Monday 30 November 2009

Janlynn Blog Candy Winner!!

Sorry if you have been waiting for me to announce the winner of my Janlynn candy, I totally forgot about it!
I am so glad that I did a followers only candy this time because it means I can give away goodies to people who come visit me often and leave me lovely comments, instead of giving it to someone who will never visit me again.
Anyway you have come to see who won so here we go.

I got Barry (my boyfriend) to pick a name out of hat and the winner is............ Kym (Kym's Crafty Cards). Congratulations Kym!!

I know you will love these goodies, they are great quality and I promise I really did want to keep some of those flowers for myself because they are so nice lol.
Thanks to everyone who entered, I wish I could give you all something to show how much I appreciate you following my blog but unfortunately I can't.
But if you want another chance of winning, you can go do the Cute Daisy May blog hop and leave a comment on my CDM post (below this one), you will be entered to win my mini candy, and the rest of the girls on the CDM design team has candy to give away too!
And I will have more giveaways after Christmas too :)

Kym, please email me with your snail mail address and I will get these goodies out to you asap.

Lora x

Cute Daisy May Blog Hop

Welcome to the first ever Cute Daisy May blog hop!
If you came here from Linnie's blog then you are on the right track, but if you just came by to see little old me, then you need to go start at Beccy's blog to join in the fun.
Visit every DT member who by the way all have some cady to give away on their own blogs, and write down the letter that they give you. When you get to the last DT members blog, you will be directed to the Cute Daisy May blog where you need to leave a comment and you will have the chance to win some CDM downloads. You mut visit every DT members blog though in order to collect every letter as they will spell out a word which you have to email to cutedaisymay@gmail.com.

So first things first, I have some cards to show you. The challenge this week is Gems, so a nice easy one this time. Here's what I came up with.


I followed the sketch over at Sketch Saturday which was perfect for using gems as the sketch had the dots on it already so I just put the gems exactly when the dots on teh sketch were. I did rotate the sketch though so my image would fit. And of course the image is a Cute Daisy May. Isn't it adorable?

I also made another card with 2 Cute Daisy May images but it's not for the challenge, although it does have pearls on it so maybe I would of been able to get away with this one too lol.


Sorry about this pic, I took it at about 11pm tonight so it was really dark. I think you get the jist of it though.
I used a Christmas apeture card and dangled a little Daisy fairy in the middle. I used 2 Daisy's back to back so she can twirl round and look pretty on both sides. I done this by mirroring the image so they matched up.

This is the card opened.




I used another Daisy from the same sheet for the inside.
Now I could of kept this card to show another day but I wanted to show these cards in use because I have some to give away :)

All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post.
And here's a pic of what the winner will get. The snowflake paper is not included, it was just on my desk as I was using it today and I was too lazy to move it before taking photos lol.
All the cards are the same as the one I have used, just in a selection of different colours :)
The flowers are a selection from my stash (I have way too much!!) and there is lots of different kinds and colours.

Now all you got to do is leave me a comment and then go visit Avril. Oh but before you go, you will need the letter T.

Have fun!

Lora x

Sunday 29 November 2009

Janlynn Blog Candy!!

This candy is now closed

As I have been saying for a week or so now, I have some candy that Janlynn gave me to give away to one lucky person. I have tried all this week to get a pic of the stuff but I have either been ill (again!!) or it's been raining and I couldn't get outside to take a pic. So today while the weather looked ok thought I would get out and take a pic, but just as I got everything ready, it started to pour of rain, just typical!! So I took some pics indoors. They are not very good but hopefully you can see everything. My photo's really do not do any of this goodies justice though, they are all really good quality items and I honestly wanted to keep them for myself lol.

So here's what's up for grabs.

The top pic is everything the winner will receive, the other 2 pics are just giving you a closer look:) Janlynn have a huge sale on just now, but if you were to buy this lot for the full price, you would pay just under $70!!
Here's a list of everything, you can click on the links and it will take you straight to the item on Janlynn's site if you want a better look :)
Holiday Theme Scrappers Pack
Diva Scrappers Pack. Both these sets have over 75 pieces each! They contain handmade papers, diecuts, flowers, ribbon, buttons, bows etc and are very good quality.

Red Roses
Blue Roses
Yellow Roses
Pink Roses
White Roses
Purple Carnations
Large Poinsettias
Large Metal Flower embelishments

Right here's what you got to do to be in with a chance of winning.
1. This candy is for ACTIVE FOLLOWERS only, so if you are a follower already all you have to do is leave me some lovely comments to let me know you have visited :) If you are a new follower, you can still enter but you must have left me at least 3 comments from now until the candy closes, so I know you are not only visiting for candy. Sorry, I know this may seem a bit harsh, but after my last candy, 12 people stopped following as soon as I announced the winner, so to make it fair to my followers who are actually interested in what I do, you must be an active follower to enter. I do love to get new followers though and meet new people so don't be shy, it is open to all as long as you actually want to come visit once in a while :)
2. You MUST put a pic of this candy with a link to my blog and also add the Janlynn banner to your sidebar. You will find it in my sidebar. (the one with the tiger).
3. Leave me a comment on this post to let me know you have put the Janlynn banner and my candy pic on your blog.
Then just come visit when you feel like it:)
You can still enter if you don't have a blog. I know I have some followers who visit regularly who don't have their own blog yet, and they are more than welcome to enter. If you can't leave a comment, you can enter by emailing me at lorascards@aol.com
Oh and I will post worldwide so anyone can enter :)
This candy win run until the 29th of November which would of been my Mum's birthday if she was still with us. I will post the winner on the 30th.


