THANKS VIX.

The lovely Vixykins has passed me this:


Thank you, hun. Much appreciated. :o) (that's a big grin, lol.)

CHARMING!!!

I ♥ PROMARKERS's challenge no. 29 this week is to use a charm on your card. We are sponsored once again, by the fabulous DIGI DOODLE SHOP who is offering a $10 prize to the winner. I've said it before and I'll say it again, she has some FABULOUS images, you really should go and look if you haven't already.

This week, I chose to use 'Old Wagon' (although I wish I hadn't, lol) I love the image but my mojo went on holiday and I didn't know what to do or how to incorporate a charm. I think maybe I don't like the 'in your face' border either. Doh!!!! I actually ended up doing my background in Photoshop. After I'd got the sky and green, I added the mushrooms and fairy and then added the white image of the wagon. When printed out, I coloured the wagon with my Promarkers.



My charm is a little silver flower in the centre of the large flower.
Papers are 'All Fall' from Fancy Pants.

THANK YOU CLARE.

I'm well chuffed. Clare over at DISTRESSED MISS has awarded me a blog award. Yay!!!! I have to say, I've been itching to get an award from somebody, lol.


Now, there are some rules that go along with receiving this award.
1. Thank the person that gave it to you.
2. Post it with pride on your blog.
3. List 3 things you love about yourself. Eeek!!!!!!
4. Post a picture you love.
5. Tag 5 other people for the award.

I'm going to tag:
No. 1...Christine. The most gorgeous cards and with stunning colouring.

No.2....Vixykins. An incredibly gifted crafter and I love everything she does.

No.3....Bobs. 'Cause I luv her and her photographs.

No.4....Meeshka. I love the quirky images she uses on her cards.

No.5....Spyder, 'cause she makes me smile.


So, 3 things I like about me...ummmm - Geez, talk about blowing your own trumpet.
OK.
1...I'm kind (I think, lol)
2...I like my creativity, something a few years ago, I never thought I had.
3...can't think. I'll have to come back to this, lol.

Now for a picture that I love. This is my future son in law, Jonny proposing to my daughter, Nicola. I knew he was going to do it, so the camera was at the ready and I bet not many people have a picture of their actual marriage proposal. :D

THE SEASIDE.

Challenge #28 at I LOVE PROMARKERS this week is 'The Seaside' and we are being sponsored by the super SIMON SAYS STAMP who is giving the winner $15 to spend in the online store.

This is my card. Not one of my best and I'm not too pleased with it. But, I'm in no mood for blogging or anything else at the moment, so I'm not going into any other challenges with it either.

Flippin' Peace in the Flippin' Morning.

After seeing a card of Peace, I just had to have it and I ended up with all 16 sets of Flippin' stamps. :o) Never again will I have to worry about making a card for a man, lol.

Anyway, I sat down to see what I could come up with as I wanted to do one for a man and one for a woman. These are they and they're coloured with Promarkers.

For 'Peace' I used Basic Grey 'Cappella' papers. I thought the striped one looked just like some old fashioned paper people used to have in their toilets, lol. Edges are inked with Walnut Stain distress ink.
For 'Morning' I raided my scrap box and found some old Doodlebug papers and I thought the orange went quite well with the pastel colours in the image. The edges are inked with Dried Marigold distress ink.
Both cards use the Martha Stewart deep lattice edge punch.





I'd like to enter either one or both cards in the following challenges:
CUTE CARD THURSDAY - Whateva'
BLOG-A-DOODLE - Birthday
MY TIME TO CRAFT - Drink it Up (he's got his beer and she's got her coffee).
SECRET CRAFTER - A Man's World.
SCRAP CREATIONS - Anything Goes.
GINGER SNAP CREATIONS - Markers.
OUR DAILY BREAD - 3 of Something (3 flowers on Morning).
WHOOPSI DAISY - Blue and Green.

ONLY 3 COLOURS.

Another day, another dollar or should I say another week, another challenge. Boy! where does time go, eh?
Anyway, this week over at I ♥ PROMARKERS we had to follow a sketch by our very own Wynneth, and use no more than 3 colours (excluding flesh tones). We are sponsored this week by the gorgeous JOANNA SHEEN who is giving the winner £10 to spend in her online store.


For my card, I decided to use blue and brown with a bit of green on the flower stems. I used the digi stamp 'Flower Girl' from KAREN'S DOODLES which, obviously, was coloured with Promarkers. My background paper is Basic Grey 'Capella' and the blue are some scraps of Rusty Pickle 'Chocolate Bunnies' I had left over from the pocket book I made. I punched down each side of the strip for the centre and then cut the squares from another punched edge to make the corners (I added 4 instead of just 2). All edges were inked with walnut stain distress ink. Little pearls and the bow were added to finish it off.



