Charisma Cardz Challenge #4

The challenge this week over on Charisma Cardz was set by Vee and it is to use 'Black, white and one other colour of your choice'. I really enjoyed this and my one other colour I chose was 'Pink'.

I've used 'Whisper Fairies - Flower' for the image. She has been coloured using copics and sakura stardust pink and clear, using a waterbrush. This is the first time I've waterbrushed the sakura pens, but I must thank Poppet for her fab tutorial on how she does some of her colouring, and this was one of her techniques. I waterbrushed her wings, legs, the white areas of her skirt, flower and the edge of the image, unfortunately none of the sparkle can be seen in the pic, but I really loved the softness of the sparkle by applying it in this way and will definately be playing with this technique lots more, thanks Pops xx. So not to add another colour I didn't colour her skin and left white with just a touch of pink to her cheeks. Inked the edges in black and used a corner punch to round the corners. The black, white and pink patterned paper is from Kanban and the other paper is from my scraps stash. Added two fabric flowers with large pink gem brads (from the Range) through the centre and waterbrushed a touch of the clear sakura stardust to the black petals. To finish I've added some tiny black gems and flat pearls to three of the corners and then a line along the edge of the paper below the image. I've left it sentiment free, so it can be used for a number of occassions.

The Sugar Bowl Challenge #3

This week over on The Sugar Bowl the challenge theme is 'Love & Romance'.

I've used SN stamp 'Pen Pal', it's the first time I've got round to using her. Coloured with copics and highlighted areas with sakura stardust and metallic pens. Background was chalked and inked around the edges. Cut the image and pink card mount using square scalloped nesties, then trimmed one straight edge on the image punched two corner hearts and threaded through some green ribbon from stash and tied in bow, then mounted onto the pink scalloped card slightly off sync. The stripey paper was free with the latest issue of Papercraft Inspirations. The two corners were done using the same green card as the base and punched the hearts so the pink stripes could be seen through them, doodled some straight stitches with pink sakura stardust on the outer edges. To finish added a fabric and sequin flower with a green brad through the centre, then three other sequin flowers with small green gems in the centres. S.W.A.L.K was handwritten, using a green Whisper pen.

Your feedback is needed

Emma over on Metallic Butterfly has what could be a great idea for a new blog, but she would like as much feedback as possible to see if her idea will work. Are you intrigued? Well click HERE, to find out more.

Funky Fairys Challenge #1

It's the first challenge this week over on Funky Fairys Challenge Blog and the theme is 'Valentines'. You can make a card or any other craft project as long as you use at least one item from Funky Fairys Papercrafts whether it was purchased from their shop or a free download.


I've made a 'Valentines' pillow box using the free download 'Loving It Simple' from Funky Fairy Inspirations. The wording is the 'Loved Themed Word Art' available from the Funky Fairys Shop. I cut the word art out using my square scalloped nesties and as there was a black lined box around the wording I went over theses with sakura stardust black and added more lines for a striped effect. I made the tag by cutting the hearts with the Fiskars shapecutter and layering them, punched a hole through top of heart threaded some black cord adding some beads and a little heart charm with jump rings. The three hearts to the other side were cut again using the shapecutter in the red paper from my scraps and matching paper to the pillow box from the download set.

Sorry about the shadow on the second picture, I just wanted to show the pillow box at a different angle.

Look what the postie brought me

I recieved these lovely images this morning from the lovely Clare, and look at the gorgeous wallet she made to keep them in and the equally gorgeous matching notepad, thank you Clare they are lovely and were a joy to recieve amongst the bills and junk mail xxx

Funky Fairy Giveaway and New Challenge Blog

Funky Fairy has for one lucky winner the bumper 'Ecclectic Lurve Kit' to download. Nip over to Funky Fairy Inspirations to take a peek at the kit and to enter by leaving a comment then a post to it on your blog, you have until Sunday 1st Feb.

Also Funky Fairys have started up their new challenge blog, with a new challenge every Wednesday. This weeks challenge has been set and there is also a DT call. Visit Funky Fairys Challenge Blog.

I've been tagged again

I've been tagged again this time by Ewonne, Mel and Lynsey, thank you ladies. It's the same rules:

Go to where you keep your photo's choose the 6th folder and the 6th photo.

As I've already done this once, I decided to go the picture folders of the pics I've taken on my mobile.

This is a picture of my handsome godson Nathan, taken in their home a matter of weeks before this lounge and the rest of the downstairs was under a couple of feet of water due to the floods.

