Sketch & Stash Challenge #12

Hi everyone!
It's a slightly different look for the DT cards on Sketch & Stash this week. As well as making our normal DT cards from Becky's latest fabulous sketch, we've also made a second card using the same sketch but incorporating a gorgeous digital download from Kendra at The Character Cafe. It just shows how different cards can look even when using the same sketch, I was amazed.
Kendra is generously sponsoring this week's challenge and she has some fantastic downloads available, so why not pop over and take a look.



Card Details:
* Image - The Character Cafe digital download 'Precious Emmy'
* Medium - Promarkers
* Backing Papers - K & Co
* Flowers - Hobby House Retro Flower large and medium punches
* Everything else from my stash
My new stash for this card was the image and my fabulous new flower punches



Card Details:
* Image - Joanna Sheen Fashion Boutique CD
* Backing Papers - same CD and K & Co
* Card Candy - Craftwork Cards
* Everything else from my stash
My new stash for this card was the lovely card candy.

Thank you all for your good wishes and messages of support, I treasure each and every one.

A First for me!

Hi everyone!
Well, they say it never rains but it pours, and this seems to be especially true for my cardmaking at the moment.
As I told you in my last post I have lots of special birthdays coming up over the next month and need to try to regain my Mojo to get the cards made.
Well, following a phone conversation with my aunt a couple of days ago, it now appears that my great niece, Francesca is making her first Holy Communion soon (being a great aunt makes me feel ancient!).
I wanted to make a card, but never having done one for this type of occasion before I wasn't sure what was involved. I knew that I wanted to use the Gorjuss Girls image 'Guardian Angel' and, following some advice from crafting friends on Joanna Sheen's forum, I decided to keep the main sentiment simple. The inside of the card is decorated with matching papers and the following verse:
From this day on may the Truth of God's Word
Grow strong in your Heart,
And may the gentle love of Jesus
Fill your life, Now and Always

I hope this card is appropriate for the occasion and that Francesca likes it.

Card Details:
* Image - Gorjuss Girl 'Guardian Angel'
* Medium - Promarkers
* Mats - Nestabilities plain and scalloped Classic Circle Large
* Punch - Martha Stewart Doily Lace
* Flower - Freebie download from Jak
* Everything else from my stash

I tried to get this to fit in with one of the challenges for this week, but unfortunately I just couldn't find anything that fitted, so that's another week that I haven't managed to enter any challenge blogs, oh well!

I'm just editing this post to say a big 'Thank you' to Suzanne for letting me know that I can enter this card into the Passion for Promarkers challenge. It's an open challenge this week as it's the very first one and there are some fabulous prizes up for grabs, so I'll keep everything crossed that I may be lucky!
The colour promarkers I used on this card were:
Ivory, Primrose, Soft Lime, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Pastel Green, Cool Grey 1 and Rose Pink.

Birthday cards for a Special Person

Hi everyone, I hate the fact that I'm being such a bad blogger lately, and I'm really looking forward to being back creating, posting and entering challenges soon. Unfortunately, due to a family illness we're spending a lot of time travelling up and down the country at the moment and everything else is taking a back seat to these real life problems.
I have quite a few birthdays coming up soon for 'special people' though, so I've had to unpack my Mojo and get cracking!
The first VIP birthday is for my beautiful DIL on 30th May and I'd already made her card from us, so I just needed to make a card from my Mum and that would be it.....or so I thought! My darling son arrived on Saturday to ask if I'd make a card from him. Now I don't mind at all as I love making 'girly' cards, but he never has any ideas about the sort of thing he wants and leaves it totally up to me which can make things a little difficult, to say the least! Anyway, I made the card (he hasn't seen it yet so I hope they both like it lol!) and this is it.

Card Details:
* Image - Charmed Crafts digital download 'Madison goes to the ball'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Backing papers and adhesive lace - K & Co
* Flowers - Fred, She Said 'freebie' download
* Everything else from my stash
I used an 'envelope template' which I purchased through Joanna Sheen's forum last year to help raise money for a charity, but had never got around to using. I think I quite like the final result, at least it's something a little bit different from my usual cards.


