'Tis the Season'

Evening all! I'm just starting to verge on panic now I realise that I have not made nearly enough Christmas cards yet!!!! As usual I've been taking so long on each card that I'm falling way behind. I haven't even bought a present yet, yikes!!

I wanted to put a Poinsettia flower where the snowflake is and I was sure I had some in amongst the Christmas decorations somewhere up in the loft, so I asked poor hubbie to get all the bags down to search for them. After scouring all the bags, I remembered I threw them out last year when I decided I didn't like them any more, typical. I then decided on a trip to Homebase, the garden centres and any other place I could think of that sells Xmas decorations to try to find some. None anywhere, they must be out of favour this year hence the reason I finished up with this snowflake. The papers are downloads from Sweet Shoppe, Snowbella stamp, sentiment by HOTP, Nesties, Sizzix snowflake dies and corner and a bit of ribbon from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by, I'm off to bed now. Night all!

Crisp and White

As you may remember from a previous post, I have been experimenting with a brayer. I've been in awe of cards I've seen using various techniques and been spending loads of time playing around. And, as you have probably noticed, I really like these Eskimo stamps from Elzybells, so I have combined the two.

I used a torn piece of paper to create the snow mounds and brayered the sky. The tree stamp is from Lavinia Stamps. Again, I masked off the snow and stamped the trees giving the effect of them being in the distance. Oops, forgot to say that the Eskimo was stamped first and masked off. I coloured him with Adirondack inks. The sentiment stamp is also Elzybells.

I matted the image onto some green and then white card. The background paper was a plain sheet which has been stamped with a snowflake stamp. I stitched around the paper cuz I like the effect. The ribbon is by Poppicraft.

Sorry the picture is a bit dark. Thanks for stopping by.

Whoops, nearly forgot this one

Oops, nearly forgot I'd done this one.

Recipe is:

Elzybells Eskimo stamp

HOTP sentiment stamp

Downloaded papers (Summer Driggs I think)

Martha Stewart punch

HOTP brad and rub-on attached to some ribbon

Christmouse Carols

Again I haven't much time for posting today but here we go: OMG it's still freezing, I've still got loads of cards to make, and there's just over two weeks till we break up from school for Christmas hols, whoopee! .................... that's it.

I bought this set of clear Christmas Critter stamps from the NEC a few weeks back and I love 'em. I don't know if it show's on the piccie, but these cutesy little mices have been decoupaged. The background paper is from K&Co which I've had for yonks. The holly strip has been done using a Fiskars punch and the flowers are Primas from e-bay. Hope you like it.

Cute Card Thursday 'Lilac Card Challenge'

Hi all, hope you're having a good weekend even though it's blooming cold. Hubby and I went on a very long walk this afternoon, very bracing, but I'm trying hard to lose a few pounds for Christmas (only so I can eat and drink to put the same amount back on, lol).

This week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge has called for a 'Lilac Card', so here's mine. I've used my cute elzybells Eskimo stamp and coloured him with Whispers pens. The background papers are by sweetshoppedesigns. They came out sort of Lilac looking when I printed them out, a problem with my ink cartridge in the printer I think, as they're not supposed to be this colour. I thought they would be ok to use on this card. The Eskimo has been mounted using Nestabilities die cut and a bit of ribbon to finish.

Dawny's Sketch #3

This week's Papertake Weekly Challenge is a fab sketch by Dawny P. Check out her blog if you haven't already, she makes lovely cards.

The reindeer stamp is an elzybells coloured with Whispers pens. The background papers are downloads and the sentiment is a HOTP stamp, and finally, a couple of Sizzix snowflakes.

Merry Christmas

A quick post today as I really need to get more Christmas cards done.

A card made using my NEC purchases. Penny Black Critters clear stamps, they're so cute. The papers are K & Co that I've had for ages and the Holly stamp is HOTP. The holy punch is Fiskars. Oh, and I've added some googly eyes, which look fun.

Hope you're all having a great weekend and it's not too cold where you are! No snow here at the moment, shame, I was hoping to be snowed in so no work tomorrow, don't think it's gonna happen.