Now I'm supposed to pass this on to 6 more people, but I did this the other day and I've noticed many other bloggers have now had this, so I'm passing this on to anyone who would like to join in for fun, and remember if you can please pass it on to 6 others.

Ooohhh A New Award

Thank you to the lovely Hazel for this new award, if your not already familiar with Hazels blog, then please hop over and take a look at her wonderful cards and ATC's.

Thank you to Clare, who also gave me this fab award. Please visit Clare's blog as well as her gorgeous creations she has some blog candy for one luck winner to celebrate 3,000 hits to her blog, you have until Saturday 31st to enter.

Here are the rules:

a) First list 10 honest things about yourself making them interesting
b) Pass this onto 7 other bloggers who you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap.

Well here I go, these are probably more honest 'crap' then interesting...lol.

1. I always have to leave the landing light on at night, I hate the house being in total darkness.

2. I like to swim and I'm a fairly strong swimmer, but wont go out of my depth unless I can swim along the edge of the pool.

3. My middle name is Christine, after my mum.

4. I'm a born worrier, and will worry about the silliest of things.

5. I treat Mollie (the dog) as if she was a real kid, well to me she is, she's my baby...lol.

6. I'm a compulsive spender for crafty things, though I'm sure I'm not alone on that one.

7. I have two younger brothers Daniel and Jamie, and last year I gained an older step-brother and younger step-sister, Patrick and Fiona.

8. I was born in and lived in Sussex until moving to Yorkshire with Steve in 1996.

9. I have been with Steve 15 years this year, and we've been engaged just over a year, so not holding my breath for a quick wedding date.

10. I have a degree in Psychology and graduated in 2002.

Phew, are you still awake??

Right the 7 I'm passing to are:

Louise, Maree, Moni, SueH, Poppy, Tasha and Heather

Right I best go let them all know.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #36

'Love is the Air' this week over on A Spoon Full of Sugar.

I thought now was as good a time as any to try and tackle Steve's valentine's card.

The heart patterned panels are a stamp, which was actually the first ever stamp I bought, so it's nearly 5 years old, I've always loved it. Stamped and heat embossed with black sparkle embossing powder coloured with H2O's and sakura black glaze. Sentiment was done on the PC then cut the sentiment hearts using Fiskars shapecutter. The background is red paper and I have stamped flourishes around the edges and slightly onto the sentiment heart as well. Added black ribbon around the edges as a kind of frame and added a little red button to each corner with some narrow black ribbon tied through. Sorry the picture isn't very good, it's nice and sunny out, so was hard to get the right light, but I guess we should'nt complain about any sun that we are lucky to get.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Dawny's Sketch #7

This is my first entry to the Papertake Weekly Challenge, which this week, is a sketch by Dawny.


I've used my SN stamp ' A Good Book', her book, blouse, hair bow, trouser turn-ups and patches have been paper pieced and the rest of her was coloured using copics. Chalked round the edges with orange and green and added a little gold ink then lightly sanded, not sure whether it was a bit too much, but oh well never mind, finally added a little diamond glaze to her heart pendant. The papers are from Making Handmade Cards, I cut the flowers out from the paper that I used on the middle panel and stuck them to the blank panel. The sentiment was done on the PC and again chalked with a touch of gold ink to the edges. Below is this weeks sketch to follow:

Hmmmm, still not sure about that chalking, ink and sanding around the edge of the image, we can only but learn from our mistakes I guess.

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge #16

This week over on JCBC is a fabulous sketch by Mada, I loved this sketch so much that I did a christmas and birthday card this week.

The image is Bex from Pollycraft Designs, coloured her with copics. Cut her out with Fiskars shapecutter and matted onto lilac card, also cut using shapecutter, and inked edges in purple, added a couple of gems either side of Bex, to try and hide an unwanted smudge. The papers are from Kanban. Added ribbon down the side with some punched flowers in pearlised lilac card and added a little gem to the centre of each flower. The sentiment is a peel-off mounted onto the lilac pearlised card with a flower punched out.

The poinsettia's were cut out from ribbon and layered three times with silicon. Circles were cut again with the fiskers shapecutter. The base card is gold, the tartan background is from Kanban and then used textured green card for the side panel. Added some tartan ribbon down the side with some gold coloured brads. The sentiment is a peel-off (my printer is out of ink) mounted onto the gold and green card. Below is this weeks sketch:

I also found out last night that I was the random winner for last weeks challenge on JCBC, woohoo...it's the first time I've won anything in the blog world, so was really chuffed.