This is the card I made for DIL from my Mum and I've used one of the sweet little 'Miss Anya' images that I recently received in a RAK. My DIL loves her designer bags, so I thought this one would be right up her street, I've used quite a lot of glitter on this card too so it's extra 'girly', unfortunately you can't see it on the scan.

I have my son's birthday coming up on June 10th, my nephew's on 20th and my best friend's on 28th, so even if I don't manage to do much else, I'll be posting these.

Please accept my thanks for your continuing visits and wonderful comments, they're really cheering me up!

Sketch & Stash Challenge #11

Hi everyone, I've scheduled this card as family matters are taking priority at the moment.

Challenge #11 at Sketch and Stash this week, can you believe it? Please go over and check out the other DT cards, they're wonderful and I hope they'll give you all lots of inspiration. Another gorgeous sketch from Becky, she certainly makes things easy for us with her great sketches.
My 'new' stash this time is the sweet little Penny Black image.



Card Details:
* Image - Penny Black 'Birthday Angel'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co
* Lace papers - Joanna Sheen
* Everything else from my stash

So many people managed to join in with the last challenge again, thank you so much. I'm sorry that I haven't had time to visit and leave you all a comment, as I love to see all your lovely cards, but I hope you'll manage to join the fun this time too.

A little update

Hi everyone, I'm so sorry that I haven't been around for a while but real life just hasn't been going as well as it should lately!
I think it's unlikely that I'll be about for a while yet, but just as soon as things have settled down again I'll be back (that's a threat, not a promise!! LOL!!)

I have missed you all so much lately, and I'd just like to thank all of you who continue to offer me encouragement and support with your lovely comments, you don't know how much it means to me!

Love to you all

Another busy week!

Hi everyone, well so much for my plans to catch up with my visits to your blogs this week, it's not looking too good so far!
I haven't even had the chance to enter any challenges, so I thought I'd post the wedding card I made for my lovely niece.
She got married last Saturday, so it's safe to show it now. I've been busily making another for my nephew (her brother) who is due to get married on the 30th, so I'll post a picture of it after that date.



Card Details:
* Images - Hangler & STangler bride and groom and Magnolia heart
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Backing papers - K & Co
* Everything else from my stash

My niece, Jane, likes the cutesie images, so I thought this one would be quite sweet for her card. It's a large card about 9" x 9" and I decorated the inside to match, but couldn't manage to get a decent scan of it (I must treat myself to a camera with macro when I have some spare pennies!)
I've just seen their wedding photos online, they are beautiful and evidently, according to Jane it was the 'perfect day'. I'm so pleased as she's a real sweetie and deserves everything good that comes her way.

I promise that I'll get to visit you just as soon as I can, until then thank you for continuing to visit my little haven and for all the lovely messages you leave, they really brighten my day.

Sketch & Stash Challenge #10

Morning everyone!
Well, here we are with challenge #10 for Sketch & Stash and Becky's got another fabulous sketch. Lots more layers this week, but still allowing you to pop your sentiments and embellishments where you like.



Card Details:
* Image - digital download from Sketching Stamper
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot off the Press
* Glitter glue - Stickles
* Border punch - Martha Stewart Embossed zig-zag
* Embellishments - from my stash

Pop over and take a look at the other DT cards, they're just fabulous and hopefully they'll give you the inspiration to come and join in with us this week.
I'd like to say thank you to Lena for being our guest DT member for the last 2 weeks and I can't believe how she managed to make this week's card even more gorgeous. What a pleasure it was meeting you Lena, I'll be visiting your blog regularly believe me.
As you know, it was my turn to choose a guest DT for the next 2 weeks and what a difficult job you all gave me. Your cards were stunning, but after a lot of dithering I did eventually manage to make a decision, check out the blog to see who our next guest DT will be.

