Crafters Block

Spellbinders Guest Blogger!!

2012-01-09T18:57:00.000Z

OMG its finally live!! I am sooo excited to be able to show you my project now.

As q quick recap over christmas Spellbinders were promoting on their Facebook page how close they were to 10K fans, and that when they got to that magic number they would be chosing a friend to guest blog for them.

Imagine my surprise when they chose me!!! I am a huge huge spellbinders fan and was so honoured to be asked.

I made this elegnant Wedding Guest book - thats the beauty of spellbinders they make a quick and simple project look amazing.

Please do bob on over to the Spellbinders blog and have a look and leave them (and me) a comment to let us know what you think!

Also check out this blog post and video link "cut, emboss and Stencil" by Holly about using your spellbinders in otherways ... did you know you could stencil with them too?

Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog today!

Crafty Boots Challenge and a new direction

2012-01-09T14:16:00.000Z

Hi everybody,

Hope everyone is well and settling back into our normal routines again. All the kids are back at school again now so back to some sense of normality.

Thank you all so much for your lovely words about my sneak peeks both here and on twitter (i am @pinkhairdelf). It really does make my day to hear that people like what I am making.

My Spellbinders project should go live today but not until about 8.20 MST which I have no idea about translating to GMT - but I promie as soon as they publish it their end I will hit send on my post here.

This week the crafty boots challenge was entitled "New Beginings". Which I thought was quite fitting as I have a long list of resolutions this year and a need for change.

As I am sure many of you crafters can relate too sometimes its nice to do something totally different, try something new.. so thats what I did for my challenge project.

Heavily inspired by my lovely mixed media artist pal Emma and by a workshop I did with Christy Tomlinson called "She Art" I decided to have a go at a mixed media canvas.

I had a ball! I got painty and inky and really enjoyed creating for creativity sake! Even if we did have a power cut half way through and I couldnt move for fear of touching something with my painty hands or knocking open paint pots over.

Im afraid I cant tell you exactly what is on the canvas as I just splodged bits and pieces everywhere. I used a lot from the Scarlet Lime mixed media monthly kit, acrylic paint, mod podge, tissue paper, random rub ons and stamps, templates fom crafty boots, Faber Castell PiTT pens, Neocolour pastels, ooooh and a gorgeous Cocoiro pen from Kuretake...

I am in love with that pen! It wrote clearly and every time on paint that was still a bit wet, on rough surfaces and with such a brilliantly clear ink - I think I may need to get one in every colour, and certainly will make it an essential tool in my journey into art journalling!

Would love to hear what you think about my new direction? I will still make cute cards but want to try to push my art into other areas too. In fact the lovely emma and I have a deal.... I will teach her to colour, if she will teach me art journalling... so expect more "experiments in the future!

Upcoming Projects Sneak Peeks!

2012-01-05T18:03:00.000Z

Hi there,

Happy 2012 to you all and I hope you are all having an amazing year so far (yes I know its only been 5 days but start as you mean to go on?!

I had a great start to my new year when I was randomly chosen by Spellbinders from their 10,000 facebook fans to do a guest blog post!!. I am soo excited as I am such a fan of spellbinders and will share my project on their blog later in the week .... ooh ok then you twisted my arm... a little sneak peek wont hurt!!

I will let you know when it goes live :D

Also whilst we having little cheeky looks I have another snippet to show you...

This is from my project for the next crafty boots challenge which launches on Monday 9th January. It was a bit of a new direction for me and something I have never tried before but OMG I LOVED it!!

Come back on the 9th for full pics and details but in the mean time why not pop to Crafty boots and join in the current CELEBRATIONS challenge which is open till Sunday

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:00:00.003Z

Just a quick post today to thank you all for checking out my blog and for all your support, especially after the last year or so.

2011 was a tough year for me but I have so many exciting things coming up in 2012 that I cant wait!.

So lets all raise a glass, and I wish you all a very merry christmas!

My Winter Wishes card uses:

Winter Fairy digi by Sylvia Zet
FlexMarkers
Sweet Flourish papers by Pink Petticoat
Wink of Stella Glitter pen in Clear by Kuretake
Card Candi in Silver

Spellbinders Card

2011-12-22T16:16:00.000Z

Hi Everyone,.

Today I would like to share a card I made for the recent spellbinders design team call. I didnt get past the first round but was quite pleased with my card and would like to share it with you.

I love the green and cream colours and want to give a huge thanks to Emma for lending me her entire selection of spellbinders dies.

The flower was made using a scallop circle - would anyone be interested in a tutorial on how to make one?

The other components are listed below the picture, please let me know what you think.

Patterned papers - Sweet Flourishes in Mocha and Sage by Pink Petticoat
Sentiment stamp by Kaisercraft Clear Stamps- Friendship Sentiments
Card Candi by Craftwork Cards
Elegant Edge Card Blank from Crafty Boots
Distress Ink Pad in Old paper
Spellbinders dies, 2x borders, labels, and scallop circle

Whats behind the Kuretake Advent Calender Door 17

2011-12-17T10:00:00.000Z

ME!!!!!!!!!!! thats who!!

I was so pleased when Buffy from Kuretake asked me to design a project for their advent calender blog sessions. I was also really nervous as all the other are very arty and creative and well Im just me! but I gave it my best shot and this is what I came up with!

This personalised Christmas canvas is sooo easy and quick to do and can easily be adapted to other occasions too how about

Wedding vows/first dance lyrics
Nursery Rhymes
Favourite Poem

And yes that little Cutie in the pic is my Jake, on his first christmas - oh my that was nearly 6 years ago now, I wonder if he would don a santa suit if I asked now?!!!

Anyway get yourself over to the Kuretake Blog for my instructions on how to make it and then hop on to the Kuretake Online Shop to treat yourself to a little pressie - their pens are FAB!!

Thanks for looking and I would really love to see your projects!

Crafty Boots Winner

2011-12-14T21:28:00.002Z

I am pleased to announce my winner of the blog hop was

MsStitcher!!!!!

If you could please contact Stephanie- Emma on stephanie-emma@craftyboots.co.uk with your address she will get your prize out to you ASAP.

Congratulations and thank you all for entering!

Belated Thank you!

2011-12-09T21:54:00.000Z

Hi there everyone,

I just wanted to pop on and say a huge thank you to everyone who tuned in to my Create and Craft debut with Nikky Hall and sent such lovely wishes on twitter, Facebook and emails to the studio.

I am so very lucky to have such lovely support and I hope to be back soon!

Here are pics of the demos I made on the show and 2 you didnt get chance to see.

All the cards use images from Pretty Sweet and Pretty Tuff by Polkadoodles

Finally My Crafty boots Blog Hop Card

2011-12-04T00:47:00.000Z

Hello,

I know its late and I am very sorry ( blogger hates me at the moment) but finally my Crafty Boots blog hop card is live! If you have no idea what I am talking about then scroll down to the post below this one and join in.

The design team were given some gorgeous Digital Designs to play with.

Here is my offering I hope I did it justice? Please excuse the late night pics!

Digi Image : Wedding Horsehoe by Hope Jacare
Papers: Sweet Flourish Collection by Pink Petticoat
Sparkle : Wink of Stella Pen in Clear by Kuretake
Coloured with : Flexmarkers, dry brushed white acrylic paint and Distress Ink pads

2011-11-28T10:00:00.001Z

The theme at Crafty Boots Challenges this fortnight is ‘Anything Goes’. You can join in the challenge as normal but there are 12 extra chances for you to win a prize by joining the first ever Crafty Boots blog hop!

If you are joining in the hop you should have got here from Denise's Blog If you haven’t blog hopped before it is really simple, just start at the Crafty Boots Challenge blog and hop through the design team blogs in the order set out on that page. Each of the design team members has a word or two for you to collect which will reveal a message at the end. Once you have collected that message email it to bloghop@craftyboots.co.uk to be entered into the draw to win the prize of three digis of your choice from Hope Jacare Doodles. You must also become a follower of all the design team’s blogs (and Claire’s) to be eligible to win the prizes.

Don’t forget that myself and each of the design team members has a prize of candy up for grabs, this will include a sample pack of the fantastic new Crafty Boots Deluxe card along with a few other goodies. Be sure to leave a comment on each of our blogs and follow us to be in with a chance of winning our candy!

My words for the secret message are:

THE

Your next and final stop is Zoe’s blog.

The deadline for both the Anything Goes challenge, and the blog hop (and candy) is Sunday 11^th December at 12 Noon (UK time).

I will be back later today when Blogger decides to play nice and lets me upload my card!

Some cards and a competition sneak!

2011-11-01T19:46:00.001Z

Hello lovely people,

Hope you are all well and getting used to the dark nights of winter. Hands up who has 1 clock in their house somewhere who still has the wrong time on it ;)

Have been busy getting ready for NEC this week with samples from the new cd by Polkadoodles Nikky has released a followup to the gorgeous Pretty Sweet girls with the Pretty Tuff boys!

Oh my they are gorgeous - you can preorder your copy here now!!

These are a few of my samples, all coloured with promarkers. Let me know what you think!!

It was also challenge day on Polkadoodles which saw them asking for Fantasy Card. I used a super cute Dustin Pike image to make my fairy tale Knight card. Again the card was promarkered.

Finally Monday also saw another Crafty Boots challenge - This time with the theme "young". I instantly thought of this cute digi image by Sylvia Zet. I love her images at the moment and this little girl playng in the snow just screamed young to me. I added a bit of glitter paper and some beautiful paper roses and she was done. Again image was coloured with promarkers....

Well I must be away to shower and make sure I have everything ready for NEC this week. I will be fufilling Elf duties with Nikky Hall on the polkadoodles stand so please do come and say hi!

ooooooh before I go.... how would you like to win a complete digital scrapbooking suite? A brilliant software suite to enable you to make scrapbook layouts, photo books, cards, tags, calenders and even blog headers and backgrounds? A suite that is super simple to use you will amaze yourself!!

And if you dont win - how would you like a code for money off the software and money off in the digital image store? you would?? hmmm well check my blog next week and I'll see what I can do ;)

SJ Rocks!!

2011-10-20T20:24:00.004+01:00

The other day I was lurking on Facebook when a post popped up into my news feed from the lovely SJ from Little Musings.

If you haven't had ever heard of Little Musing well oh my gosh aren't you missing out! SJ draws the most beautiful illustrations and you can purchase them in the form of digistamps, acrylic stamps, and art prints. Check them out here

Lately she has been designing the most gorgeous personalised art prints using words. If you give her 10-12 of your most favouritist things, or your values she will arrange them into the most gorgeous looking personalised print

Those who know me know that language, linguistics, literature and the like are passions of mine.

Anyhow I digress .. SJ's status popped up in my news feed proclaiming that the first person who could list their name and likes would get sent a free print. Well I was away - i had posted my likes faster than a blink hehe and yippee I won!

Sj had my print designed and sent to me for checking so quickly and I fell it love with it. Its gorgeous.

i know i know

2011-10-16T20:10:00.000+01:00

I know I promised I would be back with another post and news and stuff but I am too tired tonight so will just leave you with some pics....

LOST - Blog posts!!

2011-10-08T22:21:00.000+01:00

hmm for some reason whilst I have been messing with my Blog template I have deleted some of the previous posts :s

i have lots and lots and lots to tell you and show you so will be back tomorrow with lots of news!!

Blog Hop Time!!

2011-05-27T09:00:00.002+01:00

Hey everybody.

Hope you got your web hopping fingers on cos its POLKADOODLES BLOG HOP TIME!!

And OH MY GOD!! Nikky has been so generous with the prizes this week, and not only with ALL 3 of the top challengers win the gorgeous Double Sprinkles of Kraft CD but if you leave comments on the hop blogs you could win our individual candy too... thats an amazing 15 Chances to win!!

If you havent blog hopped before its super simple. Just start at the Polkadoodles challenge blog where you will find a list of us doodlers. Visit each blog in turn (remembering to leave a comment if you want to win their candy!) collect the mystery word from each blog... then follow the instructions the mystery words will tell you! If you get lost go back to the main blog and pick up the list again.

So if you reached here from AUDREY's blog then you are on the right track. My word for you is

ENTRY

and you need to hop on over to the lovely JOSIE for the next word!

Nikky has designed a gorgeous download to celebrate the blog hop and fathers day and I used it for my card this week. I love the fact that you can make a super quick card and you need nothing more than a card blank and the files in the download.

My version was really easy, just some torn paper and elements from the download cut out and 3D mounted.

So if you want to win my candy which is this fabby CD and believe me it is GORGEOUS, check out the gallery here .... then leave me a comment below!

Happy hopping friends!

Friday Blogging

2011-04-22T09:00:00.001+01:00

Hope everyone is having a good bank Holiday Friday? There certainly is a few of them this next few weeks isnt there!

Its a busy weekend here in our household. We move on Tuesday so we are spending the last few days making sure everything is packed and ready to go.

I did manage to fit in a couple of design team commitments before I had to pack up my crafty stash *sob*

First up we have the Polkadoodles challenge which was set by .. MOI! I challenged the team to make a project using 3 different patterned papers.

I decided with the royal wedding coming up next week I would get all patriotic and make a union Jack card. I had this card pictured in my head so am so surprised it turned out as well as it did as its not very often that my head ideas translate to paper projects.

I used the lovely colour papers from Sundae of seasons to make my super simple card. I cut a piece of the blue hearts to cover the whole card blank, Then 2 white strips of the beighe polkadots and the pink hearts. They were really easy then just to layer to create the flag design.

To finish off I wrote L O V E with a black pen on some white paper and cut them out for the bottom corner.

Head on over to the challenge blog and see all the other fabby items the Design team have made.

I was also lucky enough to be asked to be a guest designer for Little Musings. SJ created a fabby digi kit "TreeHouse" for me to use.

These are the designs I came up with using the elements of the kits. I love the paper pieced treehouse it looks so cute. Thanks so much SJ for letting me play with your designs.

I also managed to sneak in a couple of cards with other Little musings. I LOVE the dinosaur one and my 5 year old wrote the sentiment for me.

Bad Blogger Strikes Again

2011-04-19T19:56:00.001+01:00

I know i am such a naughty blogger aren't I... but honestly this time I have a good excuse.

We are moving and we only heard for certain that we had the house this week so for the past few weeks we have been trying to sort everything and pack. We are moving county so there has been a lot to sort out.

Anyway I am back now... but probably wont blog again next week as its gonna take a while for me to get my craft stuff back out and sorted.

I have a few new cards to show you that use the lovely "Double Sprinkle of Kraft" CD from Polkadoodles. If you havent brought this CD yet OMG!! what are you waiting for? It is gorgeous, such beautiful papers that look so textured you will stroke them!!

Hope you like my cards? Pop back by on Friday as I have a new challenge card for Polkadoodles and a special card for someone i was asked to guest design for!

Happy Aprils Fools Day

2011-04-01T09:00:00.001+01:00

Hey Everyone,

April 1st already.. how did that happen? Who is stealing the year?? Apologies for not blogging (or joining the challenge blog last week but real life does sometimes get in the way of my crafting life especially with 2 small children.

But I am back this week and boy was it a toughie! We were set the challenge to not use any printed backing papers.

I decided to have a go with alcohol inks first.. hmm well all that happened was I got covered in Ink and made nothing that was even remotely showable! so I decided to scrap that and stick to my simple style.

I used the fabulous new Polkadoodles CD.. A Double Sprinkle of Kraft. I absolutely adore this CD its so cute, and the papers Nikky has designed are just brilliant so it was so tough not to use them!

I love the two alphabets that are featured on this CD and it so great that they are PNG files so you can layer them up before printing. I did just that and grouped together some numbers to make my own backing paper. I simply printed out my custom made paper and matted it on pink card. I added a strip of card and some ribbon. Then added a larger cut out 21 as a topper.

As usual I got a bit glitter happy with my Kuretake Wink of Stella Clear pen - I cant wait till they are released as this one is showing signs of running out now thru overuse and I am worried I may get withdrawal symptoms

Check out the Polkadoodle blog for more inventive ideas without using designer papers, and why not check out the shop for the new CD, there are matching promarker sets too.. what are you waiting for?

It was also my final post as a Fiskars UK Design team member this week. I made something a bit different with a circle stepper card.

It also used the A Double Sprinkle Of Kraft CD and .. yep you guessed it, the Wink of Stella Clear glitter pen! Check out the Glitter on this one!

