:00.000Z

Hi everyone, I'm back again today with another card. I'm so in love with these gorgeous images that I just can't stop making cards with them.
This card is for this week's Sugar Bowl challenge which is the gorgeous sketch shown above with the optional extra theme of 'Love' well, I hope the fact that I 'love' these cuties counts!
The colours haven't come out very well on the scanner, but she is mainly coloured with vanilla, pale pink and caramel.

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Grace'
* Sentiment - Sentiments 4 You
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Exquisite'
* Punch - EK Success 'Wave Flourish'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm still enjoying joining in with all the challenges, but my card box is getting so full that I'm trying to cut down the number I make. I just don't know what I'm going to do with them all lolol!

An Oldie but Goldie!

2011-02-02T17:19:00.000Z

Hi everyone, today's card fits a few of the christmas card challenges.
I'm so pleased that I'm (just about) managing to keep up with these, I'm sure I'll really appreciate it come the end of the year when, for once, I won't be tearing my hair out trying to get all my christmas cards made. At least, that's the plan!

This card was made for the following challenges:
Bah! Humbug! whose theme is 'An oldie but a goldie' using craft stuff you haven't used for a while. This sums up my christmas tree which was part of a QVC TSV a couple of years ago.
Winter Wonderland 'My Sentiments Exactly' where they are asking you to use a sentiment as your focal point on your card or creation. I've used a sentiment from the Daisy and Dandelion christmas stamp set and mounted it on my new Die-namics die cut.
Jingle Belles where the theme is to follow this sketch

Card Details:
* Papers - Dovecraft 'Winter Wonderland'
* Punch - MS 'Doily Lace'
* Die Cut - My Favourite Things Die-namics 'Polka Dot Greetings Die & Stamp Set'
* Everything else from my stash

I used lots of Stickles Star Dust on this card together with a very sparkly ribbon, unfortunately it doesn't show up very well on the scan.

Thank you to all of you who have been leaving such lovely comments, It's been a joy reading each and every one of them.

Sketch n Stash DT cards Challenge #54

2011-01-31T09:00:00.029Z

Hi everyone, well here we are again for this fortnight's Sketch n Stash challenge!
The sketch this time is by our lovely Vicky, I really enjoyed using it and hope that you will too.
We have 2 wonderful sponsors for this challenge.

The first is Meljen Designs and the prize is 4 digis of the winner's choice. All of these fabulous digis are now available from Whimsy Stamps, so why not pop over and take a look? .

Our second sponsor is the wonderful KennyK who are sponsoring us for the first time and we all hope it won't be the last. Their prize is a wonderful 'Sweetheart package' of their 8 L-O-V-E digis, Decoupage sheets plus 2 rubber stamps!

Meljen Designs Card Details:
* Image - Meljen Designs 'Tutu Sweet'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers -Joanna Sheen and K & Co.
* Everything else from my stash
For the Meljen card I decided to use the 'Tutu Sweet' image and make a very girly card (just my cup of tea!)

KennyK Card Details:
* Image - KennyK 'Troublemaker'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers -Papermania and My Mind's Eye
* Everything else from my stash
My KennyK card uses the gorgeous Troublemaker image, perfect for a teenager.

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and check out the other DT cards and also see who was lucky enough to win the prizes from Pollycraft and Just Some Lines (our fabulous sponsors for Challenge 53)
I hope you'll manage to join in the fun with us again this time.

Adorable Monochrome

2011-01-29T16:59:00.001Z

Hi everyone, I'm quite late posting my card today, that's because I couldn't tear myself away from the PC and my blog-hopping. The problem is I keep seeing so much gorgeousness that I have to go window shopping to check it all out (sometimes I do more than window shop!) and by the time I'm finished it seems a bit late to start making cards.

Isn't it strange how sometimes you find yourself being inspired over and over by the same blogs? The one that's been mostly inspiring me lately belongs to a fellow Sketch n Stash DT girlie, Faye
When I visited the other day, I fell in love with her 'Gorjuss Girl' card HERE She had used shades of grey for colouring and I decided I wanted to try colouring one of my cute 'Adorables' like this. When I visited her again this morning I really liked the layout of her latest card, which used the sketch from Sweet Stampin and so I've combined the two.

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Verity'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - My Minds Eye 'Wild Asparagus'
* Punch - MS 'Vintage Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

I really like the look of this monochrome card, so I'm sure it won't be the last time I make one of these. I hope you like it too.

KennyK Challenge

2011-01-27T12:03:00.001Z

Hi everyone, my card today is for the KennyK challenge, which is a fabulous sketch by Bev Rochester.
I've only just started using these cutie pies but I love how easy they are to colour and I think they must be the perfect choice for those tricky teen cards.

Card Details:
* Image - KennyK 'Download Diva'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Basic Grey 'Euphoria'
* Everything else from my stash

There are so many gorgeous sketches out there in blog challenge land this week that I may be back with another couple of cards before the week ends.

Have a Cracker of a Christmas!

2011-01-26T14:08:00.000Z

Hi everyone, my card today is for the wonderful Bah! Humbug! challenge, whose theme this week is Christmas Crackers.
Guess what? I didn't have anything that related to crackers, so I had to make my own tiny one out of some 'metallic look' paper and tie the ends with dental floss. How's that for ingenuity lolol!

I fully intended to try to join in every one of these challenges this year, but I've already managed to miss Challenge 2 and I've just rushed to complete this one for Challenge 3 before I miss that one as well.
I usually try to get my entry to cover a few of the other christmas challenges too, but they all seemed to be colour challenges this week and unfortunately NOT the colours I chose to use for this.

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning 'Monique'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Dovecraft 'Winter Wonderland'
* Punch - MS PATP 'Eyelet Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

Time just seems to be getting away from me at the moment, I really must try to get more done and not just sit at the PC blog-hopping all day!

