Lovely goodies from Norway

Look at these gorgeous goodies I received today from Heidi, I recently entered her blog candy and although I didn't win the main prize, she kindly pulled two more names out of the hat to send out a surprise to and one of those was mine. So I had no idea what was coming and was really excited when I opened my parcel this morning to find all these gorgeous flowers, buttons and tags.

Thanks Heidi, I love my parcel

Jan x

Bee Happy

Made this cute little card and found it fits 3 challenges, so that's a bonus!

DU2DS - are asking for "Things with Wings"

Digital Tuesday - are asking for Showers or Flowers

Stamp Something - also asking for Shower or Flowers

This cute little fella is a freebie from Dustin Pike and I've coloured him with a variety of medium, it took two attempts as I just couldn't get him right! Who would have thought colouring in a bumble bee would be so hard?! Anyway, I've used pencils for his body, Sakura glaze pens for his umberella, boots and water, a Sakura Stardust pen for his glittery wings and my brand new Promarkers, which I bought yesterday and just love, for his face.

The papers are from Here's a Scrap as are the embellishments

A Lovely Award

I've been passed this award by the lovely Azzurra which was a really nice surprise this morning. As I think all of us bloggers are in the sisterhood, then I'd like to pass this on to all my lovely followers to say thank you for taking an interest in my lil' ol' blog.

Jan xx

Project Tuesday Challenge - Double Pocket Bag

I love making cards, but it's always nice to try something different & the challenge over at Project Tuesday was to create this bag, following some easy to follow instructions & this is my design.

I've used Stampin' Up! Sweet Always DSP for the bag & the matting & layering, the stamp and sentiment are also SU, from the set "Birthday Best" and I've finished it with some pink ribbon & a pink flower embellishment from my stash, to pick out the pink on the paper.

It's a really sweet, and quite sturdy little bag and would make a lovely little gift bag - have to decide who to give it to now!

Papertake Weekly # 13

Just got this done in time for this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge, which was a sketch. The photo was taken outside and it's 8.30 pm so it's not the best picture, but good that it's still light enough to go outside and do.

I've used a Digi-Stamp from Sketching Stampers which I was lucky enough to win from a challenge over on Dare U 2 Digi Stamp last week, and this lovely lady is called Vicky. I've coloured her with Stampin' Up markers in Ruby Red; Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie & Not Quite Navy and layered her on SU cardstock, also Ruby Red.

The papers are freebies I had in my stash and the sentiment is from the computer as I just didn't have the right one to fit the gap I had left!

Creative Card Crew - Challenge No. 7 - Round and Around

I made this little box & thank you card at my SU Workshop and as there's lot's of circles going on I thought they'd be just great for this challenge.

The backgrounds have been made using a SU Stampin' Around wheel "Spot On" with Old Olive ink; the sentiments are from SU "Circle of Friendship" and layered up using two nestie dies, the giftag also has a 3d circle on it, and some Whisper White ribbon has been used to tie up the box.

Stampacular Sunday Challenge No. 3

Black + White + One Other Colour -was the colour challenge this week over at Stampacular Sunday. I've been planning to do this card all week & only got around to it this morning, but finally, it's done.

I've used Pink Petticoat Pretty Doodles papers, which come in a postive & negative for each colour, so I've used the black & white and added some lovely SU Pixie Pink Ink on SU Stamps from "Simply Said" set, plus a bit of ribbon (which is looking a bit wonky - hmmm) from my stash.

The more I use monotone, the more I like it, it gives such a striking look. Going to have to do something about that ribbon though!!

Stamp With Us Colour Challenge

This yummy looking cupcake was the inspiration for this week's Colour Challenge over at Stamp With Us & this is what I came up with:



All Stampin' Up! products, except for the brad which is from my stash.

Stamp Sets: Garden Whimsy & Circle of Friendship
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip & Creamy Caramel
DP: Sweet Always
Nestabilities used for the circles

Yum, all this talk of chcolate & caramel, I quite fancy a Twix for some reason!

Modern Sugar Blvd Candy

I've made this card for the Modern Sugar Blvd blog as they're giving away some scrummy candy to the winner, using one of their free downloads. You can see some of their lovely stamps & images here

I've coloured this lovely girl in Stampin' Up! Markers - Ruby Red, Summer Sun, More Mustard & Chocolate Chip, I've also used some pencils for her skin tone and shopping bags. The sentiment is SU from the set "Circle of Friendship" and the papers are some freebies I had in my stash.