Full how-to instructions can be seen here...

Can I also say a huge thanks to two lovely ladies on twitter @Lollipopdaisy and @CalamityJane09. Over the last couple of days they have taken the time to show me the beautiful paper flower bouquets they have made using my instructions from the April Issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. Thank you ladies, its an amazing feeling to think that I have inspired another crafter to make something and your projects are both stunning.

Quick Friday Blog

2011-03-18T09:00:00.004Z

Hi guys, hope you guys are all ok and looking forward to the weekend?

I have a very busy weekend as I am headed off to the GNPE in Harrogate this weekend with Nikky Hall of Polkadoodles. Its a very exciting show as Polkadoodles are launching a few new products..... but more about that later....

Over on the polkadoodles blog is was my turn to set the challenge... and I wanted to see your projects with the theme books....

Well one of the new releases from the show tomorrow is the most amazing set of Alice in Wonderland Stamps with a CD full of the most gorgeous backing papers. I couldnt help myself and had to use them for my project this week.

I challenged my self a little too - I made two cards exactly the same - exactly the same layout, stamps, papers, placement EVERYTHING ... the only thing different was the style and the colours. What do you think?

They both use the new stamps and backing papers, as well as a bit of seam binding, a playing card I made on the computer and either distress inks or stickles.......

Dont forget to pop over to the blog to check out the other fabby project. I also made some more projects with the fantastic stamps.....

I also made this cute card using the adorable Bambino digi image from Sugar Nellie for the Fiskars Design team. More details about it can be found here..

Have a fantastic weekend, and if i speak to the boss nicely this weekend she might let me post a sneak peek or two of the fantastic new CD featuring designs by the lovely Sharon Armstrong ....

Mid Week Sneak Peek!

2011-03-16T23:36:00.000Z

oooh that rhymes!!

Yep i promised I would be back midweek and I am (just.... its 23.49 wednesday evening!)

This weekend is the GNPE at Harrogate - its a fabby show and Nikky Hall from Polkadoodles will be there with some fantastic new releases - all gorgeous pretty things, some show exclusives too so if you are there make sure you pop by and say Hi!

Here is a sneak peek at some of the new items which will be available.... can you tell what it is yet?

Not sure if I am allowed to show you any other sneak peeks? maybe I will ask the boss tomorrow and see if I can sneak a couple onto fridays post?

It's Friday folks!!

2011-03-11T09:00:00.017Z

Oh my!! Can you believe it 3 fridays blogged in a row? I must be ill?

Hope every one has had a fabby week? Its been a busy one here with hospital and doctors appointments for me and both the children, as well as working with some really gorgeous new products from the talented Nikky Hall all ready for their début at Harrogate Show next weekend. If you are very lucky I might even give you a cheeky sneek peek later in the week.

I was also very excited when this dropped thru my door yesterday.....

Cos I'm in it!!! yep I got even more excited when I saw a picture of my project on the cover!!

It's instructions to make a gorgeous folded paper bouquet which I adore and looks so pretty. The instructions seem complicated but trust me once you have had a go you will be so surprised at how easy it is... have a go!!

Now over to the main business of today.... its Polkadoodle Friday ....

This week we were set the difficult task of only using black and white plus an additonal colour. Well that had me stumped for most of the week. I finally come up with this.

My card uses the gorgeous BevvieBoo ( I know I managed to step away from the Gracie stamp for this week) I coloured her using cool greys 1-5 (grey is a shade of black right?) and Magenta and Carmine. Lookie her hair is the same colour as mine! ... (honest! look!!)

I then simply used eyelets to attach her to some black and white stripey paper from Love and Cherish then onto some black textured card. The ribbon was a white piece of organza ribbon that I coloured with the promarkers to match.

Finallly I used the fabby kuretake wink of stella clear (yes I know! I use it ALL the time but seriously once you have one so will you!) and a white gel pen for highlights.

I hope you like it? I think she looks super cool in those colours, but some of the other guys on the design team have done amazingly beautiful artworks with the challenge so please head on over there and have a look, and why not join in too?

Till later then friends, and I will be back midweek with the flower tutorial I promised and a few sneaky peeks if you are lucky

Wow I'm on a roll

2011-03-04T09:00:00.000Z

Woot check me out! another friday post... on a Friday!! man i'm getting good at this huh??

Hope all my lovely readers are fine and enjoying the first signs of spring appearing?

Us Polkadoodlers have been getting all spring like this week with Handmade Flowers! We were set the challenge to make a project featuring at least 3 flowers - BUT they couldn't be shop brought! O... M..G! you would not believe the amount of different types of flowers that are currently littering my desk that I made and didn't like. The design team, as usual, have come up trumps with some beautiful flowers and I have my fingers crossed that they will pop up tutorials for some of them on their own blogs too!

Ohh before I show you my card I want you all to say Hi to the gorgeous Josie who joins our team from this week. She is so talented and her colouring skills with promarkers have me totally in awe of her skills. Check out her blog and you will see what i mean.

Right I decided to go all girly and pink with my card this week. It was actually really simple to make but looks cute (well i think so anyway :p)

I printed some pink backing paper and the gorgeous baby from Sundae of Seasons. I used the lovely Cherish punch around the page set to make a little mount for the baby. I love the idea of these but still need a little practice getting my dimensions perfect (so dont look toooo close)

I wrapped a little piece of lace around my backing paper and ribbon knotted around my mount and added a tiny little "made with love" charm.

For the flowers I cut some shapes on my cricut. Each flowers uses 4 identical shapes which are rolled and scrunched till they resemble roses and then glued together. Please let me know if you would like me to write a tutorial on how to make these?

Before I assembled the flowers I coloured some with Kuretake Kurecolors, and also just edged some with the same pens.

One they were glued to the card i finished off with some doodle dewdrops and of course the obligitory glitter added with the fantastic Wink of Stella clear pen. I know I mention it loads but seriously you NEED one of these pens.

I added the stitching with a white pen, and then went over with the glitter, and coloured my beautiful baby with the wink of stella too - just look at the gorgeous finish it gives.. with no drying time! Which for me is a great bonus as I decided to blob some stickles onto the roses for some shine and keep poking it to see if its dry so have very sparkly hands!

I also made a project for my stint over on the Fiskars Design Team. I made a sweet little Spring coloured wreath using the gorgeous polkadoodles Candy Doodles CD. It should be uploaded later today so check it out here...

End of February? WHAT! how did that happen??

2011-02-25T16:17:00.000Z

OK so own up.. who stole the first two months of the year? I cant believe how fast time is going at the moment.. it just seems to run away with me. SO this week you get a extra special deal... 2 weeks of blog cards in one!!

So lets work backwards and start with the Newest....

This weeks Polkadoodle Challenge is something new we are trying called "Stash box Stamp" week... we love seeing how you guys incorporate stamps and products you already have with the fabulous polkadoodles ones. So this week we want to see just that.. Enfys added the extra challenge of using 2 ribbons and a charm too.

I used the "Willow with Umbrella" stamp from Whiff of Joy as my stash box stamp. I stamped it onto white card and again on to the red polka dot paper (from sundae of seasons). I then shaded the polka dot umbrella, overall and hair bow with grey pro-markers to add a bit of depth. Once I had coloured my main image with pro-markers I cut out and added the paper sections on top.

I then simply mounted it on more polka dots (of course.. what else!!) and red card stock that I had wrapped my two ribbons (OK OK so its twine and lace technically but they are in the ribbon section of the website so still count right?) and a small "made with love" charm which i think i got in a bag of loads from ebay.

I printed the wellies from Sundae of Seasons and decoupaged the front one and added to my stamped image. Finally for the sentiment I used my Xyron Design Runner to print love.

And then just because most of my cards have polka dots and sparkles I used the fab Clear Wink of Stella pen from Kuretake to add glitter to the spots, the blouse, the jeans and around the sentiment. I ADORE this pen and think I may need to buy the whole range when they are released. So simple to use, add loads of sparkle and no annoying drying time!

What do you think?

I also made this card for Fiskars UK - using the free Polkadoodles stamp from PaperCraft Essentials this month. You can see full instructions on how I made that over here....

Last week at Polkadoodles the lovely Saskia made us all feel hungry and asked us to create some Chocolat inspired cards. I used the choccy colours to make my creation. Again super simple (are my cards ever anything but?!).

I used the brown polka dots from Sundae of Seasons in dark and light to make my backing along with a piece of chocolate coloured card. I also used the new Cherish punch around the page set to edge it ( I LOVE this punch!!)

I stamped my favourite flutteryby fairy... Gracie and coloured her using Kuretake Kurecolors and Promarkers. I of course added the obligatory glitter with the crafting must have Wink of Stella clear pen. The I got punch happy with the edges and used the PATP set to edge.

Finally I attached a big button that I randomly found on my desk... (I hope it wasn't waiting to be sewn on something?) and used a little bit of water and scrunching on vintage seam binding for my ribbon trim.

I was unsure how Gracie would look in browns but I really like this card, think the colours give her a more grown up edge. Check out the shimmer from the Kuretake pens on her.. how cool are they!

Finally my last card was again for Fiskars which used this lovely Vintage typewriter image available from Little Musings. If you want to see how I made it take a trip over to Fiskars for a look-see

Don't forget this week to tune into Create and Craft on Sunday at 10am for another fab show with the talented and awesome Nikky Hall, and she is on again Tuesday for two shows at 10am and 1pm.

Nikky is also demonstrating at Jays Crafts in Milton Keynes on Saturday, so why not pop along and say hi to her?

i am sooo bad at blogging!

2011-02-09T19:37:00.000Z

God how bad am I at blogging?? which is shocking really when you think my computer is on most of the time. Anyhow its been manic here with illness, visits, birthdays, parties and what not plus lots and lots of crafting so today I will just add lots of pictures to show you.

Snowy Friday

2011-01-07T13:23:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

Sorry my blog post is a little later than usual this week but blogger was being a bit stupid and decided not to post the scheduled post. How is everyone? I hope you all had a fabby christmas and a happy new year? Did Father Christmas drop any crafty bits into your stockings this year?

Father Christmas was quite keen on dress up clothes in our house this year .....

However there was on person who didnt get a christmas break. The lovely Nikky Hall worked all over christmas and new year to bring us all some gorgeous new products. She will be showing us all the new goodies on 2 shows on C+C tomorrow (Sat 8th Jan 12 and 3) so dont miss it! There are soooo many fab things on this CD I cant pick a favourite, but I will post some of my projects using it tomorrow.

The fabulous design team at Polkadoodles have designed New year wishes for the first challenge of 2011. My offering was "wedding themed" as my younger sister has just set a date for her wedding.

Traditionally wedding favors represent health, wealth, fertility, longevity and happiness and I wanted to interpret this into wishes.

I did this by making a takeaway box from Paper Boutique: Creative Christmas using paper from Sugar Birdies Collectors Edition. I threaded a bit of ricrac into the sides to made a handle (although this ribbon would look fab!). Finally to embellish the box I layered some paper flowers that I had coloured with promarkers (colours do match IRL but I took the pic very late at night) and topped with a tiny pearl.

The fortune cookies were super simple to make and are sooo tiny. I punched some 2.5 inch circles from some matching patterned paper (again from Sugar Birdies Collectors Edition)and wrote my wishes onto small rectangles of paper. Then i folded it in half without creasing (like making a mouth), popped the wish inside and then pushed the centre of the fold to make it fold onto its self. Finally I used a lttle bit of wet glue to stick the final fold together.

They look so cute and would lovely on a wedding table made in colours to match the wedding. Maybe with one of these tied to the handle?

Will be back tomorrow with some pics of the new CD projects. Take care everyone xxx

OOOOH one more sleep!!

2010-12-24T09:00:00.000Z

One more sleep till Christmas. I hope you are all ready and sat back relaxing with a glass of mulled wine? Me - well if past christmasses are anything to go by I will still be frantically wrapping, sorting, baking and trying to convince a very excited 4 and 2 year old that if they dont go to sleep Santa wont come...

Can you believe its the last Polkadoodles challenge of the year? I am so greatful to Nikky and the fabulous team for allowing me on board. I have learnt so much over the last few months and think I am a better crafter for it so Thank you ladies ****GROUP HUG****

This week Ruth set the challenge and gave us a sketch to work from as well as the brief to include a coloured image.

I decided to use the Love and Cherish CD as I havent used it in a while. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Love bird section, and Nikky always gives so much in each section that there is always so much choice for each project. I printed 3 different papers and the love bird toppers.

The horizontal part of the sketch was created with gorgeous east of india ribbon - its so gorgeous. once I had cut the paper I inked all the edges with a Versamagic Dewdrop ink pad. I then used the same ink pad to colour the birds which i then 3D mounted. The edges were finished with the shiny Doodle DewDrops.

All thats left to say is dont forget to drop by the blog and show us a link to your creations and a Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for your support over the last year.

xxxxxxxxxxx

twas the week beforechristmas.....

2010-12-17T10:19:00.001Z

... and I am panicing that I am no where near ready lol. I'm not sure thats how the iconic poem went but seems pretty apt. Am waiting on a million and one deliveries so it seems christmas is currently at the mercy of Royal mail eeeeek

Anyhow onto happier things... Did you all catch the inspiring Nikky Hall on Create and Craft yesterday? Her fabby house stamps sold out in minutes again and am so not surprised they are gorgeous.. I cant wait till she gets them back into stock I need the whole set! The sunset tutorial was fabulous and I am looking at all my stamps for sunset suitability lol. She also launched the gorgeous collectors edition of Sugar Birdies - this CD is one of my favs and I love the characters on it. You may have seen some of my samples on the show yesterday

EDIT: Just to add the monster on the card above isnt actually on the CD - the green paper he is made from is but he was made from a scallop punch adapted slightly.

This week on the Polkadoodle blog we have taken a break from the madness of christmas to make AGE RELATED cards as it is Lou's sons birthday. Polkadoodles CD's are so versatile that you can make cards for people from 1 to 100 so we really were spoilt for choice. They are also so chock full that you can make fabby creations using only 1 CD like I did this week.

I used the fabby "get in shape" section from the All Around Everywhere CD. I just loved the little mouse and the shaped cards are so easy to put together but give great results. I love the way that Nikky has given us the front and back of the characters to make extra special cards.

I made up the card exactly as per the CD - decoupaging his head and present bow and using acetate as a card front so you could see all the detail. Then I used the sentiment sheets to create greetings. I also printed some of the fabby numerals off the same CD and used a 2 inch punch to make my card for a 2 year old.

now to find a 2 year old to send it to ... hmmm should have thought ahead really cos my two are 5 and 3 next month.. DOH!

So dont forget to pop over to the polkadoodle blog and post your creations for us to see, the design team love to have a look at what people have made and often one (or all of us) will have a surf around leaving comments.

Also whilst you have your net on have a wander over here and have a look at the gorgeous products polkadoodles sell - this Bakers Twine is my favourite at the moment, and I NEED it in every colour (so dont buy it all!!!!

Welcome to the house of Cold!!

2010-12-10T09:08:00.002Z

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you are all well - we all have the dreaded flu in this house (apart from my son and OH who have man flu so obviously are MUCH poorlier than me and G *rolls eyes*)

Firstly an apology if you came here last week looking for my blog post, it was scheduled but well i could blame blogger but tbh it was me - I scheduled it for 2011! oops.

So lasts weeks card was all about the sentiment and I made this acetate card.

I love this scooter section on the fab NOT FOR GIRLS CD, you may be thinking you have seen this card before as it was featured in this months issue of Complete cardmaking!!!! I KNOW!!! little old me! in a magazine!! I was sooo pleased with myself. There were 4 pages of my designs, a little pic on the front cover and the editor chose one of my cards as one of her favs! of course its easy to make good cards with the fantastic products from Polkadoodles . I was so excited to be featured and hopefully it wont be the last time (*whisper* any mag editors looking for designers email me *shameless plug ends* )

This week at the polkadoodles challenge blog it was the lovely Dee's turn to set the challenge and she asked us to create something to hold a gift.

Unfortunately due to the lurgy this week my make is quick and simple. I made a little gift card holder just perfect for sending those little plastic gift vouchers to those "hard-to-buy-for" people. The one in the pic is actually my sons Fireman sam plastic credit card but its the same size lol.

I used paper, borders and sentiment from the fantastic Jingle Jangle CD and it was so quick to make. If anyone would like the dimensions for it then give me a comment and I will post them up for you.

