Monday 29 August 2011

Sketch n Stash......

Happy Bank holiday......hope your're all having a fabbie Bank Holiday weekend and that the sun is shining on you,  it isn't here and we're having to dash in and out of the garden to prep the area where the grass is going........ Another fortnight has flown by and today sees the start of a new challenge at Sketch n Stash, this weeks sketch is by Julie



                                we are sponsored by Kenny K.....the winner gets to choose 5 images.

Now I have to be honest I haven't been really been grabbed by these images before......now don't all scream at me as I know they're really popular and there are some real awesome coloured cards out there in blog land, however I did have a go at colouring the image with Prismas  and was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually lurvvved colouring in this sassy image so don't be surprised if you see more of these appear on my blog. I went for a black and pink colour combo using papers from The Paper Cellar. I embossed her face and trainers for added dimension, doesn't show too well in the photo though. The sentiment is from Cuddly Buddly.



Challenges
My Time To craft.....here comes the girls.

Pile it on........girls just want to have fun
                                                                       Happy Crafting


Sunday 28 August 2011

ABC......back to school

Afternoon peeps, well its cloudy and showers with a smidge of sun in between, we've made a start on preparing the sand for the base of the lawn well I've raked the sand and hubbys been on his knees flattening it down so I guess we'll be dashing in and outside all afternoon. However I did get up early to start making this card, I haven't made a card for the fun of it for ages as I've been busy catching up on my DT cards. There are quite a few challenges for 'back to school' this week and I thought it was a great excuse to colour this little cutie from Teddy Bo, the challenge there is black and white plus one other colour.Which I thought would be quite hard to colour using black, I only used 4 colours for this image, black, warm grey, pale blue and Indigo blue Prismas.....tell a lie I did add a touch of peach for the cheeks.I used glitter letters for the ABC and then outlined with Indigo blue to give them some dimension. the gingham paper is from Cuddly Buddly called Cottage Garden in slate.
Ohhhhh the suns back out off to do more gardening.........


Challenges
Teddy Bo.........black, white +1 colour,
Creative Beli......gingham.
Fab n Funky.......mono madness.
Cute Card Thursday.......sketch.
Paperplay.......back to school.
Alphabet challenge.....only 3 embellishments.
Papercutz.....wish upon a star.
Stamp something ......back to school.
Totally Papercrafts......back to school.
allsorts .....back to school.
Crazy 4 challenges........male themed card.

Hugs n' Smiles 



Saturday 27 August 2011

Christmas Fairy.....

Evening  peeps phew did it rain or did it rain yesterday..........and its been showers all day today, just when we get a Bank Holiday and you want the sun to shine, oh well I won't feel guilty to having a crafty weekend. I thought I'd show you a Christmas card today which is one of the new release Karen Middleton images at Cuddly Buddly called Christmas Fairy.......have to say I lurvvvved this one so sweet sat on a branch in the tree. I've used Prisma pencils for the colouring with Glamour dust and stickles for all the glitter.I have done two versions of this card one in Traditional Crimbo colours and this one in pinks.
Yay as of now I'm of work for a week, craft, chill and a whole load of work, and catch up with all your blogs, sorry I've not had the chance to visit much this week.We're also hoping to visit Drayton Manor theme park with Ethan, his mum and dad, he so loves Thomas Land.......just need the sun.

The papers are from CB and are called Quilted Holly

The text on the sentiment says "Love is all thing small and beautiful"

Challenges
Stampavie.....Christmas
Creative Inspirations......use text.
Divas By Design.....Christmas.
ABC Christmas.......Q is for quote 
Totally Gorjuss......as you like it
Cuddly Buddly......say something nice.
Hooked on Crafts......things with wings,
Stamps+Fun=Creativity.......mythical creatures. 
Charisma ....glitter it 
Winter Wonderland.......Trim a tree 
Sarah Hurley challenge.........Bling and soarkle 
hugs n' smiles 


Friday 26 August 2011

Polka Doodle....

