Bring back summer!

I'm having a great day today, and the sun is shining high in the cloudless blue sky outside! Bring back summer!!! I've made a card with a summery theme, it's for a combination of two challenges. The Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week is "Seasons", I've gone for summer as I thought lots of people will be doing autumn and winter, hence the yellow. I've used one of my fav Penny Black little bears, he's just so versatile. The other challenge is a sketch, #21 by Mumur over at Friday Sketchers, which I think is great as it's not too complicated so didn't take me hours to do. I'll definately use this sketch again, maybe try some Christmas cards with it...


I used:

Penny Black Stamp "Arrangement"
"Merci" stamp from stash
Whispers brush markers to colour image
Papers are from Paper Mill Shop and Paper Mania
Distress Ink (Old Paper) to distress edges
Buttons, flowers, ribbon from stash

Double WOWEE!!!

Ok this can't be true! I don't believe it! What has happened this week!? Did I fall on my head, nope, I just popped by to check out this weeks sketch at Friday Sketchers and there I see the winner of last week's challenge, sketch #20 by Kristine...and the winner is...little ol' ME!!!! WOW, two win's in one week! I am so so so so pleased and surprised 'cos I'm really not a lucky person (ok, I'm not usually lucky, honest)! I've won some wonderful papers from a Norwegian company called 3ndypapir.no, you should check out their blog as they have some lovely inspiration there!

Thank you Friday Sketchers and 3ndypapir.no for this wonderful prize!

Well I'm going to go and do a little dance now! Have a lovely Sunday!

Proud owner of two new awards!

Not only have I won a blog challenge, but Denise over at The Crafty Den has kindly given me two awards! Thanks a lot for thinking of me Denise, and thanks for being one of my super blogging friends!


I'd like to pass these awards onto a few talented and kind people who's blogs I love to visit:

Tracy (Ella Bella) (I know you're having a blogging hol at the mo but this is for when you come back)

Holly, who is a very talented little crafter(Holly's Blog)

Diane, who always has something new added whenever I visit her blog (Pink Sunflower)

Dawn, (Crafty Ramblings) who often pops by my blog to say hi

And of course straight back at you Denise!

WOWEE!!!! I WON A CHALLENGE!

WOW! How lucky am I (I'm NEVER lucky normally)! I'm soooo chuffed, I won the Penny Black Saturday Challenge 15 - to decorate the inside of your card! Mine was a Halloween card (shown in an earlier post), with a little witch and cute little black cat just like my little cat Réglisse! The stamps I used for my card were a birthday pressie a couple of weeks ago from my hubby! This is what I've won...



It's called "I love shopping" and is by Rachelle Anne Miller, I can't wait for my postie to drop this in my letterbox! Thanks Penny Black Saturday Challenge Blog!

It's bl**dy freezing!

Ok, have we skipped autumn and gone straight into winter this year? This morning we had fog, and it's bl**dy freezing outside! No such luck of staying all warm and cosy under the bed covers, I was in work for 7am! If only I could win the lottery! Well today is just the type of day for Christmas card making, but I made this one last night. It's for the sketch #20 by Kristine over at Friday Sketchers this week. I'm not happy with the colouring on the mouse, but here it is anyway...



I used:

Penny Black Holly Day Critters Stamp
Paper & Brads from Dovecraft
Holly & sentiment stamp from See D's
Gold cord from stash

Well I'm off to get a nice cup of coffee to warm me up a bit! I might spoil myself and have a choccy biccy too! Have a lovely day, and thanks for popping by x

Penny Black Challenge # 15

Hi! So it's official, yesterday was the first day of autumn! I like autumn, the colours especially, but I know we're on the slippery slope to winter! The weather is getting colder, the days shorter...time soon for cosy nights in with a nice cup of hot chocolate! So as it's now autumn I've decided to base my Penny Black Saturday Challenge card this week on something that reminds me of my childhood - Halloween!! I can remember hollowing out my turnip (pumpkins were too expensive then or didn't exsist) with my dad as it was really hard to do. It used to take forever and I'd end up with blisters, but I used to love eating the raw turnip! Then the little candle (one of those white ones my mam used to keep in the house incase the leccy went off), that kept forever blowing out (it was always windy on Halloween night). Weren't they just the best times!? What has happened to all that fun we had as kids? Anyway, for the challenge we had to decorate the inside of the card, mine is kind of minimalistic, but I like it...I thought it might be nice to do a pop-up card as I've never done one before and I found a useful tutorial on pop-up cards here.




