Loras cards

Wags n Whiskers a male birthday

2012-02-17T21:15:00.000Z

It's time for another Wags N Whiskers challenge and this fortnight the theme is Masculine Birthdays.
I was dreading this challenge for a while because I don't like making male cards, but I got stuck in and made it, and actually the experience wasn't too bad! lol
I actually made this card about 5 weeks ago and forgot I had made it until I looked at the WnW dt group the other day to see what I had to make and saw my card in a folder lol.
I must admit, I'm really not pleased with this card at all and I wish now that I had made another one because it just doesn't do the cute image justice.

Sorry about the rubbish pics, this dreary days and my rubbish photography skills make for very poor pics!!
The image I have used is of course a Wags N Whiskers, and is called Go for Goal, he's such a cutie :)
I coloured him with Promarkers as usual.
The checked paper is from K&Co Hopscotch pad that I have had forever! and I found the football one in a pile that was given to me a while back by one of my blogging buddies, I think it is Forever Friends but I could be wrong. I thought it tied in nicely with the image.
Now I always get stuck when it comes to embellishments for male cards, so I kept it really simple.
I just stamped the sentiment (think it was from a hot off the press stamp set) and then cut the ends to make it into a banner and used some funky staples to attach it to my card, and added some ribbon in the same way.
I won a blog candy a few months back at Brenda's blog (floral fantasies) and in it was an EK Success Fastenater with a pile of staples for it in all different colours and patterens.
This was the first time I have used it, but I think it's great for male cards if you are like me and don't know what to add to them, but there is also loads of girly patterned ones too, so will have to use it a bit more often.
It was a bit of a pain to get the staple thing to go right through my ribbon and the card, but I got there eventually. Think next time I will try it on something not so thick and see how it goes.

As always, there is a chance to win a WNW rubber stamp and you don't have to use WnW's images for the challenge, but if you do, you will be put into the draw to win a digi stamp too.

Thanks so much for stopping by

A Little Bit of Love

2012-02-15T09:00:00.000Z

As promised, I am back with the card I made for By The Cute and Girly challenge, where the theme is "Love Is All Around". As valentines day is now past, most people want want to be making valentines cards and gifts (unless you are super organised and want to be ready for next year! lol), but you can make anything you like, it doesn't have to be a valentines card.
I made my card a few day ago, so I was still in red and pink mode.

I followed the sketch over at Sketch and Stash and used this Pink Cat Studio image which I have had for goodness knows how long. I don't know if I have ever used this image before but I have had it for as long as I can remember, so it was about time I coloured her up!
As ususal, I coloured with Promarkers.
I only used one sheet of designer paper, it was double sided so I just used both sides, but I got it from a lovely blogging friend and don't know who makes it, but it was perfect for this challenge.
The sentiment is also really old. It's a digital freebie that I got along with a pile of other ones, but I can't remember where from. If anyone knows, please tell me so I can give credit to the designer.
The sketch has a scalloped border underneath the strip, but I don't have any border punches now, so had to make my own (I would of never thought I would miss my border punches so much, but I really miss them and will have to get more soon!).
I just used a Stampin Up scalloped oval punch, cut out a few ovals then cut them all in half and stuck them to the back of my card.

I hope you will take the time to join in with this months challenge. You can enter with any craft you like and there are some fab prizes to be won!

I won't be around tomorrow as I will have no internet access because there is work being done by the electricity people and we have been told that we will have no electricity for the whole day!
Not really what I need when we have 3 reptiles who need heat, and one of them needs UV light! This also means that I can't feed them until they have been heated up as they can't digest food without heat, so I will have 2 hungry leopard geckos and a baby bearded dragon tomorrow!! :(
Hopefully they get finished quickly and they don't get too cold while the electric is off! I will just have to make sure I have some hot water bottles on standby!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Digital Tuesday- Use Your Scraps

2012-02-14T14:16:00.000Z

It's time for another Digital Tuesday Challenge and this week it was my turn to choose the challenge.
Since I lost a lot of my craft stuff a few months back, I have been trying to use up my scraps, so that I can make the papers I have last a bit longer lol, so I chose "use your scraps" as the challenge this week.
I have loads of scraps off of 12x12 papers and some of them are big enough to cover a whole 6x6 card, but they always get forgotten about, so for this card I had a good rummage about in my scrap box and was surprised at the amount of usable scraps that I actually have! (I know that every little scrap is usable in some way, like using them to punch out shapes etc, but I mean usable as in they are big enough to make card layers with).

Our sponsor this week is Spesch Stamps who very kindly let the design team chose an image each to work with again. I love the weeks that Tracey sponsors because she is always so generous and lets the design team chose an image and her images are fab! :)
This time I chose Lidia and I actually coloured her up twice because I enjoyed colouring her so much:) I have another card almost completed with her, so I will post that one another day, but for now, here's the one I did for Digital Tuesday.

Sorry about the poor pics, I had to take them last night because my camera needed charged during the day when I was planning on taking pics.
I went for a colour combo that I very rarely use these days, but I do love these colours. I am not sure about the striped paper, but the others are by Papermania. I wasn't sure about the darker one, but I matted the layers with dark purple paper (although it doesn't look purple in this pics!), so I think it works ok.

I coloured the cute image with Promarkers as ususal, used some flowers, lace, ribbon and a little butterfly from my stash and the pretty embroidered leaves are from Little Snippets Etsy Store, but unfortunately Geraldine has decided to stop selling her embroidered embellies :( It is a lot of work for her as they are all done of material which she has to then cut around and she feels it's not worth the effort anymore. It's such a shame because all of her "snippets" are gorgeous and add something special to your cards and other projects and they look even better in real life than they do in the pics. I know if you were to buy some, you would go back for more, because they are so pretty.
The shop is closed just now, but Ger is still planning on selling her crotchet bits and also hat pins and ribbons etc, so there will still be some lovely items there :)
I am just lucky to have been on her design team and still have a little stash of embroidered snippets that I can use up :)

Well that's it from me for today. I will be back tomorrow with my mid month dt post for By The Cute and Girly, where the theme this month is Love Is In The Air. The girls already posted some fab inspiration on the challenge blog at the start of the month when the challenge began, but we have started doing an extra post in the middle of the month to show you some more projects made by the design team, so you have plenty inspiration.
There is some fab prizes up for grabs and you can enter as many times as you like as long as it is a different kind of item each time, like a card, a scrap layout, an altered item, a tag etc. So lots of chances to win and we have 3 sponsors, so that means 3 fab prizes up for grabs again this month, from Simon Says Stamp, Joanna Sheen and Bugaboo Stamps.
I know that by tomorrow Valentines day will be past, but you don't have to make a Valentines card/gift, it could be a card just to say I love you :) It doesn't need to be valentines day to tell someone you love them, right??
We all love our family, so how about a scrap page of the family? I'm sure you crafty peeps can think of lots more ideas too :)

Thanks for stopping by today and thank you for the lovely comments you have been leaving, I do read them all and it makes me really happy to know that people have taken the time to leave me a comment even when I am being a bad blogger and not doing regular posts:)
Happy Valentines Day!! Hope you all got something lovely and are being spoiled by your other half today :)

A bit of sugar...nellie

2012-02-08T18:58:00.001Z

Today I decided that I was going to go through my rubber stamps and use some that I haven't used in a long time, mainly because I don't have any new stamps lol, but also because....what's the point in buying stamps if you are only going to use them once or twice?? So I inked up some old Sugar Nellie stamps and made a few cards.

First of all I made one following the sketch at the Sugar Bowl, but I forgot that the extra option was to paper piece, and I really wanted to do the extra option (I don't know why, but even though the challenges say that you don't have to do the extra option, I always have to....I just think if someones took the time to think up the extra challenge, then why not do it :)), so I made a second card and paper pieced the image lol.

I flipped the sketch so that my image would fit better. Used Hot Off The Press papers that I got free with a magazine, and used the same papers to paper piece the image and made the flowers. I coloured the skin and hair of the image with Promarkers and everything else is paper pieced, even the tiny bow on the dolls hair, the dolls shoes, the little bits of her belt and the pocket and patch on her trousers......think I got a bit carried away!! lol I also used promarkers to darker some bits of the paper piecing.
The flowers were made by cutting out 3 rough circles, scrunching them all up, layering and then I made a rolled flower to go in the middle. Then I took a small piece of wire and twisted it, then to finish, I added a tiny sead bead on the end of the wire.
The butterfly is from Little Snippets Etsy store.

I am entering the above card into the Sugar Bowl challenge, but thought I would show the first one I made as well.

I followed the sketch as it is for this one. Used some scraps of paper and some flowers from my stash and a little dragonfly and butterfly from Little Snippets. Unfortunately Geraldine has decided to stop selling the embroidered embellies in her etsy store, but she will still be selling her crotchet items and some other bits and bobs too.

As usual, I coloured the image with Promarkers.

I have another card to show that I made for Sketch and Stash, but I will show that tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by

Love Is In The Air

2012-02-03T17:04:00.000Z

This months challenge theme over at By The Cute and Girly is "Love Is In The Air" and we have some wonderful sponsors as always :) As well as Simon Says Stamp and Joanna Sheen who sponsor us every month, we also have Bugaboo Stamps who very kindly gave the design team an image each to use for the challenge.
I made 2 cards for the first post this month and have made something else for our mid month post which will post on the challenge blog on the 15th, so today I am showing the 2 cards I made.

First up is the one I made with a Bugaboo image. Sorry about the rubbish pic, for some reason my camera just doesn't like taking pics of anything orange or red and it always goes a bit blurry. It's probably just the photographer, not the camera but blaming my camera instead of me taking the blame sounds good lol.
I used a Valentines Critter and sentiment that comes with this image.
The papers are a bit of a mix and I have no idea who makes them, all I know is the the stripy one is the reverse of the one with the hearts.
I used some flowers from my stash (Prima's and some satin ones), some satin ribbon from Little Snippets and just cut the sentiment into a heart shape, freehand because I don't have a heart die or punch and inked the edges.

And here is my second card that I made for the challenge.

I used Hanglar images for this one and some DCWV papers. I had already coloured and cut out the little girl, and then decided that I wanted something for her to sit on, so I just cut out the other image and stuck her on top with foam pads instead of masking and stamping like I normally would.
I used a heart doily and got a bit carried away with colouring bits of it! I thought it might look nice if I went around the edges with a Promarker in the same colour as I used for my image, and got a bit carried away and coloured around some other bits too lol.
I used some Prima flowers from my stash (which I forgot I had because I never ever use the small ones), a little rose, some paper flowers (which are layered with Primas on the bottom flower), some gems, a pearl brad and a Tim Holtz adage ticket.

Unfortunately I didn't have enough Promarkers in this colours to shade properly but I think she doesn't look too bad! Just pretend she is beautifully coloured! lol

Thank for stopping by and I hope you will pop over and check out the challenge blog to see what the other girls have been up to.

Digital Tuesday- Red, Black and White

2012-01-31T19:36:00.000Z

The challenge over at Digital Tuesday is a colour combo of red, black and white. I never use this combo so I had no idea what I was going to do, but Digital Delights is our sponsor this week and gave us some images to use which fitted in perfectly with the colour combo, so I just coloured it in and went from there.
I think I will have to start using combos that I never usually use as I quite enjoyed making this card and I like that it is a bit different to my normal girly coloured cards.

I don't have much red Promarkers so couldn't really blend the red in this image, but it is a rather cute image, don't you think? It actually is supposed to have text above the image, but I wanted to cut the image out and it looked a bit silly with the text when it was cut out, so I just cut it off.

I popped the image up with foam pads, done a bit of embossing with a cuttlebug hearts folder onto shimmery red card. Not sure who makes the papers as they were a gift which came in really handy as I never have this colours of papers in my stash.

I used some ribbon from my stash and made some flowers by just sewing a length or ribbon and then pulling it tight to create a circle, then layered a black paper flower in between and sewed it all together with a button on top.

I must make more of my own flowers as my flower stash is rapidly disappearing!! It also means that you can have flowers in any colour you want to match your card/project :)

Oh before I forget, the new design team members were announced today over on the digital tuesday blog and I decided that we would also have some guest designers too :) I'm looking forward to getting to know all the new ladies and seeing what fab creations they made for the challenges!

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving such lovely comments. Every comment gets read and it makes a huge difference to know that people are stopping by to see what I am up to :))

Digital Tuesday- New Beginnings

2012-01-24T09:00:00.002Z

It's time for a new Digital Tuesday challenge and the theme this week is "new beginnings".
Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Stamps who kindly gave the dt an image to work with for the challenge.

I'm not sure who makes the paper that I used on this card, it's a pad I have had for ages and the front cover is no longer on it (I think the pad split in half at some point and I can't find the other half lol)

The sweet image is from Bugaboo Stamps and is called Fancy sunbonnet bride and I coloured it with Promarkers and used a bit of stickles but I am really not happy with the colouring :( The ink was bleeding everywhere when I coloured this one!

I'm not sure if it is because I am using different ink in my printer (my cyan ink is a compatible and the rest are genuine epson as I ran out of cyan a while ago and just bought a cheap compatible to try but it doesn't print as well as the genuine epson ink does), or if it is just because the image has quite thick and dark lines, but whatever the cause I am not happy with the ink running everywhere.

I don't think it's the paper I used as I printed this on the paper that I normally use (Neenah) and never have any trouble with it bleeding, and I have tried the hairspray trick, heat setting and leaving it a few days before colouring but still didn't make any difference.

Anyway apart from the image, I used some coredinations cardstock and embossed it with the hearts cuttlebug embossing folder and then sanded it to reveal some of the core. I also embossed the "congratulations" using a new embossing folder that I got as a Christmas pressie, and again sanded it to make the embossing pop.

For embellishments, I just used a few flowers and some ribbon from my stash and some silver skeleton leaves, which is something I never use, but I kinda like it......I think lol.

I wasn't going to show a close up of the image because my colouring is terrible!! but the image is cute so I figured she deserved a close up shot lol.

I hope you will find the time to join us at Digital Tuesday this week.
I made a wedding card, but as the theme is new beginnings, you could do a new baby (not literally...I wouldn't think you could produce a real baby in a week! lol, but a baby card), new house, wedding, engagement, new job etc. There is so many ways you could go with this weeks challenge, so I'm sure you could fit in a few other challenges with this one, and the prize from Bugaboo is 7 digital images!!