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Now for my ramblings.....

Feeling a bit better again today but had a terrible evening last night, Steve's second youngest, Sarah, had been poorly with this cold/flu last week, but was feeling better so went back to work yesterday, only to come down very poorly again by the end of the day. When we called her, she was talking as if she was very drunk all slurred and a lot of jibberish. We called her sister who lives in Leeds, as she was nearer to Halifax and could get there quicker then us, who rushed over to check she was alright. Thankfully by the time her sister arrived, 1/2 an hour later, she was starting to speak more clearly. Sarah said that when she left work her head felt fuzzy and her legs felt light, she jumped in a taxi home, and in this time she got a terrible headache. She took some painkillers and when we called was when she realised she couldn't speak properly or get the words she wanted to say out. She thinks this lasted for about an hour. Her sister called NHS Direct for some advice, and they didn't seem too worried as it had now passed and was more than likely due to the flu virus still in her system and with returning to work before full recovery, so to just keep an eye on her and if it happened again to call her GP or call an ambulance. We managed to persuade her to come home for a few days so someone was with her, so her sister, Karen, drove her over to us. I can quite honestly say I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so ill and pale. She went straight to bed and slept through the night and this morning she thankfully has a bit more colour to her cheeks. We suggested that maybe she should go see a doctor, but is insistant that she'll be ok, and that she probably just over done things. She is 25 so we can't very well force her, we'll just keep on eye on her, but at least she is home with us and can be looked after.

Sorry for the long post. But one last thing, I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has been wishing me and Steve well over the past few days, what lovely friend's you all are, thank you xxx

Good Morning and an award.

Well I feel I've gone backwards again with this cold, so full of it again today. Not been out for a couple of days, but need to today to do the things we put off on Friday, maybe the fresh air will be good, just hope it stays dry.

I've recieved this lovely award from the lovely Jill, thank you Jill xxx

If you've never visited Jill's blog before, it's well worth a visit, her work is wonderfully inspiring.

I think most of you now have this award, so I'm going to be naughty again and opt out of passing this award on to anyone specific, but if you don't happen to have this award, please take this award from me. As always these awards are much appreciated, thank you xx

Right I'm going to go for a bit of a hop around the blog world with my coffee in hand, before I venture out into the normal world. Hope you all have a lovely day, and hopefully I'll be back with a card or two later xx

Sketch Saturday #35

This week over on Sketch Saturday there is a fab sketch to follow.

The image is by Chris Dark called 'Daisy Crazy' and is available to download on Chris's new blog Sketching Stamper Digi-Stamps. I've coloured with watercolour pencils (you thought I was gonna say copics didn't you...lol). Lightly chalked the background and mounted onto green/gold shimmer card. The papers are PM Olivine Essence. Ribbon is from stash. Flowers cut in the bug using one of the dies from the 'Garden Creatures' set, using the green/gold shimmer card and the same paper as used for the scalloped panel. Sentiment is a stamp, which I've again lightly chalked and mounted onto the green/gold shimmer card. Below is the sketch followed:

Feeling loads better again today, still sniffling but feeling more myself. Steve's a bit better too today after lots of remedies, hotwater bottles, steaming and a good curry last night. His face is still swollen but not as much and he says the pain is virtually gone, but he has started with a cough through the night, which woke me up at 5 o'clock this morning, hence why I got two challenges done before 9 o'clock. Anyway, hope you all have a lovely day whatever your plans xx

One Stop Craft Challenge #13

The theme this week over on One Stop Crafts is 'Charmed'. You can create any piece of craft as long it has a charm somewhere on it.

Well I needed to make two bookmarks for a swap in February, so I thought they would be perfect for this challenge.

They are both the same layout, cutting all the detail on the bug using the 'Floral Borders' die. One is brown and pink the other purple and lilac. I added jump rings onto each of the charms then threaded onto ribbon with a couple of large beads.

Button ATC's

These are for a swap I'm hosting this month over on the Crafty Friends Forum, my theme was to include at least one button on each ATC. I've recieved most of the ATC's from those taking part this month so I thought I'd best get mine done, so this is what I've been doing all afternoon.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #16

This week over on SCSC is a challenge set by the lovely Jane. The theme or should it be recipe, is '1, 2, 3' - 1 image, 2 papers and 3 embellishments. Really enjoyed this one, made me think, which was good to take my mind off this horrible cold I've got.

