Summer Holiday = Crafting Blues

Holy Moly, I didn't realise that Sam being on his summer holiday was going to impact on my crafting quite so much LOL!!! It's hard to get started what with being 'summoned' every five minutes and then cos it's the hols, I'm quite relaxed about bed time, so I don't seem to be getting started til 11pm - and now my insomnia has reverted to narcolepsy, I'm nodding off before I get the chance to get started. Are any other mothers out there feelin' the pain?!?
Anyway, enough of the moaning! The current challenge over at Shopping Our Stash is Buttons, Blooms and Bananas (or any kinda fruit really, as you'll be able to tell from my card!) - and you've still got a couple of days to enter. Here's my card:

Ingredients:

Image - Magnolia coloured with prismacolour pencils blended with sansodor.

Papers - Magnolia.

Sentiment stamp - Magnolia.

Cardstock - Papermania (red).

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts.

Buttons - QVC.

Ribbon - from stash.

I'm also going to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Magnolia-licious Highlites - July Sketch Challenge.
• Just Magnolia - Week 117 Buttons, Bows and Blooms.
• Truly Scrumptious - Challenge 62 Buttons and Bows.

OK my lovelies, that's it from me for now. I promise I'll be round later to catch up with you all. It was my Dad's birthday yesterday, and we're off out for Sunday lunch so I'd better go and get ready. TTFN.........x

I am a donkey!!!

Evening All. Hope you've had a nice, relaxing Sunday and a good weekend on the whole? We went to my Aunt's summer party at the sheltered accommodation facility where she lives, yesterday - which was a really nice day. Luckily the weather was lovely (and has been all weekend!), and it was nice to catch up with my cousin's - who I don't always see as often as I'd like. Today, I've not been up to much, just did a quick sprint round Sainsburys for a bit of shopping! I'm here tonight to share my DT card for Sunday Sketch and Stamp, which should've been posted earlier but I fell asleep last night before I managed to finish it off, so I'm sorry I'm a bit late. Here it is:

Ingredients:

Image - Hanglar watercoloured with distress inks.

Papers and Die Cuts - MME Lost and Found.

Flowers - Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts.

Brads - Papermania.

Sentiment - Whimsy.

Other - Cuttlebug and embossing folder, Baker's Twine from stash.

I'm also entering it into the following challenges:

• Lovely Hanglar - Challenge 29 Embossing.
• Simon Says - Use Newspaper.

OK - now to the part of the post where I own to being a complete and utter donkey!!!! The week before last, it was my turn to design the sketch at Sunday Sketch and Stamp and I did the post over on the challenge blog all fine but then when it came to the post on my own blog, I somehow managed to post it in 2010!!!! The only excuse I can give is that I wasn't feeling very well at the time and had a head full of cotton wool!! It only occurred to me to go looking for it cos I realised that I'd had no comments on it at all - and I didn't think it was that bad!! Here's the card in question:

Ingredients:

Image - Teddy Bea coloured with prismacolour pencils blended with sansodor (and a bit o' stickles!)

Papers - First Edition.

Flowers and Seam Binding - Wild Orchid Crafts.

Charm and String - Crafty Emma's.

Button - QVC.

Other - Doily and Border die from MFT.

I'm entering this card into the Teddy Bo Challenge #14, which is to use Teddy Bea only!

Right, I think that's about it from me for now! Have a good week ahead - and I'll be back soon...........x

Gone Fishing!

Evening Everyone! How are you? Have you had a good week? My son broke up for his Summer holidays today, so I've got to find a way to entertain him for a whole 6 weeks!! Any ideas gratefully received, LOL!
Now, here's a card I made a wee while ago but hadn't shared it with you until now:

Ingredients:

Image - Digistamp Boutique coloured with promarkers.

Papers - Smirk.

Blue and Orange card - Bazzill Basics.

To make this card, I covered the most part of a card blank with blue card and then butchered a piece of paper from the 'smirk' range and used it to kinda 'piece' my card together - I don't know if you can see from the photo but there is some dimension to it IRL. So - what d'you think?

I'm also entering it into the following challenges:

• Digistamp Boutique - July Customer Comp.
• Totally Papercrafts - One for the Boys.
• Totally Gorjuss - Challenge 89 All About Boys.
• Here Come The Boys - #6 Sporty (I hope Fishing isn't too much of a stretch?!)
• Cute Card Thursday - Challenge 174 For his eyes only.

For those of you interested in the fridge/freezer saga (?!?) - it was finally delivered yesterday but only after I cried!!! When the delivery men turned up with it, I popped my head out the door and said 'up here on the first floor' - only to be told that they only deliver to the ground floor!! Now I'd told the company before ordering that I was on the first floor and he'd said 'not a problem!' So - the delivery man rang his boss and put him on the phone to me and I told him what had been said but apparently it's a different company that you order from to who delivers, so he said he could either deliver it to the ground floor or they'd take it back....now at this point, I was saying that I live on my own with a 10 year old, I'm recovering from cancer, I've not had a fridge/freezer for a week and then it all got too much and I burst into tears (what a wuss!!), so I handed the phone back to the delivery man and ran back indoors. Well, the long and short of it being that he obviously felt sorry for me cos he came up not long after and said that 'on this occasion, they'd bring it up'!! And so, I've now got a lovely pristine Bosch fridge freezer in my kitchen doing a wonderful job of keeping my food and drinks nice and cold!!