Thanks for stopping by today xx

I'm really late!!!

2012-01-23T20:32:00.000Z

I am sooo late with this card!! I am positive that I scheduled a post for last Tuesday to post my Digital Tuesday dt card, but it didn't post and I can't find it anywhere!! So I am nearly a week late with my card, but thought I might as well post it.

The challenge was to make a romantic card and the sponsor is My Grafico who also gave the design team one of their digital stamp sets to work with for the challenge.
The set is called Heart Fairies and is by Stockberry Studios, and I used a few images from the set for my card.

I couldn't decide which image to use from this set, so I made a step card so I could use 3 of them :)
I haven't made one of these cards for a long time, but they are great for when you want to show off a few images and really easy and quick to make.
I kept the decoration quite simple since there are 3 images. Just used some ribbon from my stash with a little bow also from my stash that I stuck on and card candi in the centre, a Prima flower and fabric one from my stash with another card candi and some die cuts to finish it off. Die cuts are MFT and Marianne Designs and the designer paper I used is by Papermania.

The images are all coloured with Promarkers and have some stickles on their wings.
The top one I matted onto some Spellbinders scalloped circle nesties so that is sticks out on top of the card.

And a close up pic of the other two little fairies.

And finally a side on view of the whole card.

Sorry for all the pics but these cards are quite difficult to photograph (well for me anyway!) and to get all the elements seen properly in one pic so I had to take a few.
I will be back tomorrow with my Digital Tuesday card for tomorrows challenge (away to write up that post now and schedule it for 9am so I know that I have done it and then will check in the morning that it has actually posted!! lol).
Thank you to everyone who left me comments yesterday and gave me advice about cutters and some suggestions. Any more suggestions are welcome! :)

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such lovely comments!

Wags N Whiskers DT, a forgotten card and I need some crafty advice!

2012-01-22T15:34:00.000Z

I was just intending posting my Wags N Whiskers card for this fortnights challenge which is Valentines/Love, but while I was looking for the pics, I also found I card that I made and never posted which was made for Digital Tuesday. Not sure why it was never posted on my blog, but thought I may as well post it today anyway.

So first up is my Wags N Whiskers dt card. I was getting a bit tired of making Valentines cards since all of the dt's I am on have had Valentines as a theme and I made them all over a couple of days, so I decided just to make a "love you" card for this one.

I used the WnW "He Loves Me" stamp and coloured with Promarkers. I used the rubber stamp version but if you like digi's, you can also get any of the Wags 'n Whiskers stamps in digi form too.

The papers are DCWV (I think!) and I used some paper doilies, lace and ribbon from my stash, and a pretty rose bud from Little Snippets (link in my sidebar). The sentiment is from a stamp set I got ages ago as free gift with a magazine.

I am having trouble cutting ribbon just now as I left all my good scissors in my old house!, so I am having to use a cheap pair that are really rubbish at cutting ribbon, or anything else for that matter! and the ends of all my bows look terrible! I have ordered a pair of scissors along with my Tesco food shop so hopefully they will be a bit better and do me until I can get in town and get a decent pair!

My other card as I said is one I made for Digital Tuesday. I can't even remember what the challenge was!, but the sponsor was Spesch Stamps and I have used one of their lovely digi images on my card.

The papers are all scraps, I am not sure where the base one came from but the others are Dovecraft.
For the flowers, I used a SU! 5 petal punch and also a woodware punch for the smaller flowers and added a tiny pearl in the centre.
Oh and I just remembered that the challenge was "punch it out" lol, which is why I used punches for the flowers. I also used a punched border, some lace from my stash and some leaves cut with a Marianne Designs die and the flourishes which were cut with a MFT die.

A close up of the sweet image, and that's it from me.

Actually before I sign off, I wanted to ask all you lovely crafters for some advice :)
I desperately need a new paper cutter or guillotine but have no idea which one to get! At the moment I have a horrible cheap one which I bought just to tide me over until I could afford something better after my old one broke. It is the worst cutter in the world!!! It rips some papers and when it does actually cut I have to tidy up the edges with scissors because the blade is not sharp enough to give a crisp cut (although it has always been like that since I bought it), and I can never get a straight cut with it!
To make things worse, the plastic guard thing which holds the paper in place moves around when it should stay still, so I never know what the paper will end up looking like after I cut it!! lol
So, my question is, what cutter or guillotine do you recommend??
I don't have a huge amount of money to spend on one, so it has to be a reasonable price, and I'm not bothered about it having different blades (like the ones you get with wavy cutters etc), just something that cuts straight and crisp that won't break the bank:)
Any advise would be very much appreciated.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your lovely comments :) I have been trying my best to get around everyones blogs, but blogger isn't cooperating and doesn't want to load up some blogs for me, but I will keep trying!

Shabby chic? Well distressed anyway :)

2012-01-15T21:31:00.000Z

As promised earlier, I am back with a card that I made a few days ago for some challenges (although some of them are now finshed because I have taken so long to post it!), but as my title suggests, I'm not sure if it is shabby chic. That's the look I was going for, but I don't make these kind of cards very often and I am never sure what to call the style it turns out to look like lol.
Anyway, here it is.

I used another of the images from LOTV, these are so handy when you don't want to spend ages colouring an image. I added some stickles on some bits of the image just to add some extra detail.

The papers are all ones I got from my dt girls and I have no idea who makes any of them, but I love the muted tones on them and two of them are glittery :)

I distressed the edges of them all with a pair of scissors (I really need to get one of those distressing tools!) and inked them with distress ink.

The dies came out again for this card, MFT was used for the bottom flourish and the other one was with a Marianne Designs die.

The pretty pearl swirl and the butterly in the corner are both by Prima.

The pretty crotchet flowers are of course from Little Snippets, as is the pearl trimming, I added some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts on top of the crotchet flowers for a change, and I used the crotchet flowers upside down, just because the cherry blossoms seemed to sit better on them that way.

The embroidered lace butterfly is of course from Little Snippets. I always seem to use a colour that Ger doesn't have in the shop!, but she does have white ones and spring shades listed just now and she can do any other colour you want if you just ask.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly- Die Cute

Stampin' for the Weekend- Out with the old (I have had the prima bits for ages)

Anything Goes Challenge- Anything Goes

My Mums Craft Shop- Here come the girls

The Crazy Challenge- Lace and Pearls

Thanks for stopping by and thank you for your lovely comments. I do read them all and I will try to get around all your blogs to leave you a comment :)

A winter wedding??

2012-01-15T16:15:00.000Z

I can't believe we are half way through January already! Where did the month go??!!
We have started doing a mid month post over at By The Cute and Girly since we have a bigger design team now, which means a lot of projects to show in one post! So we are now posting half of our projects on the 1st of the month and the rest on the 15th, so now there will be two eye candy posts each month from the DT :) and of course all the same fab prizes from our sponsors.

So here's what I made for our mid month post.

The theme at BTC&G for January is New Beginnings, so I made a wedding card.......ok that is a total lie! I made a baby card, but when I went to take a pic of it yesterday, I noticed that part of the image has vanished!! I had stamped an image a few times and decoupaged it and a branch had somehow managed to fall off and I can't find it anywhere, so will have to fix that first! lol, so I already had this card made for another dt challenge that is not due for a few weeks yet, so I decided to use this one and make something else for the other challenge.

This is not the usual kind of colours I would use for a wedding card, but I thought I would use this cute LOTV square as my image and couldn't really find any papers to go with it, until I found these papers that I got from my lovely teamie and dt boss Ger (she is my boss at Little Snippets and I am her "boss" at by the cute and girly lol).
They are from a Me to You pad by Docrafts, Winter Wonderland, but they are not really Christmassy (is that even a word? lol), so I think they can be used for any time of the year.

The flowers were made using a Marianne Designs die. I just cut out a few and then made a kind of rose with them. It doesn't really work the same as the roses that you make using 6 petal flowers as these only have 5 petals but they come out ok....until I squish the petals on one while taking a photo!!

I added some flourishes made using Marianne Designs and My Favorite Things dies, then some pearl trimming from Little Snippets and I also cut off 2 pearls to put in the centre of each flower.

Well that's the card done, and I will be back later with a card I made for a few challenges.

Thanks for stopping by

Wags n Whiskers- White on White

2012-01-07T16:40:00.001Z

The challenge this fortnight over at Wags n Whiskers challenge is white on white with a splash of one colour.
I have never made a white on white card and I was a bit nervous about making this card, especially since I wasn't using any designer papers!!, but I really enjoyed making it and I quite like the way it turned out, so I think I will have to make some more :)

I only own a few embossing folders and never really use them, but I got two news ones for Christmas so this card was the perfect excuse to use one of them :)
I used the Cuttlebug swirl folder (not sure what it's proper name is) and the other one that my image is on is the one I got for Christmas. I had never seen this make before but Barry got it for me in a little craft shop in Stonehaven (after asking what I would like and me saying to get me a new die! lol. He didn't know the difference and bought me 2 embossing folders instead! typical man!!! lol), but they are really pretty. The one I have used is the swirl frame by Bringing Crafts-Too you, and then I stamped, coloured (with Promarkers of course) and cut out my WnW's image to stick in the frame.
I was going to stamp her in the frame straight onto the card, but she was a little too big so I had to cut her out and stick her on instead.

This little cutie is Wee Ones- Happy Day which is available to buy at Bunny Zoe's or if you are in the US or Canada, you can get her at Stamp and Create. I used the rubber stamp, but you can also get her and all of the other Wags N Whiskers stamps in digi form.
Oh and I just noticed that this little cutie is on sale at Bunny Zoe's right now with a huge 25% off!!! :)

I used some paper flowers from my stash, a pearl brad and some flourish die cuts made with a Marianne Designs die.

The gorgeous butterflies are all from Little Snippets. Aren't they gorgeous?!!
The beaded crotchet butterflies can be found here. The ones in the listing are cream, but Ger can do them in any colour for you, just ask :)
The lace applique butterfly I cannot find in the store just now, but there is all sorts of other butterflies and Ger has sooo many different patterns that it would be impossible to list them all, so if you really want ones the same as these (because let's face it they are gorgeous!! :)) you can covo Geraldine and tell her that you would like some of the ones you saw on my card. Edited to add: The white lace applique butterflies are not back in stock and you can find them here
The beautiful white double faced satin ribbon is also from Little Snippets and you can find that here.
I added a little ready made bow with pearls on top of my big bow.

If you haven't been to check out the Little Snippets store lately, you must go have a look! Ger had listed some lush ribbons, pretty rose buds, pearl trim, hat pins (which you could embellish with any of the snippets or beads etc), raffia and of course lots of lovely embroidered and crotchet "snippets".

That's it from me today, if you got to the bottom of this post, you really deserve a medal!! lol
Thanks for stopping by :)

New Beginnings at By The Cute and Girly

2012-01-01T21:12:00.000Z

Happy New Year!! The first challenge of the year is up at By The Cute and Girly and this month we have the theme "New Beginnings"- new year, new baby, new house etc.

Although this challenge theme was picked by our dt Kate a while back, it couldn't of been better timed. Apart from it being New Year, we have new beginnings over at By The Cute and Girly, with 6 new dt members joining us for their first challenge today :) If you haven't already checked out the girls blogs, you really should. They all have different styles and are all very talented :)

For the challenge this month, I decided to make a baby pram/carriage. I had a look online for some tutorials/templates, but in the end I decided to just go for it and try make it myself.
I don't have any circle dies except for scalloped circles which I used for the wheels, so I just used a jar and a cup to draw round for the circles.

I used some Papermania paper and some plain yellow card for the whole thing. As I said I drew around a jar and a smaller plastic cup for the main part, then cut out a section, cut out a strip of card to join the two sides together, added some scalloped circle wheels cut with the smallest scalloped circle nestie, some punched out flowers for the middle and card candy. Then I added some pretty lace and cut out some flourishes with a Marianne Designs die for the handles. I had to cut out 3 layers for each handle to make it strong enough to stay up because with just the one layer they were flopping over, but it was really easy since they were cut with a die so they were all exactly the same size.
I did cut a few swirls off the die cuts as they didn't look right with the full die cut, but I think they look ok now??
My youngest Daughter loved it and claimed it 5 minutes after I made it! I had to ask for it back just so I could get a pic lol.

As usual we have some prizes from our regular sponsors Simon Says Stamp with a $20 gift voucher and Joanna Sheen with a £10 voucher, so why not pop over and enter the challenge? If you win, you could buy yourself a belated Christmas pressie:)

Thanks for stopping by

An angelic Wags n Whiskers and Little Snippets

2011-12-20T10:34:00.000Z

I haven't made no cards for weeks, but I came across a DT card that I made for Little Snippets and a Wags n Whiskers challenge that was a few weeks back but I didn't get it posted on my blog for some reason.
The challenge was to use an angel or fairy image, and here's what I did.

I used the sweet Bear Hug stamp which you can buy at Stamp and Create if you are in the USA or Canada, and at Bunny Zoe's if like me you are in the UK. Bunny Zoe's also sells to Europe and the rest of the world, so you can buy Wags n Whiskers stamps wherever you live :)
Oh and you can also buy all the stamps in digital form if you prefer digis.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and used lots of stickles on her wings.
I'm not sure where the yellow paper is from, but the others are by Papermania, some ribbon from my stash, a Wild Orchid Crafts cherry blossom (with some added stickles of course :)) and everything else is from Little Snippets.
The Little Snippets store is now closed for the holidays, so I can't link up the products I have used on this card, but it will be open again after the holidays and I will add links to this post then.
I took a lot of pics to show off these beautiful embellishments from Little Snippets, but you can't really appreciate how special they look until you see them in real life. They are just perfect for making a plain card special :)

I covered the beautiful embroidered butterfly with stickles to make it sparkle.

and also added stickles to the pretty angel. This one is perfect with Christmas cards but you can use it for all sorts of occasions.

The string of pearls are also from Little Snippets. Ger has also started stocking ribbons, hat pins and some other lovely bits and bobs as well as all her beautiful embroidered embellishments and crotchet flowers and butterflies etc. They are all very reasonably priced and are excellent quality, so remember to stop by Little Snippets in the new year and have a look at the lovely goodies Ger has listed. I promise you won't be disappointed with the quality and great customer service! :)

I should be back tomorrow with a card. That's if I ever get one made today!! I just haven't felt like crafting these last few weeks, but I really want to get back into it and I just received a fab dt package from Little Snippets the other day with some extras too (thank you Ger!) and a lovely lovely lady also sent me a gift of some papers, so I am determined to go use some of them and get at least one card made today!! :)

Thanks for stopping by

A christmas bauble

2011-12-11T18:34:00.001Z

I hope you are all staying warm this weekend! It is freezing here!! On Thursday we had 80mph winds and rain, then on Friday we had a little bit of snow, yesterday was just freezing and today...well today I don't know because I haven't even went out the door today! I hate the cold!!

