Card making frenzie...

Hiya, hope you all had a lovely weekend! Me, well I'm on me hols (well off work) so had to do a bit of crafting. I've been pretty busy doing cards, so thought I'd share some with you. I have to warn you this is gonna be a pretty long post! Last week I did a little card wallet for Louby, and I didn't want to put it on my blog until I knew that it had arrived at it's destination! I'm going to enter it in the Sugar Bowl challenge, where you only have to use one designer paper. I've used my other new Leanne Ellis stamp from Funky Kits. I think this one has to be my fav of the two I have...


I've done a close up of the image so that you can see the glossy hearts...


The paper is from the Creative Tones (Amethyst) pad by Papermania, flower also Papermania.

My second card is for the Cute Card Thursday Challenge which is "Signs of Spring", and also Friday Sketchers as I've used the fab sketch this week...


The image is Penny Black, paper is from Clover (had this ages) and the sentiment is also a stamp from Penny Black. I had a real fight on my hands as I decided to actually stitch the flower buttons to the card, don't ask (to start with I couldn't thread the needle) argh!

I also thought I'd join in with the Secret Crafter challenge this week, here's my card using the lovely sketch from Jill...


Stamp is Sugar Nellie, paper is from Dovecraft. Used Nesties as frame for Nellie to sit in. Poor Nellie, I think her hair is a bit too orange, but I used my brush markers straight onto the card and to be honest couldn't be bothered to do it again (well she's different eh?). The flowers were kindly sent to me by Denise, the sentiment is Woodware.

Last card (finally) is for the Spoonfull of Sugar challenge which is a simple but effective sketch by Debbie...


The stamp is Sugar Nellie Hamish with toy tractor, sentiment stamp is Penny Black, papers are Basic Grey "Archaic" (I love these natural tones), can't remember make of ribbon soz! I've added faux stitching as a border, and also a little detail in the corner. The inside has a doubled-sided verse but I haven't got a photo of that.

Well that's all the cards, and as I'm flying over to the UK tomorrow I shall have to wish you all farewell for the next week or so as I'll be spending time with my family! And I might just get a bit of crafty shopping done while I'm there lol! Take care and thanks for popping by xx

Changed Again!

How can you tell I'm on my hols! Well as it's almost 3am and I'm still on here (I know, it's sad) 'cos I don't have to get up for work tomorrow (well today really), or the next day... Anyway, I was just having a mooch about and found this new blog (courtesy of Denise - cheers) with free blog backgrounds and headers. What a find, some Gorjuss stuff etc on it, all beautifully put together by Debs Craft. So there's the reason why my blog has changed, yet again, but hope you'll agree it's an improvement! Love the pink and the little bunny and bear!

Well nighty, night... better get a bit of shut eye 'cos don't want any dark circles tomorrow, ran out of magic cream lol!

"Spring has Sprung"

This is my second card today! I'm on a roll (well almost). There's a few challenges this week around the theme of spring! Yup, not long now before we see the daffodils and tulips out! This winter has been particularly cold so we could all do with a bit of spring sunshine! My card is for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, which is "Spring has Sprung"...


A little close up of the bear charm...



The stamp is a new one from Penny Black called "Bearing Flowers". Paper and ribbon from Papermania, rest from stash. Thanks for looking and have a nice evening x

Birthday Bowl Buddies

Finally some time to craft! As of today I am officially on holiday for two weeks - YIPEE!!! So that means I should have lots of time to craft! Well not exactly...I'll be spending a week back in the UK with my family so won't get any crafting done there, but until I go and when I get back back I need to seriously get using some of my stuff! I've bought loads of new stamps recently, and got some for Xmas and Valentine's Day, I haven't had a chance to use them all yet. So hopefully I'll have lots of new cards to share with you soon!

I have had time to use this little stamp though, it's from Penny Black and is called "and all my friends", cute eh? The card is for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, which is a fab sketch from Nat! I'm last minute as usual, cos' there'll be a new challenge tomorrow! Well better late than never I say!


I used:

* "and all my friends" stamp, Penny Black
* sentiment from Stampin' Up (courtesy of Katy - thanks)
* Whispers Brush Markers to colour image
* Papermania "For Him" DP
* Birthday brads from Poppicrafts
* Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" embossing folder
* ribbon etc from stash

I was getting a bit fed up with the pink background on my blog last night so have changed it to yellow, not sure if I like it, looks plain to me. Maybe plain is good? Anyway, hope the half-term break hasn't been too stressfull for those of you in the UK with little ones! Take care, have a relaxing weekend!

