My Creative Space

I haven't vanished!

2011-07-28T08:58:00.005+01:00

Although I feel like I have been away from blogland for ages! It seems like every waking minute I am spending on the computer working on my business and trying to read and learn as much as I can to make it a success. And now the summer holidays are here so Thomas is at home and he doesn't like mummy being on the computer for too long! I can see a lot of early mornings and late evenings over the next 5 weeks!

I'm really missing my card making but I'm finding the thought of spending a couple of hours colouring an image and assembling a card is putting me off from even setting foot into my craft room. I'm determined to find a bit space in the day for 'me time' so I think that clean & simple is the way to go for now. These cards still take me a long time though as I dither over colour combinations/sentiments/embellishments!

So this card uses FTL150 from the Clean & Simple blog. I've used Kraft card for my base and bazzil card for the layers.

I gathered the seam binding by grabbing a single thread with my tweezers and giving it a pull! The idea came from this gorgous card by Kati. This picture shows the layered butterflies a bit better.

And I just had to take a close up of this gorgeous metal flower brad. This is the sort of embellishment that sits in my drawer and is looked at regularly but never used! It was perfect for this card though so I took a deep breath and opened the packet!

I'd love to know what you think. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Wild Rose Studio DT

2011-07-08T08:22:00.003+01:00

Wow, its been a hectic few weeks but my new business is now up and running. The Fitwear Boutique www.thefitwearboutique.co.uk sells luxury yoga, Pilates and fitness clothing. So far I've had great feedback and yesterday I made my first sale which was really exciting. If you get the chance to take a look at the site I'd love to know what you think. And if you do like it please give it a mention on your blog with a little link as this will really help my Google rankings!!!!!

Onto my card and I'd like to show you a Wild Rose Studio DT card. This is Milton with Sunflower. I chose to go with a pink sunflower so I could use the fabulous Wild Rose Studio Valetta Garden papers.

I have some more of these adorable stamps to play with so hopefully I'll get a chance later this evening. Have a great Friday.

Sunshine & Showers

2011-06-28T23:06:00.005+01:00

Hello, thanks for visiting today. How about this bizarre weather we are having at the moment? It was so hot Sunday/Monday and then yesterday at Wimbledon they had the loudest thunderstorm and sure enough, about 45 mins later it arrived in Kent! One of the perks of working from home is that I've had the TV on every day from noon to watch the tennis! We were on Centre Court last Tuesday although our seats were almost at the back. We saw some good tennis on the outside courts though. I'm really looking forward to the quarter finals today and will be cheering on Andy Murray.

Onto my card and this cute hAnglar image has been coloured for over a week now - I finally got around to putting my card together last night. I used some of my lovely new stash from Wild Orchid Crafts (decorative metal corner and roses).

Umm, I think I may have played around with the brightness and contrast a bit too much, the colours don't seem quite right!

I'm going to enter my card in these challenges:

Just Magnolia & hAnglar - Butterflies

I received a fabulous DT package from Wild Rose Studio a little while ago so hopefully I'll have something to show you on Friday.

An old favourite

2011-06-15T08:46:00.003+01:00

Hello and thanks for stopping by today. I've been having a good clear out of my crafty stash recently and selling some of the stamps that I don't use. This is then a very good excuse to go and buy some new stamps and I don't feel nearly so guilty! But there are a few stamps that I don't think I will ever part with and this Whiff of Joy stamp is one of them. She is a dream to colour and I love the expression on her face.

I also have a large stash of Wild Orchid Craft flowers which I love but some of them are quite bulky and make putting a card in a regular envelope impossible. So I thought I would play around and have a go at altering some. The larger flower is a gardenia and the two smaller flowers are made from roses. I cut off the wire stems and then carefully peeled the layers of the flowers apart, flattened them out a little and spritzed them with glimmer mist (pearl on the large flower, tattered rose on the smaller ones). I inked the edges on the smaller ones and then spritzed them straight away so the edges bled slightly. The pearl brads are from the Hobby House and I'm quite pleased with the result.

I'm going to enter this card into these challenges:

Stamp with Fun - Pearls and Flowers
Stampavie & More - Butterflies
Totally Gorjuss - Flower Power
Totally Papercrafts - Summer

Have a lovely week!

Wild Rose Studio DT

2011-06-11T08:16:00.004+01:00

It's the weekend! This week has flown by and we've got a busy weekend planned. Thomas has been counting the sleeps until we see his cousins tomorrow and it's also my dads birthday and fathers day next weekend so we've got presents to buy to take with us tomorrow.

Todays card is a DT card for Wild Rose Studio. I absolutely adore Milton and this image of him holding a large flower is one of my favourites.

Milton is coloured with distress ink and all the papers, including the paper pieced flower, are also from Wild Rose Studio. I borrowed the layout from the Just Magnolia challenge! I'm entering this card into these challenges:

Stamp Something - Punches

If you like your Magnolia stamps then pop over to the Glitter Pot as they have a huge Magnolia sale on at the moment. I have resisted but I did do a bit of shopping at Wild Orchid Crafts yesterday! I've been waiting for those gorgeous decorative metal corners to come back into stock but a few more bits and pieces fell into my cart too!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mojo Monday

2011-06-07T22:04:00.004+01:00

Hello, thanks for visiting today. We've had a day of beautiful sunshine here in Kent but I've been glued to my computer pretty much all day. My new online store is coming along nicely and if everything goes to plan I should be ready to launch at the end of next week. It's very exciting and I just want to get going with it now!

My trip to the Craft Barn on Sunday really gave my mojo a boost. One of the demonstrators was using these fabulous new stamps from Woodware which I just had to have.

This owl is perfect for paper piecing and I've chosen some really bright and cheerful papers by My Minds Eye. The fabulous layout is from this weeks Mojo Monday challenge and I'm also entering this card into the Charisma Cardz challenge which is "Something that Flies".

Enjoy the rest of the week.

A Crafty Day

2011-06-05T18:46:00.003+01:00

Hello, thanks for stopping by. I had a lovely crafty day at the Craft Barn today. It was their summer extravaganza and there were lots of fabulous demonstrations and so much inspiration. The lovely Christine Dark was there demonstrating her amazing colouring and it was lovely to 'bump' into the inspirational Kim Piggot too. I could have spent a small fortune but I was very restrained and only bought the things I 'had' to have and not all the things I 'would like to' have!! My favourite purchase was a packet of Tim Holtz tissue tape which is amazing stuff and I can't wait to use it on a project. It wasn't really appropriate for this card though!

I got the design inspiration from Christine who had a fabulous easel card on her table today. The hearts are also made into a mini easel to support the main part of the card. The gingham paper came from the Craft Barn today, everything else is from my stash. I do need to add some stickles but I was distracted by Thomas pulling the keys off my laptop and I spent a frustrating 45 mins trying to work out how the *beep* things go back on!

I feel my mojo gradually returning so hopefully it won't be too long before I post again.

It's been too long

2011-05-18T14:56:00.004+01:00

Hello, it does seem an age since I last posted on my blog. Life is busy busy busy; whoever it was who told me that life goes crazy fast when you have children was so right! I can't quite believe that we have been visiting infant schools recently ready for our application for Sept 2012 as it only seems like yesterday that Thomas was a newborn. He's had a few adventures recently too. Last week he lost control of his bike and fell into the little stream that runs alongside the footpath and today he fell off his bike at nursery and now has an egg size lump on the back of his head. He's OK, just a bit bruised but nothing that the promise of a gingerbread man couldn't fix!

In an attempt to kick start my creative mojo I had a little shopping spree at the Craftz Boutique last week and it seems to have worked! My inspiration for this card came from Kim's Blog. Kim is one of my favourite bloggers and all her cards have the WOW factor so I CASE'd one of her creations.

I used the same layout that Kim used for her card but used a different image, papers, etc. Tilda is coloured with a mixture of distress inks and aqua pens. The papers are a mixture of Prima and Fancy Pants and the flower is also from Prima. All the edges are inked with Walnut Stain distress ink.

This card fits quite a lot of challenges:

Stamp with Fun - Green & Pink
Creative Card Crew - Cute & Girly
Spoonful of Sugar - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Bloom & Grow
Stampavie & More - Summer
Just Magnolia - Make it Lacy
Stamp Something - Anything Goes
Magnolia Down Under - Favourite Things (the Prima flowers are definitely my new favourite things)

Thanks for visiting, I'd love to know what you think of my card and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Mojo - MIA

2011-05-03T18:45:00.005+01:00

Hello, I hope your week is going well so far and you enjoyed the long weekend. Wasn't the Wedding fantastic? I had the TV on from 8am with all the build up and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I'm not sure Thomas would agree as he wasn't allowed to watch Fireman Sam until late afternoon!

I took delivery of my first stock last week which was very exciting. I'm progressing really well with building my shop. It's a huge learning curve for me but I'm enjoying every minute and I can't wait until I can officially open.

Unfortunately my creative mojo is still Missing In Action (probably replaced with all the IT & web info that I'm trying to cram into my brain) but I have managed to make some very simple cards over the weekend.

The first was made using this weeks Clean & Simple sketch. I didn't get too creative with the sketch, just got out all my flower punches and some paper scraps, but I'm pretty pleased with the finished result.

My other two cards were made using some freebie stamps that came with a craft magazine. The cards are really small (10cm x 10cm) and the images were fab to colour. I used distress inks and a touch of stickles and very simple layouts.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Truly Scrumptious Challenge #56

2011-04-27T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone. I hope you enjoyed the long Easter weekend. I can't believe how fantastic the weather has been for the last two weeks, apparently it was the warmest Easter on record. We had a fantastic two weeks with lots of days out with friends and family. But it was back to normal yesterday and I have got loads of work to catch up on.

We have a new challenge for you on the Truly Scrumptious blog and this week its a sketch

Sadly this will be the last Truly Scrumptious challenge for a while. I simply don't have the time to run the blog at the moment so I'm putting it on ice in the hope that life will settle down later in the year and I'll be able to get it up and running again.

Hopefully I will get some crafting time on Friday and will have a card to show you then.

Truly Scrumptious Challenge #55

2011-04-13T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, it seems so long since I last posted on my blog. Unfortunately our home computer broke down early last week so had to go away to have Windows reinstalled and a hard disk upgrade. I hate not having a computer! I wasn't able to do any work which was so frustrating and I missed keeping up to date with blogs and friends on Facebook! I did do lots more housework than normal though!!

And unfortunately my creative mojo seems to have vanished so I didn't even have the urge to make cards with all the spare time I found myself with.

Onto our new Truly Scrumptious challenge and this week our theme is Vintage.

This is my favourite hAnglar girl and she is coloured with distress inks. The papers are from a new pad called Victorian Collection by Paper Cellar and the ribbon I found at Hobbycraft last week.

I hope you will pop over and join in our challenge.

Truly Scrumptious Challenge #54

2011-03-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hello and Happy Wednesday! Isn't it fantastic now the clocks have changed and the evenings are so much lighter. All the children in our road are out playing on their bikes and scooters after school and it feels like Spring is definitely here!

We have a new Truly Scrumptious challenge for you today and this time we have a sketch.

As its Mothers Day this coming Sunday I've made a card for my mum. I fell in love with the decorative 'shop sign' die when I saw it at the Craft Barn a few weeks ago and I've been itching to use it. The papers are Basic Grey Wisteria and I've coloured Tilda with a mixture of aqua pens and distress inks.

