Jan's Cards, Crafts & Musings

Little Owls

2011-03-06T15:13:00.002Z

I fell in love with this owl stamp, which came in one of the free Sale-a-Bration sets and so it was used as the basis for both cards for my February class. There's going to be a matching punch coming out in the new mini catalogue next month (at least that's the rumour) but even without the punch it's a fab stamp to use and easy to cut out by hand.

I also got my first clear SU set - "Confetti" which we used for backgrounds, a really versatile set of little stamps, that I know are going to come out time & time again.

So here's the details:

Card 1 -

Cardstock & Ink - Soft Suede; Melon Mambo

Stamps - Punch Bunch; Confetti

Punches - Scallop Edge; Two Step Bird (branch)

Card 2 -

Cardstock & Ink - Soft Suede; Crumb Cake

Stamps - Punch Bunch; So Happy For You; Confetti

Other - Circle & scallop circle dies; button & leaf from stash

I also made a sweet baby card using the label stamp from Punch Bunch so I'll try & get that up here in the week too - gosh two blog entries in one month - that'd be a bit of a record for me!

January's Class Cards

2011-01-27T11:57:00.002Z

Well hello there, here's a shocker me finally posting on my blog again after months of absence. Life sort of got in the way for a while there, including work and I just got out of the habit of crafting never mind blogging and it's still pretty much that way, but thank goodness for my classes which make me get in my craft room and crafting, otherwise I don't think I'd be making any cards at the moment.

So this month at class was very exciting because we moved into my newly renovated craft room; for the last 18 months classes have been held around my dining table, but now I'm no longer working from home as a Cambridge Diet Consultant I've been able to turn my office/craftroom into a dedicated craftroom with room for a table in the middle for classes.

The above picture shows my Friday evening class around the table - getting this lovely lot to stop talking for a minute to take a photo is quite a feat I can assure you! We always have refreshments and my lovely friend Sue spoilt me rotten as my birthday is coming up in a few weeks and she brought a box of cupcakes from Queenies of Ironbridge. If you live in the Telford area and haven't been to Queenies, go - go now! The cupcakes are scrumptious and we all really enjoyed them, so thanks Sue - they were yummy!

So onto the cards we made this month, both are using the set Ornate Flowers and we did a bit of embossing. I've really been struggling with ideas lately, due to not crafting and not blogging I guess, so I had a look at the gallery of ILWS and took some ideas for both these cards from there, it's a great source of inspiration.

Details:

Stamps - Ornate Flowers; Tiny Tags

Colours - Early Espresso; Melon Mambo; Whisper White

Other - Stampin' Embossing Powder in clear, Tiny Tag punch

Details:

Stamps - Ornate Flowers; Trendy Trees

Colours - Daffodil Delight; Real Red; Whisper White

Other - Stampin' Embossing Powder in clear

And finally I just want to say thanks to all my followers who are still with me and not got bored and wandered off - I wouldn't have blamed you! Also a big hello to Avril who hasn't been able to come to class due to ill health and always looks on my blog to see what we've been making. Sorry for the delay Avril, but here's January's cards and hopefully you'll be with us again in February.

Happy (Belated) New Year to you all too!

This month's class makes

2010-10-31T15:57:00.002Z

I decided it was time to think about Christmas - gulp - as there are only really two classes, Oct & Nov for making Christmas cards, as by December it's too late. So I ordered one of the new SU Christmas stamps sets, along with a very handy matching punch (I love how SU have matching punches for some of their stamps)

The idea for the first card (the turquoise & brown) came from a card I saw on ILWS by Carol Houghton, she'd used the branches from the Bird Punch and I though that was a great idea and have cased it - thanks Carol

Here's the details:

Stamps - Delightful Decorations; Best Yet - sentiment(retired)

Cardstock - Tempting Turquoise (retired) Green Galore; Chocolate Chip & Whisper White

Ink - Tempting Turquoise; Chocolate Chip

Punches - Two Step Bird; Ornament Extra Large

The second card is all my own, I was going to use one of the new red colours, but I just love Real Red for Christmas especially combined with Old Olive - here's the details:

Stamps - Delightful Decorations

Cardstock - Real Red; Old Olive; Very Vanilla

Ink - Real Red

DSP - Merry Moments (retired)

Both cards are quite simple and quick to make, the idea being they'd be suitable for a bit of mass producing for Christmas - I know I'll be doing a few of these this year - so easy with the punch!

TFL x

A Little Thanks

2010-10-10T18:17:00.002+01:00

It's time for another challenge over at Craftalicious and our theme this week is an open one as Anything Goes! How easy!

I had to make a couple of thank you cards and used a new, but sadly no longer available SU stamp set that I've wanted for ages and took advantage of it being half price in the last chance sale.

SU! used:

Stamps - Good Friend; Tiny Tags

Ink & Cardstock - Pumpkin Pie; Pink Passion; Old Olive; Close to Cocoa; Versamark

Paper - Summer Picnic

Felt Flowers

Brads from stash

Once again I've not managed much blogging or crafting lately, just very busy and not enough time to go around at the moment! But I'm still here, albeit very quietly!

TFL xx

Second Week done

2010-10-09T18:44:00.002+01:00

Got my last run of the week in today, I've been a bit behind this week as I was too tired on Tuesday to do run 2 and the same on Friday, but the good news is that I didn't give up and today went ok. I'm not sure that I'm making a lot of progress just yet as the increments are really slow but I think I'm feeling a bit fitter and still enjoying it (in a very bizarre way!) so that's all to the good. My diet at the moment is just rubbish, every day I start with good intentions but rarely get through the diet, but if I keep up my running then I don't need to be quite so concerned about the number of calories going in, at the moment I'm more or less staying the same, which will do for now! Although in the long run (no pun intended ha, ha) I do want to lose.

Onwards & upwards!

This month's classes

2010-10-03T15:19:00.002+01:00

Hello quick post from me to share this month's class makes - we did a box with four cards using the lovely SU set Trendy Trees & matching wheel Funky Forest, the idea being they can be given as a (dare I say it Christmas) gift as I didn't want to make actual Christmas cards just yet, will probably start that next month!

Still busy as ever, although from next week I'm only working 3 days a week for the next few weeks so it'll be good to have a couple of days off during the week to help keep on top of things - so looking forward to that.

Here's the details:

Stamps - Trendy Trees; Funky Forest;

Cardstock & ink - Chocolate Chip; Pumpkin Pie; Old Olive; Ruby Red; Certainly Celery; Really Rust

TFL x

Hello - remember me?

2010-09-26T15:56:00.002+01:00

Another fortnight has gone by without a whisper from me once again, I was so determined to get back into my blogging, but it's been a blur of working, rehearsing & Jamie Oliver and no crafting :-(

I finally got some crafting at the end of this week with my classes however and I made a couple of cards for this week's challenge for Craftalicious, which I've set and it's Harvest Festival/Autumn, my favourite range of colours and I've used the lovely Trendy Trees set from Stampin' Up!

Here's the rest of the details - all Stampin' Up!:

Stamps - Trendy Trees; Funky Forest (wheel); Stem Sayings

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip; Pumpkin Pie; More Mustard; Really Rust; Ruby Red; Whisper White

Right, will once again make a big effort to be a better blogger (but don't hold your breath LOL)

Friend's 50th Birthday Card

2010-08-30T19:59:00.002+01:00

This is a card I made for a friend who was 50 on the weekend, her boyfriend surprised her with a party, which she knew nothing about, but she was so pleased and we had a fabulous evening.

I made this easel card, which in real life is a bit softer, the pink isn't quite so bright, but the sun was actually shining when I took the pic and it's slightly overexposed.

Here's the details (all SU!):

Stamps - Vintage Vogue and Fun & Fast Notes (sentiment)

Cardstock - Rose Red; Whisper White

DSPs - Sweet Pea

Buttons from stash

"50" cut out on Cricut

I'm glad to say she was thrilled with the card too!

TFL

Finally a card!

2010-08-28T12:34:00.002+01:00

Where have the last two weeks gone? It's just whizzed by and all my promises of keeping up with my blog (and everyone elses) have just not happened!!

But here I am, a day late, with my DT card for Craftalicious, our theme this week is Purple & Green, which is a great combo, chosen by Tasha.

I've used a Mo Manning stamp on my card, as once again, my printer is still playing up & so I couldn't use one of the digi's that our sponsor "Some Odd Girl" gave us. I've coloured my image with ProMarkers & SU! markers and the rest is all SU! as follows:

Cardstock - Perfect Plum; Old Olive; Whisper White

Stamps - Very Vintage wheel; Fun & Fast notes (sentiment)

DSP - Sweet Pea

Other - Martha Steward punch

Hope you can join us again at Craftalicious & a big effort will be made on the blogging front!!

One Card for 2 DTs

2010-08-14T13:04:00.002+01:00

Bit of a cheat this week as I just ran out of time, I've started working again and I need to get myself back into a routine as I don't seem to have time for anything at the moment!

So I thought my one card make this week would do for both DTs, our challenge at Craftalicious this week is "Swirls and Pearls" and over at Charisma the challenge is to make an easel card.

I used one of the decoupage sheets from "The Crafty Purple Frog" who are sponsoring us at Craftalicious but I've just used the base layer rather than decoupaging as being short on time this was the quickest option.

I've used the lovely Summer Sun cardstock from SU to go with the sunflowers on the image and my favourite Chocolate Chip as well.

The swirls I've stamped with an odd stamp I found in my stash as were as the two pearl hearts, the flowers have been stamped and punched out.

Here's the SU details:

Stamps - One of a Kind (flower) and Oval All (sentiment)

Punches - Oval; Scalloped Oval; Boho Blossoms

Cardstock - Summer Sun; Chocolate Chip; Whisper White

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Hope you can join in with either or both challenges this week & TFL!

Teddy Bear

2010-08-08T19:52:00.002+01:00

This is my DT card for Charisma this week, which is all about teddy bears.

I couldn't use the lovely digi we were given as my printer still wasn't working (finally fixed today - hooray) and I discovered I had a distinct lack of teddy bears in my crafting stash! But I did manage to find some Forever Friends stickers and they're definitely teddy bears!

Stampin' Up! used:

Sentiment - Best Yet in Chocolate Chip ink

Cardstock - Whisper White; Chocolate Chip

Punches - 1 3/8" circle, scalloped circle

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Other - DSP - Forever Friends, card candy from stash

Hope you can join us this week & thanks for looking!

Craftalicious - Challenge No. 5

2010-07-30T09:57:00.003+01:00

This is my DT card for our challenge over at Craftalicious, which this week has been set by Gina and the theme is "Make Your Own Flowers"

I was planning to use a digi from Stitchy who are sponsoring our challenge, but still having printer problems so couldn't print out my digi to use.

Instead I've used one of the new "Born to Shop" stamps, which are great fun and I've coloured my image with ProMarkers.

I've made the flowers by cutting out a circle with my SU! 1 3/8" punch, cutting around in a spiral and then rolling back up to make the roses - easy to do and thanks to Loraine who told me how to make them

I've also used SU! cardstock in Pumpkin Pie and Sweet Always DSP

Hope you can join us again & TFL!

A Bit of Digital Scrapping

2010-07-29T12:17:00.002+01:00

Now here's a little something I don't do very often - digital scrapbooking! Circumstances forced my hand however as this week at Charisma our challenge is "Something with a Tail" and we were given digi's from Digistamp Boutique who are sponsoring us. Yesterday I went to print out my digi to make a card with and my printer is completely Ka-putt, it's not playing at all and even hubby (who is a real Mr Fix-it) couldn't mend it last night. The challenge went live this morning and I still didn't have a card made so I thought I'd give a digital scrap-page a go. Now this is a huge challenge for me as me & Photoshop are not the best of friends - to be honest I don't really know what I'm doing and so I just fiddle about and very often get frustrated, but I did manage to get this put together and I'm very pleased with myself for doing so.