Lora x

A box, ornament and a card

This months By The Cute And Girly challenge is nearly over but you do still have time to get your entries in, there's still today and tomorrow to go, so I thought I would show you a few of my DT bits that I made this month. I already showed my chest at the start of the month but I didn't show the rest of the things that I made so here they are now, of course they have been on the challenge blog all month though so if you have been over there this month you would of already saw them lol.
I have to apologise for the pics of these, they are really bad as this is when my camera broke and I had to borrow one from a friend which was worse than my own one lol.


This was a gift box that was broken (you know how the edges come apart when a 4 year old stands on it lol), which I just taped back together and covered with some SU! paper.
I got the cute image ages ago in a blog candy win so I have no idea who makes this stamp. If anyone knows, I would love to know because I really like this image and I only had the one.
The little train and tag is from a Woodware set that I won on Kath's blog a little while ago. I just stamped them on some scraps of the paper I was using. I really like this stamp set, it has lots of little bits that can be used on their own or together and they still look fab. Great for little boys cards too, and it also has some little elves in it but as I had already coloured my elf image that I used here, I didn't use any from the set this time.


Here's the box at another angle so you can see the scalloped edge. I used a Fiskars threading water/scalloped border punch.



Noe that pics were not to bad but the next two are really blurry, but I have gave away the ornament thing and I can't find the card to take another pic, so I'm afraid you will just have to try imagine what they look like irl lol.


The papers I used on this one are Stampin Up and the image is of course a Sugar Nellie which the lovely Lorraine sent me. Flowers are from Tabby crafts, love Tab's shop for flowers and pins! The ribbon and charm which you can hardly see here is from my stash. The charm is a present with a bow on top just incase you can't make out what it's ment to be lol.


This ornament was so easy to make, just some designer paper (I think this one is Bo Bunny but I can't remember for sure), punched edges with a Fiskars scalloped punch and added a few gems, beads and a charm. I've made some of these to use as decorations at the Christmas fayre as they are so quick to make. Just 5 strips of paper and a few brads to hold it together and it's done. They even look nice without the added embellishments.

If you haven't been over to the BTC&G blog this month, why don't you pop over and join in the fun? The other girls have some fab projects on the blog, so loads of inspiration to get you going. And although I have only done paper crafts, you can enter with any craft you like and there are some fab prizes to be won. I am hosting this months challenge which is Winter Wonderland, so I'm sure a lot of you will be making cards/gifts with this theme anyway as we are all trying to get our Christmas cards made so why not enter and win yourself some craft stash for your trouble?
The new challenge will be posted on the 1st of December so remember to check back for that too.

Hugs Lora x

Saturday 28 November 2009

Whiff Of Joy a missed and new challenge combined

I know my title sounds silly but that's exactly what my card for today is. I started making a card for last weeks WOJ challenge using Gio's sketch but I forgot about it and never got it finished so on Wedenesday I went to look at the new challenge and remembered that I still had last weeks card half made, and it just so happens that this weeks challenge is to make a Christmas card, so I finished it off and it fit's with this weeks challenge instead :)
Barry bought me a new camera for my Christmas and I didn't want to open it before Christmas but the camera I was using can't take pics inside and it has been pouring of rain again today so he gave me my pressie early so I could take pics of my card inside :)
I have no idea what half of the buttons are for yet so my pics are not the best but I could of never took a photo indoors (without any lamps either) and be able to even see my card at all so this is a huge improvement.



My image is colored with the usual Copics. Papers are Crafts House "Winter Wonderland"
I like these non traditional Christmas colours and the papers have a lovely sheen to them.
The sentiment is SU! from a hostess set which I stamped with Stone Grey Stazon, but on the shimmery gold card it looks totally different. The shimmer shows through and it kind of of looks like it's been heat embossed until you look at it close up. Ribbon, charm and little rose are all from my stash, and the larger flower is from Tabby Crafts. It was just a plain white flower but I rubbed over it with some lilac ink and coated it with Twinklets.



Just a closer look at the image and my flower. Iused different glue for the twinklets this time and it sticks properly without any of it falling off if you touch it. I think my Christmas cards will all be covered in this stuff because I love it :) It really is all Bev's fault though. If I had never seen her use it on her cards then I would of never knew about it and my Diamond Dust addiction would if never been born! So Bev if you read this I'm blaming you for all my cards beig covered in the stuff lol. Just wish my cards looked half as good as hers though!