Cute Daisy May Challenge

Hi everyone, just a very quick visit tonight to post this card for the Daisy May challenge. It's week 10 and I've just about made it as the new challenge begins tomorrow. This week's challenge was a lovely sketch.
I've had a bit of a hectic week, which is why I haven't been about very much and I've missed visiting my favourite places lately, but I'm hoping to make up for lost time from tomorrow.

Card Details:
* Image - digital download from PC Crafter
* Papers - K & Co
* Everything else from stash

I promised a dear friend that I'd try to join in with this challenge, but unfortunately this was the first chance I've had this week so I hope you like it, I'm not overjoyed with it myself, but as I made it from scratch in about 15 minutes, it's the best I could do.
I'll see you all again soon, hopefully tomorrow when I should have a little more time. Thanks for your visit.

A card for a Mother

Hi everyone, I hope you had a good day today even though the weather wasn't as good as it has been lately. We decided to risk a shower and pop to the boot sale this morning and I'm so glad we did as I found some lovely bits (not crafting though unfortunately!)

My card today is for Mother's Day. 'You're too late!!' I hear you all cry, but fear not dear friends I didn't forget my lovely Mum until now, for this is not British Mother's Day so we're OK.
The card is for two challenges, the first being Kellie's Magnolia Challenge and the second is Our Creative Corner, both of which want a Mothers Day card.
This is the first time that I've used this Tilda, but I thought she looked a bit 'Mumsy' in her little hat.

Card Details:
* Image - Magnolia
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Lace paper - Joanna Sheen
* Borders and corners - K & Co
* Everything else - my stash

The little flower frame that Tilda's sitting on is from the 'Greetings factory' CD, which I've had forever and always seems to turn up trumps when I'm desperately searching for a particular thing.
The colour of the card looks very orange in the scan, but IRL it is more of an apricot and matches the lace papers and the colour I've used on Tilda.

Colour Create - Red, Cream and Chocolate

Hi everyone, another lovely day today. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the boot sale today, I decided to spend longer with my lovely Mum instead. It's on again tomorrow due to the Bank Holiday, so maybe we'll pop along then if the weather's still fine.

I just couldn't believe how many gorgeous cards were about for the Colour Create challenge this week, which has been set by Mina. I'm often inspired by the cards Mina creates, but judging by the challenge entries, it seems that everyone else has been too. I'm not sure whether it was the colour scheme (one of my favourites!) or something else but I certainly couldn't wait to get started on this one.

Card Details:
* Image - Sketching Stamper
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers & epoxy Sentiment - K & Co
* Border punch - Martha Stewart 'Doily Lace'
* Everything else - my stash

The image was a digital download I purchased from Sketching Stamper a few days ago. I couldn't resist this and another download (which you'll be seeing very soon!) If you haven't visited before, do take a look as Chris's digi-stamps are just fabulous, I'm getting quite a collection now!
Unfortunately, I haven't done this lovely image any favours with my colouring today it was one of those days where no matter what I did it ended up looking worse than before, so another day when you shouldn't look too closely, I'm afraid.
I've just been explaining to my dear (and long suffering) hubby, that the reason is probably that my pens are wearing out and I'm sure a small collection of Copics might put things right. He didn't seem to believe me for some strange reason!

Thank you for visiting and have a lovely evening.

Secret Crafter's Saturday Challenge

Hi everyone, what a lovely day it's been again today and the weather report says it's going to be even better tomorrow, hoorah!
I haven't done any crafting today, as I made the mistake earlier of deciding to 'just tidy up one or two things in my craft room'....Six hours later, and I'm in more of a muddle now than when I started! Will I never learn??
Luckily I made a little card yesterday that just fits nicely with Secret Crafter's challenge this week, 'We want to see flowers on your project whether they be the main image or embellishments.'
This is another of the sweet girls from the PC Crafter download, another very 'unfussy' card again (what I really mean is easy lol!)
I do love these little cuties!

