Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge #309

Sorry, I was AWOL last week, winter lurgies got the better of me, but I'm back and looking forward to getting some crafting done during the Christmas break.
It's time for a new challenge over at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge and it's the last one of the year as we take a break until the New Year. We have two great sponsors this week, Bugaboo and Di's Digi Stamps and our theme is "Anything goes" especially if in my head you add mulled wine to it!
I used the fun tropical Santa surfing image from Bugaboo for my card this week, perfect for friends who live in warmer climes.

I used the tattered lace side stepper card die for the base and built it up with the mat dies included in yellow and two shades of blue card. I created the waves with a clearly besotted die (so looking forward to them re-opening in the new year). I coloured in the Santa image simply with my beloved copics and fussy cut him out and added him to the card. The sentiment is a tattered lace die and I also die cut some holly (no idea who made that die) to add to the card. I finished off with some polar white flower soft on his hat and some glamour dust on the waves to finish. Simples! 

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge

*Apologies, Blogger failed to post this scheduled post for yesterday*

Wow, Wednedsay again and December tomorrow!

Time for our new challenge over at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge. This week we have an easy theme for you - Anything goes! We also have great prizes on offer from our two fab sponsors, the Stamping Boutique and Nikki Burette.

I used this fun image from the Stamping Boutique and coloured it with my face copics and die cut it with tattered lace decorative rectangles. I also used some tattered lace sentiments and snowflakes from their snowglobe set. I layered it up with silver mirri and paper from an unknown Christmas pad (?my minds eye, that I bought at TK Maxx a couple of years ago. A little glitter to highlight the snow and some nuvo drops to finish.

Sweet Stampin' - Got the blues

Saturday already and time for another fab challenge over at Sweet Stampin'. Our sponsor this week is Liva and Love Crafts and we want to see your blue cards these week.

I was almost inspired by my toes as the boiler has packed up (again!) and the electric fire in the lounge is our only heating! 

Instead, the christening card I was making fitted the brief perfectly. Image from lili of the valley, coloured with my copics, spellbinders Floral oval die, Sue Wilson's heart lattice embossing folder, crafters companion word and alphabet dies, some flowers from wild orchid crafts and a few pearls to finish. Simples! 

I hope you're all keeping warm and I'd love to see your blue creations, just remember to include some stamping! 

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #305

Blimey, where is the time going? Only one more pay day before Christmas for me!
Wednesday means it's time for a new challenge over at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge An easy theme this week, "Anything Goes" and we have two great sponsors, Bugaboo and Crafty Sentiments Designs.
I used this fun digi stamp from Crafty Sentiments for my card this week. I printed the image out three times in two different sizes, coloured with copics and fussy cut them.
I used the tattered lace side stepper concept card die to make the base card out of red cardstock and used the mat dies that come with the set to cut some glittered striped card from my stash along with white and blue card to make the scenes. I cut the white card to make the hills by eye and then stuck the whole thing together. I found a holly die (no idea who made it) and added a couple of sprigs to finish the card along with a bit of glitter. Apologies for the rubbish pic, it was so dark yesterday that the only place I could get any light was on the sofa, with my daylight floor lamp, which I use for sewing!
My neck is recovering from having local anaesthetic and steroids injected into it, so I'm off to meet Mum for coffee at a garden centre halfway between us, annual leave is a wonderful thing!
Hope you all have fun playing along this week, I'm looking forward to seeing all your wonderful creations x

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #304

Wow, Wednesday has rolled around again already, where is the time going? I survived my facet joint injections in my neck yesterday, I was lucky in that he did three pairs of injections C6/C7, C7/T1 and T1/T2, but he managed to reach them all from 4 injection sites, still piggin hurt though! A day of resting up today and then hopefully the pain relief will kick in fully in a few days.
Enough waffle, it's time for a new challenge over at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge. Our theme this week is "Christmas" and we have great prizes on offer from Lacy Sunshine and Di's Digi Stamps.
I used this cute image from Lacy Sunshine for my card this week and used my favourite Copics to colour it in. I die cut the image and a gold mirri mat with tattered lace decorative frames dies. The patterned paper is from a Lidl Christmas paper pad, I bought a couple of years ago. I used Sue Wilson's original poinsettia dies in some deeper red and green cardstock to make the flower pop and added a few golden gems to the centre and also on the card. Simples! Looking forward to seeing your creations this week x 

So, this time last week it was my birthday...

My wonderful hubby totally spolit me and bought me the set of 120 polychromos pencils, all those gorgeous colours to play with!

I wanted to share the wonderful handmade cards I recieved for my birthday. I take part in a birthday card swap on the craft telly forum and have been sending cards all year and now it was my turn to realise how wonderful it is to receive so many fabulous cards. So, in no particular order...

A beautiful feminine vintage card from Tricia and an amazing parchment work card from Enid (JSC), both stunning.

A wonderful die based creation in a lovely colour palette with a hint of sparkle from Andrea (Marleybear) and a fabulous cheery card from Linda (spendsloads)

A gorgeous happy floral card from Fuchsia (fuchara) and a delicate sparkly dimensional card from Little Jan.