Well that's the card done. I've been busy all week gettig things ready for the school Christmas Fayre and haven't had any time for blogging or making cards this week, and I have loads still to make but I'm hoping to get some time to join in with at least one more challenge and do some bloghopping, as well as getting the rest of my DT work finished.
I've made all my Santa's magic keys, which I will try to remember to take a pic of to show on here and I have made quite a few decorations. Still got to make some sweet holders and gift bags/boxes and calendars, oh and my own chrsitmas cards to sell at the fayre lol, so think I might just be busy for the next week! I have to have the Santa's Grotto decorated by the 8th of Dec and all my cards and gifts made by the 1oth so not much time and so much still to do!
I am still looking for large snowflakes to hang from the roof (and for some other projects at the school) but I'm having trouble finding any. I only have a small snowflake punch so it's not any use. We need some large snowflakes (between approx 4" and 6") and also some smaller ones, so think I will have to keep looking for ones I can buy already cut (any ideas?) Only problem with that is that we are on a really tight budget so I have to find some that are really cheap. Failing that, I will have to cut them by hand and to be honest I don't think there is any chance of me getting that done any time soon lol.

Well that's all my news. I hope you are all having a great weekend and hope my American friends had a great Thanksgiiving.
Thanks for stopping by today.

Lora x

Oh a little reminder, my blog candy ends tomorrow so if you would like to enter, then you only have until tomorrow evening (my time) to enter.

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Digital Tuesday DT card

It's my turn to host this weeks over at Digital Tuesday and the theme this week is "Thank You".
Penny from Penny's Creations is sponsoring us this week and offering the winner her 5 digi images.
She was also kind enough to give the design team 2 of her images to use for the challenge.



I used her Bear With Sign image and just printed him straight onto some Kraft cardstock and printed him out again on white card then cut out just his sign, inked over it with some distress ink and added a SU! sentiment. I also inked around the edge of the bear and coloured his nails with a brown copic.
The lovely paper is from Stampin Up. The brown piece is the reverse of the stripey one.
The swirls were punched with an All Night Media swirl punch. It is just a single swirl punch but I used 2 together to make a little flourish kind of thing. Flower is a Prima and the button is from a bag that the lovely Stef sent me. (thanks hun, they have came in sooo handy, mmwahh)
This is a lot simpler than most of my cards and I didn't really colour anything but it's nice to have a change and I need to start doing simple quick cards for Christmas so I can get a lot more made, so this was good practice. Not sure if I like it but I love those SU! papers. They are from one of the speciality packs (I think) and are much thicker than their normal ones and they also have a textured feel to them. I got these last month and this is the first time I have used them because the colours haven't went with any of the cards I have been making lately, but now I have opened the pack I think you will be seeing a lot more of them :)

Well I hope you are all having a great day. It's pouring of rain here again so looks like it's going to be a crafty day in for me...yay :) but tonight Liam is doing a break dancing performance at Aberdeen's Lemon Tree so I have to go pick him up when that's finished. I really want to go to see him performing but all the tickets are sold out :( We only found out this morning that he was getting to perform as he was off lessons for 2 weeks when he had tonsillitis so his tutor didn't think he would be able to do the performance because he had missed learning some of the routines, but he went to his last lesson and managed to learn everything he had missed and done it so well that his tutor said he could go after all. But I phoned this morning for tickets and they are all sold out. The woman at the box office has been trying for over an hour to see if she could get me tickets (which was really nice of her. she even worked over her normal shift so she could keep phoning to try get me tickets), but she couldn't get through on the phone to the place that the performance is being held, so she has gave me the number so I can try myself later.
Keep your fingers crossed for me! Hope someone who has tickets is ill and can't go lol, then I will be able to get their seat :)
If I do manage somehow to get tickets, I will take lots of picks so you can see my little break dancer in action lol. I haven't even seen him do it myself and this is his first performance, so I will be really gutted if I can't go.

Until then though, I'm off to make some Christmas cards while I only have one kid at home and she's sitting watching Mr Maker (a kiddies arts and crafts thing on the telly).

Lora x

Monday 23 November 2009

Cute Daisy May DT and a challenge

I'm really late posting my DT card today, been at the kids school all day getting some decorations made for the school fayre.and forgot to post it when I got home. I found some nice snowflake decorations that were easy to make on the internet the other day so I made some of those. Will show pics of them another time though.
I still need to make loads of stuff and do lots more cards but at least I have started now.

The challenge over at Cute Daisy May this week is "Red Christmas", so that's one more made for the Christmas box :)
I entering this card to Stampin For The Weekend as I followed their sketch.



I made this card at the last minute last night and took the pic before the twinklets had dried properly, so the flower doesn't look so white anymore, you can see the red a bit more through the twinklets.
The papers are Stampin Up and the scallopedoval is a digi element by Summer Driggs.
The sweet image is of course a Cute Daisy May and I paper pieced her clothes. AfterI had cut her clothes out, I stamped over them with an Anna Griffin backgrouns stamp with Versamark and heat embossed with vlear embossing powder. I also stamped some tiny snowflakes on her jacket with some distress ink, but you can't realyy see any of that in the pic. It looks nice irl though. Gives it a bit of texture and make her clothes look like they have a subtle pattern. The rest of the image is coloured with Copics.
The sentiment is a chipboard embelishment that I bought last year but can't remember where and the ribbon, spacer, brad and pearls are all from my stash.
Well I'm off now in search of some large snowflake shapes for the Christmas Fayre.