Card Details:
* Image - 'Buttons and Bows' download kit from PC Crafter
* Sentiment and embellishments from same kit

If the weather does stay fine tomorrow I'll probably pop along to the boot sale before I go to visit my Mum and do her 'chores'. If I've managed to sort out the mess I've made in the craft room by then hopefully I'll be able to make a card when I get back.
Whatever you decide to do this Bank Holiday weekend I hope you have a lovely time.

Just Magnolia challenge #3

Hi everyone, I'm a bit earlier with my card for today, I seem to have been getting later and later with my postings.
Possibly the reason I'm earlier today is due to the wonderful sketch that Bev did for this week's Just Magnolia challenge. As soon as I saw it I couldn't wait to make a start.
I already had this little Tilda coloured, so it was just a case of finding some papers that would match and following that gorgeous sketch.

Card Details:
* Image - Pink Tilda Princess
* Colouring - promarkers
* Papers - K & Co
* Pearls - Joanna Sheen
* Flowers, brad and charm - from my stash

This was a lovely sketch to follow, not too complicated but with lots of interest and I'll definitely be using it again, so thanks Bev!

Scrappy Frogs Challenge #3

Good evening to all my visitors, I hope you've had a good day and that the weather where you are has been better than here, as it's been raining all day.

I decided to do things slightly differently with today's card, usually I would make the card to fit the challenge (and trust me when I say this is much the easier way!) but I made the card first and then set about trying to see if it matched any challenges. However, I did manage to find a new challenge site to me, it's called Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog and they're up to challenge #3 which is 'It's Spring - For this challenge we thought we would do an easy one....just submit a card, layout, project etc in the theme of spring flowers!' Hopefully this card fits the brief.

Card Details:
* Image - PC Crafter download kit 'Buttons and Bows'
* Sentiment and Embellishments - from same kit
* Little gems and pearls - from my stash

The reason I've gone about things back to front is because I received my weekly e-mail from PC Crafter this morning showing their new items, and absolutely fell in love with the sweet little characters in this new download kit. This meant that I had to immediately zoom over and buy them, then print them and make a card, I just couldn't wait!
Obviously, once I was at the site downloading this, I just had to see what else was about and I ended up buying another kit from the same Designer (If you've read my recent posts you may be getting deja-vu at the moment, as I did this last week at Daisie Company. I really MUST be more self controlled!!)
In case anyone is interested, the artist was Shelly Comiskey and there are more cuties to come from both of these kits, so guess what you're likely to be seeing for the next few days? LOL!
I wanted this card to be very simple and unfussy, so I just added the sentiment and a couple of little embellishments from the same kit and decoupaged the girls so they stood proud of the little frame. I then added some little gems and pearls to the flowers, some scrap paper from my stash as a mat for the sentiment and that was it. Very easy peasy, just how I like it!

Another 3 challenges with 1 card?

I can't believe that I've actually achieved this for the second time, I'm usually absolutely useless at making my cards do more than one challenge at a time!
The first challenge is Cute Card Thursday where I've just scraped in by the skin of my teeth with their challenge of 'Getting Edgy', I sanded the edges of my card and also added some doodles for good measure.
Second challenge coming up, Papertake Weekly who asked us to use 'Spots and Stripes', well I've used the spots and I'm hoping that the blocks of colour on this paper together with the edging I doodled will count as the stripes (not 100% sure about that, so fingers crossed)
The final one today is for My Time to Craft and their theme this week of 'Black and White plus one'. For some strange reason I always use red in these challenges and I vowed not to this time, but c'est la vie, I used red again!

Card Details:
* Image - Tilda with Ladybird
* Colouring medium - Caran D'Ache watercolour pencils
* Papers - Mmmm not sure, I think Papermania
* Embellishments - from my stash

I hadn't used this sweet Tilda before and unfortunately, she's not looking her best as I messed up with the pencils and water pen. I'm so used to using promarkers for colouring now that I found this really difficult, but I'm thinking - ladybird...summer...bit of sunburn - what do you think, does it work? LOL!
This is also the first time that I've given an image black hair and trust me, it's not easy getting that right either, so all in all a bit of a disaster. I've just realised that my scanner has made the colours look a bit blurry, so she looks even worse here than in real life now. Just don't look too closely!!!