Ohhhh its Friday and that can only mean one thing, well two things actually.......The Polka Doodle challenge and ......its nearly the weekend, yay to both. This weeks challenge is called Spots and Dots and for this challenge we get to use our stash box stamps, so for my card I've used a Penny Black stamp teamed up with papers from Cds Sundae of Seasons and A Double Sprinkles of Kraft.I've added paper buttons using a die from Dy-namics......love these dies at least I can get matching buttons now.Its raining this morning but hopefully we'll have a lovely bank holiday weekend, my grass arrived yesterday it looks like a roll of carpet outside, just need the rain to stop so that we can roll it out ......instance lawn and no more cutting and weeding.....bliss.
I'd just like to say a big hello to the new followers and thank you for your inspirational comments, they are very much appreciated.



Challenges
Everybody Art......brown and blue.
Papertake......use die cuts.
Top Tip......masculine card.
Penny Black @ Allsorts.......anything goes 

Hugs n' Smiles to you all 


Tuesday 23 August 2011

Fragments......

Morning peeps well the weather man was right its raining .....mind you we do need it for the gardens, I'm off next week and rather than go away we are having a grass laying, gardening, wallpapering, cleaning kind of holiday, can't wait to put down the grass and have some colour in the garden again....its artificial grass and it looks so real and soft it will be great for the grand children to play on.....ohhhh I'm already thinking in twos, my poor daughter is really going through the morning, noon and night sickness, hope it soon passes. On a funny note I'm coming out in teenage spots, haven't had spots since I was kid and now I'm getting zits.....whats that all about !!
Oh well enough of the waffle, today's card is one I did do a while back but never got round to posting.....I have a back up card file, sad I know, but sometimes you make a card and forget all about it, this is one I did in a class with Linda Elbourne lots of distress inks and this one also has a fragment which has been alcohol inked and removed, pop over to Tims to get the full deets, as its the challenge over at Lindas this week, seems ages since I entered a challenge there, I love this technique as it gives a real vintage look.I've used tissue tape and embossing to create the background and all of the stamps are by B Line.



Challenges
L3....use fragments.
Stampin' B....distressing.

  Have a lovely day
Hugs n' Smiles 

Sunday 21 August 2011

Cuddly Babies........

Morning peeps, had a lie in today but I've woke up with that fuzzy feelin' you get, anyway I thought I'd share with you the last of my Dt cutie cards by Karen Middleton at Cuddly Buddly this one is called  Cuddly Babies by the way there are lots more to choose from, I just picked four to play with. I thought this image was appropriate for a baby card, although I got carried away with the pink pencil I still made it for a baby boy, I added a frame of ribbon on top of the square die cut, the backing paper is also a Karen Middleton design called Enchanted Wishes, which she brought out for the whimsey angel images but I loved the check design so I just had to use it again. I've used some of my fave embellies.....button, ribbon and flowers on this but I've still kept the card simple, I really struggle with using lots of embellishments.......lol



Challenges
Sweet stampin'......Babies and little ones.
Totally Gorjuss ......Cute and cuddly.
Crazy 4 Challenges......Bingo (I chose Buttons,die cuts,flower) 
Allsorts......create a frame.
Fussy and Fancy.....use three of your fave embellishments.

Hope you have a lovely Sunday, need to colour my hair today
looking like a badger again.....lol 
hugs n smiles 


Friday 19 August 2011

Polka Doodle......

Morning peeps, today is my first Dt card for the Polka Doodle challenge, we use products from Polka Doodles but you can join in with any of your favourite stamps and stash, I have to say I have never used Cds before for crafting so this is all a bit new to me, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of images, papers, sentiments and embellishments you get to play with on them, over the coming weeks I'll be doing challenges using some of these Cds as well as the real cute whimsy stamps that Polka Doodles make,the fantasy house scene stamps are wonderful. Today's challenge is to create a Single Layer card using a minimal amount of embellishments, so I thought I'd do a Christmas card......well its only a few months away so I thought I'd make a start, I printed the sentiment straight onto the card and then added an image of a border of holly which I coloured with Prisma pencils, added some glamour dust to the berries and leaves and then added gold peel offs to the edges for a smidge more bling. I put red ribbon on the inside layer of the card for added dimension. The Cd that I used is called A Sundae of Seasons.....I've got a feeling that this is going to get used a lot.


Well it looks like it might be a sunny day today so fingers crossed, I'm looking forward to my next holiday in a weeks time.....well perhaps not as its a working holiday, laying a lawn, gardening, decorating, doing all the odd jobs that get left........I'm sure to squeeze in some crafting as well. 