Around the World

2011-01-20T17:36:00.000Z

Hi everyone, today's card uses the fabulous sketch from A Gem of a Challenge which I saw and fell in love with on my DT buddy Angie's blog.
I'm also entering this into a few other challenges as well, which are:

Cute Card Thursday - Recipe 1,2,3 (1 punch, 2 ribbons, 3 papers)
Mo's Digital Challenge - Around the World
Do It With Digis - Pink and Girly
Simon Says Stamp - Bingo (Punch, Emboss, Ribbon) You can't really see much of the embossing but I cuttlebugged the scalloped circle with my Swiss Dots folder.

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning 'Kimono Girl'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Basic Grey 'Euphoria'
* Punch - MS 'Pop-Up Butterfly border'
* Everything else from my stash

I decided to try something different and coloured the circle mat with promarkers to try and make it more pink & girly. This was after I'd already used 'Lipstick Pink' Distress Inks around the edge and was definitely a process I won't be trying again ! lolol!

Hopefully I've finished the sort out of my craft room, it certainly looks more organised now and gave me a bit more space. Until that is, I ordered masses of cardstock from The Papermill last night.
I think the amount of new stuff that will be arriving is going to take up about 3 times more space that I managed to clear.....ah well!

Monochrome Birthday

2011-01-19T08:45:00.000Z

Hi everyone, my card is for 2 challenges today, and they are:
Just Magnolia where the theme is 'My Favourite Things' Well my favourite things just have to be my Promarkers, I love them! (I have no idea what this little sweetie is called as she was one of a number of images sent to me by a friend)
Cute Card Thursday and their theme this week is 'Monochrome'
The sketch I used is from The Sugar Bowl and is by Kiki. I loved it, quite simple but very effective. I couldn't enter my card into this challenge though as I didn't use a Sugar Nellie image.

Card Details:
* Image - one of the adorable Hanglar and Stanglar images
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - My Mind's Eye 'Wild Asparagus'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm having a bit of a sort out of my craft room at the moment, well it's either that or move to a bigger house lol! So if I'm not about for a couple of days you know why.

Sam's in Trouble Again!

2011-01-18T08:35:00.001Z

Hi everyone, my card today is being entered into 3 challenges and they are:
Simon Says Stamp - they have a fabulous sketch this week. As you can probably see I flipped it on it's side and I also replaced the flowers and bow with more 'boy friendly' items i.e. photo corners and a little robot that I cut out from the backing papers.
Mo's Digital Pencil - the theme here this week is 'Playtime' and you need to use images of children and their toys. I've used the fabulous 'Sam in Trouble'. I hope Sam's crayons count as toys.
Totally Papercrafts - their theme is 'Happy Birthday' and I'm hoping this card will be appropriate for a boy's birthday card.

Card Details:
* Image - DP2 'Sam in Trouble'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'For Him'
* Punch - MS 'Zig Zag' and EK Success 'Photo Corners'
* Everything else from my stash

I hope you like this little cutie, I just adore him with his sweet 'I'm sorry Mummy' expression.

Sketch n Stash DT cards - Challenge #53

2011-01-17T09:00:00.002Z

Hi everyone, it's time for the next Sketch n Stash challenge, how quickly did those 2 weeks go?
What do you think of our new look blog, isn't it gorgeous? It's all thanks to the wonderful Angie for designing our new header and blinkies and of course, our own lovely Lizzy for setting them up.

You certainly made some wonderful cards again for the last challenge, so if you joined in don't forget to see who the winner of the Simon Says Stamp prize was and we'll be selecting our new DT members too.

This week we have another fabby sketch by Jill and we have TWO wonderful sponsors Pollycraft and Just Some Lines, please do check out their shops, you'll be spoilt for choice!

Now as both of these companies create such gorgeous images I decided to make two cards this time, using one image from each company.

My first card uses Pollycraft's cute 'Jenson' image, doesn't he look like he's having fun on his skateboard?

Card Details:
* Image - Pollycrafts digi 'Jenson'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'For Him'
* Punch - MS Double Scallop
* Everything else from my stash

My second card uses Just Some Lines adorable 'Emo Crystal' image, I think she's such a sweetie!
I tried to go with neutral and earthy tones for this, but I think it was a mistake. Although it is better in real life than this scan, it still looks a bit 'wishy washy' to me!

Card Details:
* Image - Just Some Lines digi 'Emo Crystal'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Joanna Sheen 'Pastel Lace' and DCWV 'Old World'
* Punch - MS Double Scallop
* Everything else from my stash

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and check out the other DT cards, they're fabulous. I hope you can manage to join in with us this fortnight and I'm already looking forward to seeing all your creations.

Tiptoe Fairy

2011-01-15T18:05:00.000Z

Hi everyone, today's card is very late, but it's been one of those days!
I'm entering my card for the following 2 challenges:
One of my favourite LOTV images is the sweet tiptoe Fairy and she fits the bill at the LOTV challenge this week where the theme is 'Things with Wings'
I've used the gorgeous sketch from CLP, this was a bit of a challenge as I only usually do 'simple' sketches and this one was quite complicated (well for me anyway!)
It's certainly NOT one of the CAS cards I've been making lately, but I do quite like it.
.
Card Details:
* Image - LOTV 'Tiptoe Fairy'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co (various collections)
* Punch - MS 'Double Scallop'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm afraid I haven't managed to do any blog hopping today, so I'll have to do double the amount tomorrow to catch up with you all.

Grace

2011-01-11T13:53:00.001Z

Hi everyone, my card today uses the second Sugar Nellie digi from Funky Kits.
Her name is Grace, and looking at how beautiful she is it seems the perfect name for her. I did warn you that you'd be seeing the other image very soon didn't I?