Lora x

Friday 20 November 2009

Just for fun



I forgot I made this card last week just for fun. I had some of the Stampin Up papers I had been using on another card on my desk and a WOJ image that I coloured ages ago so thought I would stick them onto a card, and this is how it turned out.
I just love these SU! papers just now, they are so pretty and just happened to go well with my coloured image. The lace looks squint here but it was just because I scanned the card and the scanner had moved it. It does look straight IRL. The lace was from a local haberdashery and the velvet ribbon I threaded through it is by Craft House. Flowers are a mix of Prima and some from Tabby Crafts. spacer and pearls from Ebay and branches are punched with a Mcgill punch.
I made this card to send to someone who hopefully still reads my blog :) so one of you will be getting it through your mailbox soon :)

Now the card is over and done with, I have an apology to make. I have a lot of mail that needs posted but I have been busy at the kids school all week and haven't been back in time to catch the post office, so if any of you are waiting for packages from me, I am really sorry. They will be posted first thing in the morning. I have also had trouble getting card to stamp my images on and for my card bases as the papermill shop was out of the normal card I use when I went last week, and I haven't been able to get there this week, so hopefully they will have tomorrow or else I won't be able to make any more cards until they get some in!

Right I'm off to look for some more ideas for this Santa's grotto thing! Thank you to everyone who left me some ideas :) If anyone else has any ideas/advice on what else I could do to decorate a room to make it into a Santa's Grotto, they would be gratefully received. Just incase anyone didn't see my post below, I need to make a fireplace and decorate the rest of the room too. I have a few idea but the more ideas I have the better. I should of maybe mentioned in my previous post that as it's for the school, we are on a budget, so it has to be cheap but look good :)

Thanks for stopping by

Lora x

Thursday 19 November 2009

Any Stamp Will Do and I need some crafty advice!

Just a quick post tonight to show the card I made for Stef's colour challenge at Any Stamp Will Do.
Stef's colour choices were red, green, blue and yellow (or gold).
The papers are all Stampin Up, I used my Fiskars border punch for the scalloped edge, flower is from Tabby Crafts, ribbon is Dovecraft and of course I have used a Sugar Nellie Gorjuss Girl which I coloured with Copics and used a bit of glitter on her star.
Just a simple card but that's just the kind of cards I need to be making just now so I can get lots churned out for Christmas. Especially as I have the school Christmas Fayre to make cards to sell at and I need to make othr gifts to see too, which I haven't even started and it's on the 10th and 11th of December. Think I'd better get my bum in gear!

Speaking of the Christmas Fayre. I was asked today if I could decorate the Santa's Grotto. They really want it to be WOW, so no pressure there lol. I need to make a paper fireplace and some decorations to hang up and anything else I can think of, so I was wandering if any of you imaginative people have any ideas for me? In other words....help!!! I have no idea how I'm gonna do this so any ideas would be gratefully received :)

Thanks for stopping by

Lora xx

Tuesday 17 November 2009

Just Magnolia

I just remembered that I had a card to post for this weeks Just Magnolia challenge that I made on Friday after the challenge was posted! Oh well at least I am still on time :)
It's another fab sketch this week so of course me loving sketches, I just had to play along.




I had to scan this one and you can hardly see the acetate snowflakes but just look for the brads and you can imagine what it looks like irl lol.
I have no idea who makes this paper but I got a 12x12 sheet of it at my local craft store for 49p!! Think they must of made a mistake with the price because I have never bought a 12x12 from there that has cost me under £1. It's a thick quality paper too so if I go back to get more, they will probably be doubled in price.
I've had this image coloured for ages but have never used it because the ink has run a bit as it was stamped in stazon and I used Copics to colour but it doesn't look as bad as it does in this pic, think the scanner has just made it blurry. Anyway I used it and it's stopping right where it is.
I used one of the Nestie shapes Heather cut for me (I so need to get more nesties of my own!) but I only had the one size so , I traced around it onto a piece of card with a quickie glue pen and covered it in sparkly embossing powder and heated, then cut the label shape out using the embossing as a guide, and there you go, a home made embossed label shaped mat :)
The big snowflakes are just some old stickers I had and I stuck them onto card abnd cut them out so I didn't need to stick down the edges. There is acetate snowflakes on top of them and also some on their own and I covered them with Twinklets (Bev my addiction to Twinklets is all your fault!!!) and added a snowflake charm. I used a strip of holographic kind of paper and put some sparkly lace from my stash on top. I think the sentiment is a Dovecraft stamp. It was one I got last year in the £1 bin at my local craft shop.
I wish the twinklets showed up better because they really are pretty, although I found them a nightmare to stick on. Well not stick on but getting them to stay on. Any suggestions?
That's it from my tonight. I think I will be off to bed in a bit because Chiara fell asleep ages ago. At last a normal sleeping routine for both me and her :)