Doodle Doo

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, and had an extra special Valentine's Day! I had a lovely day shopping with my o/h, it's rare we get to spend a Saturday together so it made a nice change!

The challenge over at A Spoonfull of Sugar this week is called "Doodle Doo", basically you have to doodle (either by hand or by using swirl stamps etc) on your card/project. I thought I'd do a little A6 card for a change. I used my new Leanne Ellis designed stamp from Sugar Nellie (I got two of these for Valentine's Day from my hubby - what a good 'un he is). The doodled (faux) stitched border was done by hand, I coloured the image using brush markers, papers are old ones from my stash, the sentiment was sent to me from Katy (thanks!). I've added a bit of gloss on the droplets and glitter glue to the flower in her hair. So there you have it!

Just a quick post today as off to work now! Back later in the week! xx

Valentine's Day 2009

I'm gonna skip the whole Friday the 13th speech and move onto tomorrow...Happy Valentine's Day! Ok I admit I'm a tad early, but technically in France I'm only half an hour early as it's 11.30pm. I'm planning on a nice lie-in tomorrow morning, then maybe my o/h will have a surprise planned (or is that wishfull thinking?)!! Anyway, whatever happens I'm just pleased that neither of us is at work, so we can spend the day together! Unfortunately it doesn't look as though the weather will be doing us any favours tomorrow. Well we can't have everything!

I've done a card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, the theme is "Romance". The card is for my mam to give to my dad (there's a nice verse inside but I didn't photograph it). The card is a big one, as the stamp is pretty big.


A little close up of the flowers and the sentiment...



I used:
* "Long-Stem Cuties" stamp, Penny Black
* Sentiment stamp, Woodware
* Love letter stamp, Penny Black
* Creative Tones paper, Papermania
* Flower punches, Woodware
* Gems and ribbon from stash

I didn't go for too complicated a look, as the paper is kinda busy anyway. Hope my dad doesn't mind the pink eek!

Well, off to bed now! Hope you all have a wonderfully romantic day tomorrow! Don't eat too many choccies though!

Love and Romance in Lilac

Just wanted to upload this card I did earlier tonight, it's for the third Sugarbowl challenge which ends at midnight (GMT) tonight! I've just got it done in the nick of time, kinda didn't know what to do really. The theme is Love and Romance but my creative side just wasn't having it tonight. I went with this little Nellie holding a heart, first time I've stamped her (she looks much nicer coloured). I've stamped a "Just for you" sentiment (Penny Black) as I want to send this to a friend, so a romantic sentiment wouldn't have been appropriate. I've used Distress Inks to colour, Cuttlebug Hearts embossing folder and papers from Papermania Creative Tones. All the other little things are from my stash.

Thanks for taking a peek, nighty night xx

Lovely Friends

Hello to all my lovely friends! It's Monday again, another week closer to spring! Yeah! I've done a little card to try to evoke a bit of warmth as it's bl**dy freezing here, and pouring down with rain! I've used the sketch from Tina46 (A Spoonfull of Sugar), which is fab! I have rotated the sketch though to fit in with my image, one of my new Rachelle Anne Miller stamps. I used Distress Inks to colour, paper is Basic Grey "Sugared", "I love you" sentiment is a stamp (Penny Black), rest is from my stash!


Thanks for taking a look, gotta go out and brave the ferocious weather now! xx

Hearts and Flowers

This weeks challenge on Papertake Weekly is "Hearts and Flowers", pretty easy eh? Well I thought I'd have a go, a nice girly card me thinks! The stamp is from Sugar Nellie, I watercoloured it using Whispers brush markers (thought I'd give the Distress Inks a bit of a rest lol). The paper and ribbons are from Papermania, I got a few of these paper packs as they're lovely (plus they were on offer, I can't resist a bargain). The "Love" stamp is from the Penny Black "Clearly in Love" set. The little hearts are punched out of the paper and Bazzil cardstock, I also used Nestabilities...


I thought I'd do a simple inner using the same paper, with a little verse stamped in the middle (stamp Penny Black). I think the verse is really sweet!


So there's my card for the challenge! Thanks for looking, off to try my new stamps (I couldn't resist they were a bargain - yep another one)!

Special Treasures!

Everything in my craftroom is a special treasure to me, but my favs are my stamps (of course), ribbons, buttons and flowers (I love it all really). So I used all four on this card which is for the Magnolia vs Stampavie Challenge this week. You have to use the following colours...