Challenges
Charisma.....negative space.
Rainbow Lady......song title....We wish you a merry Christmas....
My Time To Craft.....G is for glitter, gold, green
Totally Papercrafts.....Christmas in August.
Poodle Parlour......Anything goes.
Hugs n Smiles 


Wednesday 17 August 2011

Bunny with flowers.......

Morning peeps here is another one of the new designs by Karen Middleton from Cuddly Buddly, I fell in love with the four designs that I picked as they are super cute, real choc box cuteness, if you get my drift, I used papers from First Edition called Summer Breeze  I love the peach and brown combo of colours, it takes me back a few years as I used this colour combo to decorate my first house,  the image Bunny with Flowers  has been coloured with Prisma pencils and blended with Sansador, I coloured the flowers with Prismas as well and then embossed with cosmic shimmer powder and added pearls to the centres, great way of getting an exact match to your image and it is easy to do.
I recieved some of the new Flexi markers today from Letraset to have a play with.....now I'm a newbie with marker pens as I have to confess to not using them, tell a lie I have  6  Promarkers.......lol but being as I'm a smudgy colourer, I always use paints or pencils because I love blending lots of colours together......I have to say firstly I love the soft brush nib, very much like using a fine paint brush, I'm going to have to have another play later and use Prisma pencils on top to see how they blend together, so I'll get a better feel for them then, the shades I've seen though look lovely,  lots of pastel colours to choose from, I've got a feeling I'm going to be buying more of these as they'll be great for covering larger areas which is a bit harder to do with Prismas.



Challenges
Papertake.......pick three types of embellies, pearls, blooms and ribbon.
Bearly Mine Designs......bring on the bling.
Totally Gorjuss.......use something round.
Sweet Stampin'.......on the farm (well you do get rabbits.....lol)

Have a lovely day
hugs n' smiles

Monday 15 August 2011

Sketch n Stash....

Morning peeps, so hope you all had a lovely weekend.......its official, I can now tell you all my extra special good news.......drum roll please........I'm going to be a Grandma again.......yayyyyyyyy ......we're all over the moon another little baby to cuddle, ohhhh I can't wait I can start knitting again......lol although I might wait awhile to see whether I should knit in Pink or Blue this time......so excited.
Its also Monday so its time for another challenge at Sketch n Stash challenge, this weeks sketch is by Sue.....hope you had a lovely time on holiday hun, my card features another cute new image by Karen Middleton at Cuddly Buddly, I've gone for a pink unicorn.....maybe its an omen!!!!! I've used Prisma pencils again to colour the image with lots of Glamour dust for the sparkle. I used Marianne corner dies to make a faux square frame for the image
Our sponsor this week has kindly donated £10 for the winner to spend 






Challenges
Craft us Crazy.....anything goes.
My Time to Craft........Fairy tales.
Stampin' for the weekend.......spots and dots.
Crafty Pad.....cute and girly
Ribbon Girl Challenge......use a ribbon 

Off to work now ......diet day today must loose a few pounds so hard 
when working with chocolate all day
hugs n smiles 



Friday 12 August 2011

New release.......

Morning peeps yesterday saw the new release of the Enchanted Wishes range by Karen Middleton there are some real delish digi papers and sentiments to go with the range as well. Todays card is called Butterfly wishes and the papers are from First Edtion Summer Breeze, the image has been coloured with Prismas and Start dust stickles added for the bling.|I gathered the paper for the trim  and then added Vintage seam binding for the bow.I should have got round to posting it yesterday but I had my hands full with a certain little Grandson who has soooooo much energy, I had been playing horsey for most of the day and then again in the evening as his Mum and Dad went to the cinema to see the last Harry Potter film, its his favourite game now but I think my poor back will give out giving him a piggy back for most of the day......but it was fun.



Challenges
Top Tip Tuesday........Straight edges no ovals or circles.
Stampin' B.....cards with clouds on 

Hugs n' smiles 
oh I almost forgot click here to win some Cuddly Buddly candy.......yum yum 





Tuesday 9 August 2011

Ready-Teddy-Go.......