Used one of my new SN stamps ' Claudia the Artist' coloured her with copics, with a touch of Sakura metallic silver on her jewellery, cut her out using oval nesties slightly at an angle and chalked the edges in blue. The papers are from PM Venetian Skies collection. My Three embellishments are flowers which were white but I've chalked them a pale blue, brads and the dingly-dangly which I made with paper beads, made from the papers I used, and some pearl beads inbetween.


Well as I mentioned I'm full of cold, but actually feeling much better then I was yesterday, my glands have gone back down and the sore throat seems to have worn off after a couple of coffee's this morning. Steve's not fairing so well, one side of his face is a bit swollen today with his sinus's, I really feel for him when he gets this, pain killers hardly touch the pain. Thankfully the heating seems to be back in working order, after Steve fiddled about with it all, so at least we can stay warm.
Hope you all have a great weekend xxx

One Stop Craft Challenge #12

This week over on One Stop Craft the challenge was set by Eleanor and the theme is 'Craft like an Egyptian or countries in general'.

The image is a decoupage image I had stashed away, the layers are built up using silicon. The background is a Kanban Egyptian postcard sheet. Have inked the showing edges of the base card and lightly sanded then snipped off two of the corners of the card. Added three buttons threaded with frayed string.

Charisma Cardz Challenge #3

This week over on Charisma Cardz is a challenge set by Paula and the theme is 'LOVE'.

This is the other Valiversary card I needed to do for a couple who celebrate their wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day. I used the 'Hearts' Fiskars shape cutter to cut out the hearts. I've done a kind of loose weave effect with checked ribbon on the black heart, then layered two smaller hearts and a jewelled black heart in the centre. Added some black and red card panels to the side with a button on each, which were threaded with ribbon or cord. The sentiment was done on the PC and I doodled the cross stitching around the edge. To finish I added some circle and heart gems to the top corner edge.

I'm not feeling too well today, swollen glands, sore throat and the dreaded sniffles, Steve's the same but he also has terrible sinus pain, which is a common problem for him. So both feeling a bit sorry for ourselves today...lol. And to top it all off the heating has gone on the blink, so Steve's mucking about with that, he always likes to have a go at fixing things before he calls the experts..lol.

Hope everyone is having a nice day.

I've been Tagged

I've been tagged by Val. The instructions are to go to where you keep your photo's on your PC, choose the 6th folder and then the 6th photo and post on your blog and tell about it. Well this sounds like fun so here's my pic.

This was a taken a few years ago on holiday in the Algarve. I love dolphins and it was my birthday and this was Steve's present to me, to swim with Dolphins, at Zoomarine, Algarve. This is an experience I will treasure for life, the dolphin was called Orna. This picture was getting to know her, I then swam with her, and was then pulled along by two other dolphins, an unforgettable experience that words really can't explain.

Right here are my six:

Louise - The Lou-natic Asylum

Tasha - Millie's Magical Moments

Emma - Crafty Emma

Angel - Angel's Delight's

Ju - A Little Bit of Cornishmist

Sue - Hammer Sue's Blog

Ladies you have been tagged!!

This is only for fun, and if you really don't want to play, you really don't have to.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #35

This week over on A Spoonful of Sugar the theme is 'Oh Baby'.

"create a card for a New Baby, Mum-to-be, New Mum or Pre-schooler".

This fab image is called 'Bearing Love' designed by the talented Chris Dark, you can now purchase this and other lovely images on Chris's new blog, Sketching Stamper Digi-Stamps. Coloured image with copics and added some sakura black glaze to the nose and eyes. The papers are from my scraps stash. The button is sewn on to the fabric flower and also with the thread I hung the 'Baby Girl' button from the flower. Used some pink lace from my crafting stash then finished with two pink flower buttons and a yellow heart button wth some pink thread tied through each.

Hope everyone's had a lovely day.

Blog Sherbert

The ever so talented Paula from Pollycraft Designs is about to launch her new stamp range 'Sharing Sherbert' on the 1st February. To mark the launch Paula has, for one lucky winner, the full set of 'Sharing Sherbert' and a gorgeously hand decorated by Paula, box to keep them in. So nip over to Paula's blog, Tales from Pollycraft to enter and to take a look at this fabulous new stamp range. Those who know Paula's work will not be disappointed. The candy/sherbert ends 01/02/09.