It seemed appropriate to enter this for The Sugar Bowl challenge, which this week is a sketch (and a very nice one to use too) and the optional extra of embossing (I used my 'swiss dots' folder through the cuttlebug)

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Grace'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Rose Garden & 'Blueberry Hill'
* Punch - MS 'Valentine Heart'
* Everything else from my stash

I've managed to do some blog hopping over the last couple of days too, so I'm catching up with my favourite blogs and all their inspiring creations (maybe that's why I can't stop crafting at the moment!) Anyway, if I haven't already caught up with you, you should be seeing me very soon lol!

Verity

2011-01-10T17:52:00.002Z

Hi everyone, today's card is for a couple of challenges that I've been wanting to join in with, but never quite managed until today...so hoorah!

I've used the sketch from today's challenge at The Shabby Tea Room and I'm also entering my card into today's challenge at Cupcake Craft Challenges which is 'Something New'.
My 'new' item is this beautiful digi image. As soon I saw her I absolutely fell in love and I also had to buy another gorgeous one at the same time, which I'm sure you'll be seeing in the next couple of days lol!

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Verity'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot off the Press, Papermania 'Rose Garden & 'Blueberry Hill'
* Punch - MS Valentine punch & MS large Butterfly punch
* Everything else from my stash

I'm thoroughly enjoying myself crafting and entering challenges at the moment. I spent hours yesterday colouring (my favourite pastime!) now I need to get all my coloured images made into some cards, so it looks like there will be lots more challenges being entered yet lol!

Once Upon A Time

2011-01-09T15:37:00.001Z

Hi everyone, my card today uses Lena Katrine's wonderful sketch for this week's Lili of the Valley challenge.

I bought some of these adorable 'cute squares' ages ago, but forgot all about them until a couple of days ago (I know, how could I?) when I came across them while searching for something else.

Card Details:
* Image - Lili of the Valley 'Story Time'
* Papers - Jak Heath 'Iced Blue Dot'
* Punch - MS PATP 'Vintage Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

As you can see, I'm still in my 'less is more' phase but don't worry, I don't think it'll last much longer as I've been thinking how much prettier this might look with little pearls added. lol!

Holly Fairy

2011-01-08T14:58:00.001Z

Hi everyone, today's card is for three christmas challenges. I'm hoping to join in with these on a regular basis so that I don't have the normal mad rush to get cards made at the end of the year.

I'm entering this adorable fairy into the following challenges:
Bah Humbug where the theme is 'Holly and Fairies'
ABC Xmas which this week is 'A for Anything'
Winter Wonderland and their theme is 'Let's go Dotty'

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning's Holly Fairy
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot off the Press
* Everything else from my stash

I'm trying to put less embellishments on the christmas cards due to the postage costs. My cards always seem to have to go as 'large mail' so clean and simple is definitely going to be the order of the day for this year!

A Retro card

2011-01-07T12:06:00.000Z

Hi everyone, my card today uses another gorgeous image from Mo Manning and I'm entering it for this week's DP2 challenge which is 'Going Retro'. Hopefully this sweet little boy and his best friend will fit the bill.

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning's 'Out There' from DP2
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - My Mind's Eye 'Wild Asparagus'
* Punch - MS Garden Trellis
* Everything else from my stash

I've just noticed that Bah Humbug is back today, so hopefully I'll manange to get a card done for that. The plan is to join in with this, and some of the other christmas challenges, each week this year.....you know what they say about the best laid plans lol!!

New Beginnings

2011-01-06T16:14:00.000Z

Hi everyone,
Today's card covers three challenges:
the first used the sketch from Truly Scrumptious (although I did not use the optional extra)
the second is Simon Says Stamp where the theme is 'New Beginnings'
the third is Creative Card Crew which is also asking for 'New Beginnings'

Card Details:
* Image - Panduro
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot Off The Press 'Blue Lace Collage' and Raspberry Road 'My Baby Love - boy'
* Punch - MS Valentine Heart
* Everything else from my stash

Thank you for visiting and I hope you like my card.

Sketch & Stash DT card - Challenge #52

2011-01-03T08:00:00.011Z

Hi everyone,
I hope you managed to have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that Santa was kind to you.

Today I'm sharing this fortnight's DT card for Sketch & Stash where we are being sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.

Our sketch this time is by Jill and I really enjoyed using it, don't forget to take a look at the gorgeous creations from the rest of the DT, I'm sure they'll inspire you.

Did you all enjoy joining in with our last challenge? your creations were just wonderful and do remember to check out the challenge blog for the winners!

For my card I've used another image from Mo Manning, I absolutely love colouring these, so I really had fun! This delicious looking cookie and frothy coffee look like just the thing to enjoy on your birthday.

Card Details:
* Image - Digital Pencil Too 'Sweet Tooth'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Punch - MS 'Deco Fan'
* Everything else from my stash

Mo's Digital Challenge Fantasies & Fairies

2010-12-22T08:00:00.003Z

Hi everyone,
Today's card is for two challenges:
The first is this week's Digital Pencil challenge. This is another challenge blog that I loved taking part in and have missed, I'm hoping that 2011 will see me managing to enter all my favourites again. This week they are challenging us to use any fairy tale images we have and I've decided to use Mo's 'Charming' image for my card.
The second challenge is Crafty Ann's challenge where 'Anything Goes' this fortnight. I used her wonderful digital papers for my card as the colours were absolutely perfect with my sweet little prince.

Card Details:
* Image - Mo's Digital Pencil Too 'Charming'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Crafty Ann's 'Woodgrain Effect' collection and DCWV 'Old World' mat stack
* Punch - MS 'Zig-Zag' and EK Success 'Photo Corners'
* Everything else from my stash

Once again I must apologise for the awful scanned image. Unfortunately, I can't get my camera to load properly on my new PC and as I seem to have lost the driver disk it looks like it's going to be terrible scans for the foreseeable future (If you screw your eyes up a bit and imagine the colour being a few shades more intense you may get a rough idea of the real cards ha ha!)