Afternoon peeps just a reminder that there is still plenty of time to enter the Ready-Teddy-Go challenge.....Buttons and bows and we already have a couple of winners, remember there are spot prizes each month and this week from the comments Wendys name was pulled out the hat and from the followers it was Sarah who both get a new Christmas Fizzy Moon stamp but there are still more prizes to be had so what are you waiting for, we have already had some amazin' entries we know you love those bears awhhhhhhh.

Paris........

Morning peeps I'm feelin' a smidge guilty for posting soooooo many cute designs over the past few days and there are still more to come, so I thought I'd show you a card I did make a while back at a class I did with Linda Elbourne at LB Crafts using B Line stamps, I must get round to doing some more vintage styles as I'm getting withdrawal symptoms and I so love doing them. The flowers and face were coloured with Prisma pencils and then glossy accents put on the top to give a porcelain finish, the background was created using distress inks and stamps, the leaf stamp is using gold dabber paint and the background of the lady had a liberal coating of Rock Candy......so lots of bling going on , the Eiffel Tower was embossed and then Viva Inka gold rubbed over to had a lustre to the background of the image sorry the photo isnt that good


Challenges
Dream Valley......Distressing.
Simon Says Stamp and show......a Tim Holtz technique (stamping with gold dabber and distressing).
Theme Thursday.......Paris theme
Cooking it up with Katie.......show me your fave technique (distressing/embossing fave

Expectin' my grandson any moment  so we're in for another
fun filled day as well as being exhausted by the end of it
hugs and smiles to you all 
technique, Prisma pencils are my new and old actually is the card as I made it a while back) 

Monday 8 August 2011

Surprise surprise.....

No its not Cilla here just me posting another cutie by Karen Middelton over at Cuddly Buddly, I'm definitely stuck in a groove with cute cards at the moment but they are adorable, I was going to do a flat coloured image for this and then I made a mistake and coloured abit that I shouldn't have....tut tut ......but didn't have the heart to bin it so I cut around the image cutting out the mistake.......so many ribbons, and then mounted the image on an embossed background which was a mini embossing folder from Docrafts.....a freebie in one of there magazines......I love the mini dots more in proportion than my other folder for this sized image, obviously I had to add a ton of glitter......ok I've exaggerated a little but you get my drift. The papers are from Cuddly Buddly and come in lots of different colour palettes, I've kept the card very simple with embellies......well apart from a ribbon and bow and some candy from Craftworks there aren't any......lol. Now the ribbon I've used is recycled from work as we had a lot of childrens chocolate gift boxes that I had to break down to sell the chocolates individually so rather than thrown all the sparkly pink ribbons away I thought I'd use them on my cards.....see I keep nearly everything that can be reused. I used a Marianne die for the Happy Birthday paper panel.

Challenges
Pollycraft.....recycle (ribbon)
Totally Gorjuss.......Sketch.
Cupcakes......sew mad real or faux.
Poodles Parlour.......Round and round the garden (anything found in the garden) 

Oh well off to work now
hugs 

Sunday 7 August 2011

Mermaid........

Morning peeps, the week has flown by and I didn't even get a chance to blog yesterday, mind you I did do some housework  as hubby was at Twickenham yesterday watching the Rugby. I've also been busy making some cards of new releases for Kim at Cuddly Buddly by the new artist Karen Middleton there are some real cuties for sale, but this evening card is another of my fave Teddy digi images from Teddy Bo, this one is a real cutie and was lovely to colour and I got carried away with the glitter again.....think I'm addicted to the stuff well that and chocolate, maybe I should start a support group for all us addicted glitter/chocolate  lovers.....lol, the papers are from First Edition called Summer Breeze another of my fave paper pads, probably because they have glitter on the papers. If I make any mistakes whilst typing this its my sons fault as I'm having to look at all the pics he took of the new steam train Tornado as it stopped at Nuneaton train station yesterday morning to take on water, the platform was packed with train spotters of all ages including loads of women and not an anorak in sight, he only managed to take over 300 so it could be a long night as there are a couple of videos to watch as well, thought I'd share a pic with you just so you see what all the fuss was about......anyway back to my card I painted the shells with Viva precious metal paint using pink, turquoise and mother of pearl, the shells are plastic and are originally gold coloured and are also available at CB. I gathered the paper and added seam binding from Wild Orchid crafts.