I used:
Penny Black Stamps "In the Woods" and "Bare Trees"
Sentiment written by hand
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Swiss Dots
Rest from stash

I just love these little stamps from Penny Black, the cat reminds me of my cat Réglisse, he's a right little rascal!

Tilda & Friends Challenge #36 Chocolate Delight

Happy Saturday Everyone! The sun is shining here in France and I'm off work so all's well! Perfect weather for drying washing so as a way of rewarding myself for doing some housework I've made a little card for the Tilda & Friends Sunday Challenge (just in the nick of time). The theme is "Chocolate Delight" so that should be easy for me, being a choccy lover that is! I went with a turquoise and brown colour scheme, and having recently bought some decorative pins I added one of those too. I'd like to add a sentiment to it but I'm not sure what or where yet. Here's the card...


I used:
Tilda image (RAK) coloured with Whispers Markers
Cuttlebug Embossing Folders (Paisley, Swiss Dots)
Flower from Denise
Decorative Pin with bead/charm
Ribbon, gem on flower etc from stash

Thanks for popping by, have a great Saturday!

Christmas is coming!

Yes! Christmas is on it's way, so I thought I'd better get cracking on the Christmas cards! Last year I left it late and found myself rushing, so I'm starting a bit earlier this year. This weeks challenge on A Spoonfull of Sugar is to do a Christmas card, no probs! I've used one of my new Penny Black Stamps which I LOVE, coloured in with my trusty watercolours. Don't you think that bear is just so cute?


I used:
Penny Black Stamp "Stuffing Stocking"
Xmas Paper "Ho Ho Ho" from Dovecraft
See D's sentiment stamp
Little square gems from Denise, thanks!
Ribbon etc from stash

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Male card - No Blue

The challenge this week at Penny Black Saturday Challenge is to do a man's card without any blue, which was a bit tricky for me as I don't really have any dp with a male theme/colour scheme (shall put it on my shopping list). I always make girly cards, and whenever there's a male birthday I struggle cos' somehow I don't think pink or lilac is appropriate! So I used red and silver and ran the silver mirri card through my Cuttlebug. The card is for my father-in-law's birthday next week, he's french so hope he likes it. It reads "to your health...Happy Birthday"...



I used:
Penny Black 12 days of Christmas clear set
Watercolour Paints
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Swiss Dots
Black & White paper from Pink Petticoat CD
Text was hand written using Whispers marker fine tip
Ribbon, buttons etc from stash

Thanks for dropping in, I really value all your comments!

Cute Card Thursday - Cats and Dogs

I couldn't resist this challenge, having a little kitty an' all! I wanted to change from my usual stamps, so I found a little cat set I got from Tanda a while back. I've used the cat stamp as the main image and the little paw print is also from the set. I remember only paying a few pounds for the set so a real bargain. I wanted a pinkish theme, I used distress inks for stamping and colouring/distressing...



I used:
Tanda Stamps Mini Cat Set
Distress Inks (Aged Mahogany & Tattered Rose)
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Swiss Dots
Brad from Poppicrafts
Ribbon etc from stash

Thanks for popping by!

I like Lilac and Green!

Lilac and green, how sublime! Ok I'm no poet but I like the mixture of these two colours. This is for the Spoonfull of Sugar sketch by Nikki, I think I'll use this again as I like it lots! The image is from Sugar Nellie, really cute! I coloured her with watercolour paints. Paper is by Dovecraft, sentiment from my trusty Woodware clear set (I love this set of little phrases). The rest if from my stash, which is growing rapidly! I'll have to stop spending!

My New Penny Black Stamps!

Finally, I've managed to fit in a bit of crafting! I couldn't wait any longer to use some of my new goodies, so I did a couple of Christmas cards with 2 of my new stamps my hubby got me for my Birthday! The cat and mice stamp is "Christmas Peace" and the bear is called "Stuffing Stocking". I also used red card and Dovecraft paper from my mam & dad. I coloured the images with Whispers markers. What do you think?

Blog Candy Giveaways

Gina is offering some fab candy to one lucky person. She has some Penny Black Critters clear stamps and a Paper Mania Paper Pack up for grabs! Pop over to her blog to say hi for a chance to win the lovely candy!