Just Magnolia - Mina's Sketch

2010-12-21T08:00:00.005Z

Hi everyone,
My card today is for this week's Just Magnolia challenge which is a sketch by the fabulous Mina.
I've used the adorable 'Honey Tilda' image and added lots of Glamour Dust, Stickles and Cosmic Twinkles to the card so it's very sparkly.
I'm also entering this for the Passion for Promarkers Mega Christmas Challenge.

Card Details:
* Image - Magnolia 'Honey Tilda'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Laura Ashley 'Contemporary'
* Mats - Nestability 'classic ovals' and Cuttlebug 'Script' embossing folder
* Everything else from my stash

Unfortunately, I had to use the scanner again so the colour is showing as very muted and wishy washy, when irl it's much brighter.
I'm really enjoying getting back to crafting after my long break and I hope you like today's card (despite my scanner!)

Sketch & Stash DT Card Challenge #51 And A Celebration!

2010-12-20T08:00:00.007Z

Hi everyone, yes I'm back again and I've managed to produce a DT card for Sketch & Stash based on our very first sketch, designed by the lovely Becky. Sorry the photo isn't very good but I had to scan it.
Card Details:
* Image - Thomas Kincade CD from Joanna Sheen
* Sentiment sticker - Daisy & Dandelion Outline Stickers
* Punch - EK Success 'Retro Flower'
* Glitter - Twinklets 'Diamond Dust'
* Everything else from my stash
I'm entering this card for this fortnight's Crafty Ann's Challenge 'Anything Goes'

Now I've got some very exciting news to tell you about this fortnight's Sketch & Stash challenge.
We are celebrating Christmas early, and our almost 2 year anninversary ... yes the Sketch and Stash has been going for 2 years at the beginning of January, how amazing is that? So we are doing something a little special this time for you

Some of our regular sponsors are offering up some fab prizes for you and we also are running a scavenger hunt on some DT members' blogs.

Here are our prizes ...

from our very regular sponsor Simon Says Stamp we have this fab prize.

Katharina over at Whiff of Joy is offering a stamp of YOUR choice

Elaine from Quixotic Paperie is offering this fab embellishment pack ...

Whimsy Stamps are offering a $15 voucher for their store

Paula from Pollycraft Designs

is offering 2 of her fabulous new rubber stamps ...

As well as offering these fabulous prizes we are also running a scavenger hunt.
Hidden on some of the DT blogs are some mystery prizes ... if you want to be in with a chance of winning one of these prizes, offered by Meljen Designs and Wags n Whiskers, you need to comment on the DT blogs and enter the challenge (we will check LOL!!).

OK so to be in with a chance of winning one of these fabulous prizes all you need to do is make a card using one of our last 50 sketches ... yep it is your choice which sketch you use.
To find our sketch catalogue click on the link on the right hand sidebar of the challenge blog ... all of them are there for you to peruse!
Please put a pic of the sketch on your blog so we can see which one you chose (we will check you have used one of our sketches, so no cheating LOL!!).
To join in the scavenger hunt please click on each DT member's link and it will take you to their post.

I look forward to seeing your cards and I hope you have lots of fun with the challenge.

The Ribbon Girl Giveaway

2010-12-18T11:18:00.000Z

Just look at this news!
Starting in January the Ribbon Girl will be a regular sponsor of the Lili Of The Valley Challenge on the second Thursday of every month and Lili Of The Valley will be a regular sponsor of our Colour Challenge on the third Sunday of every month.
So every month during 2011 you will have double the chance to win both Lili Of The Valley goodies and Ribbon Girl goodies.

Starting next year's cards!!!

2010-12-17T14:04:00.002Z

Hi everyone!
Following on from managing to make all my Christmas cards for family and friends last week, I decided to continue with them so that I make a start for next year.
I noticed that there are still some challenges out there requesting christmas style cards, so I've made the above card which fits a few of them (I hope!)
Unfortunately I had to scan this, now my scanner just HATES metallic and sparkle and as my card is mostly metallic and sparkle this is not good! Please trust me when I say that the card is really pretty in real life and the silver foil card and icicle colour glitter (NOT blue!) looks lovely.

Card Details:
* Image - Penny Black 'Birthday Angel'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co
* Punches - MS 'Valentine Heart' & 'Vintage Lace' PATP
* Die Cuts - Cuttlebug 'Vintage' corners & 'D Vine Swirls'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm entering this card for the following challenges:
Penny Black @ Allsorts - Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder
Crafts and Me Challenges - Moody Blues
Craft Your Days Away - Punch It Out
Simon Says Stamp - Silver, Blue, White
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Christmas Card

I hope you like my card and hopefully I'll be back again on a more regular basis with postings from now on.

By the way, do you like the little self portrait of me hugging my PC 'cos it's where my friends live? Just wanted to do this to say how grateful I am that my friends have kept in touch while I've been away.

SURPRI-I-ISE!!!

2010-12-08T16:28:00.000Z

Hi everyone, and I'm sure it is a surprise to see me about again!
A recent e-mail from a crafting buddy inspired me to make a Christmas card and of course, once I made that I couldn't stop lol.
I had decided to send bought cards this year (!!!) as I really felt I couldn't be bothered, but I find I've now made enough cards to send out to friends and family. Mainly thanks to the lovely Thomas Kincade CD.
Having said that they are all very plain and simple so haven't taken a lot of making, but I do feel it's a step in the right direction.

Most of you know that I'm a bit strange (well more than a bit really, but still!) and just can't work in a mess. In fact lots of you complain about how tidy my work space is when I'm crafting, so I thought I'd quickly snap a couple of piccies to show that since inspiration hit me (a couple of days ago) I haven't had a chance to clear up and am using the 'push back' method of crafting ha ha!

I'm also linking this post to WOYWW as otherwise dear Julia will never believe it!

Huge thanks to all my crafting friends who continue to keep in touch, you've been my lifeline throughout this horrible time.

Thank you to all my crafting friends.