The pictures are of my gorgeous little doggie Skye, plus the digi and a ready to go Quick Page (I'm not that good in Photoshop!)

Hope you can join us for our challenge again this week & TFL xx

Look who I'm going to be working for!!

2010-07-28T11:40:00.003+01:00

Only the blooming gorgeous Jamie Oliver!!!

Well not directly, but I'm signing up to be a Jamie At Home Consultant selling his gorgeous range of home & garden products.

I'm holding my launch party on 11 August and then I'll be up & running, but if anyone wants any info in the meantime, is interested in holding a party (and getting some gorgeous freebies!) or would like to know about becoming a consultant, then please give me a shout - email on the sidebar and the website is here. Plus you can buy products directly from me if you're not in my area or don't want to hold a party - again, just give me a shout!

I'm also in the process of closing down my Cambridge Diet Consultancy, I've been a Consultant for 3½ years, but business has become so quiet as there are now so many consultants in my area, and I just can't make a business of it anymore. I'm sad to finish as I've loved doing it and have met so many fabulous people over the last few years and made some new friends along the way too, but I do feel it's time to move on.

I'm still an SU! Demo though of course and although I'm not blogging as much as I used to or making as many cards, I'm still running my classes and Stampin' Up! as much as possible.

Thanks Heather for checking I was ok as I've been very quiet in Blogland - mwah, mwah to you

So that's my news for now!

One of the quickest cards I've ever made!

2010-07-23T16:59:00.002+01:00

This is my DT card for this week's challenge at Charisma, which this week is "Anything but square". We upload our cards onto the DT blog by Wednesday early evening, ready for whoever is doing the post on Thursday and for some reason, and I don't know why, I completely and utterly forgot to make my DT card this week. Aargh!!! So I had to make this Thursday morning, before my Stampin' Up! class and I did it in about 10 minutes - I kid you not! So not the most detailed card, but it fits the bill, and considering the rush, isn't too bad.

All Stampin' Up! - here's the details

Stamps - Vintage Vogue (in Chocolate Chip Ink)

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip; Regal Rose

Two Step Bird Punch

Sweet Pea stitched felt flowers

Other - Nesties and diamante's from stash

Hope you can join us this week & TFL

Clean & Simple (and rather bright)

2010-07-21T13:43:00.002+01:00

I was playing about with my newest SU stamp set "Say it with Scallops" and came up with this very simple, but clean looking card. It's rather bright as I've used the lovely Only Orange but I think it'd stand out in a crowd!

All Stampin' Up!

Stamp - Say it with Scallops

Cardstock - Whisper White; Only Orange

Punches - Scallop Border; Scallop Square

TFL x

Craftalicious Challenge 4

2010-07-16T11:19:00.003+01:00

It's time for a new challenge at Craftalicious, we had over 300 entries to our last challenge, which was brilliant and we're anticipating another high number this fortnight as our theme, set by Carly, is Birthdays - a nice easy one for you.

Karen's Doodles are sponsoring us and gave the DT an image to use, I choose this fab image called "Workout Buddy" I've used a variety of medium to colour in the image, ProMarkers for the main characters, Koh-i-noor's for the sea and SU chalks for the sky.

Here's the Stampin' Up! used:

DSPs - Rainbow Sherbert (retired)

Cardstock - Whisper White; Tempting Turquoise

Sentiment - Stem Sayings

Scallop Edge Border punch

Hope you can join us again this time around

TFL x

Think Pink!!

2010-07-15T13:12:00.002+01:00

Hello there, time for another challenge over at Charisma and this week Carly has set the theme and gone for her favourite - pink!

So it's time to get all girly and show us your pink creations!

We've been sponsored by Pink Cat this week, who gave us all a digi to use (we've got another sponsor this week too - Cupcake Cards and Crafts)

Sorry the pic is a bit wishy-washy, don't know why it's come out like that! I coloured my image with ProMarkers and the rest is Stampin' Up! as follows:

Sentiment - Birthday Best

DSPs - Sweet Always (retired)

Cardstock - Regal Rose

Other - Nesties for circles and ribbon from stash

Hope you can play along with us again this week & TFL

Watch the Birdie

2010-07-08T10:14:00.002+01:00

Hello, it's time for another challenge over at Charisma, and this week it was my turn to set the challenge and I've gone for "Watch the Birdie" as I love birds on cards (have a soft spot for owls although didn't use one on this card).

My card was one of those ones that develop & evolve as you make it, I started off with one idea using a digi from Softpencil (one of our sponsors this week) with cats & a kite on it, plus a couple of little birds, but whilst looking for backing papers to use I came across this fab sheet from the SU! set SweetPea (of course, am I using anything else these days? LOL) and I couldn't fit the digi on the card without covering the birds - so after a bit of playing around I came up with this card instead and I have to say I'm really pleased with it. I still used the kite part of the digi, and paper pieced it with some more SweetPea papers and the rest of the card came together really quickly. I very bravely stamped directly onto the card for my sentiment and even though I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up, is there anything more scary than stamping your sentiment on directly??

Here's the details:

SU! used -

DSP - SweetPea

Sentiment - Trendy Trees in Chocolate Chip ink

Cardstock - Tempting Turquoise

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Pen - Chocolate Chip (for the drawn on string)

Other -

Brads, small ribbon & bow from stash

Hope you can join us again this week as we've got two sponsors again so two chances to win

TFL x

Craftalicious Challenge No. 3

2010-07-02T09:35:00.001+01:00

It's time for a new challenge over at Craftalicious and this is my DT card.

We're being sponsored by Crafty Sentiments, who very kindly gave us all an image to use and this is what I came up with.

The theme is Cute, which I think the image does pretty well on it's own, and I've kept the rest of the card quite simple and quite like the geometric look to the card.

Here's the details:

Image - Crafty Sentiments, coloured with ProMarkers

Sentiment - SU! Circle of Friendship, inked with Rich Razzleberry

Cardstock - SU! Whisper White; Rich Razzleberry

Papers & button - from stash

Hope you can play along with us again this time round, we've been thrilled with the number of entries we're getting for the challenges and so a big thanks for all the support.

I'm en-route to Cornwall at the moment, it's going to take about 5 hours to get there, and we're going for a long weekend hopefully in the sun, but looking forward to some R&R.

TFL xx

Strawberries & Cream

2010-06-27T17:17:00.002+01:00

Yum, yum, could just tuck into some scrummy strawberries & cream, especially as the sun is shining and it's such a lovely summer food!

But instead I've made a card using my new SU! set Tart and Tangy, which features this lovely strawberry stamp.

Here's the SU! used:

Stamps - Tart and Tangy; Lovely Labels

DSP - Summer Picnic (retired)

Cardstock - Very Vanilla; Real Red

Ink - Real Red; Glorious Green

Paper Piercing Tool

Other - buttons from stash

I'm entering my card into two challenges:

Truly Scrumptious - sketch and theme Strawberries & Cream

Cupcake - Strawberries & Cream

Hope everyone's enjoying this glorious weather - I certainly am!

TFL xx

For The Boys

2010-06-24T12:01:00.003+01:00

Now no groaning at the back there, but this week over at Charisma it's all about the boys!

I made a Father's Day card using a digi from Digistamp Boutique, who are sponsoring us this week and I've used Jim Mowing, coloured with promarkers.

The rest is SU! as follows

Cardstock - Always Artichoke; Whisper White; Barely Banana

DSPs - Sweet Pea

Hope you can join us this week & TFL xx

Crafting in the Garden

2010-06-20T19:48:00.002+01:00

It's been another gorgeous day here today and so this afternoon I sat in the garden and made a card, which was really lovely.

I used this gorgeous Hanglar image that a friend, Margreet sent me a while ago and coloured her with PM's. I've distressed the edges of the cardstock & paper using my SU! distressing tool as there's a challenge over at Lovely Hanglar for a shabby look card, I'm also entering my card into Donna's Den of Crafts first challenge, which is Happy Birthday.

Stampin' Up! used:

Cardstock & Ribbon - Certainly Celery

Sentiment - Circle of Friendship

Punches - 1" 1-1/4" 1-3/8" and scallop circle

Let's hope this weather continues now!

TFL x

Class Projects

2010-06-19T18:02:00.002+01:00

I always forget to blog what I've made for my class, so here's what we did in my 3 classes this week, which centred around the 2-step Bird Punch from Stamping Up!

It's such an adorable punch, the bird is so lovely and I was quite sure my ladies would love using this punch - and phew I was right!

The first project we did was the birdhouse, this isn't my design but a fellow SU! Demonstrator very kindly shared the template a while ago on In Love With Stamping, it's quite easy to make, if a bit fiddly and is perfect to put the bird on.

All Stampin' Up! used as follows:

Cardstock - Regal Rose; Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red

DSPs - Sweet Pea (I'm so in love with these papers!)

Stamp - Dot, Dot, Dot (on the wing using Versamark)

The card was then made, we did two versions of this, one using the waste from the bird punch as a template and chalked in the bird, this proved to be a bit of a challenge keeping it neat (I think with hindsight ink may have been better) so we also punched out the bird, which is a much stronger image and looks better in the photo.

SU! used:

Cardstock - Whisper White; Chocolate Chip; Really Rust

Stamp sets - Vintage Vogue; Trendy Trees (for the sentiment)

Eyelet Border punch, Word Window punch & of course the 2-step Bird punch

Other - brads & nesties.

If you're in the Telford/Shropshire area & interested in coming along to one of my classes then please just drop me an email - addy in the sidebar

TFL xx

DT Cards

2010-06-18T14:39:00.002+01:00

Here's some of my makes this week for my DTs, this first one if for Charisma and our theme this week is "Bling" This card is a bit of a re-cycled job as the image is from a card I did a while ago that had got damaged, I was able to peel off the image without damaging it and made all the rest and re-mounted the image - voila one new card!

The image is Penny Black, papers, bling & ribbon are from my stash and the c/stock is SU! Lavender Lace.

The next two cards are both for Craftalicious as we've got two sponsors this week and had digis from both, so I thought I'd make two. Our theme is monochrome, which I've set cos I really love doing monochromatic cards and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

The first one below, I've used a digi from Delicious Doodles, which I've not done anything with as it came like that, I've used SU! c/stock Bordering Blue, the papers are from a Funky Hand CD and the sentiment is PTI. So it was a really quick & simple card to do, although saying that I spent ages & ages trying decide what to do, but once I had, the card came together really quickly!

For the second one, I've used an image from The Stamping Boutique and paper-pieced the pocket with papers from my stash; the cardstock is SU! Real Red and the flowers are punched.

TFL x

Hubby's Birthday Card

2010-06-16T20:17:00.003+01:00

This card is very appropriate for my darling husband, who had his birthday on Tuesday as he always falls asleep watching the telly - it's the family joke! So I thought this image was just right!

The stamp, papers & sentiment are all Papermania and I've coloured my image with ProMarkers.

I'm entering this card into two challenges:

Magical Crafts and Stampacular as they both have male themes this week.

Quick post as I'm busy preparing for my class tomorrow, as usual it's all last minute - one of these days I'll be organised! LOL

TFL x

Blog Hop Winners!

2010-06-11T10:19:00.002+01:00

Good morning all, just a quick post to let you know all the blog hop winners from our first hop at Craftalicious have now been announced on the main blog, so hop over here for a look to see if you're a winner.

The winner of my prize, the set of Stampin' Up! stamps is........

Ali of Ali's Cardmaking Blog

Congrats to you, can you email me using the address on the sidebar so I can get your prize off to you

Thanks to everyone who took part, there's still another week to enter our first challenge, so I hope you'll all join in.

Spots & Stripes

2010-06-10T13:23:00.002+01:00

That's the challenge this week at Charisma set by Joanne, it's a great theme and I think we'll get a lot of entries with this one.