Before I go - have you seen the new release of Simply Sassy images?!? OMG - THE best ones yet, absolutely gorgeous!! I've ordered them already (v naughty!)......and have you seen the new pens from Crafters Companion? Spectrum Noir?!? What d'you think? I was hoping I might do better with these than I do with promarkers.......

Anyways, I'm off to craft before it gets too late. We're going to a summer party tomorrow at my aunt's sheltered accomodation, so that should be fun, eh!? Let's hope we get some sun! TTFN...............xx

And now for something COMPLETELY different.....

Afternoon blog friends! How's things in your part of the world? The weather's not up to much in London - and we're meant to be going on a school trip to the seaside on Thursday, so I hope it brightens up a bit before then....otherwise I'll be huddled up under a blanket on the beach LOL!! But back to 'business'! There's a new challenge starting today over at Shopping Our Stash and this week the theme is 'Technique Turnback' - now if you have any supplies gathering dust for a technique that you've not used in a while (if ever!), then this the challenge for you!! I've actually really enjoyed this week's challenge because not only did I get to use something I bought and then had never used (the Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Technique Kit from QVC...does anyone remember the TSV a few months back?!?!) but I've also seen lots of inspiring techniques on my fellow DT member's cards, some of which I've never seen before. Here's my card:

Ingredients:

Background: made using alcohol inks on glossy card.

Images: All Tim Holtz.

Other: Black card and Gold mirri card (for matting) from stash.

So - what d'you think? I told you this was something completely different for me!! But I did enjoy having a 'play' and I was pretty pleased with the results. One word of advice if any of you decide to try this technique - when you stamp onto the background, it's quite slippery and the stamps tend to 'slide', so just bear this in mind and use a cautious hand!!
I'm also entering this card in over at The Stamp Man Challenge #27 - Anything by Tim! and the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.
Arrrgghhh, just got interrupted by a phone call. My fridge freezer went kaput at the end of last week, which is never good as I ended up losing half of my frozen food being as it'd started defrosting by the time I'd realised and I didn't want to risk anyone getting food poisoning! Anyway, I've ordered a new one, but before I did, I rang the company and they told me it would be delivered either today or tomorrow, so I went ahead and placed the order. It hasn't arrived today so I rang them to check it was arriving tomorrow and that was the phone call, them ringing me back, only to say that it can't be delivered tomorrow, it'll arrive on Thursday. So I said, I'm going to the seaside, so he said Friday and I told him I was going out and then he had the cheek to ask me to 'work with him', I said 'I was working with you when I arranged to sit in all day today and  tomorrow for a fridge that won't be arriving', so now maybe I won't be going to the seaside......watch this space (oh and avoid 'advanced-av' like the plague!!!!) Rant over and out........................xxx

Happy Birthday Tilda!

Evening! I'm feeling a wee bit better today - and I should've visited most of you at least once today. Thanks to those of you who have left me some lovely messages and a big 'hello' to my new follower!
There's a new challenge starting today over at Southern Girls and this time, it's a nice, easy one - Happy Birthday! So, you've got no excuse not to join in ;-) Here's my card:

Ingredients:

Image - Magnolia Tilda watercoloured with Distress Inks.

Papers - Magnolia and Bazzill Basics cardstock.

Sentiment - Craftwork Cards.

Other - Hearts embossing folder, Magnolia Doily Die, Papermania Brads and Pebbles Inc. Candy Dots.

I'm also entering my card into the Hanna and Friends challenge #101, which is the sketch I've followed. There's been some fantastic sketch challenges in blogland these past couple of weeks, I've not known which one to use!
Hope you like my card, I'm off to craft some more and finish watching Nikita (yep, more american telly!) Bye for now....................xx

Feeling Rough!!!!!!!!

Hi All. I can't believe it's been so long since my last post - and I'm sorry I've not been round to visit any of you. I've been feeling really ill these last few days. I think with all the stress I've got going on with my son, it's making me feel ill. Every time I try to sit down and craft, I feel dizzy and light-headed and looking at the computer is even worse, so I'm sorry I've not been round to visit all of my lovely blog friends. I'll try and catch up as soon as I start feeling better. I'm on here today because there's a new challenge over at Shopping Our Stash and this week it's 'Out with the Old or In with the New' (I love Carla's inventive titles for these themes!!) It basically means you need to create a project using either your oldest stash or something you've hoarded for stroking LOL or your newest. It couldn't be any easier (well, unless you're going to use your hoarded stash and then we all know how hard it is to take the scissors to the most strokable papers out there hee, hee!!) I should really have used something old (cos there sure as heck is enough of it!!!), but when these papers arrived from Bunny Zoe's and I saw how gorgeous they were (even more so IRL!) and how perfectly they would go with one of my newest LOTV stamps, it just had to be done!! So - here's my card:

Ingredients:

Image - Lili of the Valley, watercoloured with Distress Inks.