Encouraged Award

I have been recieving some lovely awards recently, so thank you to all of you for thinking of me and my little ole blog, it is much appreciated. And just to let you know, after posting the awards I then put them on to a slide show which can be seen at the bottom of the page with a list of names which are linked to that persons blog so please don't think I don't show them, I just thought the slideshow was a better way to display them. Of course I'll always do a post when they are recieved, which brings me on to this fab award from the lovely Val.

Val has a lovely blog and her cards are beautiful and well worth a look so please hop over to Val's blog The Crafting Pad. Thank you Val for this lovely award.

The rules are:

To link to the person who sent it to you.

List five things you are addicted to.

And pass on to five others.

Well here are my five of my many addictions:

1. Buttons - I'm currently addicted to buttons...lol, this is a new one, but I've gone from having a handful to about ten handfuls, and still want more.

2. Cardmaking & Papercrafts (obviously).

3. My Steve and Mollie the dog.

4. Smoked Trout, blooming expensive but just can't get enough of it recently.

5. Thursday's as ER has started it's final series, will be so sad when it finishes for good, I've not missed one episode in the 15 years it's been running, oh and my other favourite Skins starts tonight too, new bunch of kids this time, so hope it'll be as good as the last two series.

I'm going to pass this award on to some fairly newbie bloggers who are:

Angel - Angel's Delight's

Sarah - Create & Blog

Mariell - Mariell's Little Corner

Moni - Moni Creates

Maree - The Twins Mum

These ladies have lovely blogs and have only been going either for a few weeks or just a couple of months, so please pay them a visit if you haven't already done so.

Off to quickly tell the above ladies, then I'm off to visit my godson and his mum for some lunch, hopefully be back with a card a little later. Have a lovely day xx

Just got back and found another lovely award from Sarah, thank you Sarah xxx

And also from the lovely Louise, thank you Louise xxx

I'll not pass this on, but leave it for anyone who doesn't have this award and would like it, but if you do take it please could you spare a few minutes to visit Sarah's blog - Create & Blog and Louise's blog - The Lou-natic Asylum, both show beautiful creations on their blogs and some fab daily life ramblings which often make me smile or laugh, both are lovely ladies with a fab sense of humour. Thank you xxx

Tag Your It - week 41

I found this blog a few weeks ago with the idea of taking part, but it's taken me a couple of weeks to get started, but hey I got there in the end.

The theme this week over on Tag Your It is 'Sugar Candy Kisses'.

"This week it's time to get sweet with Sugar Candy Kisses. Whatever the title conjures up in your head, just go with it! It might be cinnamon muffins, iced cupcakes, jewel-jam tarts, sparkly love hearts, or melt-in-the-mouth chocolate....mmmmmm. Alternatively, it might be bright or pastel candy colours, pinks, yellows, mint greens - stripes, dots, swirls, ginghams and zig-zags... so many options to choose from!"

On my tidy and sort yesterday I found a sparkly cake with candles embellishment, which has been hidden away for years, so I thought it was about time it got used so this theme was perfect.

Sorry about the glare but it's a really shiney cake and as much as I tried there's always a glare on the pictures, so this was the best out of the lot. The papers are from my scraps stash. Added some sequins to the sides. Punched a hole at the top threaded some ribbon through and finished with a bow with a pearl in the centre.

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge #15

This week over on JCBC is a fabulous sketch by Simone. I've done a Christmas card, so still keeping up with my one christmas card a week resolution.

I used SN stamp 'Hug in a Mug', coloured her with copics and sakura stadust for that little bit of sparkle. Mounted onto pearlised purple card which was embossed with CB 'Swiss Dots'. The papers were freebies from Funky Fairy. The white shimmer card was also put through the bug using 'Swiss Dots'. Added some snowflake eyelets which were coloured with peel-off pens and a sparkly purple snowflake die-cut. I've left it sentiment free for now, so I can personalise it nearer Christmas, for whoever gets it. Unfortunately I'm not able to show you the sketch, like I normally would, as my PC didn't like the file, it was a JPEG, so not sure what the problem is..lol, PC being a little so and so I suspect.

Hope everyone's had a good day, been nice and sunny here, though a bit nippy, but I believe most of the UK is in for a bit of a soaking this evening, wish it was snow, would really love some. Have a good evening all.

Another award, how lucky am I.

This award is from the lovely Moni, thank you it is much appreciated. Moni makes beautiful jewellery and cards so please check out her lovely blog Moni Creates.