I've made a very simple card as I was short on time, the stripey base is the card itself, I won some patterned card blanks a while ago & thought this would be appropriate. The flower is stamped from SU! Pick a Petal, using two different stamps - the spotty petal & one of the petal outlines.

here's the deets:

SU used

Stamps - Pick a Petal; Oval All

Cardstock - Lavender Lace

Punch - Scalloped Oval

Card candy from stash & Nestie

It's rather bright, but it's spotty & stripey!!

Hope you can join us again this week & TFL xx

Craftalicious - first challenge!

2010-06-04T09:15:00.000+01:00

Well good morning and welcome to Friday, I'm very excited as our new challenge blog Craftalicious Challenges launches today (and I've had to schedule this post and the main blog post as I'm not here - so I hope it's all gone well!!)

Our theme for our very first challenge is "New" as we're a new blog - and you can do anything new, baby, house, job etc and of course it doesn't have to be a card either - just hope you can join in.

We've been sponsored by Sew Many Cards and I've used one of their gorgeous digi's for my new baby card.

I decided to use lemon & green for a change from pink & blue and I'm really pleased with how it came out (even if I do say so myself LOL). I've coloured my image with Koh-i-noor pencils to keep it soft and the rest is SU! as follows:

Cardstock - Barely Banana

Papers - Sweet Pea DSP stack

Sentiment - In the Stars using Certainly Celery ink

Star beads from stash plus also used nesties.

We're also having a blog hop to launch our first challenge and you'll need to visit each of the DT in the following order and you're at the right place cos I'm first!!

Each of us has a word for you to collect and my word is:

"Craftalicious" - now how easy was that!

You'll need to pop over and visit Carly next to collect her word and once you've got all the words re-arrange them into a sentence and email Craftalicious the answer (email addy is on the main blog).

All of the DT team are giving away a small candy, so leave some love at each blog to be in with a chance to win plus we've got some wonderful prizes and two more fab sponsors, which you can read all about on the main blog too.

I'm giving away this Stampin' Up! set of stamps called "Happy Moments" it's a lovely set of 7 stamps including some sentiments and if you search my tabs you'll find some examples of cards I've made using this lovely set (well not this set exactly as it's brand new - but you get my gist!!)

So I hope you can join in with our first challenge and our blog hop and thanks for all the lovely messages of support.

Flowers

2010-06-03T16:39:00.002+01:00

We've got the lovely theme of flowers for you over at Charisma this week, set by Allison.

I made my card using a digi from Pink Petticoat, coloured with ProMarkers, and the big flower is a chipboard one.

I've used SU! Pink Passion cardstock and the paper & ribbon is from my stash.

Hope you can join us again this week.

Don't forget it's the launch of Craftalicious Challenges tomorrow - we've got a challenge and a blog hop for you, with lots of goodies to be won - so hope to see you there

TFL

Demonstration Day

2010-06-01T08:36:00.002+01:00

Just to let all the local (Shropshire) bloggers that my good pal Carly is holding a demonstration at Sue's shop in Ketley, Telford - Crafty Bunch on Sat 3rd July - details on Carly's site here

My Big Announcement...........is..........

2010-05-28T08:54:00.002+01:00

There's a new blog in town - oh yes sirree - and it's called:

And why am I so excited about all of this, well because I'm involved of course! The sad news is that after a year Lisa has decided to close down Sophisticats and so the rest of the DT decided we'd set up our own challenge blog as we get on so well as a team and didn't want to end it and so Craftalicious has been born and is launching next Friday. You can pop over to the blog in the meantime and follow us - please!!!! And there'll be news of a blog candy & maybe even a blog hop coming very soon!

We've already got some lovely sponsors lined up, which means great prizes for you guys of course, so I really hope you'll come on over & join us.

So don't forget Friday 4 June for our first challenge, but don't wait until then to pop over, you might miss something!

See ya there - it's the coolest, newest, funkiest place in town apparently ;-)

Going Round in Circles!

2010-05-27T12:13:00.002+01:00

No, that's not the state of my life today as I'm actually, almost, well a little bit organised today! No it's the theme that Vee has set for at Charisma for this week's challenge. You don't have to make a circular card, but we want to see some circles somewhere on your creation.

Digistamp Boutique is sponsoring us this week & we all had some fab images to play with, I've coloured mine with SU! markers to match up with the papers & cardstock.

Stampin' Up! used:

Sentiment - Circle of Friendship

DSPs - Sweet Pea - the paper has circles on it which you can't really see!

Cardstock - Green Galore; Regal Rose

Buttons from stash

I cut the larger circles for the card & dsp using a good old fashioned compass & pencil - haven't used one of those in a long time! The smaller circles I cut using a nestie, I distressed the edges so you can't see where my cutting out of the larger circles was a bit wonky!!

Hope you can join this week & look forward to seeing all your creations.

Oh if you're still waiting for my BIG ANNOUNCEMENT call back tomorrow!!!

A BIG Announcement

2010-05-25T14:49:00.002+01:00

is coming here soon.................so keep your eyes peeled!!!!

Splish Splash

2010-05-24T13:15:00.004+01:00

Now there's a great title for a challenge and the one we've got over at Sophisticats for the next two weeks, set by Diana. You can interpret this as you like, entirely up to you - as long as we can see the connection to the challenge of course!

For my DT card I used a Tilda image I stamped out at Carly's recently (thanks hun x) she's got a fab array of Tildas and always let me have a play when I go round there. I've coloured my Tilda with ProMarkers and used my new gorgeous Stampin' Up! papers.

Here's the SU! details:

Sentiment - Circle of Friendship

DSPs - Sweet Pea

Cardstock - Barely Banana, Whisper White

Other - Martha Stewart punch

TFL & hope you join us again for this challenge.

I found my mojo!!!

2010-05-20T15:02:00.004+01:00

Don't know where it had been hiding, but it's come back. For the first time in ages, I really enjoyed making this card, wasn't stuck for ideas & was pleased with the finished results - phew, I was beginning to think it had gone for good this time!

This is my DT card for Charisma this week and our theme has been set by Leanne and it's 3d. You don't have to create a 3d project (you can if you want to of course) but as long as something on your card or project is 3d that's fine.

I hope you can see it clearly in the pics, I've 3d the ballon & cupcake in the image, some of the spots on the background (which has been made with SU! Seeing Spots stamps) and also the sentiment.

The image is LOTV and so sweet, the rest is all SU! as follows:

Sentiment - Circle of Friendship

Cardstock - Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise; Only Orange; Whisper White

Hope you can join us this week - please pop over to the blog here for a look

TFL xx

Mmmmm cupcakes!!

2010-05-13T14:21:00.002+01:00

It's all about sweet treats over at Charisma this week and most of the DT decided to intepret this as Cupcakes - you can tell what we all think about!!

I bought this cupcake die when I went to the NEC in March, so it was nice to finally use it, and being small, it meant I was able to use up some of my scraps.

Apart from the silver cardstock the rest is all Stampin' Up! as follows:

Stamp - Oval All using Chocolate Chip ink

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip; Barely Banana; Pink Passion; Real Red; Whisper White

Punches - Boho Blossoms; Scallop Oval

DSP - Sweet Always (retired - but I love it and can't stop using it!)

I followed the sketch over at Pollycraft so I'm entering my card there.

Hope you can join us this week & get our tastebuds going with all your lovely sweet treats.

Brown, Blue & Cream

2010-05-10T11:54:00.003+01:00

I think this is a lovely colour combo and it's been set by Tasha over at Sophisticats for our latest challenge.

I decided to (finally) ink up my new HouseMouse stamp I bought at the NEC and made this baby boy card, how sweet is that mouse? He's stamped with grey Memento ink, which gives a lovely soft image & I've coloured him with Koh-i-noor pencils.

Stampin' Up! used:

Sentiment - Whimsical Words (SAB set)

DSPs - Bashful Blue Designer Series

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip

Other:

Martha Stewart punch; card candy from stash.

I'm one of those "odd" people that adore rodents, I know some people hate them, but I think they're gorgeous, in particular rats & mice (I can see you shuddering at the back LOL). Last year my daughter and I got ourselves two cute little ratties and called them Morris & Milo, like all animals they had very distinct personalities, Morris was the leader, the greedy boy & more adventurous of the two, whilst Milo was quieter, more cuddly & not as daring as his brother. Sadly we had to have Milo put to sleep last week, as although he was only 8 months old he'd developed a brain tumour, which is fairly common in rats, but it was so upsetting for us, and he will be sadly missed. We didn't want to leave Morris on his own as rats are sociable creatures, they live in colonies and shouldn't be kept on their own, so on Saturday we got ourselves two new little fellas, who have been named Seymour & Bertie. Seymour is very shy, and keeping himself to himself at the moment, whilst Bertie is Bold Bertie and very bright & very nosey - I think he's going to be a handful! They're in a separate cage at the moment as they have to be introduced carefully to Morris so there's no fighting and so far they've sniffed each other through the bars. So although we still and always will miss Milo, these two new boys have helped to cheer us up & hopefully Morris too.

Anyway that's enough of my rattie waffle, hope you can join us at Sophisticats again this fortnight! And looking forward to seeing your blue, brown & cream creations.

TFL x

A monotone Wedding

2010-05-09T16:26:00.003+01:00

Hello, I thought I'd better get around to it and share the details of my Charisma DT card, it was my turn to set the challenge this week & I went for Weddings, as it's that time of the year and there's usually a few wedding cards needing to be made.

I went for a monotone look and made this criss-cross card, which is simple to do and looks quite effective and the flower on the front is made using an SU! scallop circle punch.

Stampin' Up! used:

Stamp - Fun & Fast Notes

Cardstock - Whisper White, Basic Black

Scallop circle punch; tab punch

Other:

Papers - Pebble Ink, ribbon from stash

There are a couple of other wedding challenges going on this week so I'm entering this card at

CRAFT &

One Stop Craft Challenges

Hope you can join us over at Charisma this week & look forward to seeing all your creations

Charisma DT Card

2010-04-29T12:43:00.002+01:00

Our theme over at Charisma this week is Girly and to include flowers, we've been sponsored by Digistamp Boutique who gave us all a fab digi to use. I've coloured mine with PM's, the flowers are punched using SU! Boho Blossoms punch with some added gems & the DSP is from my stash

Other SU! used

Cardstock - Rose Red; Whisper White

Sentiment - Oval All

Tab Punch

Hope you can join us this week & TFL!

Sophisticats DT Card - For a Child

2010-04-26T13:24:00.004+01:00

This is my DT card for Sophisticats this week as our theme is "Card for a Child", we're being sponsored by Cardmad Fairy and she very kindly gave us some images to use on our cards, and I used this sweet little girl called Sally, coloured with PM's.

Rest of the card is Stampin' Up! as follows:

Sentiment - Fun & Fast Notes

DSPs - Sweet Always (retired)

Cardstock - Pixie Pink, Whisper White

Eyelet Border punch.

I've made another card for this week's challenge:

Last week at my Stampin' Up! class we made a whole bunch of cute & cuddly animals using SU! punches, some of these were cased from the very talented Julie, including this monkey which I thought would be great to use on a child's card.

Yesterday my two fab and talented SU! downlines Kaz & Loraine came over and we made more of these animals and I borrowed Kaz's Fox & Friends and made this card, using the monkey from the stamp set to do the background, along with the circle from Trendy Trees.

Rest of the details (all SU!)

Monkey - made with various SU! punches and Chocolate Chip & More Mustard cardstock

Stamps - Fox & Friends; Trendy Trees

Ink - Chocolate Chip; More Mustard

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Hope you can join us for our challenge this fortnight & TFL x

And you can quote me on that!!