**EDIT**

After looking at these this morning I decided it needed something else so I added the good old scrafters go-to of stickles Glitter!!! I added icicle stickles to the snowballs, and the sentiment - then added red and green to the holly . I also made one in a different colourway but larger to fit cash!

Well I shall be back in a few days hopefully feeling a little better as will we all but dont forget the gorgeous Nikky Hall is on Create and Craft next Thursday (16th) at 9am (you can stream via the website too) and I know she will have some scrummy products to show you so have a word with Santa and get yours lists ready.

All Hopped Out

2010-11-30T12:00:00.003Z

Well a big thank you to everyone who joined in with the Polkadoodle Blog hop we were so pleased with how many of you joined in, and I loved getting so many comments so thank you all.

So you all remember this pile of goodies generously donated by Nikky?

well all the names in my comments went into a hat and Random Name Picker (AKA my 2 year old) chose .........................................

Josie McIntyre (Josie)

So huge congratulations Josie and if you could email me with your address I will get that stash pile in the post to you

Sorry if you didnt win I would have loved if you all good. Dont forget tho that its FREE SHIPPING on orders over £5 at the polkadoodle shop so why not head over and treat yourself.

A full list of winners and the overall blog hop winner has been announced over at the Polkadoodle Blog so head on over and see if you were lucky.

'Twas the night before Christmas

2010-11-26T09:00:00.017Z

... well not quite yet but that's the theme of this week blog post. But before we get on to that how is everyone enjoying the Polkadoodle blog hop? If you havent hopped yet then scroll down to the next post to read all about it, there are some Fab prize to win.

Also there are some changes to the Polkadoodle team and sadly we have had to say goodbye to a couple of our teamies but yay thats means new friends! So i would like to welcome Colette, Tasha, Dee and Miria. We also have some exciting guest DT people coming up so dont forget to check out the blog and everyones blog links are in my sidebar

This week is was Kris' turn to set the challenge and she asked us to make a card based on the famous christmas poem "'Twas the night before Christmas"

I used the gorgeous fireplace template in A5 size from Paper Boutique Vol2 : Creative Christmas. Its so simple to make cards from this CD as everything is done for you, you just need to print the elements and pop them all together. I printed an extra set of stockings a decoupades the heel, toes and cuffs too. I also decided to change the sentiment slightly from the squares. I printed a border strip and a 2 inch circle sentiment from the same CD and attached them (slightly off-centre by mistake :( ! the glue wasnt dry when I stood it up and it slipped ) in the top section of the card.

I mounted this on some red card that I distressed the edges of just to darken the red. As usual I then glittered everything I could - the baubles, the stockings, the sentiments and the flames.

I hope you like my card this week and have been inspired by the design team this week. For more inspiration head on over to the Polkadoodles shop as Nikky has some gorgeous new products in stock, and I hope you managed to catch the new release on C+C this morning? if not check their website for the gorgeous stamps that I totally ADORE!

Nikky has released 3 gorgeous stamp sets. 1 has the most wonderful sentiments on them. The others are little scenes which you can build up to make the most beautiful little landscapes from. I was lucky enough to see some of Nikky's samples and she has made some stunning cards. I also had a go with the new stamps and this is what I came up with.

Till next time have fun xxx

Hoppity Hop Happy Blog Hop Day

2010-11-19T09:00:00.007Z

Wooohoo there are a couple of reasons to celebrate today - one that its friday YAY! and secondly that its Polkadoodles blog hop day DOUBLE YAY.

If you have arrived here via Lisa's blog then you are on track, if not then I think you may have taken a wrong turn back at that crossing back there.

**EDIT** Lisa is having some technical problems so if you are looking for her letter you can grab it from the main comments on the Polkadoodle blog ir ... *whisper* Lisa's letter is H!!"

I'll pop a list of the blog hop order at the end of my post incase your sat nav is broken!

Over at Polkadoodles we really appreciate those who drop by to look at our creations and those who take the time to join in our challenges so we decided to honour you all with a GIVE THANKS challenge. Not only that but the ever so generous Boss lady has supplied Blog packages for us all to give away to comments..... yes to us all so technically you could win 13 prizes.... thats over £400 of lushy crafting goodies! not only that but if you buy anything from the PD shop between now and the end of the hop and add the code HOPPITYHOP10 then you will get 10% off every purchase!

All you have to do is visit the blogs in the list and collect a letter - keep it safe now you will need it when you reach the end of the list. Whilst you are at each team members blog leave them a comment and you enter their draw for their candy package. Once you have reached the end of the list you should have a magic word - leave that word in the comments list on the main PD blog and hey presto done.

The blog hop will end Sunday 28th Nov at Noon so get hopping.

Right so what do you want to see first my card or the candy?? hehe card first then :P

All the elements are from Jingle Jangles apart from the "Thank you" which is cricut cut from simply sweet. Simple and effective :D

Right ok on to the pic you guys want to see!!! From my blog you can win

All Around and Everywhere CD
Doodle Dew Drops
Lush Frufru Boutique ribbons
2! yes 2!! stamp doodles unmounted rubber stamps

So dont forget all you have to do to win my candy is leave me a comment - do the same with all the other blogs and thats lots of candy to win. Collect the letters on the way and enter the word on the polkadoodle blog. so have we all got our hopping boots on? My letter is

So here is the list get hopping (your next stop should be Fliss .... and good luck !!!

Tracy

Emma

Jenny

Ruth

Enfys

Claire

Lou

Lis M

Lisa

Tracie - YOU ARE HERE!!

Fliss

Nikki

Polkadoodle Challenge Blog

Blog Candy Countdown!

2010-11-15T10:42:00.000Z

my blogs are like buses - nothing for ages then two at once - but this one is well worth reading.

How do you fancy winning a pile of stash like this sneak peek here....

Or one of another 12 similar stash piles? I KNOW!! 13 lots up for grabs from the very generous Nikky Hall of Polkadoodles.

All you have to do is join in our Blog hop on Friday, check out the PD blog for more details and hop with us from Friday :D

Bad Bad Bad Bad blogger

2010-11-15T10:24:00.000Z

Ok so it took a few days longer than i thought but at least I am updating right?

I have had a look back through my pics and realised there is LOADS of stuff I havent shown you so will post a huge pic thread :D I have probably forgotten some but there is plenty to go on with :D

IF blogger agrees......

Oh my BAD BLOGGER!

2010-11-03T11:42:00.000Z

oh gosh, have just checked my blog and realised how long it has been since I have posted. I promise I will have a new post up by tomorrow cos I have soooo much to show you all.

In the mean time have you seen these gorgeous sneekpeeks of a stamp range by Sugar Nellie??? Arent they just soooooo gorgeous, their little chubby faces make me think of my Grace!!

Right I am off to prepared a super long blog post for tomorrow so get ready!!!!!

Just Call Me Imelda

2010-08-28T08:00:00.000+01:00

Ok so we all know I love shoes, admitedly my collection isnt as fab as the lovely Nikky Hall's is - she has shoes I would die for (with bags to match!!) but I do have a few.

Well the lovely people at Rubbersole.co.uk are helping fuel my desire by sending me these beauties

OH MY!! Red converse, I am in Love!! and I match the gorgeous girly - how cool is that!

As for rubber sole, Bargains a plenty on their site and such brilliant service. I ordered late afternoon on Friday, recieved a despatch email with a reminder that they couldnt guarentee weekend delivery just hours later. And to my surprise and pleasure the very next morning (and a Saturday!) my new babies arrived!

Rubber sole also dont charge for delivery which is an added bonus. I have my eyes on some of the Iron Fist Heels - dont they look gorge.

Seriously have a gander at www.rubbersole.co.uk I am sure you will find something you love, they also have UGGS at bargain prices - and if all that wasnt enough they have been kind enough to give you guys a special discount code just for reading my blog. Fabarooney huh.

So get looking then enter "tracie10" at checkout for a bargain-ous 10% off.... and dont forget to come back here and let me know what you get :D

2010-08-27T09:00:00.009+01:00

This week it was the turn of the boss to set the Polka Doodle Challenge. She set us a sketch challenge as well as saying we could only use 3 colours...

I had already decided to keep it quite simple this week and knew I wanted to make a wintery card with blues.

I started by making a card blank out of blue textured card stock. I then cut 3 shapes using Labels Nestabilities dies (talking of which look here - some new ones YUM!!) Using fairy flutterby stamps I stamped the fairies on the 3 shapes as well as onto a post it note. I cut the post it note image and stuck it over the label image as a mask.

Using the small and large snowflake from the Christmas Doodles stamp plate and a metallic blue ink pad I randomly stamped snow all over the labels. After removing the masks I used promarkers to colour the images.

I typed my sentiment in Sergoe Script and Simon fonts on my computer and printed onto white linen cardstock and rounded the corners. I then 3d mounted the panels and the greeting.

For the final touch I picked up my ever trusty Stickles in Diamond and glittered EVERYTHING! the snowflakes, the fairies, the edges, the greeting, if it was there it got glittered.

Hope you like my card this week. As usual everyting I used can be found at the fabulous Polka Doodles Shop. Dont forget to go look at the rest of the design teams images, and have you entered the excellent Letraset comp on the blog yet? Nikky has been doing really helpful tutorials too so why not have a go :)

2010-08-06T09:00:00.000+01:00

Can you believe its August already? where is this year going to? and those of you with children ... wishing it was September already lol??

Before I show you my card for this weeks Polkadoodle challenge have you seen the competition Nikky and Polkadoodles are hosting at the moment. OMG!!! I so want to enter but cant *sob* but you could win a whole set of letraset's gorgeous aquamarkers. Also just to get us into the colouring mood for the last few weeks Nikky has been posting the most brilliant tutorials on the blog to help you with your colouring. If you havent done already run over and have a look!

These week at polkadoodles its all a bit sketchy! Kerry designed us a great sketch to work from. I must admit it was a first for me as I havent worked from a sketch before.....

For my card I used two of the gorgeous backing papers from Paper Boutique Vol2 : Creative Christmas. I love that this CD has both traditional and funky on it. I also used one of the sentiments from the CD.

I then printed the A6 poinsetta template onto Freezer paper (a quilting transfer paper stuff) which i used to cut out my felt flowers. I used a circle punch to make centres, glued them together and added some glitter to the centres and the edges of the petals.

I then stamped one of my favourite Stamp Doodles - the prim angel, coloured her with promarkers to match the papers and added, what else but more glitter. and 3D mounted her in the corner.

And there you go a quick and simple christmas card .... and its only August pretty cool huh!

Christmas??!! in July??!!!

2010-07-23T09:00:00.001+01:00

Well for some of us who have been making samples for the Paper Boutique Vol2: Creatie christmas CD its been christmas for a good few months now. So much so that my little boy keeps asking how many sleeps till christmas!!

Kris hasnt helped this week at the Polka Doodle team, she said ....

We all get tired of making Christmas cards long before the actual day. but I think that's why we have CHRISTMAS in JULY!

Thats right Kris wants us to make a christmas card. Luckily with the millions (well ok not millions but lots) of new products the fabulous Nikky has designed and released over the last few weeks there is soooo many christmas ideas floating about.

I made a tri fold card the same way as my Retro Robots card a couple of weeks ago. I used polka dot paper in blue and pink and the christmas lyrics papers in the same colour way - all from the Paper Boutique Vol 2 - Creative Christmas. I also printed a Sentiment from the same CD.

I then stamped Joy from the new stamp doodles and matted it using blue dots cut with nestabilities. I coloured the image with Promarkers, glittered the snow with stickles and glossy accent'ed the letters.

So if you are feeling christmassy head on over to Polkadoodles and see the rest of the festive feast. Whilst you are there check out the FAB competition that has just started ..... am very jealous I cant enter :(

Teacher's Gifts

2010-07-22T09:00:00.000+01:00

Can you believe Jake has now finished his first year in Foundation 1. That means next year he starts school full time, then the following september Grace starts too! OMG when did they get so big??

Seems like yesterday they were only this big...

And now look .....

Anyhow enough Mummy stuff. Last Friday was Jakes last day in the Robin Class, and in addition one of his teachers was leaving. We went to look at cards, and call me a miser but seriously £2.99! per Card!! i dont think so, so i decided i would make them one.

So I did, using Digital images from Mo's digital pencil - I used Yale and Dundee. I also used papers from a digi kit by Jen Allyson.

Then I decided that it would be nice to have a gift to go with the cards.... by now it was 11pm the night before the last day so plenty of time ;)

So off i set beavering and this is the final result - a set containing a card, bookmark and a 2010-2011 mid year diary, all in a gift box.

I was quite pleased with this set and it only took a poundland cheapie diary, few printouts, a bit of glitter and ribbon, some colouring and letter stickers.

Pictures Galore.

2010-07-21T10:46:00.000+01:00

Its been very busy the last few weeks as the lovely Nikky Hall and Polkadoodles have been releasing new products faster than you can say "creative genius"

As part of the Polkadoodle Design team I am very very lucky to get sneaky peeks of these products before they go "live" and also work with some of them.

Would you believe not only have polkadoodles recently debuted their newest Christmas CD - Paper Boutique 2 : Creative Christmas, but Nikky has also demonstrated at the Summer Crafting 2 day event in Doncaster and squeezed in the time to release 15 Plastic templates and over 50, yes 50!! new rubber stamp designs. How cool is that, the templates are soo versatile and the stamps come readymounted on ezmount so no faffing - just ink and create, pretty cool huh!

So about time for the pics I promised then.... just a selection of things been made recently ...

Small gift box using Christmas Joy stamp doodles and Christmas doodles stamp plate, promarkers and stickles

Small Gift Box using Gracie Fairy Flutterby stamp, promarkers inc Gold metallic, PBv2-Creative Christmas sentiment

Baby Card using Birdie Beauty Stamp, Promarkers, Nestabilities and glossy accents (ribbon was coloured using Promarkers too)

Bird House using Whimsy House template, All Around and Everywhere papers, Birdie Beauty Stamp and lots of Glitter!!

Canvas using Sitting Pretty Template, Distress Inks and you guessed it.... more glitter!

So dont hesitate you NEED to head over to the Polka Doodles web shop and get your hands on some of the new goodies before they all fly out the door.

Flutterby Fairies

2010-07-16T09:00:00.002+01:00

Hello Everyone

So what happened to the summer? We have rain and thunder here, I guess thats what we get for complaining about the heat.

This week over at polkadoodles it is Lou's turn to get our creative cogs whiring and she said...

Use Fairy Flutterby Stamps to create ALL of your card - background, image & sentiment!

I decided to make a patterned paper using a selection of the fairy flutterby stamps. So I used my biggest acrylic block and randomly arranged the accessory stamps from various fairies. I stamped this onto white card repeatedly to make a background paper, using individual stamps to go back and fill in the gaps. I coloured the images using letraset promarkers. I also added glitter to the butterflies, glossy accents to the toadstools and lady birds and liquid pearls to the flower centres. Finally I used tattered straw distress ink around the edges

I stamped Maxine and her wings onto more white card and again coloured and glittered. I then mounted it onto a nestabilities shaped which i had inked with distress ink.

To finish off I coloured a piece of white satin ribbon with my promarkers and tied it around the centre.

I hope you like my card and I love reading your comments. Take a stroll over to polkadoodles to join in our fairy challenge and see the rest of the teams designs.

Ooooh and check back after the weekend as there are some gorgeous new products being released over the weekend and I have some samples to show

xxxx

2010-07-09T09:00:00.000+01:00

Firstly thank you so much to everyone who made such lovely comments about my paper flowers. I promise you that I will write a tutorial for it and get it posted here as soon as possible.

This week it was Enfys turn to decide on a challenge for the polkadoodle blog. She asked us to make something with ...

A Summer Theme

I have two identical cards to show for this weeks challenge as I made the card originally in Pink and my other half said "green is a more summery colour" so I remade it in Green too and as much as I hate to admit it ... *cough* i prefer the green too.. sssh dont tell him!

Thats the beauty of Nikkys Polkadoodle CD's the elements come in such a lovely array of colour choices that you can replicate cards and make sets in a rainbow of colours just as easily and without spending loads of money. I cannot believe how much money I have saved since I started using CD's instead of buying ridiculous amounts of printed papers and embellishments.

I started off wth a piece of A5 Linen card folded in half (tent fold) as my card blank. I printed a sheet of "just plain Candy" in pink (and Green!) and a sheet of Candy Wings Stampies in the same colours from the Candy Doodles CD.

