It's Candy Time! - Now Closed

Hello everyone, hope you will all like this!  To celebrate 5000 hits (and it must be well past time for a treat) I thought I'd give you a chance to win a little selection of crafty goodies. It's a bit of an eclectic mix but I'm sure you'll be able to use all of it.  There's a paper pad, pearls, brads and flowers.  A little roll of ribbon and a sheet of Penny Black Stickeroos (for my PB friends!).  I've included a Sugar Nellie (Hamish with Tractor) and a Magnolia (Edwin Fishing) stamp and a little set of Basic Grey flourishes. If I can think of any more I might just add it in so that'll be a surprise!

I'm off to find out how to make this stay at the top of my blog now.  This candy will close on Feb 28th and I'll draw a lucky winner using the random generator.

Hopefully the linky thing will work, please enter your details and it would be nice if you became a follower so that I can check out your lovely blogs too. Good luck everyone xxxx

P.S. Don't forget to pop a pic of this candy on your sidebar please :)

Arty Farty Cherish Cot

As I've had a little time off school this week I thought I'd better start on the numerous things I have to make.  This is the first cot out of the four/five I have to make for the first baby due in April.  I have until June and August for the rest!  The parents know it will be a boy, in fact out of the five, two know the sex of the baby - I liked to wait for the suprise personally especially as they are first babies!  Anyway this is a blue cot - I used my Arty Farty template (easy to make but a the mobile is a little fiddly).  I used Papermania Rose Garden paper as it's a pretty blue and rose pattern (you don't say, lol).  I've added some beads to the front side and only used acetate for the front of the box to save using all my stash!   It looks plain now but I'll add a name plate to the end of the cot, a label and some ribbon on the box when the baby arrives.

I have a Blog Award :)

Aren't I lucky, the lovely Catherine at Catherine's Handmade Cards has given my little blog an award.  Thank you for thinking of me Catherine. This is an award which highlights blogs that are quietly posting and off the beaten track so to speak.  Now in order to accept this I have to pass on a little something for someone else.

So......

1. You have been tagged, do you want to accept? 

2. Create a post on your blog and post the love blog photo.

3. Link back to the person who gave you the award and say if you accept.

4. Choose 3-5 of your favorite blogs to tag, link these in your post too and tell the lucky people they have been tagged.

I would like to give my award to the following beautiful blogs:

Cynthia at Cynthia's Card Creations

Karen at Pickwick Papercrafting

and Jordiegirl here

Well...... if you have found this post then I am really happy to have tagged your blogs.

Less is More - Challenge - Spring #2

Less is More No 2

Thanks for all the comments on my last card, I appreciate all the constructive ones - I didn't like that card much either although I was pleased with the colouring.  This is the one I did first before that one - I didn't like the painting on this one or my handwriting  so left off before I'd finished it so it's a bit less fussy.  What do you think, I'm really not that pleased with either and reckon the daisies would look best on their own!!  I do love the stamp though!

Less is More - Challenge - Spring

Here's my card for this week's Less is More challenge.  I've used my stamps from Sheena Douglass again.  This is a lovely stamp sheet with both daisies and poppies on it.  This time I've used my distress inks to colour the daisies and glossy accents on the centres.  I used an embossing board (Majestic) by the Glitter Girls to emboss the shape and stamped into it. I've added a diecut 'Spring'.  I'm not too sure about this but I didn't have a stamp.  I tried writing it with a black pen but my handwriting isn't that good and I wanted it to be flourishy to match the sentiment.  In the end I gave up and I went for a blocky diecut for contrast instead!

Less is More - Challenge 2 - One layer

Here's a really quick card which I've made for the Less is More challenge this week.  I've used this technique before but you have to try out different cardstocks as it only works with some types.  My card is truly a clean and simple card, very clean in fact as I've coloured the image using bleach!  The poppies from Sheena Douglass were stamped and embossed in gold and then painted with neat bleach which lightens the card. The effect is better in real life - it's quite amazing to see it work and you never quite know how light it will go.  I've just added a few little glitter dots in the corners.

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - Frame It

This is a small 5" card for a friend who is a bit down at the moment.  I liked the sentiment and think it might cheer her up. I have used a Bp from Papermania and a Spellbinders Lattice Die.  I drew around the die to make a backing plate on which I stamped the sentiment from Creative Expressions - Simply Sentiments. I mounted the frame on foam pads and edged both with Antique Linen distress ink (It's whiter and paler in real life - blooming camera!). I edged the aperture with stickles and added 3 flowers and 3 glittery spots.