2010-04-22T17:02:00.002+01:00

"Quotes" - that's the theme we've got for you this week at Charisma and I once again used my gorgeous Rose is a Rose stamp set, I had to make an Anniversary Card and found a gorgeous quote to use (good old Google), it's a bit unclear so the quote says:

"Love is like a rose, when pressed between two lifetimes, it will last forever"

All Stampin' Up! used as follows:

Stamp - A Rose is a Rose, with Close to Cocoa & Chocolate Chip ink, also Mellow Moss & Old Olive on the leaves

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip; Very Vanilla

DSPs - Tea & Crumpets

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Non SU -

Embossing folder & nesties

Hope you can join us this week, we've a couple of prizes to give away, so worth entering.

TFL xx

Class Creations

2010-04-21T18:04:00.002+01:00

Just wanted to show you a couple of projects I've made at classes recently. This first one I did this morning at Sue's Crafty Club at her shop, which is always a lovely get-together and a real natter session! This week we were using Wild Rose Studio stamps & I chose this super cute puddy-tat, I've coloured him with Pro-markers and the papers are also Wild Rose, not sure where the sentiment is from though and the flowers are from Sue's stash!

My second project is this lovely little card box, which I made at Carly's first class (she did a fabulous job BTW! as expected!). She showed us how to colour properly with Prisma pencils (as she's a Prisma demonstrator) and I really did pick up some fab tips from her, plus we got to raid her huuuuuge stash so I also came home with quite a few stamped images too - thanks hun.

I'm going to enter this one into Simon Says as this week's challenge is "Things with Wings"

TFL x

My "cheats" DT card for Charisma!

2010-04-15T17:01:00.002+01:00

We're doing Monochrome over at Charisma this week but I'm afraid I did have to resort to cheating and using an old card I made ages ago as I just wasn't able to get one done on time for Charisma. This doesn't mean, however, that you can do the same, oh no, DT priviledges and unavoidable circumstances - well that's my excuse anyway, but in seriousness you do need to enter a new card for challenges. It doesn't have to black & white either, you can use any colour tone.

So the reason I've had to use an old card, well it's a bit long winded, but the brief version is I've got a frozen shoulder which is causing me enough grief anyway, and then yesterday (being my usual disorganised self and leaving making my DT card to the last minute) I managed to have an accident yesterday and fell over twisting my shoulder and I can honestly say it's the worst pain that shot through my shoulder I've ever felt - give me toothache, backache & childbirth all at once rather than that again!!!! Anyway, I was totally out of action all afternoon, the pain went right down into my hand so I couldn't do much of anything (plus I was feeling more than a little sorry for myself!). So the old card was used instead! And that m'Lord is the case for the defense!!

Feeling ok again today, just the usual ache, which doesn't seem half so bad in comparison!

Now another confession, this card is cased, I'm afraid I can't remember where from as I did do it ages ago, but saw a very similar design & loved it and made my own version of it.

Here's the details:

Image & sentiment - digi from Pink Petticoat

Cardstock - SU! Whisper White & Basic Black

Ribbon - SU! Whisper White

Embossing folder

Papers from stash

Hope you can join us this week & TFL xx

A Rose is a Rose for a 60th Birthday

2010-04-14T20:18:00.002+01:00

I was recently asked to do a 60th Birthday card and that the lady in question liked flowers and that was about as far as the brief went - brief to say the least! So I thought I'd give my new SU! stamp set "A Rose is a Rose" a go and made this easel card. The stamp is called a two-step stamp set, which is something SU! does quite a lot of, and simply put, you have two stamps the first you stamp in the lighter colour and then the second stamp you line up (using your trusty stamp-a-ma-jig) to put in the detail using a darker ink & the result is fabulous and as roses come in so many different colours, the combinations of colours are endless!

I've used Barely Banana and Apricot Appeal and the leaves are done in Certainly Celery & Old Olive

Here's the rest of the details - all SU!:

Sentiment - Oval All

DSPs - Tea & Crumpets

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip; Whisper White

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Oval punch & oval scallop punch

Other - "60" cut on Cricut

I'm entering my card into Die Cut Dreams as their challenge this week is a vintage card with no colouring

TFL x

Oops guess what I forgot!

2010-04-13T16:03:00.003+01:00

I was so pleased with myself yesterday, I got back into the blogging hotseat, I caught up with a zillion posts and left comments, I posted the new challenge & the winners post on Sophisticats and totally forgot to post my DT card on here - D'uh!!!

So here it is, better late than never! Gina set the challenge this week & it's distressing so hopefully you can see where I've distressed the edges of the cardstock & paper using my trusty SU distressing tool. For the bird I have shamelessly nicked the idea from my very talented friend Kaz, I've used the gorgeous new two-step bird punch as a template and chalked in the image which gives such a lovely soft effect.

Rest of the details:

Sentiment - SU! Fresh Cuts in Chocolate Chip ink

Cardstock - SU! Bravo Burgundy & Whisper White

Chalks - SU!

Paper,rose & lace from stash

Hope you can join in with the challenge this week

TFL x

Return of the bad blogger!

2010-04-11T17:05:00.003+01:00

Hello, I'm back - been a rubbish blogger again this week but determined to get back into it (and crafting) this week - that's the plan anyway!

So this is my card for our challenge at Charisma which this week is "Thank You" We're being sponsored by the Cutting Cafe and I've used a couple of the digi's from the prize pack "Beautiful Blooms" which I've coloured with PM's

Stampin' Up! used:

Sentiment (but not available in UK) in Pixie Pink ink

Cardstock - Pixie Pink; Whisper White

Eyelet Border Punch & 1 3/4" circle punch

DSP & Ribbon from stash

Hope you can join us again this week & TFL

Blog Award

2010-04-06T17:29:00.002+01:00

I've received this gorgeous award from my lovely Charisma DT buddy Vee, thanks so much hun, my blog shall wear it with pride.

I'm rubbish at choosing who to pass awards onto, so please feel free to take it for your blog with love from me xx

A Little Bird Told Me....

2010-04-01T17:01:00.003+01:00

it's time for another challenge over at Charisma and this is my DT card, our theme this week is "Animal Magic" which has been set by Allison and it's all about animals, so pop over for a look.

I've used the new gorgeous Extra Large Two-Step Bird Punch from Stampin' Up! it's in the new mini which comes out today - if you'd like a copy just send me an email and I'll send one out to you.

I've stamped on the bird (but not the wing) using another new Mini product, a beautiful stamp set called Vintage Vogue. When we saw this was being released a lot of the SU Demos started hyperventilating, but I wasn't sure it was a set for me, then I saw some of the fantastic, beautiful creations made using this set and completely changed my mind, I can see it becoming a firm favourite. I've also used the small flower stamp and one of the sentiments from the same set. I don't own this Bird Punch (yet) I had a cheeky punch with it at our SU Training Day when it was passed around for us to look at, so my bird is all in one colour but you can punch the wing and the branch out in different coloured cardstock if you like, I coloured my branch in using SU! markers.

The papers are SU! Sweet Always, the punch is one I bought at the NEC last week, ribbon & bling from my stash as is the embossing folder

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

Totally PaperCrafts - Pink & Green

Annabelle Stamps - Sketch

Hope you can join us again this week

Sorry I'm not getting around to many blogs at the moment, I've not been feeling too good and struggling to get things done at the mo. Normal service, I hope, will be resumed shortly!

TFL x

Sausage Dog

2010-03-29T14:24:00.002+01:00

Isn't he a cutie? Cut on the Cricut from a cartridge I borrowed from a friend (and is on my wish list) I loved this little fella and have been waiting to use him so I set the challenge on Sophisticats this week with him in mind - "It's raining cats & dogs" and you can use cats, dogs and/or rain on your entry.

The rest of my card is all Stampin' Up! as follows:

Sentiment - Fun & Fast Notes

Cardstock - Pixie Pink; Real Red; Only Orange; Ballet Blue

DSPs - Sweet Always (retired)

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Word Window punch, slot punch (not available in UK)

Other - Nesties

Hope you can join us this time around, we're running this challenge for two weeks & I'm sponsoring the prize, which is a mixed pack of 6x6 SU! double sided papers.

TFL x

Yummy Hot Chocolate

2010-03-27T11:59:00.003Z

Or is it a mug of coffee - don't know - but either way it looks rather yummy with the blob & swirl of cream on the top!

I've made this card for my DT card for our challenge at Sweet Stampin, which this week is a sketch and I've used some of the new goodies I bought from the NEC on Thursday!

My cardstock is all Stampin' Up! of course (do I ever use any other - NO!) in Chocolate Chip, Real Red; Close to Cocoa & Whisper White. Ribbon is SU! Chocolate Chip and the sentiment is also SU! but not available in the UK - a lovely friend brought it back from Oz for me - thanks Chris xx

So the rest comes from my new stash of goodies, being the die, the embossing folder and the border punch - more new goodies to follow soon (I did spend far too much!!)

Hope you can join us again this week, our prize for the month is the hostess set Darling Dots, which is not available to buy, so a great prize to win - but you gotta be in it to win it and don't forget if you use SU! on your entry you can two entries.

I'm also entering my card over at Cupcake Crafts as their challenge this week is food & drink.

Take care & TFL xx

Spring has sprung!

2010-03-26T17:55:00.002Z

Hello, here I am, late again with my Charisma DT card! Not been too bright this week, I've got a frozen shoulder and it's been giving me a lot of pain, I can still craft (phew) but I've just been a bit down with it all. However, had a fab day at the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC yesterday (thanks to Carly who persuaded me to go and took me - thanks hun), spent far too much but I think the retail therapy did me & my flagging mojo good so hopefully now I can get a bit more crafting & blogging done. Apologies to everyone for not visiting you recently, and I will do my best to catch up with everyone over the next week.

Vee has set our challenge for this week and it's "Spring has sprung" and we've been lucky enough to be sponsored by Digistamp Boutique who also gave us some fab images to play with. I love this cute bouncing bunny & chick, which I've coloured with PM's and the sentiment comes from my pal Lisa and was perfect for this card.

Stampin' Up! used on the card:

DSP's - Sweet Always (retired)

Cardstock - Pixie Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Pastels - Pumpkin Pie

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch

Fab n Funky - Favourite Technique (embossing)

Digital Tuesday - Happy Spring

Hope you can join us this week & TFL xx

Mint & Lilac

2010-03-22T14:52:00.003Z

This is my DT card for Sophisticats where our challenge this week is a colour combo - mint & lilac plus one other of your choice and we'd like to see some flowers on your creations too.

Our prize this week has been donated by our lovely leader Lisa and is:

2 downloads of the winners choice from

http://allissaspapertown.blogspot.com/

Lisa's currently trying to raise money to put towards a much needed hip operation, please visit her blog above for more details or click on the banner on my right hand column - thanks x

Here's the details on my card:

Image - Pollycrafts digi

Rest all SU!

Sentiment - Oval All, ink Almost Amethyst

DSPs - Tea Party

Cardstock - Almost Amethyst; Gable Green; Whisper White

Flowers - stamp One of a Kind; Boho Blossoms punch

Ribbon - Almost Amethyst

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Bee Crafty - Spring

Fab n Funky - use something new - the sentiment is from a new stamp set, first time I've used it

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch

Hope you can join us at Sophisticats this week

For Ewe

2010-03-20T11:49:00.003Z

"Spring is in the Air" over at Sweet Stampin this week, and this is my DT card for the challenge. You can interpret this any way you wish, use Spring colours/images, Easter, daffodil's whatever you like. It's lovely seeing the spring flowers starting to peek through and although it's raining this morning, it's been a gorgeous week with lots of sunshine and it really does feel like Spring is on it's way - hooray for that. So I'm really looking forward to seeing all the "Spring" entries this week.