Anyway, I thought I would post a Christmas bauble decoration that I made a while ago, which I was going to blog ages ago but I forgot about it.
Unfortunately the pics are not very good (that's nothing new for me!, but here it is anyway.

I took a few different pics, and I know I took one where you can see the ribbon it hangs with, but I can't find it on my computer anywhere and it's too dark to take another pic tonight so you will just have to imagine it hanging from a blue satin ribbon that is tied in a bow lol.

I found this "bauble" which was actually supposed to be an Easter egg in a small craft shop in Stonehaven and thought it would be perfect for a Christmas bauble. The pretty trim was from the same shop and I have to admit that it was expensive but I couldn't help myself, it was so pretty that I had to buy some for this project, but I did just buy a meter lol.
The "egg" comes in two halves, so it was easy to add the image and bits inside, but it was a bit tricky to get them to stay where I wanted them too!

First I stuck on two gold bead sprays which I just twisted together and arranged them how I wanted them, then stuck them on at the bottom with my hot glue gun, then I stamped 2 Inky Impressions images the same, one on my normal stamping paper and one on thick card, coloured the one on the paper in, cut them both out, then I sandwiched them together with some thread in the middle so that she can dangle :) You can't see the image on the back because I had to stick the stamped side facing in the way, otherwise the shape wouldn't of lined up with the other cut out image, so the back is just plain white (might have to think of something to do there). The stamp I used is called Lili's Present and you can find it here in the Inky Impressions store.

This pic you can see the image a bit better in.
I wanted to hide the blob of glue at the bottom where I stuck the wire spray on with. Since you can see right through the bauble, it's difficult to be able to stick things on without seeing the messy glue, so I added some Twinklets (glass glitter) in before I closed it up, which hides the glue perfectly and looks like snow, and you can give it a shake like a snow globe too :)
The image kept twirling round which I didn't want to happen since the back is just plain white, but after jiggling it around for a while to get it back to facing the front, her leg got caught in the wire and it just happens to keep her facing the right way lol.
Then finally once it was closed up, I stuck on the trim (again with the hot glue).

The back is not very pretty just now, but I wanted to take a pic so you can see the gold wire stuff with the pretty beads.
My daughter had just gave it back to me after shaking it, so you can still see the little bits of glitter stuck to the sides.

I bought two of these (just incase I messed one up lol), so I think I will make another one this week. Not sure what I will put inside it this time though.....any suggestions??

Before I go, I just wanted to remind you that the DT call over at By The Cute and Girly is still running until the 14th, so if you would like to apply, you only have a few more days.
The challenge at By The Cute and Girly this month is "Let It Snow", which my bauble would be perfect for....just a pity I am on the design team and can't enter because there is some fab prizes up for grans again this month!

I am going to enter it into the following challenges though.

Stampin' For The Weekend- Christmas
Cute Card Thursday- Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly- Anything Goes with the option of adding something dangly (my image is dangling)
Allsorts- It takes 2 (use 2 colours)
Pile It On- Bling it up
Raise The Bar- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Bling It On- Christmas
Creatalicious- Christmas with sparkle
Fussy and Fancy- Photo Inspiration (the photo is of a christmas tree with lots of decorations, so I thought my bauble fit the challenge since it's for hanging on a tree)

Thanks so much for stopping by

By The Cute and Girly- Let It Snow

2011-12-06T10:50:00.000Z

It's been ages since I last posted!! Things are hectic here and I just haven't had the time to blog.
The challenge this month at By The Cute and Girly is "Let It Snow". Another easy challenge this month that I'm sure you could all join in with :)
As well as our two regular sponsors- Simon Says Stamp and Joanna Sheen, we have a new sponsor this month- The Paper Shelter, who gave the design team some images to work with for this months challenge. If you haven't checked out The Paper Shelter, where have you been?? Their images are sooo sweet and they also do coloured versions for those times when you need to make a quick card.
For both of my cards this month, I used images from The Paper Shelter. I really wanted to use the other images that the design team got as well, but as usual I ran out of time, but I think I might just have to use them before the challenge ends because they are really cute.

My first card uses Warm In The Winter- this one is so cute :)

The papers I used on this one were just scraps, so I have no idea who makes them.
The snowflakes are cut with a Sizzix die from mountboard and then covered with Fuchsia German chunky glass glitter from Meyer Imports. This glitter is so sparkly! Before I used German glass glitter, I had never seen glitter as sparkly as this, it's really pretty and just perfect for Christmas projects.
Meyer Imports sell loads of different colours of this glass glitter and in 4 grit sizes, ranging from super fine to super chunky.
I used two different ribbons from my stash and just tied them together- just noticed that it looks a bit loose in this pic, I have now fixed that and it no longer droops! lol

I coloured the image as usual with Promarkers and added some flower soft to the snow and some of the glass glitter on her hat.

My next card uses the Snowman from The Paper Shelter

I think I kinda went a bit overboard with the glitter on this one! lol

The snowman is coloured with Promarkers and covered in stickles. I also used a Sakura gelly roll pen for the band on his hat, it's really sparkly in real life.

The papers are by My Minds Eye, flower from Crafty Emma's Store, which I covered in stickles, the big snowflake which is also covered in stickles was cut with a Marianne designs die, and the smaller one which you can hardly see but it is on top of the big one, is a Woodware punch, and finally I used some white satin ribbon and a little star from my stash.

I hope you will join in with this months challenge, it's lovely to see my followers playing along :)
Also we are having a dt call over at By The Cute and Girly which runs till the 14th of December.
My design team girls are all really friendly and we love having a chat on the dt blog, so it's a nice team to be a part of. I am not just looking for people with experience of being on design team, anyone is welcome to apply and will have the same chance as people with experience. What I am looking for is people who are enthusiastic, friendly and love to craft :)
the challenge is monthly, so you have the whole month to make 2 projects, and you can do any craft you like, from card making to baking, as long as it's something you made yourself and it follows the challenge theme.
We sometimes get images/products from sponsors which you can use if you like too :)
So if you are interested in joining a friendly fun design team, hop over to the challenge blog and check out the details.

Thanks for stopping by

Digital Tuesday- Sparkle and Shine

2011-11-22T12:42:00.001Z

It’s time for another Digital Tuesday challenge, and this week we are asking to see “sparkle and shine”. This can be glitter, gems, charms, sparkly paper………anything that sparkles or shines.

Our sponsor this week is Saturated Canary and Krista gave me an image to play with for the challenge.

I love Krista’s images and have a few of them, so I couldn’t wait to use this little cutie.

I coloured the image with promarkers and used a Sakura clear star Gelly Roll pen for some glittery bits on her dress and tights, it looks nice in real life, but here it looks rubbish!! lol

The papers are a bit of a jumble and I have no idea where any of them are by except the purple gingham which is by Papermania.

I used some sparkly pink ribbon from my stash and added some stickles to the purple flowers for some more sparkle. The bigger flowers were a gift from a friend and the little purple ones were from Janlynn.com but unfortunately, they no longer sell them.

I also glittered the pretty butterfly with some crystal stickles and of course the butterfly is from non other than Little Snippets Etsy Store…….which is THE place to go for gorgeous embroidered embellies.

A close up of the sweet image and the butterfly and that’s it from me today.

I hope you will come join us this week at Digital Tuesday and be in with a chance of winning a prize from Saturated Canary.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lora x

2 cards for 4 design teams!

2011-11-15T13:28:00.001Z

I had 3 design team cards to do for today and also wanted to do one for Little Snippets, so as one was already made for my guest design spot at Anything Goes Challenge, I decided to combine the other three with one card.
I must warn you that this may be a long post as I have a lot of pics to show! So get ready for a photo overload!! lol

So my first card is for the Anything Goes challenge where I am guest designer this month. This is my last card for them (although I have only done one other because it's a fortnightly challenge lol) and I have had real fun making it.
Thank you girls for having me, I really enjoyed my time as guest dt with you :)
The challenge this fortnight is "A Real Sweetie" - so anything related to food.

I decided to do something a little bit different and made a criss-cross card.

Sorry about the poor photo, the light is just terrible here just now! :(
As I said, I made a criss cross style card, and this is it with the pull out insert panel still in place.
I didn't take a pic of the insert as you can kinda see it here anyway. It's just plain red card (which is a bit shimmery) with the corners rounded and I added a Marianne designs die cut frame so there's room to write on.
I have used a few products on this card that are available to buy at Craft Den, so I will add all the product links at the end.

This is what the card looks like when the insert is removed.
I though these papers would do the job since one has strawberries on it, but then I went and covered up that paper with the insert lol. I don't know who makes the papers though as I got the paper pad free with a magazine a while ago and can't find the front cover.
Tilda and the popcorn box have been cut out, then Tilda stuck on top and stuck on the card only up to where the card crosses over (otherwise you wouldn't be able to take the insert out)

I took this pic at a funny angle so you can see the glitter on Tilda and the Popcorn box, but you still can't see it very well.
I used a Sakura Gelly Roll Pen (Clear Star) on bits of her dress and the bows in her hair and also on the popcorn box. You can't see it here, but I used it on the label and lettering and also around all the white stripes.
I also used some crystal Stickles on her socks. It looks really sparkly in real life, just a pity that it doesn't show in these pics.

Ok, here's what I used.
Mariane Designs Dies from the Frames/Swirls set
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Crystal Stickles
Collall Photo Glue
Woodware 3d foam squares 1mm (for sticking on the image so it was a little bit raised)
Aleene's Original Tacky Glue (to stick on flowers)
All of which are available at Craft Den

I also used Promarkers to colour and Sakura Star Dust Gelly Roll pen. Flowers, ribbon and strawberry charm from my stash.
Magnolia Lollypop Tilda and Magnolia Popcorn Box, which are not currently in stock at Craft Den, but they do have loads of other Magnolia Stamps :)

Wow that was a long post for one card!!
My other card is an easel card, so I do have a few pics to show, but I will try not to chat too much!! lol

It was my turn to post on the Inky Impressions Inspirational Blog today, and this month team Christopher (the team I'm in) are doing easel cards. So I made an easel card with one of the new release Inky Impressions Stamps.
The stamp I have used is called Maddie The Elf. I think she may be my favourite stamp of this release....well my favourite one today anyway, because they are all lovely and I keep changing my mind about which one is my favourite lol.

I'm not sure who the papers are by as they were a gift from a friend :), as was the lace.
The flowers are from Little Snippets Etsy Store, and they are called Lora's White Lace Flowers.....yes, they are named after me :))
They are so pretty and just perfect for Christmas/Winter cards as they have a little snowflake in the centre.
I added some red Inky Dinky Drops in the centre which are from the Christmas Splash pack (red/green) and I also used some White Inky Dinky Drops around the flowers......love how you can see the paper colours through the clear ones. You can find a huge selection of Inky Dinky Drops in the Inky Impressions Store here.
Oh and the holly leave spray I bought in a little craft shop in Montrose.

This card is also for Digital Tuesday where the challenge this week is "Christmas Time", and our sponsor is My Grafico, who gave the design team their Vintage Christmas Labels digital stamp set by Lindsay's Stamp Stuff to use for the challenge.
I have used one of the labels from the set and just coloured in bits of Santa with a red Promarker.

I am entering this card into the following challenges.
Totally Gorjuss- Christmas Traditions
Miami Doodles- Christmas
Crafters Companion- Let It Snow
Stamps & Fun=Creativity- Recipe- design paper, glitter and lace
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long- Never Seen Ink, Holiday Image- This is the first time I have inked up the new Inky Impressions stamp :)
Floweret Stamplar- Christmas Cards
Crimbo Crackers- make it sparkle

Well if you managed to get to the end of this post, you deserve a medal!! lol.
That's it from me for today. Thanks for stopping by, and a huge thank you if you take the time to leave a comment :) I really do love reading them, and I will try my best to return the favour and visit you all:)

Inky Impressions Christmas decoration

2011-11-12T19:15:00.000Z

Last month Nicole (the owner of Inky Impressions) had a competition just for the Inky design team, and we were to make a Christmas tree decoration.
I made a little angel which I will post on here another day, and a kind of wreath thing, which I won a prize for :)
I was going to show it last month after the competition had ended but I keep forgetting about it, so here it is now.
Sorry about the pics, I had to take them quickly before mailing it and the weather was not cooperating! lol

The papers I used were 6x6" ones by Dovecraft. They were single sided but I wanted them to be double sided since you see both sides, so I cut out lots of squares all the same size, then stuck 2 back to back....would of saved myself loads of time if I just used double sided papers, but I didn't have enough double sided christmas papers.
Once they were stuck together, I cut around the edges with pinking shears, then just folded them into a cone and attached them with strong glue.
I started off with a circle of cardboard (I used 2 circles cut out of a cereal box and stuck them together to make it strong enough), then just stuck all the cones on and flattened them.
I cut 2 circles with my scalloped circle nestie (one for the front and one for the back), stamped on Lili's Present that you can find in the Inky Impressions store here, coloured them both with Promarkers, edged the front scalloped circle with glittery stuff (not sure what it's called, but it's like little strands which I got free in a magazine a while ago), then decorated with some flowers and snowflakes.
Oh before attaching the image, I punched a hole and threaded through some ribbon from my stash.

This pic is rubbish but you can see the rest of the ribbon that you hang it with.

And another one to show how it looks laid down.

And finally a close up of the image and flowers etc. I added some diamond stickles to the flowers, snowflakes and on some parts of the image, and I also edged the edges of the "cones" with stickles too.

I forgot to take a photo of the back...duh!! lol, but it looks the same as the front without the flowers etc. I stamped the same image, cut it out with the same scalloped circle and coloured her up the same and stuck it on the back so that if it turns around, the back is still pretty :)

I am entering this into these challenges
Ribbon Carousel- Anything Goes
Crafting for all Seasons- Texture ( I have ribbon, the glitter strands, flowers and a little bit of embossing on the scalloped circles)
2 Sisters- Anything Goes
Scrapbook Sisters- Anything Goes

Wags N Whiskers- Christmas and a few pics

2011-11-12T11:23:00.000Z

I'm a day late with my card for the Wags N Whiskers challenge because I thought I had scheduled a post because I would be out yesterday but I thought wrong lol. I hadn't even wrote the post, never mind scheduled it!! Better late than never though.

