An award and wishes for a Happy New Year!

Firstly, let me start with an apology for being such a bad blogger lately!
I'm afraid that pesky little mojo has gone walkabouts again, but I'm going to be sending out a search party for him tonight as I need to get started on some new bits and bobs tomorrow.

I popped on to make this posting and found that Holly had presented me with the Brilliante blog award! Thank you so much Holly, I'm very honoured.
I hadn't seen Holly's blog before so popped over to take a look only to find that it's absolutely amazing, so please go and take a look. She also appears to be responsible for some gorgeous digital download images at Squigglefly

I just wanted to leave a message for all my blogging friends to wish them all a very happy and creative new year.
I'm so sorry that I haven't been to visit your blogs for a few days, but I promise to try to do better and visit you all again very soon, once things get back to normal.

I'll leave you now with a reminder about the new challenge blog that is starting on 5th January at Sketch and Stash this will be run by Becky with Lisa and I joining her as the DT, so please do try and join in with us.
Just think, it will give you all a wonderful opportunity to use all the new goodies that you received for Christmas! I look forward to seeing you all there.

SEASONS GREETINGS

I'd like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a very peaceful and creative New Year.
I'd also like to thank you for visiting my blog and for all the wonderful comments you've left. I would never have believed that I could make so many wonderful new friends in just a few months.
You have all made my blogging experience a very happy one and I look forward to renewing my friendship with you all in the New Year.

Christmas card 'book'

Well, I've had a few more attempts at photographing the little card book for my eldest son and DIL. Still not very good I'm afraid but it's the best I've come up with yet and as I'm running out of time now it'll have to do. I obviously need to practice a whole lot more!
My DIL likes the little 'cuties', not sure about my son though, but I don't expect he'll take a lot of notice anyway.

Card Details:
* Images by Magnolia and Hanglar & Stanglar
* Backing papers from DCWV
* Cardstock and embellishments from my stash

I'd like to say a huge 'Thank You' to Wendy and Beryl for passing the 'Fabulous Blog' award on to me, I'm very honoured.

Vintage Lady Calender

Hi everyone, I've been a bit naughty about posting lately I'm afraid, but I'm back today with a little desktop calender that I've made for a friend of mine. This is for the lady that owns the vintage shop and stocks my Art Deco cards, so I hope she's going to like it.
I got the idea for the calenders from Edna, another friend of mine. She is always making gorgeous little bits and bobs and inspires me no end, so if you haven't visited her before, please do, as all her work is just fabulous.
To be totally honest, this isn't quite finished yet as I need to punch the holes in the bottom and thread some ribbon through, but I thought if I didn't post this now another day would go by without a post being put on my blog.

Card Details:
* Coloured cardstock and glitter card from stash
* Backing papers by K & Co and Joanna Sheen lace paper pads
* Scallop mats by Nestabilities
* Printable calender by Printfree

I've been trying to get some pictures of the little 'book card' full of Christmas Cuties that I made for my eldest son and his wife, but it's too thick to scan and I can't get the hang of my new camera at all!
It's so difficult to get the light right as the weather is so gloomy at the moment, and when I do manage it I take loads of snaps and pop them on the PC only to find they are blurry, so I may have to give up on sharing this one with you all.

Award Time

I've been given an award and I'm so thrilled!
Thank you so much Rica I'm very honoured that you awarded this to me as I love visiting your blog. For those of you that haven't discovered it yet, do pop over and take a look at all of Rica's lovely creations.

So now I have to follow the rules, which are:
Link to whoever gave you the award and pass it on and link to 5 others.
You also have to write down 5 things you are addicted to!

1. My family (even when they drive me mad!)
2. My blogging buddies (they help keep me sane!)
3. Crafting (my other reason for staying sane!)
4. Buying crafting goodies (even though it's not as often as I would like!)
5. My lunch of croissant and cappucino (strange I know, but I am quite strange!)