Thanks for stopping by. Remember my candy from Janlynn if you haven't entered already:)

Lora x

Cute Daisy May does Digital Tuesday

I'm feelin good today because I eventually got a sleep last night yay!! Well Chiara went to sleep about 1am and I had to be up at 7.30 am but at least I didn't go to my bed when I was ment to be waking up like I have been doing this last week!
For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, my 4 year old Daughter has tunrned her nights into days since she was sick and hasn't been going to sleep till sometimes 6 or 7 am!, but I have sorted that now (I think). She's not ill anymore and is back at nursery which will tire her out so she should be back into a normal sleeping pattern and I will get back to my normal cardmaking and blogging routine :)

Enough about that though, because it's time for another Digital Tuesday Challenge.
This week our sponsor is Cute Daisy May and Linnie is offering the winner 5 of her sheets!
The challenge this week is hosted by Ellie and she has chose a colour challenge of white, purple and gold or silver (or grey or yellow in place of the metalics).
I use Purple, Gold and White.

The papers are digi ones but I'm not sure where I got this ones from. Cute image is of course from Cute Daisy May, isn't she a cutie?, I coloured her with Copics and used some flower soft for her furry bits.
Flowers are Primas and a little ribbon rose I got off Ebay, ribbon is Dovecraft and pearls from my stash.
The other girls on the DT have made some beautiful cards, you have to go take a look at them, and why not join in with this weeks challenge while you are there :)
Remember you can use any digi image you like and you can combine challenges too, as long as it is a new card/project (not shown on your blog before) then you are in with a chance of winning 5 of Linnie's cute sheets.
And if you love the Cute Daisy May sheets, why not join in with the CDM challenge too. You can use any images you like to make your card rubber or digi and the challenge this week is "Texture".
Thanks for stopping by today. If you haven't seen my Janlynn blog candy yet, go have a look! It's the top post. Loads of lush flowers and 2 scrappers packs full of goodies, which of course are perfect for cardmaking too.

Monday 16 November 2009

Miss Anya does Sketch and Stash

I really am a bad blogger! I haven't posted on here since last Tuesday!! Not that I haven't been making anything or have nothing that I could post, because I have loads of stuff to post including some blog candy, but I just haven't been able to get photo's of anything because of this miserable weather!
So today I was adamant that I would post something so I went and scanned one of the cards I made that didn't have so much sticky out embelishments on it. As usual it is a rubbish pic but at least I am posting something lol.
I followed the sketch from Sketch and Stash. I did just have to pop over there and check that I could still enter as I have had the card made for about 5 days lol, so thought I might be late but lucky for me it's a fortnightly challenge :)


The papers are Stampin Up! I wasn't sure about these papers when I ordered them and just ordered for the sake of ordering really (you can never have enough designer papers, right?), but I am loving them now, although this scan does them no justice. They actually have a more creamy colour base but it looks more yellow here.
The gorgeous image is of course Miss Anya which the lovely Heather (Rica) stamped for me a few months ago. I've been hoarding them lol. I coloured her with Copics and added some flower soft on the muff and some stickles on her fur trim around her coat and boots.
Blue flowers are Prima and the little white ones are from Ebay. I got a huge lot of flowers for a few pounds, so you will be seeing loads of them over the next few weeks. I attacked them all with more stickles. The pretty snowflake is a glittered wooden one that I bought at HobbyCraft last week, and I added a little pearl in the centre. And finally the sentiment is from a freebie stamp set I got in a magazine.
I am going to try get a pic of my blog candy after my lunch so I can put it on my blog today, so remember to pop back for that. Also there is a new challenge over at Cute Daisy May today. The girls have all made beautiful cards so pop over there to see them too. The challenge this week is texture.

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting me even though I must be the worse blogger ever! lol.

Lora x

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Digital Tuesday and FSS DT

I can't believe it Tuesday already! Probably because I spent most of last week sleeping lol, but Tuesday is upon is and it brings a new Digital Tuesday Challenge.
This week is Anjous turn to host and her challenge theme is Holiday Wishes.
I told you last week that Fred She Said has some great new releases but I haven't been able to show you any of them because I was ill last week (by the way I feel so much better today, except for the swollen glands), so I used one on my Digital Tuesday card.


I used one of the coloured sheets this time as my red Copics were runnning dry and decoupaged it up. I should of took a side view pic so you could see the dimention because there is 4 layers on here, but you will just have to take my word for it.
I used some stickles in the middle but they dried all weird. I did think of putting a gem or pearl in the middle after I had taken the photo but I knew there was no chance of me getting another pic because it had started to rain so I just left it as it was.
I used papers from SU! again and the sentiment is also SU! from a level 1 hostess set, and flowers are from my stash.