Blog Candy Alert

This is one of three prizes you can choose from if you're lucky enough to win Nicola's fantastic Blog Candy over at Murano Silver, take a peek & a look at her website too to choose your favourite piece (warning - not easy as there are so many stunning pieces on there!)

Just Magnolia - Challenge No. 1

Just Magnolia is a new challenge blog with a fantastic prize for the winner of the first challenge, so I thought I'd give it a go, although at the time of posting this I'm entry no. 295 - eek! It's proving rather popular then! Oh well, I love my Tilda stamps even though I only have a few and this is my favourite one, I've got a friend's birthday coming up next week and I'm sure she'll like this card.

I've used Stampin' Up! Watercolour Crayons for most of the image and SU Markers on her shoes, buttons & flower headband: Pretty in Pink; Perfect Plum; Barely Banana; Garden Green; Cameo Coral and Chocolate Chip. The cardstock is SU Perfect Plum & the DSP's are also SU from the gorgeous "Sweet Always" set. The sentiment is from the SU set "Fun & Fast Notes" and the flowers are Making Memories.

Bookmarks for Christine's Challenge

Here's a candy with a difference over at Christine's blog, you can enter in the usual way by leaving a comment, but if you make a bookmark you get extra entries - the twist is that the two winners are asked to send their bookmark's over to Christine, which I thought made a fun difference. I made two bookmarks, the first one I've kept very simple and just used a die on my Cuttlebug on some gorgeous cherry & spotty Pebbles Ink paper and threaded some beads onto the red ribbon. The second one I've stamped with SU Garden Whimsy set in Close to Cocoa ink onto more Pebbles Ink paper (using the same die) and add some brown felt ribbon to the top. I've also gone over the images with a Sakura stardust pen for a bit of added sparkle - not sure if that's clear in the photos.

Really quick & easy to make.

Papertrey Ink Challenge No. 5

This is my entry for this week's challenge, I popped over to the blog to have a look and have just fallen in love with Papertrey, maybe it's a good job (for my credit card anyway) that they're not available over here! So with a chance to win some stunning PI goodies, this was a challenge not to be missed and I've used one of the free sample packs as the background to my card, this one is called "Guidelines" and is just gorgeous. I've used an SU stamp, from the set "Garden Whimsy", I've stamped it with Versamark on to Lovely Lilac cardstock and heat embossed it with SU embossing powder and the sentiment is from the same set. I've used my nesties for the layers to add a finishing touch. I wasn't sure whether to add any ribbons or candy to the card, but decided to keep it simple.

Blog Candy Alert

How would you like to win your very own personal stamp created by Lisbet like this one:

And this super cute stamp "Jente with Bag"?

Aren't these just great? Pop over to ScrapMagasinet to find out how

Stamp Something - Yellow, Green & Blue

This is my entry for this week's Stamp Something Challenge, to make a card using yellow, green & blue.

The gorgeous BP came from a free download I received from Kaboodle Doodles for a challenge entry, the set I chose is called Morris Dance, I fell in love with this paper and wanted to use it straight away and knew I could fit it in with this challenge. The stamp is from an SU Hostess Set called "A Little Bit of Happiness" & I've coloured it in with SU markers Not Quity Navy; Summer Sun; Old Olive & Garden Green and the cardstock is also SU in Whisper White, Not Quite Navy and Summer Sun.

I've used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on some Not Quite Navy cardstock to place behind the image and the buttons are from my stash.

I had a funny sort of weekend and a bit of a confidence crisis, just wasn't pleased with anything I was making and feeling completely uninspired, so it was really lovely to get an injection of inspiration & motivation from this gorgeous paper and I'm glad to say I'm really pleased with the finished card too - phew!!

Toodles & Binks - Giveaway

Pop over to Toodles & Binks for a chance to win their giveaway and enter their easy peasy competition

The Digishack Challenge

I came across this brand new blog whilst blog hopping recently and this is their first challenge, you're given the image for free which you have to use on your project in conjunction with their sketch.

This card was a bit of a challenge for me as the image is not in my usual style at all, so I had to really think about the papers to use with it, but once I got going I really enjoyed doing it and I'm really pleased with the end result - it's actually nice to do something different for a change.

I watercolored the image using Stampin' Up! Watercolour Crayons in Barely Banana and Certainly Celery, to keep the image quite delicate, the yellow paper is some handmade paper I've had in my stash for ages, and the BP is printed from a "My Craft Studio" CD. The chipboard "Unique" sentiment is from A Pocket of Posies chipboard stickers and the ribbons and button brads are also from my stash.