Now for the part I hate, how to nominate only 5 people when I love visiting ALL of the blogs on my lists! All I can say is that I'm only going to mention five people but I'm passing this award on to everyone else that I visit as well.
In alphabetical order:
Becky, Carole, Edna, Rita, Sheena

Sketch and Stash Challenge Blog Candy

Hi everyone, just popping on to let you know that Becky is giving away some fabulous candy to celebrate the launch of the new challenge blog.
"To celebrate the launch of the Sketch and Stash Challenge Blog we are offering some blog candy! One lucky person will win a Willow with Umbrella stamp from Whiff of Joy."
Why not pop over and take a look, do the ususal link thingy and be in with a chance of winning this fabulous stamp!

36 years ago today!

Hi everyone, well today is my 36th wedding anniversary, that makes me feel soooo old!
I really don't know what happened to all those years, when I think that my sons are 32 and 30 now it just seems unbelievable.
I think I need to have another chat with them soon because if they don't hurry up and make me a grandmother, I'll be too old to enjoy it!

I thought I'd also take this opportunity to post another Art Deco card. I've used an image from the decoupage section of the CD for this one. I don't often 'do' decoupage (too fiddly for me really) so I hope you like it.

Card Details:
* Image and border from Art Deco CD by Card Creations Plus
* Cardstock from The Papermill
* Gems from my stash

Some more Art Deco cards

Well, I'm back with some more cards, as promised!
These are from the same CD as the cards yesterday, I'm loving this CD!
To be honest, I did wonder about it as there aren't that many images on it, but because there are so many different things that you can do with the images it makes them look totally different each time. I think it will prove to be very versatile.
As with yesterday's cards, apart from the embellishments everything came from the CD itself.

Card Details:
* Cardstock from The Papermill
* Martha Stwart Lace Doily border punch
* Oval scalloped mat from Nestabilities
* Gems, buttons and flower from my stash

Sketch and Stash Challenge Blog

Hi everyone!
I'll be popping some more Art Deco cards on the blog later, but I just had to pop in quickly to tell you all about some very exciting news I've received today.
I've been asked to be a member of the DT for a new challenge blog that will be starting on Monday 5th January 2009 called Sketch and Stash Challenge Blog.
Now, I know there are a lot of challenge blogs out there, but I'm really hoping that you will all join in with this one and make it a success for Becky, (she's such a sweetie and she deserves it!) Why not pop over and take a look at what it's all going to be about, and I'll post more news as and when I get it.
I'm relying on you all to give me some support, because although I'm excited, I'm also very nervous (understatement of the century!) This may be a dream come true but I never thought it would happen to me and I'm scared!

I've been playing!

Hi everyone, well no challenge card today but I've been playing with my new CD so I'm posting the first cards that I've made with it.
I can't remember how long it's been since I used anything but little 'cuties' on my cards, so it made a nice change to return to my original love of vintage cards. I especially love the Art Deco style so this CD is perfect for me.

Card Details:
* Images from Art Deco CD by Card Creations Plus
* Martha Stewart Lace Doily punch
* Pearls from Joanna Sheen
* Gems and other embellishments from my stash


I hope you like them, there are some gorgeous images on this CD, quite inspiring really so I'm off to do some more!

Stamp Something - Red, Gold and Green

Well I managed to post for two days in a row, that's quite something for me at the moment.

Today's card is for this week's Stamp Something challenge which is:
Well, the holiday season is upon us and we thought a challenge to use traditional Christmas colors would fit right in. So that's it for the week, just create something using the color combination of red, gold, and green.

As with yesterday's card, this was one of the cards I made as stock (just in case I get any other cards from people I haven't sent to!)

Card Details:
* Image sent to me by my friend Becky
* Backing papers - Hot off the Press
* Martha Stewart Lace Doily punch
* Nestability circle
* Sentiment designed on PC
* Coloured with Letraset Pro Marker pens

By the way, the nestie mat and the punched border are gold miri card, not green as they look in the scan.

Cute Card Thursday - Punches

Hi everyone, I can't believe it's Friday already and I haven't posted since Monday!

Last week I was quite relieved that I'd finished all my cards, and as I'd made and sent loads this year I'd had enough really, how lovely to pack all my christmas goodies away for another year then.
So why is it that no matter how many cards you send you always receive a couple from people you hadn't sent to, and why is it that they are always the first ones you receive?
I had to get all my christmas bits and bobs back out again and make some more! I thought while everything was back out again I'd actually make more than I needed, just in case! hopefully that is the last now and I've packed everything away again! Ah well, the best laid plans......