A fabulous coffee inspired card from Victoria (mine's a gingerbread latte!) and a beautiful delicate card from Susan W.

Finally, but by no means last, the dinkiest adorable stepper card from Essex Anne.

I also need to share with you the fab humorous card I recieved from fellow blogger and Queen of British touring, Darnell ( I think hammie may have had a hand in making this one)

And finally, just because it made me smile, work personalised their card to me. Thank you all so so much for all the hard work that has gone into my wonderful cards, they will be treasured for a long time to come.

Sweet Stampin'

Yay, it's finally the weekend and that means a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' We have a photo to inspire you this week and a fab prize from our sponsor this week, Dies to die for.

I used this super cute stamp from Stamping Bella (you know I'm a sucker for a cute bunny stamp!) I stamped it in versafine on Sheena's stamping card and then used my zig clean colour pens and a brush to watercolour the image. Pauline Wheeler who demos on Create and Craft for Hunkydory was extolling the virtues of these pens at the workshop that she and Hels Sheriden were running a few weeks ago. As the workshop was at Inspirations in Preston and they very generously gave us a 20% discount on both days, I bought a couple of the pens on the Saturday had a quick play with them that evening and then bought a load more on the Sunday! It did help that they had the single pens on special offer too! Anyway, back to the card, I die cut the image with a tattered lace pin dot circle and cut a co-ordinating mat with a circle die. I took a 4x4 scalloped card blank and ran the front of it through a stitched cloud embossing folder from the latest Sara Davies Signature range release. I added some clear wink of Stella to the clouds and umbrella to give a little sparkle, not sure if it shows up on the picture though. To finish I added some yellow organza ribbon. I hope you can join in the challenge and I look forward to seeing your wonderful creations.

AWOL

You may have noticed that apart from some design team commitments my blog has been very quiet of late.

I've been struggling health wise at the moment and on the advice of my GP have taken a step back from things to take some of the pressure off myself and allow me to focus on remaining in work, rather than taking up his offer of a sick note. I've still been doing a bit of crafting now and then of course I've been spending time stroking my stash!

I'm on annual leave now for two weeks and am having some more facet joint injections in the base of my neck on Tuesday, so I'm hoping that after the side effects of the procedure (usually increased pain and stiffness for a week or so) wear off things will improve on that front at least. 

After all that waffle, I couldn't leave you without a card. I whipped this card up on Thursday night for a male colleague who has just had an operation. I didn't think my cutesy images were appropriate for him, so I used the stamp from Lili of the Valley as the focal point and rather than using flowers as embellishments I die cut some stars from silver and blue card. The patterned papers are also lili of the valley, it's the pad that has hot air balloons in it, as usual I've lost the front sheet that tells me which one it is! As usual some faux stitching to finish!

Hope you're all keeping well x

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge # 303

Wednesday again and time for a fresh challenge over at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge. This week is another "Anything goes" challenge so you have no excuses not to enter and be in with a chance to win a fab prize from this week's sponsor Lacy Sunshine.
I used this cute Lacy Sunshine image for my card, I coloured her with my trusty copics and die cut her out with a tattered lace Fancy Labels die, along with a mat in co-ordinating card. I used an A4 sheet of adorable scorable that I got in a freebie gift from Inspirations last time I shopped there and simply folded it in half to make the card base. I also die cut a Crafty Ann Flourish 2 in the same card as the mat and then snipped it in half to put behind the lace flowers that I won in a raffle at an InkBuds workshop. I added a few dazzlers from eBay, a little faux stitching and some glamour dust to her wings to finish.

Sweet Stampin' Challenge

It's time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' and our theme this week is
"Inspired by a song or film title" and we have a fab sponsor Crafts and me.
I used Frank Sinatra's "September Song" as my inspiration and I used Lili of the valley's September Fairy stamp for my image which I coloured with my copics. I embossed the brown background card with an old spellbinders m-bossabilities bark embossing folder. I cut out the image and surrounding gold mirri frame with Tonic's Oh Christmas tree die set as the frame isn't actually Christmassy. I then die cut a load of leaves using a sizzix Tim Holtz strip die, Autumn gatherings and added them randomly on the card. A few pearls and a little glitter to her wings to finish.
I actually made the card as a leaving card for a locum who left yesterday and so added this computer generated sentiment inside.

I'm looking forward to seeing your creations inspired by a film or song, just don't forget that we need to see some stamping on your project. Not that I totally forgot that on my original DT card or anything....!

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge

Wow, Wednesday already and time for another challenge over at Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge. The theme this week is "Anything Goes" and we have two great sponsors, Little Blue Button and Fred She Said Designs.
I used the beautiful Magnolia image from Fred She Said and coloured it with copics. I thought the image was so beautiful that I wanted a simple layout to show it off and so I used tattered lace circles and decorative circles to mat and layer the image and added a strip of green card behind it. Some faux stitching and a little stickles in the centre of the flower to finish.