I'm also going to enter this in the following challenges:
KAREN'S DOODLES CHALLENGE - Anything goes.
MAMI DOODLES - Anything goes.
O.W.H. - Patterned Paper.
2 SISTERS - Punches.
WHOOPSIE DAISY - Blue and Green. (OK, not a lot of green in mine, but it is there, lol).
DUTCH DARE - Anything Goes.
TELLENS PLACE - A candy link rather than a card challenge.
ONE STOP CRAFT CHALLENGE - Patterns.

BIRD SONG

I came across these little easels recently and I thought they would make lovely cards with a bit of a difference. Then I decided that I'd rather keep them and make some sort of art work with them. I'd not long got THIS fabulous set of stamps from Elusive Images so I sat down to see what I could do with them.


The card and easel were inked with 4 shades of brown distress ink pads. I then stamped two of the images in different shades of brown (but found out that the ink beaded on this card as there is some sort of coating on it). I overstamped the third image using Archival ink.

I then stamped another of the set on a separate bit of card, cut it out and stuck it on with foam pads. I have to say, that apart from the dicey stamping, I'm really pleased with this. Three black pearls finished it off.

AUBERY BUMBLETHORPE

Meet Aubery. Isn't he just fabulous? When I saw him over at Just Inklined, I had to have him. Rock On!!!! lol.

He is coloured with Promarkers. Papers and brad are Papermania 'Hampstead' and a bit of Basic Grey too. The lattice is done with the Martha Stewart punch and I used a label nestie for the greeting.


I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
ALPHABET CHALLENGE - M for Men
PASSION FOR PROMARKERS - The colour Green.
PEAR TREE DESIGNS - Birthday.
ANYTHING GOES - Punches.
GINGERSNAP CREATIONS - GC62 Markers
CREATIVE INSPIRATIONS - Anything goes.
MAMI DOODLES - Anything goes.
COWGIRL UP - Anything goes.

POCKETS IN BLUE.

I recently hosted a pocket page book swap on the craft forum that I run. It was great and the girls produced some fabulous little books. They all used the tutorial that I did some time ago over at MAKE SOMETHING NICE (which reminds me, it's time I got some more up) and this was mine.




I used my last pieces of Chocolate Bunny papers from Rusty Pickle (really didn't want to part with these, sob!) and inked the edges with Ranger walnut stain distress ink. The key holes were cut using the fabulous T.H. die and I thought they'd make nice tab pulls as well as a faux fastener - it actually fastens with a small Basic Grey magnet. For the inner pages, I used plain old printer paper and using my Crafters Workshop template, I stencilled with the walnut stain ink and weathered wood alternately. The back of each pocket is stamped with a lace background stamp. Each tab in the pockets has a quote on it.

Martha Stewart (as usual, involved in a lot of my work recently) provided the lattice punch on the front cover and I finished off with a couple of flat back pearls as I didn't want to pierce the cover.

I made a card last night too with an image I fell in love with when I saw him, so I'm off to do a challenge search and see if he fits more than the one I made him for.
Have a great day, everybody.

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 24

Buttons, buttons and more buttons. This week over at I ♥ PROMARKERS the challenge is to use buttons on your card. Our sponsor this week is SIMON SAYS STAMP and he is offering a $15 spend in the online store and he'll even pay your postage for you.

For my card, I used an image by BECCY MUIR. I fell in love with this fella when I saw him, lol. My papers are from my favourite pad of the moment - FancyPants' 'All Fall' - they're yummy. The sentiment is a Rivercity Rubberworks stamp and the buttons are from a set of stamps by Hero Arts.



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

MY TIME TO CRAFT who want 'checks'. I hope my pattern qualifies for this.
PAPERTAKE WEEKLY who want cute and I reckon this fella is as cute as a button (no pun intended, lol).
DIGITAL TUESDAY who want'Happy Birthday'.
CRAFTALICIOUS who also want 'birthday'.

AN APOLOGY.

We've had a very disappointing number of entries over at I ♥ Promarkers this week, so I'd like to apologise to everybody that usually enters for my sketch and theme. I promise I won't do it again, lol. I hope you all come back though, 'cause we miss you.

CHALLENGE #23 I ♥ PROMARKERS

This week at I ♥ PROMARKERS it was my turn to set the challenge. I did a sketch and also added the theme of dogs. We are sponsored this week by ROBYN'S FETISH and she provided the Design Team with some images to use. The prize this week is 3 digi stamps of your choice from Robyn.