To cheer myself up I thought I'd enter a card challenge, so this one is for the Cute card Thursday challenge, which is: Punches - This week we like you to dust off your punches (not die cuts!) and use them on your cards, you can either punch some borders or corners or use punched out shapes on your cards.
Obviously those of you that know me have guessed this was a great excuse to use my gorgeous Martha Stewart punch yet again (I know.... and I'm sure I will get fed up with using it one day - but not yet!)

Card Details:
* Whiff of Joy 'Willow with lantern' image sent to me by Becky
* Red miri and silver glitter cardstock from my stash
* Sentiment designed on PC
* Martha Stewart Lace Doily punch
* Coloured with Letraset Pro Markers

I'm hoping to be back tomorrow with another challenge card, until then, thank you for visiting and for the lovely comments you leave me.

Double Challenge Card

Hi everyone, my card today actually fits in with two challenges (hopefully!)

Firstly the Dutch Dare challenge which was: "We want you to use some scalloped edges somewhere on your card."
The card also fits this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge of "This week we would like to see some hearts on your card"

Card Details:
* Image by Hanglar & Stanglar
* Backing paper and labels - K & Co
* Pearls from Joanna Sheen
* Punch - Martha Stewart Lace Doily
* Flowers from stash
* Coloured with Letraset Pro Markers
* Sentiment produced on PC

A Spoonful of Sugar Challenge 28 - Thank You card

Hi everyone, my card today is for the Spoonful of Sugar challenge - We would like to see you create a thank you card.
This card ended up being similar in colour to yesterday's one as I liked it so much, and of course, I just had to use my punch again (you may be seeing rather a lot of this for a while!)

Card Details:
* Image kindly sent to me from Becky
* Backing papers by Laura Ashley
* Lace Doily punch by Martha Stewart
* Sentiment stamp by Cuddly Buddly
* Large flower from Poppicrafts
* Cream pearl from Joanna Sheen
* Colured with Letraset Pro Markers

Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment, I really appreciate it.

My Time to Craft Challenge No. 38 - Becky's Sketch

Hi everyone, my card today is for the My Time to Craft challenge, which is a sketch. I don't usually enter this challenge, but my dear friend Becky has set the challenge this week, so I just had to enter didn't I?
If I'm honest, I find sketch challenges quite difficult, and my card hardly ever ends up looking like it should, but this one was very straightforward and I do like the layout, I may even use it again!

Card Details:
* Penny Black image sent to me by Becky (thank you my friend)
* Backing papers by Laura Ashley and K & Co
* Martha Stewart Lace Doily punch (the new love of my life!)
* Pale pink pearls from Joanna Sheen
* Flower from my stash
* Sentiment done on PC

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank:
Beryl for giving me the Butterfly award. Beryl's blog is full of fabulous creations, go and take a look if you haven't been before.
Cathy for passing the Proximidade award on to me. Cathy hasn't been blogging for very long but her blog is simply wonderful, why not pay her a visit and see for yourselves?

Playing in the Puddles

Hi everyone, my card today is for my Best Friend. She's going through a horrible time at the moment and I live so far away that I can't give her a big hug, so I'm hoping this card will do it for me.

Card Details:
* Image and sentiment from Ebay
* Backing paper - K & Co
* Ribbon and flowers from Poppicraft
* Red heart gem from stash
* Mats made with Nestabilities
* Coloured with Pro Markers

Thank you for the comments you leave me, they are really appreciated.

Butterfly Award

Hi everyone, no card today as Monday is the day I spend with my Mum, but I have been given this lovely award by Ann and wanted to say a huge "Thank You" to her for passing it on to me.
I always find it so difficult to choose individual blogs for awards as I visit lots every day and I love them all (just look at my sidebar for proof!) so I'm hoping that Ann won't mind if I just pass this on to everyone on my blog lists.
Ann has recently changed the name of her blog as, like me, she wasn't happy with the original name. Whatever name she calls it, she has some fabulous projects, so please pay her a visit if you haven't already.