I am supposed to nominate 5 others which show great attitude and/or gratitude.

Well I believe all the blogs I visit show one or both, so as I have already nominated one award today, I would like to give this award to all my blog visitors and buddies as a thank you. So please if you would like it please help yourself and remember to pass it on.

New Blog Award

This lovely award is from the lovely Tasha, thank you. If you haven't already visited Tasha's blog, it's well worth a visit, her work is stunning so please nip over to Millie's Magical Moments and take a look, you wont be disappointed.

Right, I need to pass this award on to 5 other blogs. This is always so hard as there are so many gorgeous and inspirational blogs that I follow, and I have left the last few open for those who would like it, but I think I should make the effort this time round, so here are my five:

Ewonne - Through My Eyes

Ju - A Little Bit of Cornishmist

Val - The Crafting Pad

Angel - Angel's Delight's

Lynsey - Lynsey's Place

Right I best get a hopping to let these ladies know, then I best get off to bed. No cards today, decided to have a tidy up in my craft cave, which turned into a massive re-arrangement...lol, still not quite finished but should be sorted in the morning. Hope everyone has had a lovely day. Goodnight All xxx

Flippin Men Blog Candy

The fabulous Jak Heath, designer of the La Pashe Flippin Men range is marking 200,000 + hits to her blog and is offering the whole set of 20 Flippin Men sheets, 2 aperture cards and envelopes, 10 sheets of acetate, silicon and foam pads, so the winner can get started on them straight away. To enter visit Jak's blog Crafters Kitchen, and if you've never visited her blog before, where on earth have you been. Jak's work is stunning and so inspirational and there are some fab turorials too.

Pollycraft Challenge #7

The new challenge over on Pollycraft was set by DT member Ria and the fabulous theme is 'Flowers & Ribbons'. I think most of us love our flowers and ribbons, don't we? You can use as many flowers and ribbons as you like as long as there is at least one item from Pollycraft Designs be it papers, download images or stamps.

After such a lovely day yesterday, the weather today is very wet, windy and cold, so I fancied doing a bright coloured card, so please be warned, sunglasses maybe needed...lol





This is Bex, and she's been coloured in, yes you've guessed it, copics. Cut her out with oval scalloped nesties and inked the edges in pink. The green stripey paper is from ScrapKits and the fuschia pink card was from my scraps stash. The paper flowers are also from Pollycraft and were coloured again with copics and a touch of sakura stardust. Added a brad to the centre of each flower and three lengths of green ribbon were attached to the green flower. I've left off a sentiment for now so to be added at a later time, when I'll use the card. The picture does'nt really show the card as too bright, but believe me it is in the flesh.

Sketch and Stash Challenge #2

There's a great sketch to follow for the latest challenge over on Sketch and Stash. The rules for each challenge are to use something new, never used or just neglected. This week the team are looking for a guest designer.



This is my new 'Captain Jack' stamp by the talented Janet Roberts over on Pink Gem Designs. I bought him a few weeks ago and today I got to ink him up for the first time.
Coloured with copics, a touch of sakura metallic gold to the buckles and earring and sakura white glaze to the skull and crossbones on his hat. Lightly chalked the background with orange and added a brad to each corner. The background paper is from the PM Earth Tones Collection. The skull and crossbones is an image from a google search. The wording was done on the PC and lightly chalked with orange. Below is this weeks sketch:



Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Today is very miserable and damp, good day for crafting I think. Have a good day all.

ATC Swappers and Awards

Paul from Crafty Bloglocks has now set up a new blog for monthly ATC swaps. If your interested in taking part in monthly swaps then please hop over to the ATC Swappers, where you can find out all the info on how to participate and get a sneak preview of some of this months swaps.

I'm such a lucky girl lately. I recived both of these awards from the lovely Val, thank you Val it is much appreciated xx

If you've never visited Val's blog, it's well worth a visit, her creations are beautiful so hop over to The Crafting Pad for a peek.

The rules are to pass on to seven people, adding a link to their blogs and also a link to the person who sent you the award.

As I have had both these awards recently I will not pass on to anyone in particular, but whoever visits my blog today please take one or both these awards as a thank you from me.

Have a good day everyone.

Sketch Saturday #34

There' s a lovely sketch to follow this week over on Sketch Saturday.