Sketch and Stash Challenge #8

I love these challenges because they get me to either use stamps/papers and embellishments that haven't yet seen the light of day and have been loitering amongst all my crafting stash or a chance to use a brand new item that has been waiting for the right project to come along.

So today's card is a mixture of the two, I've had the Smirk stamp for ages, but hadn't yet inked it up, so it was lovely to use that & I've coloured it in with pencils as I didn't have the right coloured pink in any of my markers, apart from her bag which I coloured with a Sakura Stardust pen to give it some glitter. The "cute as a button" embellishment is from a pack of Smirk plastic tags I bought recently and have been waiting to use one of them. The papers are from some freebies I had in my stash as are the buttons.

Stamp With Us Theme Challenge

The theme for this card was BIRTHDAY, I've got a friends birthday coming up, so I thought I'd make a card for her and use it for this challenge. I've used one of my favourite SU stamp sets, "Playful Petals" along with the matching DSP "Tea Party". I've coloured the images with SU Watercolour Crayons - Barely Banana; Pretty in Pink; Almost Amethyst & Lavender Lace, plus a little bit of a Stampin' Write marker in Pumpkin Pie. The sentiment is taken from the "Fun & Fast Notes" stamp set, and I've used an SU marker in Garden Green. The cardstock is Whisper White and Garden Green.

A card for many challenges!

Having my daughter at home this week has meant not so much time for crafting, so I hadn't made many cards & still had a long list of challenges I wanted to try & take part in, so this card fills the criteria for 4 challenges, which brings me back up to date a bit! The 4 challenges are:

1. The Pink Elephant - Pink, Green & Yellow
2. DU2DS - Pink & Green
3. Bee Crafty - use a new Bee Crafty Digi-stamp
4. Sketch Saturday - no 46

The image is from Bee Crafty & I've coloured her with SU Stampin' Write markers in Old Olive & Summer Sun, her butterfly net has been coloured with a Sakura Stardust pen and I've paper pieced her dress. All the papers are from FunkyHand's "V Funky" CD and the yellow card is SU Yoyo Yellow. The sentiment is a chipboard sticker from A Pocket Full of Posies, and the little sequin flowers are from my stash.

Stampacular Sunday - For The Birds

Challenge No. 2 over at Stampacular Sunday was called "For the Birds" and had to feature stamping and a bird somewhere on the project, so I fufilled both criteria by stamping a little bird. He comes from the SU stamp set "Fun & Fast Notes" and I've coloured him with SU Stampin' Write markers - Not Quite Navy; Cameo Coral and Garden Green. The DP's are also SU from the set Tea Party and the flower embellishment is from my stash (don't know the make sorry).

Look what I won!

This stunning Blue Bird brooch, has been made by the very talented Amanda over at Hungry Designs, and she recently did a giveaway, which I won! How exciting is that!

Hop over to her blog, as she has some gorgeous creations and well worth a look.

Thanks Amanda, will eagerly be awaiting the postie now

Pollycraft Monday Challenge No. 13

You'll never guess what the theme over at Pollycraft's Challenge was this week - Orange I hear you say? How did you guess! LOL

I love orange & really enjoyed making this card, it's so bright & zingy.

I've used a Pollycraft digi-stamp, this is from the set "Penelope in the Garden" and she's now a gorgeous auburn Penelope! I've coloured her with SU markers in Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Close to Cocoa and Garden Green and some Cameo Coral for the dragonfly. Her hair has been done with a Sakura glaze pen for a bit of shine and I've used a Sakura clear Stardust pen to give the dragonfly wings and the flower centres a bit of sparkle.

The sentiment is also from an SU set - Cheer & Wishes and the backing papers are from my stash.

The cardstock is a graduated orange colour which is why it's dark orange on one side only, the lighter side is a very pale orange, which isn't so clear in the picture.

I've also added a couple of orange eyelets, just in case the card wasn't quite orangey enough!

A Lovely Award

I received this lovely award from Joanne, thanks so much hun for thinking of me & I've to pass it on to five more lovely bloggers, not an easy task to choose just five blogs, but here goes. I'd like to pass it on to:

Louly

Helen

Steph

Lorraine

Donna

I really enjoy visiting these talented ladies' blogs.

Creative Card Crew - Challenge No. 6

Monochrome Madness was the theme this week, which I love doing, I think black & white just looks so classy together.

I've made this card using a digi-stamp from Pink Petticoat, from a set called "Simply Delightful", the DP is also a download from Crafters Kitchen and I've embossed the white card behind the image using my Cuttlebug and finished with some Stampin' Up! ribbon in Whisper White.