Papers - SEI 'A Fair Day'

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts.

Sentiment - Whimsy Stamps ticket stamp and die.

Other - Leaves punched with MS punch, Bazzill Basics Pink and Kraft card, Pebbles Inc Candy Dots.

I'm also entering my card into Lili of the Valley's Challenge 104, which is a great sketch by Donalda.
OK - that's all from me for now, I really hope I start feeling better and can get back to my crafting and blogging best! And don't forget to join in with our challenge at Shopping Our Stash. Til next time folks.......xx

A Gorjuss Girl........

Hi Everyone. How's your day been? I've had a lovely day sitting out in the sunshine all day with one of my best friends and her super cute baby, Teddy. I wish the recent good weather was a signal that summer is finally starting in the UK but apparently, it's changing again from tomorrow - so no such luck!
Anyway, back to the business of cardage! There's a new challenge starting today at Shopping Our Stash and this week, we want you to use something that you got in a swap, a RAK, that you won or that has come from a card or a page kit, etc. If you have absolutely nothing like that at all, then use something candy/sweet related (i.e. red/white like peppermint sticks, dessert or cupcake images or papers - you get the idea!) For my card, I've used some flowers that were sent to me by my lovely friend, Edna - you might remember, I told you about it on here a little while ago - I'd seen some flowers on a card on Edna's blog and commented how much I liked them and then Edna, being the fab person she is, sent some to me. It's always nice to get something sweet in the post - makes a change from the usual bills!! Here's my card:

Ingredients:

Image - Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie coloured with promarkers.

Papers - My Mind's Eye.

Ribbon - Papermania.

Other - Flowers (as above!), Pearls from stash, Word sticker from stash attached to ribbon tag die cut with Nellie's multi frame die.

I'm also entering this card into Sweet Sketch Wednesday's Sketch #108 and Passion for Promarker's week 107 theme 'tie a yellow ribbon'.
And I think that's about it from me for now - don't forget to join in with the challenge over at Shopping Our Stash - it really is a great way of using up that stash you've been 'saving' LOL! See you tomorrow..........xx

A Purplicious Girlie!!

Hey there! Hope you've all had fabby weekends. There's a new challenge over on the Just Some Lines blog and it's a sketch designed by moi!! Here's my card:

Ingredients:

Image - Just Some Lines coloured with prismacolour pencils blended with sansodor.

Papers - Basic Grey Sweet Threads.

Sentiment - Personal Impressions.

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts.

Dies - MFT die-namics doily and border.

I'm also entering it into the following challenges:

• Eye Candy Magic - July Challenge 'Purples and Greens'
• Cardsandscrap - #12 Punches and Dies.
• Crafty Ann's - Challenge #44 Get Well/Thinking of You/Just Because.
• Stamp Something - Digital Images.
• Diva's by Design - Challenge 5 Dies and Punches.
• Hooked on Crafts - Challenge 2 Show your Flowers.

Well, I think that's it from me - am off to watch 'Keeping up with the Kardashians'. I do love a bit of trashy American TV!! Bye for now..............xx

Friday Feature at Shopping Our Stash

Hi Everyone. Here's my second post for today - 'cos my computer was playing up earlier on in the week, I missed the start of the fab new challenge over at Shopping Our Stash, which is to use up your scraps, and so my card's been included as the Friday Feature. I used these scraps:

And made this card:

Ingredients:

Image - Pollycraft coloured with promarkers.

Papers - First Edition.

Baker's Twine - MME.

Button - Recycled from an old coat.

Other - Border made with Fiskar's punch.

OK - that's it from me. I'll be back again in a bit with something for Just Some Lines but I've got to take Sam to his Interschool Swimming Gala - his team got through to the final. Wish him luck!!!

Spotty and Dotty!

Morning! Hope you're having a lovely, sunny day (just like me hee, hee!) It's the 1st of July woo hoo! Mind you, I don't know what I'm excited about, I really don't know where the time's going lately, it seems to be whizzing by. Mind you, one good thing with the new month is that with it brings a new challenge over at the Cupcake Craftroom and this month, the DT was given the 'Fresh Polka' paper collection to work with (which also happens to be the prize for whoever ends up winning) and we want to see all of your spotty, dotty creations!!! Here's mine:

Ingredients:

Image - Digistamp Boutique coloured with promarkers.

Papers - Fresh Polka digital papers from Cupcake Cards and Crafts.

Sentiment - Craftwork Cards.

Other - Border cut with MS punch, Ribbon from stash, Heart shaped buttons from Crafty Emma's.

I'm also entering my card into Sketch Saturday's week #161 cos I've followed their (always fabby!) sketch! And that's about it from me for now - I'll be back later with something for Just Some Lines and Shopping Our Stash!! It's a busy day today, so I'd better get off and get on with it, eh!?!