2010-10-04T11:46:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post to thank all of you who were kind enough to send me cards for my birthday yesterday.
I appreciate this so much, especially as I haven't been about for a while.
Just to bring you up to date, the latest tablets from the doctor seem to be helping and I'm starting to feel brighter, although I have decided to wait until next year before getting back to blogging again in the hope that by then I shall be raring to get back into things.
Once again thank you so much for the beautiful hand made cards I received, it meant more than I can say.

A Card For A Special Person

2010-08-09T11:46:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, it's such a long time since I posted so I thought I'd pop by today with this card.
This is the first card I've made for quite a while and it's for a very special person, my dear aunt. She's had such a rough time lately and it's her birthday in a couple of weeks time, so I hope this cheers her up (she likes the vintage style)
It's a large 8" x 8" card and as you can see I made good use of a few of my Martha Stewart punches. Oh how I love these, sadly I managed to break my 'Doiley Lace' one, so I shall have to get a replacement as it was my very first punch and is one of my favourites.

Card Details:
* Image - Cardmaking Heaven 'Ladies Oval Topper Selection'
* Papers - K & Co
* Punches - MS Large Monarch Butterfly, Trellis and Eyelet Lace
* Nestabilities - Scalloped Ovals and Labels 4
* Sentiment - PC generated
* Everything else from my stash

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be posting again regularly just yet. It seemed a bit silly posting and then disappearing for ages again, so I thought I'd take a complete break for a while and not return until things are really back to normal.
I shall pop in if I manage to make anything so that I can share it with you, but until then take care my dear buddies.

Sketch & Stash DT card Challenge #39

2010-07-05T14:05:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, I'm sorry I'm so late posting this today but it had completely slipped my mind that it was Sketch & Stash day (I know, what am I like?)
I have to admit that I struggled a bit with this week's card. I'm not very good with easel cards and a circular one seemed more challenging than ever, but I did get there in the end although I think I'd probably use Nesties if I had to make something like this again as I think it would make life a bit easier LOL!

I hope you'll rise to the challenge of a circular card this fortnight at Sketch & Stash, don't forget you've got a whole 2 weeks to enter and there's a fabulous prize on offer again this time.

Card Details:
* Image - Digital Pencil Too 'Finna'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Raspberry Road 'My Baby Love - Boy'
* Punch - Martha Stewart 'Monarch Butterfly'
* Everything else from my stash

I used another of Mo Manning's great images for this and finished it off with a gorgeous downloaded 'fairy' sentiment. I have no idea where I got it from, as it's another from before my PC went haywire and I lost my copyright notices.

I haven't been about much recently as I'm still struggling a bit with everyday life at the moment, so I hope you'll bear with me until I can return to normality.
Thank you for continuing to visit and leave comments, they mean a lot to me.

Tag Card

2010-06-26T09:59:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, I felt like creating something a bit different from my usual cuties and as I have a 'bit of a thing' for tags but hadn't made a tag card for ages I thought the time was right.
Luckily there are a few challenges this will fit so I can enter it for the following:
The Cuttlebug Spot - Embossed Tags
A Spoonfull of Sugar - Good Luck/Best Wishes
City Crafter - Pink, Purple and Pearls
Crafty Ann's - Embossing
Simon Says Challenge - Friends
I distressed my card with Walnut Stain DI and a white Inkessential pen to give it more of a vintage look, cut a CB 'vintage' die in half to make some corners and finished off with some ribbon and pearls just to make it nice and girly.

Card Details:
* Sentiment Ticket - Crafty Ann's
* Papers - Laura Ashley 'Contemporary'
* Punch - Martha Stewart 'Eyelet Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

The tablets that my Doctor prescribed aren't working too well at the moment (I've been told to double the dose three times so far!) consequently my Mojo is a bit 'hit and miss' so if you don't see me about as often, you know why! LOL!

Molly's Card

2010-06-24T08:00:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone, I warned you I may be back today didn't I? This is a birthday card for a very special little girl, my great-niece Molly (I know! who'd have thought I was that old??!!) she'll be 2 and she's the most adorable poppet.

I thought this card fitted the bill perfectly at Just Magnolia this week plus a few other places (you know I'm having such fun with all these challenges) so the list is:
Just Magnolia 60 - In the Garden
Stamp Something - Summer
Sir Stampalot - Punch It
Crafty Calender - Bugs and Beasties
Sunday Stamptacular - Cute as a Bug
Crafts and Me - Birthdays

I actually made an easel card again, not something I'd do for just anyone, so Molly's definitely someone pretty special!
Card Details:
* Image - Magnolia 'Fairy Tale Tilda'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Blueberry Hill'
* Punches - Martha Stewart 'Monarch Butterfly' and EK Success 'Retro Flower'
* Sentiment - PC generated
* Everything else from my stash

I always worry that people (non-crafters) may not quite know what to do with an easel card, will they work out how to stand it up? Well with this one I've stuck a little label on the back showing exactly what to do and I think I'll do this with any I make from now on, just in case!

I got the idea from a lovely crafting friend and fellow 'Sheenie' Sheila. She doesn't have a blog, but visits mine regularly and never fails to lift my spirits with her lovely comments. She also sent me a gorgeous friendship book filled with wonderful sentiments and goodies (like tassels, charms and punched flowers) to cheer me up and let me know she was thinking of me recently when I was very low. Aren't I lucky to have friends like this?

Thank you for all your visits and comments crafting buddies and take care

WOYWW 55

2010-06-23T08:00:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, well not only have I made another week of WOYWW...
BUT I took this photo myself!! (which is why it's awful) usually this is DH's job and definitely not mine! I also remembered to take the photo before I cleared up, but as you know I'm a 'neat' crafter and this is about as messy as it gets with me!
Well, what can we see......
Not a lot really due to the c****y photo, but there's a thingy for setting eyelets, lots of adhesives and scissors (don't ask me why, I was only making a little tag card!) a MS border punch (my new eyelet lace ATP Mmmmm!) Distress Ink, pearls and ribbon.
I'm afraid I didn't make it round everyone last week (but then everyone didn't make it to me either!) but I shall try harder this week by visiting a few people each day, it may take me a week but I do love nosing at people's workspaces, it's soooooo addictive!