I chose to make another plate card and stand as the sketch is based on circles. The papers are Cosmo Cricket 'Delovely'.

THE PROPOSAL AND A PARTY.

What a wonderful afternoon I've had. It's my granddaughter's, Mia, 3rd birthday on Tuesday but she had a party this afternoon at the Tattershall Animal Farm. The kids really enjoyed themselves and Mia was full of herself with getting early pressies and cake with candles, lol. Bless her.


But, I have to say the highlight was my daughter's boyfriend proposing to her. *huge grin here*. Jonny's a smashing bloke and Nicola is so happy with him. I saw him sneak her off so I spied with my camera, lol. He did it right too. He'd asked my permission AND he got down on one knee. *another big grin*.








Now, the NOT such a highlight was that this beastie bit me!!!!!!!


Luckily, he realised pretty quickly that my hand wasn't actually the food and let go. Still hurt though, lol.

On 16th January this year, my grandson, Aidan was born with a bi-lateral cleft lip and palate. Thanks to the wonderful surgeons at Queens Medical Centre you can hardly tell and he is healing beautifully. My daughter, Nicola and her partner, Jonny are doing a 12 hour sponsored silence on August 14th in aid of the charity 'Operation Smile'. This charity gives free cleft surgery to children in the third world who otherwise wouldn't get help and would go through life with the deformity. If you'd like to help by giving a small donation, please go to Nic's Just Giving page HERE. We would be very grateful for any help you are willing to give.
Thank you.

SOOOO DISTRESSED!!!!! I ♥ PROMARKER #22

Ha, ha. Not me - my card. :o)
This weeks challenge over at I ♥ PROMARKERS is distressing. A technique close to my heart. I love it. We are sponsored again this week by the lovely JOANNA SHEEN and she is giving a £10 gift voucher to the winner.

For my card I used one of my fave stamps from Lost Coast Designs and the ruler stamp is also LCD. The papers are Basic Grey 'Recess', other stamps from Paperartsy and the gorgeous leather look lace was a RAK from my mate, Karelyn. There's also lots of inking with my Walnut Stain Distress ink pads.


I'm also entering this into a few challenges.
ONE STOP CRAFT who want distressing.
CRAFT CATZ WEEKLY who also want distressing.
CRAFTY CARD MAKERS who have Inky Fingers so need inks used on your card.
FLUTTERBY WEDNESDAY who have an open week but it still must have wings of some sort on.
PRAIRIE FAIRY DESIGNS anything goes.

TUMMY TIME

It's been a while since I did any scrapbooking. I've mostly been making cards and now doing my paper designing too. Anyway, today I thought I'd get back in the craft room and do a LO. I took these pictures yesterday of my 5 month old grandson, Aidan. He recently had an operation for a cleft lip and he's healing so well, bless him. He's such a happy baby. Papers are from the My Minds Eye Little Robot range and I don't think it needs anything else. It's busy enough as it is, lol.


This is one I did the day he came home from the hospital. He had his op on the Tuesday and came home on the Friday.

WATCH YOUR NOSE.....

Challenge #21 over at I ♥ PROMARKERS this week is to use stripes on your project. Our sponsor this week is the fabulous LETRASET and the prize is a pack of 5 Promarkers.

I looked through all my striped paper and then decided to make my own. Using my metal edged ruler and both ends of my PM's I just drew random stripes in the colours I'd used for my image and then ran that bit through the Cuttlebug. The red block is 'self striped' just using the same colour pen. The terrific Pinocchio is from Mo at DIGITAL PENCIL TOO.

Ooooh, a little update....there will be a surprise prize, courtesy of Karen (our esteemed leader) added to the set of Promarkers.

A NEW HOBBY.

Well, I've found myself yet another side of crafting. Something I never thought I'd do or be able to do. The beauty of it is that I can spend hours on my computer and have something at the end of it. :D

I've started designing papers and decoupage, although I don't do decoupage myself. Take a look HERE and see what you think. There's some lovely stuff on this site if you like downloads.

I watched the crappy football match today. Now I know why football doesn't float my boat, lol. Disgraceful performance and that goal decision was a joke. Oh well, better luck next time, lads.

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 20

Another week, and another super challenge over at I ♥ PROMARKERS. This week there is a super sketch for you. Our fabulous sponsor this time is DIGI DOODLE SHOP and she has a $10 prize for you to spend in her online shop. Digi Doodle Shop has some of the most gorgeous images, so you really should go and take a look.