I cut the plain candy into a small strip and used a Martha Stewart border punch (available from Polkadoodles) down each side. I then added a smaller strip of plain white linen. I cut out two diferent sized butterflies and slightly bend and curved the wings to give them some movement. Then using stickles and liquid pearls i embellished different sections of them. I also used the liquid pearls to dot the centre of the punch border flowers. I then used pinflair glue gel to attach them to the card, and added glitter dots below them.

Finally I printed a sentiment sheet from "All Around and Everywhere" cut it out, added a bit of glitter and 3D mounted it.

I think I might have a go at making some more in all the Candy Wings colours and bundle them together as a collection, they would make a lovely gift for someone... oooh ideas ideas

Flower Tutorial

2010-07-03T21:39:00.000+01:00

I have had such lovely comments on here and other places by people about my folded flowers that I will write a short "how-to" tomorrow and will blog it ASAP.

Thank you all so much for your lovely words

2010-07-02T09:00:00.001+01:00

This week at Polkadoodles it was Claire's turn to set the challenge ....

With the release of the new CD, what better than a challenge this week to create a decorative item, could be an ornament, flowers, a box or hey start early on those Christmas decorations! So what can you come up with for my (Claire) decorative item challenge?

On one of my many blog surfing adventures I saw some beautiful folded paper flowers, I wrote down quick instructions on how to make them but forgot to save the site. I believe they are a form of Japanese paper folding?

Anyhow I decided that I would make a bunch of them flowers for this weeks challenge. They are very easy to make and take 5 squares of paper per flower. I wont write out the instructions as I dont want to bore everyone if you all know how to make them already but please leave me a comment if you would like me to write a "how to" post.

I printed a selection of papers from All around and Everywhere (2 different sheets back to back) and trimmed them into 2inch and 3 inch sqaure pieces. I then folded all the petals and assembled the flowers

Reminder to self - do not wipe your finger along a glued seam to "neaten" it when it has been glued with a hot glue gun

After I made 12 flowers (3 of each paper in the smaller size, and 3 large) I then had the realisation that i didnt actually think about how i was going to display them. I settled on putting them in a old water bottle which i had covered with patterned paper from Paper Boutique, I then printed the Vase from the Flower Bouquet 3 times, cut it out and taped them together at the edges to make a wrap around Vase for the water bottle

Unfortunately they dont look quite how i hoped displayed but I am quite pleased with the technique of them if nothing else.

Dont forget to have a look at the Polkadoodle blog and see the other decorative items that the team have come up with this week. Also have you ordered the Newest Polka Doodle CD yet? if not check out my last post and have a look.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

2010-06-29T16:41:00.000+01:00

.. well no not really cos its not even July yet but the fabulous Nikky Hall of Polkadoodles has released a gorgeous Christmas CD which has got us all in the christmas mood.

Paper Boutique Vol 2 : Creative Christmas is the follow up to the hugely successful Paper Boutique Vol1. Its stacked full of 21 templates in 3 different sizes and in both colour and black and white. The CD also contains oodles of backing papers, stampies, sentiments, borders - in fact everything you need for a Creative Christmas.

The CD was officially launched on Create and Craft's Christmas Event on Sunday and you can buy it from C+C or direct from Nikky at www.polkadoodles.co.uk - whilst you are there take a look round the lush punches and tapes she stocks!

I made 4 samples from the new cd and cant wait to make some of the other designs. Here is a quick look at some of the items i have made already ....

Post Box List Holder ....

Stack of Pressies Card

Sleigh Slider Card

Candy Shoppe with Gift Box

Robot Man

2010-06-25T09:13:00.001+01:00

Hello Everyone,

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine for once?

On this Sunny Polkadoodley Friday its Brendas turn to chose the challenge, this is what she said.....

For this weeks challenge I am going with a bit of a Birthday theme as this weekend, my hubby, myself, grandson and one of my granddaughters all have birthdays, nothing like cramming them in together is there. It would have been easy to go with a girly theme, but as we all find male cards a challenge I thought it would be good to go with:

Something for a Boy

Ooooh well I already had ideas for this one. I have a 4 yr old little boy who adores Nikkys CD's , after looking thru the Back to Nature CD (before I got all the others) he said "Mummy they are all very good, but would be better if there were robots!"

Well J is a bit of a Superfan where Nikky is concerned and watches her shows avidly and loves to tell me that maybe if I practice hard then I might be as good one day. I told Nikky about his Robot comment and she reminded me that there is a RETRO ROBOT selection on the Not for Girls CD so obviously I had to use it for this challenge. I also decided this would be a good time to have a first go at the Tri Fold shutter cards that are popular at the moment.

I cut a piece of card 5.5 inches by 12 inches and scored it at 2, 4, 8 and 10". I then cut between the 2" and 10" score lines at 1.5" and 4". Then accordian folded the pieces to give me the Tri Fold Shutter Shape (try saying that after a few JD and Cokes!). Once its folded take the middle piece and fold opposite to the outer edges - does that make sense?

I then switched into cm cos it was easier hehe. I printed a sheet of Retro Robots in "Chevy" and "Moss" and a Sheet of Not so Plain Plains in the same colours.

I then cut

From Chevy Plain

4.5cm X 13.5cm
4.5cm X 5.5cm (x2)
3.5cm X 9.5cm (x2)
4.5cm X 13.5cm

From Moss Plain:

3.5cm X 4.5cm (x4)
5.5cm X 9.5cm

To make it easier for me I then cut the retro robots paper 0.5 cm smaller (ie 4cm X 13cm) I stuck all the pieces together with their corresponding mat.

I also printed a Sheet of the Robot Toppers one in A4 and one in A5. I cut out one of the main robots from the A4 sheet and matted it onto Moss and one of the square toppers from the A5 Sheet.

Once all the pieces were ready it was really quick to put together - basically a case of matching up the pieces with the gaps and sticking down. I then added the front robot topper and the square topper with 3D pads to the right sections.

Finally I added buttons in blue and green to a couple of sections using Pinflair Glue Gel.

I am quite pleased with this card for a first attempt at a Tri Fold Shutter Card and can see me trying it with other designs too. Check out the texture on the Not so Plain Plains, its printed on plain card but looks fab. The whole card also looks much more complicated than it actually is.

I hope you will join in with us at Polkadoodles this week, why not head on over to the PD blog now and see what the rest of the team have designed this week.

OOOH also dont forget Nikky is back on Create and Craft this sunday at 2pm with a special show. Check out here for a sneaky peek ..... www.polkadoodles.co.uk

I will leave you for this week with the song I was singing the whole time I was making my card for this weeks challenge - lol

Laters my Lovelies

xxx

Thank Polkadoodle its Friday!!

2010-06-18T09:00:00.000+01:00

This week it was Dee's turn to set the challenge over at Polka Doodles...

Well hello everyone it's Dee here and it's my first time to set a challenge and sort the blog post out. Something is bound to go wrong I just know it. Blogger and myself do not have an easy relationship so please be patient and gentle with me, lol ................. Now where did I put those Crunchies? It is Friday after all.

So enough babbling from me and I'll get on with the challenge. Please remember that you can only entre your project in a total of 10 challenges including this one. Unfortunately if you have entered more we will not be able to include you. As it is Fathers Day in the UK this Sunday the challenge this week is to create a project for ......

FATHERS DAY OR MALE THEMED

I decided to make a card and set myself a personal challenge NOT to use the Not for Girls CD.

I decided to use the lovely Paper Boutique Vol 1 Cd and selected the backing papers collection in the Vroom Vroom section. I attached them in stripes across a A5 card, tearing the stripy piece for a bit of extra texture. I added a piece of ribbon and ricrac over the two joins. I then printed the A6 DAD from the word book section and the customisable sentiment from the Vroom Vroom sentiment. I 3D mounted these and added the stars from the wordbook print sheet for extra embellishment.

Dont forget to head over to the Polkadoodles blog to see all the other lovely Male themed products that the team have created this week.

xxx

Nursery Rhymes

2010-06-17T19:36:00.000+01:00

For some reason Mr Blogger decided it was gonna be stupid and not publish the scheduled post last week. So here it is nearly a week late....

It is Nettys turn over on Polkadoodles to set the challenge this week and she chose a Nursery Rhyme Theme.

I love the Animals featured on the All Around and Everywhere CD so definately had to be one of them. I chose the cow and the "hey diddle diddle" nursery rhyme in order to create a Penny Spinner card.

I used backing papers and the Stars from another CD - I will look up which one in a minute. and then handwrote the sentiment on a nestie cut piece.

dont forget to check over on the PolkaDoodles blog to see all the other Nursery Rhyme creations

Take care

T xx

Retro Chick

2010-06-04T09:00:00.001+01:00

This week Lou is setting the Polkadoodles Challenge and it is her anniversary so Happy Anniversary to you. She would like to see our retro Anniversary cards....

Well I am a retro chick at heart, I love the whole 50's rockabilly style so had a whole card sorted, crack on with it - was really pleased with the result so went to upload it then noticed the crucial word "ANNIVERSARY CARD"

Poo! my card was NOT one of them. Except of course not it was 5 to midnight and I was stressed and tired, and my design couldnt be easily altered *sob*

So I rapidly made a new card so I apologise now for the simplicity and bad design of it as well as the shocking iphone picture as my camera batteries also died. I have had one of them days so shouldnt have been surprised really.

So on with the card.....

I used the Sugar Birdies CD and used the classic 50's motifs of red/white polkadots and cherries.

I cut the red polkadots with my nestabilities labels die. Then a smaller label of white cardstock. I cut out the largest cherry set on the stampies image and coloured it in with promarkers. I then covered the cherries with Glossy Accents (which takes soooo long to dry!)

I then cut a rectangle of the polkadots to mat my stamped sentiment which came from the Flutterby Fairy stamps. I also traced the largest cherries and leaves onto Shrink plastic and coloured using my promarkers, once it had shrunk I attached it to a strip of ribbon using wire.

Dont forget to check out the rest of the design team and also say a HUGE welcome to the new members of the design team.

Take Care all

xxxx

Sew Fine!

2010-05-28T09:00:00.001+01:00

Its friday again and what a lovely week we have been having weather wise. Would it be moany of me to ask for it just a little bit cooler?

This week over at Polkadoodles it was Lou's turn to set the challenge....

"Sew and Sew"

I would love you to add some sewing to your project this week. You could do this with your sewing machine, by hand, faux sewing/stitches or some of you might even have a rubber stamp that looks like sewing. The choice is yours!

I had two ideas this week (i know it must be the heat!) but went with the "not card" item for a change. Carl and I have recently decorated my little girl Graces Bedroom and she is so pleased with her proper big girls room that I thought I would make her a name plate for her door.

I started by printing a selection of papers from the "bright and beautiful" collection on the All Around and Everywhere CD. I then used the bunting template on the CD to cut the overall shape and the smaller triangle. I glued it into place then machine stitched around the edge. I must say please excuse my sewing, it was late and its soooo wobbly.

Using my scalloped and plain square nestabilities I cut the diamond and again machine stitched together. I added Graces name using some lovely foam letters from Poundland!

I printed the pink polkadot paper then printed on the reverse using the distressed flowers from the Candy Doodles cd. Once cut out I screwed them up and run my scissors round the edge a bit and stuck together with 3d foam. I cut some green dot paper into strips and curled with my scissors then stuck it onto the banner, followed by the distressed flower.

To finish I cut a button from the embellishment section and covered it with glossy accents and attached as the flower centre

So why not join in the fun over at polkadoodles and dont forget to leave a link showing us your sewing magic.

Till next week xxxxx

2010-05-21T09:00:00.000+01:00

Well this week was my first week as part of the fabulous Polka Doodle Design Team. I was very honoured and surprised to be asked so was very nervous.

Unfortunately I have had one of those days where everything has gone totally wrong so the card didnt go quite as planned and I am not 100% happy with it but things can only get better right?

This week the challenge over at PolkaDoodles was set by the lovely Fliss. She wanted us to make a card in honour of Her Mum in her favourite colours of Blue and Peach.

I used a selection of polkadoodles products to create my easel card. I didnt add a full size panel as I wanted my Fairy Flutterby to poke over the top so you could see through her wings.

I covered the bottoms panel of the card with the gorgeous Candy Wings in Blue from Candy Doodles CD and added black promarker stitching. After folding the top panel I covered half of it in the same Candy wings so it didnt look bare when folded into the envelope. on the outer half I used the tiny butterfly from the Meeshelle Fairy Flutterby set and stamped several times without reinking in blue and peachy orange.

I stamped Maggie onto white card and coloured her in with my promarkers using blues and peachy/orange tones. I stamped her wings onto Acetate and coloured on the rever with promarkers and blotted with a tissue. Then I added a thin layer of PVA and loads of ultra fine glitter. I 3D mounted this with foam pads so that the wings poked over the top of the card. I then used to Candy Alphas from Candy Doodles to spell out MUM.

Finally I added a Best Wishes Sentiment from All Around and Everywhere. All products are available from Polkadoodles so get on over and have a look - but dont blame me if you end up wanting it all!!

So there we have it - my first submission for the Polkadoodles Design team. Dont forget to join in our challenge and leave a link on the main blog to your project. Dont forget to check the post below for details of a position on the design team....

Polkadoodles Needs You

2010-05-16T16:48:00.002+01:00

(Clicky image to view bigger size)

PolkaDoodles design team are recruiting for a new teamie. So if you love the products and want to have a go then drop Nikky an email.

New Blog, New Start

2010-05-15T21:34:00.001+01:00

Well its been a long while since I last made a blog post.

A lot has happened in my personal life and I have finally managed to make a new start.

Will be updating my blog a lot more often from now on... check back later in the week for more news

xxx

Away with the Fairies

2009-07-16T20:23:00.004+01:00

Hey... so its been a while huh?! But like i promised in my previous post I returned

Today is friday which means that its dare day over on DCM. I have been taking an extended leave of absence whilst my life gets put back the right way and I am really thankful to the rest of the team for putting up with me....

This week our Guest Designer Gail has suggested a dare.. and she would like to see all things Fairy on your cards this week.

Well it just so happened I had been making. I am loving the gorgeous stamps by Whiff of Joy, and chose "Musing Melinda" as my image for this weeks card, ok so she is more an angel than fairy but they are a close enough relation right?

I started (as usual, some things never change!) with a white square card blank. I attached a strip of patterned paper (from craftwork cards) centrally down the middle. I stamped musing melinda using impress dye ink and coloured her using Letraset promarkers, finishing her wings with a little stickles in Icicle.

I matted the image onto a pink ruffle (also from craftwork cards). The flowers were an added embellishment afterwards as i got an inky fingerprint when i was 3D mounting my image.

Dont forget to take a trip over the the DCM blog to check out the other fairy creations and leave us a link to yours.

I will be back tomorrow with some more cards i made whilst in a colouring/stamping mood!

Take Care

T x

Normality will be resumed soon

2009-06-13T12:46:00.001+01:00

I think someone may have thrown all the pieces of my life into a big bag and given them a bloody good shake!

So things hae all been mixed up, but I WILL BE BACK!

My Craft Space

2009-03-20T01:33:00.005Z

Hey,

Someone was asking the other day about where I craft so thought I would do a post to show you my space.

I am very lucky in that we moved a year ago into a much bigger place when we had Baby G. The biggest bedroom became a spare room/craft room for me. We have one of those bunk beds with a double bed at the bottom, a single at the top, but the double folds up into a sofa so it doesnt take up much room. There is a TV, DVD, and most importantly my ipod dock in there so i can watch/sing as I craft.

We also have a set of two wardrobes. one is just a standard wardrobe, empty waiting for guests (well apart from my wedding dress anyway). The second looks exactly the same from outside but has been shelved out to store all my bits and pieces.

There is/was some sort of order of things in there but I have crafted since then and it all went to pot lol. A rough idea is

Very top - books, tote bags, things too big for anywhere else, the folders contain templates, project printouts and a sheet of trading card pockets to hold my acrylic stamps.
next shelf - the baskets hold ribbons, small stamps, general bits and pieces, the prima flower jars, brads and buttons etc are all here too
3rd shelf - This is the tool shelf - houses my craft robo, bind it all, scoring boards, cutting mats and trimmers etc. Also tools, punches and stuff
4th Shelf - Bia wires (still in boxes as i have never used the BIA yet!) sizzix and big shot dies, chipboard, other die cuts
5th shelf - "things to do" things to alter, projects to start, canvases, albums stuff like that. This shelf is rather full!
Bottom shelf - paper, paper, paper and a bit more paper - there are 8 paper holders, 8 made up from old QVC boxes which hold the smaller paper, and a stack of magazines which i keep meaning to go thru.

