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.