A Birthday & A Disappointment

Good morning folks! Isn't it starting to get chilly, brrrr! It's either that or too long living in France is turning me into a wimp!?

I wanted to share this little card with you, it's one I've made for my FIL who will be 70 on Thursday... he doesn't have a cat but loves our cat so I'm sure he'll like the card! I used this really, really cute digistamp that I won from DigiStamp Boutique, isn't is fabulous! There's also a version of this stamp with a sleeping dog instead of a cat... it's from The Smiths Collection - Dad Relaxing - Cat. I thought it'd be good for so many occassion! I have to say I really love it! I've coloured with Promarkers... now there's another story there, I'll get to that later... very easy image to colour! The papers are Basic Grey Archaic, the sentiment is a stamp from Artemio and the cute little charm was bought when I was in Scotland this summer... a fab little craft shop in Callander called 'Kokosnoot'. I'm entering my card into the September monthly challenge at DigiStamp Boutique.

Now for the disappointment... hmmm. Very kind hubby bought me some Flexmarkers as a surprise for my Birthday last week... as you can imagine I was delighted!!! However, after trying the pens (I have to say the brush nib is lovely but will take a bit of getting used to) I found a lot of the paler shades weren't actually colouring, only wetting the card with alcohol, even after scribbling on card for a while. You can imagine my disappointment when I wanted to get started with my new goodies asap :( So to cut a long story short, I contacted the Customer Services at Joanna Sheen (where hubby bought them from) and the lady I spoke to was so nice and helpful, apparently Letraset have had a few issues with some of the lighter pens... so they're going to replace the ones that aren't working properly! Result! Only now I have to wait for the replacements... patience is a virtue they say?!

Single Layer Cards

Good morning blogging friends! Can you all believe we're into July already?! Doesn't the time fly! Here in France the school holidays have begun, and in the UK there's not much left of this school year either! Remember when you were a kid and you just longed for those 6 weeks summer holidays!? Oh to be back at school (I don't recall saying that when I was young lol)!

Anyway, it's Monday and school or not, we have another Cupcake Craft Challenge for you! This time the lovely Rachel has chosen SINGLE LAYER CARDS for us this week! So NO multiple layering etc on this one!

My baby card is a teeny tiny one (4"x 4" square)... I used this cute baby stamp from Lili of the Valley, coloured with Promarkers. The sentiment stamp is from Artemio. I finally added the ribbon, button and pearls... sorry I couldn't help it! I haven't entered any challenges for a while so thought I'd enter this cutie into the following challenges:

Passion For Promarkers - Babies

Lili of the Valley Challenge - Celebrate

Stampin' For the Weekend - My Favourite Things (LOTV Stamps, Promarkers, Ribbon, Buttons & Babies)!

Right there are some fabby prizes up for grabs... this week's sponsor is Simon Says Stamp who are giving away a $20 gift voucher to one lucky winner. Then of course we have out Icing on the Cupcake monthly sponsor, and for July we're joined by Polka Doodles who are generously offering 4 Christmas themed stamps to this month's random winner! I told you the prizes were fab! And if you're wanting any help with ideas and inspiration, the Cupcake girls have created some great single layer lovelies for you, pop over to the Cupcake blog and say hi!

Cupcake Craft Challenge 128 - Seeing Red

Good morning Cupcake lovers! Hope you all had a lovely weekend! Well the sun is shining here today but personally I'm feeling a little under the weather... one of those dreaded bugs I think! I'm forcing a Lemsip down my throat as I type this... I'm such a wimp with medecin etc!

So onto this week's challenge at Cupcake Craft Challenge, chosen by my teamie Kathrin who is 'Seeing Red'... so we'd like to see something red included on your card/project. I've included the red polka dot ribbon and little red heart on my cat card... the cat stamps are from Artemio and the zig zag border is done using a Martha Stewart punch. My flowers are punched using my Nellie Snellen punches. I have to say I'm not really happy with this card, my mojo seems to have disappeared lately! I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Moving along with the times - Red

Little Red Wagon - Kraft

Little Claire's Challenge - Anything Goes

Crafts & Me Challenge - Red

This week we're sponsored by Simon Says Stamp who are offering one lucky winner a $20 Gift Voucher! We also have a new monthly 'Icing on the Cupcake' sponsor, Crafts U Love... who are offering a lucky random winner a £15 Gift Voucher to spend in store! Pop over to the Cupcake blog to check out all the winners from last week/month to see if you're one of the lucky ones! And don't forget to check out the fabulous creations my fellow DT buddies have come up with!

A Touch Of Pink

Good evening blogging buddies! Brrrr HOW cold is it?! I was watching the news earlier... it was showing the state of things in the UK... oh dear you definately have had a lot of the white stuff! Hopefully things will get back to normal soon!

I've been using my Lili of the Valley stamp again, but this time for a little girl... this has to be one of the cutest babies ever! Just for a change (not) I've used my Promarkers, the papers were freebies from a magazine ages ago. Little flowers are Prima, sentiment is Artemio, and I've used my nesties to frame the image. The sketch is from Simon Says Stamp Challenge and the theme at Lili of the Valley Challenge is to use 'A few of my favourite things'... well this stamp for one, my Promarkers and buttons (little heart ones on here).

Well, hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend... I'm working boo hoo :(

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Celebration

Hi! Hope you're all enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend. In France we don't have the same Bank Holidays, shame as it's nice having that extra day off on BH Monday! Anyway, hope the weather is kind to you, it's so much nicer when the sun shines!