My desk is my pride and joy. I wanted something that was big enough to work on, but still have my laptop on, and room to store stuff. And its major point. I wanted it to be standing height. I have a bad back and sometimes its less painful to stand for things that it is to sit, so i wanted a desk that I had the option for. Just before christmas we went to the Range and found this 3 part desk. When folded it looks like a normal desk but it has a full size pull out extension which makes it L shaped, and a laptop/keyboard shelf too. At the moment the very top surface houses my big shot, a drawer unit that holds all my ink pads, a stationery holder with my basic tools in it, and loads of other crap that I havent moved, like photos and little cuddly cows (random but true!). I means when I need a little extra room I can pull out the extra arm.

Also in the top pic you can see my special racks we made to hold my stickles, liquid pearls, acrylic paints etc. Its a block of wood with different sized plumbers pipe clips on it. The lids of the bottles fit into the clips and hold really securely. The stickles rack is a little empty but going to work on correcting that at harrogate next weekend. That rack also has a couple of hooks for my nestabilities and piercing bugs.

In the very corner, and not sure you can see is a 4 drawer plastic storage unit on wheels which holds a drawer full of pens and pencils etc, a drawer for paper scraps, a drawer for material, and one which holds everything else lol. on top of this is another one of the blue baskets like whats in the wardrobe. This holds all my new purchases - things get dumped in there when they are brought until one of 3 things happen - i use it, put it away, or finish just looking at it.

At the moment its still the same odd grey colour it was when we moved in but in the next few weeks its being painted a gorgeous sage green, with a dandelion clock wall decal - a bit like this one on Etsy

So there you go, its only little, but its mine and i love it!!!

Cos I'm a woman.....

2009-03-20T00:49:00.009Z

W...O...M..A....N ! and yes I am singing that very loudly, and very badly! in fact J has just said "mummy please dont sing!" hmph! kids these days!

Anyhow, its my turn this week over on Daring card makers to set the dare. As us UK peeps will know this Sunday is mothers day, and in honour of that - and the fact on Sunday I am doing the 300 mile drive (with a 3 yr old and 1 yr old!!) to go and spend a well needed break at my mums down in Kent - this weeks dare is called WOMAN!

I want to see your cards, any colour, any theme, any products, as long as they are for a woman. Its also a perfect opportunity if you are like me and have left making a mothers day card till the last minute.

So have a go, check out the other cards from the team over at DCM, and dont forget to show us your creations.

I think you're amazing .. Mum! (Two variations)

This week I have made two cards, pretty much the same but with a little tweak (ooh that will be one for my mum and one for MIL then lol). I must admit before I show you them that I am not struck on the colour - but by time I had decided that, my printer had decided that it was going on strike and wouldnt print anything else, at all, ever, so there! Despite much shouting, swearing, banging (and a little bit of kicking) it wasnt going to play, so blue they shall be ...

I started by printing some gorgeous papers from Pink Petticoat (the Just Daisies and Sweet Flourishes, both in Airforce Blue - £1.99 for 52 colourways!!) onto some really nice heavyweight matt photo paper I am loving at the moment from Staples. I cut each piece into A5 , then folded to make a A6 card blank.

I then printed the "I think you're amazing" image (a freebie would you believe!!) again from the brilliant pink petticoat store (have had a little spree there the last couple of weeks!) onto plain white Cardstock and cut them out using my nestabilities (the scallop square and plain square) I coloured the image in and used a little stickles in Icicle to add a little bling. I inked the edges of the square cut birdie and mounted them onto the card blank using 3d foam. Then using the offcuts from making the card blank I used the scallop nestabilities to cut a shape (in hindsight a smaller scallop, or bigger circle may have looked better_. I also cut a circle which I inked. I then used Making Memories alphabet rub ons in "heidi" to add the word "MUM". All in all, pretty quick and simple, but I like them (even if I am not keen on the colour).

Am away next week but may blog depending on the net connection as I just got myself a cute little pink "dongle" which is supposed to let me log on from anywhere, but we shall see.

Till later guys xxxx

Oriental Splendour

2009-02-01T01:10:00.009Z

This week its Sue's turn to set the dare, and boy was it a toughy! Sue asked us to make cards with a touch of the far east...... but without using black or red!

Hmmm well that was all my lovely tattoo/sunset/etc ideas out the window.

Then it just so happened that I was looking on ebay for Momiji dolls (trying to convince the husband that i desperatly need some for my craft room) AHA! methinks, they be oriental, and funky coloured and not red and black (well apart from hair but sssh!)

So as usual (yawn!) I started with a small tall white card blank. I free hand drew the little doll shape onto patterned paper for her dress, cream card for her face and very dark (nooo sue its not black really) card for her hair. I also cut out a "arm" shape from the patterned paper. I stuck it all together, using 3d foam pads for a bit of extra dimension. I also used a black and red pen for the details on her face, a little pink ink for her cheeks, and a little green ink to edge the dress

Then I found a unopened pack of thickers felt stickers in exactly the right colour, During my sort out I found all sorts of products so am on a mission to use them. Happily these stickers were all the same case so I could use them without stress (see last weeks post!) So I decided on a simple miss you greeting. The card looked a little blank so i added little green and pink paper flowers, with liquid pearl centres randomly by the greeting and one in her hair.

I have noticed my card style seems to be moving towards a more contemporary "white space" look at the moment hmmmm interesting.

Dont forget to surf on over to DCM to look at the other oriental delights on the menu. If you join in please leave a comment with a link to your card.

Take Care xxx

Its DCM Day

2009-01-29T23:34:00.005Z

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for not updating with details on my card last week (or the last few months) but as usual life got in the way and I am trying not to beat myself up when things get in the way of crafting. But anyway I am back!!!

This week over on DCM its was the lovely Lythans turn to set the dare, and she dared us to use 3 different patterned papers, and if we were feeling really brave to use 3 different paper lines! well I wasnt THAT brave but I did manage 3 different patterns.

As usual (predictable? moi?) I started with a white card blank, small tall i think? using a stack of paper strips from Craftwork Cards (winterwonderland i think? rubbish arent i!) I cut two different patterns and layered them together to cover the front of the card. I then I cut a smaller ribbon type strip from a third pattern and stuck that across the centre (using my fabby new Elmers Sticky Dot adhesive stamper - so much easier for my dodgy hands!).

I then found some AC thickers in my stash and thought oooh can use them. So spelt the word "sister" on the front - well ok so eventually i spelt sister after trying about a million different words which just werent "right". am still not too happy with the caption, I think the writer in me struggles with the mix of upper/lower case that thickers have, and the S's just look a bit odd? maybe its just me? Then finally I added a couple of tiny little pink brads.

close up so you can see there really are 3 different papers

Will update later this week with some pics of my new paint storage my hubby made me, and my gorgeous new desk (cos i am sad like that!)

Dont forget to pop over to Daring Card Makers and leave a link to your cards and check out the other designs from the design team

Take Care

All Mixed Up

2008-09-18T21:57:00.005+01:00

Its my turn to set the dare this week over on Daring Card Makers, and I thought about somthing close to my heart.

Now I am a car crazy girl, my husband will freely admit I know as much as him, infact more on some models, about cars. He will quite happily ask my opinion on a car fault and I know how to race, strip and rebuild a car, yet this is frowned about cos I am *shock horror* a GIRL! and my little boy loves Dolls and pushchairs, but as a woman in asda said the other day when he was playing with a pushchair "you arent seriously going to buy him that are youou ?"

So this week I want you to make a card that mixes up the gender ideas a little, be it cars for girls, or pink flowers for boys. Dont forget to leave us a comment over on the DCM blog to show us what you have made.

Girl Racer (with wobbly car!!!)

This card was simple and hasnt turned out quite how I hoped but fingers crossed I will try it again sometime and get better results.

I basically folded an acetate sheet over a plain white DL sized card blank. I used a black sharpie marker to doodle a checkered flag border, and used a doodle font idea to write the word GIRL, and then just scribbled racer next to it. I then used a hot pink marker to colour in some of the letters (note: do not use sharpie markers for long periods at close ranges, they give you a woozy headachey feeling!)

Then I drew two little cars on hot pink card and cut round them. I stuck one on the card blank under the acetate. The second I attached to a folded piece of acetate to make a springy bit, and attached it to the overlay so it boings a little.

Christmas???!!! in JUNE??!!!

2008-06-26T23:19:00.005+01:00

This week over on Daring Card Makers it was the talented Jo Kill's turn to set the weekly dare, and to be honest I think the crafting has sent her mad cos this is what she said....

Jo here this week with a seasonal dare - just not this season :) I would love this week for you all to make a Christmas card... (yes I know it is only June tee hee) With a nice Christmassy scene just to get us all in the festive spirit and to pave the way for all the cards that we have yet to make....

right, hmm, well Jo honey two words for you... ITS JUNE!!!!!!!!!

I thought I would try something new for my dare this week. I found a carrier bag of bits I brought at a craft show somewhere and there were two pots of flowersoft and a lampost topper. It was really simple really just dab on glue where you want then sprinkle the flower soft stuff over top. I also added a bit of glitter on the snowy bits to add a bit of sparkle. I then inked the edges, mounted the image on brown bazzill, and stuck to a small tall card and tied a piece of brown satin ribbon down the side.

And as this was such a quick make I managed to get started on a project I am really looking forward to doing, and for once its not a paper crafts one.... more on that as it progresses.

Oooh I also made my neice Lilia a little tutu, no reason, just wanted to see if I could. As she lives 4 hours away I had to make do with monkey modelling it, altho J did want to put it on and be a princess.. maybe i will make him one too.

Dont forget to head on over to daring card makers to see the designs from the rest of the team. Why not join in too?

x

Just a quickie

2008-06-20T09:20:00.007+01:00

Its friday and you know what that means..............................yep its dare day, and I manage to spare time to make a card for it too ( I know shocking isnt it!)

It was my turn to set the dare over on Daring Card Makers today and I definately had the lack of time in my life in mind.

As you all know I have 2 small children (2 and 4 months!) and managing life with them, my housewifely duties, studying for my BA, life, etc etc etc crafting sometimes has to take a back seat. You know what its like for every item you cross off your to do list, another 2 get written on. And then comes the dilemma, its X's birthday, or A and B's anniversary - what do you do? Time isnt on your side to make a card but you dont want to pay a small fortune for one in the shops either. Well hopefully this dare will help you out.

I want you to make a QUICK CARD! a card that takes you no more than hmm say 30 minutes max to do - start to finish. No set ingredients and pick your own theme, but be quick and be crafty! (and dont forget to tell us how long it took too)

I actually did 3 cards that fit the brief (I know I surprised myself!!)

Tying the Knot (10 mins) - This is one was actually for my twin sister who is getting married in October and asked me to make her some invites. She needed quite a few so wanted simple and quick to make. She didnt chose this one in the end so I show you.... Firstly a took a white dl card, and ran it through my printer to print the "tying the knot sentiment. Then I used a long strip of gorgeous pink organza to tie a knot round the front. Finally I used glossy accents to attach a pink button to the centre of a pretty pink flower and then mounted it in the top corner using a 3d pad.

New Baby (7 minutes) - Found some lovely pastel patterned paper ( I think its from the K&co sweetpea range) and cut a rectangle to cover the front of my card, and then cut it again with scallop scissors about 2/3 of the way down. Using a sheet of 3D stickers from K&co (sweetpea again i believe) I stuck a sheep and two buttons onto a square of white card and mounted that on the largest piece. Using another rectangle of card I made the greeting with a papermania rubon and another 3d button sticker. Mounted on the front of a A6 card and a ribbon tied round the centre.

Baby Congratulations (12 minutes)- Started this time with a "small Tall" blank card by craft tonic. In my "tag" box I found 4 little diecut tags and used MM rubons to add the work BABY. Used a piece of ribbon to mount them, and attached it with brads either end. I also used 3d pads under the tags just to keep them in place. Used another MM rubon to add the lilac "congratulatons" sentiment. Went back to the K and Co 3d stickers (well I have had them 2 years lol) and used a small butterfly and doodled its anntenae and a trail for it.

So there you go - 3 cards which didnt take forever to make. Dont forget to head on over to the Daring Card Makers blog to see what the others have been making.

Whilst I was on the crafting theme I also made these. A towel pram (all towels still usable!) and a baby sock bouquet!

Till next week xxx

I'm Back!!!

2008-03-28T15:51:00.003Z

Hello Everyone,

Well I am back from my extended leave of absense. So my apologies if you have missed me? ( I know I know, you didnt even notice I had gone!) I can assure you tho I have spent my time off productively - I have moved house and given birth to a beautiful Baby Girl!

Baby G was born 11th February, at 6.31 pm weighing 6lb 3 oz. She is really tiny and is now only at 6 weeks old beginning to fit, albeit it loosely in her newborn clothes. Baby J - hmmm can't really call him that now - ok Big Boy J... absolutely adores her, gives her kisses and cuddles and says she is pretty all the time. Touch wood so far there is no sign of any jealousy.

So thats my news and I am now back with the fabby Daring Card Makers, and raring to go. And today is Friday so its DARE DAY!!!

It was the fabulous Janes turn to set the dare this week and she chose "Needles and Pins" and dared us to create a card using a needle or pin somewhere on it. Having babies on my mind, I decided to go for a safety pin

I started with a square card blank (as usual) and cut a strip of baby pink textured card and layered it with a piece of pretty pink flowery patterned paper (from an old SA kit i think!). Then I freehand cut (its shockingly bad, sorry!) a flowery shape from the pink card and attached a white cardstock circle. Using Foam tape I stuck on a white towelling nappy shape (I think I got it from Carolyns shop a long time ago?) with the all important pin! I attached the whole lot with 3D tape to the rectangle strip and then onto the card. Using a white gel pen (which didnt want to work) I drew lines round the edge of my flower and stitching lines round the edges of the rectangle. The card was still missing something so a hunt through my stash found me the lovely pink sheer ribbon with baby (from my local Craft Shop) written on it in raised glittery print, so I added a strip of this to the top and bottom of the card.

Please excuse the dodgy pic, I was hoping for a nice day to take the pic but the good old british weather didnt want to co-operate.

Dont forget to head on over to Daring Card Makers to see what the rest of the design team have been pinning up!

Take Care

T x

Happy Birthday DCM

2007-10-18T00:41:00.001+01:00

Can you believe its been a whole year since Daring CardMakers launched our first dare? Its been an amazing year and a complete learning curve for myself and the whole team I am sure. Personally I cannot thank the team enough for pushing me on in my craft and being fab friends. We also want to thank you guys - the darers and our guest designers - for making it the success it is, and for all the new friends we have met. Therefore this weeks dare is called CIRCLE OF FRIENDS and quite simply all we ask is that your card features a circle!

My card this week is simple but I think its quite funky too.

I started with a piece of white textured card stock and folded it to make my base card and inked around the edges with a brown Versacolour ink pad. The main ingredients from this card are from August's Self Addressed Kit and use the KI Memories Celebration Surprise Collection of papers.

Firstly I took a large circle chipboard button by Deluxe Designs and covered it with the "hoopla" paper and then cut a smaller circle from a piece of Dark Tangerine Bazzill card. I used my cropodile to punch two holes in it and inked the edges of the whole thing. I then tied a pice of orange gingham ribbon through the holes. I then adhered it to the corner of the card blank

I then used a circle punch to punch four circles, again in the hoopla paper and inked them up again and arranged them round the chipboard button. I attached a strip of the orange gingham vertically down open edge of the card.

Using Kelly Panacci Rub-ons I attached the greeting to a piece of a scrap of the Tangerine card and matted it onto yet more Hoopla paper. This was attached to the top quarter of the card and there you have it, a quick, simple (arent mine always!) but funky card.

All thats left to do is wish daring cardmakers everywhere a Happy Birthday and we hope you will continue to join us and help us grow over the next year.

Dont forget to check out DCM to see the other birthday dare cards from the team and our extended darers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARING CARD MAKERS

2 Months!!

2007-10-12T00:09:00.001+01:00

Oh my! I have just realised it has been two months since I blogged. I am such a bad blogger, I apologise.