Our two new Truly Scrumptious DT ladies are making their debut this week and the whole team have created some really beautiful cards so please pop over to the blog to take a look and join in the fun.

Wild Rose Studio DT card

2011-03-22T21:20:00.003Z

Thank for popping by today. The last few days seem to have flown by! At the weekend Thomas' pre-school held their Easter Fayre. It was a beautiful day which was great as everyone could get outside into the garden for the Easter Bonnet parade. Thomas had his face painted with a snake and ate far too much chocolate but he had a fantastic time.

Today I had a lot of fun choosing the stock for my new store - now I just need the bank to agree to lend me the money to buy it otherwise I will have to max out a few credit cards!

I've used a fabulous new Wild Rose Studio image for my card today. 'Get Well Toby' looks rather sorry for himself with his bandaged head and broken leg!

The papers are from the new Wild Rose Studio Cherry Cupcake pack and the sentiment is also from WRS. The layout is from the latest Sketch and Stash challenge.

Have a great week.

Happy Red Nose Day!

2011-03-18T22:11:00.004Z

Hi everyone, have you had a good week? We've had a busy one in our house. I've finally started building the website for my new business which is really exciting. My plan is to 'launch' on the 3rd May, as long as the stock coming from America arrives on time!

It's the Easter Fayre and Thomas' nursery tomorrow so I've made some chocolate and raisin fudge to sell and we had lots of fun making an Easter hat for the Easter Bonnet Parade. I'll post a picture of Thomas in his creation over the weekend.

I've made two Clean & Simple cards this evening - in between watching Comic Relief on the TV (I think I liked Fake That almost as much as Take That!). This was a great sketch to work with. The trickiest bit was creating neat knots with the ribbon.

All the papers are from a Nitwits collection and I used my aqua marker pens to draw the stems. Both sentiments are from Wild Rose Studio.

I love to receive your comments so please let me know what you think about these two cards. Have a fantastic weekend.

Truly Scrumptious - Tag It!

2011-03-16T08:00:00.000Z

It's challenge time on the Truly Scrumptious blog and our theme this time is 'Tag It!'. We would like to see your tags, tag-shaped cards or cards with tags on them.

I've wanted to make myself a bookmark so I made a tag-shaped one. I cut it from watercolour paper and used Spun Sugar and Bundled Sage distress inks for the background. The edges have been distressed with my Tim Holtz tool and Walnut Stain ink. I stamped the text (Crafty Individuals) with the same distress inks, masking off the section by using torn kitchen roll.

The layered flower has been made with a Stempelglede stamp that I stamped onto banana paper, punched out and scrunched up.

The rest of the DT girls have made some fabulous creations and it would great if you could join us.

I'm going to start using my bookmark straight away. The book on my bedside table at the moment is Advanced Google Adwords - exciting eh?

Two cards to share

2011-03-11T22:38:00.005Z

I hope you have had a good week. I've been busy with my new business this week. I have finally decided on a name so now its all systems go to build the website and choose my stock. It's very exciting and quite scary at the same time. I've realised that you can do all the necessary research to make sure your plan is viable but at the end of the day there is no guarantee that anybody will buy anything!

I've got two cards to show you today. The first I started at the start of the week but a couple of images went in the bin so it's taken until now to finish it.

Tilda is coloured with aqua pens and distress inks and the papers are NitWits. I had planned to use a fabulous new diecut on this card but it didn't fit with the sketch so I'll save that for another day. I'm going to enter this card into these challenges;

Sketch Saturday - Sketch
Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes
Stampacular - Best Wishes

My second card is for the Clean & Simple challenge. I used some chipboard flowers which I covered with some scraps of Papermania paper. I'm really enjoying making this kind of card now. I love colouring images but it takes quite a long time and its nice to try different styles.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. The forecast is for rain on Sunday but hopefully we'll see some sunshine tomorrow. I dried my first load of washing on the line this week - Spring is definitely on the way!

Clean & Simple Friday

2011-03-04T22:14:00.003Z

Yay, its the weekend!! I love Fridays - I meet up with some friends and their children in the morning for tea and cake. The children play and we get to chat (when we're not resolving squabbles over toys!) I decided to get the weekly shop over and done with this afternoon so now we have the whole weekend to relax.

There is a fab sketch to follow on the Clean & Simple blog this week.

I found this sheet of Cloud 9 paper lurking at the bottom of my drawer. I didn't have a suitable button so I layered two Prima flowers with button centre. The sentiment is Wild Rose Studio.

This layout is brilliant for smaller leftover pieces of paper so I think I will make a whole batch of cards to sell to my Pilates clients!!

Have a great weekend.

Truly Scrumptious - our 2nd birthday

2011-03-02T08:00:00.000Z

Normal service has been resumed in our house! Thomas is back at pre-school and I am now trying to catch up on all the work I didn't do last week. The weather has turned so cold again - I think I became a bit too optimistic after a couple of mild days last week but winter has returned with a vengence! Trouble is I always eat more when its cold! I heard Pancake Day mentioned on the radio so last night, with Thomas in bed and Dave at work, I made some just for myself - they were delicious!! I will do extra running at tennis on Thursday to burn off the extra calories!

It's a very special day over on the Truly Scrumptious blog as we are celebrating our 2nd birthday! I can't quite believe it was two years ago when I started the blog; its been so much fun and so lovely to see the number of followers we have and the fabulous entries to all of our challenges.

We have a sketch challenge this time (designed by Mandy).

I used some gorgeous new papers from Creative Imagination and an old favourite Gorjuss girl. She is coloured with distress inks (except for her hair where I used an aqua pen).

We are looking for two new DT members to join our Truly Scrumptious team and there is a fabulous prize from Meljen Designs so I hope you will pop over and join in our birthday celebrations.

Friday Sketchers

2011-02-25T22:24:00.003Z

Hi everyone, I hope you have had a good week. This has been my first half term as a SAHM and its been hectic. We've had some lovely trips out and on Wedneday Thomas had his hearing test. His speech hasn't been progressing very well and they confirmed that there is some inflamation and fluid behind his ear drums. He has to have another test in 3 months time and if the fluid is still there they will refer us to EN&T and he will probably need grommets. Hopefully this is something we can get resolved as quickly as possible as I know he is getting frustrated because people don't always understand him.

Onto my card and I've used my favourite (and only) CC Designs image.

She is coloured with aqua pens and I love that you can used the pen directly on the paper to get a really good depth of colour, something I find difficult to do when using colour from the distress ink pads. I used some diamond stickles on her wings and some flower soft in her wheelbarrow. The papers are all NitWits. The sketch is from this weeks Friday Sketchers challenge.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. Next Wednesday we have a special Truly Scrumptious challenge when we celebrate our 2nd birthday so I hope you will visit again then!

Clean & Simple - FTL #128

2011-02-22T21:23:00.005Z

It's been a very busy day and I'm exhausted! We took Thomas on the train to London to the Natural History Museum. He's really into dinosaurs at the moment so we said we would take him as a half term treat. Unfortunately we had to queue for about an hour to get in but once inside he had a fantastic time. He wasn't too sure about the moving T-Rex but he loved the mammal room and the best bit of his day was choosing a dinosaur head on a stick from the museum shop!

Tuesday night is normally 'card making night' but I'm too tired and enjoying Heston Blumenthal on the TV so I just finished off a card I started last night.

One of my crafty new year resolutions was to start to use more of the stash I've collected over the years. I bought these chipboard flower shapes AGES ago so thought it was about time to use them. The larger one is painted with crackle paint (something else I haven't used before). I gave it a really thick coating and left it to dry overnight and I really like the effect. I love this denim card which I bought years ago and this was my last piece, I just hope the craft shop I got it from still sells it. I'm entering the card in these challenges:

Clean & Simple - layout
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Birthday Wishes

Tomorrow Thomas has a hearing test. We're a bit worried about his speech development so thought this would be a good place to start. We see the Speech Therapist in 2 weeks time.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Wild Rose Studio DT card

2011-02-18T22:12:00.004Z

TGI Friday! It's been a busy old week and I'm starting to get square eyes from all the research I'm doing online for my new business venture. I'm learning a lot though and it's very exciting to be setting up my own business.

I picked up a copy of the latest Papercraft Essentials magazine today and guess who has a two page spread!!!! I submitted my work before Christmas so its been a long wait to see it in print but it's so exciting to see your work in a magazine. I'm on page 88/89 if you get a chance to look.

A lovely crafty package landed on my doormat a few days ago - it was the new collection of stamps and papers from Wild Rose Studio. So of course I had to have a play tonight and this is what I came up with.

Isn't Milton adorable? I've coloured him with aqua pens and added some glossy accents to the centre of the flower. The papers are from the new WRS polka dot pack and the sentiment is also from WRS.

I'm entering the card into the Sketch & Stash challenge - papers & stamp are all new.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. The weather forecast is terrible so I am sure a trip to the soft play centre will feature over the next two days!

Truly Scrumptious - Swirls & Pearls

2011-02-16T08:00:00.000Z

Hello, thanks for stopping by today. I hope your week is going well so far. Mine didn't get off to the best of starts as I lost the diamond from my engagement ring yesterday :( I'm not holding out much hope of finding it and the insurance will cover the cost of a new one but it can't really be replaced for sentimental reasons.

It's time for a new Truly Scrumptious challenge and this time we have a theme - "Swirls & Pearls".

I think this is my favourite Sarah Kay image and she has been coloured with aqua pens and distress inks. The papers I used are Prima and Melissa Frances. The swirl is cut from some double sided sticky stuff and then sprinkled on some Angel Dust art glitter. It was incredibly fiddly but it made the swirl quite subtle which I like.

Hope you can join in our challenge this week.

Think Pink

2011-02-11T22:40:00.004Z

Hello, I hope you have had a good week and are now looking forward to a relaxing weekend. The weather has been pretty horrible here for the last few days so a bit of sunshine would be very welcome.

I just loved Mina's sketch for this weeks Just Magnolia challenge and sure enough my card came together really easily. Isn't it funny how a good sketch can make that happen?

I've used my aqua pens to colour Tilda and added a couple of pink gems to her shoe buckles. The papers are from a Papermania collection and the flowers are a mixture of Wild Orchid Crafts and some I bought from John Lewis. The only thing I'm not quite happy with on this card is the bow - I think the card might have looked better without it.

Have a lovely weekend.

New stash!

2011-02-08T22:10:00.003Z

Hello, I hope you are having a good week so far. We have had a beautiful day here in Kent. It was a bit foggy to start but the sun broke through and we had a taste of Spring. And the evenings are gradually getting lighter - it was still daylight at 5pm today!!

I treated myself to some new stamps last week and I've been looking forward to inking up this gorgeous Sugar Nellie image. I used the sketch from the Sugar Bowl challenge and also used some new V&A paper that I bought in Bluewater last week.

I've added some stickles to her hem and bow; unfortunately the sparkle doesn't really show in the picture.

I'd love to know what you think!

Truly Scrumptious DT

2011-02-02T08:00:00.002Z

Hello, thanks for popping by today. How is your week going so far? On Friday last week I was online ready and waiting at 9.30am to book Duran Duran tickets. I last saw them in concert back in 1987 at Wembley, this time it will be the eve of my 41st birthday at the O2! We also had a shopping trip at the weekend to buy Thomas some new shoes and a new curtain pole. One day soon I will get to go shopping for me!!