I've managed to fit in a card for this week's challenge over at A Spoonfull Of Sugar. They're celebrating their birthday so the challenge is to do a card for any type of celebration. I've gone for a new baby card, as a work collegue has recently given birth to a baby girl...


I stamped the image several time and decoupaged it, you can see the layers better here...


The image is Penny Black "basket case" coloured with w/c pencils, I've used Nestabilities and Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. The papers, flowers and ribbon are from my stash and the sentiment reads "Congratulations" and is from Artemio.

Have a relaxing weekend!

Magnolia Mother's Day

In France, Mother's Day is in June this year, so for my MIL's card I decided to use the lovely sketch by Naoual from the Just Magnolia challenge blog...


I have added glitter to her wings and around the hearts, and gold in her hair although it's difficult to see from the photo...


Tilda is stamped in Versafine and coloured using Distress Inks. The paper (which we can see very little of) is from a K & Co pad and has "Mother" written on it in different ways. The sentiment stamp is from Artemio and reads "from the bottom of the heart". All other embellishments are from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by!

Touchy Feely Card

Good afternoon everyone! The challenge over at a Spoonfull of Sugar is called "Touchy Feely" where you have to make something with texture. So here's my card for this, I kinda struggled at first as I don't have any puffy paint etc, but got there in the end...


I've used an Elizabeth Bell image from Sugar Nellie, coloured with watercolours (haven't used them for ages). The green paper has a velvet texture (not seen on photo) and the stitches are real! I've also added the sentiment which is embossed on the Cuttlebug using the "YOU" embossing folder. I've tried my new spacers from The Hobby House, which I love! I also added a little charm from my stash. Ribbon is Artemio. I've decorated the inside but forgot to photograph it, durghhh!

My First Gorjuss Girl

Hiya! Just a quick post before I scoot off to work...I treated myself to a couple of the Gorjuss Girls stamps and they arrived on Saturday! So here is my first card using my lovely stamp...


I've used the fab sketch by Mina from Truly Scrumptious, the theme this week is Flower Power. I've decided seeing as I've hand cut the oval I'm actually quite pleased with the finished card. I love this colour combination, I got my inspiration for this from my stripped paper (wish I knew where I could get more of this but had it ages). The flowers are DIY ones, I enjoyed doing these and don't think they look all that bad. The ribbon reads "dream" and the sentiment means "together". Both are from Artemio. I've also added a bit of clear gloss to her hair to give it extra shine!

Enjoy the sunshine xx

Thank You Very Much!

Firstly I'd like to thank everyone who has left such lovely comments on my blog regarding my recent loss. It's heart warming to know I have some lovely blogging friends out there in cyber space! I've decided to make a memory book (idea from my friend Shannon, thanks hun) with all the beautiful photos I have of Pepsi. It's a bit too soon just yet, I'll wait a few weeks before I start collecting my photos together.

Secondly, I have just made the worst chocolate cake ever! I'm usually ok with baking, I don't do much but when I do things tend to turn out ok. But for some reason unknown to man (or woman) my choccy cake looks like a frisbee! I wanted to surprise my hubby when he came in tonight, shock will be more his reaction when he sees the "cake"! Never mind, it's the thought that counts. And yes, I did use self raising flour!

Thirdly, I promise I'm nearly at the end now lol! I've made a card for my MIL whose "Fête" it is tomorrow (Saint Huguette). I've combined two challenges, this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge which is to make a card for someone in your family, and I've used the fab sketch from Friday Sketchers...


I used:

-Tilda in Cherry Dress image coloured with Distress Inks
-Sentiment stamp by Artemio
-Papers are Papermania Creative Tones
-Bazzil card run through Nesties Circles & Swiss Dots folder on Cuttlebug
-Flower is Papermania
-Ribbon etc from stash

The photo isn't great as my camera is on the blink so have used a different one, also the sun was shining through the window (it's lovely to see the sun). I think my MIL will appreciate it though.


Lastly I'd like to thank Tracy for passing on this fab award to me, thanks so much for thinking of me hun! If you don't know Tracy's blog (where have you been hiding), pop over and say hi to her, she will be so pleased you popped by! Plus congratulations Tracy on your blog's first birthday! Now I have to pass this on so I'd like to pass it onto all the lovely blogging friends who've left kind comments recently, I really do appreciate your support! Thank you all so very much!

Well, better go and see if I can rescue something out of my flying saucer... ooops... I mean cake lol!!!

It's Friday Hip Hip Hooray!

Good morning all, just one more day and it's the weekend! (Not sure why I'm happy as I have to work sunday night :o( Anyway tomorrow the new Penny Black Saturday Challenge will be set, so I thought I'd better get cracking with my card for this week before it's too late! It's a fab sketch by Tracie, which is really versatile and easy to use, I'll definately be using this one again! My card is for a friend who recently had a little baby boy...


The image is called "basket case" from Penny Black, coloured with w/c pencils. I've used the Nestabilities to cut it out and frame it. The beige paper is from Paper Mill, brads are Dovecraft, sentiment is Artemio (I just got these stamps, I was struggling to find nice French sentiments and found these - they're clear stamps - I was so chuffed as they weren't really expensive unlike most crafty stuff in France). The ribbon is from my stash and the stars were kindly sent to me by Katy.

Well that's all I have to share with you all today, for any of you lucky people who are going to the Stitch and Craft Show this weekend in Olympia, hope you have a great time and get loads of goodies :o)