Crisp and White

Ooops, I've been very lapse with my blogging lately. Had lots of sorting out since changing over broadband supplier. It's been such a hassle, you just don't realise how many things you have to change when you have a new e-mail address, so that's where all my time has been taken up.

Thank you to those that have been visiting and especially if you've left me a comment. I'm going to try to spend some time tomorrow getting back to people who have left me messages and hopefully catch up.

I'm just going to add a couple of cards I've done this week. One is using my lovely Eskimo stamp from Elyzbells. I'm not too keen on this card, I think the HOTP papers are a bit overpowering to go with this stamp. Personally, I think the Elzybells images really need plain and simple layouts.

Anyway, the image has been coloured with watercolour pencils and as I said, the paper is by HOTP and I've used my scallop and circle nestabilities for the centre of the card. I've used my new Martha Stewart punch for the bottom edge. The two embellishments were cut from an Ellison's thin cut die. (Oh, and the sentiment is also Elzybells.)

This is something a bit different for me. A few years ago, I bought a brayer and some stamps from Clarity Stamps at the NEC. I was so in awe of Barbara Gray's cards and she made it look so easy that I had to have a go. Anyway, needless to say, I couldn't get to grips with the brayer when I go home, my cards certainly didn't look like Barbara's, so the brayer went into the back of the drawer not to see daylight again until last weekend.

Last Saturday I went to the NEC for the Hobbycraft show and this time saw the Lavinia Stamps stall. The lady on the stand also uses the brayer to create some beautiful cards, so I was inspired yet again to have another go. I bought the Santa Sleigh silhouette and tree stamp and returned home determined to crack the brayer.

I tried and tried and tried and then after lots of failed attempts this is the one that came close to me being sort of happy with the result. It's been a really time consuming card, but I gotta admit, I did enjoy it.

I cut out a circle to mask off an area in the sky and brayered the top and then moved it to the bottom of the card to do a reflection at the bottom. I followed the technique Barbara often demonstrates at the craft fayre for doing a reflection of the sleigh and trees and finally added a few dots of glitter, hey presto!

So, if you, like me, have a brayer hidden in a drawer somewhere at home, go one, get it out and have another go! You'll enjoy it, promise.

Let it Snow

Here is a card using my favourite Bella 'Snowbella'. I've coloured her with watercolour pencils and added some glitter to her cuffs, hat and boots. The background was done using Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and the snowflake is a Cuttlebug die. The 'Let it snow' sentiment is an Elybells stamp.

Yeah! Back at last

Yeah, back at last, it's taken over two weeks to change service providers for our broadband. You'd think it would be just a matter of flicking a switch from one to the other, but the hassle has been awful, I've been pulling my hair out trying to get it sorted. Anyway, it is sorted now and I've missed blogging and blog hopping soooo much, I've got lots of catching up to do. Thanks to those of you that have been visiting and leaving comments and I know I have some awards and tags to sort out.

I've managed to use my daughters laptop a couple of times, so have had little glimpses of what you've all been up to, but I will try to visit all my favourites soon.

One (and the only) bonus for not having access to the internet is that you can actually concentrate on making cards. Here is one I did for my daughter's friend's birthday. It's a Pink Petticoat image and papers, which I've been dying to use for ages, and the layout is one of Katharina's that I've used before and really like. The 'Happy Birthday Lucy' sentiment was done on the computer. It's great to be back!!!

Aaargh - no internet.

Hi everyone, what a nightmare it's been this week trying to change from one service provider to another. My husband, in his wisdom (lol), decided to change from BT to Talk Talk just for our telephone line, but as we have a contract for our Broadband had to stay with BT until March next year. However, last Friday when I got home from work and settled down at the computer to do some blog hopping, to my horror, no internet.

I then spent (wasted) two hours on to BT trying to sort out the problem and at the end of the conversation, they told me we couldn't have BT Broadband without a BT telephone line and Talk Talk said tthat they couldn't connect us without a MAC key from BT, who said they couldn't tell us the MAC key without an active line - aaargh, going round in vicious circles. Anyway, the conclusion, BT have ended our Broadband contract, but we cannot be connected to Talk Talk broadband until the end of next week. What a nightmare, it's like having your legs chopped off.