Here's the deets on my card

Image & Sentiment - Wild Rose Studio

DSP - SU! Rainbow Sherbert (retired)

Cardstock - SU! Green Galore; Whisper White

punch for flowers & buttons from stash

There are lots of lovely Spring themed challenges around this week & I'm entering my card into the following:

Crafty Catz - Spring

A Spoonful of Sugar - Easter

Creative Card Crew - Going Dotty

Allsorts - Spring is in the Air

TFL x

Easter Basket

2010-03-19T20:57:00.002Z

This is my DT entry for Charisma as our challenge this week is "Something for the Kids" and so I made this little basket for my niece Sophie as we're seeing my B-in-law & his family this weekend. I will have to buy some more eggs though as the ones in the photo have all been eaten -oops!

Apart from the ribbon, which is from my stash, all SU! has been used, as follows:

Cardstock - Barely Banana, Whisper White

DSPs - Tea & Crumpets

Bunny made using the following punches - Oval, 1¼" circle, Word Window & Boho Blossoms (tail), plus a bit of pink chalk for the inside of his ears

I'm also entering my basket into the following challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches - Anything But a Card

Die Cut Dreams - use at least 2 punches

I should have posted this yesterday, but forgot to schedule it and spent the day in Coventry at a Stampin' Up! Training Day. Had a brilliant time, was great to meet some of the other demo's, especially the ones I knew from the ILWS Forum, but had never met, got loads of inspiration & took photos of some amazing projects and came away buzzing, full of ideas oh and with a new stamp set too! So a good day all in all

Hope you can join us at Charisma this week & I look forward to seeing all your kids projects

TFL x

Gardening Hedgie

2010-03-16T11:43:00.002Z

This is my card for Penny Black's challenge this week, every week I intend to enter the PB challenge, and every week it's comes around to Saturday and I haven't done it, so last night I sat down and did it - and it's only Tuesday that has to be a record for me. I've had this image for a while, it belongs to by Charisma DT buddy Carly, I stamped it out when I went around to hers for a crafty get-together a while ago, and as this week's theme is "Spring Colours" I thought this would work perfectly. The papers, ribbon & roses are from my stash and the cardstock is SU! Really Rust and Whisper White. If you can see the tag that says "4 You" that comes from the brand new (released in April) SU! stamp set "Tiny Tags" and matching punch, they're absolutely adorable and you'll be seeing lots of tiny tags on my cards from now on!

It's a gorgeous day here today, the sun is shining and the temperature is meant to be 12 degrees, tropical compared to what we've had, so a walk with the dog is definitely on the cards!

TFL x

It's a Boy!

2010-03-15T13:08:00.003Z

This is my DT card for Sophisticats as our theme this week is "New Beginnings" and I always enjoy making a baby card. I've had the cute little vest topper for ages - a friend gave it to me and so I decided to use that, the sentiment is cut on the Cricut and the rest is all Stampin' Up! - here's the details:

Stamps - In the Stars

DSPs - Bashful Blue Designer Series

Cardstock - Bashful Blue; Whisper White

Other - Paper Piercer and mat pack

Hope you can join us this week, we have a lovely prize donated by Lisa.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch

Creative Card Crew - Celebrations

The Creative Cottage - New

TFL x

Yesterday's Sweet Stampin DT card

2010-03-14T17:13:00.002Z

Oh I'm so behind this week, where has the time gone? Here's my DT card for yesterday's Sweet Stampin challenge, which this week is a colour combo:

As always with our colour challenges you can choose any three of the four colours, or use all four, and you don't have to use SU! colours, a close match is fine.

I've used three on my card - Barely Banana, Sage Shadow & Blush Blossom. There's no DP on my card, it's a stamped background, I've used the two-step stamp set (try saying that quickly 10 times! LOL) Greenhouse Garden, and stamped out the flowes using the Banana & Blush together, I was amazed how well it worked. Here's the rest of the details:

Stamps - Garden Whimsy; Greenhouse Garden; Hello Again (sentiment)

Cardstock & ink - in colours above plus Whisper White cardstock

Ribbon - Fairy Tale Originals (retired)

Other - Eyelet Border punch; Tab punch

Non SU! - Embossing folder & flower from stash

Hope you can join in this week, not only is there the chance to win the monthly prize - generously donated by Stacey our sponsor, but Emma's also offering to send a winner a selection of stamped images if we get over 50 entries this week - so come on - do your best!

I've used the sketch from In Love With Stamping, only problem is the challenge ended this morning, so I've sort of missed the boat there! Oh well, it was a good sketch.

Hope you're all having a lovely Mothering Sunday, I've been spoilt, had a beautiful card - handmade of course - from my gorgeous Georgia, she raided my stash yesterday and I just loved the card she made me - will get a piccie up - and also she gave me Michael Buble's album, ummm ummm love The Buble! We went out for coffee this morning and ended up having brunch in one of my favourite places in Ironbridge - so diet went well & truly out of the window with bacon & scambled eggs on toast, oh it was delicious! Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

TFL x

Beautiful Butterflies

2010-03-11T14:19:00.002Z

That's the theme we've got for you this week over at Charisma and this is my DT card, I've cased the idea from my SU! Downline Loraine as I thought it was a lovely idea, I've cut a section off the front of the card, cut that in half and then re-attached it to the body of the card using butterflies. I've also used the same DP on the inside & outside.

All Stampin' Up! on my card, here's the details:

Stamps - Flight of the Butterfly; Whimsical Words

DSPs - Washington Apple (retired)

Ink - Chocolate Chip; Pumpkin Pie

Cardstock - Pumpkin Pie; Chocolate Chip; Whisper White

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

I'm also entering my card into Magical Crafts challenge as their theme this week is Things With Wings.

Hope you can join us over at Charisma as we've got three fab prizes up for grabs.

Look what I did today (and it's not a card!)

2010-03-10T17:10:00.002Z

I've recently started going to a craft club that's in a new, local craft shop and this week we made felt flowers, this is my attempt.

Sue showed us her examples and then left it to us, Carly came with me & I think we were both a bit panic stricken to begin with but once we got started we were fine. It was a lovely relaxing afternoon, plenty of chat, a cup of tea and a good time had by all! You can't ask for more than that.

Sophisticats DT Card

2010-03-08T11:22:00.002Z

It's "Flourishes & Bling" over at Sophisticats this week & this is the challenge that caused me grief, as flourishes & bling ain't really my thing. I couldn't work out how to incorporate the theme into the cards I was making, so decided to go right out of my comfort zone and go Vintage, which isn't something I do very often. I used a picture from a CD, made the flower using my SU! Scallop Circle punch and glued some sparkly beads to a large brad for the centre, and cut out some swirls using my Cuttlebug. The background is done with a Stamping' Up! Wheel using Versamark. So it's a rather subtle flourishes & bling, but that's fine, you can go all out or just add a touch as long as you follow the theme.

Here's the details:

Stamps - SU! It's Beautiful Wheel; Fresh Cuts (used on the flower)

Cardstock - SU! Chocolate Chip; Very Vanilla

Beads, Pearl & Brad from stash

Other - SU! Scallop Circle Punch; Cuttlebug dies; SU! Distressing Tool

I'm entering my card into A Spoonful of Sugar as their theme this week is beads.

Hope you can join us & TFL xx

Appleicious

2010-03-07T18:02:00.003Z

I think I've just made that word up, but it kinda sums up my card LOL! This is my second attempt at my Sophisticats DT card (that also veered off wildly from the theme) but I'm pleased with the finished result.

Here's the details:

Stamp - Swiss Pixies, coloured with PMs

Sentiment - SU! Happy Moments (SAB)

DSPs - SU! Summer Picnic (retired)

Cardstock - SU! Whisper White, Real Red

Flowers - SU! stamped with One of a Kind & punched out with Boho Blossoms punch

Buttons, brads & bead from stash

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Truly Scrumptious - Sketch & good enough to eat

Paperplay - Just Because

Hope you like and don't forget to come back tomorrow to see the actual DT card I ended up making (which is absolutely nothing like this one or the one on my previous post!)

Mother's Day

2010-03-07T14:56:00.004Z

Here's another card I've done for Mother's Day, which is next Sunday in the UK. I've been trying to do my Sophisticats DT card all weekend for tomorrow and I can't say what the challenge is just yet, suffice to say I've found it very challenging! I've now made 3 cards, each with the intention of being my DT card, but as each one has started to come together I've decided it won't work with the theme! Until I got to card no. 3 that is. But it does mean I've done more crafting this weekend that I've done in a while, so that's been good.

Here's the details:

Image - digi from Gina K, coloured with ProMarkers

Sentiment - digi from Cutting Cafe

DSPs - SU! Sweet Always & PaperMania

Cardstock - SU! Chocolate Chip; Whisper White & Very Vanilla

Tools - Embossing folder; SU! Scallop Circle Punch; SU! Distressing Tool

Leaves & buttons from stash

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

I Love Digi - Sketch and card for Mum theme

Bee Crafty - Embossing

Quixotic - Leaves

Crafty Calendar - Flower Power

Digital Tuesday - Scallops

I'll be back in a bit with another card but first a walk with the dog in the glorious sunshine we've got today I think!

TFL x

Sweet Stampin' Challenge No. 16

2010-03-06T10:47:00.003Z

Good morning, here's my DT card for our challenge over at Sweet Stampin, the theme this week is "Something for a child" It was my step-grandaughter's 2nd birthday this week and I made this card for her, it's a bit busy for me, but should appeal to a two year old.

The unicorn, no. 2 and name have all been cut out on the Cricut and the butterfly is punched out using an SU! punch and matching stamp.

Here's the details:

Stamps - SU! Flight of the Butterfly, Simply Said (tiny flowers in background)

DSPs - Sweet Always

Cardstock - SU! Ballet Blue; Pixie Pink; Bashful Blue; Real Red; Green Galore; Basic Black; Whisper White

Bling & Ribbon from stash

We've got a new sponsor this month - Stacey, who is an independant SU! Demonstrator and she's very kindly giving away a fab prize of a Darling Dots stamp set:

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Delightful Sketches - Kids

Lily of the Valley - Easel Card

Thanks for looking and hope you can join in this week

The curse of the sweet Hedgie

2010-03-05T12:31:00.004Z

I'm a fool - it's a fact! I made this card for the Penny Black challenge, which I'd written in my book as being a Mother's Day card theme, I just looked at PB's blog and it's no such thing plus there's a sketch to follow - which I haven't, so I got it completely wrong - oops! I think this card is cursed as it caused me no end of problems, you know when it just all goes wrong and takes ages to put together, well this was such a card and then when I'd finished it and opened it up to put in an insert, the card was back to front! Aaaargh!!!! However, all that said I do like the finished card, so that's something at least, and I have found some challenges to enter it in!

Here's the details:

Stamp - Penny Black, coloured with Koh-i-noor pencils

Cardstock - SU! Mellow Moss & Whisper White

Bling & roses from stash

Also used - Cricut for swirls & "mum" plus nesties.

I'm entering my card into the following:

Vee's Sketch Pad - sketch

CRAFT - Mother's Day/Flowers

Simon Says - Mother's Day/Girly

Allsorts - Mother's Day

Totally Papercrafts - Mother's Day/Special Lady

I still haven't found the fairy card I made the other day either - I think I need a holiday!!

TFL x

Fairies

2010-03-04T10:12:00.004Z

Good morning, it's a lovely sunny day, doesn't it make such a difference when the sun is shining! Let's hope Spring is on it's way.

It's my turn to set the challenge over at Charisma this week and I've chosen "Fairies" as my theme, well you can't go wrong with a fairy card now can you.

I chose the theme as an excuse to use one of my favourite stamps, I just adore this image so really enjoyed making this card. The annoying thing is though I've now lost this card! I only made it yesterday, I showed it to Georgia when she got home from school, we were both sat at the computers in the study and that's the last time I saw it, can't find it anywhere, I've obviously picked it up with something else and it'll turn up in the oddest place, unless of course, the fairies took it!!