The Design Team were asked to use one of her images and I chose 'Spring Gathering'. My papers are Basic Grey 'Periphery' and the flowers are from the ever popular Wild Orchid Crafts.

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 19

This weeks challenge over at I ♥ PROMARKERS is to use bears on your project. Our fabulous sponsor this week is SIMON SAYS STAMP and he is offering a $15 spend and will even pay your postage for you. So what are you waiting for? Get out your bears and start colouring. :o)
My papers are from Dovecraft Funky Vintage.
Sentiment from Pollycrafts.
Bear from Firecracker Designs and
the ribbon from my stash.



I'm also going to enter this into another challenge this week.
JUST CUTE BEARS have a theme of summer, and my colours, I think, are really bright and summery.

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 18

Before I give you the challenge details, I just want to have a little brag. My plate card made the top 5 passionista at Passion for Promarkers challenge blog. :o)

This week over on the I ♥ PROMARKERS challenge blog, there's a super sketch to follow. Our lovely sponsor this week is LILAC LEMON DESIGNS and she has some gorgeous stamps, including the one I used on my card which is from the Art Deco set. The prize this week is two rubber stamps - a floral one and an aeroplane. Click on the I ♥ Promarker link to see them.
The Paper I used is K & Co from the pad 'Tapestry'. It is one of the foiled sheets from the pad, as shown in the second photo.

IS IT A PLATE....?

Editing: It's 11th May 2011 today but I'm linking this post to MAKE IT MONDAY. I really like this card so am showing it again.

I had a go at something a little different this afternoon and made a plate card. I think I'll be making more of these as I love the way it sits on its stand and you can pop your written greeting on the back. I raided my scrap box for my papers again as there is so much in there. The pink paper is Basic Grey but where the brown came from is anybody's guess, lol. I wanted it to look a bit distressed so the BG paper was perfect and I inked all the edges with Black Soot distress ink. The image is by Elizabeth Dulemba who is a children's book author and illustrator and the flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'm entering this card for 4 challenges this week.

PASSION FOR PROMARKERS whose theme is books.
MY TIME TO CRAFT are asking for Wild Things - something that lives in the wild and I figure an Owl fits the bill.
PEAR TREE DESIGNS who want flowers on your card/project.
CRAFTS AND ME who want distressing.

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 17

This week the I ♥ PROMARKERS challenge is a recipe. We ask you to use 3 buttons, 2 papers and 1 ribbon. Our sponsor this week again is the lovely JOANNA SHEEN and she is offering the winner a £10 voucher to spend in her online store.

My card uses papers from K & Co. 'Blue Awning' and the image is from Lilac Lemon designs.

TAGS 'N SCRAPS

I recently hosted a tag swap and as one of my tags was a collage of scraps of paper I thought it was about time I went through my scrap box and made a few things with them. I'm still beavering away with them, but this is a couple I've done so far.

The tag on the left was collaged, inked with distress inks and overstamped with 5 different Paperartsy stamps. The centre tag was on Basic Grey 'Periphery' paper and Lottie from Impression Obsession Inc. was stamped and then I used my Promarkers to colour her dress to match the papers. The tag on the right was stamped with 'Maiden with Long Hair' from Hero Arts on some 7gypsies 'Morroco Journey' script paper and then her dress was shaded with grey Promarkers.


The image on this card is 'Charley' from Cuddly Buddly and she was painted with my distress ink pads. I have no idea whose the papers are but I remember buying them to do an October page in a CJ. I hardly remember where anything in my scrap box comes from anymore, lol. The leaf, bottom right, was cut out and raised on foam pads. Flowers from stash and I got the sewing machine out for this one too.


Ah, now this one is more scrap than anything else as what I've used is plain old brown wrapping paper. I thought a bit of distressing would work with this so that's what I've tried to achieve. All the inking was with T.H. Distress Ink Pads 'Walnut Stain'. The Owl is a stamp from Stamps Away and the tree on the background is from Kanban. Pearls from Kaisercraft Basics.
To make the background, I inked the edges, randomly stamped the tree and then screwed the paper up. I ran an inkpad over the creases and then ironed it flat and tore the edges a little. The owl was painted in a bit using the same colour ink plus Brushed Corduroy. The ribbon is Smirk and a bugged bit of white card swiped with Walnut Stain ink finished it off.

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 16

Well, another week, another challenge. Nothing much different from me this time though as you saw Rooster a week or so ago, only this time I followed the sketch. So, this is my DT card for I LOVE PROMARKERS challenge #16. As already mentioned there is a sketch to follow. We are sponsored this week by the lovely DIGI DOODLE SHOP and the prize is a $10 gift voucher to use at the online store. All the design team used one of her images and you really should visit her store. She has some absolutely brilliant digi stamps.