So, you are probably wondering, how I have managed to have this little rant. Well, I've pinched my daughter's laptop while she's at work just so I can have a sneeky peek at everyone's blogs to see what's going on. Oh and while I'm at it just upload this quick card I did over the weekend.

The stamp is a Do-Craft, FF stamp, which I've coloured with Whispers pens. Papermania background card, brads and an Anita's peel off. I'm still into stitching onto card, so as you can see, I've stitched around the card as well as though the middle top to bottom and side to side.

Hope to be back up and running by next weekend. Bye all.x

For You

This is not my usual style (not sure I really have one yet), but I've seen so many fantastic cards made by fellow cardmakers from the Netherlands and Holland creating something like this. The background papers are K&Co, which I've stitched round, my fab EK Success punches (I still love 'em lots) and I dug out this old Tilda, (although she's still cute). I'm afraid I have a poor collection of them (only 3 with a couple of accessories), there's so many other stamps I want too. I coloured her in with my Adirondack dye based ink pads. The border along the bottom is a Fiskars punch (something else I've had for ages and dug out of the bottom of a drawer. What do you think?

Thank you to everyone who has visited me on my old blog, and especially if you've left a comment. Sorry if I've not had chance to get back to you to say hi, I'm sure I'm not the only one that finds there's not enough time for doing things that they really enjoy! Tat ta for now.

21st Birthday

I can't believe my little nephew, Jamie, is 21 on Tuesday and this is the card I've done for him. A relief that I managed to get something done, men's card's are soooo difficult.


Sorry about the picture quality, I've tried about 20 times to get a better one, but have given up now, totally bored and frustrated, I'll never be a David Bailey. Trying to photograph mirri card doesn't work well either, it does look better in real life, honest!


I've used Cuttlebug embossing folder 'Swiss Dots', PP Big Bloomers for the numbers, which is covered in gold glitter. The stars are Sizzix Paddlepunches and Sizzix champagne die (can't say I'm overly keen on this die) and the sentiments are done on the computer.

Julie's Japes 1st Anniversary Blog Candy

Julie is offering some fantastic blog candy for her 1st anniversary of blogging. She is offering some fab SU papers and ink pad with co-ordinating ribbon as well as a Sarah Kay stamp. Well worth entering, so go take a look, but be quick, it finishes tomorrow.

A Spoon Full of Sugar

I've been trying to spend more time actually making cards the past week or so, I've found that I spend so much time browsing from one blog to another, looking at everyone's fab work. The styles and tastes are so different it inspires something different to try every time.

This card has been made for the Spoon Full of Sugar challenge. I love the sketch and I think I will probably use this one many times.

The background paper is a download and the image is from PC Crafter, I love this snowman, he is so adorable. I've used Nestabilities to mat and layer the image and sentiment is 'Scribbled Happy Christmas' by Inca stamps. That's it for now, time to get the dinner on.

Another Cute Card Thursday

Sorry, but I couldn't miss the opportunity of using my new Cuttlebug embossing folder (got it yesterday, one of my Birthday pressies) for this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge 'Buttons and Bows', so I have entered two.

The stamp is forever Friends by Do Crafts, which I have coloured with Whispers Brush Markers. The background card is from DCWV mat stack and the sentiment is one I had in my stash.

Cute Card Thursday

I'm a bit quicker off the mark this week for the Cute Card Thursday challenge. Last week's was sent in at the eleventh hour. Anyway, I hope you can see the button on the card (it's attached to the snowflake, a bit random I know). I really like these background papers by Doreen Stolz (Ithink that's how her name is spelt, sorry Doreen if it's not). They are called 'Winter Wonderland' and although these don't look particularly Christmassy, there is a paper with snowflakes amongst the collection.

The image is another from PC Crafter, cute isn't he! I printed him off as an outline image and coloured him with Whispers Pens. A bit of stitching again. If you haven't tried this yet, give it a go, it's great fun. The snowflake is a Sizzix die, not one I've been very fond of, but I've found that if you put it through a Cuttlebug folder and add something to the centre it looks a lot more interesting.