Here's the details on my card:

Stamps - Lily of the Valley; SU! Whimsical Words

Cardstock - SU! Summer Sun; Whisper White

DSPs & bling - from stash

Nesties & SU! Corner Rounder

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Annabelle - Sketch

Cute & Girly - Spring

Hope you can join us this week & looking forward to seeing all your fairy creations

Sophisticats Goes Oriental

2010-03-01T12:34:00.003Z

That's the theme Tasha has set this week over at Sophisticats and it certainly got the DT scratching their heads, but as you'll see if you hop over to the blog, they all came up trumps with their gorgeous creations. So hope you can join us again this week.

For my card, I remembered I had a Mo Manning digi that I'd never used, so this was the perfect opportunity to do so. I've coloured this gorgeous image with PM's, found some lovely papers in my stash that looked a little bit oriental and glittered the edges of some chipboard flowers I had. The sentiment is from an old stamp set I've had for years, so that came in handy and I've used SU! Whisper White, Basic Black and some Pale Plum c/s which matched the papers really well.

I've used this week's sketch from Get Sketchy, so I'm entering my card over there as well.

We've some lovely stamped imaged up for a prize this week, so hope you can join us.

TFL x

Monochrome Bicycle

2010-02-27T11:11:00.004Z

Hello Blogland, hope all is well wherever you are in the world, it's wet & grey here in Shropshire, so a day in my craftroom beckons (hopefully!)

It's time for another challenge over at Sweet Stampin and it's sketch week again, here's the sketch for you to follow:

I really liked this one, another to keep & use again I think.

I've used my Everyday Basic Button set from PTI and used black & white buttons for the wheels, and just added a touch of colour to the bicycle seat, handlebars and bell, but other than that it's black & white all the way, which I always like, I always think mono cards are so striking!

I've done a bit of paper piercing with my SU! piercer & mat pack (to give me nice straight lines!) added some embossing too and a bit of faux stitching around the sentiment.

My cardstock is SU! Basic Black & Whisper White (so I have used some SU! on my card - remember to enter our challenge you don't have to use SU! but you get two entries into the monthly draw if you do, plus it's the last week to get into the draw to win the pack of mixed SU! 6x6 papers donated by me!), the paper is from Pink Petticoat and the rest is from my stash.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

A Passion for Papertrey - Black & White

Fab n Funky - Black & White

Crafty Creations - 3 Dimensional

Thanks for looking & hope you can join us this week - have a good weekend!

Birthday Candles

2010-02-25T11:39:00.003Z

It's week 8 over at Charisma and this week Kelly has set the challenge to create a birthday card which must feature a candle on it. As soon as I saw this challenge I knew exactly what I was going to use - my SU! Queue Up stamp with the line of candles and the candle sentiment from the free SAB set Whimisical Words, they go so well together and this was the perfect opportunity to ink them both up!

Here's the details of Stampin' Up! used:

Stamps - Queue Up (Level 3 Hostess); SAB Whimsical Words; In the Stars

Ink - Basic Black; Pumpkin Pie

Cardstock - Whisper White; Pumpkin Pie

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Critter Sketch - the sketch

ABC Designs - Birthdays

Hope you can join us this week, we've a couple of great prizes to give away.

TFL x

Candy Winner!

2010-02-24T10:03:00.003Z

Sorry for not getting this on yesterday, but I've now drawn a winner for my candy using Random.org and the winning number is.......wait for it.......

no. 33 and that's Charity Crafter

Yayy, congrats on your win, send me an email (addy in my sidebar) with your address & I'll get your goodies out to you.

A huge thank you to everyone who took part and a big hello to everyone who decided to follow me as well.

Have a good day all

Birthday & Blogoversary Candy!

2010-02-23T17:17:00.001Z

**EDIT** THIS CANDY HAD NOW CLOSED - PLEASE DO NOT ENTER VIA MR LINKY

I'LL ANNOUNCE THE RESULT LATER ON TODAY

As it's my birthday today and my 1st Blogoversary on the 5th, I thought it would be a great time to offer up a little candy as a little thank you to all my wonderful Blogging Buddies, I love being a member of this crafting blog community and have met some amazing people, gained so much inspiration and made some lovely new friends.

My candy consists of the following:

A4 papers

6 x 6 mixed papers

Photo corner stickers

Assorted embellishments

We R Memory Keepers clear stamp set

Stamps Happen Inc - Leaf Collage wooden stamp

Smirk wooden stamp

Kiss wooden stamp

Fiskars Flower Border punch

Fiskars Snowflake punch

X-Cut Stars punch

I may add a few other bits and pieces in too, plus some images.

No complicated rules for this one, just post a picture and a link of my candy on your blog and leave your name & blog addy on Mr Linky below, no duplicate entries please.

I'll make the draw on 23rd Feb and announce the winner on my blog.

Sophisticats Week 23

2010-02-22T12:12:00.002Z

Good morning, oh actually it's afternoon already, where has this morning gone? Anyway, here's my DT card for Sophisticats. This week our theme is Embossing, whether that's wet, dry, using a lightbox, embossing folder, whatever you like.

I've got a bit of both going on, as I stamped the image in Versamark & then embossed in pink embossing powder and have used an embossing folder on some Whisper White cardstock to make my cute little Baby Girl card.

Stampin' Up! used:

Image & sentiment - Fun & Fast Notes

DSPs - Sweet Always (retired)

Cardstock - Pretty in Pink; Whisper White

Word Window Punch

Non SU!

Button, ribbon, embossing powder - all from stash

TFL & hope you can join us this week x

A card for 3 challenges

2010-02-21T22:03:00.002Z

I don't seem to make many cards at the moment that aren't for one of my DTs, so it was nice today to sit down & make this card and find three challenges to enter it into. I would have posted it earlier this evening (it's now gone 10pm) but I had to take my daughter Georgia to A&E this evening as she'd bashed her hand and we thought she might have broken something as it was very swollen & very tender. Luckily though nothing is broken and we were only there for an hour, which is very good by A&E standards, so if you're going to have an accident I guess early Sunday evening is quite a good time to do so!!

Anyway, on to my card, I bought this LOTV stamp at the NEC in November & this is the first time I've inked it up! Shame on me! I also dug out my CraftRobo to do the ovals as my biggest oval nestie was too small, and I'm glad to say that my Robo was behaving and cut through the Stampin' Up! cardstock beautifully, which is doesn't always do. I am actually planning to sell my Robo as I've now got a Cricut but it did come in handy today....hmmm should I keep it....??? LOL

So here's the details:

Image - Lily of the Valley, coloured with ProMarkers

DSP - SU Tea & Crumpets

Cardstock - Whisper White; Barely Banana

Ribbon - SU Chocolate Chip

Flowers - cut with X-cut punch

Buttons & brads from stash

I'm entering this card into the following:

Lily of the Valley - Sketch

ABC Challenge - One paper

Passion for ProMarkers - Buttons & Bows (any colour PM's)

Nearly time for bed & see you all in the morning for another challenge over at Sophisticats

Oops a day late!

2010-02-21T16:51:00.003Z

So here's my DT card for Sweet Stampin this week (which I should have posted yesterday, but I'm so behind this weekend it's not true!!) Our theme this week is New Beginnings, which you can interpret how you like, new baby, new home, new marriage - whatever, it's up to you and remember if you use SU! products on your card, you get two entries into the month's prize draw, which this month is a mixed 6x6 pack of scrummy SU! papers, courtesy of Moi!!!

Here's the details - all SU!

Stamps - Good Neighbours - inked up with Really Rust; Garden Green; Bashful Blue - also used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to align all the houses & roofs

DSPs - Really Rust from Designer Pattern's Pack (Hostess Level 1)

Cardstock - Really Rust; Chocolate Chip; Whisper White

Button - Really Rust from Earth Elements button set

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Non SU!

Flower punch

Sentiment - done on 'puter

Hope you can join us this week, we're seeing more entries each week, which is very exciting so a huge thank you to everyone that has supported us so far.

I'm also entering my card into Sweet Sketch Wednesday as I used their lovely sketch.

TFL x

Charisma # 7 - Sketch Challenge

2010-02-18T15:23:00.004Z

Sally has set us a lovely sketch this week over at Charisma and it's nice and easy as there's no theme to followI really enjoyed using this sketch and will keep it to use again. Here's my card:

I've gone for lovely fresh Spring colours and used some of my favourite SU! papers that are sadly no longer around, what I'll do when I finish my pack I don't know!

Here's the details:

Image - Heather Ellis digi, coloured with ProMarkers

Sentiment - SU! Whimsical Words - free SAB set

DSPs - Rainbow Sherbert

Cardstock - Apricot Appeal; Green Galore; Whisper White

Flowers - SU! One of a Kind stamp set, stamped in Tempting Turquoise & punched out using matching SU! Boho Blossoms punch

Brads from stash

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Your Next Stamp - Spring Colours

Fab n Funky - It's Childish

A Spoonfull of Sugar - Spring Time

Incy Wincy - Punch it out

Hope you can join in the fun this week & TFL xx

A new found love

2010-02-15T10:58:00.002Z

Guess what I've just discovered? Stitiching on cards, up until now I've avoided this like the plague as getting my sewing machine out is a)nigh on impossible and b) only to be used in dire emergencies as me & the sewing machine are not the best of friends! However our challenge over at Sophisticats this week is sewing - eeek - set by one of our newer DT members Gina, so I had to get stitching. I decided rather than face the cupboard in the spare room & try to extract the machine I'd go for a bit of hand sewing as I've always liked embroidery, so I got out my paper piercer, stamped out the holes using my SU! guide and did a simple running stitch as a border around my image. I'm so pleased with the result that I will definitely be doing this again! So thanks to Gina to introducing me to something new - that's what I love about challenges, discovering new ideas & sometimes stepping out of your comfort zone.

So hope you can join us this week over at Sophisticats & here's the details for my card:

Image - digi from Digistamp Boutique, coloured with PM's

Sentiment - SU! Circle of Friendship, stamped with Chocolate Chip ink

DSPs - Stampin' Up! Sweet Always

Cardstock - SU! Whisper White; Chocolate Chip

Ribbon - SU! Chocolate Chip

Other - SU! circle punches

Flower and pink ribbon from my stash

I've found quite a few challenges to enter with this card:

I Love ProMarkers - Sketch plus pink & brown

Simon Says - What's Love Got to do With It

Susie's Sassy Designs - Hearts & Flowers

Dare You To Digi-Stamp - Use your punches

One Stitch at a Time - Stitching

Bee Crafty - Sew Cute

Tellens Place - Valentines using at least 5 hearts

TFL x

Sweet Stampin' Challenge No. 13

2010-02-13T08:53:00.002Z

Good morning - I'm up bright & early this morning (well for a Saturday that is) as I'm off to Birmingham today to meet up with my Sweet Stampin DT boss Emma and a few other lovely blogging buddies for a day of crafting - I'm so excited and have been looking forward to it all week!!

So here's my card for this week's Sweet Stampin Challenge which is a colour challenge. I always struggle with colour challenges, they're nearly always colours I think won't work together (and I'm always proved wrong of course) but once I'd decided what I was doing with this one I was ok. I wanted to use my newest SU! stamp set "One of a Kind" and went for a simple flower card (you know me, like to keep it simple!) I think I like the finished result, but I'm not certain yet, I've made the card for my Mother-in-Law as a thank you for my birthday pressie and hubby thinks she'll really like it, so that's the main thing.

Here's your colour choices for this week, you need to use at least three of the four, like I did, you can use all four if you want and if you don't have SU! colours (and if not, why not LOL!) then a close match is fine:

The prize this month is a mixed pack of 6x6 papers from lil' ol' me so I hope you can join us once again this week.