The stamps are all various accent stamps put together and coloured with a mix of copics and watercolour pencils with the background chalked. The butterfly was stamped then cut out and sits slightly raised using silicon. Used the same patterned paper in the main background and for the scalloped circle (using nesties) that the image is mounted on. Cuttlebugged the green card with the swirls folder and lightly chalked with green. The scalloped purple card was embossed using the Romance keepsake board. All card and paper was from my scraps stash but I believe the patterened paper was from Kanban (doing well with my scraps lately). The panel is a patterned ribbon, from Crafty Ribbons, mounted onto some card then added a gem flower and some gem circles. Did the sentiment disc using nesties and peel-off sentiment. Below is this weeks sketch:

I'm a bit late with a card today but the weather was really lovely today, although chilly, so Steve and I went to the coast with Mollie. We ended up at Hornsea, where Mollie had a fab time on the beach , digging in the sand and running away from the waves...lol. Had a nice coffee and bacon butties sitting outside the seafront cafe. Then we drove a few miles up the the coast to Skirlington where there was a market and it just so happens there were two craft stalls there, well I couldn't just walk on past them, now could I?...lol, picked up a few bargains, best being a couple of cuttlebug die sets which were £10 each but had 50% off so got them for £5 each. So had a really enjoyable day, and feel better for the sea air, certainly blew the cobwebs away. Hope you've all had a lovely weekend.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #15

The challenge this week over on SCSC is the theme of 'Hearts' set my DT member Mandy.

I've been putting off and putting off the Valentine's cards, as I really struggle with them except with mine for Steve, I just feel they are something very personal and before I made my own cards I always struggled to find the right card for Steve. It maybe just me, a real romantic when it comes to Valentine's Day, but I know there are many that don't take it quite so seriously or even bother with it at all. Guess I'm just a soppy so and so...lol.

Anyway getting on, this is a Valiversary card as it's a valentines and anniversary card in one. I make two of these every year for my godson's parents.



The image is part of the Valentine Cuties by the talented Sally-Ann over on Grab-a-doodle-do, coloured the kitty with my copics and added a touch of sakura stardust pink to the outlines of the hearts and on the heart of the necklace. Embossed and cut out the two hearts using the Romance Keepsake Board, and mounted the cut-out kitty on to them. The flowers are from my crafting stash and I've sewn a heart button onto the centre of each. The sentiment was done on the PC. Added two pink gem hearts to two corners. All the papers used are some of the free papers in the latest issue of Simply Cards & Papercrafts.

Hope to try and get another card done later today. Hope everyone has a lovely day and a good weekend.

Charisma Cardz Challenge #2

The challenge over on Charisma Cardz this week was set by Leanne with the theme of 'Fantasy'.

Steve gave me a lovely fairy stamp for Christmas and I'd been waiting for a chance to use it.




I coloured her with copics (surprise, surprise..lol) then spent a good hour with my craft knife cutting her out. The paper is Dovecrafts ' Fantasy' range. Sat the image in the bottom corner using thick foam pads. The quote was from a google search of 'Fairy Quotes' and this quote is by Dainelle Steele and reads (incase you can't quite see it...) "If you see magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future". Chalked the background of the sentiment with green. The flowers were in my craft stash and then added a little bling with some pink and green gems.


Hope everyone's having a nice day, at least it's dry here for now, though a bit breezy, off to do a bit of shopping in a bit.

Butterfly Award

Recieved this lovely award from Angel, I so love butterflies. Please check out Angel's fab blog Angel's Delight, new to the blogging world but her blog is coming along nicely with some lovely creations to show. Thank you, Angel.

I'm meant to give this award to five people, I know many already have this award and I've passed on a few awards recently so I'm only going to pass this on to two this time:

Sue - Hammer Sue's Blog

Sarah - Create & Blog

If anyone doesn't have this award and would like it, then please feel free to take, as a special thank you from me.

Oh Wow...

My card for the second challenge over on The Sugar Bowl has been chosen as 'Eye Candy', I am so happy. I've not been blogging all that long and I'm still new to all the challenges in blogworld, so this is a lovely thing to recieve. I've got my blinkie on the side bar and I show it with pride.

The card I did for the challenge is in the post below this one.

Hope everyone's had a lovely day xxx

The Sugar Bowl Challenge #2

The fab challenge over on The Sugar Bowl is 'THREE'. You need to use 'three' different design papers and 'three' different embellishments, no more no less. This certainly needed some thinking about especially with no sketch to follow, but I really enjoyed this challenge.