Cute Card Thursday

A bit late with this, but here is my entry into this week's cutecardthursday challenge 'Christmas Animals'. The image is pinkcatstudio Cat Plate 1, which has been coloured with Prismas and a bit of glitter. I used Nestabilities circles and scalloped circles to mount the image. The Merry Christmas was computer generated and the background was done with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Hope you are having a good week and the weather isn't getting you down, it's supposed to be brighter by the weekend, let's keep fingers crossed.

Merry Christmas

My card fix for today. The image is from PC Crafter and the background papers and sentiment are HOTP. As you can probally tell, stitching has become a real favourite of mine. A bit time consuming this one, but I have to say I enjoyed it especially as the weather is so rubbish today. Hope your all having a great weekend and managing to get a bit of crafting done.

Forever Friends

Isn't this just the cutest teddy ever. I got a couple of these stamps from http://www.theglitterpot.co.uk/ . The background papers and sentiment are from http://www.pinkpetticoat.co.uk/ and I've coloured the image with brush markers. Not sure about the position of the flowers, I might have to move them about a bit, but got the sewing machine out for a bit of stitching (love this effect). Thanks for stopping by.

More Elzbells

Just a quick post today, got to put the vacuum round before hubby comes home and thinks I've spent all afternoon cardmaking (ha ha, chance would be a fine thing).

The background papers are Pink Petticoat, as is the sentiment. The image has been coloured with Faber Castell pencils. The snowflake is Sizzix and another snowflake punch (can't remember which one) mounted on top. Oh, and I've used round and oval Nesties . Ok off to carry on with dull chores.

Sleighing Eskimo

I think these Eskimo's from Elzybells are soooo cute. This one has been coloured with Primas and mounted onto HOTP papers. The sentiment is HOTP too and the snowflakes are both Sizzix.

Elzybells Eskimo

I think I rushed to get a card done using my new elzybells Eskimo stamp, so I 'm not entirely happy with this card. Not sure what it is, possibly the layout. Anyway, the background is a cuttlebug embossing folder which I then rubbed over with a bit of blue ink to highlight the snowflakes. The embellished snowflake is from cuttlebug too and I have just added a Sizzix paddlepunch snowflake to the centre. The sentiment is from HOTP.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and enjoys the lovely sunshine that's expected today. I'm off into the garden now to do a bit of weeding.

First Christmas Card

Only fourteen weeks until Christmas! Time to get my skates on and start my Christmas cards, I'll bet lots of you have already finished yours. Last year I think I was still finishing cards on Christmas Eve - how stressful was that!

I have to say I really struggled with this card, I think I was using too much water and the outline was bleeding into the brush markers turning it into a sludgy mess, so I was happy to finally get an image that I was happy with.

The background paper is a lovely one from Pink Petticoat, it's so nice I wanted to show as much of it as possible. The snowflakes are punched with a bit of bling in the centre and the Jolly Holly sentiment is from HOtP.

Cute Card Thursday

I think I'm on a bit of a roll this week, two cards in two days. This week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge is to make a card featuring cats and dogs. Once again, the Design Team has done some great samples for inspiration if your stuck for ideas. The lucky winner of this challenge gets two fab downloads which have been donated by Debbie Moore who designs for Spiral Whisper.


I used Cat Plate 1 from http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/, and coloured the image using Prismas. The background papers are DCWV and the flower is a Flora Doodle, which can be bought from http://www.joannasheen.com/.

Sketch Saturday

For this week's sketchsaturday's challenge I was in a Pink Petticoat mood. I've used Big Dots, Henrietta and Stripes from another download, but can't remember which one. The sentiment was done on the computer. I colour tinted the flower to match the paper and mounted the image onto card die cut using Nestabilities.

The sponsor of this week's challenge is sassycrafts and the winner will receive a fab Sarah Kay stamp, so check out Sketch Saturday for a chance to win.

Papertake Weekly Challenge

Papertake Weekly Challenge

Here's my entry into this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge. The theme is based on another great sketch from katharina and the winning entry receives a fabulous Whiff of Joy stamp.