Here's the details for my card (all Stampin; Up!):

Stamps - One of a Kind; Fresh Cuts

Cardstock & SU! markers - Cameo Coral; Summer Sun; Real Red; Whisper White

Button - Playground Designer Buttons

Other - corner punch; Boho Blossoms punch

Non SU:

Embossing folders

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Stamp With Us - Thank You

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch

Hope you can play along this week & TFL xx

Male Cards

2010-02-11T11:22:00.002Z

Two words guaranteed to strike terror into the hearts of most crafters!! Why do we all hate doing men's cards so much, I like clean cards and don't use loads of embellishments but I still don't like doing men's cards, no ribbons, flowers or bling can be challenging and of course for most of us our stash consists of very female-orientated stamps & images! However this is the challenge that Tasha has set this week for our challenge at Charisma Cardz so it's time to get your thinking caps on.

As usual, I did my card last minute and set about making it yesterday, I had a digi image in mind I was going to use & then realised that my darling daughter had taken my ProMarkers to school (she had asked first) to use in Art! The image I had in mind needed PM's, I didn't think it would work in pencil or watercolours, so I needed a change of plan - quick! I settled for this image I've had in my stash for ages and made a very simple card by stamping to make a background and layering up the cardstock, so a very quick card that has turned out ok I think.

Here's the details:

Image - from stash

Sentiment - SU! Vintage Labels (free SAB set)

Background stamp - SU! Seeing Spots

Cardstock - SU! Very Vanilla; Chocolate Chip

Other - SU! Word Window Punch; brads from stash

Hope you can join us this week, we had a bumper no. of entries for our Love theme last, so a huge thanks to everyone who joined in, there are two prizes up for grabs this week, so two good reasons to play along

Happy Thursday

Simple Flower Birthday card

2010-02-10T16:41:00.002Z

Here's a quick & easy card I did earlier today, keeping it nice & simple. There's a challenge over at the Cutting Cafe to use one or two of the free digi stamps they're giving away this week, I've used both the dots and the flowers on mine and I've combined it with One Stop Craft's challenge, who are looking for the colour combo Apple Green, Chocolate & Clotted Cream. Rather than try & match up a colour to the backing paper & flower outline, I decided to keep it uncoloured and printed out the flower & papers onto SU! Very Vanilla cardstock for the cream colour.

Here's the rest of the details:

Sentiment - SU! Stem Sayings

Cardstock - SU! Very Vanilla; Chocolate Chip

Flowerpot - cut on Cricut

We've had a few flakes of snow again today, which I hope doesn't come to anything, really bored of winter now - roll on Spring!

TFL xx

Love You Tons!

2010-02-09T16:16:00.002Z

As I've previously mentioned I've got a Cricut on a borrow at the mo (and now have one on order too yippee) and I'm loving the Paisley cartridge, I did this cute elephant the other day and have made a card with him, he's great for Valentine's! You'll be seeing more "Paisley" creations to come for sure as I'm in love with this cartridge and it's now on my wishlist for when I get my own Cricut!

Here's the details:

Elephant & Sentiment - Cricut Paisley & Alphalicious cartridges

Stamps used (to make heart background) - SU! Love You Much; Hello Again

Ink - SU! Real Red; Pixie Pink

DSPs - Digi from Stuff to Scrap

Cardstock - SU! Real Red; Pink Passion; Pixie Pink; Whisper White; Basic Black; Bashful Blue; Ballet Blue

There are loads of Valentines/Love challenges out there at the moment so I'm entering my card into the following:

Die Cut Dreams - Have a Heart

Crafty Calendar - Love (plus hearts as a bonus)

Willow Sketchie - Sketch

Paperplay - Love

Lily of the Valley - Valentines

C.R.A.F.T. - Love/Valentines

Creative Card Crew - Valentines

TFL xx

A Tartan Fairy

2010-02-08T11:34:00.003Z

Good morning all, it's Monday morning so that means a new challenge over at Sophisticats, we had a record number of entries last week for my Love theme, so thank you to everyone who entered, we were blown away by the number and quality of the entries we received.

We've got two new DT members joining us this week to, so a great big welcome to Diane & Tasha.

This week our lovely Avril has set the challenge and she's given us a Scottish theme of "Tartan" which we want to see on your cards, it can be just a small accent or a ribbon or you can go all out (a bit like I did) with a tartan overload!

We've been sponsored by Digital Ink who provided the DT with some fab images to play with and I've used this gorgeous fairy on my card, as I love fairies and I decided to paper-piece her skirt to make her look really Scottish (well I'm sure they have fairies in Scotland) and to match up with the backing papers. I've picked out the red stripes in the pattern, by embossing some Real Red cardstock with a dot embossing folder and glittered up her wings for a bit of dazzle.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch

Quixotic - Fairies

Fab 'n Funky - Embossing

Here's the details for my card:

Stamp - Digital Ink digi coloured with ProMarkers & Stampin' Up! Markers

DSPs - digi papers (freebies)

Cardstock - SU! Real Red; Barely Banana; Whisper White

Flower & glitter from stash

Hope you can join us again this week

Fur Coat & No Knickers!

2010-02-07T14:44:00.005Z

No that's not me being rude, that was the name of the play I've been in, which finished last night. We had an absolutely fabulous time doing the play, we sold out every night & even had to turn people away, so it's been a great success and I thought I'd share a couple of pics with you from the show. They're not the best quality as they were taken on my phone in the dressing room, I'll try & get some better ones off one of the other cast members.

The play was a farce, set in the late 70's and is based around Deidre Ollerenshaw (me) who is getting married and the shenanigans that go on at the stag do & wedding (a blow up doll was involved and a drunken Irish Priest!!!)

The first pic is me & Jane, who plays my mother Edith

Pic 2 - me in my wedding dress

Pic 3 - The Happy Couple (but not for long!)

TFL x

Floral Frenzy

2010-02-06T14:21:00.004Z

Hello there, it's the weekend - hooray and here's my DT card for Sweet Stampin, our challenge this week is called Floral Frenzy.

I made my card for a friend who commissioned it for a 60th birthday and it was one of those" oh do whatever you like" kinda requests, so I made it and hoped she'd like it - luckily she loved it!

Our sponsor this month is a lovely lady and one hell of a crafter - oh it's me - he, he! I'm giving away a mixed pack of Stampin' Up! 6x6 double sided papers, there are papers from about 8 different packs so plenty to get your hands on, but you have to join in to win. The more challenges you enter this month, the more chances you have, plus if you use any SU! products on your projects, you get two entries for that project! So hope you can join us.

I'm entering my card in Get Funky's February challenge, it's a free theme for the month & I've used FunkyHand papers on my card. I've cut the flowers and the "60" out on a Cricut, I've got one on a borrow at the moment whilst a friend is holidaying (for two months, lucky so-and-so) in Australia but I'm very excited as hubby is now buying me one for my birthday - whoop, whoop! I've put SU! Dazzling Diamonds around the edge of each flower, and added some card candy (from my stash) to the centres, the ribbon is from my stash and the sentiment is SU! from the set Cheer & Wishes.

Hope you can join us this week & have a great weekend.

Some more Love

2010-02-04T11:26:00.003Z

Still feeling the love with all these fab Valentines/Love cards around & our theme over at Charisma this week is "I Love You", it doesn't have to be a Valentines card but we're looking for the Love in your entries this week!

I've kept my card quite simple this week and I think it could be given to a man or a woman and those hedgies are so cute!

Here's the details:

Stamp - Penny Black, coloured with PMs

Sentiment - Stampin' Up! Circle of Friendship, inked with SU! Real Red

DSPs - Funky Fairy Digi paper

Cardstock - SU! Whisper White; Real Red

Ribbon - SU! Striped Grosgrain Ribbon - Real Red

Other - SU! 1" and 1½" circle punches; hearts cut on Cricut

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

A Spoonful of Sugar - followed their sketch

Penny Black - Special Someone

By the Cute & Girly - Love

Creative Card Crew - Valentine

Hope you can join us this week, and don't forget I've got a candy on offer at the top of my blog.

TFL x

Just wanted to say......

2010-02-02T11:09:00.002Z

For all the beautiful cards & pressies I've received for my birthday from all my fabulous blogging buddies. I'm overwhelmed by the kindness & you've made my (birth)day!

Hubby's still away but coming back this afternoon, so I was a bit gloomy this morning, but he rung first thing to wish me Happy Birthday & direct me to his card & some choccies he'd hidden away. I then opened a lovely handmade card by my gorgeous girl (who doesn't make cards normally so it was extra special), I opened the cards & pressies that had already come in the post and since then have had texts, FaceBook messages, email messages, blog messages and when the postman came, more cards & pressies. And I'm having a fabulous day!

I will take piccies of the beautiful cards I've had, and I know there are some still on their way, so will post them on here in a few days, and I will make sure I thank each of your personally, but please accept this group "thank you" until then.

I'll be posting details of my Birthday Blog Candy later on, so keep your eyes peeled for that & at the risk of being gushy - thank you all again so much for making my day so very special and making me feel loved.

Huge kisses all round xxxxxxx

Time for Sale-a-Bration!

2010-02-01T12:15:00.000Z

It's the time for the Stampin' Up! Sale-a-Bration, which means FREE stamp sets! Oh yes!

There are three ways to get your hands on these brand new sets, which are only available as Sale-a-Bration freebies and cannot be bought -

Customers - for every £45 you spend you will qualify and can choose one of the stamp sets (4 in all), plus there's no limit on how many times you can qualify, so you choose a set every time you spend £45.

Hostess - If you host a Stampin' Up! workshop with sales of £300 or more you will qualify for a free set too.

Demonstrators - If you sign up as a new Demonstrator you can choose an extra stamp set from the whole of the catalogue (up to a value of £38.95) to have in your starter kit, making it a fantastic investment.

This offer runs from 30th December until 28th February, so if you would like to place an order, or ask about hosting a workshop, or becoming a Demonstrator then contact me on

jan. jackman@gmail.com

Here are the 4 stamp sets you can choose from:

Love Birds and a DT Call

2010-02-01T10:33:00.003Z

Good morning from a snowy Shropshire, it snowed yesterday and again overnight so back to the right pain of having snow again, it's only a few inches but enough to be a nuisance! My hubby had to fly to Frankfurt yesterday, but luckily the airport wasn't affected and he got there ok, he doesn't normally go abroad, I don't like him being so far away, and even though it's only until tomorrow I'm missing him loads.

So while he was gone yesterday I made this card for my Sophisticats DT, as it's my challenge this week & I've set the theme of "Love" nice and easy at this time of the year, but it doesn't have to be Valentines, although I'm going to give my card to Kev for Valentine's as he's not seen it.

We've got some exciting news over at Sophisticats this week, not only do we have a new DT member Mandy, who's gorgeous blog can be seen here, but we're also having a DT call as Lisa feels it's time to expand our little team.

Lisa has the details on her personal blog here so pop over for a look here if you fancy joining our team.

So onto the details for my card, quite straightforward as it all comes from a digi kit from Pink Petticoat, apart from the ribbon & the button, which are from my stash; the border was punched with my SU Scallop Border, the oval border done with a nestie and the image coloured with ProMarkers.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Willow Sketchie - Sketch

Fab n Funky - any digi image

DU2DS - Hearts/Valentine

Bee Crafty - Love (using digi image)

Hope you can join us this week & don't forget to check out the DT Call!

I Love U Teddies

2010-01-30T14:09:00.003Z

Hello there, it's Challenge #11 over at Sweet Stampin and our theme this week is scallops, so get out your punches and scallop away!

I've used my new stamp (a Christmas pressie) which is so sweet and great for Valentines or any love occasion really.

Here's the details:

Stamp - Elzybells, coloured with ProMarkers

Sentiment - SU! Love You Much (new favourite of mine), inked up with SU! Real Red

Papers - Pink Petticoat

Cardstock - SU! Real Red; Whisper White

Ribbon - SU! Whisper White

Other - Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch - both SU

Button from stash.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

I Love ProMarkers - Sketch

Die Cut Dreams - Bears

Fussy & Fancy - Hearts

Hope everyone's having a good weekend, I'm being spoiled this weekend as it's my birthday in the week & we always have a "Birthday Weekend" tradition, so we're off to the cinema later - to finally see Avatar and then an Indian this evening yum, yum. Also went out for breakfast, so I won't be having lunch today for sure!