Now that the card is done, I can moan about my trip to Hobbycraft yesterday. Barry came home and gave me some money as an early Christmas pressie to spend at the new Hobbycraft store in Aberdeen and I wasn't going to go because I still felt ill, but I couldn't resist it lol.
So I went with a list in my head of things that I wanted thinking the store is huge so surely I will get everythign I want and maybe a few extras. How wrong was I?!!
I have been wanting a snowflake die or punch for ages and a flourish one too, so my first stop was the dies and punches aisle, no flourishes or swirls at all and only one timy snowflake punch that was about 1 cm big, well small! There was tickets on the shelves with prices for snowflake punches but none there, so I asked a girl who worked there and she said she would go get a price gun thing and scan the price tickets to see if they had any in stock because there might be some in the stockroom, so she went and got one and scanned the tickets then told me oh yes it says we have 4 of each size and I thought oh great, then she said but they will probably be in tomorrows delivery. Well I wanted them then not the next day so I gave up on that and said I might pop in the next day (no chance of that though). Then I thought I would go get some foam pads, but of course they didn't have any. What kind of craft store doesn't have foam pads???
It kinda went downhill from there, anything I wanted they didn't have so I ended up spending £11 and went home with a tiny wee bag. I think I will just stick to my local craft shop or go shop online!
So there, that's my moan over lol.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lora x

Monday 9 November 2009

Christmas Tilda and 2 challenges

I've been wanting to join in with Susies Sassy Challenge to make a Christmas card all week but being ill has got in the way, so today I made it my mission to make a card for it and also for Charisma Cardz because they have a great sketch this week.
Here's my efforts.
I'm not sure who makes the snowflake paper, but the other papers I have used are SU!
I think I got this Tilda image from Carly ages ago and it's been sitting in my image box coloured for about a month, just waiting for a Christmas card to be used on.
Ribbons are Dovecraft and Craft House, pearls from my stash, and the charm is from The Works.


Not much else to say about this one, so here's a close up of Tilda.


Right this time I am defo away to go bloghopping and not get distracted by card making lol. I have a bit of a head ache now but I'm gonna take some painkillers and hopefully it will go away so I can stay on the computer for a while. Just wish the painkillers would put away the horrible sore throat and swollen glands, so I could eat because I am starving lol.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lora x
p.s My Cute Daisy May DT card for today is under this post :)

Cute Daisy May DT card

Good morning ladies, hope you are all having a great day! My throat feels worse today than it did yesterday but I don't have a headache today and hopefully it won't come back so I can do some bloghopping today :)
The challenge at Cute Daisy May this week is "Wild Thing"- use an animal on your card.
I done my DT card the other day while I was feeling not too bad, but I rushed it because incase I started feeling worse and just as well I did because 10 minutes after making it, I wanted to die!
I must say, it's not one of the best cards I have ever made. I don't like the papers and my colouring is rubbish because my Copics are running out again!! You would think I coloured with them every day or something lol.

I don't think my little elephants look very wild though lol, but they are really cute. They are of course from one of Linnies Cute Daisy May sheets. It was one image but I cut them out so I could put them closer together so they would fit on the oval. If you haven't checked out the Cute Daisy May sheets yet, where have you been all this time?? They are only £1.99 a sheet and you get 4 or sometimes more images on a sheet! I don't know about you, but I know I have paid that for one image, and your getting at least 4 images per sheet. There are lots of Daisy May girls to choose from, and she has them in babies, little girls and grown up Daisy, and as you can see here Linnie has also done animals and the cutest snowmen ever, seriously you got to check out the snowmen. I do have a little thing about snowmen just now so you might just be seeing lots of them soon. If you wan't to try before you buy, Linnie has a freebie sheet in her store which I just had to snag as it has the cutest snowman on it as well as some other lovely images. Then you can coem join in with our challenges :) You don't have to use a Daisy May image though to join in with the challenges, you can use any image you like, and it doesn't have to be digi's, you can even use your rubber stamps :) So go on what you waiting for? Get your bum over there and join in and you could win some more fab Cute Daisy May images for your efforts :)

Sorry this post is beginning to get a bit too looong. Can you see how much I have missed blogging while I've been ill? I just have to keep typng to make up for it lol.
Anyway back to the card. I followed the sketch over at Sketch Saturday. I wasn't going to enter it because I really don't like this card but I won't get another one done this week. The papers are Papermania and I got them on sale for 99p for about 60 or 70 8x8" sheets! That's probably why I am not so keen on them because I didn't have to spend a fortune to get them lol.
You can't really see but I punched the swirly paper with my Fiskars scalloped edge punch inkeeping with the sketch. Most of the flowers were from Lorraine (hope your back on line soon hun, I miss you loads mmwahh) she sent me the little roses aon the outside flowers in the blog candy I won a while ago, and the bigger flowers were ones she sent to my Daughter Rhianna for her birthday but I pinched some from her because I didn't have any purple flowers that fitted. Of course I had to give her another handfull of my Primas before she would give me them. Think I woul dmaybe be cheaper just buying sme purple flowers of my own lol. The other flowers are Prima and a little organza ribbon rose that I got in a card making set months ago from the £1 shop. Only bought it for these flowers and some little buttons, the rest went to the kids. And finally the ribbon is some from my local haberdashery. I got 2 meters of this one and 2 meters each of the same in pink and green all for £1.50! Can you see why I love that shop?? I have paid more than that for 1 meter of ribbon and I got 6 meters :) So overall I think this is a very cheap card lol, it's made with just bargains or freebies lol. Think my base cardstock was more expensive than the whole card pmsl.
Right I promise not to write anymore! I'm off to check out your blogs.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my looong post that has probably sent you into dream land.