A Challenge, a Card Commission and a Thank You

Good morning, well this is the second day I've been on before evening so maybe I'm changing my habits, I may also be changing something else very soon.
When I first set up my blog I was so impatient to get started that I just called it the first thing that came to mind, hence the thoroughly boring title.
For ages now I've been thinking about getting rid of my other blog and just using this one for all my projects. I want to change the name to something that would reflect different styles and sounds a little more interesting (along the lines of Variety is the Spice of Life) but I can't come up with anything I really like, so I'm setting a challenge to my visitors, can you think of a suitable name for my blog? (I hope I'm not setting myself up for some rude comments here)


I received a card commission for a 12 year old's birthday recently with the brief being that she liked horses and fairies and was quite girly. This is what I've come up with, I hope she likes it!
Please forgive the terrible scan, this was about my 6th attempt and I gave up. I made so much fuss that DH is going to try to get me a cheap, easy digital camera to use, so if anyone knows of any good ones, please share the information.
Card Details:
* White glitter card and lilac cardstock mounted onto white hammered card.
* Butterfly charm attached by jump rings to Fiskars "lace" border punch.
* Number 12 tag and name tag printed off PC and also attached to lace border.
* Fairy image (courtesy of fellow Sheenie Jacqui)decoupaged and glittered.
* Embellished with eyelets and gemstones.


I have been given the Proximity award by blogging buddy and fellow "Sheenie" Jane, thank you so much for this. Please do pop over and visit her blog if you haven't been before.

Christmas Angel card and Candy

Well, I'm back with another card. This one is for my best friend and although she likes the cuties I'm not sure her DH would be so keen! Neither of them are crafters so I've kept it quite clutter free.
Card Details:
* Hot off the Press christmas papers mounted onto White glitter card
* Christmas Angel image from my stash
* Fiskars Lace border punch

I caught up with some blog hopping today and found some wonderful candy:

Ila has some gorgeous High Hopes and Magnolia packages on offer and just needs to know your favourite Christmas film or song, open until 3rd December, so hop over and take a look.

Bev is offering some fabulous 'Whiff of Joy' candy from her and Katharina until 4th December.

Finally Jude is celebrating 3000 hits by offering some great candy, a christmas pressie for yourself, she says and who can argue with that?

Cute Card Thursday - Lilac

A very good morning to everyone, I'm very early today anyone would think I was organised for once (they'd be wrong though!)
This morning's card is for the Cute Card Thursday challenge which this week is Lilac
The card I've made uses a Hanglar & Stanglar image which I've coloured with Pro Markers (surprise!) It's been mounted onto some purple miri card which has been throught the Cuttlebug and then cut with Nesties. The backing paper is DCWV 'Pink Christmas' mounted onto some lilac glitter card and I've finished off with a lilac Cuttlebug corner and a bauble embellishment from my stash.
She looks such a little sweetie, all wrapped up against the cold and carrying her little wooden heart.
I may be back later with another card if the day goes well, if not I expect I'll post it tomorrow. Thank you for your visit and I hope you have a good weekend.

Suzanne's First Card Challenge

My friend and fellow "Sheenie" Suzanne has posted her first ever card challenge. She is such a lovely lady who always makes such stunning cards and her blog is full of tutorials and tips to help you make wonderful cards too. If you haven't already visited her, please do pop over. Make sure that you've got a few hours to spare though as you won't be able to drag yourself away easily, trust me!
The challenge is: make a card using letters as the main feature - can be the whole card or letters on the base of a standard card - you chose
Well, I've made all my christmas cards now except for my sons' cards, so I decided to use this challenge to make my youngest son's card.
The card size is A4 folded lengthwise and I used large stencils to cut out the "Noel" in silver glitter card. The letters have been embellished with some Magnolia images and star peel-offs.
The little Magnolia images were a gift from my lovely friend Becky and just a small part of a whole pad full of images that she enclosed with my christmas card. Thank you Becky, I love all of the images, but didn't think I'd be using them so soon! They have been coloured with my much loved ProMarkers.