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge #300

Wednesday again and time for a new challenge over at Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge.
This week our theme is "Halloween" and we have two great sponsors, Lacy Sunshine and Sparkle n Sprinkle.
I've used an image and sentiment from Sparkle n Sprinkle for my card. I added some stamped bats using a stamp from Hunkydory's Halloween set from their Simply Stamps range. Looking forward to seeing your Halloween inspired creations x

Sweet Stampin' Spots and Stripes

This week at Sweet Stampin' our theme is Spots and Stripes and we have an amazing sponsor this week, Lil of the Valley

I used a lili of the valley stamp, coloured with my copics and added some washi tape to the card. A few gems to finish and a mat of black card. Simples!

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #299

Wednesday again, and time for a new challenge over at Penny's Paper-Crafting Challenge. We have two fab sponsors again this week offering great prizes, Bugaboo and Di's Digi Stamps. Our theme this week is "Anything Goes".

I used the Bugaboo "Bunny block trio" to make my card this week. I'm determined to prove that bunnies aren't just for Easter. I imported the digi stamp into word and then added my own sentiment. Coloured the image with my trusty copics and then trimmed it to fit on a 6x6 card and added a green mat behind it. I added a frame to the card to tie in with the detailing around the blocks and job done!

Wedding Day

Well, continuing on the wedding theme, this is the 8x8 card that I made for our team to give a colleague who is getting married today.

I used a Stamping Bella stamp that I coloured with my copics to match their hair colours and groom's suit colour and I added a little glamour dust to her dress. I used a mix of centura pearl, soft gold and navy cardstock and the A4 tied together embossing folder. I managed to stick the embossed layer down at right angles to the way the pattern normally runs, but it gives a slightly different look. As is the law with that embossing folder, I added pearl nuvo drops to the intersections. I think the oval dies are Spellbinders, but no idea which ones! I die cut the letters for the names from soft gold card using a crafters companion alphabet set.

Loads of flowers and pearl loops in the colours of her bouquet to finish from Wild Orchid Crafts, along with a few Sue Wilson ivy leaves.

My colleague opened the card in the office on her last day, which happened to be my day off. I got a lovely text message from her thanking me for the card and saying that her Mum thought it was amazing, and saying they were going to display it at the wedding. Fingers crossed that it stays dry for her today.

This is the last one about the album, honest!

Apologies for the blurry ones! I used Trimcraft First Edition "The Promise" 12x12 papers for the album and a mix of heartfelt creation dies for the flourishes etc and Sue Wilson Mr & Mrs dies for the text and the little joined hearts. Things I have learnt. 1) Start early when making a project like this. 2) The red heat embossing on the roses cracks and rubs off leaving a mark on pages, so probably best to use a coloured pigment ink and clear embossing powder, rather than cursing and having to stick on extra bling to hide the marks when you open it up the next day. 3) Don't order a custom size mdf box to put it in and then stick on bits so that they stand out from the top of the album. 4) If I have any more* bright ideas to do things like this, just remind me of the saga of making this please.

Right, an early night calls. Been struggling with my health recently and so haven't been up to visiting you all recently, but I still love you all and will visit as soon as I can x

*I bought two of the book kits, one in white, with the intention of making my own wedding album as well.

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge

Wednesday and time for another challenge over at Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge. Our theme this week is "Anything Goes" and we have some fab prizes on offer from our fab sponsors All Dressed Up and Odball Art.
I used this the cute Lazy Louise image by Oddball Art for my card this week. I printed her off on my laser printer and coloured her with my fav copics. I die cut her out with a tattered lace pin dot circle and added a mat of dark apricot tattered lace decorative circle behind her. I used the same card for the base mat on a 6x6 card blank and used a Clarity 7x7 bubble stencil to draw the bubbles in with a fine liner pen. It doesn't show well on the photo but I added glamour dust to the bubbles and foam with a quickly glue pen to finish.

The Flower Challenge

It's finally here, the launch of

The Flower Challenge 
This month's theme is Anything Goes (as long as it's floral of course)
My brilliant teamies have got some amazing inspiration to help get you started over on the challenge blog, whilst you familiarise yourself with the rules.
I whipped up this simple card using the Justrite Pinwheel Daisies stamp which I coloured with my copics and added a die cut scallop border in co-ordinating card. I'm so looking forward to seeing all your wonderful creations and we'll be back halfway through the month with more inspiration for you. Have fun!

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Golden wedding album part 2.

Apologies for the odd blurry photo. Hopefully they give you some idea of how the album opens out. I used a heartfelt creations Flip Flop album which has 5 pages and then you buy packs of inserts to add onto the pages to extend them. I left some empty pockets for them to add in details of the day and some of the stories. Mum made her own dress and veil, the bridesmaids dresses, her bouquet and the bridesmaids posies and the wedding cake. No idea where my love of crafting comes from... Third and final part to follow.

Golden Wedding

Apologies for the overload, these are the cover and first 3 pages of the photo album that I made for my parents. We had a fab time with neighbours and friends yesterday and went out for a lovely meal at the Midland Hotel in Morecambe. More pics of my huge main course, there were about 10 tiny carrots (forgotten the French name of them), more broccoli and three huge roast potatoes! The hotel is an Art Deco listed building on the sea front. More pics of the album tomorrow