From the Heart

2010-01-29T14:54:00.002Z

I had a lovely day yesterday crafting at my Charisma DT buddy Carly's new house - that girl has so much stash it was like crafting in a craft shop!! So I raided all her goodies and made this card, here's the details:

Stamp - Hanglar, coloured with PM's

Sentiment - Stampin' Up! Seasonal Wishes (retired)

Papers - K&Co

Cardstock - SU! Chocolate Chip; Whisper White

Flowers & Heart - from (Carly's) stash

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Paperplay - Green, Pink & White

A Spoonful of Sugar - Freestyle

Allsorts - Hearts & Flowers

One Stop Craft - Love & Kisses

As well as letting me play with all her gorgeous crafting goodies and keeping me stocked up in Cappuccino's, Carly also made me a sweet little bag with some more fab images in it - I'm a lucky girl - thanks so much hun, really enjoyed myself

TFL xx

White on White

2010-01-28T09:41:00.004Z

That's the challenge we've got for you over at Charisma this week, an all white card, although you can use colour on your image and/or sentiment.

I really enjoyed doing these white cards at Christmas so it was interesting to do a non-Christmas one. I thought a Wedding Card would look good in the all-white treatment and am quite pleased with the result although I have added a touch of silver to the card (oops!).

Here's the details:

Stamps - SU! Fun & Fast Notes and the hearts are from Love You Much

Cake coloured with SU! Lavender Lace pastels, and Green Galore marker, silver paint from stash

Cardstock - Whisper White and Silver from stash

Other - Heart to Heart punch, embossing folders, ribbon from stash.

Pop over to the Challenge blog for a look at the stunning designs by the rest of the team, some amazing creations this week & hope you can join in the fun.

TFL xx

Love is in the air

2010-01-26T12:18:00.002Z

This is the card I did for my SU! class, using my newest set "Love You Much", great for Valentines, but also Anniversaries & Weddings & just to say "I love you" awwww.

I've also been paper piercing again with my mat pack, I think this is going to be a regular feature on my cards, I really enjoy it, something quite relaxing stabbing away at a bit of cardstock (does that sound wrong? LOL)

Anyway here's the details - all Stampin' Up!

Stamps - Love You Much

Ink - Real Red

Cardstock - Real Red; Whisper White

Ribbon - Whisper White

Punches - Heart to Heart; 1¼" Circle; Scallop Circle

Mat Pack & Paper Piercer

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Magical Crafts - Valentines

CRAFT - Red

TFL x

Sophisticats Week 19

2010-01-25T10:39:00.002Z

Good morning and welcome to Monday, didn't that come around quickly! I've finally caught up on the 753 unread posts - that's what happens when you go awol for a few days, so should get round to leaving some love & comments again now!

It's Challenge no. 19 over at Sophisticats and it's a bit of special one this week as Lisa has set the theme and it's in honour of her mum who passed away three years ago, so your challenge is to make a mum/miss you/or tribute project.

I've used the beautiful A Rose is a Rose stamp on my card, I don't have this set yet but I stamped this image when I visited my SU Granny Rachel a while ago and I thought it was just right for a Mum card, I've kept the rest of the card quite simple so the rose is the highlight, with a bit of distressing for added texture.

Here's the details - all Stampin' Up! unless stated otherwise:

Stamps - A Rose is A Rose; Flight of the Butterfly

Inks - Barely Banana, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss

DSP - Tea & Crumpets

Cardstock - Apricot Appeal; Certainly Celery

Ribbon - Apricot Appeal

Button - Playground Designer Buttons

Cutter kit - for distressing

Sentiment - from stash

Hope you can join us this week & TFL x

Sweet Stampin' Challenge No. 10 & I'm back!

2010-01-24T11:31:00.002Z

I really am back this time, after posting on Thursday, I felt so ill on Friday & did nothing all day, but am feeling a whole lot better today, still coughing, but I've got my energy back (and hopefully my mojo too!)

Thank you all for the lovely get well wishes, I've not been blog hopping but will try & get around to everyone again this week - I've missed you guys!

So onto this week's challenge at Sweet Stampin which is a sketch, I always feel a bit daunted when the sketch has a few different shapes on it & is not all straight lines (gasp) but I really liked this one & enjoyed using it, so thanks Jo, it's a good one.

I've made my card using one of my favourite Tilda's, I just love this image, there's a real old-fashioned charm to her, I don't have this stamp but my friend Carly gave me a few images and as I'm visiting her brand spanking new craft room this week, I may just manage to come home with a few more images of her!!! *wink, wink**

Here's the details of my card - all SU! except for Tilda

Sentiment - Best Yet (retired) ink - Chocolate Chip

DSPs - Tea & Crumpets

Cardstock - Barely Banana; Whisper White

Buttons - Designer Latte

I'm also entering my card into Little Paper Shop's challenge, which this week is buttons.

TFL x

An Apple a Day

2010-01-21T17:02:00.002Z

It's a bit late in the day, but here's my card for this week's Challenge over at Charisma, our theme this week is Fruity Colours, with the option of adding a fruity image.

I went for Anya with her apple and teamed it with some retired SU! papers called Washington Apple - here's the details (all SU! unless otherwise stated):

Stamp - Anya, coloured with PM's

Sentiment - Trendy Trees

Flowers - Darling Dots (Hostess set) coloured with markers in Real Red; Barely Banana

Ink - Real Red

DSPs - Washington Apple

Cardstock - Real Red; Whisper White

Ribbon - Whisper White; Real Red

Word Window Punch; 1" & 1¼" circle punches

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch

Pollycraft - Red & White

Totally Gorjuss - Monotone

I'd like to apologise for not being a very good blogger lately, I'm still struggling with the old mojo & have not been well this week with a cold on my chest which has left me feeling bleurh (I think that's the medical term) so sorry for not getting around to many blogs and leaving comments for everyone that's been kind enough to comment on my blog and entered the challenge blogs I'm on the DT for - I shall be giving myself a good talking to & will try & get back into the swing of things again very soon.

Happy Moments

2010-01-18T10:43:00.004Z

Good morning, it's time for another challenge over at Sophisticats and the theme this week has been set once again by our Guest Designer Teri, and it's "Spring" so looking forward to lots of pretty colours & plenty of flowers no doubt.

I've used one of the new free (yes I did say free!) stamp sets the Stampin' Up! are giving away at the moment (for details see Sale-A-Bration post at the top of my blog), I've inked up the stamp using SU! markers and then water coloured them in. I also recently bought myself a paper piercer and mat pack from SU! and I really enjoyed making all my little holes in my card, very therapeutic and the alignment tool in the pack ensured I got a straight line!

Here's the details - all SU! unless otherwise stated:

Stamp & Sentiment - Happy Moments

Markers - Regal Rose; Rose Red; Bravo Burgundy

Ink - Chocolate Chip

DSPs - Sweet Always (retired)

Cardstock - Regal Rose; Chocolate Chip; Whisper White

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Paper Piercer; Mat Pack; Word Window Punch

Other:

Nesties, Pink ribbon from stash

I'm entering this card into the following challenge:

Allsorts - Brown & Pink

Hope you can join us this week - have a good day x

Cherry Sweet

2010-01-16T11:21:00.004Z

This is my DT card for Sweet Stampin this week as our theme is Feeling Fruity which is a nice antidote to the cold & now very wet weather. So interpret this how you like and I look forward to seeing all your lovely entries.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

PTI - Embossing

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch

Here's the details:

Stamp & Sentiment - PTI

Ink - SU! Basic Black; Garden Green

DSPs - SU! Summer Picnic (retired)

Cardstock - SU! Real Red; Whisper White

Ribbon - SU! Whisper White

Other - SU! Word Window Punch; Embossing folder; Nesties; Buttons & lace from stash

Caught a Bug

2010-01-15T11:58:00.002Z

Here's a fun get well card I've done for a couple of challenges, I loved the colour combo, really bright & cheery & thought that would work well with the image & would hopefully put a smile back on someone's face who was feeling under the weather.

Here's the details:

Image - freebie from DigiStamp Boutique (coloured with SU Markers & Koh-i-noor pencils)

DSP - Stampin' Up! Tea Party

Cardstock & SU Markers - Pink Passion; Barely Banana

Flowers & brads from stash

I'm entering this into:

Design Dollies Colour Challenge - Fuschia & Pale Yellow

Allsorts - Sketch

I think my mojo, which has been missing in action since Christmas seems to be returning - hooray & about blooming time too!

Charisma #2

2010-01-14T10:00:00.002Z

It's time for another challenge over at Charisma, and this week the challenge is to use something new, perhaps some new Christmas stash.

We're being sponsored by Bee Crafty this week and I've used one of Bee's digi images on my card and my new element is the papers, which are My Mind's Eye, a pack I've had a while but not opened until now - so I think that counts as new!

Here's the info:

Image - Bee Crafty, coloured with Koh-i-noor pencils

Sentiment - Stampin' Up! Trendy Trees

DSPs - My Minds Eye

Cardstock - Stampin' Up! Green Galore; Whisper White

Embossing folder

SU! Word Window Punch

I'm entering my card into the following challenges too:

Bee Crafty - Thank You

Get Sketchy - Sketch

Digital Tuesday - Embossing

Hope you can join us again this week & TFL x

Sophisticats Challenge #17

2010-01-12T10:12:00.003Z

Ooops, a day late posting this, had 'puter problems yesterday and I didn't get onto my computer at all yesterday - thank gawd for my iPhone at least I could still access the internet, I'd have gone nuts if I couldn't access my emails but blogging's not easy on the phone, so I had a bloggy day off.

So here's my DT card for this week's challenge we're setting you at Sophisticats, we've been joined by the fab & talented Teri this week and she's set our challenge - "Doth the North Wind Blow" rather appropriate for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, who all seem to be shivering in unison! So interpret that how you like and hop over and join us if you can, we love seeing all your entries and we've another lovely prize donated by Lisa this week and have a look at the fab cards the rest of the DT have produced.

I went for a warm cup of hot chocolate as a way to keep warm when that cold wind blows, ooh I could just drink that right now, with a pile of choccie biscuits - shame I'm on a diet!!

Here's the details:

Stamp - digi from Alison Spelman

Sentiment - Stampin' Up! Trendy Trees, stamped in SU! Chocolate Chip

Papers - from FunkyHand CD

Cardstock - Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip

Other - SU! Word Window Punch

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Simon Says - Hot Chocolate

Get Funky! - Spots & Stripes

Crafty Calendar Challenge - Keeping Warm

TFL x

Sweet Stampin' Challenge No. 8

2010-01-09T14:48:00.004Z

This is my DT card for this week's challenge over at Sweet Stampin & we've got a colour combo for you this week.

Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Pretty In PInk, Almost Amethyst

you can use whatever brand of products you have to hand, Just keep the colors as close to these as possible!

♥ Please Use a Minimum of 3 colours from the colour combo ♥

I managed to use all four in mine, there's not a lot of Certainly Celery in there, but I've used it on the leaves, stalks & grass.

Here's the rest of the details:

Stampin' Up! used:

Sentiment - Circle of Friendship

DSPs - Tea Party

Cardstock - Whisper White; Rose Red; Almost Amethyst

Markers used - Rose Red; Almost Amethyst; Pretty in Pink; Certainly Celery; Summer Sun

Eyelet Border Punch

Non SU:

Stamp - Lily of the Valley

ProMarker - skin tones

Flowers & gems from my stash

We're on the look out for Guest Designers so if you'd like to be considered you need to enter this week.

I'm also entering my card into a few different challenges:

LOTV - Thank You

Funky Fairys - Anything Goes

Delightful Sketches - Sketch

TFL x