Close up of painted shells and sentiment which is available from CB 



Challenges
CES....water it.
Stamp Something......digi day.
Papertake......anything goes  
have a great weekend
hugs n smiles 


Tuesday 2 August 2011

Dream.......

Morning  peeps......well what a day I had Sunday all good mind you, still getting over the thrill of being asked by Nickky to join her talented team at Polka Doodles, I even managed to make a card on Sunday using my new stamp from Crafty individuals.......such a sweet design with the bird cage, I coloured the image (CI 320) with prisma pencils and distressed the top and bottom edges with Tea Dye distress ink, after stamping the image I sprinkled gold embossing powder over the cage to get gold highlights and then added gold lines with a sakura pen for added definition.The tag and other image with the lady on is also again from CI. the larger flowers are from another stamp (CI 302) which features the postcard, I coloured the main flower and cut out, embossing slightly for a raised effect, I then added stickles to the centres. The main paper is from The Craft Works which I tore and distressed with Tattered Rose, Tea Dye and Victorian Velvet adding a line of stitching around the edge.




Challenges
One Stop Craft......vintage.
The Stampman.....show us some stitching.
Sir Stampalot.....whatever you fancy 
Crafty Individuals.....bright and beautiful (well its bright for me.....lol)
Papertake.......anything goes 

Went to see the final installment of Harry Potter last night and was so much better
in 3D, bit blurry eyed this morning though and I've got a fun filled
day with Ethan to get through......might need a Nana nap later......lol
Have a great day
hugs n' smiles


Monday 1 August 2011

Sketch N Stash........

Morning again peeps two posts in one day.....now thats a record for me......lol, being as its Monday that also means the start of another challenge over at Sketch n Stash, lots of lovely entries for the previous challenge glad I didn't have the task of picking the winners. Today sketch is by our lovely Lizzy and shes left it up to you where you add the sentiment and embellishments, so you get to show us your creative talent.


Prize is $15 to spend in store.



  Stamp is from Lili Of the Valley......haven't inked this one in a while so definately counts as my oldest stash mind you the lace is well over 20 years old so I guess that wins the prize for oldest.
Papers are from Forever friends called Spring Time and I added little diamantes to centre of the flowers on the paper for extra bling.Image has been coloured with Prisma pencils and then stickles Stardust and glamour dust added for even more sparkle.I didn't add a sentiment for this card which is just as well as my daughter snaffled it for a friends little girls birthday so I added the number 3 in the bottom left hand corner as well as the little girls name......sorry no pic.

Challenges
Allsorts ......Free and easy.
Totally papercrafts.....Bling it up.
Paperplay.....in the garden.
Everybody Art....Garden.

Hugs n smiles to you all.


Ready-Teddy-Go.....

Morning peeps its the first of August and that can only mean one thing its here ......drum roll please......the new challenge blog for all you Teddy lovers......Ready-Teddy-Go, the challenge is going to be monthly so you get plenty of time to play, if you're like me a week seems to fly by and when I get round to thinking about joining in a challenge its gone......so not any more folks you get four weeks, or there abouts to enter......yay. The challenge this month is Buttons and Bows and you can use any stamp or digi image to join in the fun.....prizes along the way for that added extra bonus.
My card features Bea......as you can probably tell from my other posts I'm so lovin' these bears in fact just ordered a few more to keep me going..... well you can never have too many can you?  I print mine on Neenah card and colour with Prisma pencils and use Sansador for blending......I just love the effect you get and you can keep adding layers of colour, it does take me quite a while to colour an image but its soooo relaxing I don't mind, in fact I prefer colouring to making the cards up.....perhaps I should go into partnership with someone......lol. The papers are called Annalee from Prima.


used Stardust stickles for all the glittery highlights


Sentiment is from Cuddly Buddly called Sweet Summer Sentiments
price £1.99, you get 28 images of 14 designs so there are
lots to choose from.


Challenges
Stampin B......use ribbon.
If The Shoe fits....summer.
Your next stamp challenge....3 embellishments(type or quantity),2 patterned papers and 1 image.
Fab n Funky....colour clash. pink/orange.
Truly Scrumptious......buttons and bow.
Stampavie...summer.
Hooked on Crafts......cute and cuddly

                                                Looking forward to seeing all your lovely cards
hugs n' smiles to you all.