This week at Truly Scrumptious we have a sketch designed by me

I've used my gorgeous new Sugar Nellie stamp for this card. I fell in love with this image as soon as I saw him and I love the way he sits so nicely in the corner of this die cut.

The papers are DCWV and I've kept it very simple, just edging the papers with Walnut Stain and added a single button.

I'm booked onto a course this weekend; Muscle Testing and Postural Analysis. I'm really looking forward to it but I need to brush up on my anatomy knowledge before Sunday!

Clean Simple (& quite quick!)

2011-01-25T22:40:00.003Z

Hi, thanks for visiting my blog today. Life seems to get busier and busier even though, in theory, I should have a bit more free time now I've given up my office job! We had lots of visitors at the weekend so we had a big roast lunch and then a yummy tea of scones & jam - I even broke my 'no cake' rule and had one.

Do you like my new profile picture? I had some shots done at the weekend for my website so I thought I should replace my badly lit photo with a new black and white one. I definitely think I look better in black & white!! The photographer took some really nice shots of me with Thomas too - I've included one at the bottom of this post.

Onto my card and I really wanted to get in my craft room and play this evening but I also wanted to watch 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' too. So I compromised and made a card using this weeks Clean & Simple layout.

The cute little dog is one of Janet's designs and was a freebie with the Craft Stamper magazine. I coloured him with my aqua pens and cut out his flower and replaced it with a punched one. The sentiment is stamped on a Sizzix die cut and the papers are NitWits.

I'll leave you with a picture of me & Thomas.

A Gem of a Challenge

2011-01-22T09:30:00.000Z

We have a new challenge for your at a Gem of a Challenge. Sadly this will be my last challenge as part of the Pink Gem Design Team. I have reluctantly decided to step down as work will be taking up more of my time now. It's been fantastic to be part of such a lovely team and I remember feeling so thrilled when Janet contacted me and asked me to join them. Thank you ladies!

For this challenge we would like to see some ribbon and lace on your card.

This is Kaya in Boots and I have coloured her with distress inks / aqua pens and then paper pieced her dress. All the papers are MME Bloom & Grow with the larger flowers being cut from one of the papers.

I had my chipped tooth repaired at the dentist today. Our dentist is lovely and she managed to do the whole thing while Thomas slept on my lap! He had falled asleep on the journey there and then stayed asleep until we left. It now feels like I have a small piece of chewing gum stuck to the inside of my tooth. Luckily we have an NHS dentist otherwise the cost would have probably been 3 times as much!

Have a fantastic weekend.

Truly Scrumptious Challenge #49

2011-01-19T08:00:00.001Z

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting my blog today. Unfortunately work seems to be cutting into my crafting time more than I would have liked but hopefully things will soon settle down and I'll get more than a couple of hours a week with my stamps, papers and glue!

We have another challenge for you on the Truly Scrumptious blog and this time we would like you to use Brown, Pink and Green as your main colour theme.

I decided to get ahead of myself and make hubbies Valentines Day card. This Tilda is one of my all time favourites and I've coloured her with a mixture of Promarker aqua pens and distress inks. It is slightly debatable whether the papers are pink! They come from a Paper Mania pink selection pack but they look a bit more red than I would have liked! The brown paper is Cosmo Cricket.

Here is a picture with the tag outside of the pocket.

The border stamp is from Ladybug & Friends. I have only used a tiny bit of green, on the lace of her dress. The string and button are recycled from a clothing tag.

We had a fantastic number of entries for our last challenge and I hope you will be able to join us this time.

Happy hAnglar Birthday

2011-01-12T21:42:00.005Z

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog today. We've had a busy few days in our household. Thomas had his first day at pre-school yesterday. He seems to have settled in really well. I stayed a few minutes with him Tuesday morning and less time this morning as he was keen to do some finger painting! And it gave me a free morning to play some tennis which I really enjoyed.

I coloured my hAnglar image several days ago and I knew I wanted to use these papers with her.

The papers are a Papermania Capsule Collection and I love that you get 30 different sheets in the pad. I treated myself to some gorgeous Prima flowers just before Christmas and this is one of them. One of my new years resolutions is to use the lovely embellishments I buy and not just look at them and then put them away in a drawer again!

I'm going to enter this card into these challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts - sketch
Just Magnolia - anything goes
ABC Challenge - lace (I've used my lace doily punch so I hope this counts!)

Enjoy the rest of your week!

A Gem of a Challenge

2011-01-08T09:00:00.001Z

Hello, thanks for visiting today. I hope the first week of 2011 has been a good one for you. It was strange not going into the office (very nice though!) and Thomas had his first visit to pre-school so we've had quite an interesting week.

Today is our first Gem of a Challenge for 2011. The challenges are fortnightly now so there are even more chances to join in the fun. This week we are sponsored by Letraset and the winner will receive a fabulous set of Promarkers.

For this challenge Debby has designed a fab sketch for you to use.

Isn't this little fella adorable? He is coloured with Aqua Promarkers and distress inks and the papers are DCWV Linen Closet (again - sorry if you are bored of these by now). The other DT ladies have made some gorgeous cards and we would love you to join in with the challenge.

First Truly Scrumptious challenge of 2011

2011-01-05T08:00:00.001Z

Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and Santa put some crafty stash in your stocking. My husband and I only buy each other small gifts and this year he bought me a box of Aqua Promarkers which I love. It's great to have more colours to use alongside my distress inks and I find the promarkers blend better than the inks so I think I will slowly start to collect all the colours.

This is the sketch we would like you to follow for our first challenge

And the optional theme is "Dreaming of Summer".

For my card I have used a Wild Rose Studio image called Faye with Flower. I've coloured here with distress inks and Aqua Promarkers and added plenty of glitter to her wings. The papers are by Daisy D's and the sentiment is also from Wild Rose Studio.

It's been lovely to get back into my craft room again after the hustle and bustle of Christmas and I'm looking forward to visiting all my friends' blogs again.

Nearly ready for Christmas

2010-12-19T18:28:00.004Z

Hi everyone, long time no see. We've been rushing around trying to get prepared for Christmas and I think we are almost ready. Just a few little bits and pieces to get and then I need to write a long list so I don't forget to pack anything when we go to my parents on Friday.

I've recently finished a project for Papercraft Essentials magazine using this Magnolia stamp so as she was sitting on my desk I inked her up again.

I used Mina's fabulous sketch (flipped on its side) on this weeks Just Magnolia challenge and the papers are from a Papermania pack I bought from Hobbycraft recently. The diamond stickles took on a yellowy tone on the brown card which looks a bit odd but apart from that I'm pleased with how this card has turned out. I'm going to enter it into these challenges:

Just Magnolia - Sketch
Allsorts - Anything goes
Creative Card Crew - Anything goes

I'm not sure if I'll get a change to craft again before the big day so I would like to wish all my blog visitors

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

A Gem of a Challenge / Truly Scrumptious

2010-12-08T08:00:00.001Z

Hi everyone. I hope you are keeping warm in your corner of the world. It is still freezing here and the side roads are treacherous. I skidded on my way to work this morning. Luckily there wasn't anything coming the other way at the time as I managed to slide all the way across the road, bounce of the piled up snow and slide back over to the left again. We have more snow forecast for Kent but hopefully it will be very light showers.

I have two cards to show you today as both the challenges I design for have fallen on the same day. The first is for A Gem of a Challenge where we have a fab sketch for you to follow and an optional extra challenge of distressing.

I've used this super cute new stamp from Pink Gem Designs called Andy with Snail. I enjoy making boys cards much more now I have a boy of my own and I know I use these DCWV papers A LOT but they are perfect for a boys card. Andy is coloured with distress inks and the sentiment is also from Pink Gem Designs.

My second card is for our new Truly Scrumptious challenge - the last one of 2010. We have a sketch for your to follow with the optional extra challenge 'frame it' - create a decorative frame around your image.

For this card I have used Kira from Wild Rose Studio. I think she looks like she has a bit of attitude so I chose some funky Basic Grey papers and created a my frame with distress inks and a Stempelglede grunge stamp.

I do hope you can join in on both these challenges and I look forward to visiting your blog soon!

A Clean & Simple Christmas card

2010-11-30T22:52:00.003Z

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting today and I hope you are keeping warm in your part of the world. We woke up to snow this morning, just a sprinkling so I headed off to work as normal - big mistake! The roads got worse and worse the closer to London I got and it took me 3 hours to do a 50 min journey. I had to park my car and walk the last part of my journey as I couldn't drive up the very small hill to the office! So I think it will be a day at home tomorrow, desperately thinking of things to keep Thomas entertained.

I had all sorts of plans for my card tonight but instead found myself on the phone for over 2 hours so my crafting time was shortened somewhat. So instead of colouring an image I made a simple card with some gorgeous DCWV Linen Closet papers and a Papertrey Ink sentiment.

I'm going to enter my card into these challenges:

Clean & Simple - Sketch
Colour Create - Robin egg blue, Sea foam green & cream
Totally Papercrafts - Untraditional Christmas
Stampin for the Weekend - Winter

Have a great week.

Pink Gem DT / Friday Sketchers

2010-11-26T22:17:00.004Z

Happy Friday everyone! It's been another busy week in our house. I handed in my notice at work and couldn't believe how nervous I was! It's been 15 years since I resigned from a job so I'm a bit out of practice but its done now so there's no going back (gulp). The whole household has had colds so we are coughing and spluttering but hopefully over the worst of it now. And the weather is soooo cold! They have forecast snow for the weekend which I'm really not looking forward to. We're hoping to go to the switching on of the Christmas lights in our local town on Sunday and see the firework display and it will be a real effort to leave the house if there is snow on the ground - I'm such a wimp!!

It was nice to have a bit of time to sit down and make a card this evening (in between watching bits of I'm a Celebrity).

The sweet image is Chloe & Penguin from Pink Gem Designs. She is coloured with distress inks and I used the same colour (Dusty Concord) to stamp the snowflake around the edges. The sentiment is also from Pink Gem Designs and the papers are by Wild Rose Studio. The layout is from this weeks Friday Sketchers challenge.

I hope the weather isn't too bad where you are and you have a lovely weekend.

Truly Scrumptious - Think Pink

2010-11-24T08:00:00.001Z

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog today. Blogging has has to take a bit of a back seat over the last few weeks as I've been extremely busy with work and getting ready for when I go self employed in January. I still get the occassional 'wobble' day when I wonder if I'm doing the right think, but deep down I know I am and I will be much happier (and will earn more!).

We have our penultimate 2010 challenge for you over on the Truly Scrumptious blog and this time as well as the sketch the optional challenge is 'Think Pink'.

I made my card last week for my cousin who had a baby girl.

This is one of my favourite Whiff of Joy images and I've coloured it using distress inks. The papers I've had a while and I cut of the info strip so I can't remember what they are. Just a few Wild Orchid flowers and a Wild Rose Studio sentiment and thats it.

I hope you will join in our challenge - the other DT ladies have made some gorgeous cards so please pop over to the blog and take a look.

Wild Rose Studio Blog Hop

2010-11-20T12:00:00.001Z

Hello and welcome to THE first ever Wild Rose Studio Blog Hop. During the hop you will have a chance to see many of the lovely Christmas stamps that are available and be in with a chance of winning some gorgeous stamps along the way :-)

If you arrived here from Katina's blog you are going in the right direction. If not you may wish to start at the beginning on Dulcie's Blog

The word you need to collect on my blog is (WILD)

For our hop the lovely Dawny P designed a gorgeous sketch for the Design Team to use and here is my card

I used the adorable Christmas Milton for my card. He is coloured with distress inks and I used plenty of diamond stickles on his Santa suit. The paper is from the Wild Rose Studio Milton Christmas Papers pack. My layered snowflake is made with two Sizzix dies & an X Cut punch.