I didn't give blood today

But planned to - went along to my local session only to find my iron levels were too low to give blood today and I can't donate for at least another three months. They were only just below the minimum, so apparently it's nothing to worry about & the nurse said I wouldn't need to see a Dr. I've been dieting (quite strictly) lately so it's probably down to that so I'm not concerned and now I'm eating quite healthily again, I'm certain it will all get back to normal. Only trouble was I had the finger prick test, which showed my levels were low, so then they took some blood from my arm to test more thoroughly, so I didn't donate any blood, but still had two needles - ouch!

Ironically tomorrow I'm taking my daughter Georgia back to the Dr's for the results of her blood test as he thinks she may be anaemic, as she's very tired and lethargic all the time - what a pair!

More scrummy candy

Lora has got a lovey giveaway to celebrate her birthday and 1000 hits - take a look

My Cute Stamps giveaway

Pop over to the Creating Cupcakes blog where there is a great giveaway for a set of "My Cute Stamps" you just need to pop over to the website and select your favourite set of "My Cute Stamps" - this is mine:

called Circus Animals - how cute is that!!

Mojo Monday - Challenge 81

This is my card for this week's challenge, which was an interesting sketch and I really enjoyed putting this card together.

Have just about gone all Stampin' Up! for this card, which made it easy to co-ordinate. The two flower images and the sentiment are from the set "Simply Said" which is a favourite of mine, the DPs are from the collection "Sweet Always" and the cardstock is Chocolate Chip. The only non SU items are the brads and the ribbon, which are from my stash.

Apologies for the poor photo, bit overcast here this morning, but if you click on the photo for the larger image, you can see the images & sentiment more clearly.

Charisma Cardz Challenge No. 14

Purple & Green was this week's theme and I know the gingham papers looks blue in the picture, but it is purple in real life - honest! I can't believe how blue it's looking here!

Anyway, I've had this gorgeous dragon digi-stamp for a while and wanted to use him for my nephew's Easter card and decided to fit it in with this challenge as I liked the colour combo. The stamp was a freebie from Dustin Pike, the sentiment is off my 'puter, with a bit of doodling around the edge, and the gingham papers (the green and the purple ones!!) were also freebies from Sketching Stamper, so it's fair to say the card didn't cost much to make then LOL

Forever Friends Challenge - Monotone

The challenge over at Forever Friends this week was to use just one colour tone throughout your card and so apart from the teddy I went for purple as I loved this image - nothing nicer than having a lovely bubbly bath & a cuppa, well apart from a bath & a glass of bubbly perhaps!

I've used a FF sticker and FF papers, and some purple card I've had in my stash for ages, the sentiment (it says Happy Birthday Wishes - a bit faint in the pic) is from an SU set - Fun & Fast notes, and the little gem drops are also from my stash.

Dottie's World Challenge - All things bright & beautiful

It's been a lovely sunny day here today & and I think this card has a lovely, bright & sunny feel to it, so should qualify for "All things bright & beautiful" which is the theme over at Dottie's World this week.

I've used a Charmed download and this very elegant lady comes from "Girls About Town", I've coloured her using a red Sakura glaze pen (it looks a bit orange in the pic) for her dress & shoes, glaze pens for her hair & bag and watercolour pencils forher shopping bags, gloves & skin tone - and doesn't she look smart - a bit like me when I go out shopping NOT!!

The DP is from a set of Pebbles Ink papers I won (and love) and the sparkly flower is from my stash.

I'm really pleased how this card came out, I usually look at a finished project and think I should have done something differently, but I do like this one and am pleased with the end result.

An Easter card for two challenges

This cute little fella is called Warren & was a free digi-stamp from Tinker & Co as were the papers and I can use him for two challenges this week.

The first for the new Dare You 2 Digi stamp challenge blog was a sketch and the second challenge I'm entering the card for is Stamp Something's Thursday challenge which was to make a Happy Easter card.

I've cut out Warren and put him on some SU cardstock - Chocolate Chip, with silicon for a 3D effect, the papers are also from Tinker & Co & the ribbon is from my stash. I've printed the sentiment from my computer as I didn't have a suitable stamp.

I think I'll be posting this one off today to my Sister-in-law for Easter as I think she'll like it.

DT Call

Ellie is looking for a new DT member for her new Digital Tuesday Challenge blog, for more info have a look at her blog here

And keep your fingers crossed for me too please!