Sisters

Hi everyone, at last my back is feeling better, so I've been able to play today.
I've really enjoyed making this card and I've used the cuttlebug christmas tree as the focal point. This was kindly sent to me by my dear friend Ali, (unfortunately I don't have this folder myself) and I've coloured it with pencils and then blended with Sansador and paper stumps, all finished off with a few touches of stickles glitter glue. I haven't used this form of colouring for ages and had forgotten how calming it can be.
I have used 2 of the new Magnolia christmas images (coloured with Pro Markers) for these sweet little sisters who are trimming the tree with tinsel and hanging the decorations. I just love their little stripey stockings!
The backing paper is from my stash and has been mounted onto some holographic silver miri card.
Thank you for taking the time to have a look at my cards and for the lovely comments you've been leaving me.

Thank You

Just a little message to say a special "thank you" to 2 friends who have also awarded me the Proximity award.
Thank you Wendy and Suzanne, if any of you haven't already visited their blogs, please do pop over and enjoy their wonderful creations.

My back's feeling lots better now, so hopefully I'll be back later to post a card.

A Further Award

Well, a huge "thank you" to Irene, Anne and Beryl for passing this fabulous award onto me, I'm so grateful ladies.

I really can't choose who to pass this on to, so I'm going to say to any of my "Blogging Buddies" that visit me, if you haven't already received this award, please consider yourselves nominated and take it for your blogs.

Yesterday I promised to be back later with a card, which didn't happen I'm afraid. So sorry, but I very stupidly managed to pull my back and wasn't really up to sitting at the computer. It's feeling a little better today, but still quite painful so I'm not sure if I'll get a card done today either. I really don't know what's happening lately, first my neck, now my back. I'm putting it down to old age and getting more stupid as I get older!
Suffice to say, I'll be back as soon as I can comfortably sit in one position for any length of time!

An Award!

Hi everyone, I had a surprise awaiting me when I popped onto the PC this morning, the fabulous Edna had left me an award! I am absolutely thrilled as this is a lady who always gives me such inspiration and encouragement, and was partially responsible for me getting hooked on blogging in the first place (so now you all know who to blame!) If you haven't been to visit Edna before (unlikely!) please take a look at her wonderful blog.
This award has such wonderful ideals, exactly what I believe blogging is all about!
This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind blogger’s aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight blogger’s who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.
Well, I've decided to pass this on to some crafters whose blogs give me such pleasure when I make my visits:
Becky, Caz, Irene, Jeanette, Kim, Nicola, Sandie and Sue

I'll be back later with a card.

No "Cuties" today

Hi everyone, I'm afraid I haven't made any cute cards today, instead I've been finishing off some family christmas cards.
I've posted them on my other blog HERE if you care to take a look.
I'm sure I'll be back with more cuties very soon, meanwhile thank you for all your kind comments, including those who liked my little background stories.

Cute Card Thursday - Snow and Snowflakes

Hi everyone, I managed to find a challenge to fit my cards today and I'm entering 2 cards because I think they both fit the brief for this one.
The cards are for Cute Card Thursday's challenge of Snow and Snowflakes This week we would like to see 'snow' or snowflakes on your card
The first card is Tilda sitting on a sheepskin covered bench which is keeping her bottom warm, but her little knees look very red.
This has been mounted onto a cuttlebugged circle nestability, then onto some 'snowflake' christmas paper and some lilac glitter card. She's been coloured with Promarkers and finished off with a sparkly snowflake embellishment and a little cuttlebug corner.
In the second card a different little girl called Tilda (surprise!) has just finished building her cute snowman, and she's so proud of him that she's brought a little lamp outside so she can see him better. She thought he looked a little cold, so she's lent him her scarf and ear-muffs. Again the images have been coloured with Promarkers, and the snowman and snow flurries have been finished off with Duncan's 'True Snow' to give some texture. They are mounted onto 'Swiss Dots' cuttlebugged cardstock, then onto DCWV christmas paper and finally onto some silver holographic miri card (which my scanner hates!)
I'd like to thank all of you for the lovely comments you've been leaving, it's lovely to hear from you all and I hope you continue to visit.

Just Because...

Hi everyone,
Well I've been busily making more christmas cards with little cutie-pies, but couldn't seem to find any challenges to fit the bill. Then while blog-hopping this morning, I noticed that Fran said she often forgot that she could make a card just because she wanted to, and not because it was a challenge. So, with that in mind, I'm posting a couple of cards 'just because' I wanted to make them.