Firstly thank you all for your good wishes, we had an amazing wedding - the sun shone, and the whole day was fab. Wanna see a couple of pics?????

Baby Peanut is also doing well - quite scary to think that 4th Feb is d-day it seems so close. Baby J is so excited and keeps kissing my tummy and going ahhhh baby. Although I did ask him what he wanted Baby to be called and he said "cheeky Trouble" hmmmmmmm. Not too sure on his choice, but we do know that this one is A GIRL!!!!!

Right anyhow, its friday so you know what that means? Yep its Dare Day. Thanks so much to the other guys on the team for letting me be so lax with the dares lately. This week was Kathy's turn to dare and she chose "ANIMAL"

The theme is ANIMAL and you can use anything that's animal inspired (not bugs, birds or butterflies though!), so you could maybe use animal die cuts, animal prints on paper or fabric, or maybe animal "words" grrrrr
How about a card in the shape of a tiger, elephant or monkey?
Now, there's a challenge for you

I had no idea what I was going to do until I was in my local craft shop and I saw this super cute animal paper and I knew it had to be used. I started by making a square card blank from white ribbed cardstock. I then cut a smaller square of the fabby Circus Animals glittery paper from the Nana's Kids range from DCWV. i inked it round the edge and stuck it to the card. I also used the same paper to cut roughly round one of the lions on the page and stuck him on a piece of ribbed white cardstock with inked edges. Again with the white cardstock I cut and inked a long rectangle and used brilliant Making Memories Card Saying rub-ons to add the Happy birthday greeting. Then I attached the strip and the lion square with foam pads.

I am actually quite pleased with this one, I think the animals are soo cute. They do a stack of the Nana's Kids paper and its all glittery and great, so might have to purchase.

Dont forget to head on over to the DCM blog and see some of the sweet and lovable animals that the rest of the team have used.

See ya all later xx

I am a BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD Blogger!

2007-08-09T21:54:00.000+01:00

I know, I am so sorry I am such a bad blogger and I feel awful. Especially since I have also been absent from the Fabby design team over at Daring Card Makers. They are very understanding tho and have forgiven me and I have only been punished a little (only joking - i think lol!)

Thing is, and I know this is the case with many many of us, it has been a case of life simply taking priority. As much as I would love to say that crafting is my number one priority in life, its not true. As well as a crafter, I am a mother, and a housewife, and a daughter, and a wife (well nearly anyway!) and as much as I love my paper and card, other things often demand and get more of my attention. As you know I have been a bit rough with my MS lately as well as being rushed off my feet with the wedding preperations (4 weeks to go! where did the time go?" we also found out that we are very blessed to be expecting a brother or sister (my bets on the pink!) for Baby J. Surprised? So was I!!!!!! but a child is a blessing and exciting time so its been a bit manic here. And Baby Peanut is due around Late Jan/Early feb next year.

Anyhow will update more on the wedding planning and baby news later. Onto this weeks dare... I know I have made a card!!!!!

This week over at DCM it was my turn to set the dare and I chose to title it PHOTO FINISH.

This week I dare you all to make a card for any occasion but it must use a photograph in some way, shape or form. The photograph can be of anything - people, flowers, landscapes, those gorgeous vintage shots (which I am pants at using) just make sure to check the copyright of photos if you didnt take them yourself.

Wedding Card

This is a card I have made before in a different colour scheme but I really like it. I started with a A5 card base in white, which is slightly larger than I normally use but I thought the occasion called for something a little bigger. I used a purple modern wedding patterned vellum from the craft bug to cover the bottom two thirds of the card and cunningly hid the edge with an offcut of lilac satin ribbon. I used a heart clip from my craft box and threaded two (it was 3 but i lost my temper with the 3rd and threw it across the room)lengths of invisible thread with a wedding related charm and a couple of small beads, onto it and attached it to the ribbon. I printed "On your wedding day" in purple onto a piece of linen card and backed it with an offcut of purple and 3d mounted it at the bottom. I covered a card slide mount with the same purple, and printed a copyright free piccy i found of a bride and groom in black and white onto linen card. and 3d mounted it in the top corner.

Then using 3 large purple flowers from sarahs cards I embellished the empty spaces. Once that was done, I will admit to going a little mental with the hot fix crystal gun and affix little sparkly diamontes where ever i could - in the middle of the flowers, around the greeting and 3 along the bottom of the slide mount.

And then it was done, a wedding card which I am quite proud of!

I promise I will update with more baby/wedding news in a couple of days but my Mum is visiting at the moment and computer time is limited. If I havent updated by about wednesday remind me.

Dont forget to head on over to the blog and see what the rest of the gorgeous design team have created.

bye bye bloggers! xxx

As usual an apology

2007-06-01T09:27:00.000+01:00

As usual I am starting my blog with an apology. Firstly that my card for the fabby 9-5 dare didnt appear on my blog last week, I made a impromptu trip to my mums last week whic his 400 miles away so didnt get to upload anything so I will dig it out and show it soon I promise, secondly the same excuse for the mid week blog.

But onto the new week. This week the gorgeous Kel set us the dare, she said

Okay girls, this week I would like you to use some acetate, vellum or anything else remotely 'see-through' on your card.

As my mojo is on holiday I was still quite worried, but then I found a book of DCWV qoute stacks and they were on transparency... YAY! Actually this weeks card was quite a quickie but I like it

BOY

Using blank card and papers from last months Self addressed kit I cut a hole in the card, and in the patterned paper and stuck it all together. Then I chose a lovely qoute from the DCWV boys qoute stack and attached it in the opening. A quick scan round the craft room found 2 largish flowers from Sarahs cards and a couple of small crystally hearts which got stuck on and hey presto we were done. See I told you quick and easy this week.

now to get on with making loads of wedding invites for the wedding which is now just 13 weeks away!!!!!!

Wanted : Mojo

2007-05-18T00:55:00.000+01:00

Where has my mojo gone? I seem to have lost all inspiration this week the cause I think is lack of sleep (Baby J sprouting his 13th and 14th teeth) and pain (damn ms!). What makes it worse is that this week its my turn to set the dare over on Daring Card Makers , am beginning to wish I has set a slightly easier one.........

For this weeks dare, I dare you to "start from scratch" I want to you design a card with NO purchased/preassembled embellishments - that means no blooms unless you cut them yourself, no buttons etc etc. I guess how easy this is depends on your usual style

**insert evil laugh here**

You see what I mean? Every idea i had for this just wouldnt work or has some issue, Card one would have been great but couldnt find the wire i needed, Card 2 fell at the first hurdle when I couldnt figure out how to thread my mini sewing machine. So you ended up with Card 3.

Wedding Day.

I was very good and even folded my own card blank from a piece of gorgeous stardream pearlescent paper in opal (I think) from PDA. Problem was I didnt want Opal, I wanted a pretty pink hmmmmmmm could I find my chalks in the dungeon I call my craft room NOPE! so some creative thinking was called for. So I lightly dusted the whole of the card with "light as a feather" Natural Collection Blusher glowing dust from Boots (yes i really did). Whilst searching for the still missing chalks I found a upopened DCWV wedding Stack so using a piece of the rose patterned paper I cut 4 strips, the first of which I placed along the bottom of the card. Using more opal stardust card (unblushed!) I cut a 4 rectangles of different sizes. The first I used to mount a sentiment cut from the text sheet of the DCVW stack. The other 3 became a wedding cake. I used the 3 rectangles and offcuts to make a wedding cake shape and used the previously cut rose paper to look like ribbon. I then punched some flowers from scraps and placed them on top of the cake and either side of the "the day of our wedding" Sentiment. Finally I used Petal Pink perfect pearls to decorate the cake and the centre of the flowers. And it was finished... a pretty pink wedding cake card.

I hope you planning (or have already been ) to the DCM blog to check out the other cards made by the design team and our fabby Guest Designer this week, Bety.

I promise faithfully I will midweek blog this week as I have photos of my engagement ring and other wedding stuff to show you. If I havent then someone poke me with a pointy stick to remind me.

Bye bye bloggers

xxxxx

Food for Thought

2007-05-10T21:12:00.000+01:00

It's FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY! which means its Dare day! This week it was our Kathy's turn to dare us.

OK I'd like you to think FOOD this time and base your card around that subject. So let's see.....

it could have food depicted on it eg cupcake, CHOCOLATE, birthday cake, CHOCOLATE, tube of smarties, CHOCOLATE,.....bowl of fruit....
you could make it an invitation to a barbecue, dinner party, picnic, kids party etc
It could feature a recipe
hey, it could even have food stuck on it.....well, maybe.....

as long as it's clearly got a foodie theme it's allowed.

Well my original thought was going to be a wedding cake, as I seem to have weddings on the brain at the moment but then I got the munchies, W went to get me some sweets, and Hey presto a card was born.

Love Hearts

As usual I started with a white square card blank by Papermania. Sorting through my stash I found a cute candy coloured kit by Creative Memories called a "pastel Snap Pack". I has lots of stickers, die cuts, papers etc to make a mini album. I used some square diecuts from it in lemon and lilac, and a bubbly pastel border sticker. I attached the sticker along the top and bottom of the card, and the 4 die cut squares in the centre of the Card. I then opened a pack of yummy Love hearts sweets and chose 2 yellow and two lilac sweets and attached them with 3d foam to the squares.

So there you go a card good enough to eat - but please dont!

Dont forget to take a wander over to Daring Card Makers blog to see what everyone else on the team has done, we also welcome Tracy as our guest designer this week.

In other news ...... I have ordered my wedding dress!!! OMG its scary now!

xxxxxxxx

2007-05-03T23:12:00.000+01:00

This week it was Jane's turn to set the dare for us Daring Card Makers she said ...

So here is is............you can do any subject but the card has to incorporate WINGS of some sort.....so you can do - butterflies, angels, fairies, insects.........birds........anything basically if it has wings.

Good luck and may you all FLY HIGH ladies. !

Luckily I knew I had just the thing. When I went to Harrogate Papercrafts show I came across some lovely fairy die cuts by Lili of the Valley. They were an absolute bargain and so pretty, plus my Neice is called Lilia so couldnt pass them up so into my basket they went. I knew that this card was the right chance for one of the cute little things to make their debut.

I Started with a piece of white cardstock which I folded to make the blank, and attached a piece of yummy paper from Aprils Self Adressed kit. I attached a square aperture doodah (another harrogate purchase) from Craftwork cards and used an ink pad to colour some of the embossed flowers to match the colour scheme. I also used a piece of pink ribbon from American Crafts to go down the side of the card. Then it was time for Fairy Rose to make her appearence. She was 3d mounted into the centre of the aperature, and I used a little bit of stickles glitter glue to highlight her wings (I then dropped the pot into my cup of tea :S)

I had planned to use a Heidi Swapp rolling stamp to stamp "kisses" along the bottom in pink and I know I stamp like an elephant in oven gloves but it was impossible to get a clean image, surely I am not that inept?

So there you go, a pretty pink fairy card suitable for any occasion.

Why not take a wander over to the Daring Card Makers blog to check out the design teams work and have a go yourself, dont forget to leave us a link so we can see

I promise i will be very good and do a midweek blog, so remind me if it looks like I have forgot. xxxxxxxx

Catching up with Tags

2007-05-02T16:45:00.000+01:00

I was tagged by several people to tell them 7 facts about me. I apologise in advance that they arent going to be particularly interesting cos I am quite a boring little soul.

1. Both myself and Baby J can use sign language
2. I have funny quirks about textures like felt (see gillians dare!),corned beef etc
3. I am doing a Open university BA Degree in Youth and Childhood Studies
4. I cant just sit and watch a movie, have to be doing 3 or 4 things at the same time
5. I write poems and short stories and have had writing published
6. I have a bizarre medical condition called geographical tongue which means the surface appearence and texture of my tongue changes on a daily basis (which really freaks W out, he says its gross)
7. I am getting married in September!!!!

If you are reading this and havent yet joined in consider yourself tagged!

I know I know Late blogging

2007-05-02T14:21:00.000+01:00

Sorry sorry sorry I know its not Friday and I am 5 days late with my DCM blog but I have been away.

Baby J and I went to my mums down south for a bit of rest and relaxation and "mummying" We had a fab time (despite the earthquake 3 miles away!! IN THE UK!!!) and cant wait till mum comes up to stay here.

Anyhow the card for Daringcardmakers this week was kindly sponsored by Self Addressed kits. The design team over at DCM are soo lucky. The lovely Jenn over at Self-addressed sent us lucky girls some of their scrummy kit contents to create with. We all followed a template and using Self addressed papers made our own designs. Its amazing to see how many different cards come from the same basic template.

I started with one of the lovely blue textured scalloped edge card blanks. They already have a little square aperture cut into it, which is great cos I cant cut straight lines to save my life. Using a piece of the brown and blue flowered paper I trimmed the bottom of the card so that it contrasted with the scallop, as well as placing a piece in the aperture. I cut a border from the stripey paper and placed that across the bottom, and across both sides of the aperture. And hey presto a simple card which thanks to the gorgeous contents of Self-addressed kits are perfect for any occasion.

Why not head on over to the blog to see the interpretations of the design team or visit Self addressed to see their fabby value and gorgeous kits

xxx

Funky Felt

2007-04-19T20:28:00.000+01:00

Happy Friday! This week was the turn of uber-talented Gillian to set the dare for us cardmakers.

FUNKY FELT

that's right..... felt is just so HOT at the Moment....
so you can create what ever sorta card you like, just as long as it has felt included....

ideas... cut flowers with your U-Bute Cutting Machines... or hand cut them...Borders cut with pinking shears... lots of Naive stitching with embroidery floss onto it... check out all the different types of felt you can get these days..
And I believe you can even buy premade scrapbooking felt flowers..( not that my LSS has them..grrrr...)
oh and don't forget to have fun

Hmm well as anyone who knows me understands I have a bit of a sensory, tactile obsession. Somethings I can touch for hours (freshly cut mens hair, paper, suede) others I cant bear touching (corned beef, certain plastics) unfortunatly felt also falls in the second heading. So imagine if you will, a lone crafter stood at the table, tools in front of her, paper pattern attached to said felt, scissors in hand..... and this is how it went

Step 1 - pick up felt whilst pulling faces

Step 2 - Cut felt for as long as can bear

Step 3 - drop felt, shudder, shout "urrrrgggghhhhh"

Step 4 - Repeat until piece cut!

Yes trust me I looked a sight! So onto this weeks dare......

CUPCAKE

Using a piece of scrap paper I quickly drew out the shape of the cupcake, which i then cut out and put the relevent part on the right coloured felt and pinned it in place. Following the above steps I cut each piece out. I found a piece of white embroidery floss in my craft box and (repeating the drop, shudder, urrggghhh technique) and used it to roughly sew the outline of the cake case, and again round the edges of the icing. I made a sprinkle topping by using aforesaid thread to sew little beads randomly to the topping and a big heart bead at the top.

I drew roughly round the offending item ( ;o) ) on white card, cut it out and edged it with pink ink then 3d mounted the cupcake on it. I then cut a piece of pink felt and a piece of Rasberry Ripple Sassafras Lass Paper from this months self addressed kit and mounted it all together. I attached the whole lot to the white square papermania card base with 4 mini pink brads by makingmemories.

And there we go, a pretty pink cupcake card for any occasion. Dont forget to hop on over to the blog to see what other felt creations the design team have designed this week.

Crossing Continents

2007-04-12T22:48:00.000+01:00

This week it was Saffa's turn to set the dare over at Daring Card Makers

I come from a very multicultural background and love being able to see them all from within and this is what has inspired this weeks challenge....take a deep breath...
I would like you lovely ladies to make a card that celebrates and reflects a festival from another culture to your own....

So here are some ideas to get you started:
Chinese New Year,
Eid,
Hanukkah,
Persian New Year,
Diwali,
Sinhalese New Year,
Kwanzaa,
St. Patrick's day,

So you get the idea....Good luck...
xxSaffa

Quite unsually I knew straight away what I wanted to do. I chose the Pagan wedding ritual of This is a sort of marriage ceremony in which the bethrothed couple's hands are tied together to symbol their unity with ribbons, rope and cords. Click the link to find out more from wikipedia

On Your Handfasting.