How would you like the chance to win this gorgeous stamp?

To be in with a chance of winning Christmas Milton, please add your name to the Linky tool at the bottom of this post (or leave a comment if the Linky tool doesn't work!) and then make a card/creation using Dawny P's sketch and enter it into the challenge on Dulcie's Blog. You have until 12.00 GMT on Saturday 27th November to enter.

Don't forget to collect all the words from the DT's blogs along the way!

Now I'm going to send you on your way to Ria's blog to continue the hop. Have a great weekend, enjoy the rest of the DT's creations and good luck with the prize draw.

Wild Rose Studio DT

2010-11-16T23:20:00.004Z

Hello, I hope you had a lovely weekend and are having a good week so far. We had Thomas' birthday party on Saturday. We hired a local church hall and booked an entertainer who was fantastic. She came dressed as Thomas the Tank Engine's driver and had the children enthralled from start to finish. Thomas was slightly overwhelmed at times but really enjoyed himself.

I've got lots of thank-you cards to write but tonight I decided to finish two cards I started last week. One is a DT card for next weeks Truly Scrumptious challenge and this is the other one

This is the gorgeous Kira with her kitten from Wild Rose Studio. I've coloured her with a mixture of aqua promarkers and distress inks. The papers were a freebie from a magazine, flowers and buttons are from my stash. The sentiment is from Wild Rose Studio too. I'm going to enter this into two challenges:

Sketch & Stash - Sketch and my new stash is the Kira stamp
Creative Card Crew - Give thanks

We're having a Wild Rose Studio blog hop this weekend with lots of fantastic prizes to be won so please visit again then!

Truly Scrumptious DT - Happy Birthday Thomas

2010-11-10T08:00:00.001Z

Hello, thanks for visiting today and I hope your week is going well so far. We have a new challenge for you today over on the Truly Scrumptious blog. This is the sketch we would like you to follow;

And the optional extra challenge is to make a birthday card. I chose the challenge as it is Thomas' third birthday today. I've taken the day of work so we're going to take a birthday cake to playgroup this morning and then its a pizza lunch out with his grandparents.

This is the card I made for him

The image is from Pink Gem Designs and it reminds me of Thomas and our dog Benji. The papers are DCWV Linen Closet and the stars and balloon are Quickutz dies. I decided to put the sentiment next to my image and place the balloon where the sentiment should be.

Pink Gem Designs are sponsoring us this week and the winner will receive this gorgeous Santa Kaya Christmas stamp so I hope you will be able to make a card for our challenge.

A Gem of a Challenge

2010-11-08T09:00:00.000Z

Good morning and thanks for visiting my blog. We have a new challenge for you over at A Gem of a Challenge and this month my teamie Christine has designed a fab sketch

And the optional extra challenge is to make a Christmas card using non traditional colours.

For my card I used the adorable Penguin Friends image. I know penguins are meant to be black and white but I stuggle with the Black Soot distress ink as it always looks very grey so I used my aqua promarkers instead and made them brown penguins!

The papers are a mixture of Wild Rose Studio and Papermania and the lovely sentiment is also from Pink Gem Designs.

I hope you will be able to visit the blog and see the rest of the DT's gorgeous work and then join in our challenge.

Something for the Christmas Tree

2010-11-03T22:09:00.003Z

I always mean to try to make more crafty projects other than cards but my mojo always seems to escape me. I got the idea for this decoration from the front cover of this months Craft Stamper magazine. One of the designers made a gorgeous Christmas wreath made with dozen of stamped and punched flowers. The article gave me the idea to use some of my paper flowers to make a smaller version that I can hang on our Christmas tree.

I used two Nestability dies to cut a ring from stiff card and then covered it with paper. I started to attach the flowers by wrapping the wire stems around the ring but it looked too messy so I cut all the stems off and glued the flowers instead. Then I repeated the process on the other side and spritzed the whole thing with glimmer mist. Apart from having to wait for the glue to dry it was actually very quick to make and I'm really pleased with the result. I'm going to make a few more and try added some other elements like ribbons and maybe some leaves.

Wild Rose Studio DT

2010-11-02T22:28:00.004Z

Hello, thanks for visiting today and I hope you week is going well so far. We had a quiet weekend, dodging the rain on Saturday and then a lazy day on Sunday. We didn't have any trick or treaters knock at our door which mean we were left with a large bag full of treat sized bags of maltesers. Needless to say they didn't last very long!

Last week I received some gorgeous new stamps from Dulcie at Wild Rose Studio. I couldn't wait to ink them up and this adorable fairy is Lily.

She has been coloured with distress inks and I added a thin covering of diamond stickles to her wings. The papers are a mixture of Fancy Pants and Bo Bunny and the sentiment is also from Wild Rose Studio.

I know I'm thinking ahead but wouldn't she be perfect for Valentines day with the little heart seal on her letter?

I'm entering my card into these challenges:

Sketchy Colors - Sketch
Spoon Full of Sugar - Relish to Embellish
Secret Crafter - Anything that Flies

Thanks for looking. I hope to post a picture tomorrow of a Christmas tree decoration I've been making - just waiting for the glue to dry and I'm the most impatient person in the world!

Goodie Bags

2010-10-29T21:29:00.004+01:00

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog. It's wet and windy here tonight but we've had quite a nice day - nice enough to spend a bit of time in the garden picking up the fallen apples and cutting the grass for the last time this year! It's a nice feeling when I can put the lawn mower away for another 6-7 months!! And we have enough apples for about 50 pies and there are more on the tree!!

I don't have a card to show you today but I have started to make the party bags for Thomas' party in a couple of weeks time. I bought some paper bags ages ago with the intention of making some paper bag albums. I haven't managed to make an album yet but the bags have now come in very handy.

The letters are cut with a Quickutz Marisa alphabet and the stars and flowers are also Quickutz dies. The tags are a Sizzix die and I've written "Thanks for coming to my party!" in glitter pen. I've got a few goodies to go in each one and I also plan to make each child their own biscuit iced with their name on it.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Truly Scrumptious - Petals, Pearls & Pins

2010-10-27T08:00:00.001+01:00

Thanks for visiting my blog today. It's wet and windy in Kent today - a bit different to the beautiful blue skies we saw on Monday! My husband and I took a day off work today and had a very productive day. We had a big clear up in the garage and took a car full of rubbish to the tip. Then we visited Toys R Us to buy Thomas' birthday present. He's really into Fireman Sam at the moment so we got him a lovely box set with all the characters, a fire station, fire engine, helicopter and ambulance. We had lunch at Pizza Express (another discount voucher!) and then home to do a tidy up in the spare bedroom (my craft room) before picking Thomas up. Unfortunately I'm back at work tomorrow.

We're up to challenge no.44 on the Truly Scrumptious blog. We have a sketch for you to follow with the optional extra challenge of using Petals, Pearls & Pins.

It's been a while since I used a Magnolia image and I love this Tilda sitting and picking the petals off her daisy. She is coloured with a mixture of aqua Promarkers and distress inks. The papers are DCWV Linen Closet and the sentiment is from Personal Impressions. I couldn't find my pins so I added some pearl sprays which look quite similar to pins!

I thought I would share this picture of Thomas with you. I tried to get him to help me make some biscuits on Monday. He was interested for about 30 seconds and then went to get his step and proceeded to wash all his trains in the washing up bowl. This took about 45 minutes and he was soaked by the time he had finished!

Cute Card Thursday

2010-10-22T21:45:00.004+01:00

Well its been a little while since I last blogged. Last weekend I was on an advanced Pilates training course which was really interesting and lots of fun. But being away for the weekend meant I had lots to catch up on when I got back.

I coloured this super cute image from Pink Gem Designs with my aqua promarkers. Now I'm getting used to them I am really starting to enjoy using these pens. I think I might ask Santa Claus to put a few more in my stocking!

The papers are Wild Rose Studio and the lovely sketch is from this weeks Cute Card Thursday challenge. I've used lots of stickles on the trim of her hat and coat and I kept the layout simple.

Have a lovely weekend. Thomas has been invited to a birthday party tomorrow so we will be enjoying lots of jelly & ice cream and birthday cake!!

Truly Scrumptious Challenge #43

2010-10-13T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting today. We have a new challenge for you over on the Truly Scrumptious blog today. There is a sketch for you to use plus the option of making an easel card.

We are sponsored this week by Robyn's Fetish Digi Stamps and they very kindly sent some fabulous images for the DT to use. Unfortunately I'm still having problems with my printer ink bleeding so I wasn't able to use one of their images. I picked this gorgeous LOTV stamp instead as I needed a birthday card for girlfriend.

The papers have been in my drawer for ages and ages so I can't remember what make they are.

The flowers are Prima and the brad in the centre is from Wild Rose Studio. The swirl is a Sizzix die. Here's a close up of this adorable fairy

I shaded the background with chalks which I haven't used in ages but I do like the soft effect they give. I do hope you will join in our challenge this week.

I probably won't get the chance to make another card until next week now as I'm in London on a Pilates course this weekend which I'm really looking forward to.

I'm a Euro Millions winner!

2010-10-09T10:32:00.004+01:00

Unfortunately I'm not the one lucky Brit who won £113 million but our office syndicate did win the grand total of £21.50 last night! So thats £2.15 each - oh I had lovely time last night dreaming about how I was going to spend it all, ha ha!!

I finished this card late last night and he now packaged up and on his way to the lovely Dulcie at Wild Rose Studio with all the other DT cards I've made recently. I thought this super cute Fergus image would make a lovely get well card so I chose some bright and cheerful papers (MME freebies with a recent magazine).

The brad in the centre of the bow is from Wild Rose Studio, as is the sentiment. I'm going to enter this card into this weeks Friday Sketchers challenge.

Now I'm hoping that someone can help me with a technical blogging problem. I like to use Windows Live Writer to do my posts as the pictures appear bigger than if you use blogger. However, I can't lay out the text properly, it doesn't seem to recognise when you put spaces between your paragraphs. I've downloaded the most up to date version but it's still doing it. If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it.

A Gem of a Challenge

2010-10-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

Hello and thanks for visiting today. It's the 8th of the month which means it's time for a new Gem of a Challenge.

This month the challenge has been set by me! There is a sketch for you to following the option of using Autumnal Colours of red, orange and brown.

I had some lovely Basic Grey Indian Summer papers in mind for this card but they didn't really work well with the super cute Kaya with Flowers so I chose some MME Bloom & Grow papers instead; no red or brown but plenty of orange!

Kaya is coloured with distress inks and then mounted on a nesties label die cut. I added some pearls to the centre of her flowers and coloured these with a peel off pen so they match her dress. The rest of the DT girls have made some gorgeous cards with my sketch so I hope you will join in the challenge. You have a whole month to take part and if you use a Pink Gem image you could win your choice of two Pink Gem stamps.

The Cutest Bear!

2010-10-05T22:14:00.002+01:00

Hello and I hope you are having a good week so far. We're having some mild, damp weather at the moment which I really dislike as I have the type of hair that goes frizzy at the first sign of moisture in the air. Do you remember the episode of Friends when Monica got her hair braided? I seriously consider doing the same when we get 'bad hair weather'!!