The challenge this fortnight is "Christmas Themed", so a nice easy one for this time of the year, and a good kick up the bum for me to get cracking on my Christmas cards!

I used the same Dovecraft papers that I used the other day. They were already out from last time I used them and I couldn't be bothered looking for other ones lol.
The stamp I used is Ansley's Surprise. I used a rubber stamp, but it does also come in digi form. You can buy both rubber of digi Wags n Whiskers stamps at Stamp and Create if you are in the US or Canada or if you are in the UK like me, Bunny Zoes Crafts caters for Europe and the rest of the world.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and used Diamond Stickles on her wings and a Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star pen on some of her hairband, her lips, the digs bow and on the creases of her dress. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good photo to show the bits where I used the Gelly Roll pen as it was really dull outside.

The flowers I used are from Crafty Emma's Store and the leaf spray thing was from a little craft shop in Montrose, as was the ribbon.

Here's a close up of the sweet image

So that's my card for today, and I will be back later with a Inky Impressions Christmas decoration that I was going to show yesterday but forgot!

While I was uploading the pics of my card, I came across some pics Barry took on Bonfire Night of the fireworks.
A few of my friends from across the pond have asked what Bonfire Night is......I'm not very good at explaining stuff like that, so you can google if you want to know the whole story behind it lol, but basically a group of men plotted to blow up the houses of parliament. One of the men called Guy Fawkes got caught in a cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder and was tortured and executed.
Now on the 5th of November we have Bonfire Night. We make a big fire (the bonfire) and sometimes place a "guy" on top representing Guy Fawkes.
But really nowadays, here, Bonfire Night is all about the fireworks and most villages and cities have a big bonfire and firework display.

Ok lesson over lol. We went to a bonfire and firework display in the village that we live in last Saturday. They had a huge firework display and the kids all got free glow sticks :)
My girls didn't like the noise of the fireworks very much lol, but they did stay till the end and I got Barry to take some pics.
So here's a few for anyone who is interested.

Aren't they pretty? lol
Ok that really is all from me today. Hope you are having a great weekend! :)

Inky Impressions- Glitter It Up!

2011-11-09T14:13:00.000Z

As my title says, the challenge over at the Inky Impressions challenge blog today is Glitter It Up!
So a nice easy one this week. I mean, who doesn't like to use glitter? especially at this time of year :)

I used Lili's Sweet Treat for today's cars and coloured her with promarkers ( I have listed the colours at the end of the post for anyone who is interested), and added some stickles glitter to her glass and the ribbon on her hat.
I'm not sure what company makes the papers I used on this card, but the white one has glitter on it :) and I also added some glitter to my flowers which were made with a Marianne Designs die set. I also die cut the image with a Marianne Designs frame.
I have had this frame and another one for ages but I never use them for images because they are a bit too small for Magnolias etc but these Inky images fit in them perfectly :)

You can see the glitter a bit better in this close up pic of Lili and just about on the paper too.

And finally a pic of the glittering flowers :)

Oh and before I go, I have got to tell you about the new release Inky stamps!! I got my dt package this morning and all I can say is WOW!!! They are adorable!! :) If you haven't already checked them out, you can see all the new release rubber stamps and also the new digital stamps here in the Inky Impressions Store.

Well I am off to ink up my new stamps :) and I will be back tomorrow with another Inky project that I done a while ago but haven't yet shown on my blog.

I am entering this card into the following challenges

Truly Scrumptious- Bingo, I used Glitter, dies and ribbon
Card Makin Mamas- Cut It Out (use die cuts)
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
Moving Along With The Times- Food and Drink
Papertake Weekly- Anything Goes with bling

Digital Tuesday- Anything Goes

2011-11-08T14:28:00.000Z

The challenge over at Digital Tuesday this week is everything goes and our sponsor is Bugaboo Stamps who are giving away 6 digital stamps to the winner!

I decided to get some more Christmas cards done since I have hardly made any this year! and used an image from Bugaboo.

As usual, I coloured the image with Promarkers and added some icicle stickles on their hats and the snow. I'm not so keen on these icicle stickles, I much prefer the diamond or crystal ones. it's maybe just me, but I don't think this one is so easy to get into little spaces as the others, it comes out in blobs most of the time rather than being able to add a thin line like I can with the others....maybe I just got a dodgy bottle??
Anyway, the papers I used, I think are by Dovecraft, some ribbon from my stash and some die cut snowflakes done with Marianne dies.

A real simple card but I think it's easier to do simple ones for Christmas, otherwise I would never get half of the amount I need done lol.

I think this is the first time I have used a Bugaboo image, but I was having a look in their store and they have loads! This one is more my kinda cute style, but they have all types of images, and some real funny ones too.
Oh and my card is also featured on their blog today :)

Right I'd better get ready to pick up my girls from school.......where has the day went?!!

Thanks for stopping by.

By The Cute and Girly Blog Hop Winner

2011-11-02T14:34:00.000Z

Please scroll down for my Inky Impressions blog hop post.

I just popped on to announce the winner of my prize from the By The Cute and Girly blog hop.
You can see a list of all the other winners on the challenge blog.

So the winner of a $20 Gift Certificate from My Favorite Things
is..............................Ellie!!!

Congratulations Ellie! Please email me to claim your prize :)

Thank you to everyone who joined in with our 2nd birthday challenge and blog hop!

Inky Impressions Stamps: Snow Much Fun Blog Hop Day 2

2011-11-02T12:00:00.002Z

Welcome to day 2 of the Inky Impressions Stamps, Snow Much Fun Blog Hop!

I hope you enjoyed yesterdays hop and all the fab projects from the design team. If you didn't do yesterdays hop, I suggest you do it today to see all the inspiration from the design team.

One lucky winner will win a $25 gift certificate to spend in the Inky Impressions Store, so what you waiting for? Go get hopping and see what the design team girls have created today :)

Today I am showing another of the new release digital images- MaMaw Skiing

I have coloured MaMaw with my usual Promarkers and added some icicle stickles on the snow.

The papers are from a pad I got free a few weeks back in a magazine. The snowflakes are cut from some glittery paper I found in my stash. I have no idea where it came from, but I think I pinched it from one of my kids lol. I cut it with some Marianne Designs snowflake dies.

I'm not keen on glitter paper because all the glitter rubs off, especially when die cutting or punching with it, but this one is great. It's really smooth and no glitter rubs off at all.....I must find out where it came from so I can get more! lol

Here's MaMaw's close up. I love cute images, but I kinda like that she is not a cutesy one. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about her that makes me go awww. I know I am strange!! lol

Here's the blog hop order in case you loose your way

Inky Impressions Challenge Blog

Michelle

MacKenzie

Lora- You are here :)

The design team are showcasing two of the new digi images today but you can see all the new release digital images in the Inky Impressions Store here.

And of course there is lots of rubber to choose from too if you just love rubber stamps.

Oh and speaking of rubber stamps, I was just over at the Inky Impressions Store and noticed that Nicole has some of the Winter rubber stamps on sale! You can find them all here.

As well as stamps, there is also papers, flowers, ribbon, charms, spacers, brads, pearls, gems, inky dinky drops, buttons...........need I say more?

I must add though that I am in no way responsible for the amount of money that you spend while you are there!....ok maybe being a bit of an enabler but once you check out all those lovely goodies, I know you will love them.

Thanks for stopping by today, and thank you for all the lovely comments that you leave. I appreciate every one of them and it really does mean a lot to me when you take a minute to leave a comment :)

Digital Tuesday, By The Cute and Girly and a guest design spot!

2011-11-01T16:59:00.000Z

This is my second post today. If you are looking for the Inky Impressions blog hop, please scroll down to the next post.

Today is a busy day for me for dt work as I have 4 dt's to post for on the same day! I did combine some of my dt work though because I have been really busy this week with stuff at home, so I only have 2 cards to show, as well as the treat bucket I posted for Inky Impressions earlier today.

First is a card that I made for Digital Tuesday where the challenge this week is "Cute and Cuddly" and also for By The Cute and Girly where the theme this month is "Christmas Girls".

It's a horrible day here today and no matter what I did, I just couldn't get any decent photos. I really need to invest in a lamp to use for these dark days!

I used a sweet image from Di's Downloads who is our digi sponsor this month over at By The Cute and Girly, and as usual, I coloured her with Promarkers and added some diamond stickles to the fur on her hat and jacket.
The papers are from a pad that I won in Brenda's recycling candy :)
I cut the image out and popped her on some scalloped circles cut with nesties and added some snowflakes cut with Marianne Design dies and a Woodware punch.
Oh and the border is also a Marianne die

Here's a close up so you can see the snowflakes (the pattered ones have stickles on them) and also the dimension of the image.

My second card is for a guest design spot at the Anything Goes challenge blog where I will be guest designer all this month :)
The challenge is to use stitching- real or faux and this fortnight I am in the spotlight over on the challenge blog:)

I decided to go a bit vintage with this card and used some K&Co papers which I stitched around by hand (I don't have a sewing machine anymore so had to do it by hand).
I used a few Marianne Design dies on this one which are all available to buy at the Craft Den.

The one in the pic above is the Ribbon Border die (ribbon 3)

And the flourishes and the decorative panel that Tilda is sitting on are from the Frames and Swirls die set.
You also get a smaller swirl in this set but I haven't used it on this card.

I coloured Tilda with Promarkers and added lots of Icicle stickles to her wings and heart. This Tilda is from the 2010 Merry Little Christmas collection. She is called Tilda With Hanging Heart and can be found in the Craft Den store here. Along with loads of other Magnolia stamps.
You can also find the stickles glitter that I used in the Craft Den here. Not only the icicle one that I used on this card, but the diamond stickles I used on my first card above and loads of other colours too :)
If you haven't checked out this store, it is a must see! Loads of yummy goodies and all at really reasonable prices too.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
I will be back tomorrow to announce the winner of my $25 gift certificate from MFT, so if you did the By The Cute and Girly blog hop last month, remember to check back to see if you are a winner! :)

Inky Impressions Stamps: Snow Much Fun Blog Hop

2011-11-01T12:25:00.000Z

Welcome to the Inky Impressions blog hop!! We have some new digital releases to show off.....yes that's right, digital stamps :) Of course there will be some rubber too for you rubber lovers but today we are showing off the new digis.

The blog hop will run today and tomorrow (November 1st and 2nd) and one lucky winner will win a $25 gift certificate to spend in the Inky Impressions Store!

Today I am showing you Marisa's Sleigh Ride, and I have decorated an ice cream tub and filled it with candy.

This is also one of my dt projects for By The Cute and Girly where the challenge this month is "Christmas Girls".

I used some MME Christmas papers, some ribbons from my stash, a few snowflakes cut with Marianne Design dies and a Woodware punch, some tiny sticky back gems and of course the sweet Inky image which is coloured with Promarkers.

Both sides are the same except I used a small snowflake for this side and a larger one for the other side, and I covered all the white snowflakes with stickles as well as the pom poms on Marisa's hat.

And finally a close up of the little cutie. I must point out that the lines on my image (especially on the eyes) are not a defect in the actual image, it was my stupid printer....or should I say the stupid ink that I used.

I normally buy genuine Epson ink but I ran out and couldn't get any close by (I needed it that say or else I would of ordered online), so I bought some compatible ink from Asda (their own brand). It was only the magenta one that I had to replace, the others are all genuine Epson, but the print quality is rubbish :( Now I remember why I never buy compatible inks!!

Anyway, enough of my moaning! Here's the hop order in case you loose your way.

Inky Impressions Challenge Blog

Lora (you are here:))

Mackenzie

Michelle

Thanks for stopping by.

I will be back shortly with another post for Digital Tuesday and also a guest design spot card.

Lora x

By The Cute and Girly Blog Hop

2011-10-31T09:00:00.000Z

This is a sticky, please scroll down for more recent posts.

Welcome to our first every By The Cute and Girly blog hop!! It's our 2nd birthday and we are celebrating in style with a special challenge and blog hop!
As well as loads of prizes on the challenge blog, each design team member also has a prize on their blog from their featured sponsor, so lots of chances to win some great prizes!! :)

My blog is the first stop:) Hopefully you have already been to check out the challenge blog and see the fantastic prizes on offer from our sponsors.

Ok so here's what you have to do for a chance to win these prizes-

1. Enter the challenge at By The Cute and Girly as you normally would. The theme this month is "Anything Goes" and remember our challenge is for any type of crafts from papercrafts to baking, so you really can enter with anything you like. This month we are limiting the entries to 1 per person since it's anything goes.
2. Do the hop, leave a comment on each of the dt blogs for a chance to win the prize on their blog.
3. Each design team member has a letter of the alphabet on their blog that you need to collect. When you are finished the hop and have collected all the letters, email Lora with the word you have made (you will find her email address and instructions on the challenge blog). Please DO NOT leave a comment with the word you have made, you must email Lora with it.
4. HAVE FUN!! :)

My sponsor is My Favorite Things and they have gave me a $20 gift certificate to give away to one lucky winner.

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win.

My projects today uses Pure Innocence- Believe In Magic clear stamp set

Die-namics Mini Pennant die

Die-namics Leafy Flourish dies

from My Favorite Things.

I made 3 projects for the challenge using the above items, so this post may be just a little bit picture heavy ;)

First I made a card with the cute stamp and the Die-namics Leafy Flourish die.

I used a card blank from Crafty Emma's Store and some Papermania papers. Didn't want to add to many detail because I wanted to show of the sweet image which I coloured with my ususal Promarkers and added a bit of diamond stickles to.

Isn't she a cutie? I of course had to add some stickles to the flower too :)

I also made a matching (well the same colours anyway lol) box.

Some more Papermania papers and this time just some flowers and both dies for decoration.
I cut out both sizes of the banner on pink and yellow cardstock and stuck them onto some thin pink ribbon which is attached inside the box (it is hidden with some more papers inside but I forgot to take a pic...duh. The paper I used inside are the same as I used on my card above).