Three Challenges, One Card

Well I didn't think I was going to get a card posted today, it's been one of those days, although looking back I've actually achieved lots of things I've been trying to get to for ages, so it hasn't been all bad.
The good news is not only have I managed to post my latest card but it actually fits THREE challenges WooHoo!
The first challenge is Stamp with Fun which was a sketch set by the lovely Bev. I don't actually know how she manages to make her cards so fabulous time after time, but I wish she'd share the secret! This was her sketch as you can see I rotated it a bit, but I hope it's still recognisable.
The second challenge is for Cute Daisy May which was to use Gems well I've used two on my card, so that should be OK.
The third and final challenge is this week's A Spoon Full of Sugar colour challenge to use Blue and Green.

Card Details:
* Image - Daisie Company 'Inspirations' download
* Papers - K & Co
* Scalloped mats - Nestabilities
* Punch - Martha Stewart Doily Lace
* Flowers and gems from my stash

This is another of (three) Sandi Gore Evans' kits that I downloaded from Daisie Company the other day, they are such sweet little images.
I just want to point out the adorable little 'Miffy' charm which is one of lots of new charms that arrived this morning. This seemed a perfect card to use it on, so I did!

I hope you've all managed to have a good day, the weather here was lovely today so I hope it was where you are too.
I received a beautiful card from my dear blogging friend Irene this morning, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness Irene, DH and I really appreciated it. Irene always manages to make the most exquisite cards, so please pay her a visit and see for yourself.
Finally, I'd like to thank you all for visiting and also for all the lovely comments you've been leaving me.

Sketch and Stash challenge #9

Another fabulous sketch from Becky again this week for Sketch and Stash challenge #9, can you believe we're nearly into double figures! A huge thank you to all of you who've been joining in the fun, what fabulous cards you've been making!
If you fancy joining in again this week be assured that the sketch was a great one to play with, and it's your choice where you put your embellishments and sentiments.
It's my turn to pick the next GD for challenges 11 and 12 so I'll be visiting you all over the next week, please pop 'GD' in your comment if you'd like to be considered for this.



My card this week used a new download image from Daisie Company. I love this place but hadn't visited for a while so I managed to find quite a few kits that I couldn't live without! Funnily enough they were all from the same artist, Sandi Gore Evans, I just love her stuff!
I also managed to use another new item on the card and that's the burgundy raffia (I'm not sure if it is actually raffia, but I don't know what else to call it) more about that in a minute!

Card Details:
* Image - 'Mama's Garden' kit at Daisie Company
* Papers - K and Co
* Lacy edge frame - Martha Stewart Doily lace punch
* Raffia ribbon - part of blog candy
* Everything else from my stash

I do hope you like my card and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

I was lucky enough to win some blog candy from the lovely Helen a little while ago and the raffia ribbon was part of it, see the piccy for the rest of the candy, aren't I a lucky girl?

If you haven't visited her before, Helen's blog is a joy. Thank you Helen, my goodies are all gorgeous!!

Thanks so much to all my friends who have continued to visit me even though I've not been joining in much, be assured that your comments have cheered me up no end.

A Card for Two Challenges

Today's card actually fits both the Penny Black challenge - Anything Goes - the only RULE is to ensure you use at least 1 PB image/sentiment on your card
and this week's Colour Create challenge - Orange, Green and Brown


Card Details:
* Image - Penny Black 'Sharing a moment'
* Colouring Medium - Letraset Promarkers
* Papers - Hot off the Press
* Border punch - Martha Stewart Doily Lace
* Sentiment - K & Co

I just adore these vintage Penny Black images, they have such charm and innocence, I only wish I had more. I've noticed some gorgeous ones that I'd never seen before turning up on some of my favourite blogs recently, just goes to show why they're my favourite blogs, we obviously have the same taste!!