Hugs Lora xx

Sunday 8 November 2009

The Sugar Bowl

Sorry I haven't been blogging this week, I have tonsillitis so just haven't been able to sit at the computer for more than a few minutes because my head is really sore and my vision goes all blurry. I am feeling a little better today though. My head and joints are not so sore although my throat is still in agony and I can hardly swallow.
Anyway I thought since I was fellling a little better, I would post my card that I made the other day for The Sugar Bowl. As always there is a fab sketch which is from Judy this time and the "please include" this week is Thankfulness.
So here's what I came up with.



I coloured Daisy with Copics as usual, the papers are a mix of Cosmo Cricket, K&Co and I'm not sure about the orange bit and the base paper. The woman at the craft shop told me they were Magenta but I think they may be K&Co, anybody know? Both pieces are actually from the same sheet, the orange is the reverse.
I normally try to use papers from the same collection or at least the same make but most of these bits were scraps so I didn't have enough from one collection to make a whole card so I had to mix and match. I think they all look ok together though?
I distressed all the edges with my scissors, then inked them with dried marigold distress ink, except the images and the nestie square which I just inked. I don't actually have that nesties but Heather sent me some cut out ones in white which I really wanted to use but I didn't want to use white, so I just drew round it and cut it out from dp. I did the same with the circle for the image as I don't have anything to cut out circles that size. I'm quite impressed with myself because they don't look too wonky for being hand cut lol.

Recipe:
Papers: Cosmo Cricket, K&Co and ??
Image: Sugar Nellies Daisy. Sentiment: SU! Oval All
Embelies: Flowers are Prima and Tabby Crafts (I inked a white one from Tabby crafts to match), spacers, pin which you can hardly see because it is clear, and lace are all from my stash
Tools: Su! scalloped oval punch, Copic markers

Well hopefully I will be able to visit some of you today, headache permitting!! I have really missed my daily bloghopping and can't wait to see what you have all been up to.
If anyone has a magic wand they could wave to make me feel better, then please feel free to wave it in my direction :)
Thanks for stopping by.

Lora x

Tuesday 3 November 2009

Digital Tuesday and FSS DT card and some candy news!

Good morning, I hope you are all having a wonderful day and it's not a bit like mine. My two girls are sick, Rhianna has tonsillitis and Chiara has a viral infection and tonsillitis too, now I am starting to get a sore throat and have had a sore head for days. What's with all the illness just now? It is never ending!!
Anyway I have my DT card to show you for Digital Tuesday. It's Suzie's first time to host and she has chose the theme of flowers. Our sponsor this week is Tracey from Fred She Said who is offering a $10 gift certificate to spend in her store. She has just added the most beautiful images to the store, you got to check them out! I will be showing you some cards made with some of Tracey's new images as soon as I get some time to play with them, but today I have used another FSS image.
I must apologise again for my pic! I had to scan and because i have roses in the corner, it's blurry there where the lid couldn't close properly, even after me holding it closed.
As you can see, I left this card quite simple because it is actually going to used as a sympathy card. I used one off the FSS paper pricking frames (with no edging) with the Chrysanthemum. I have decoupaged it up with 3 layers but as I could only scan it you can really see the dimension here. I paper pricked the border then matted it with some SU! dp. The base dp is also SU! and so is the ribbon. The flowers are a mix of Primas and some I got in the Works, and I used some tiny pearls in the bottom corner.
I am really disappointed with the pic because the card doesn't look very nice here, but in real life you can see all the layers and it is quite pretty. I will try to get a decent pic later this morning when the rain goes off to replace this one.

Now I have some exciting news for you!! I have another blog candy coming real soon. It will most likely be next week but if the goodies arrive sooner I will post it sooner.
So what is this all about I hear you ask???
Well as you all know I do some designing for Janlynn and they are giving me some candy to give away on my blog! I got to choose what goodies to give as a prize and I am telling you, I will be sooo tempted to keep them all for myself when they arrive!
If you know me, you will know how much I love my flowers so obviously there had to be some gorgeous flowers in there. I chose some beautiful roses in lots of different colours and some carnations and also some poinsettias since Christmas is coming up , and there is also 2 scrappers packs worth $20 each!! Ideal for Scrapbooking and card making too.
The whole lot would be just under $70 if you were to buy them all at normal price on the Janlynn website! how cool is that?
Janlynn do have a sale on right now though and you can get their beautiful flowers for just 0.99 instead of $3. You can check them out here. I will take a pic when everything arrives and give you links to each item so you can see them better because you know what my photos are like lol.
This candy will be for ACTIVE followers only so if you follow me but don't normally leave comments, please leave me some comments over the next week or so, so I know that you do still visit :)
I have decided to do it this way because when I done my recent candy giveaway 12 people stopped following me as soon as the winner was announced so these people obviously didn't want to follow me and only wanted what I was giving away. I only want people to follow me if they want to, not because they feel like they have to. I would rather have 5 followers who visited regularly and were interested in my cards, than 300 followers who only followed to be in with a chance of a prize.
New followers will be able to enter but I will give you all the details when I actually post the candy. Anyway enough of that for now, I just wanted to let you all know about it because I couldn't wait no longer lol.