The first card is another little Tilda, she's looking very festive in her red and green dress and I think she's wondering what can be in those beautifully wrapped presents. She has been mounted onto a gold foil circle that has been cuttlebugged, and then onto some green and red backing paper. I've added some gifts, and a christmas bauble as embellishments and a little PC made sentiment.
The next card is a bit of a change from the normal cuties and features a Rubber Romance image, again mounted onto a cuttlebugged circle and some DCWV backing paper on top of some holographic miri card (which is actually silver IRL and NOT the weird colour that my scanner made it) The star embellishment and sentiment come from my stash.

I've been using some Duncan True Snow on my cards that have snow scenes, just to give it a little texture and then finishing off the snow with some Stickles glitter glue, to make it sparkly. I'm of the opinion that a girl can never have too much glitter and sparkle, I hope you agree!
Thanks again for visiting me and I hope you'll pop back again soon.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Let it Snow

Hi everyone, another day, another challenge and today's is for the Papertake Weekly Challenge Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow - This weeks challenge is Snow! Anything snow related - snowmen, snowflakes, snowy scenes etc!
I'm actually popping 2 of my cards in for this, as they're both little snowy scenes and I couldn't choose between them.
I have used a background of silver holographic miri card and K & Co "snowy" backing paper on both cards, and they both have Magnolia snowy scene backgrounds. In the first card little Tilda is looking very festive in her red coat and I have also added a little Magnolia sentiment, while in the second card Tilda and Edwin are off for their morning ski. Both cards are coloured with Pro markers and finished off with little snowflake embellishments from my stash.
I hope you like them, I'm really enjoying making these and joining in with some challenges, I'd forgotten how much fun they can be!

Cute Card Thursday - Red and Green

I warned you I might be back!
This card is for Cute Card Thursday's challenge of Red and Green. This week we would like you to use red and green on your card.
Another cute little christmas Tilda, together with some of her presents, this time she has been mounted onto a cuttlebugged circle (cut using my nesties) the green backing paper is from my stash. The card is finished off with a couple of little gems, a red bauble 3D'd onto a line peel-off and a sentiment done on the PC.

Spoonful of Sugar - Card for a Child

Hi everyone, as promised here's my next challenge card.
This one is for this week's Spoonful of Sugar's challenge we would love you to make a card for a child
I thought that this card would be just about right for the challenge, showing a little girl on her way to post her letter to Santa.
The background scene was from Joanna Sheen's 'Messy Rabbit' backing papers and I added some of the 'Swiss Dots' cuttlebugged cardstock to the bottom to give a feeling of snow. This was mounted onto some pale blue 'snowy' backing paper and the sentiment was done with rub ons (which didn't rub on very well!)
I hope you like her and I may be back a little later with a further card. I know, I know......but now I'm on a roll with these christmas cards, I can't stop until I'm finished!

Magnolia vs Stampavie Challenge - Clean and Simple

Hi everyone,
I haven't done any challenges since....I can't remember when, so as I have all these christmas cards to make anyway, I thought it might be quite nice to enter them into some challenges.
The first one is for Sunday's Magnolia vs Stampavie challenge A Nice Clean simple stream line look to be used on your project this week & No more than 3 Colours to be used in total! (only just managed to make this one in time!)
Tilda and Edwin are sitting on a log, but they are both well wrapped up against the cold, so I'm sure they won't catch a chill.
They have been coloured with pro-markers and then mounted onto some cuttlebugged cardstock, then onto some K & Co "snowy" backing paper and finally onto some glitter card. The little words were rub-ons and the whole thing is finished off with a couple of little gems from my stash.
Thank you for visiting, I'm hoping to be back tomorrow with another card.

Thank you Ann

Whilst I was "absent", I received an award from the lovely Ann thank you so much Ann, I really appreciate it and it certainly cheered me up.
As I have been blog hopping around I noticed that the people I would have liked to pass the award to already seem to have it, so if Ann doesn't mind I shall leave the award on my blog and if any of you have not already received this, help yourself.