I started with a small brown textured card blank (from an old Self Addressed kit I think) in landscape view. I handrew a heart onto a piece of cream card and cut it out and attached it to the centre of the card. In the depths of my stash (so no supplier details I am afraid) I found a piece of random script (at least I hope its random Ros!) vellum in gold. I tore it to the rough shape of the card and attached it with mini gold brads by Making Memories. Using a piece of brown grosgrain ribbon from Ribbon Mad I tied a small bow and attached it with a 3d pad just off centre of the heart. With a gold gel pen I wrote "on your Handfasting" on another piece of cream card, drew a gel pen border and doodled a heart and squiggly bits. I attached this at the bottom with 3d pads too.

Why not head on over to the Blog to see what other celebrations we have come up with.

xxxx

P.s thanks Saffa for reminding me I hadnt added a pic!

Art Attack

2007-04-06T01:00:00.000+01:00

This week it was the turn of lovely bride to be Rhi to set the weekly dare over on Daring Card Makers Blog and boy was it a toughy ...

I dare you to make a card inspired by a work of art. If the original art is out of copyright (ie the designer has been dead for 70 years or more) then you may use elements of the original artwork in your piece. Otherwise its inspiration only. Look out for colours, patterns, textures, compositions, shapes or themes that inspire you, and remember to show us the piece of art that inspired you to create so we can see the common ground.

What is art? It's completely subjective, so your chosen inspiration could be architecture, one off design or mass produced products. Please remember to respect the right of the artist or designer not to have their work copied though, take inspiration instead and make your own art.

Right urmmm yeah, now I am one of the most unartistic people I know, I orginally started it off making a cooley dudey digital pop art inspired card but it was purely digital and although I sent it as an E-card, not sure it counted for the dare so have made another. I may show you the other one later in the week.

For this one I enlisted the help of my much more artistic future husband. Lately he has been very much into the artistic styling of a certain Mr Bob Ross, whose Joy of Painting TV show on Discovery real time is a bizarre trip into a very strange world - Watch it and see! (or do a search for Bob Ross on You Tube)

Anyhow back to the story, A while ago W was trying to teach me to paint in that style (which can I add i was awful at), after an hour or so and having done the sea and mountains I got bored and tired and got W to finish the trees and foreground (which is the best part of the pic IMO).

For this card we creatively edited (read chopped up) the painting to isolate W's tree and landscape, and a little bit of MY mountain and sky too!!!!!! I didnt want to do too much to the picture as I felt it was quite striking on its own so didnt want to ruin it. W (full of creativity this week!) suggested a signpost so we made a little one and wrote "wish you were here" on it. This was then simply mounted onto a piece of dark green textured bazzill card with slits cut for the top piece and a leaf motif cut in the bottom corner, inlaid with a lighter green colour. That way if the recipient decides to, the picture can be removed and framed seperately.

And there you have it, a pretty card with a unique piece of artwork. If you havent already head on over to Daring Card Makers to see the other art forms which are inspiring us this week.

In the words of good old Bob Ross

Till next time .... happy painting and God bless my friends xxxx

Going Green

2007-03-29T22:46:00.000+01:00

Hi guys,

What a manic week I have had this week. Every had one of those weeks where you need at least an extra 4 hours a day to just keep up with things?

I started off with all good intentions but things cropped up - a friend in need, another friend with a computer problem. As such things I needed to get done fell by the wayside so cue a lot of late nights to catch up. I am doing a Open University BA Degree and have an exam soon so have lots of studying to do. Anyway enough of my moaning and onto the good stuff.

Its Dare day and this week it was Lythan's turn to be the dastardly darer.

Monochrome Madness

You can do anything you like on a card as long as you only use one colour. It may just help you appreciate the varied tones and hues of blue, red, yellow, orange - or how about a totally white card?
I can't wait to see the card rainbow we produce!

Seemed easy at first glance but I didnt realise how many "bits" I used without thinking about them, you know a brad here, a bit of printed text there, some black ink round the edges - except all of these were only allowed in the right colour. So here is this weeks attempt.

GOING GREEN

I started off by singing the theme tune to Rainbow whilst looking through my stash to see what I had of the same colour group.

Hey presto I found a Fourz set from

Bazzill Basics ah ha I thought!

I folded a piece of the Rain Forest colour in half to make my base card and attached a smaller piece of spring breeze. To that I stuck a piece of green patterned paper (the writing is light green IRL) from April 05 (still available) kit from Self Addressed.

I handcut (badly! my apologies) the word HI from a piece of the Lily Pond Bazzill and edged it with a dark green coloured pencil (sob I sooo wanted to ink it!) and attached that to the card. I then searched my flower pot and found 3 of varying sizes in green shades from Sarahs Cards which I stuck together (desperatly trying to avoid the urge to stick a gold brad in the centre!) and hey presto a card that fitted the bill.

This dare has taught me that I must buy more basic stash (inkpads, brads etc) in more colours - hmm not sure that was Lythan's aim?

Why not head over to the Daring Card Makers blog to see the rainbow the rest of the design team have created.

Will be back mid week with a weddingy update - if I forget someone gently remind me xx

"But you dont look like Twins"

2007-03-22T23:00:00.000Z

How many times have I heard that about me and my twin? She is blond and skinny and I well am not! lol

Twins (well multiples actually) was the theme behind Keryn's Dare for the Daring Card Makers this week

Something I'm going to be struggling with in September and something we all struggle with I think, is cards to welcome the birth of multiples.

I challenge you create a card to send to parents to welcome the birth of twins, triplets, quads, quins etc. Any colours, any techniques.

My sister-in-law is carrying twins due in late September.

I instantly liked this dare, and on a side note did you know it is impossible (and the UK card manufacturers have confirmed it) to buy a card for MY twin on OUR birthday - how stupid is that!! Anyhow onto the card

Peas in a Pod

I started this week with a long tall card blank in a light green colour. I attached a piece of dark green grosgrain ribbon along the bottom with 2 tiny green prima flowers and a pewter brad at each end.

Then using different colour papers, I paper pieced the peas in a pod embellishment. (which took aaaaggggggggeeeeeesss then Rhi told me that Quickutz make a peapod die) by roughly drawing out the basic shapes on normal printer paper, cutting them out and then tracing them onto the right colour cardstock. I lightly chalked and inked for a bit of detail. I then attached it to the left hand side of the card using a foam pad.

I wanted to stick with a child like style but the foam letters I had were a really really yukky flourescent green so I used a black versa colour ink to dab all over it to dull the colour a bit. Then getting very inky pinkys I stuck them onto the card.

et Voila it was done.

If you want to check out my twins myspace then click here

Mothers Day

2007-03-20T21:06:00.000Z

I hope everyone had a fab mothers day? I spent it in the car coming back from my mums.

The three of us went down to visit my mum for the weekend and had a great time. Saturday was spent wedding dress shopping with my mum and my sisters (its chosen!!!!) then Saturday night we (8 of us and 2 children) went to a all you can eat chinese buffett and us girls treated my mum and step dad to their meal. We had a fantastic time and I cant remember the last time I laughed so much. We joked and talked about everything including Twin Sisters new boyfriend (only 18 but took the jokes about his age well) and the past tense of Hang-glide (handglued? hangglid-ed?) Mum wanted a pic of the three of us so we all stuck orange segments in our mouths and smiled - not sure its what she wanted?

I had a lovely mothers day. Baby J bought me a lovely mug which said "to mum from your little devil" which is great cos I constantly complain about not having my own mug. I also got a lovely cuddly teddy bear holding a flower, saying I love mum. Its so Cute.

Baby J also made me a card (using their own purchased supplies!!) although I think he may have had some help from Daddy especially in the writing of it. Although by the matching scribbles in the card, and on his t-shirt, and duvet he definately helped. What do you think?

(and yes I know I am paranoid by blanking out his name but you never know do you)

How Random.

2007-03-15T13:54:00.001Z

This Weeks dare was set by the lovely Kel

She dared us to write a list of craft items then get someone uncrafty to pick 3-5 of them. Then we were to make a card using ONLY them items (basic cardstock was allowed)

hmmmmmmmmmm tricky huh!

Well W decided rather than pick off a list he would venture into the dark domain which is known as my craft room and just find 5 random things. And off he toddled evilly laughing to himself. When he returned 4 days later he had in his grubby little paws...

1. Diecuts
2. Ink
3. Ribbon
4. Hot Fix Crystal Wand
5. Peel - Offs

Yes the guy thinks he is hysterical chosing the things I cant use lately. So I slapped/kicked/bit/inflicted injury on him for a while, then sat down to think of a design.

And Here is it - Mono Birthday

I started off with a normal white A6 card blank and using repositionalable (thats not right, but cant think what i mean at the moment) adhesive I stuck circle frame DIECUTS all over it randomly. Then using a black versa cube INKPAD I dabbed the ink all over it gave it a few minutes to dry and got very inky peeling them all back off. I was quite impressed with the pattern it left and used that as the main image on the card.

I used black RIBBON (not sure where I got it from SA possibly?) to add detail across and down the card, and the Hot Fix Crystal Wand to attach little silver rhinestones (whilst singing Rhinestone Cowboy may I add) at the edges.

To finish off I cut a piece of white card (allowed as basics) and stuck a black PEEL OFF greeting onto it and inked the edges. This was 3D mounted and hey presto, a card I am actually quite pleased with!

I might have to have a look so see what else I can do the background effect with.

Am going Wedding Dress shopping with my Mummy (***SMILES!***) so will update when I get back.

Love to you all xxx

SuperHeroes

2007-03-08T21:36:00.000Z

Its friday again, which means its DARE DAY !

This week the dare was set by the talented Jo and she has titled it SUPERHEROES.

"I would like to challenge you to make a hero themed card. It could be a card for the Hero in your life or a Superhero themed card.... "

Firstly I went to Tesco and brought a spiderman comic cos it had 3 fabby free stamps with it. Then i got it home, realised the stamps weren't as fabby as they looked. In fact what was supposed to be spider man actually looked like a big headed alien. So I gave the comic to W's nephew and started again.

W came up with the idea of searching the net for a superhero comic strip (note: do not at any cost type the word "strip" into google images) . Finally a great site for kid's colouring pages were found and we found a great piccy of superman. I printed it out and sat very carefully colouring it, (stayed inside the lines and everything!). I then outlined the whole picture with a black zig marker to give it a comic type feel.

I matted the coloured image onto a piece of Karen Foster patterned paper free with Scrapbook Inspirations Magazine. Using coloured pencils I roughly carried on the design onto the area surrounding superman, added the words SUPERDAD and HERO and mounted the whole lot on a blank a6 card. Et Voila, a superhero card for a super dad!

Dont forget to check out Daring Card Makers to see what the rest of the design team came up with.

Till later xxx

MidWeek Chat

2007-03-08T09:17:00.000Z

Hello Everyone,

Thanks to Kathy for the midweek blog reminder. Although it might be slightly boring as not much has gone on here.

How is everyone doing with this weeks Dare? There has been some stunning entries this week, I am hoping you arent all too mad at me?

Craft wise this week not much has gone on, mainly cos my craft room looks like the scene of a hurricane. It's having a new desk and everything built which cant be done until I sort everything but I havent had the energy lately. I will attempt it this weekend, then I can show you all pictures of my yummy new desk setup. I will be at standing height with a bar stool so I can sit or stand. W has also made a funky rubbish chute thing at the back of the desk so all i do is push all my rubbish towards the back of my desk and they fall down a small slot into the bin. I think he thinks it has more chance of making me tidy. I finished that order for ruby wedding invites and that has been all delivered and done. Big thanks here to a great friend who sat and hand glued 9 tiny hearts on 50 invites! Nearly had a panic attack towards the end as each one had the same greeting written four times. you know when you look at something so long it looks wrong. As I was writing greeting number 199 I said to W "errm how do you spell surprise" I was convinced it was wrong, luckily it wasnt, i was just having a brain freeze.

In other stuff this week, we picked up baby J's professional pics, he is such a goodlooking lad, even if I do say so myself. I am having a bit of a sad mummy moment this week as I am not sure where my baby has gone. He was sat there on the floor playing when I went into the kitchen. Then this little grown up walked into the kitchen with his cup signing "mum, more" I miss the little one who depended on me for everything. Wedding wise, vicar depending we have a date! We have also been and brought the material for the bridesmaids dresses and a great friend and talented beader is making our tiaras for us. Check out Lisa's amazing work! (oops wrong link sorry Lise! will update with the new one asap) I am so lucky to be able to have a tiara from her for my wedding!

Well thats me signing off for this week as baby J and I are off shopping today. Dont forget tomorrow is Dare Day. See you there!

Out of the comfort zone....

2007-03-01T22:59:00.000Z

.....Into the fire! Thats how this weeks dare felt at first glance. Which is worrying really seeing as it was my turn to set it.

I looked at my cards a while ago and thought how similar they all were. White square cards, double matted embellishments etc. This quite worried me so I set out to look at other techniques and styles which i was missing. I decided to take the rest of the design team, and you guys, on this journey with me. So i am daring you to step outside your comfort zone and try a technique thats new to you, or that you havent done for ages.

As I was doing this card, it reminded me of my early card making days. You know the ones where everything fitted in one box and it was a hobby rather than a lifestyle choice lol! Now I have more stash than I could possibly ever use and literally breathe crafting. The dare also stirred up some bizzare emotions. To start with I was frustrated and worried that I couldnt do what I was used to, then annoyance when the ideas wouldnt come, then pride when finally I finished it and it didnt look anything like my normal ones. If you join in please let me know how you felt along this new path too.

now to the card .....

Decoupage Friends

Decoupage is something I dont do for a few reasons, firstly cutting them out makes my hands hurt (as you know I have MS so detail work can be a bit painful), secondly I rarely find designs I like and thirdly, I just dont have the patience for it. But looking through the designs in my local craft shop I was taken by the simplicity of the Paper Nation range of papers, as well as the simple decoupage designs, they also do matching background paper.

I chose the crafters one as I liked the idea of the two friends (the sheet also had scissors, cups of tea and paper round the edge but I didnt use them). it was a very basic card this week so all I did was carefully (yep and painfully!) cut out the designs and reassemble according to the numbers on the sheet. Then I mounted it on a patterned card blank by PaperMania. They are so handy just for sticking a simple topper on for a quick card. The colours are yummy too.

So there you go, a quick and simple card this week, but one that definately took me away from my comfort zone. I enjoyed it and like the end result but I dont think decoupage is something I really have the skill (or Patience) for.

Thank you everyone too for their congratulations on my engagement news. The planning is in full flow for what is looking likely to be a September wedding so will keep you updated with all the goss!

Till next time doodle doo!

2007-02-21T21:59:00.000Z

MidWeek Blog....

Are you impressed, its only Wednesday, I am blogging and all without prompting! I am afraid it may be boring but its the thoughts that count right?

Have got quite a bit done this week. I have managed to cut and prepare all the bits and pieces to do 50 party invites that were ordered. A fantastic friend of mine has offered to come over and help in the putting together for me so by this time next week they will be done. I have also been busy with boring coursework stuff. At the moment I am doing a BA in Youth and Childhood Studies through the open university, good job I thrive on deadlines!

Apart from that not much going on? just a bit of surfing about on the net and mundane housewifey things. Found this tag on Kirsty's Blog so thought I would have a go ..

Given the prompts below - you have to explain who or what you were thinking or liked that day.

A vegetable - At the moment, sweetcorn, in a tin or on the cob, cant get enough!
A fruit - Strawberries (preferbly with meringue and squirty cream!!)
A colour - At the moment as dreary as it sounds I am loving slate grey
A household object - hmmm I am not a natural housewife! but i would say my JBL stereo and Ipod dock (god I am such a geek sometimes!
A Drink - Fresh juice, this week am switching between apple, orange and exotic fruit
A famous person - John Barrowman, one word.. YUM!
A Film Character - You know what am not a big film person
A cartoon Character - Its not a cartoon but does kids tv count? if so Dibdab, scribble and Stick from Doodle Do
A Car - Well obviously I love Geoffry my fiesta but I think ultimately my car of the moment is the Rx-8 (wankle! hmm makes no sense unless you are a petrolhead)
A city - hmm difficult one, I love the culture of Barcelona
A country - hmm no idea
A mythical Creature - Angels
A chocolate bar - Twirls or Crunchies
A book - No way can I narrow it down to one, depends on my mood!
A sport - I am sorry have you ever seen the size of me? Although I love motorsport
A word -I love words, I am using "shocking" way too much lately
One of your family - My nan, at the front of my thoughts every single day
One of your friends - Can I have 2? Michelle, for helping me so much with my cards at the moment, and Emma for offering to do a major favour for me which will save about £1000! ..which leads nicely onto the news I promised to share...