I'd like to enter this for the Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - Frame It.

Off to watch Colin Firth win all the Bafta's now - he's related to me by marriage but unfortunately I haven't had the honour of meeting him :(  I shall have to make him a card! You really must go and see The King's Speech it was brilliant.

Lili of the Valley Challenge 84–Sketch by Dawny

This is a card for my SiL's Birthday (on Valentine's Day) which I'd like to enter in LOTV's weekly challenge.  I enjoyed using Dawny's sketch for this one and am pleased with the result.  Instead of Promarkers I've used Aqua Markers on watercolour card to colour the image of 'Rosy with a cake'. I wasn't too happy with the card itself as it went bobbly with the pens being used directly on it. It was recommended by Sheena Douglas too - in fact this was my third attempt at colouring, I tried distress inks first.  Will post the other 2 tries later.

I made the flower embellishment from Bazzil card - put 3 flower punched shapes through a ribbler about 10 times and separate each layer into 2 before scrumpling up and fixing with a brad.

Recipe:

Lotv stamp - Rosy with cake

Bp - Basic Grey - Eva

Aqua Markers

Bazzill card

QVC base card (120 scalloped cards for 11.99 - excellent value)

Paper cellar - rafia lace

Ticket - Whimsy stamp and die

Fiskars and Nellie Snellen punches

Pearls and stickles

Free Brand New Copic Ciao's - at Bearly Mine - Prize Draw

Bearly Mine are offering a set of Copic pens to one lucky prizewinner drawn on Feb 17th - I've got my fingers crossed - have you?

Less is More Challenge#1 - Pink, white and black

A CAS card using some free stamps from a magazine which I've had for ages. I used Distress Ink - Tattered Rose - to colour and my Design Runner to print the sentiment. I have been invited to a wedding in April so will be sending this off forthwith. I couldn't resist a few pearls to cheer it up a bit!

I'd like to enter this for a new blog challenge called Less is More. It's their first challenge and the theme is pink, white and black

 

And..... while I'm here look out for something sweet happening on this blog at the weekend ;) Shh.......

Funky Hand Wobble Card - Thanks

My new Funky Hand Cd arrived today and I couldn't resist having a quick play!  I used it to make a thank you card for a friend who has given me some craft stickers. The base card is printed from the cd using the new template feature, the image is a Heather Ellis download which I've paper pieced with paper from the cd and coloured with Promarkers (how do you folks keep in the lines!) Prima flowers mixed with Wild Orchid Crafts roses and Nellie Snellen punched leaves embellish it along with a few pearls and stickles.  The ticket is a stamp from Whimsy Stamps and the sentiment is from Elzybells (now closed :( ) I've added a couple of punched butterflies to fill a gap.

Funky Hand Challenge - Going Round in Circles!

Just made this card for my friend who's had the cancer op - to cheer her up now that she's home.  The image (coloured with Promarkers) is one of my adorable new stamps from 'My Favourite Things' by Heather Ellis.  They are easily becoming one of my favourites too, so much so that I have 7 digi images and 3 stamps!! Itching to play with them all - I need more hours in the day! It's mounted on circles cut with my Accent Essentials cartridge on the Cricut.

I'd like to enter this in the Funky Hand Circles challenge - I love Anice's papers, this one is a free download from their site (available only for the challenge) and I have just ordered her new cd, my second,  'Craft The Year Away'.  Should be 'craft your life away' - I do that a lot, lol!!

I've used pearls and stickles to decorate and I made a rosette flower from the paper I had left over, the sentiment came with the stamp.

xxsue

One card, two challenges.

Trying to keep up with at least one challenge every couple of weeks this year! I've made this card for my friend's daughter's birthday and would like to enter it into two challenges this week. It's a pop - out card (instructions here). The image is a Penny Black stamp called 'The Sensations' and I've used my Promarkers and some Papermania gems to decorate. The flowers are from Prima and the leaf punch is a Nellie Snellen Branch. I've used brads and ribbon from American crafts. The sentiments are from Craftwork Cards - I love those long thin ones. I didn't use any backing paper on this one, just Bazzill card.

I'd like to enter it for:

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/2011/02/february-challenge.html: Say it with Flowers

and

Cupcake Craft Challenges:Old McDonald had a Farm

Calendar Easel Card

This is the easel calendar I made for my headteacher - the sentiment fits her exactly! The digi image is from Bugaboo stamps. I used Promarkers and glossy accents to colour. It's all mounted on different card mats.