Hope you all have a fab day. Thanks for stopping by

Lora x

Sunday 1 November 2009

By The Cute And Girly- Winter Wonderland

Good morning, hope you have all had a fab weekend. It's the first of the month and we have a new challenge for you over at By The Cute & Girly. It's my turn to host and I picked "Winter Wonderland" as the theme. I want to see all your Winter and Christmas makes this month :)
The DT have loads of beautiful projects for you to see over on the challenge blog, but just scroll down past mine because I have the worse pics on there ever! I borrowed a camera from a friend because mine wasn't playing ball and it took worse pics than my own one. My first box is ok because I took that with my own camera but the rest is really blurry so just pretend you didn't see them lol. I do have to show you some of those terrible pics on here though so I'm afraid I have to subject you to some naff photography for a few mins lol.
We have some great prizes this month, there is 3 prizes which the DT will pick winner for and one overall prize which will be drawn at random, so everyone has a chance to win :)
Simon Says is sponsoring us with a $25 voucher & free p&P, Joanna Sheen is giving a £10 voucher, Nitwitts has a great set to give away and Janlynn is giving at $20 voucher and a craft goodie bag for the overall winner!! I wish I wasn't on the DT so I could enter lol.

Speaking of Janlynn, that's what my DT project today is all about. Most of my regular visitors will know that I do some cards and projects for Janlynn but if you didn't know , you do now :) This company as well as owning Stamps Happen Stamps, has the most fabulous flowers and other embelishments and loads more card making and scrapbooking stuff as well, they even have needle craft and crafts for kids, I fully recommend that you should pay them a visit. They have a lot of stuff on sale just now including my favourite, their gorgeous roses and poinsettias and other flowers, they were $3 each per pack and are reduced to 0.99 just now!! So get yourself over there and grab a bargain.
Ok so onto my DT project. except for the naff pics, I have a chest to show you. I bough a plain chipboard chest from the craft shop , took off the pearl bead handles to paint, Chiara lost them so I had to find new ones and decorated it for Winter with some Janlynn stamps and some paper.
Now I have to confess that I haven't took a pic of the front straight on and the reason for that is, I had it all looking pretty and Chiara came in with muddy hands and picked it up! I managed to just wipe it off the painted bits but it is all over bits of the paper on the drawers so I will have to try take the paper off and recover it! On the front I have used Basic Grey blue and light green paper to cover the fronts of the drawers and used some sparkly silver beads for the handles. I will take more pics when I re do the front. I will also take more pics later today of the side and top and swap these ones because you really can't see any of the detail here.

On the sides (both are the same), I used 2 of my craft stamps from Janlynn's Holiday range. The first is the Penguin Santa isn't he just the cutest penguin? which I stamped with Stazon and coloured very carefully with Copics so the ink didn't run. I normally use Memento with my Copics but I wanted to use Stazon because I was stamping on top of a painted surface and it was a bit slippy. Oh I should probably say that I first painted the whole box with white acrylic paint. I also used a pearl pen on his hat for the fur and bauble and painted on some pearl paint under him for snow. I was going to use white glitter but thought if it was being handled the glitter would be everywhere. I then stamped all over the side with the Christmas Snowflakes stamp with some blue Versamagic Chalk ink. I even stamped over the penguin and pearl paint (once dried of course) then just wiped off the bits I didn't want. Another reason for using Stazon and the pearl pen instead of glitter or anything else. So much quicker than masking :)

I know you can't see this but I will tell you anyway lol, I stamped over the top of the box with the Christmas Snowflakes using the same blue ink and added stickles to the middle of the snowflakes (just pretend you can see that bit) and when it was all dry, I added a pretty white feather, some flowers and 2 white fabric leaves. There is also some punched ones made with the McGill branch punch but you can't see that either lol. Maybe I should of just waited until I took more pics before I showed this! Oh well it's done now.

Sorry about the huge post but I really wanted to tell you about the Janlynn sale and their new holiday stamps. I know you have seen me use a few of their new Christmas Stamps but they have loads more that I have not shown and the stamps are top quality wood mounted stamps which are a dream to stamp.

Remember Janlynn are sponsoring us again this month so if you want your hands on some of these Holiday stamps or anything else in their store, get on over there and enter with any craft you like. The winner of the Janlynn prize is for the overall winner picked at random, so you have a chance of winning no matter what craft you enter :)

Thanks for stopping by
Lora x