On the sides I used the other part of the pennant die.....well I had them cut so didn't want to waste them ;) lol. I haven't wrote anything on the banners yet but once I know who this box is going to, I will write on both sides (the other side is the same as this but I alternated the colours) and the one on the front too.

Just a close up of the top detail. Aren't those flourishes beautiful? I think this may be my favourite die that I own at the moment :) Granted I only own about 5 dies lol, because most of them got ruined at my last house :(, but even if I had loads, I still think this would be my fave, it's so pretty :)

Finally for my last project, I decided to do something a bit different. You will have to excuse all the mistakes because I have never done anything like this before, but I really enjoyed it and have even started on another one (much smaller though!).
I decided I would alter an ugly picture frame that I had in the house. I didn't take a before pic because it really was that ugly, it might of gave you nightmares!! lol, but it was a plain horrible brown frame.
It's quite big so I had to use 2 12x12 papers to cover it which means it has joins, which I had to try cover with embellies.
Oh and please excuse the reflection of me and my neighbours house in the glass!! lol

I used some papers that were given to me by the most amazing friend (thank you hunnie, mwah xx)

and some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Crafty Emma's Store, some gorgeous butterflies from Little Snippets and the MFT leafy flourish die.

Sorry about the pic quality. As my regular visitors will know, photography is not one of my strong points, especially when it comes to taking pics of glass. So here's some close ups.

Excuse the horrible inside.....I haven't got a pic to fit this yet, and don't know whether I will keep it or not as it doesn't really go with anything else in my house. Should of maybe thougt of that before I chose the papers!! lol

one of the gorgoues butterflies from Little Snippets which I added a little bit of glitter to, but you can't really see that here, and some pearl swirly bits by Prima. I just cut it all up and arranged it to fit the frame.

And finally (I promise), a close up of the other butterfly.

aren't these butterflies just gorgeous? You can find these ones here. The ones I have linked to are the spring colours but Geraldine can sort you out with any colour you want. Have you checked out her Halloween embellies yet? You do not want to miss those and there's plenty other snippets for all tastes to in the Little Snippets store.

Ok if you have survied through that lot without falling asleep, apart from deserving a medal for your patience!, here's the letter you need.

and the next stop on the hop is the fabulous Kate, who I'm sure will have something lovely for you to see along with a fab prize!

Here's a list of the hop order in case you get lost along the way.
Lora
Kate
Geraldine
Ayelet
Lisa
Hanna
Tammy
Carol
Challenge Blog- You will find the email address here that you need to send the word you have made to, and of course you have to link your entry here too :)

Thanks for stopping by today. Remember to leave a comment for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate from MFT!!

I will be back tomorrow and hopefully will have a pic of my youngest daughter wearing a pretty little hair slide that Geraldine made with one of her snippets! :) Got to bribe Chiara to get her photo taken first! lol

Inky Impressions- Trick Or Treat

2011-10-19T12:06:00.000+01:00

It's team A's turn to do the challenge over at the Inky Impressions challenge blog this week and the challenge is "Trick Or Treat".

I wasn't quite sure which stamp I was going to use for this challenge as I don't have any Inky Impressions Halloween stamps, so I just got out my Halloween papers and took it from there.

I used some Bo Bunny Halloween papers again.....sorry but it's the only Halloween ones I have lol and some purple coredinations cardstock for the matting.

I decided that I would use a boy image this time and chose Mischievous Christopher because he has a frog and I think frogs are kind of Halloweeny (is that even a word?? lol).

This stamp does have some water and grass around the bottom of the image but I just cut out Christopher and left that bit out.

I coloured him with my usual Promarkers.....just noticed that I forgot to cut some little bits of white out, oh well it's done now.

The ribbon stuff was originally white but I just coloured it with an orange promarker, I like the way it turned out because it's shimmery once coloured,

And the fantastic bat is from Little Snippets. The Halloween Lace Bats come in a pack of 5 with 2 large and 3 medium for $4.
I used one of the medium sized bats, and I'm afraid that this photos do not do it justice because they are so nice. If you love Halloween (like I do :)) these are great to add that special something to your Halloween projects, and of course they can be used on anything, not just papercrafts.

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you will know that I use embellishments from Little Snippets on a lot of my cards and crafty projects, and I have had loads of comments from crafters and non crafters about them. They make your cards/projects stand out from the rest, especially when you see them in real life.
I know I say this all the time but I don't tend to go on about products that I don't like, so when I say that I really like something, I am being honest and I do genuinely think they are great :)
I would love to see how other people use them, other than on cards.......maybe we could have a fun competition to see how much things these embellies can be used for??
Ok I will have a think about that one, but in the meantime, let me know any ideas you have for using these.
You can check out all the different embroidered and crotchet embellishments in the Little Snippets Etsy store.
Oh and before I forget, there is also some owls and black and orange flowers in the store just now, perfect for Halloween. You can see them all here

I am entering my card into the following challenges

Hanna and Friends- Halloween
Fussy and Fancy- Halloween or Fall
Crafty Emmas- Forever Autumn (well Halloween is in Autumn so I thought my card would fit)
Just Add Ink- Photo Inspiration
Cute Card Thursday- Tree-mendous (there's tree's on my paper)
Papertake Weekly- Spooky Hues
Sketch N Stash-Sketch (my new stash is the bat)

Digital Tuesday- Happy Halloween

2011-10-18T12:35:00.001+01:00

Well another week has flown past, and it’s time for another Digital Tuesday challenge, but before I get to that, I would like to just say a huge thank you to everyone who has visited my blog lately and left me comments. After loosing most of my crafty stuff and having to start my stash from scratch again, my confidence in my card making abilities had kind of vanished, so to get all those lovely encouraging comments and emails, really makes a difference and I am really enjoying crafting again So a huge thank you to you all!!

This weeks challenge was chosen by Anneke and it is “Happy Halloween”.

Our sponsor this week is Doodle Pantry who are offering the winner their choice of 3 products from the Doodle Pantry store, and Laurie also gave the design team her Birdie Bat digi set to use for the challenge if they wanted to use it.

I like to support our sponsors by using their images/papers etc whenever possible, after all the challenge blog wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is without the prizes from our sponsors, so I used the image and a sentiment from the Birdie Bat set.

This card is smaller than I normally do (it’s a 5x5 and I normally make 6x6”), so I didn’t have room to add my normal pile of embellies lol.

I used some Bo Bunny Halloween papers and distressed the edges with my scissors (no fancy tools used here lol), the image was coloured with Promarkers and then cut out. You can’t really see in this pic but I cut into the image around his tummy and head with tiny little snips to make his feathers look fluffy lol. I kinda like the effect this gives.

As I said, the sentiment is from the same set (you get a few and also papers and a coloured version of the image) and I added some black sticky back gems that I got in my local (well used to be local, now it’s like 30 miles away, so not so local! lol) poundland store. You get a whole sheet for a pound, 2 strips of small gems like I used on the top corner, 2 strips of larger ones and 2 strips of the border ones like I used on the bottom of my card. I think that’s great value since a tiny square of sticky back gems in the craft shops here are around £3!!

I am entering this card into these challenges

DYSU- Use your scraps

Simons Says Stamp Challenge- Halloween/Goth

Lora x

Another altered frame.

2011-10-16T13:23:00.000+01:00

It's my turn to post again over at the Inky Impressions Inspiration blog. For the whole month of October, the design team are making anything but cards for the Inspirational blog, so I decided I would alter another photo frame.
It didn't really turn out how I had planned because it has ridges all around it which made it harder to cover with paper, but I got there in the end.
I have a mirror to do next, but I want to paint it so will have to see if I can get some paint from somewhere because I don't have any.....in fact, come to think of it, I don't even have a paint brush anymore! lol

I covered the whole frame with some Laura Ashley paper and used a whole lot of flowers from my stash.
Most of the flowers I used were given to me by friends so I don't know where to get them, but the large rose was from Hobbycraft and the little rose buds are from Crafty Emma's Store. The pretty pearl brads were also a gift.
I cut some flourishes with a Marianne Designs die, and added a couple of clear Inky Dinky Drops which you can find in all sorts of colours in the Inky Impressions store.

This little cutie is called Lili's Prayer and as usual I coloured her with my promarkers and added some little bits of glitter, which you can't actually see here.

And finally I close up of the flower arrangement. You can just about see the Inky Dinky Drops beside the flourishes. I love that you can still see the patterned paper through them.

I am entering my frame into Top Tip Tuesday- use designer paper....and my tip is.....ummm, oh I know, if you make one of these, use adhesive that will give you time to move the paper about just incase you don't get it right the first time.
I used some double sided tape to start with (because it was all I had at the time) and I ended up ruining a sheet of dp because I stuck it down wrong! lol

Thanks for visiting me today :)

A little bit of news and a card

2011-10-14T17:03:00.000+01:00

As I said the other day, I have a little bit of news to share. Some of you may have already noticed the banner in my sidebar, but I can now tell everyone that I was chosen to be part of the Wags n Whiskers design team!!
The challenge this week is Fall Colours and I have my first dt card for Wags n Whiskers to share today :)

I have used "Hannah" digi stamp from Wags n Whiskers and colored her with Promarkers and added some stickles to her wings. I'm really annoyed with my colouring because I am using different paper than I normally do and the printer ink bleeds as soon as the markers touch it :( It's fine with rubber stamping but really need to get some for digis because all my images are turning out horrible :(
I added some flowers, flourishes and leaves cut with Marianne dies, some ribbon from my stash, lots of sticky back gems and a pin that I got from a friend (thanks again!!:)
I did follow a sketch for this card but can't remember where and the challenge would be finished by now anyway because I stupidly followed a sketch from last week when I knew that I wouldn't be posting this card until today duh!! lol

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I love to read your comments, so keep them coming :)
Oh and if you haven't yet entered this months challenge and blog hop over at my challenge blog By The Cute and Girly, get yourself over there because there is some fab prizes up for grabs! The challenge for October is Anything Goes, so there's no excuse for not joining in, you can make whatever you want, and the challenge is for any crafts so you can make anything from a card to a cake and anything in between! :)
The dt all have prizes on their blog which you can have a chance at winning by doing the blog hop. My prize is a $20 gift certificate to spend at My Favorite Things!! :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Inky Impressions and Digital Tuesday

2011-10-11T12:00:00.002+01:00

It's my turn to post on the Inky Impressions Inspirational blog today and for the whole month of October the design team will be making "anything but cards".
I think I have wore myslef out this last few weeks with the anything but cards dt work I have done lol, and I had no idea what to make........until my youngest Daughter Chiara came through to me with a ugly coaster box that she was using to keep her Moshi Monster trading cards in (do you kids collect those??).
So I had to bribe her to give me the box to decorate lol. She wasn't giving in unless she got to choose what went on it, so Chiara chose the image, papers and embellies and I just stuck them on :)

I used the cute Lili's Prayer today and as always coloured her with Promarkers and added some stickles to bits of her but you can't see it in these pics. She is really sparkly irl though.

I already had her coloured and Chiara chose her because she was sparkly lol. She also chose this foiled paper and I have no idea who makes it.

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and Craft Emma's Store and the little butterfly was from a friend. Chiara added some sticky back gems on the butterfly, so it's not my fault that the gems are stuck on squint! lol

I just love these images, they are so sweet and can be used for any occasion. I'm not keen on stamps that can only be used for one occasion like Halloween stamps, I like to be able to get as much use as possible out of the stamps I buy because I can't afford to buy lots, and I think these ones are great value for money :)

There's loads of other beautiful projects over at the Inky Impressions Inspirational blog from all the design team. There is a new inspirational post every day of the week, so it's the perfect place to go if Mr Mojo has up and left you and you need some inspiration to get you going :)

I am entering my box into these challenges.

One Stop Craft- Anything Goes

ABC challenge- Anything Goes

Pennys Challenges- Anything Goes

Pile It On- Just because (I made this just because it was ugly and I just had to cover it lol)

It's time for a new challenge over at Digital Tuesday and Amy chose "Fall Colours" for the theme.

Our sponsor this week is Wee Stamps and Sylvia very kindly gave the design team some of her images to play with for the challenge.

I used Sweet Blossom and coloured her with the usual Promarkers. This image is so sweet and lovely to colour.
The papers are from my scrap box so I have no idea where they came from, except I know the the orange spotty one is by Papermania.
The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and I used some orange sticky back gems to make some little swirls.

Not my usual choice of colours, but I do like the way this image turned out :)

And finally a close up of the pretty flowers :)

I am entering my card into the following challenges
Paper Play- Autumnal Colours
Stamps R Us- Autumn
Crafts and Me- Use a digi
Fussy and Fancy- Fall or Halloween

That's it from me for today. I have some news to tell, but I have to keep quite for a few more days! Will let you know as soon as I am allowed to lol

Thanks for stopping by

Inky Impressions- Boy Oh Boy Can We Show Our Support

2011-10-05T14:15:00.002+01:00

The new challenge is up over at Inky Impressions challenge blog and this week it's team A's turn to do the challenge (I'm on team a of couse) and we have a bit if a special challenge this week, as the title says "boy oh boy can we show our support". This was a bit of a challenge but I managed it........just.
The design team were asked to use either the Lili's Awareness Ribbon stamp orone of the Inky boy stamps and colour him all in pink! Do a monochromatic pink card and add a pink ribbon in the shape of the breast cancer awareness ribbon- I think I managed all that, except I forgot while I was colouring and coloured the wood bit of the image brown and I was finished the card, but found a ticket sentiment that I thought was perfect for this card, so I just had to use it, even though it's not pink.
You don't have to so all of the above to enter the challenge though, the challenge for everyone else is to make a monochromatic card and/or breast cancer awareness.

I made this the other day and followed the sketch at Papertake Weekly but forgot that I wasn't posting it until today and missed the challenge...duh! but their challenge this week is Anything Goes so I will enter it this week instead :)

The papers are all Papermania, and I used Pirate Christopher which you can find in the Inky Impressions store here. He's coloured with Promarkers and I added a bit of faux stitching to the die cut mat with a pink Promarker too.

I would of never of thought about colouring a boy image pink, but I think little Christopher looks quite cute all in pink lol.

The flowers I used are all from Crafty Emma's Store, some ribbon from my stash which I added a pearl heart ribbon slider to, a punched border and the "Hope" ticket sentiment which I just thought summed this card up, so I had to add it even though it's supposed to be all pink.