I've made another Wild Rose Studio DT card tonight. This is Christmas Milton and I think he looks adorable in his Santa suit. He is coloured with distress inks and then I used polar white flowersoft on his hat and coat and some diamond stickles on the presents.

The spotted paper is from the Wild Rose Studio and the green paper is Crate Paper. The satin ribbon was so fiddly work with as the glue dots wouldn't stick properly to ribbon; there's about a hundred of them holding my bow together!! The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is cut with nesties.

Here's a close up of Milton; I'm pretty pleased with the colouring of this image.

I'm going to enter this card into these challenges:

Mojo Monday - Sketch

Wild Orchid Challenges - Stitch it up

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Sparkle & Shine

Charisma Cardz - Christmas Crafting

Enjoy the rest of the week and I will be posting a new card on Friday for this months Gem of a Challenge.

Wild Rose Studio DT

2010-10-03T22:35:00.001+01:00

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog today. We’ve had a lovely family day today. First we took Thomas swimming. He is doing so well and gaining confidence so quickly. Today he was jumping off the side of the pool and didn’t really mind if we were there to catch him or not! Afterwards we had lunch at Pizza Express (gotta love those £1 pizza deals!) followed by a trip to the supermarket and then a relaxing afternoon at home when I even managed to squeeze in some crafting time.

The result is this card which will be winging its way to Dulcie very shortly. The image is called ‘Wedding Day’ and I decided she was a modern bride so gave her a lilac dress!

I added some pearl earrings and a necklace and some stickles for a bit of bling. She is framed by some gorgeous sparkly fabric paper which is mounted on white bazzil. I used the same fabric paper again for the panel over-lying the lilac Wild Rose Studio paper which covers my card base. The ribbon is from Wild Orchid Crafts and the sentiment is also from Wild Rose Studio.

Here is a close up of the pretty bride. I added a bit of colour to her cheeks so she is definitely a blushing bride!

I used the layout from this weeks Sketch Saturday challenge so I’m going to enter this card in their prize draw.

2010-10-01T22:40:00.004+01:00

Hello, and thanks for popping by today. It's the weekend at last and I hope you had a good week and have lots of nice things planned for the next two days. The forecast here is rain, rain and more rain but we have a 1st birthday party to go to this afternoon and then tomorrow we will take Thomas swimming. He's doing really well and gaining in confidence every time we go. Hopefully he'll be doing well enough by Christmas that we can start taking him to lessons in the new year.

I've been lacking a bit of mojo recently so thought I would try something a bit different. Christine has made some fabulous recipe cards which you can see on her blog, so I thought I'd try one. I made some muffins this morning that turned out really well so I've used that recipe for my first attempt.

This is the very first Magnolia stamp I bought and I still love her. The papers are by Nitwits and I'm going to have to stock up on some more as I love them. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the border and doodled the stitching around the recipe.

The instructions are on the back of the card.

I've seen a recipe box on EBay which I plan to buy so hopefully I'll keep on making these cards as I really enjoyed making this one.

I'm going to enter this into this weeks Just Magnolia challenge - Anything Goes.

Truly Scrumptious - Snowflakes

2010-09-29T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog today. It feels like I'm getting less and less time to spend crafting at the moment. I'm planning to go fully self employed from January 2011 so I have a lot of organising to do which seems to take away my crafting time. It will be worth it in the end though and hopefully I'll be earning more and will have more spare cash to spend on stash!!

We have a new challenge for you on the Truly Scrumptious blog this week. This is the sketch

With the option of having snowflakes on your card.

It wasn't until I photographed my card that I realised I had forgotten to put a sentiment on the front of the card! I did remember snowflakes though; they are on my DP and a large Sizzix snowflake on the inside. I've used a Pink Gem image 'Skiing Snowgirl' which I've coloured with aqua promarkers and distress inks. Unfortunately the sparkle on the image doesn't really show in the photo.

The bow holds the card closed and I've used some more of the DP and a Papertrey sentiment to decorate the inside.

I hope you can join in our challenge this week and I'm going to try and get to visit all your blogs later this week I promise!

Celebrating 43 years

2010-09-21T21:58:00.002+01:00

Hello and thanks for visiting today. This is going to be a very quick post as I've still got a lot of jobs to do and I need an early night for an early start tomorrow morning.

It's my mum & dad's wedding anniversary on Thursday and they will have been married 43 years! I picked layout #4 from the Clean & Simple blog and used some very simple papers teamed with embossed card. The brad is from Wild Rose Studio.

Hopefully I'll be back later in the week with another card and a slightly longer post!

Fabric flowers

2010-09-18T15:36:00.005+01:00

I'm going to post this card quickly before my internet connection drops out again. It was happening all yesterday evening and again this morning so fingers crossed I will get to the end of this post before it happens again!

A few weeks ago I bought some calico fabric with the idea to do something creative with it. I had a go at making some flowers last night and I'm quite pleased with the result. The flower needed a shabby/vintage card to go on so I came up with this;

The papers are from K & Co and I've been stroking them for a while, unable to cut them up! the lace is from Wild Orchid Crafts and I've also attached a couple of skeleton leaves behind my fabric flower. The metal brad is also from K & Co. Here's a close up of the flower. I did spritz it with glimmer mist but its not that clear from the photo:

I'm going to enter my card into these challenges:

Friday Sketchers - sketch
ABC - distressing
Cute Card Thursday - Tweet and a flutter

Have a lovely weekend. It's a fabulous day here so we going to make the most of the sunshine while it lasts.

Truly Scrumptious DT

2010-09-15T08:00:00.000+01:00

It's Wednesday which means it's time for another Truly Scrumptious challenge. We have a nice simple sketch for you

With the optional extra of using blue & green. I had some lovely paper all ready for this card but then my Wild Rose Studio DT stamps & papers arrived and I just had to use them!

Christmas Millie is coloured with distress inks and I added plenty of stickles to her hat, coat trim and around her feet. The punched strip is made with a Fiskars punch and the snowflakes are an XCut punch (I think). The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

The rest of the DT have made some gorgeous cards and we have a fabulous prize from Wags 'n Whiskers so please hop over to the challenge blog and join in.

Clean & Simple

2010-09-10T23:02:00.003+01:00

I finally feel like I've caught up after our holiday. There is a huge pile of ironing still waiting to be done but I can hide that away and pretend its not really there!

Thomas had two of his friends come to play this morning. I never knew that three 2 year olds could create so much mess and make so much noise. The only time they were quiet was when they were eating. It's lovely to see them growing up together and I really hope they will remain friends as they get older.

Onto my card and before our holiday a lovely blogging friend ordered some Papertrey stamps for me. I love this Boards & Beams set and this weeks Clean & Simple sketch was perfect to try them out.

I coloured the house with distress inks (Brushed Cordroy, Walnut Stain, Pumice Stone, Weathered Wood & Scattered Straw). I cut out the image and mounted it using sticky fixers onto some Kraft paper which the lovely Christine sent me. The gingham paper is by Nitwits and the sentiment is also from the Boards & Beams set.

I'm really enjoying these simple layouts. I'd like to build up a stock of cards to sell to my Pilates clients and these designs are perfect.

Have a lovely weekend. We're going to a barbeque tomorrow but the forecast is bad so I think it will be an indoor event! Summer is definitely over.

A Gem of a Challenge

2010-09-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

It's the 8th of the month which means its challenge time over at A Gem of a Challenge. This month we have a lovely sketch designed by Janet;

There is an optional extra challenge to use lots of sparkle on your card.

I made my card a couple of weeks ago for my husbands birthday. I thought Tyson was perfect for a male card and I used distress inks to sponge the leaves using a punched template to give it a real jungle feel. I added stickles to some of the leaves for the sparkly element! The papers are MME Bloom & Grow.

You have a chance to win TWO Pink Gem stamps if you enter the challenge (and use a Pink Gem image) so I hope you will join us this month.

Back from our holiday

2010-09-07T22:16:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone, long time no blog!! We got home from our holiday on Saturday and I've been busy with the washing and ironing and all the catching up you need to do when you've been away. We had a lovely week on the Isle of Wight. For once the English weather was fantastic and apart from one cloudy day, we had beautiful blue skies and sunshine. It wasn't hot but it was nice enough to sit on the beach in our T shirts and jeans. We met up with some friends one day and visited some lovely parks and attractions. Thomas had the time of his life and I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoy building sandcastles just as much as he does!!

I arrived home to find my Wild Rose Studio DT package on the doorstep. Isn't this little dragon adorable? He's called Fergus and you can find a list of stockists here. I've coloured him with distress inks and added some Art Glitter to the icing on his cake and some diamond glaze to the cherry.

The papers and sentiment are also Wild Rose Studio and the diecut corner is a Cuttlebug die. The sketch is the current challenge from Sketch & Stash.

My craft room is a bit of a mess right now which is not good for my mojo. I cleared out a whole pile of papers and bits & pieces to give to Thomas' nursery but there is still lots to sort out. I can't believe I've accumulated so much stuff! I dread to think how much I've spent but I guess all us crafters are the same!

Truly Scrumptious 'Get Knotted'

2010-09-01T08:05:00.000+01:00

We're up to challenge no.40 over at the Truly Scrumptious blog and we have another sketch for you;

And the optional extra challenge is to include a knot somewhere on your card.

I haven't used a Magnolia image for ages so I thought it was time this Tilda saw ink again.

I've avoided the temptation to buy any Promarkers or Copics but when I saw that Letraset had brought out a range of Promarker aqua pens I thought I would give them a try. I bought a few and have been trying out a few techniques. I need a lot more practice but I think I will be buying a few more. I used them on Tilda's dress, shoes and hair and then used distress inks for the other areas. The papers are Nitwits and I wish I'd bought more now as I absolutely love them.

The rest of the Truly Scrumptious DT have made some gorgeous cards so please pop over to the blog if you get a minute.

Truly Scrumptious - Brads Buttons & Bows

2010-08-18T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, I hope you are well and having a good week far. It's Wednesday so we're almost halfway to the weekend. We have a new challenge for you over on the Truly Scrumptious blog. There is a sketch for you to use

and the optional extra challenge is brads, buttons & bows; choose one, two or all three!

This challenge is sponsored by Sew Many Cards and some of the DT have used their images on their cards. I chose this gorgeous Tayla Baby in Tree and decided to make a new baby card.

I've had a lot of trouble colouring digi images recently. For some reason the ink has been bleeding which is really annoying and means I wasn't able to colour this gorgeous image as well as I would have liked. The DP is Bo Bunny and I've used some gingham fabric which I've had in my stash for ages and ages. I frayed the ages as my cutting wasn't very straight! I very nearly forgot the optional challenge (again) but remember just in time to add some button brads so two out of three isn't bad!

I hope you will be able to join in our challenge this time.

Friday Sketchers

2010-08-16T23:14:00.003+01:00

It's been a sunny start to the week here in Kent but the forecast is now for 2 weeks of rain! Hopefully there will be a respite on Sunday as we're having a barbeque to celebrate my husbands 40th birthday and we really don't have space in the house to accomodate the 10 adults and 9 children who are coming!