I used my "Tilda with heart cookies" stamp from Magnolia, coloured again with Distress Inks. The sentiment is a stamp called "...special treasures" from Penny Black. The papers are from the Nostalgia Collection from Papermania, and I used blue Bazzil card. The swirls are stamped using Inkadinkadoo clear stamps, and the rest of the "treasures" are from my stash! Inside the card I stamped a little verse, one which I bought from Elzybells, and added a little flower and button to finish it off.

Well, off to make me something yummy to eat, just got back from work so I'm starving! Hope you all have a great Friday night (in or out)!

Little Piggy Tag

Hi again everyone! It's been a more relaxed week for me so I've had lots of time to craft YEAH! For the last few weeks I haven't had much time to enter challenges but I'm going for it this week! I've made a little tag for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge, where you have to make a round card etc. So I thought I'd get my round Nestabilities out that I got for Christmas as I'm rubbish at cutting circles! As the Nesties only go to a certain size, I decided to make a little gift tag.


The stamp I used is called "Sealed with a kiss!" from Penny Black (of course), which I bought from Happy Stampers (see my earlier post). The little sentiment is handwritten. I coloured the image with Distress Inks, layered it onto lovely DP from Papermania "Simply Elegant" pad, added gems and little heart buttons, and finished it with a little ribbon attached through eyelets using my Big Bite.

Thanks for looking x

Happy Stampers is Closing Down

For those of you who are hooked on Penny Black stamps (like me) you may already know that Happy Stampers is closing down! This is a real shame as I bought my very first Penny Black from their online shop (a little bear - In a Pot) and since then I've ordered from them on numerous occassions, and have never been disappointed. However, Pauline who runs Happy Stampers has recently had her 3rd baby and feels she needs to concentrate on her family, and cannot therefore give the business the attention it's needed. She is offering 25% off her remaining stock (for an order of £8.00 min), and also offers free p & p. Personally, I can only say how sorry I was to hear of the closure of Happy Stampers, but wish Pauline all the best in her future projects!

Awarded and Tagged!

Firstly I'd like to say thank you to Joey for thinking of me! Joey has awarded me with the Nice Blog Award, how sweet of you Joey! Thanks so much for the award, and for popping by my blog, I love it when I get visitors! If you haven't been to see Joey's blog, you're missing out as she has some lovely cards!

I would like to pass this award onto all my blogging friends who take time out of their busy lifestyles to call by to say hi, thanks a lot xx

Secondly, Louby has tagged me! And what a great tag this is! Thanks Louby! The rules for this challenge are - Go to where you store your photos on your computer. Go to the SIXTH folder and pick the SIXTH photo. Post that photo on your blog along with a SHORT story about it. Tag SIX people and leave a comment on their blog or email them letting them know you chose them.

Ok here goes...well my sixth folder on my laptop is my wedding album, and the sixth photo is...



My Wedding Cake! My mam made my cake, isn't she clever! The cake was three tiers high, two of the tiers were fruit cake and one tier was sponge (I'm not a huge fan of fruit cake but I'm warming to it now). The icing was ivory, and my mam made three sprays of sugar roses (they were burgandy but look darker in the photo), one for the top of each tier! It must have taken her ages to do the cake, and she was worried it wouldn't be good enough (you were kidding mam)! I didn't see it whilst she was making it, as I only came over from France for the wedding, so she had my dad as critic (he's a perfectionist my dad lol). All I can say was they made a great team 'cos the cake was FAB! Everyone commented on it on the day! Thanks Mam!

Ok now I have to tag six people, I'd like to tag some fab friends, who I've met through blogging Tracy, Holly, Katy, Lyndsey, Denise and Pascale. Hope you don't mind ladies xx

Don't forget the pancakes...

Yesterday was "Chandeleur" in France. "Chandeleur" is celebrated on the 2nd of February every year, the 40th day after Christmas. It is said that on this day if you toss a pancake without dropping it, with a silver coin in your hand, you will have a happy and prosperous year! So last night we had pancakes, yum yum, with jam, cream, chocolate sauce, maple syrup etc...Mmmmm!!! Anyway, Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) is on the 24th of February in the UK this year, so I made my card on this theme using the sketch on Friday Sketchers this week (really simple but nice sketch to use)...


The inner was done on the pc, I added doodled edges and stamped part of the image...


On the detail shot you can just see the gloss on the bowl and jam jar, done with Anita's glossy accents (I've had this for ages but just started to use it recently)...



I used:
* Stamp "Birthday Recipe" Penny Black
* W/C pancils to colour image
* Wording done on PC
* Paper from K & Co
* Nestabilities Scalloped Square
* Gingham Ribbon Doodlebug Designs
* Buttons, fibres from stash

So now you all know the date, there's no excuse so start tossing those pancakes on the 24th!