So, here is Rooster again. :o) Coloured, of course, with Promarkers and made into a tent card again.

ART DECO LADY..

I have just received this beautiful new stamp from Lilac Lemon Designs and couldn't wait to use her, so I thought I might enter a few challenges with her. I've never entered multiple challenges before, so in for a penny, in for a pound, lol.

I coloured the lady with my Promarkers, stamped the flourish with my Lost Coast Designs stamp and made the flower up from 3 different sorts. Two I don't know whose they are, but the rose in the centre is from Wild Orchid Crafts. They have the most terrific selection of paper flowers and roses.


The challenges I'm entering this card for are:
PEAR TREE DESIGNS - Sketch. This is their first challenge and I wish them well.
PASSION FOR PROMARKERS - Anything goes. PFP are one year old so a happy birthday to them.
THE SECRET CRAFTER whose rule was no patterned paper, and
MY TIME TO CRAFT who were asking for Vivid. I don't think there's much more vivid a colour than red, so I hope this qualifies.

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 15

The challenge this week at I ♥ PROMARKERS is to make your own flowers. There are so many ways to do this, you shouldn't have any trouble with this weeks challenge. The prize is a $15 spend over at SIMON SAYS STAMP and he has thousands of products to choose from.

Here's my DT card. Image by Sarah Kay and papers from K & Co 'McKenna'. The flower she's watering was cut 3 times from the actual paper and layered. The other smaller ones were using my punches and the large flower was hand cut with a punched one in the middle. The centres of the flowers are spacers from my jewellery stash.

NOTHING TO CROW ABOUT...

....because this is a screw up, lol. Not the actual card, but the reason I made it. I was trying to get ahead with some DT challenge cards but I didn't check the rules properly and should have used a sketch - which of course, I didn't. Grrrrrr!!!! Still, I thought I'd show you anyway. The Rooster, from DIGI DOODLE SHOP was coloured twice and cut out, stuck back to back and is hanging in the aperture. I used Promarkers to colour him and the papers are some old Daisy D's I had in my scrap box.
The little chuck in the corner is one of those lazer cut things I found in the bottom of my drawer and I thought it was a good chance to use one.





You'll be seeing Rooster again soon. :o)

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 14

The challenge this week over at I LOVE PROMARKERS is to follow a sketch. The DT had to use images from POLLYCRAFT DESIGNS as she is our lovely sponsor this week. The prize on offer is an adorable set of Cuthbert Bear digi images.
The papers I have used are the yummy g.c.d studios 'Ella Blue' and my image is 'Cherry Kisses - Summer'. I used a Nellie Snellen die for the frame and a Nestie for the sentiment tag. A bit of machine stitching, some lace coloured with Promarkers and a few pearls and this was my DT example card completed.

FAIRY FIRST

So, here's the cards I've been making. I have never used a fairy image as I'm just not that into them and I absolutely loathe glitter and glitter glue (ooops! sorry - posh name of Stickles now isn't it, lol) but.........when I saw these images over at COWGIRL-UP RANCH I just couldn't resist them. She has some beauties. I also got another fairy, Jessica but I screwed it up so you can't see it, lol. All 3 of these images are from there. You really should pay her a visit. :o)

This one is Check Faery. I coloured her with Promarkers and then used Marianne Designs border and flower dies. Rock Candy clear stickles was used on her wings. I actually combined Fairy with a freebie foliage image from Dewdropcraftz (after asking permission from CJ at Cowgirl-up). The foliage was a jpeg and I overlayed Check Fairy as a .png so that the wings would be transparent and show the foliage behind them. The stickles actually enhanced this effect. Papers are goodness knows what. I think they were a magazine freebie ages ago.


This one shows the stickles on the wings.


This adorable little fella is Casey. Isn't he just so cute? Again coloured with Promarkers and the papers are Basic Grey 'Recess'. I also used Sizzix and Nestie dies. The tree trunk that Casey is leaning against was from In Style Stamps. If you go look for Casey, you'll find Jack and Jill. Jack looks like Casey but they are such a sweet couple and I can't wait to do a card with them on.


Finally, this is Christy. Cowgirl-Up has loads of stamps like this. I think they're fabulous. The papers are Basic Grey 'Koishi' - yummiest papers I've seen for ages.



I shall definitely be getting more images from Cowgirl and I will also try again with the fairy I messed up, and ones I haven't coloured yet, and I will soon be showing you weird elf type lady 'Jadyn', unless of course you've been to see her and bought her yourself.