We had a lovely weekend. I took Thomas on a steam train ride on Saturday and he absolutely loved it. It was only a 15 minute ride with time for a cup of tea and a chocolate bar at the station before the return journey but it was lovely to ride in an old fashioned carriage with wood interiors and the old slam doors that you have to open from the outside! Yesterday was a more practical day with a trip to Ikea to buy bedroom furniture. I really enjoy puting flat-packed furniture together so I did the whole lot as soon as we got home and now Thomas has some great toy storage with funky green boxes and plenty of shelves for his books.

I started this card last Friday but then our cable service went down so we had no TV or internet for 12 hours!

It's taken me a long time to bring myself to cut into this gorgeous K & Co paper. I didn't want to hide it all so this weeks sketch from Friday Sketchers is perfect. I used a piece of sheer fabric paper behind my image which is just about visible through all the embellishments! The two green flowers I made myself and the others are from Wild Orchid Crafts. It's my sisters birthday in a few weeks time so this will be perfect for her.

Have a good week, I'll have another card on Wednesday for a new Truly Scrumptious challenge.

hAnglar Tuesday

2010-08-10T22:23:00.004+01:00

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you are having a good week so far. It has been really miserable here in Kent today; lots of rain (which the garden really needs) but it definitely didn't feel like summer. I think we have more of the same coming tomorrow but hopefully the sun will make a return on Thursday.

There is a fabulous sketch for this week Spoon Full of Sugar challenge so I inked up my favourite hAnglar girl who sits beautifully in a large nesties circle. The papers are MME - a freebie with a recent magazine - and the flowers are a mixture, some from my stash and some from the lovely Angela.

After visiting the lovely Christine's blog today, I decided to make the effort and decorate the inside of my card. My idea was to use the same layout but replace the image with a tag that would slot into a pocket. It was all going great until I stuck the pocket onto the card; all four side of the pocket!! No opening so no where to pop the tag. I'm afraid to say I couldn't be bothered to start all over again so this is another card that is plain on the inside. Maybe next time!

A new Gem of a Challenge

2010-08-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

It's the 8th of the month which means its time for a new Gem of a Challenge. We have a fabulous sketch for your to follow for this challenge with an optional extra challenge of using some material on your card eg. tulle, silk, satin, lace or ribbon.

This is my take on the sketch:

I'm terrible at remembering the optional extra challenges but thankfully I added some ribbon to this card. I have tweaked the layers on the card slightly to suit my image. This lovely Christmas Teddy is available now from Pink Gem Designs. He is coloured with Distress Inks (Vintage Photo, Victorian Velvet, Fired Brick and Pine Needles). The papers are Scribble Scrabble and SEI and I've used a MS punch for the decorative strip and a Sizzix die for the large snowflake.

The Design Team have made some gorgeous samples for you this month, so do visit the blog and see their gorgeous creations.

Truly Scrumptious

2010-08-04T08:00:00.001+01:00

It's time for another Truly Scrumptious challenge and this week we are joined by our three new talented DT ladies for the first time - very exciting!

I've designed the sketch for this challenge

And the optional extra is a 'Golden Oldie' theme; use one of your older, neglected stamps.

I needed to make a birthday card for my Manager but I don't have many 'boy' stamps and the ones I do have are quite new so I'm afraid I didn't follow the 'Golden Oldie' theme.

I have to say that the LOTV images are fast becoming favourites of mine. They are fabulous to colour and so adorable. I find it hard to embellish male cards so I added a bit of garden twine and then went with the 'clean lines' feel! All the papers are DCWV Linen Closet andI thought the hAnglar sentiment suited the image perfectly.

I hope you are able to join in our challenge this time.

August already!

2010-08-03T22:54:00.003+01:00

I can't quite believe it's August already! The time is just flying by and it won't be long until our summer holiday!! My parents got back from two weeks in Crete today. They had a lovely time but the weather was starting to get too hot; it was 40 degrees. I don't imagine we will have that problem on the Isle of Wight but hopefully the sun will shine so we can spend some time on the beach.

I really enjoyed making this card tonight. Sometimes a card comes together really nicely and this was one of those times.

Sorry for the slightly wonky photo! The lovely layout is from the Sketch and Stash challenge. My new stash is the lovely hAnglar girl who I have courtesy of Christine. The papers I've had a while and are by Rusty Pickle (isn't that a fab name for a paper company!). The tag is cut from Bazzil cardstock, distressed with Antique Linen distress ink and then stamped with a Crafty Individuals script stamp. The lace and flowers are all from Wild Orchid Crafts and I'm going to enter this in their current challenge which is 'Lace'.

The inspiration for the colour scheme came from the Shabby Tea Room challenge which is run by my new Truly Scrumptious teamie, Debbie M.

I will be back tomorrow with my Truly Scrumptious DT card and I know you are going to love what our new DT ladies have created!

Baby Boom

2010-07-27T22:23:00.003+01:00

Gosh it's hot at the moment. But not a nice heat, it's cloudy, sticky and humid which makes it hard to sleep. So I've made this card with slightly bleary eyes!

Two friends have both had baby girls within a couple of days of each other. I already had one card which I made a few weeks ago and I've used this weeks Clean & Simple sketch for this card.

It's a lovely layout and I hope I haven't overdone the embellishments with the pink gems! This gorgeous LOTV image is so easy to colour and I just love her little button nose. I've added some Worn Lipstick distress stickles just for a bit of sparkle. The border punch is Fiskars and the sentiment is Wild Rose Studio.

I hope to have another card to show you tomorrow but Wednesday night is Dragons Den for the next 8 weeks - the only programme worth watching on TV at the moment now that Sons of Anarchy has finished!

New Stamps at Pink Gem Designs

2010-07-24T23:17:00.005+01:00

Janet has just taken delivery of some fabulous new stamps at Pink Gem Designs. They actually arrived early from the factory so my card wasn't quite ready but I managed to get it finished tonight!

My theme for Christmas cards this year is clean & simple, this way I might actually get more than 10 made which was about how many I managed last year! Last Christmas I remember seeing some cards where most of the card was white apart from some colour on the image. I decided to give that a try and I'm really pleased with the result. I've added the obligatory stickles and also some glossy accents to their noses and buttons. The snowflake is a Sizzix die.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Whiff of Joy Guest DT Call

2010-07-23T23:58:00.008+01:00

This is so typical of me, I was going to enter this card in the Whiff of Joy Guest DT call but I've just noticed that it closed 4 hours ago! Honestly, you'd think I'd have learnt to read things properly by now!! Oh well, here's the card anyway. The theme was 'summer' so I used some Basic Grey Green at Heart papers which I think are very summery.

I've used my favourite Willow image and coloured her with distress inks. The flowers are a mixture of Wild Orchid Craft roses plus I punched some flowers from mesh and jute for a bit of extra texture. The layout I used is this weeks Friday Sketchers challenge.

My work colleague is retiring next week so I think I will give this card to her. We've worked together for 5 years and I'm really going to miss her.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. I'm not sure what the weather forecast is but we are going to a barbeque on Sunday so fingers crossed it stays dry.

Truly Scrumptious #37

2010-07-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

Wow, its been a busy week for the Truly Scrumptious team. We had the most amazing entries for our DT Call and it was so tough to pick just two entries. So instead we have asked three ladies to join our team; welcome aboard Mandy, Debbie and Lisette!

But it's a sad goodbye to Angela who is leaving our team. We will miss you Angela and your fabulous cards.

This week we have a fabulous sketch from Dawn

I rotated the sketch for my card. The papers are Basic Grey and I used an old favourite 'Daisy' as my image. There is some silver thread behind her which is not very clear on the picture but it's an important element of the sketch so I thought I should mention it!

I hope you will join us this week. We have a fabulous $20 gift voucher from Stamp and Create for our winner.

Card for Mum

2010-07-13T22:15:00.005+01:00

Hello everyone, I hope you had a lovely weekend. We had some beautiful weather in Kent so we spent a lot of time in the garden; me sitting under the umbrella and Thomas shooting down the slide into his paddling pool. I also had a fantastic girls night out on Friday. I met some friends in London and we went to see Sister Act at the Palladium. It was fantastic! My friends' neice has one of the starring roles so we were a little bit biased but the music was brilliant and such a great 'feel good' show. If you get the chance to go I would highly recommend it.

Onto todays card and I've used another gorgeous Sarah Kay image to make a card for my Mum's birthday. She is coloured with distress inks and I've just realised I forgot to add stickles to the flowers (will do that in a bit). The paper is a favourite from the DCWV Linen Closet collection and I've inked all the edges with distress inks. The flowers, pearl sprays and lace are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the 'happy birthday' sentiment is by Wild Rose Studio. I ran out of time tonight but tomorrow I plan to make an envelope box using Heather's tutorial. If I remember I'll add a picture to this post.

A Gem of a Challenge #5

2010-07-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

It's time for our monthly Gem of a Challenge but before I show you my card I need to tell you about a few changes being made to the challenge blog.

From now on our challenges will be a sketch with an optional extra. There will still be a Top 5 as chosen by the DT, plus one lucky winner picked by Random.Org will get to choose 2 Pink Gem stamps as their prize.

Now for this months challenge there is an added bonus too. It's Mandy's birthday this month and she also designed our sketch for this challenge. She is very generously going to give two Pink Gem Stamps as a prize to her favourite card with a Pink Gem image PLUS two Pink Gem Stamps to her favourite entry that hasn't used a Pink Gem image. So it really is worth entering even if you haven't got a Pink Gem stamp (yet!).

Here is my card

Now I love all of Janet's images but this one is definitely in my top 3! She's called 'Snowflake Mimi' although I think she can definitely be used all year round. She is coloured with distress inks and I used a pale grey Tombow pen to create a subtle outline to make her 'pop'. The papers are My Minds Eye Bloom & Grow and I used my Mariannes die for the swirls which are covered with stickles.

I hope you will take part in our challenge this month.

Truly Scrumptious - How does your garden grow?

2010-07-07T08:00:00.001+01:00

It's time for another Truly Scrumptious challenge and this week we are sponsored by the lovely Christine Dark (Sketching Stamper) who is offering 5 digi stamps to our winner.

This is the sketch we have for you this time

And the optional theme is 'How does your garden grow'.

I've used one of my all time favourites for this card. I love these Sarah Kay images, they are so much fun to colour. I've used my usual distress inks and a pale blue Tombow pen for the background. The trellis has been made using a Martha Stewart deep edge punch. I then painted the strips with Antique Linen crackle paint, threaded through some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and added some punched flowers as well. The patterned paper (which is pretty well hidden!) is from Fancy Pants and I also used a lovely fabric paper that I picked up at a craft show recently but most of that is hidden as well!!

I do hope you will be able to join in our challenge. We are also looking for two new DT members to join the Truly Scrumptious team. All the details are on the blog.

Stampavie - Kickin' It for Michelle & DT Call

2010-07-06T23:04:00.002+01:00

I am sure if you are a regular craft blogger you will have heard about Michelle Oatman's terrible accident. Tina Wenke from Stampavie has designed a special digi stamp for Michelle which is available from the Stampavie blog. To show your support for Michelle and to help her pay her medical bills, you can make a donation via PayPal. All the info is on the blog.

Stampavie are also looking for five new DT members so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring, so to speak. There are hundreds of entries as you can imagine so I guess my chances are slim but hey, you have to be in it to win it!!

2010-07-03T07:00:00.000+01:00

It feels like an age since I last posted on this blog. I've been to Wimbledon twice which was fantastic but it meant four nights away from home so I am now way behind with work and all the washing, ironing and other boring household chores. Plus the weather is so gorgeous its hard drag myself in from the garden!