Sketch Saturday Challenge No 45

I really liked this week's sketch, it was quite a clean, straightforward layout, so I decided to keep the card clean and just use one paper and matching cardstock.

The very cute fairy was a free download from Two Scoops Rice and I've coloured her outfit with Sakura Stardust pens, so she has a lovely sparkle to her (not clear in the photo) and watercoloured her skin.

The backing paper is from a FunkyFairy's set called Funky Flowers and the cardstock is Stampin' Up's Pixie Pink. I've added a bit of bling down either side of the image, and a flower & brad which are all from my stash.

Stampacular Sunday Challenge No. 1

New beginnings is the apt theme for this brand new Challenge Blog that was launched on Sunday and a new house is a pretty big new beginning for anyone!

I fell in love with this stamp ages ago whilst wandering around Hobbycraft (as you do!) and have been waiting to use it, so it was great to finally ink it up, it's by a company called Funstamps.

The sentiment is from a sheet of unmounted stamps (don't know who by) that has a range of various greetings, so comes in handy from time to time.

The papers come from a FunkyHand CD & the button brads are from my stash.

Can I also add that the card isn't wonky in the middle, sadly it's my photography that is!

This afternoon I shall be stuffing my bra!!

Oh yes, you did read that right - and it's not everyday a girl can say that!! It's all for my other love, after crafting, which is Amateur Dramatics. We're currently rehearsing for a play called "Habeas Corpus" a comedy by Alan Bennett, and my character is a dowdy, flat chested spinster, gosh I'll have to draw on all my acting talents to portry that one ;-) LOL who buys herself a lovely pair of false boobs and that's where confusion and all sorts of nonsense sets in. Hence the stuffing of the bra to give myself a rather impressive G cup! Hubby's eyes nearly fell out of his head when I showed him the "tester bra" stuffed with socks!

I will post pics of the play and me with & without my "appliance" to give you all a giggle.

Stamp With Us Challenge # 1

Well loving Stampin' Up! as I do this was one challenge I didn't want to miss out on as any excuse to get out my SU goodies & I'm there!

I made this card for my friend Sarah, to wish her luck with her new shop she's just opened and found the sketch a great inspiration.

I've used all SU throughout the card, the flowers are from the set "Simply Said" (I love this set) and I've stamped one image onto Whisper White cardstock & the other flowers onto Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red & Summer Sun cardstock & cut out.

The DP is from the set "Sweet Always" it's the same sheet, I've used the back & the front.

The sentiment comes from the set "Cheer & Wishes" and I've added a little bit of bling to the centre of the main flowers, using candy from my stash.

Sarah loves Autumn colours, so this card was right up her street.

Messy Rabbit giveaway

Jacqui is giving away an amazing 6 sets of Joanna Sheen's Messy Rabbit stamps, so hop on over to her blog for a look (but don't enter cos I want to win! LOL)

One card for two challenges

I've been a busy girl this afternoon and this is the second card I've made, which I'm entering for two challenges.

The first is for Sketch and Stash Challenge no. 7 and the new item on this card is the image, which is a free Digi-stamp from Bee Crafty which is the second challenge the card is for.

I've coloured the image with Sakura Glaze pens & also some watercolour pencils; the papers are from Pebble Ink and the pink card is Stampin' Up! Pink Passion.

The sentiment is from HamptonArt, oh first time I've used that stamp too and it's been in my drawer for ages, and the flower embellishments are from my stash.

Creative Card Crew - Challenge No. 4

This week's challenge was to use texture on your cards.

The image is a free Digi-stamp I got from TwoScoopsRice and is so cute, I've coloured him with very pale pink water colour pencils and use Sakura Glaze pens on the rest of the image.

I put some card through the Cuttlebug with one of their embossing folders and have used chalks to pick up the embossing.

The DP is Stampin' Up! and is from a set called Sweet Always, the sentiment is also SU from "Simply Said".

I've added more texture with a ribbon, flower brad & a tiny heart stick on all from my stash.

The base card is a graduated coloured card that I've had in my stash for ages and glad to finally use!

Pollycraft Monday Challenge No. 12

The Challenge this week was to use one of Pollycraft's downloadable digi-stamps, and this one is from the Phoebe & Maud set. The image was already coloured so I didn't have to do anything there and I've cut a circle & a scalloped layer using my Nesties to put the image on. The BP is from Pink Petticoat, the green BP is from my stash & the pink card is SU Pink Passion. The ribbon & candy is from my stash & the little butterfly in the corner is a sticker, and I've put silicon under his wing so it's raised up.