Coloured SN 'Daisy' with copics and chalked the background with blue for the sky and green around the grass. Went around the edges with a brown copics and let it bleed a little on the rounded corners. The three papers are all scraps from my scraps stash. The three embellishments are ribbon, buttons and paper flowers. The buttons were all sewn on to the ribbon and the centre of the paper flowers. Sentiment is stamped and lightly chalked and blended blue and green.

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge #14

This weeks challenge over at Just Christmas & Birthday Cards is a sketch by Tanja. Keeping up so far with my one Christmas card a week....




The image is 'Mimi Ice-Skating' from Pink Gem Designs, coloured with copics then added glamour dust to her fur trims, red stickles to the berries on the holly and glittered the edges of image with gold. I used clear sakura stardust on the snow and added a little diamond glaze to each flake. The background is metallic card from Kanban. Gold ribbon from my crafting stash and red printed ribbon is Anita's. The sentiment disc was done using a free embossing template from one of the craft magazines and I've highlighted the writing with a red sakura stardust pen.

Due to the metallic background it was hard to get a good photo and this was about the best of the lot, without too much reflection.

Now I'm sure no one else would do this, but it's not a good idea to get the sneeze's when you have a glitter pot open, there's a strong possibility that your crafting work area and yourself will end up covered in glitter, take it from someone who found this out this evening...lol.

Blog Candy Alert

Ewonne has another gorgeous blog candy to offer over on Through My Eyes. Hop over to Ewonne's blog to enter and if you've never visited her blog before whilst there check out her gorgeous creations, they are so inspirational, a very talented lady. Ends 25/01/09.

Cards for some fella's

Good Morning Everyone. After a couple of warmer days, it feels and looks like it's back to the chill again this morning, quite a heavy frost and the lake to the back has frozen over again. Luckily I don't need to pop out until lunchtime.

Got on with two cards for males this morning as part of my mother-in-laws birthday card order for the year. These complete January and February as the others were for females, and I've got a good stock going of them.




This is for a Laurel & Hardy fan. The image is a decoupage, I've had this sheet sometime it also has Fred & Ginger and Charlie Chaplin images on it too. Mounted the deco image onto two film reel backing tablets from Kanban, as you can see the image was too big to mount onto one, so offset them. The corners and sentiment are peel-offs.





This one's for a Go-Karting teen. The image is a Dufex decoupage. The background is from Kanban. The orange/rust coloured leather effect card runs down the side with a red, amber and green brad with two other brads inbetween spelling 'GO', inked the edges with blue. The sentiment is a peel-off mounted onto the orange/rust card and inked the edges again.


It's so much easier making male cards when you have something to go on with regards to their likes and hobbies.

Have a good day all, hopefully be back later today with at least one challenge card.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #34

The challenge this week over on A Spoon Full of Sugar is 'Paper Piecing'. This is my first attempt at paper piecing.




I paper pieced Tilda's dress, boots, wings and the bows in her hair, I hope thats what paper piecing is, and the rest of her is coloured using copics. Cut the ovals with my nesties and the fancy borders were done in my bug with a CB die (can't remember the name of the CB die). The papers are Laura Ashley and the flowers are die-cuts from Kanban. Sentiment is peel-offs coloured green with a peel-off pen.

Thank you Moni for...

...this beautiful award. Lovely to see another new award in the blog world. This is the Marie Antoinette Award, what a lovely it is. Thank you again Moni.

I'm meant to forward this award on to 7 others, but I have noticed this morning that many have recieved this award and as I have nominated a couple of awards this past week, I would like to give this award to anyone who visits my blog and would like it if they don't already have it. Please take and display on your blog as a thank you from me.

One Stop Craft Challenge #11

This week over on One Stop Craft the challenge has been set by Donna, "Take A Punch". So time to dust off them craft punches.


I've done a baby card, for a crafting buddy who gave birth to a little girl yesterday, Congratulations Sarah xxx





The image is stamped and coloured with copics then cut with my square scalloped nesties, mounted onto gradient pink card, also cut with nesties. Added some tie-on's to each corner of the image and ran twisted baby pink organza ribbon around image. Added a pink bow and hung with white thread the 'Baby Girl' embellishment, which was in my crafting stash. The baby accents ribbon from the Ribbonbox runs around the edges of the card. The punched items are the flowers on each corner of the image and card. And as you can see, no papers, it wasn't through lack of trying, but really couldn't find anything that suited, baby themed or otherwise, but I don't really think papers were needed this time.