For those of you who are wondering what is going on in my photo and what WOYWW is, just pop over to our revered leader Julia's blog where all will be revealed.

I shall be back tomorrow with my normal kind of posting i.e. a card albeit a very special one.
Take care chums,

Messy does Christmas!

2010-06-22T08:00:00.006+01:00

Yay! I did it! I made it for 2 weeks in a row with my Christmas cards! No matter what else falls by the wayside I MUST try to keep up with these so I have a box full by the big day.
I also managed to fit my card into all the Christmas challenges I could find again too (this can't possibly last! LOL!)
My one problem with this card was that there was so little colour on it (other than white) that my scanner would only recognise it as a grey scale image. So, you'll have to trust me when I say that Messy's jumper is really pale blue and the mistletoe leaves are a very pale green, oh, and there's some Stickles on the tree and the snow.
The Xmas challenges this week are:
ABC Xmas - Mistletoe
Bah! Humbug! - A Child's Christmas
Winter Wonderland - Festive Tree
Die Cut Dreams - All White
Fab's Christmas Challenge - Toppers
My Time To Craft - Yuletide in June
Digital Tuesday Challenge - Christmas in June
and I think it also fits with:
Crafty Ann's Challenge - Embossing
Craftalicious - Monotone

I need to explain that my backing paper is Crafty Ann's again (surprise!) but I've popped some white holly vellum over the top, so it's now ~~difficult~~ impossible to see!
Card Details:
* Image - Messy Rabbit stamp from Joanna Sheen, Magnolia Misteltoe stamp and Cuttlebug Tree
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Crafty Ann's Woodgrain 'Earth tones - Stone'
* Everything else from my stash

I'll be back tomorrow with my WOYWW photo and if you don't know what I'm talking about, pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground blog and read all about it.
Thanks for visiting buddies and take care.

Sketch & Stash DT card Challenge #38

2010-06-21T08:00:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone, today sees my return to the DT at Sketch & Stash and how I've missed it!
This fortnight we're being sponsored by Meljen's Designs and we were given the chance to use some of her wonderful digi images on our cards, so I chose this delightful 'Garden Fence' background and used it with a freebie called 'Diggin' a hole' to create a little scene. Lisa has designed the sketch this time and I absolutely LOVED using it.

Card Details:
* Image - Meljen's digi images 'Garden Fence' and 'Diggin' a hole'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Crafty Ann's digi paper - Abstract 'Stone'
* Sentiment - Joanna Sheen
* Everything else from my stash

I'm trying to join in with some of the fabulous challenges that are out there with each of my cards, so I'm entering this card for the following:
Cutie Sunday - Summer
Sentimental Sundays - Your favourite sentiment
Magical Crafts - Something for a male
One Stop Craft Challenge - One for the Boys
Fab'n'Funky Challenges - Just for Dad

The Sketch & Stash challenge will be open until July 4th that's 2 whole weeks to come up with something, so I hope you can find time to join in with us again and I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs to see what you've created for the challenge.

Pirate Tilda - such a cute cupcake

2010-06-18T08:00:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone, my card today uses one of the Magnolia 'Fairy tale' images, she's called Pirate Tilda (you'd never have guessed would you?) and I think she's adorable, but then I think most of this range are cute as cupcakes!
I used the sketch from this week's Passion for Promarkers challenge and it wasn't until I'd finished the card that I realised there was also a theme involved which was 'a male themed card' so if this doesn't fit the challenge just throw me out.
I think my card also fits some other challenges, so I'm entering it for the following:
Passion for Promarkers #56 - Sketch & Theme
Simon Says Stamp - Pirates!
Crafts & Me - Friends & Family
Bunny Zoe's Challenge #1 - Nice & Girly

The main backing paper is again one of Crafty Ann's (I just love these papers and this colour was perfect for my Pirate theme!) and I managed to use up some cuttlebugged card and paper scraps on this card, which is quite unusual for me, my scrap box is HUGE!
I also got to use my brand new EK Success 'Wave Flourish' punch, I have wanted this for ages and it's now available from Joanna Sheen's store. This has to be one of my favourite places to shop as the customer service is second to none, the delivery is superfast and it's free p&p What more could a girl want?

Card Details:
* Image - Magnolia 'Pirate Tilda'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Crafty Ann's 'Abstract 2 - Dark Grey'
* Sentiment - PC generated
* Punches - EK Success 'Retro Flower' and 'Wave Flourish'
* Everything else from my stash

My apologies for the awful picture, but my scanner didn't want to play today.

Thanks to all you neat and tidy crafters who left comments on my WOYWW post, what a relief to know I'm not alone, in fact I think there may be a lot more of us than anyone guessed. Come on all you tidy girls and boys, confess and join our 'neat freaks' club LOL!