I AM GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!! either late this year or next but wheels are definately in motion.

And on the bombshell I bid you goodnight xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2007-02-15T22:42:00.000Z

I dare ya!...

yep its Friday again and that can only mean one thing - ITS DARE TIME!!!

This week it was Jane's turn to dare us all. She said to create a card with more than one fold. Well I think she had trifold, concertina etc cards in mind but I decided to think outside the box a little bit this week and go for cards with folds on them, but still on a single fold card. Clear as mud? Let me explain, this week my cards (yes cards! I actually managed 2!!!) used the waterfall technique and iris Folding, and I am doubly proud of them cos they use some yummy stamps and I am totally pants at stamping.

Iris Folded Baby Card.

I started by cutting a square from a piece of scrummy pink textured cardstock. Then I had printed off a template but it didnt fit my gap or stamp so I kinda made it up.

Using a mix of pink paper from Blonde Moments and Me and My Big Ideas (dont know what one) I created a iris design. I stamped a baby vest from the gorgeous Hero Arts Baby 4 piece stamp set onto plain white cardstock in black staz-on in. I then use watercolour pencils and a water brush to lightly colour the image. Stuck it all together and mounted on a white square card blank. Pretty in pink!

Baby Waterfall.

This card isnt as complicated to make as it looks and when you pull the tab at the bottom the pictures flip up and fold over one by one - its a great effect which looks great.

I used fantastic instructions from Splitcoast Stampers using spare offcuts of cardstock for the mounts and mechanism and the heroarts stamps and watercolours for the pictures.

On the pully out bit and the top of the card I used black rub on greetings by papermania. finished off with 2 white brads and a scrap of white ribbon

Well the excitement of making two cards before the deadline has worn me out and I must retire to bed with a crafting book. Actually a rather inspiring album one I found in our local library! Dont forget to check out The Daring CardMakers to see what everyone else has created this week.

I will be back in a couple of days I promise, if not you can all poke me with a sharp stick. Buh-bye xxxxx

2007-02-14T22:26:00.000Z

Happy Valentines Day

I hope everyone has had a fab valentines day and got lots of nice things for their beloved? I got a card and a rose, as well as a yummy cooked meal by candlelight ahhhhhh! Jacob got his first valentine too, although it was from his Nanna! Any really romantic boyfriends out there?

Mine has been driving me mad this week as he is off work with a pulled stomach muscle (although you would think he was dying!). No wait please dont feel sorry for him its self inflicted. You know the new Nintendo Wii system, and sword game they have been advertising. Well W at the ripe age of 34, has hurt himself playing with his toys!

Anyhow, thanks Kathy for the subtle reminder that the week was getting on and I hadnt blogged. Seriously tho my life is that boring there is very little to blog about. On the crafty side I have been quite busy, having recieved an order for 50 ruby wedding party invites and enquiries about a civil partnership stationery package. I have also made a altered clock for my mummy(pics soon I promise) as well as already nearly done on this weeks card for DCM (now that is a first!)

Well just a quick entry tonight as the other half needs my attention, after all its Valentines day., will be back friday with the Dare, and maybe early next week with some exciting news!

Love to everyone, everywhere! xxx

2007-02-09T09:17:00.000Z

Read All about it!

There is no denying that the media is all around us. this week our dare was set by the lovely Gillian. She dared us to use the Media in our cards - either through as inspired designs or even using real magazines and newspapers in our work. The other girls over on Daring Card Makers have come up with some stunning ideas so pop on over and have a look.

I am afraid my card this week was made in a bit of a hurry and I have been a bit under the weather with earache.

Bundle Of Joy

As seems to be usual lately I started with a square plain white card blank. I found a mothercare catalogue and found a picture of a baby (I loved this one, and gave other half a heart attack in the process wondering why mothercare catalogues were in the house again!) I mounted the picture onto a piece of blue textured card from a DCWV All Occasion Stack and then onto a yummy piece of Blue Baby Bottle Glitter Card. Its lovely stuff but a pain in the bum to stick! I gave up with the glue eventually and stuck it all together with a few small square brads

Using the same brads and backing cards I used a black papermania new baby rub ons to add the sentiment and attached it under the picture. Then to finish off I attached a lovely piece of sheer ribbon with Baby on it, from my local craft shop. Quick, simple and hopefully effective!

I promise promise promise to blog a little more regularly than once a week - if i havent done so by about monday evening you have permission to shout at me! xxx

2007-02-02T00:29:00.000Z

Love in in the air....

Its nearly Valentines Day, and this week we have something very speshal for you! This week we have teamed up with the great scrapping girls over on the Speshal Dares we hope to combine the world of scrapping and cardmaking in a lovey dovey way. This week we dare you, and each other to still make a card but with a scrapping style!

I struggled this week as my laptop has gone for repair (or replacement hopefully, he is very poorly) and I keep all my fonts, pictures everything on. It also means I can sort the main elements ready to do when Baby J has trundled off to bed. Alas this week that is not possible hence me sat card making at gone midnight as I am using W's computer and have all my stuff over the living room floor hehehe!

With You

This week my base was a 5x5 ready made card blank which i covered with the scrummy Cherry Drops paper from Blonde Moments. I then printed a yummy picture of my beloved (without his sunglasses on which in itself is a miracle!)and mounted that onto an offcut of the same paper. Using the lyrics from "With You" by Jessica Simpson and white Royal and Langbickel rubons in Ian and Faith alphabets I created the message on the front. I also highlighted the words "Baby" and "you" with Paper Cellar Foam stickers. The word "beautiful" from the lyrics was done with the white rubons and an offcut of the cherry drops paper. I surrounded the word "you" with a white metal label holder from maya road and attached it with thin pink ribbon. I also dotted a heart and I *HEART* U stickers on the card but not sure where they are from *oops*

Finally using a white pen I drew a heart and wrote the date the photo was taken along the side.

Why not have a go at making a scrapbook inspired card for a loved one this week? Dont forget to check out Daring Card Makers and the Speshal Dares to see what both design teams made.

Big loves and kisses this week **MWAH!**

2007-01-19T01:53:00.000Z

Through the Round window....

Or the square window or the arched window! They were the words of Rhi as she set the dare over at Daring Card Makers this week. She was of course talking about apertures - she doesnt care what they are or where they are as long as the card has at least one.

Hmmm thinking caps on then. Well I was quite impressed this week cos I had the design all sorted in my head, it was just finding the time to commit it to crafty bits. You see as well as my own little monkey Baby J turning 1 this week and a birthday party to organise, a degree essay to write and a million other things to do,I also have my neice staying for 2 weeks. Did I mention my neice is only 9 weeks old. So yes picture me, a house full of madness, a german shepard who thinks he is a scottie and 2 children - oh and a boyfriend who has the good sense to go to work!

Anyhow I finally got down to the card at 10am thursday night (I know nothing like dead lines) and for a change the robo was happy to play and cut the right thing (template made for me by Stressed over at UkScrappers , at the right size in the right place! yeah I know i was surprised too. Bonus I thought, and there shoulda been my clue cos it all fell apart from then in. The pack of foils I had didnt contain a red piece which was in my minds design, ah well use a gold piece. All well and good but then my foiling pen decided it didnt want to work - shoddy workman ship! Last time I fork out for a poundland bargain. So I thought in compromise I would draw the line with gold pen which I did, and it looked Pants, big fat day, loose elastic, dodgy patterned Granny Pants!

So I had a minor strop at W, and which in his sympathetic (HA!) way he told me to stop moaning and get on with it. So I did a little creative editing. I put thin satin ribbon fromCrafts By Carolyn over the rubbish lines which I attached with little red flowers and mini brads (from Sarahs Cards. I then backed the aperture with a piece of gold foil, complained a bit more and called it a night!

And here is the card, I am not happy with it, but I really loved the one I made last week so that could be part of it :S

Will be back to blog a little more later about Baby J's birthday, and other goings on in my mundane little life. Until then why not pop on over to see us
Daring Card Makers and have a go at a window of your own?

T xxx

2007-01-11T12:34:00.000Z

Handbags and Gladrags .....

This Weeks Dare was set by Lovely Lythan Her dare was

Raid your wardrobes!
This week I want you to get some inspiration from your clothes. Look through the wardrobe, drawers (or washing piles in my case). Are there any patterns that inspire you? A certain way the clothes are put together? You can echo the patterns in some way or even scan your clothes in! OR use something that would go on clothing on your card.
Yes, this week ours will be the best dressed cards in the neighbourhood!

Well to be honest the first thing I did was panic after all the only thing my wardrobe contains is Jeans, and only blue jeans at that, cue artistic director W with his bright ideas (actually give him credit he does design quite a bit for me!) and said why not look at your Radley Bags.

I have a soft spot for the stupidly expensive but 0h-so-lush Radley range of handbags but sadly as my Nan used to say "champagne tastes and beer money", however I also have a very generous sister in Law who has purchased them as birthday pressies! I know how lucky am I!

So with a large portion of design input from 'im Indoors meet my Radley inspired card, and for once I am pleased with it!!

Rising Flower Radley Design

Firstly I used a handbag card blank from CraftWork Cards as a template as it was the wrong colour, I drew it onto black card and cut it out. I then stuck a strip of pale blue textured card across the bottom of it. Using the same card and the autotrace function on my Robo friend (I am pleased to report we have settled out technical differences and are once again very much in love) to cut the radley dog logo. I cut a strip of the same card for a collar and set a white eyelet to hold the ribbon to make it into the trademark tag. I also used a knitting needle (technical gadgets me!) to emboss the word RADLEY on the dog.

Using a white gel pen I drew faux (read cheaters way!) stitching with a white gel pen around the edge of the dog and the cardstock strip. I also drew a stitched flower design on the side of the bag. I also used a pencil to add stitching round the handbag itself.

This is the stunning bag that inspired me and it can be seen with the entire collection on the Radley Website and purchased for the heartbreaking price of around £100!

Daring Card makers would also like to welcome the talented Gillian to our team and wish her all the best as she joins us on our creative Journey.

Well then my blogging friends I am off now until Sunday to visit my mummy where she is holding a 1st birthday party for Baby J. I am sure its all a mistake and he isnt actually 1 yet! On my return I promise to blog more as I read a comment (cant remember who from sorry!) on their blog about the dissappointment that we only blog on launch day. I promise to make an effort!

Till next time handbag lovers xxxx

2007-01-05T13:15:00.000Z

Diamonds are a girls best friend...........

Well they would be if I had any hint hint hint! Tell a lie I have a lovely ring that W bought me for my birthday but still its not the engagement kind lol!!!!

Anyhoo the Bling-Bling was the theme behind this weeks dare set by the lovely Lynda. She challenged us to use Bling and Beads to add a little sparkle into our lives.

This weeks card nearly had me throwing my Robo out the window in frustration, hence we have a simple card this week before I gave up in frustration.

Engagement Congratulations
As I said due to technical differences this weeks card was a bit simple, but I am actually quite pleased with it. I started with a Tall pure white card blank and run a strip of blue American Crafts ribbons along the bottom. Using a piece of metallic blue card I cut the words Congratulations (minus the o!) in Lucidia Calligraphy on my craft robo. Then again using the robo and gold card I printed an engagement ring (using a template from Diane on
UKScrappers.

Using my KandiKane hotfix Crystal wand I attached a heart shapes crystal for the ring stone and 3 small round crystals at the bottom of the ribbon. Et Voila, an engagement card with a bit of bling ;)

Please head on over to Daring Card Makers to see what other ideas the design team came up with, dont forget to drop us a line with your creations too!

Till next week - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2006-12-29T11:13:00.000Z

Its friday again! ....

And time for the last dare of the year. I hope you all had a great christmas and that Santa was very generous with his crafty shopping? If so we have just the thing for you to try your goodies out on.

This week over at Daring Cardmakers we are daring you to make a Simple and Stylish Thank You Card, just right for all the load of thank you cards and notes that need making.

Here's mine for this week, a quick and simple one as I have loads to do and not enough time to do it!

Thanks

I started off with a small light tan cardstock base, and mounted a square cut from a squared paper from March 05's Self Addressed kit. It aleady had a white edging so I left that on too.
I then mounted a ready made twig heart embellishment in the centre.

Finally using a black pen I handwrote THANKS.

Quick simple and to the point this week.

Please head on over to The Blog to check out the design teams work and leave us a comment showing us your creations. Next time I speak to you it will be 2007, so I would like to wish you all a Happy new year and may it bring health, wealth, happiness and all you wish for. xxxx

2006-12-22T00:13:00.001Z

Merry Christmas......

And a Happy New Year!!!!

Its a Friday and you know what that means in blogland? Yes its the release of the last dare before Christmas. This time we are asking you to design a New years card using the following recipe

3 Brads or Eyelets

2 Different Patterned Papers

A punchie or Die cut

I had a right old palavar trying to get this weeks card uploaded, seems my camera is on its Christmas Break already - First we had no battery power, then no focus, then "internal Memory Error" but finally after threats of being put on Santas Naughty List and being replaced I managed to upload it. Please excuse the dodgy photo, the light this time of year is awful.

Happy New Year

I started this one with a Blank white A6 Size card blank and covered the top portion with a green stripe pattern running vertically and the bottom part with a dotty pattern running vertically (Both papers are from a DCWV Scrapbook in a Kit Stack). I then disguised the join with a yummy blue ribbon from American Crafts. I used three pieces of the same ribbon and made them into tabs and attached them in the top right with light blue Making Memories star shaped brads. Then using Colin, my new Craft Robo (sssshh dont tell Santa I used it) I cut the greeting in light blue and the mat in green from the same DCWV kit as before.

Hope you like it and I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and get everything you wish for.

2006-12-08T11:41:00.000Z

Stamp yourself Silly ....................
It was Keryns turn to set the dares over at Daring Card Makers this week, and boy what a good one. Keryns plan was to get us to stamp with a difference. She wanted us to create a card using stamping, but not using conventional commercial stamps hmmm, surprisingly inspiration hit instantly and off i went....

Wheelie Great Birthday

For this one I inked up the Wheels of the other halfs remote control car (ssshhh!) and drive it over the paper to create a typre track border. I then used a offcut of black leather I had laying about. On that I mounted a plain piece of card bordered with checked ribbon with my Wheelie Birthday greeting on it. I then 34 mounted a steering wheel keyring I got when I brought my car, Geoffery.

Tiny Package

This one is my favourite out of my two. My other half is forever making "baby footprints" using his hand on steamed up windows so I made him make me one too. He curled his hand, dipped it in pink ink and stamped onto the paper, then used his little finger to stamp toes. I then mounted that on flowery pink rob and bob studio paper. I used a black rub on greeting to a piece of white card and attached it behing a pink slide mount, and created a double layered flower using blooms from Sarahs Cards and a pink mini brad. I then attached both of them onto a piece of yummy pink American Crafts ribbon which I attached to the side of the card.

Dont forget to get yourself over to Daring Card Makers to see other creations by the Design team. Did you know if you check out their individual blogs there are normally more detailed information about each one?

Till next week bloggers xxx

2006-12-01T10:00:00.000Z

Sing When You're Winning .....

This week was Kel's turn to dare us all. Our Dare was inspired by her fabby blog and we were to make a card using a song title or lyrics. Hmmmm was a lot harder than I thought as my mojo seems to have gone on christmas break already. I tried 4 or 5 designs till I come up with an idea I actually half liked so here it is

Material Girl

I used a white square card blank this week for a change. I matted a dark pink textured cardstock with rob and bobs dot stripe paper and stuck that flat to the base. I used the rob and bob sizzix dress die to cut the dress from the same paper, using black to accentuate the trim. I also added a hand punched flower. I then 3d mounted the dress on foam pads. Then using my new friend Colin (the craft robo) I cut the words MATERIAL GIRL and stuck them down the side. This weeks was simple and to the point, but I think it meets the challenge. Why not head on over to Daring Card Makers now and show us your cards too?

Cyber Sunday
Remember Kathys fab Christmas Tree card from last weeks dare? Well on Sunday Scrapstars are hosting a cyber crop, and Kathy has kindly provided a class on how to make it. Unfortunately Kathy is away this weekend so I am standing for her. There are fabulous activities running from 9am - 9pm, my class is at 2pm and I will be around to help with any questions then. I hope to see you there!