I've got two cards to show you today. The first is a Pink Gem DT card. Janet has just launched some new stamps which you can view here. This adorable elephant is called Ella, I just love her expression! I used a simple layout and some MME Wild Asparagus papers.

For my second card I wanted to used this Belles & Whistles stamp which I bought a few weeks ago but hadn't yet used. I've used distress inks for most of the colouring and a pale blue Tombow pen for the background colour. The paper is a double sided sheet from Prima Marketing and the gorgeous paper flowers were a birthday gift from Angela.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that the sun is shining in you part of the world.

Truly Scrumptious DT Call

2010-06-27T09:54:00.002+01:00

We are looking for 2 new DT members over on the Truly Scrumptious challenge blog. Please click here for all the information.

Truly Scrumptious #35

2010-06-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

Here we are again, another Truly Scrumptious challenge for you! This time the sketch has been drawn by me; here it is

And our optional extra theme is 'Strawberries & Cream'. Wimbledon started this week and as strawberries are synonymous with the All England Club it seemed very appropriate. This challenge is being sponsored by Whiff of Joy stamps and the winner will receive one of their lovely rubber stamps.

Here is my DT card

I had something completely different in mind for my card but for the life of me I couldn't find the strawberry stamp I was sure I had. So I decided to use Ice Cream Chloe from Pink Gem Designs who is eating clotted cream ice cream with strawberry sauce on top!!

The paper is Bo Bunny which is quite bright so I didn't want to add too many embellishments, just a ribbon, sentiment and a layered flower. As usual the rest of the DT have made some gorgeous creations so do hop across to the blog to take a look.

Finally some crafting time!

2010-06-19T22:34:00.004+01:00

It's been such a hectic week, all I managed to do crafting wise is colour this one image and tonight I finally got to make a card. All in all we've been to the dentist, I've been on a training course, the dog has been groomed, the carpets have been cleaned and last night I had an evening out with the girls!!

I've used a few new things on this card. I bought the adorable Belles & Whistles stamp, butterfly & leaf punches and the BG papers at the Craft Barn last weekend. I spent a good few hours wandering around all the demonstrations where I got a chance to say hello again to the lovely Christine Dark and I also met the lovely & talented Kim Piggott.

All the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the sentiment is Personal Impressions.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. It's been so cold here today I seriously thought about putting the heating on for a bit!! Hopefully it will warm up tomorrow as we bought a climbing frame/slide from our neighbours for Thomas and it would be nice to get out in the garden to use it.

Challenges entered:

Sketch Saturday - Sketch
Creative Card Crew - Thank You
Charisma Cardz - All about the bling
Totally Gorjuss - Sugar and Spice

A new favourite

2010-06-11T23:50:00.005+01:00

Happy Friday! I hope you have had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. Here's hoping that the weather in the UK improves, although it couldn't be much worse for June!! It's been a trying week in our house. The terrible twos are definitely upon us and Thomas is now capable of throwing a spectacular tantrum at the drop of a hat which is fine when we are at home but not so much fun when we are out. Any tips on how to manage these outbursts will be gratefully received.

I have managed to make two cards tonight - a first for me I think. I completely fell in love with this LOTV image when I first saw it and it is such a dream to colour I had to do one in blue and one in pink.

For my blue card I used the sketch on this weeks LOTV challenge. The papers are DCWV Linen Closet (again) and I've added a charm and flowers which were a birthday present from Angela.

I'm entering this card in quite a few challenges:

Lili of the Valley - Sketch
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Floral Delights
Stampavie & More - Dots
Simon Says Stamp - Recipe
Charisma Cardz - Spots and Stripes
Totally Gorjuss - For the Boys

My pink card is my first ever entry in the Clean & Simple challenge. It was hard not to add the usual embellishments and as you can see I did add a few pearls; I couldn't help myself! The paper is by Paper Salon and the sentiment is from Wild Rose Studio. I'm also going to enter this card in the Stamp Something challenge (Happy Somethings).

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. We're going to a barbeque tomorrow where there will be a bouncy castle and lots of other children so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Thomas will behave himself!!

Truly Scrumptious Challenge 34

2010-06-09T08:00:00.000+01:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's time for a new challenge over on the Truly Scrumptious blog and this week we have a lovely sketch designed by DT member Beth;

The optional extra challenge is to use either checks or gingham on your card.

I've got a few male cards to make over the coming weeks as it's my dad's birthday and Fathers Day this month. This one is for Dad's birthday and I used one of my new LOTV images which is coloured with distress inks. I mirrored the sketch as the image looked better on the left. The papers are DCWV Linen Closet again - I'm afraid you are going to be seeing a lot of these papers as I love the whole collection. The sentiment is from Wild Rose Studio.

The lucky winner of this challenge will receive a $15 gift voucher to spend on Whimsy Stamps. I hope you will be able to join us this time.

Card for a princess

2010-06-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

It’s time for another Gem of a Challenge and this month the super talented Debby has chosen a theme of button & ribbon.

I’ve used this adorable new Pink Gem image. I’ve made this card for a 6 year old girl so I went for soft, pretty and girly papers and I’ve added some gems to her crown, wand and her shoes.

The punch is my new MS ‘round the page’, ribbon & buttons from my stash. I hope you will be able to join in the challenge. Remember, you don’t have to use a Pink Gem image but if you do you will be entered into the draw to win two stamps.

Lazy Summer Days

2010-06-01T23:29:00.006+01:00

Oh dear, what happened to the weather? It's been awful in Kent today; wet and cold. To cheer myself up I visited the Lili of the Valley website and ordered a few of their new stamps!! A small package from Wild Orchid Crafts was waiting for me when I got home from work so I just had to make a card and use some of my new stash.

This is a digi image available directly from Elisabeth Bell's website - thank you Sue for telling me where to find her. The papers are DCWV Linen Closet collection and the background sheet is lovely and glittery which you can kinda see from the picture. The lace and flowers are my new stash and the sentiment is from Wild Rose Studio.

I'm going to enter this card into these challenges:

Sketch Saturday - sketch, Charisma Cardz - Round & round, Stampin' for the Weekend - Make someone smile, Papertake Weekly - Fun Fun Fun

Thank you for all your lovely birthday wishes. I guess 40 isn't too bad (so far anyway) but I'm definitely on a health kick for a few days after eating far too much over the long weekend!

Happy Birthday to me!

2010-05-29T22:00:00.004+01:00

40 today!! I'm not sure how I feel about that really but I've had a fantastic day nevertheless. I went out with my family for a fabulous lunch and then back to my sisters house where the children ran around and wore themselves out and we relaxed with tea and cake. Tomorrow we're hoping to get to the coast (weather permitting) and then on Monday it's another family lunch out - goodness knows how much weight I will have put on by Tuesday.

I started this card a few days ago and finally finished it yesterday. Kaya with Flowers is available from Pink Gem Designs and was in my May DT package. Isn't she lovely? I used my new DCWV Linen Closet papers and also attached a gorgeous little butterfly which was included in my Papercraft Essential prize box of goodies.

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

Totally Gorjuss - Wings (on the butterfly!)
Stampavie & More - Happy Birthday for a Girl
Simon Says Stamp - Pink or Blue with Green & Brown
Creative Inspirations - Punches or die cuts
Spoon Full of Sugar - Celebrations

And before I go I'd like to share a picture of my gorgeous little boy with his older cousin, taken while we were out to lunch today. Thomas absolutely adores Edward and they play so nicely together.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Truly Scrumptious #33

2010-05-26T09:14:00.005+01:00

Good morning everyone. It's Truly Scrumptious challenge time and we have a fab sketch designed by Mina.

The optional extra challenge is to include some embossing somewhere on your card. I still don't feel my mojo has full returned but a bit of craft shopping at the weekend helped a bit!

I used one of the adorable Wild Rose Studio stamps 'Toby with Roses' that was in my latest DT package. The papers are from the Wild Rose Studio 'Spring Fling' collection. I love the bright colours in this pack - just perfect for summer cards. The glazed brad in the centre of the larger flower is also WRS and I used one of my new Spellbinder label dies for the sentiment. I did emboss the green card with a Cuttlebug folder but most of it ended up being hidden under the image and flower!

The rest of the DT have created some gorgeous cards and I hope you will be able to join in our challenge this time.

Missing Mojo & Big Birthday Countdown!

2010-05-22T22:03:00.004+01:00

I should have had a card to show you tonight but my mojo is well and truly missing. I coloured a Magnolia image which didn't look right at all and then I couldn't get my papers to 'work' with the layout so I've given up and turned to a large bar of Dairy Milk instead.

It could have something to do with the fact that one week from today I will turn 40! OMG - how did that happen? Turning 30 was absolutely fine, 40 I'm not too happy with. I do have a nice weekend planned though so that is something to look forward to (along with the wrinkles, more grey hairs etc).

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather and maybe I'll be able to make something half decent to show you tomorrow.

Pink Gem New Release!

2010-05-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

Yay, it's Friday and the weekend is nearly here. It's been another busy and tiring week in our house. Thomas has been a bit poorly so we've had a couple of disturbed nights sleep and I'm useless if I don't get at least 8 hours! I do wonder how on earth I managed during those newborn weeks!!

Pink Gem Designs is launching some new stamps today - they should be available from the website this evening. Here is a sneaky peak of one of the images:

How adorable is this little princess? I love the cute expression on her face. I've added some pearls to her crown and some stickles to her dress. The paper is BG and I've used my new MS round-the-page punch and Marianne flourish die.

The rest of the DT also have some sneaky peaks on their blogs so do go and have a look.

Finally.... a card again!

2010-05-18T23:07:00.004+01:00

Life has been so busy recently - some good, some bad. A friend of a friend who I met a few times sadly died last week. She was the same age as me and had a rare form of cancer which she had been fighting for several years. Her story made the national press after her PCT refused to fund the drugs she needed to extend her life, although they quickly reversed their decision once it made the headlines. Unfortunately she took a turn for the worse and passed peacefully last Tuesday. She leaves a husband and twin boys who are only 2. When something like this happens it makes me realise how much I take my own good health for granted and how fragile life can be.

On a positive note I have decided to leave my office job at the end of the year and concentrate on growing my Pilates business. I've booked myself onto a few courses to upgrade my qualifications and I'm spending lots of time learning how to market my classes and get my website working for me profitably! If everything goes well I might even find myself with more crafting time!!

Enough of my chat, here is my first card in just under a week. The lovely Christine kindly allowed me to ink up her new hAnglars before I sent them on to her - thanks so much!! This sweetie is coloured with distress inks. I've used a mixture of K & Co and Papermania papers, along with some gorgeous blooms from Wild Orchid Crafts. All the edges have been distressed and inked and I used a Martha Stewart punch for the bottom panel.

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

Creative Card Crew - Sketch, Papertake Weekly - Say it with Flowers, Spoon Full of Sugar - Cute and Girly, Totally Gorjuss - Round and round

Have a great week. I'll be back later in the week to celebrate the new Pink Gem stamps that are coming your way.

PS. Not sure what's happened with the formatting of this post, I can't seem to work out what's going on!

Truly Scrumptious #32

2010-05-12T08:00:00.000+01:00

It's Wednesday which means it's time for another Truly Scrumptious challenge. This week we have a sketch drawn by me;

The optional challenge this week is to omit the square card base and make a round card.