WOYWW 54

2010-06-16T08:00:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone, I can't believe I actually managed to join in for a second week, miracles will never cease! LOL!
It took me about 3 days to visit all the WOYWW blogs last week, but I eventually made it and I had such a lovely time being nosy. I wonder how many days it will take me to get around them all this week?
As you can see from my photo I was in a colouring mood and I forced myself NOT to clear up before taking my picture, so I hope all those WOYWWers who complained about my tidy space last week will be happier this time (if you'd like to know more or join in, just visit Julia at Stamping Ground)
I have to confess it......I am a tidy crafter!! Yes I know it seems unlikely, but really I am. I do try to be untidy but I just can't work in a mess, my Mojo goes walkabout and I have to join it, so I think I may find this WOYWW harder than I imagined
It's second nature to me now to clean up when I finish crafting so that my craft room's all nice and tidy for the next day.
If you are the same please leave me a message, otherwise I shall get some sort of complex about being the only neat crafter on the planet!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge #22

2010-06-13T14:11:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, well here I am again and this time it's with a card for the wonderful Bah! Humbug! challenge.
When this challenge first started back in January I had every intention of joining in each week. Not solely so I would have a stock of cards come the dreaded 'festive' season, but also because two out of the three DT members were close crafting buddies. Unfortunately, reality got in the way and this is the first card I've managed since challenge #6.
I couldn't have returned at a better week though, because the theme this week is 'Anything Goes' and trust me, after not making a Christmas card for so long I need all the help I can get LOL!
With that in mind, I entered this card for some other challenges too and they are all as follows:

Bah! Humbug! - Anything Goes
Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club - Sketch
Winter Wonderland - Christmas Flower
ABC Christmas Challenge - Lights
Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge

Card Details:
* Image - Whiff of Joy 'Willow with Lantern'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot Off The Press
* Everything else from my stash

I'm hoping that I'll manage to join in each week from now on, as I desperately want a stock of cards so I don't have that awful last minute rush that I normally experience in December.

Thanks so much to those visitors that leave a comment for me, I really enjoy reading them, take care

Fairy on Tiptoe

2010-06-12T13:30:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone, this little sweetie has recently taken up residence at my house and I was desperate to use her, so I thought I'd enter this weeks LOTV challenge which is a sketch by Dawny P. This is a first for me as I've never entered one of their challenges before.
Another first with this card was remembering to use my Flowersoft on the little flowers. I've had a couple of pots of this for well over a year now and never got around to using it before. I was a bit apprehensive, but everything worked well and I love the textured look. Oh and I also used my new Stardust Stickles quite liberally too LOL.
I can't remember the last time I entered a challenge, so with that thought in mind I've managed to fit my card to quite a few and they are:

Lilli of the Valley - Challenge 55
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Dazzle Us
Passion for Promarkers - Pink Birthday
My Time to Craft - Xtra Special
A Spoon full of Sugar - Floral Delight
Stamp Something - Happy Somethings

Card Details:
* Image - Lilli of the Valley 'Fairy on Tiptoe'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Blueberry Hill'
* Sentiment - Papermania 'Rose Garden'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm hoping that this will see the start of my return to crafting and blogging (in fact, I'm working on another card at the moment) and I'll also be resuming my DT role with Sketch & Stash from the next challenge too.
I've been visiting and commenting on some of my fave blogs over the last week or so and I'm looking forward to catching up with you all in the coming days.
Until then, thanks for visiting and take care,

WOYWW - a bit of a cheat?

2010-06-09T13:18:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, well, this post title refers to me, or maybe more to the point to this photo!
Yes, I know you've seen it before and only a couple of days ago too, but there IS a reason for posting it again, honest!

You see, for ages now I've been wanting to join in with WOYWW (what's on your workdesk Wednesday) but what with one thing and another I've never managed it.
Well, last week Julia and the rest of the gang celebrated a WHOLE YEAR of fun and I really wanted to start off the 'new' year by being a part of it all, so yesterday I reminded myself NOT to clear up all my mess when I finished what I was doing, but instead to take a photo ready for today.
Obviously, I promptly then forgot all about it again and cleared up my mess, which means my workdesk looks exactly the same as this again at the moment.
In view of this saga I hope I may be forgiven and allowed to join in and I promise I'll try really hard not to clean up next week!

For those of you who think I've now lost the plot completely and have no idea what I'm talking about, take a trip over to the beloved leader Julia's blog and look at all the other WOYWW gang members workdesks......but BE WARNED it's very addictive!!!

My new haven and an update

2010-06-07T08:00:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone,

Well as promised here are the photos of my new craft room. I've included some 'before' photos too so you can see the difference.

BEFORE

AFTER

I have to say the photos don't really do it justice, it is so bright and has loads of storage space for all my 'stuff' (although I think I could possibly do with even more!!!???!!!)
My darling DH was so busy and he couldn't have chosen a hotter few days could he, bless him.
I have got doors etc. but I told DH I didn't want them fitted yet as I'm sure I'll need to adjust some things once I start working in there. I also thought that if I can see my stash I may be more likely to use it, rather than forgetting about it all the time, which is what I tended to do before.
I'm sure I'll have doors on some of the base cupboards eventually, but I think I may leave the wall cabinets as they are so I can have space to store my pretty 'bits and bobs'

My visit to the Doctor on Friday went quite well and I'm hoping that 'normal service may resume shortly' lol! at least as far as my blog is concerned.
Following on from my little break from crafting, I've decided to step down from a couple of my DT roles though, so in future I will no longer be part of either Crafty Ann's Challenge or the CD Sunday challenge. I'm sad to leave them but we will all stay good friends and keep in touch and I'm sure I shall be joining in some of the challenges too.
I shall still remain part of the DT for Sketch & Stash and I'm hoping to get back to joining in with them again very soon.
I'm sure I've made the right decision for me at this time and although I shall miss the fun we used to have, I think I shall enjoy the freedom of 'just because' crafting again rather than fitting in with a particular theme. All I need to do now is get better at finding challenges to match the cards I make!

I'm sorry this has been such a long post, but I wanted to let you all know what's been happening and thank you for all your support and understanding.

...and the winner is......

2010-06-04T08:00:00.015+01:00

Hi everyone,
Just a quick post to thank you all for joining in with Crafty Ann's blog hop last fortnight and to let you know who won my 2 giveaway sheets from the gorgeous, new flower collection.
My winner was Myrto!!!
Congratulations Myrto, just pop over to the challenge blog and e-mail Ann to collect your prize.
I hope the rest of you will remember to pop over to Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog to find out who the lucky winner of the final 5 sheets was and don't forget to join in with the team again for the next challenge which is to use your (World Cup) country's colours.