I hope you will all join in with this special challenge and help raise breast cancer awareness as well as taking part for the chance to win a prize :)
We do love to see Inky Impressions stamps being used, but you can enter the challenge with any stamp and you will be in with a chance of winning an Inky digi stamp. If you do use one of the Inky Stamps then you could win yourself a special Inky package! :)

I am also entering my card into the following challenges
Party Time Tuesdays- Show us your shape or/and breast cancer awareness- I chose the breast cancer awareness
Stampin For The Weekend- What a cutie (boys can be cute too right, especially when they are all in pink :))
Crafty Cardmakers- Anything Goes
Dream Valley- Monochrome
Crafts 4 Eternity- Anything Goes
Catch The Bug- Anything Goes
Allsorts- Use 5 flowers
Link Up For Pink

Thanks for stopping by xx

Digital Tuesday- Boo, It's Party Time

2011-10-04T12:07:00.000+01:00

I can't believe it's Tuesday again already, where did the weekend go? It's time for a new challenge over at Digital Tuesday and this week it was Shelly's turn to choose the challenge. She chose " We Like To Party", so anything party related is good.

Our sponsor this week is My Grafico who are giving away a digital stamp set to the winner (winner's choice of set) and they also gave the design team one of their digi stamp sets to play with this week- Halloween Doodles by Lindsay's Stamp Stuff.

Some of the design team have made Halloween cards and treats since Halloween is coming soon and I also made a Halloween card using an image from the Halloween Doodles set.

The papers I have used are last years Bo Bunny Halloween papers and the ribbon is also Bo Bunny.

The ticket sentiment is a digi that was a freebie last year, not sure where from though.

I used the ghost and coloured him with Promarkers. Not much colouring going on here, just a few oranges for the pumpkin and for the ghost himself I only used ice grey 2 the blender pen.

My coloured ink was running out, so I changed the settings to black ink only.....I have since learned that my black ink only setting is pants for digis that you want to colour! The ink on the pumpkin bled which you can see above, but I couldn't get more ink in time so just had to use this image.

I hope you will check out this weeks challenge, and just a reminder that we are having a special challenge and blog hop over at my challenge blog By The Cute and Girly which starts on Saturday (the 8th) and will run until the end of the month.

If you grab the blog hop badge that's in my sidebar, add it to your blog and leave a comment on the challenge blog telling me you have done so, you will be in with the chance of winning a surprise gift from me :)

Thanks for stopping by

By The Cute and Girly blog hop coming soon!!!

2011-10-01T10:01:00.000+01:00

Just a heads up to let you all know that there will be some birthday celebrations going on over at By The Cute and Girly Challenge blog next week.
It's our 2nd birthday today! :) And we are having a special challenge and blog hop next week to celebrate!
There will be lots of great prizes to be won, so remember to pop over and check it out, It starts next Saturday- 8th of October and will last for the rest of the month, so plenty time to join in :)

Hope to see you all there!! :)

Inky Impressions with tissue paper!

2011-09-29T16:35:00.000+01:00

I did have this post scheduled for earlier today but blogger decided not to post it! Oh well, better late than never I suppose.

I have made a dt card for Inky Impressions and also did a quick paper tissue flower tutorial over on the Inky Impressions Inspirational blog.
I am not showing the tutorial here, you will have to pop over to the Inspirational blog if you want to see it, but I am showing my card that I used a flower on :)

I have used Lili's Present and coloured as usual with Promarkers.
I cut her out and placed her in a die cut shape and inked the edges in gold. I've used the same Christmas papers that I used the other day (just can't help myself! lol) and placed a punched border strip at either side of the middle strip of dp. Some ribbons from my stash, a few flowers with a Inky Dinky Drop in the centre and a handmade paper tissue flower which I covered in stickles :)

Here's a close up of the tissue paper flower and you can also see the Inky Dinky drops better here.
Why not pop over to the Inspirational blog and check out all the fab tutorials from the design team?

The challenge over at the Inky Impressions challenge blog today where it's team B's turn to do the challenge is "Punches and Dies" so my card is perfect for that :)

I am also entering my card into the following challenges.
Sketch Saturday - I followed their sketch
The Paper Shelter- For The Girls
Bows and Berries- Glitter (there's loads of glitter on my flower)
Southern Girls challenge- Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp- Anything Goes
Digi Designs Challenge- Make Your Own Flowers

Digital Tuesday- Blue and White

2011-09-27T10:06:00.001+01:00

It's time for a new challenge over at Digital Tuesday and today is my first post as the new owner! I have done the post loads of times at Digital Tuesday but Ellie has been doing it herself for the last few months and it felt really weird writing up the post.
I am happy to say the all the design team girls have stayed with me:) We have a fantastic team over there, everyone is so friendly and will help each other whenever help is needed, and of course they are all great cardmakers/designers, so I feel very lucky that they have all stayed on with me. Thanks girls :)
It is sad to see Ellie go though. She was the first person to give me a full time design team position and has always been a good friend. Please if you have a minute, pop over to her blog and leave her some "goodbye" love :)

The challenge this week was chosen by Natascha and she chose a colour combo of Blue and White.
Our sponsor this week is Di's Digi Downloads who is offering 5 digital images or 3 of her stamps (winner's choice). I actually didn't know she done rubber stamps (well actually they are clear stamps) until I was in a craft shop here in Montrose about 2 weeks ago and saw some of her stamps for sale.
It was really strange because they only sell a few stamps (and they are as old as the hills!!) and there in amongst all these old stamps was some cuties by Di :)

Anyway, I got a digi image from Di to use for the challenge and this is what I made.

Sorry about the pics. I took them yesterday when the sun was shining and there was just shadows everywhere no matter where I went.
Also my image looks all bumpy, that's because I was too impatient to wait for the stickles to dry before putting it on my card! It has dried now though and is flat lol.
I coloured the image with Promarkers and used loads of crystal stickles. This one is called Festive Shopping and you can find it here

Isn't she a little cutie? :) This is the second time I coloured her, the first time I forgot I was only supposed to do blue and white and coloured her pink and blue lol. This image really is covered is stickles, even the little birdie is glittered!! lol. Well you can never have enough glitter on a Christmas card can you? :)

The papers....hmmm I got these from a friend, but I do know that the one with the squares is from the Papeterie in Aberdeen (only because I see it every time I'm there lol)
I used a shaped card base from Crafty Emma's Store and added stickles along the bottom edge.
Some lovely white satin ribbon from my stash, a paper doily from Poppy's Cabin (link in my sidebar), some stickled snowflakes punched with a Dovecraft punch and a tiny gem in the centres and a gorgeous flower from Little Snippets which I also added a snowflake to.

This photo actually doesn't do this gorgeous flower justice. Although it does look really pretty here, it's stunning in real life. I did have a look in the store so I could add a link, but there doesn't seem to be any listed just now, but I'm sure if you ask Geraldine, she will sort you out with some :)

ETA: Geraldine now has these in her store. You can find them here.
She has named these flowers "Lora's White Lace Flowers". How cool is that? A flower named after me :)

These are beautiful as a normal flower but I wanted to make it a bit more Christmassy so I added a snowflake, but I wish that I could show you the flower on it's own because it's so pretty.
Geraldine has lots of gorgeous embellishments like this in her Little Snippets Etsy Store, and they are just perfect to add that extra special element to your cards and crafting.

I know that some people have said that they wouldn't want to use them for just any card and would save them for something special (and I used to think like that too) but they are not so expensive like other embellies like this that you have to limit how much you use, and Geraldine is great because she can tailor these to your needs. She has loads (and I really mean loads) of patterns that are not in the shop so she is bound to have whatever you are looking for and she can make them up in any colour.
Where else can you buy embellies in exactly the size and colours you want without having to buy a pack that has ones in it that you don't really need?
Christmas is coming up and these would make that special Christmas cards for family members and friends really special! Why not have a pop over and have a look for yourself? I do not take any responsibility for how much you spend over there though! lol

I would love to see you join in with the challenge this week at Digital Tuesday, and remember the Inky Impressions challenge this week is about to end so you better get your entries in now! The challenge is shaped cards and you have the chance to win an Inky digi even if you don't use an Inky Impressions stamp and if you do, you are in with a chance of winning a special Inky package! These stamps are so sweet, I know you will love them :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and if you have time, please leave a comment. I love to read them and it means so much to me to hear what you think of my cards :)

A card just for fun

2011-09-25T20:11:00.000+01:00

I made a Christmas card the other day just for fun, but forgot to post it on my blog, so here it is :)

I used some papers from a pad I got in a magazine...can't remember what company it is.
Left it really simple since the image takes up most of the card. The image is a Whipper Snapper stamp that I have had since I first started stamping! It's one of the few wooden mounted stamps I have left from my old house, so thought I should use it. I coloured as usual with Promarkers and used some glitter too.
The snowflakes are cut with a Marianne Designs die and you can't really see, but I cut around the baubles on the strip of dp at the bottom.

The sentiment stamp I used actually had little dots around the Merry Christmas but I added some tiny seed beads over them.

That's it from me tonight. It's pouring of rain here, so I might just have a card to show tomorrow since the weather is pants and there's no chance I'm going out in it tomorrow except to take the kids to and from school!
Hope the weather is better where you are!!

By The Cute and Girly, some Little Snippets and a Christmas Card.

2011-09-22T19:28:00.000+01:00

There's still time to get your entries in over at By The Cute and Girly where the challenge theme this month is (All Things Bright and Beautiful). It's a nice easy one this month, so you have no excuse to enter :)
The challenge runs until the last day of the month and there's some great prizes to be won.

I have a card to show that I made for the challenge at the start of the month which I haven't showed yet on my blog.

I coloured the cute CC designs swiss pixie with Promarkers and used some Dazzling Diamonds glitter from SU! for her wings. The papers are some from a fab blogging friend (thanks hunnie), and the pretty embellies are all from Little Snippets Etsy Store.

I used the Sheer Applique Leaves (this is the first time I have used these ones and it won't be the last because they are sooo pretty) and a Scrappy Daisy Flower Embroidered Applique

And the gorgeous butterfly which I added a few gems to is one of the Swirly Sheer Delicate Lace Butterflies.

I know that Geraldine now has some Halloween embellies in her Little Snippets store including some bats and orange and black crotchet flowers which would be perfect for your Halloween projects :) So why not pop over and have a look? and if your not into Halloween, there's plenty of pretty embellies for every taste. I also noticed she has the cutest little Hello Kitty style felt embroidered embellishments that are just perfect for little girl cards and projects. I know my girls would love them!

Now for a Christmas Card that I made about 2 weeks ago and haven't got around to posting yet.

I actually made this for one of the Whiff Of Joy challenges which was to use a tag but of course the challenge finished long ago so I thought I would post it anyway and see what other challenges it fits this week.

So for the tag part, I cut a tag shape freehand from the dp and used a Making Memories rub on which comes with the flock paper to put on top and I used card candy glued to a piece of string (which I pinched from Barry lol) instead of just tying the string through a hole....why did I do that??? because stupid here no longer has a little hole punch and kinda mucked up making the hole, so the card candy hides my muck up! lol

I think these papers are Dovecraft ones but I'm not 100% on that. What I do know though is the stamp I used is a Henry Mouse from Whiff Of Joy which I bought 2 christmas' ago and forgot about him and didn't use him until last christmas once and forgot about him again, so this is only his 2nd inking in 2 years! I know that is just terrible because he's really cute, so will have to use him on a few cards this year. He is coloured of course with the usual Promarkers, and I used a bit of flower soft on his hat.

The snowflakes are punched with a Dovecraft punch and covered in Twinklets to make them sparkly and a blue gem in the middle of each of them.

I am entering this card into the following challenges.

Papertake Weekly- Creature Comforts
Simon Says Stamp- Dies To Die For (I used scalloped circle nesties)
The Paper Shelter- Anything Goes
Anything Goes Challenge- Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by

Inky Impressions- Shaped Cards

2011-09-21T08:00:00.002+01:00

The new challenge over at the Inky Impressions challenge blog is to make a shaped card.
I made a star shaped card using a template from The Cutting Cafe which I just printed out on card and then decorated.

As it's a small card, I couldn't add too much to it, but I managed to add some buttons and a piece of twine stuff...not sure what it's actually called?
The image is Mischievous Christopher and You're Unfrogettable sentiment both from Inky Impressions.
Christopher is coloured with the usual Promarkers and I'm not sure where the papers are from.
I decorated the inside, but forgot to take a pic...duh!

Here's Christopher's close up

I'm entering this card into these challenges.

Totally Gorjuss- Nothing Square About Me
The Ribbon Girl- Colour Challenge, Greens and Browns
Creatalicious- Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you will join in with the challenge this week.

Digital Tuesday- People

2011-09-20T10:52:00.002+01:00

It's time for another Digital Tuesday challenge and this week the theme is "People". How easy is that?
I just had to get another of the Saturated Canary images to use for this challenge. I just love Krista's images, they are so pretty and such a joy to colour :) I do wish she would slow down with churning out these images though, because at this rate I'm gonna be bankrupt!! lol (would be all for a good cause though, right? haha)

I used a Craftworks Cards On The Edge "Elegant" card blank from Crafty Emma's Store, and as you can see, I mucked up the purple mat because I done it freehand! I would of binned it and started again but it was my last piece of purple coredinations so I couldn't. So you will just have to imagine that it's straight! rofl
As I said the gorgeous image is a digi from Saturated Canary. This one is called "Tressa, A Princess and I coloured her with the usual Promarkers, added some stickles and a few tiny seed beads for the trimming and on one of the flowers in her hair. It really stands out irl.

The pretty flowers are also from Crafty Emma's, I used the curly gardenias and mini blossoms. I also used some bits from my (tiny) stash and some pretty Prima flourishes.

I just noticed while I am adding all these links that anyone would think I am affiliated with Craft Emma's store....but I have no connection, other than loving her store and being a very happy customer :)

Here's a close up of the gorgeous image....I don't think my colouring does it the justice it deserves though!

You can see the dimension the seed beads give in this pic, and the little glittery bits I done on the tiny flowers.

I also covered the inside of the card. Now I say "covered" and not decorated, because that's all I really did.
It was getting late when I was finishing up this card last night, and I needed to get it uploaded for the challenge, so I just used the same paper that I used on the front (sorry not sure of the make) and added a scalloped circle (cut with a nestie) to write on, and a tiny little bow with pearls.

I think I will add some more decoration to this but for now it's staying like this until I figure out what to add.