Bev is giving away some fab candy, including a Whiff of Joy stamp and some gorgeous crocheted flowers! You must check blog out if you don't already know it, she does fab cards! And don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win!

Becks is giving away some FAB BG clear stamps! Get over to her blog to check out all the latest goss!

Check this out! Fab Magnolia stamps up for grabs from Crafty Krafts...

Birthday Goodies!

Yipee!!! I've just opened my Birthday pressies and look at all the crafty goodies I got! Thanks so much mam & dad, and of course my lovely hubby Rudy! I'm over the moon with all my new stash! My mam even got me some lace (it was on my next shopping list). I can't wait to get started on cards...my hubby says he'll have to take an appointment to see me now as I'll be locked away in my little craft room! Can you believe how craftwise my hubby is, he bought me 6 Penny Black stamps plus the Holly Day clear set! Thanks also to all my family and friends for all my presents and nice wishes, crafty or otherwise! What a lucky girl I am to have such a lovely family and friends that care!

WOW! Birthday Surprise!!!

Last night when I came in from work, the postman had kindly left me a little package! Inside it I found this...



What a total surprise! THANK YOU SO MUCH Denise! I was like a kid with a new toy, I just kept looking at all the lovely things Denise had sent! How kind is that?! I know it's not my birthday until tomorrow but as it was a total surprise can I be forgiven for opening the parcel? There's so many lovely goodies, images to colour, ribbons, LOADS of lovely flowers, gems, chalk ink (french blue lol!)... Not to mention the gorgeous wallet card and birthday card! I love it! Thank you, thank you, thank you Denise! And the best bit was it was totally unexpected! How nice to have lovely blogging friends x

Three Challenges in Two!

Good morning all! I've just had a lazy Sunday morn, lie-in, cuppa, bit of telly and now for a quick half hour blogging! It feels great! The downfall is I have to go to work later so I'll savour the moment! Enough waffle, this weeks challenge at Penny Black Saturday Challenge is "one for the girls", and as I've used Penny Black on both cards I think either could qualify for this challenge. On the lilac card I've used sketch #15 from Sketch Saturday Challenge Blog, which I love, but as I don't have a circle cutter I had to draw around objects and then cut them out with a steady hand (after a glass or two of wine last night no probs!) I think the lilac card could have done with some lace around the image circle but as I don't have any (something I must buy - online shopping trip in order - anyone know of a good online craft supplier for lace?), I had to ink the edges instead. Finally the pink card is also for another fab challenge blog I discovered yesterday called Our Creative Corner, the theme is "laugh it up"...



I used:
Penny Black Ballerina (Bubbly Clear Set)
Penny Black Arrangement (Bear)
Pink Gingham paper - Rayher
Lilac paper - Dovecraft
Sentiments - Paper Mania & Three Bugs in a Rug
Distress Inks
Cuttlebug Paisley Embossing Folder
Rest from stash

Thanks for taking a look, have a relaxing Sunday!

Cute Card Thursday Challenge - Pretty in Pink

It's just turned midnight and I had nothing better to do when I came in from work at 10.30pm so I made a card for this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge. I find that crafting helps me wind down after a long day at work, and tonight I got to play with one of my new stamps! The theme is "Pretty in Pink" so I think I've kept to the brief...



I used:

My new Sugar Nellie stamp coloured with brush markers
Cuttlebug Embossing folders (You and Swiss Dots)
Distress Ink (Tattered Rose and Aged Mahogany)
Pink Swirly Paper from Paper Mania
Studio G flower stamp
Flowers, buttons etc from stash

First Spoonful of Sugar Challenge

Hi again! As a reward after work and doing the housework I'm allowing myself a quick half hour blogging! I've just received my very first Sugar Nellie stamps that I ordered from Funky Kits and had to have a little play. I made this card for the Spoonful of Sugar challenge; you have to use three different ribbons. I've used two silver and one lilac with stitch detail. It's the first time I've done this challenge. I've kept the card fairly plain and clean if you know what I mean...



I used:

Sugar Nellie Stamp coloured with brush markers
Sentiment stamp from Woodware
Bazzil card
Snowflake ribbon brad from Woodware
Ribbons, gems etc from stash