The papers are HOtP and the stamped image is another from Stamping Bella, this one is Surfafella, if you hadn't already guessed.

I had a bit of a disaster with the glue on the ribbon, I hope it's not too noticeable.

Sketch Saturday

Doing a bit of blog hopping I came across another great challenge site to have a go at, sketchsaturday. They have a fab DT who have created some great examples, for a bit of inspiration.

I had a few new Bella's arrive this week, here we have Parisabella, don't you just love her! She has been coloured in with Whispers brush markers and matted onto plain card. The background papers are designed by a very talented lady called Summer Driggs who very kindly shares her digital papers for FREE! She has some lovely kits available to download, if your interested this is the blog address: http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/. The flowers have been punched using my EK Success punches.

Thanks for visiting, call back again soon.

Kerry's Blog Candy

Kerry, also known as a load of old pickle was celebrating her 10,000 hits by offering some fab blog candy.

Unfortunately, I've had a busy week and wasn't able to get my entry in on time, so I just want to say congratulations to Kerry for her wonderful achievement and carry on making fabulous cards. Also, many congratulatons to Sue (aka Auntysue on docrafts) for her winning card, it is a very worthy winner.

For those who haven't yet visited Kerry's blog, please go take a look, it's well worth it.

A Stitch in time....

This week's Papertake Weekly Challenge is to create a card using faux or real stitching. I have seen this technique used on loads of cards and really liked it, so decided to get my sewing maching out and give it a go using real stitching.

I've used another of the lovely Elzybells stamps for the main image and coloured it in with Marvy Le Plume pens and then layered it onto some lilac card stock. I stuck everything down before attempting to stitch it, and I have to say it is much easier than I thought it would be. I am quite happy with the result.

The background paper is Pink Petticoat with a Studio G sentiment and a couple of crystals to finish.

Another Rubber Romance

I was suffering from a lack of ideas today, so after a bit of blog hopping I got the inspiration for this card from a very talented lady called Dawn Wheeler. (If you haven't visited her blog before, go and take a look, her cards are fabulous.) I took a real shine to the shape and layout of one of her cards, so made this one, my own version of it. Hope you don't mind Dawn!

The papers are by Pink Petticoat and of course, my favourite of the moment, a Rubber Romance stamp. The trousers and hat are paper pieced and the flower and buckle was made using EK Success punches.

I quite like the way it's turned out and hope you like it, and thanks again to Dawn for the inspiration.

Enjoy

I just love these new Rubber Romance stamps. I've used some HOTP papers for the background and as you can see, stamped the image onto the paper to paper piece the cushions. The rest of the image was coloured using my Prismas. The sentiment is one of my favourites from Studio G.

More Celebration!

More cause for celebration today, after the success of our eldest graduating with a 2:1 from Southampton Uni, our youngest daughter just got her 'A' level results and she got three A's, yeah. She will be studying Law at Birmingham Uni starting in September.

I really don't know where we got such a clever pair of daughters from.lol.

Many congratulations Jo and Lauren and good luck for the future.

Thank you so much

Thanks so much to Tara and Lainy for sending me this award. They are both talented people who often leave lovely messages of encouragement on my blog.

The rules of this award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you have nominated.

Please excuse me if you have already been nominated for this award, but I am so often inspired by your creations that I really would like to pass it to you again:

Sarita
Lorraine
Kerry
Deb
Janet
Julie
Ila

There are so many others that I would like to pass this too, so to all the lovely, talented crafters out there, please accept this from me.x

In my thoughts

Just a little card I made using one of my Elybells stamp, they're so sweet and simple. I think she looks suitably ill with her flushed cheeks, lol.

I'm hoping I don't have to send it to anyone though, but it's one to keep in my box just in case.

Brillante Award

A big thank you to Ruth for giving me this award. Many apologies to Ruth for taking so long to put it on my blog, time just seems to running away from me these day.

Thank you again Ruth, much appreciated.

The rules for this award:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs, which is hard as many people already have it.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you've nominated, I am going to nominate:-

Tara, Tracey, and the following people who already have it, but I would like to give it again (sorry if this breaks the rules): Karen, Sonia, Katy, Lainy, Zoe.