As the card is shaped at the bottom (or side of course if you use it the other way round), you can see the bottom edge of the inside which I think looks quite pretty because you can see the pattered paper that's underneath.

I am entering this one into a few challenges.

CES (Crafty Emmas Store challenge)- Embellish Me More (use at least 4 different types)- I used 2 different types of flowers, the wire and bead spray thing lol, pearl flourishes, ribbon and lace, and a little bow with pearls inside too.
Pollycraft Challenge- Pearls and Swirls
Truly Scrumptious- Decorate inside of your card (well it is decorated, just not very much lol)

Freshly Brewed Challenge- Something New (I have used a new digi, new flowers and new card blank)
Paper and Such- Tic-Tac-Toe ( I used ribbon, flower and lace)
Digi Designs- Anything Goes

Wow that was a whole lot of challenges! I'm getting good at this challenge thing lol.

Now I have a little bit of news (sad and good news at the same time).
Ellie the owner of Digital Tuesday had took the decision to close Digital Tuesday after this challenge as she feels that she doesn't have the time anymore to give the challenge blog 100%.
I have been on the Digital Tuesday DT from the beginning and have dealt with the sponsor stuff for a long time, so..........I am going to take over the Digital Tuesday challenge blog, which means this will not be the last challenge and there will be many more to come :)
I hope to see lots of my blogging buddies over there joining in with the challenges :) We have some great sponsors over there and there is sooo much inspiration from the fab design team.

Thanks for stopping by today. As always, I love to read all your comments.

A lot of girly pink!

2011-09-19T18:36:00.000+01:00

I have 2 cards to show today, but first I just want to say thank you for all the lovely comments about the Saturated Canary card I made.

I've been feeling a bit lost without my crafty stash (although a few of my dt buddies have sent me stuff to get me going, thanks again ladies xx) so all your comments really made my day :)

First up is a card I made following the sketch at Sketch Saturday.

Pink overload on this one I think! lol

This is the first time I have used the Teddy Bea/Bo images and I know it won't be the last, they are sooo cute. I coloured her with Promarkers and added some diamond stickles to her wings, wand, hat and pom pom.

The papers are mostly Papermania although I'm not sure about the base one.

Lots of differnt dies on this one and a crotchet flower by Anna Griiffin.

I wanted to enter a few challenges that want you to use dies and punches (although I can only find one of them now! lol) but I don't have any border punches now and only have a few SU punches so I had to be a bit creative.

I got the little butterflies from a friend so I am not sure if they are punched, so incase they are not, I used a SU! small scalloped oval punch and punched each corner with it. I would of never thought of using this punch like that before, I have only ever used it to punch out the sentiments to match the set, but I was trying to find a corner rounder punch (which I know I have somewhere), couldn't find it but came across this one instead and the idea came to me. I think I kinda like it lol. It's different, and I like different :)

I threaded some ribbon through the border (marianne designs die), added some gems to the butterflies, and added some stickles around the edge of the sentiment die cut.

Here's the other challenges that I am entering with this one.

Ooh La La Creations- Punches and Dies

Stampin For The Weekend- Tickled Pink

Moving Along With The Times- Sparkle (loads of stickles everywhere lol)

Papertake Weekly- Things With Wings

Pollycraft Monday- Swirls and Pearls (there is a pearl on my flower)

And my other card is one that I made for my Daughter Rhianna's birthday which was on the 10th, but I forgot to blog it.

Not much I can tell you about this one...I don't know what makes the papers are and the flowers and lace were a gift from a friend.

The image though is of course LOTV and is one of their cute squares. These are great for when you don't have time to colour an image.

I just noticed that there was a butterfly on the top right corner but it's fell off....oops. If you look closely you can see where it was becasue there's a wee mark there.

Isn't that lace gorgeous? Rhianna loved it :)

I'm sure I followed a sketch for this card but I made it a while ago so the challenge will have been finished long ago.

I'm entering this one into the following challenges.

One Stop Crafts- Girly

Wags N Whiskers- Lace

Stamp With Fun- Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by, and if you have time please leave me a comment. I love to read them and appreciate every one :)

Saturated Canary cutie for some challenges

2011-09-17T15:13:00.001+01:00

I have loads of time on my hands now that all my kids are at school and I don't help out at their new school (I was at their old school helping every day!), so I have managed to get all my cards made for dt work and some challenge cards too :)

I bought one of the gorgeous Saturated Candy images the other day and couldn't wait to make a card with it. I coloured her up in pink too, so will have to get a card made with that one as well, but for now, here's the blue version I did.

This little lady is called Nevaeh and I coloured her as usual with Promarkers and used some Diamond Stickles too.
The papers are Heidi Grace, doily from Poppy's Cabin, lush white satin ribbon is from a little craft shop in Stonehaven, buttons from my stash and the pretty crotchet flowers and embroidered butterfly are from Little Snippets.

You can't really see the stickles on her dress, but you might be able to see it better if you click on the pic.

I'm loving these flowers are butterflies, they are sooo pretty :)

I followed the sketch at Crafty Catz challenge blog, and I am also entering this card into the challenge at Cute Card Thursday, where anything goes this week and Delighful Challenges where they want to see Girly Girls. (I know my card is blue and not the normal girly pink, but I still think it's very girly.

Thanks for stopping by

Inky Impressions and a lot of challenges!

2011-09-13T13:41:00.001+01:00

This is my second post today, please scroll down to see my Digital Tuesday challenge post.

Wow two posts in one day! I'm way ahead lol. If only I could be so organised every day!.....no chance of that! haha

I was bored today while the kids were at school, so thought I would go looking for some challenges to enter, and I found loads! :)
First of all, I followed the challenge at The Sweet Stop challenge blog, and of course added a few embellies on top of the sketch (I just can't help myself! lol)

It's horrible wet windy weather here today again, so I thought I would make a fun bright card, and maybe the weather will take the hint and brighten up.....not much chance of that in Aberdeenshire though!

I used Lili's Prayer from Inky Impressions and coloured her with Promarkers and added some glitter, which you can't see very well in this pic.

The papers I have no idea (again), but the pretty charm is from Inky Impressions, and you can find loads more charms in the Inky Impressions store.

And I added a doily from Poppy's Cabin (link in sidebar), a punched border which I don't have the punch for, but I bought the punched strips from Poppy's Cabin, a glitter swirly rub-on by imaginisce and some pretty flowers that I got from Carol (thanks again hun), but I suspect they are from Wild Orchid Crafts

Now to list all these challenges! I don't normally enter more than one or two, but there is so many challenges out there this week that my card fits, so I thought why not. Now I just have to link them all!

The Sweet Stop- Sketch
Crafty Catz- Ribbon
My Mum's Craft Shop- Layers
Pile It On- Layers
Allsorts- Flowers and Swirls ( I used a swirly rub on)
Delighful Challenges- Bling It (glitter on my image, glittery rub on and charm)
Ladybug Crafts- Flowers
I love Promarkers- metal embellishments or charms

Wowzers, I think that is the most challenges I have ever entered at once. And I don't plan on entering that many again, because it's taken me forever to link them all up, and now I have to go to all the challenge blogs and add my entry! ......oh well, what else it there to do on a miserable day? :)

Thanks for stopping by

Digital Tuesday - Celebrate The Season

2011-09-13T09:00:00.002+01:00

It's time for another Digital Tuesday challenge and the challenge is "Celebrate The Season" (any season).
Our sponsor this week is the fab Spesch Stamps and Tracey let the DT choose an image if they wanted to use one for the challenge, so of course I did because her images are fab!

I must warn you that there is 4 pics of this one card. I just kept snapping away last night lol.
I followed the a sketch from Sketch N Stash (number 55). This week you can choose any sketch from their previous sketches, and this time I have got my challenge entry in on time (I messed up last week lol)
Here's the one I used. And my new stash is the image, striped paper and mesh ribbon.

The snowflake paper is by Dovecraft, but not sure about the striped one.
I coloured the cute Spesch Stamps digi with my usual Promarkers and added a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the girls fur trim.

The fab mesh ribbon stuff was a bargain find in a little craft shop in Montrose (Crafty Catz I think it's called but I could be wrong). They were selling it for about 40p per metre.....much cheaper than other places around here!, and is it's pink, I just had to buy some :)

I threaded the ribbon through a pearl heart ribbon slider and also added a few pearl sprays.

The mega sparkly snowflake is cut from an old Sizzix die from mountboard and then covered with lashings of Twinklets. I love this stuff, it's so sparkly.

That's it from me for today. I should be back tomorrow with a card of some sort if I get my bum in gear and get some pics taken!

Thanks for stopping by

A CAS Inky Impressions

2011-09-12T17:08:00.000+01:00

The weather here today is terrible :( It's been really windy all day and apparently we will be having up to 80mph winds after 5pm!! It's 4.45pm now, so I'd better write this quick incase my internet connection goes!

It's my turn to do the Inspiration post over at the Inky Impressions Inspirational blog, and as we have some new Inky boy stamps, I thought I would try my hand at a CAS male card!! ( I scare myslef even thinking about making male cards, never mind a CAS one!, so this really was a challenge for me! lol)

Sorry about the pic. The card is much brighter in real life, but I couldn't take a pic outside or else it would of flown away!

I used Christopher's Catch from Inky Impressions and coloured him with the usual Promarkers.
I'm not sure who makes the papers (sorry I haven't been very good at knowing which make things are this last few weeks, because I have no real paper stash that I have bought myself, everything I have been using has been sent to me from my lovely DT girls at By The Cute and Girly because I lost all mine in the flood/fire).

I think it was a bit easier to make it cas because the papers are really bright and have a lot going on, so I just added a few buttons to finish.
I did want to add more embellies though, but had to stop myself lol. What else can you really put on a male card though apart from buttons? answers on a postcard please because I always get stuck at the embellie part when I make male cards.

Here's Christopher's close up as always.

I am entering the C.R.A.F.T challenge today where the challenge is children and also Stamp Something where it's anything goes.
It's stamp somethings last challenge this week :( I have been a fan of their challenge blog for a long time, so it's sad to see it end, but it's been fun entering their challenges whenever I could.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you will check out the Inky Impressions Inspirational blog to see all the other posts by the amazing design team, and also the challenge blog where there is always some fab inspiration too. The challenge just now is a colour combo of brown and cornflower blue (or as close as you can get to that shade) and although we love to see you using the Inky Impressions stamps, you can use any stamp to join in with the challenge.

A bit of Hanglar and Stanglar and some Bildmalarnas

2011-09-11T12:16:00.001+01:00

I haven't posted for a few days because I've been busy getting things ready for my Daughter Rhianna's girly birthday party which was yesterday. She invited her new friends from school and they all had a lovely (but noisy!!) time.

I did make a few challenge cards last week, but forgot to post them....oops, so thought I would just show one today anyway and also one of my By The Cute and Girly DT cards for this month where the theme is "All Things Bright and Beautiful".

I think I made this for Just Magnolia and Hanglar challenge but they have a new one up now, so I had a look around blog land and C.R.A.F.T challenge is looking for cards with children this week, so I am entering it there.

The cute Hanglar girl is coloured with Promarkers and I used some Dazzling Diamonds glitter from SU! on her wings and her bow on her hat.
I'm not sure who makes the papers I used on this card as they were from a friend, but the gorgeous flowers and butterfly are from Little Snippets, aren't they pretty?
Ger has lots of lovely snippets for your cardmaking but they can also be used for so much more. I have a horrible light shade which I think I will transform using some of these lovely "snippets". I will share some pics if I ever get around to doing it lol.
The pretty wire spray was also a gift and the flourishes and decorative border are both Marianne dies. This is the first time I have used the border one because I lost my embossing mat for my cuttlebug and this die embosses as well as cuts, so I haven't ever used it, but I was mounting some stamps the other day and thought I would be able to use some of the mount to use instead of the tan mat to emboss with......it worked perfectly, although I don't think I will be able to use the mount for stamps now, because it now has a pretty embossed pattern on it! lol

Here's the little cuties close up :)

You can see the glitter on her hat and wings better in this one and also the pretty embroidered detail on the Little Snippets flower. Oh and I threaded some ribbon from my stash through the border too.

As I said, the theme over at my monthly challenge blog, By The Cute and Girly is "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and to be honest, I was kinda lazy with this challenge and only made cards because I had just moved house and didn't have much stash to make anything, but at least I made something :)

The top strip of paper on this card looks really wonky, but I promise it's not in real life, don't know what happened with the pics there lol.

Again I have no idea who makes these papers, but they are lovely and glittery, so I thought they would be good for the challenge.
The cute image is a Bildmalarna stamp which I got as a birthyday pressie last year from one of my BTC&G DT girls, Hanna, and I have to confess that I have only used it once before. Not because I don't like it, because I love these cute stamps, but because I lost it and found it again when I moved :) So she will be getting a lot of inking now.
I coloured her as usual with promarkers and used a little bit of glitter.
The gorgeous butterfly and pretty crotchet flowers are again from Little Snippets.
I also followed a sketch for this one but I missed that challenge as well.......I know there is just no hope for me! lol

You can see the glitter on her little bows and on the yellow bits of the flowers.

That's all from me today. I will be back tomorrow with an Inky Impressions Inspiration post on the Inspirational blog, but today I need to make a pile of thank you cards for Rhianna's friends who came to her party yesterday.

Thanks for stopping by

Inky Impressions Colour Combo challenge

2011-09-07T20:12:00.000+01:00

I did have this post scheduled but blogger decided that it didn't want to post it, so a bit late, but better late than never I suppose ;)

The challenge over at the Inky Impressions challenge blog this week is a colour combo of Cornflower Blue and Brown. Now my card is these colours, but I have no idea how the blue looks in my pics because my monitor has gone all funny and I can't see any of the colours properly lol, so I'm sorry if my blue doesn't look like Cornflower Blue in the pics, but I promise it is in real life.....it could look pink here for all I know!! lol

I used Lili's Sweet Treat which is one of the new release stamps that you can find here in the Inky Impressions store. I just love this little cutie :) As usual she is coloured with Promarkers.

The paper are Laura Ashley and some spotty paper that I found a scrap of so I'm not sure who makes that one.
I cut Lili out with a Marianne die and also die cut some flourishes with the 2 other dies from the same set, and everything else on this card was gifts from friends :)

I am entering this card into the Creative Card Crew challenge where anything goes and also Pile It On where they want to see anything beginning with a "B"......I have blue, brown and a bow.