As you can see, I'm still not blogging at the moment, although I have been doing lots of colouring lately and I'm sure all these coloured images will come in handy once I'm back card making again.
Actually I'm totally fed up with myself now and just want life to get back to normal. My darling DH has even kitted me out with a brand new craft room to try and cheer me up, bless him! I'm so lucky to have him.
I'll share some piccies with you all once it's finished. It seems like a good opportunity to have a good old sort out too, heaven knows what I shall find that I'd forgotten about!
I'm off to the doctor's later today, so we'll see what happens there. For those of you who know me well, you'll realise that (as ever) I'm hoping for an instant miracle cure!! LOL!
Thank you for all the supportive messages you've been kind enough to leave me, they really have helped to brighten my days.
Love and hugs to you all until next time

Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog DT Card #15 and Bloghop!

2010-05-21T01:30:00.008+01:00

Hi everyone, it's already time for challenge #15 at Crafty Ann's and we're having our very first BLOG HOP!
We're celebrating the launch of the Flower Collection of pre-coloured images from Crafty Ann's Digi Shop .
To join in, you need to start at the beginning which is the challenge blog so if you have come to me from there you're on the right lines.
To be in with a chance of winning these two sheets from the new collection, just leave me a comment. The winners will be announced at the start of challenge #16 on 4th June (for my prize and for the main challenge blog prize)

Don't forget to collect the two words you need from me which are: MAKE and PEOPLE
When you leave here, your next stop will be Ann who has some wonderful inspiration for you and two more sheets and two more words.
When you have visited all the blogs, you need to end up back at the challenge blog and follow the instructions on there to find out what to do to be in with a chance of winning the final 5 sheets.

You've probably noticed that there's no card from me today, actually I'm having a little break from things for a while.
Following my beloved Mum's death in January, things have been getting a little overwhelming and I've decided to take some time off to try to sort myself out.
I hope to be back with you all before too long though, and I may be doing some blog-hopping and commenting (who knows?)
Until then, take care blogging buddies and thank you for all your comments and support.
Looking forward to seeing you all again soon

Sketch & Stash DT card #35

2010-05-10T08:00:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, today's card is for the Sketch & Stash challenge, where this week we are being sponsored by Simon Says Stamp and our sketch is by the lovely Lols.

It seemed like a long time since I last used one of the fabulous Mo Manning images, so this is another of the ones that I purchased a little while ago from Digital Pencil Too and is called 'Bye Bye'.

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning 'Bye Bye'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - My Mind's Eye
* Sentiment - Digi download
* Everything else from my stash

The gorgeous digi sentiment was one of a few that I downloaded some time ago. Unfortunately, whilst trying to organise my PC recently, I lost the copyright notice and I now have no idea where it originally came from, so if you know please drop me a line.
Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog to see the other DT cards and find out who our lucky winner was last week.

Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog DT Card #14 and some news!

2010-05-07T10:15:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, it's time for Challenge #14 at Crafty Ann's where the theme this fortnight is 'Anything Goes'
Be sure to read to the end of the post for some exciting news

I'd like to thank all of you who have been joining in with us lately, we seem to be getting more entries with every challenge.
Unfortunately I've been unable to leave a comment on some of the foreign blogs as my PC just shows their blog text as little squares. I've tried using a different search engine (which worked for some of my fellow DT) but, alas, no joy for me. If you are one of those people please accept my apologies and also my thanks for continuing to join in with us each fortnight.

Card Details:
* Image - Crafty Ann's 'Aga', Stamping Boutique's 'Chair' & Magnolia's 'Kitchen Tilda'
* Colouring medium -Promarkers
* Papers -Papermania & K & Co
* Sentiment - Greeting Card Factory CD
* Everything else from my stash

I asked Ann to create this range cooker as I thought it would be perfect with all those little cooking cuties and how right I was! She has done such a superb job of designing both this and the little armchair that I asked for, so THANK YOU ANN!
I couldn't wait to use this and had such fun creating this little kitchen scene, I love it and I hope you like it too. I used some subtly patterned Papermania paper as wallpaper behind the range (not sure it shows up too well in the photo)
I know how lots of you love the freedom of an 'Anything Goes' challenge theme, so I hope you manage to join in with us again this time.

And now for that special news......
Don't forget to join us for the next challenge on 21st of May because we have our very first BLOG HOP to celebrate the launch of...................no, you'll have to wait until the 21st for that bit - but there are prizes to be won on every blog so don't forget to put the date in your diary!

CD Sunday Challenge 3 - Baby Talk

2010-05-02T08:00:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, it's Sunday again so that must mean another CD Sunday challenge .
This week's theme is 'Baby Talk' so why not get digging into those CDs and join in.

Card Details:
* Image - Joanna Sheen's - Baby Love CD
* Papers - My Mind's Eye & Hot Off The Press
* Punch - Martha Stewart 'Doily Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

I love this image of the sweet toddler climbing the steps to reach her doll, so adorable (look at those chubby little arms and legs! aaahhh)
Thanks to everyone who entered the challenge last week, the DT loved seeing what you all created and we're hoping you manage to join in with us again.
Don't forget to pop over and check out what everyone else created this week.

Sketch & Stash DT card #34

2010-04-26T08:00:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, today's card is for Sketch & Stash, where we're being sponsored by Whiff of Joy this fortnight and Becky has designed yet another wonderful sketch for us.
Thank you to all those of you who managed to join us for the last challenge, the DT loved seeing all your entries.

Card Details:
* Image - Whiff of Joy 'Oakley with Slipover' and 'Tree Stump'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers -Papermania 'Springtime'
* Sentiment - Greeting Card Factory CD
* Everything else from my stash

My new stash was my papers, I thought they looked great with this cute image.
I just loved using this sketch as it allowed the image to be the focal point, I really liked the uncluttered look of it.
I hope you get the opportunity to join in with us again this time and please pop over to the challenge blog to see what everyone else came up with.