Rubber Romance

What a perfect day for playing with my new Rubber Romance stamp. Cold, wet and windy outside, I can't believe it's August. It feels more like November, I almost wanted to put the heating on.

I stamped the image on watercolour card and coloured with Faber Castell pencils. I used katharina's sketch from this week's papertakeweekly challenge. The papers are downloaded from http://digitalfreebies.com/. The sentiment is a stamp I've had for a few years, it's from a company called 'Innie & Outie.

Sorry if the picture is a bit dark, I can't find a bright spot to take photo's on a dark, gloomy day in our old cottage.

Oops, also forgot to say these stamps are huge, you certainly get your money's worth with them.

I've been very naughty!

I've bought these Rubber Romance stamps and I have another 4 on the way, how naughty is that? It's all down to internet shopping, it's just too easy to drop things into the basket and one press of a button and hey presto! they're yours. I haven't mentioned it to o/h yet, I've got a bit of time before the Credit Card statement comes. He'll be glad when the six week holiday is over and I'm back to work where I can't spend. Better go and have a play with them!

I'm Back

Wow, seems like ages since we went away. Thank you to everyone who wished us a good holiday and to everyone who has visited my blog whilst we've been away.

We did have a lovely time and we were mostly lucky with the weather.

The first day (Monday) on the way down to Exmoor we had glorious sunshine, it was beautiful.

Tuesday was not so good, rain on and off, but it didn't deter us from doing some sightseeing, albeit from the car. We had a good look at the moor, the rain and wind made it look very bleak indeed.

Wednesday started off raining, but determined to do some walking (with our new boots) we set off to buy a Kagool for o/h, I'd already got mine. Would you believe it, the sun only came out and it was hot and sunny for the rest of the day, so much so that we even caught the sun and got a bit of a tan, ***'* law I think it's called.

I've added some piccies to show off our beautiful countryside and how lovely our country can be when the sun shines, it couldn't have been any better abroad. The first picture was the view from our hotel bedroom window, stunning, I think you will agree.

I took the picture of the cove as we were walking along the coast road, we were pretty high up at this point. The walk was 6 miles in total and it took us 4 hours to complete, I was absolutely shattered. The hills were almost vertical in some places(or so it seemed). It was worth it though, it was lovely.

Katharina's Sketch

I liked this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge sketch from Katharina so much, I did another card with the same layout.

The papers have been downloaded from a digital scrapbooking site, I think they are gorgeous.

I stamped 'Winobella' onto the same background paper and cut out the dress, which was then layered onto my stamped image. I coloured her with watercolour pencils and added a few embellishments.

Well I'm going to have to put my crafting stuff away for now, my o/h and I are off on holiday tomorrow for a few days. We have booked into a hotel in Exmoor and for the first time we are going without the kids, how weird will that feel!

Much to our offsprings' amusement our holiday clothes shopping consisted of new walking boots and socks, and we are really chuffed with them (we really must be getting old). So that is the plan, lots of walking and sight seeing. Hope the weather holds up (I will be packing my kagool too, just in case). Bye for now.

Katharina's Sketch #7

Bit of a late entry for the papertakeweekly challenge.

The papers and image I've used for this card are from pinkpetticoat. I used a cuttlebug folder for the strip across the card and added some ribbon threaded through a buckle punch out. The image has been coloured using Prima's and the photo corners are punched from a Sizzix die.

The colours have come out a bit bright on the photo, the card and image are more of a darker blue. Anyway, hope you like it and thank you for visiting, I hope you'll stop by again.

Blogging Friends Award

I have been given this fab award by the lovely Karen of karenscards, who's cards I find really inspirational. I'm really thrilled to receive it, thanks Karen.

The rules of the award are:

1. Only 5 people allowed
2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.quite simple really it is a way of saying thank you to those who take time out for wonderful comments to boost your day.

I'd like to award this to:

1. Tara
2. lainy
3. Zoe
4. Vicky
5. annchen my someone new who lives in another part of the world (Germany).

I hope you all enjoy receiving this as much as me. Sue.x