Just Magnolia Challenge #2

Hi everyone, well we're back from our travels to far flung Suffolk and I've been experiencing major withdrawal symptoms from blogging and crafting, so I was thrilled to see that challenge #2 was up on the Just Magnolia blog.
The theme this week is - PINK and GREEN - so anything goes as long as your creation is done with these colours and has a Magnolia image on. Do pop over and take a look at the gorgeous cards that the DT have created.
It's no wonder that I love everything they do, as most of these people were already in my 'favourites' list and those that I had managed to miss before will be going on my list asap!

I've chosen to use a newer Tilda today, I do love the way she just seems to get prettier with each new kit.

Card Details:
* Image - Tilda with large bouquet of roses
* Colouring medium - Letraset Promarkers
* Backing papers - K & Co
* Punch - Martha Stewart Doily Lace
* Sentiment - Cuddly Buddly
* Embellishments, brads and ribbon - from my stash

I loved using this colour combination, it's so fresh and summery, I hope you like the card as much as I enjoyed making it.

Thank you to all my visitors who've been leaving such lovely comments for me. I've already started visiting some of my favourite blogs again, I'm just sorry that it's been so long since I last visited you all, but I'm enjoying catching up with all your delicious creations.

By the way, I've given my blog a much needed facelift, I wanted something light and fresh, but very unfussy. It took me absolutely ages to find the sort of thing I was looking for so I hope you like it!

Just Magnolia challenge #1

I just popped online yesterday to check up on what was happening in Blogland, as I was having withdrawal symptoms, and I noticed that there was a new challenge called Just Magnolia which is exactly that, a challenge site just for Magnolia stamps. Now, as these are my all time favourites I really wanted to join in for their first challenge (not to mention their prize making my mouth water LOL!) so I set about making this card from their sketch.
I must say I found the sketch quite tricky (but that could be due to me being out of practice lately) and as there was quite a lot to it I decided to use quite muted colours, I now have the feeling that could have been a mistake but c'est la vie!

Card Details:
* Image - Cross stitch Tilda, flowers and butterfly - Magnolia
* Colouring medium - Letraset promarkers
* Backing papers - K & Co
* Flowers - Digital Scrapbook download
* Sentiment - done on PC

I hope you like the card, I won't tell you how long it took me to decide which Tilda to use, suffice to say that it was more than a few minutes! I'm blaming Magnolia for that as each new kit manages to be cuter than the last (I have no idea how they manage to keep doing that!) Little cross stitch Tilda really does have to be one of my all time favourites though and she always reminds me a little of Alice in Wonderland.

Alan and I are popping up to Suffolk tomorrow to visit family for a while, but I should be back next week and I'm hoping that things will settle down a little then and I'll be able to get back to crafting and most importantly, visiting all my favourite blogs and seeing what you've all been up to while I've been missing, so expect to start receiving comments from me again soon LOL!!

Sketch & Stash Challenge #8

Hi everyone, well I managed to make a card for the latest Sketch & Stash challenge and that's quite an achievement at the moment, believe me!
I'm really missing visiting you all, not to mention how much I'm missing my crafting and blogging, but I'm hoping to be back by May. What a gorgeous time I'll be able to have then catching up with all your fabulous blogs, I'm planning on doing nothing else for a few days, so expect to receive lots of comments on your creations from me then LOL!

On to the card, another brilliant sketch from Becky again, she certainly designs these well, they're always a joy to follow. A huge 'thank you' to those of you who have been joining in, I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to check out your cards and leave comments again, I promise I'll try to do better once real life calms down a little for me.
This week we say goodbye to our GD Joanne, thank you for joining us Joanne, I hope you've had fun and I look forward to getting to know you better in the future.
Cathy will be on the lookout for a new GD for the next 2 challenges, so keep those entries coming!

The new items on this card are as follows:
A lovely stamped image recently sent to me, together with my new K & Co papers and Poppicraft flowers and brad

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie
* Coloured with Letraset Promarkers
* Backing papers - K & Co
* Lace papers - Joanna Sheen
* Butterfly charm - QVC
* Flowers and brad - Poppicrafts

Have fun with your cards if you're joining in and I look forward to chatting again soon.