I received a Wild Rose Studio DT package at the weekend so I had to ink up this cutie "Buttercup in Meadow". He is coloured with distress inks and I added some faux stitching around the edge. The gorgeous 'Spring Fling' paper is also by Wild Rose Studio (list of stockists here).

Now I hate my Fiskars circle cutter; it slips when you are cutting with it but it's the only option I've got to cut larger circles and I had to use it for the three larger circles on this card. If anyone can recommend another circle cutting tool then I'd be very grateful!

The lovely Sandra Dry is sponsoring us this week and the winner will get to pick 6 individual digi images as their prize.

I look forward to seeing what you create with my sketch!

A Gem of A Challenge #4

2010-05-08T09:00:00.004+01:00

It's the weekend already! Don't you just love a short 4 day week?!

We have a new challenge for you over a A Gem of a Challenge and this month it was my turn to choose the challenge. I decided on a colour combination of pink, burgandy and green.

Janet sent me one of the new images to use for this card 'Chloe with Cat'. Isn't she adorable? She will be availalable from Pink Gem Designs early next week. I loved colouring her in and she is definitely my new favourite Pink Gem image.

I've used the sketch from this weeks Sketchy Colors challenge. Chloe is coloured with distress inks and I've created a 3D frame around her using nesties. The paper is Basic Grey Eva and the sentiment is Papermania. The lattice panel is cut with my Martha Stewart punch - currently my favourite tool! I hope you will join us this month.

New baby card

2010-05-05T23:11:00.006+01:00

This is a card for a very good friend of mine who is expecting a baby boy any time now. We met through ante natal classes and now a few of us from the same class meet up every Friday morning for coffee, cake and a good natter.

I got the inspiration for this card from Camilla's wonderful blog. It's been a long time since I made a card of this design and I really enjoyed doing something a little bit different. The paper is from Paper Salon and I've inked all the edges with Tumbled Glass distress ink.

All the flowers and the pearl sprays are from Wild Orchid Crafts and have been spritzed with glimmer mist. The insert has been stamped around the edges with Stempelglede stamps and Tumbled Glass ink.

I'm going to enter this into two challenges:

Cute Card Thursday: Boyz to Men (it's for a baby boy so hopefully that counts!)
Stampacular: Card for Mom (this is for a new mum)

I do love receiving all your comments so if you have a minute please let me know what you think.

Wild Rose Studio DT & a few challenges

2010-05-04T23:04:00.004+01:00

Brrrr... where did the mild weather go? I've just taken Benji for his evening walk and it's freezing outside! Our central heating has gone back on, as have the winter jumpers!!

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend. We took Thomas to London to the Aquarium on Saturday. He loved the train ride up there and was fascinated by the fish. He even got to touch a starfish. We had lunch and an ice cream and a stroll along the South Bank which is always good fun. Unfortunately the weather for the rest of the weekend was awful so we had some quiet time at home and a trip to the soft play centre.

Onto my card and one of my gorgeous Wild Rose Studio DT stamps. I think this one is my favourite. I've used the latest Sketch & Stash layout and some very colourful Basic Grey Lemonade paper. I've had the flower in my drawer for a few years and was a freebie that came with a magazine.

I'd also like to enter this card for these challenges:

Stamp with Fun: Friend (I think the cat and butterfly look like they're friends!)
Sketch and Stash: Sketch and a neglected flower from my stash
Spoon Full of Sugar: Furry Friends
Truly Gorjuss: In Stitches

I hope to have another card to show you tomorrow.

PS. For all you hAnglar fans, there are some new kits available on ebay!!

Pink Gem DT Card

2010-04-29T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, I hope your week is going well so far.

I want to show you my latest Pink Gem DT card today. This is Meg with Daffodil - isn't she adorable? I've coloured her with distress inks and mounted her onto a scalloped circle nestie. The gorgeous papers are from Wild Rose Studio and the sentiment is from Personal Impressions.

Janet is releasing some new stamps very soon. I've had a sneaky peak and they are gorgeous so keep an eye on the shops to get in quick before they all go!

Truly Scrumptious #31

2010-04-28T07:20:00.000+01:00

Good morning everyone. It's going to be a lovely sunny day here in Kent and I hope the sun is shining where ever you are. We're up to challenge #31 over at Truly Scrumptious and this week we have a sketch designed by me:

And the optional extra challenge is to design your card so that the tag shaped element can be removed to reveal a hidden message.

This is the first time I've used this gorgeous LOTV stamp and I've only just noticed that I've forgotten to glitter her wings - a fairy has to have glitter right? I've used Antique Linen distress ink to shade the background and then stamped around the edges with some flourish stamps from Crafty Individuals.

The papers are a mixture of Prima and Crate Paper. I've distressed some of the edges with Vintage Paper and the flowers have been punched, scrumpled and inked. The ticket stamp was a freebie with a magazine.

The DT girls have made some gorgeous samples so do pay a visit to the Truly Scrumptious blog to take a look and hopefully join in our challenge. There is a gorgeous prize on offer from Crafty Individuals for the winner.

A Sketchy Colored Anniversary

2010-04-20T21:40:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone, this is going to be a very quick post as I want to get it on before my husband comes home. This is his card for our wedding anniversary tomorrow and I don't want him to see it before the morning!

I used another of my new hAnglar's and the fabulous sketch from this weeks Sketchy Color's challenge. She is coloured with distress inks and I've used a mixture of MME and Daisy D's papers.

I can't quite believe we've been married for six years. We had a wonderful wedding in Florida joined by family and friends and I will enjoy looking through the photos again tomorrow. We've got a DVD too so hopefully we'll watch that again over the weekend.

Catch you all later - I can hear his car on the driveway!!

Friday Sketchers

2010-04-16T22:42:00.006+01:00

Happy Friday everyone. I hope you've had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. We've got a good forecast for the South of England although they said on the news tonight that we might get a light covering of ash which is blowing over from the Icelandic volcano!

My hAnglar stamps arrived on Tuesday (great service as I only ordered them Friday morning). I fell in love with this cutie the moment I spotted her in blogland so I was thrilled she was in one of the kits being sold.

The papers are a mixture of Rusty Pickle and Magnolia. I scuffed all the edges and distressed them with Walnut Stain distress ink. I even felt brave enough to tear one piece!! The deeper blue flower was a bargin from HobbyCraft (39p for 5 flowers) and the others are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I forgot to spray the flowers with glimmer mist so I added some stickles instead, but I did managed to stick everything the right way up on the base card!

Also in the post this week I received the latest copy of Papercraft Essentials and guess who is making her debut as a designer.........ME!!

My challenge was to make five cards for £5 which was harder than I first imagined! I'm so excited to have some cards published and if you buy this magazine I'd love to know what you think.

Truly Scrumptious #30 - 'April Showers'

2010-04-14T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hello blogging friends. I hope you are well and the Spring sunshine is shining wherever you. We've had gorgeous sunshine for the last week but it's got a little colder and I did sneak the heating back on for an hour this evening.

Today we have a new challenge for you over at Truly Scrumptious. We have a fab sketch designed by Mina and the optional theme is 'April Showers'.

I've used the gorgeous Mimosa from Bildmalarna for my image and she is coloured with distress inks. The papers are MME Bloom & Grow and all the cardstock is Bazzil. I played around with ribbon and paper strips for the narrow vertical layer but none looked right so I added some sparkly raindrops instead. The flower I made myself and layered one Sizzix swirls and added a Prima stud to the centre.

Not for the first time I mistakenly stuck my layered papers and image onto the base card upside down! So at a later date I will add a sentiment and then probably turn this into an easel card.

Our challenge is being sponsored by Pink Gem Designs who are offering a gorgeous stamps as a prize for the winner. The DT girls have done a fabulous job with their samples so please visit our blog and join in the fun.

Basic Grey Challenge #17

2010-04-09T23:07:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, I hope you have had a good week – wouldn’t it be nice if we had a long weekend every weekend! And this weather can certainly continue, it’s been a fabulous 19 degrees today. Lots of nice things have happened in the last couple of days. Yesterday morning I ordered my first set of hAnglar stamps then there was a knock at the door and my Papercrafter of the Year prize had finally arrived – four huge boxes stuffed with crafty stash. I just need to find somewhere to put it all now! And to top it all off, what I thought was a slow puncture in one of my car tyres turned out to be a leaky valve which the nice man at the garage fixed for free. I love it when you have days like that!!

Onto my card, and I have used Martine’s fab sketch for this weeks Basic Grey Challenge. This is the first time I’ve used this Sarah Kay stamp and she was lovely to colour. All the papers are BG Indian Summer and the metal photo corner is from American Craft Elements.

I’m visiting my parents over the weekend so hopefully the weather will stay nice so we can get out for some walks with the children. Whatever you are doing, have a great weekend.

Good news for hAnglar & stAnglar fans!

2010-04-08T09:51:00.002+01:00

While I was blog hopping last night I read on Katy's blog that she had seem some hAnglar stamps kits for sale on Ebay. Ever the sceptic I emailed Hanglar & Stanglar to check these kits are legitimate and they are!

So if, like me, you have been dying to get your hands on these cuties, head over to Ebay now before they all go!

A Gem of a Challenge

2010-04-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

It’s the 8th of the month which means its time for our third ‘Gem of a Challenge’. Christine has set our challenge this time and it’s to make a card for a special birthday (eg. 1st, 16th, 21st etc).

Now Christine herself is celebrating a very special birthday this week so I made my card with her in mind!

I’ve seen a few of these ‘flower pot’ cards around in blogland so I thought I would have a go myself. It was really fun to make once I’d got all my measurements sorted out! The papers are all MME Bloom & Grow and I stamped Teddy with Rose onto shrink plastic, coloured her with chalks and then punched a hole at the top before shrinking her with my heat gun.

You can see her a bit more clearly here.

I added some white card to the insert that slots into the pot to make it easier to write a greeting.

Please pop along and visit the challenge blog. The other DT girls have made some gorgeous cards and if you use a Pink Gem image on your card you could win two fantastic stamps!

Pink Gem DT card

2010-04-07T22:36:00.002+01:00

My new DT stamps arrived a couple of days ago and I couldn’t wait to ink up this little guy, isn’t he adorable? Andy with Puppy is available here. I tried out a new water colour paper which I bought at the weekend. Normally I use a 300gsm paper but I couldn’t find any anywhere so I bought some much thinner paper which is actually much nicer than I thought it would be. And I’m hoping it will go through my printer (fingers crossed) so I can try out some digi images.

All the papers are MME Wild Asparagus and the corner stamp is by Stempelglede.

I’m going to enter this card in these challenges:

Papertake Weekly – Sketch

Spoon Full of Sugar – One for the Boys

Wild Rose Studio DT card

2010-04-05T09:22:00.002+01:00

I hope you are enjoying this Easter weekend and managed to save some chocolate for today! We had a quiet day yesterday but did have a lovely walk where Thomas managed to smother himself head to toe in mud! Typical boy.

I’ve used the sketch from this weeks Friday Sketchers challenge to make a Wild Rose Studio DT card. The new stamps that Dulcie has designed are just fantastic and you can find a list of shops that sell them here.

The papers are also from Wild Rose Studio, as is the gorgeous brad in the centre of my layered flower. We’re off out on another walk today so we’ll see how muddy Thomas manages to get this time. Enjoy the rest of this Easter weekend.