Inky Impressions Fall Fun Blog Hop!!

2011-09-02T10:28:00.001+01:00

Happy Friday and welcome to the Inky Impressions FALL FUN Blog Hop!!

The Inkettes are putting on this blog hop to show you some really FUN new rubber stamp releases that have just come out!! The images are:
Pirate Christopher
Deputy Christopher
Robinhood Christopher

This blog hop begins TODAY, Friday September 2nd at 7:00 AM (EST) and will end on Sunday, September4th at noon (EST)...so don't miss out on the fun and prizes!! The Winner will be announced on the Inky Impressions Inspirational Blog...so be sure to check back to see if you're a winner!

For the prize, one lucky winner will receive TWO of the new released images you see today along with a sentiment stamp and some yummy embellishments!!....Now doesn't that just ROCK?!! So please be sure you leave a comment on EVERY blog hop stop along the way and finish to the end for your chance to win!!

If you came here from Cyndi's blog you are the right track, if not please start at the beginning with Jackie's

My card today uses "Pirate Christopher"

Isn't this just the cutest little pirate ever!? I coloured him with Promarkers and embossed his belt buckle and sword with silver embossing powder.
The papers were from a lovely blogging friend and I just finished it off with some black gems from my local pound store.
And I am entering this card into the Stamps R Us Challenge where it's "anything goes"

I decided to make another card with the same stamp using "non traditional" pirate colours.

I followed the sketch over at Sketch and Stash for this one and of course my new stash is the stamp.
As usual I coloured with Promarkers and this time I embossed his belt, sword and the little skull with gold embossing powder.
I found the gold sequin waste stuff in my kids craft box and thought it would look quite good with the pirate image and then used a metal "coin" embellishment from Janlynn.com which was actualy silver but I just inked it with a couple of coats of gold ink, drying inbetween each layer with my heat gun, to make it match the rest of the card.
I love how you can take any of these images and make a totally different card each time by just changing the colours.
I really had fun with this stamp and I have so much more ideas for cards using it.
My middle Daughter's birthday is next week and I was going to have a party for her but since we moved and none of her friends from her old school would be able to come because we are too far away from them, I decided not too, but I was thinking, wouldn't this stamp be perfect for a princess and pirate theme party for a child?
I thought of this theme before for one of my kids parties but I didn't do it because I couldn't find a pirate themed stamp that I liked, but this stamp is just perfect for it.....it's boyish but cute enough to be used on a girls invitation too :)
Actually now that I think about it, I could easily have a little party in the house with a few of her new school friends just so I can make some invitations with this little cutie lol, and any of the Inky girl stamps would be perfect for the girls one too:)

From here you will go to Tanya's blog. Make sure you leave comments along the way for a chance to win

Here is the order:

Carrie
Jen
Ria
Cyndi
Lora That's me :)
Tanya
Alberto
Jackie
Inspirational blog

A couple of Sugar Nellie challenge cards

2011-08-28T18:50:00.000+01:00

I decided yesterday that I am going to try join in with lots more challenges now that I have more time on my hands, since I don't have to do anything at my kids school now because they have moved school, so last night I checked out the Sugar Bowl challenge and pulled out some of my old Sugar Nellie stamps to have a play.

The first one is for the Sugar Bowl where there is a sketch and also the optional theme of "One For The Girls". I always love the sketches that they have over there and Sugar Nellie's happen to be my fave stamps, so I like to join in when I can, and I have promised myself that I am going to try join in with all the challenge there :)

I couldn't get very good pics today as it's really windy here so I couldn't take photo's outside and it's too dull to get a good pic indoors.
I coloured as usual with Promarkers. I think this is only the second time I have inked this cutie up!! I know it's shocking isn't it?! I don't know why because I love these older SN stamps......maybe it's because I just kept buying them and didn't have enough time to play with them all lol. Well I don't have that problem now as I don't have half of the stamps I used too :( and it doesn't look like I will be able to buy new ones anytime soon, so I think my old stamps will all be getting a good airing over the next few weeks :)

I used K&Co papers again and some pretty flowers and butterflies that my friend Ger sent me (thanks hunnie xx), some card candy (which was from another fabby friend) and I got out a few of my Marianne dies for the flourishes and leaves.

After I made this card, I decided that I wasn't quite ready to put the stamps away, so I made another one for a different challenge.
I saw someone else enter the Pink Ink Sketch Challenge which I had never heard of before, so I thought I would give it a go.

Again the papers which are all Papermania, gems and the pretty lace were gifts from my fab blogging friends (I really would have nothing to show if it weren't for them sending me some stuff to get me crafting again!) and the gorgeous butterfly is from Little Snippets Etsy Store, I just added some tiny gems to it's body.

I think this is the first Sugar Nellie Manga I bought and again I have only used her once or twice, but I really enjoyed colouring this one.
The gorgeous butterfly is one of the newer styles of butterflies in the Little Snippets store, and I think it's my favourite style so far.....although I say that every time Geraldine shows me a new butterfly lol.

Well that's it from me today. I will be back tomorrow with a couple of cards using some "Little Snippets"

I'm finally back!!!

2011-08-27T12:18:00.001+01:00

This is going to be a long post, so you should maybe get a cuppa and get yourself comfy before attempting to read this lol.

It's been over a month since I last posted and this last month has been a nightmare!
I'm not going to write a whole novel about what has happened over the last few months, but I feel that I owe an explanation to all my friends................so basically what has happened is, we went on holiday for a week and then ended up staying longer to look after my MIL's house while she was on holiday and while we were away, my house was flooded.
We were wanting move house anyway as I hated where we lived but what happened made the decision for us, so we have moved house and am about 30 miles away from where I used to live.
I don't know anyone here but it's a nice village and the kids love their new schools so things are looking up :)
I lost a lot of my stuff including most of my craft stash :( so I haven't been able to craft for the last few weeks, but some of the dt members from my challenge blog By The Cute and Girly very kindly sent me some crafty bits so I could get crafting again (thank you girls, you are the best!! :)), so I spent yesterday crafting all day :)
I still need a lot of things but I'm getting there.

I took a few supplies with me on holiday so I could make a couple of cards for design team work, so I have those to show today......a month late, but better late than never lol, and also I made some cards yesterday, so I have lots to show!

First up is a card I made for Inky Impressions with Rock 'N' Roll Donnie from the last release. This was for one of the challenges over at the Inky challenge blog.

I won't go into huge detail and give marker colours etc since I have a lot to show, but the papers are My Minds Eye (Lost and Found collection), image is coloured with Promarkers, the chipboard embellie which I thought was just perfect for this image is by Making Memories and everything else from my stash.

And here's 2 more dt cards that I made yesterday for Inky Impressions using the new Summer release images.
First is one using Lili's Sweet Treat and matching sentiment.

I don't have much Promarkers now as I lost a lot when I moved, but I managed to colour up a few images without having to use loads of different shades.
I'm not sure who makes the papers as they were a gift from one of my dt girls/friends, but I thought they went well with the sweet image.
I'm entering a couple of challenges with this one- I used the sketch from Cute Card Thursday, Papertake Weekly's challenge is Dies To Die For and I used 2 Marianne dies for the flourishes, Pile It On is looking for Sweet Treats and the Corrosive Challenge is looking for Girly.

The cute crotchet flower is from Little Snippets Etsy store which I am a dt member for. The owner Ger has some gorgeous embellies and all at reasonable prices too :)

Next is a card made with one of the new Inky Impressions boys.
I didn't get a chance to make anything for the release as I was away, but I couldn't wait to ink them up when I got back.

This stamp is Christophers Catch and I coloured him with Promarkers and added some Glossy Accents to the water which unfortunately you can't see in this pic.
The papers are K&Co and I used some Card Candy which I got from my lovely blogging buddy.

I do love girly cards but this little boys are so cute and I really enjoyed colouring them. I have more coloured that still need to be made into cards, so I will be showing them soon.

Finally, a card that I made with some of the lovely goodies that Carol sent me (thanks again hunny, you are soooo kind :))

I thought I would enter the Crafters Companion Challenge which is Glitter and Glitz, and this cute image just seemed perfect for it.
The image is a LOTV topper which I just added some dazzling diamonds glitter to her shoes and the bow in her hair. You can't really see the glitter here, but I promise it is there. I did try to get a close up of the pic, but for some reason it just kept going all blurry.
The papers are from one of my all time fave paper pads by K&Co. I just rounded all the corners and added some pretty flowers and ribbon that Carol also sent me and some pearls from the Inky Impressions store.

I do have a few more cards to show but I will post them later. I think any more might send you to sleep.....that's if your not already sleeping after this novel! lol

Thanks for all the messages I was sent while I was MIA. Sorry I couldn't reply to them all, I had no internet access while I was away and I when I finally got it on, I had over 8000 emails to read through, so I'm afraid most of them got deleted. So if you had sent me an email and I didn't reply, please send it again and I promise I will get back to you this time :)

Thanks for stopping by

Digital Tuesday- Sketch

2011-07-19T20:26:00.001+01:00

It feels like ages since I last posted. I was away for a week and befrore that I had major internet problems, so haven't been able to post for over a week.

This week it's Natascha's turn to choose the challenge at Digital Tuesday and she made a sketch for us to follow.

Our sponsor this week is Spesch Stamps who are giving away 3 digi stamps to the winnrer of this weeks challenge, and Tracey kindly let the dt choose an image to use.

I love the images at Spesch Stamps so of course I had to use one, and I chose one of the new images this time, called Lemonade Girl.

I went a bit bright with this one! Not my mormal kind of colours (I find myself saying that a lot lately though lol), but since she has lemons on her dress, there had to be some yellow in there, so I thought I would make it nice and bright and went for orange as well.

The base paper is Bo Bunny that I have had for ages and the butterfly one which I have also had for a long time is by Papermania.

I didn't have a die to give me the curved shape from the sketch and I didn't really want a ripped edge on this card, so I just cut the curvy bit freehand.

The ribbon is some I got ages ago in a bargain pack that I bought for my kids in the local poundland shop. I never thought I would ever use it, but it came in handy for this card because the only other orange or yellow ribbon I have is Halloween ones. I added some lace from my stash on top of the ribbon, some Prima flowers and the yellow flowers on top are from Janlynn.com but unfortunately they have stopped selling them.

The pretty doily is from Poppy's Cabin (link in sidebar) and a few Prima pearls.

Isn't this image fab? I didn't realise when I asked Tracey for this one that it comes with no eyes drawn in (just the eyelashes and you have to draw the pupils yourself) and I kinda panicked because I am terrible at drawing eyes, but I had fun colouring her and I don't think the eyes turned out to bad.

I used a fine liner black Promarker for the pupil and left a tiny white bit for highlights then just coloured as normal with blue Promarkers.

I do need a lor more practice though, but that's just another excuse for me to buy more of these fabby images:)

Promarker colours used
Skin: Coral, Satin, Blush, Baby Pink (for cheeks)
Hair: Henna, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna
Yellows on dress and the lemon: Saffron, Tulip Yellow, Canary
Dress: Orange, Peach, Apricot
Shadows: Ice Grey 2 & 3 and blender

I hope you will join in with this weeks challenge.

Thanks for stopping by. I really do appreciate you visiting me, especially when I haven't been posting very much, and I love to read all the comments you leave (speaking of comments, there may just be some commenters/followers candy coming very soon:)

A pile of late dt cards!

2011-07-07T21:34:00.001+01:00

My internet has been playing up these last few days (again!!) and I haven’t been able to get online to post my dt cards, so I have to warn you that this is gonna be a loooong post!!

First up is my Inky Impressions Challenge card. It’s my turn to host the challenge this fortnight (although I had problems getting the challenge post done and my teamie Michaela came to my rescue and did the post for me! Thanks hunnie), and I chose “Distressing” as the challenge.

I made an easel card for a change. I love how these look, but don’t make them often enough.

I used Lili’s Prayer from Inky Impressions and coloured her as usual with Promarkers (I’m not writing the colours I used today as there is a few cards, but if anyone wants to know which colours I used on any image, let me know and I will email you)

I used papers from My Minds Eye from the Lost & Found collection again and distressed all the edges with scissors then inked them with antique linen distress ink.

I used lace and raffia stuff from my stash and also inked them and some blue ribbon from my stash.

The gorgeous butterfly is from Little Snippets Etsy store. It was a white/cream colour but I inked it with distress ink so it matched the colours of my papers and then added some Prima pearls.

While I am on the subject of Little Snippets, I have some news to share……..the lovely Geraldine has asked me to join her design team, and of course I said yes I use her “snippets” all the time anyway because they are so pretty, but this is my first “official” dt card for Little Snippets

My next card is for Charisma Cardz (I’m not so late for this one because the challenge was just posted today, but it should of been on my blog this morning).

The challenge is to use flowers.

I used a cute Penny Black hedgehog and of course coloured him with Promarkers but not my usual choice of colours…….can you spot my mistake?? I was paying attention when I was colouring the daisies and coloured the petals of one of them yellow instead of the centre, so instead of white with yellow centres, they now have yellow petals and orange centres lol. I also inked around the image with a few different distress inks.

The papers on this one are Heidi Grace…so not my colours and I would of never put the blue with the red/orange, but the blue was the reverse side of the main paper I used. I do quite like the colours though now that I have used them…..you never know, there may be some unusual coloured cards popping up on my blog now and again.

Finally here’s my card for Digital Tuesday where the challenge by the lovely Maria is “Bling It Up”. Our sponsor this week is Paper Fashions Etc who also gave the design team some of their button card images to use for the challenge.

Sorry about the poor pics of this one (well them all in fact lol) for some reason I just couldn’t get a pic of this one without it looking washed out.

I used a digi image that I found while searching for a different one and I think it is from Stitchy Stamps, but I’m not 100% on that. I coloured her as usual with Promarkers, then drowned her with glitter :)

I’m not sure about this paper either I’m afraid, but the image in the background is a button card image from Paper Fashions which I just printed on some shimmery light blue card and added glitter to the swirly bits. When I first saw these button cards, I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but my teamies at DTC Amy and Maria directed me to some samples made with them (thanks girls, I would of been lost without you lol). It’s a pity that I done all the glittering with a quicky glue pen and then covered most of it up…oops.

I used some black organza ribbon from my stash and also made a flower with it, then added a Prima flower and an American Crafts blingy brad on top, and finished with some sticky back gems for some more bling

You can see the glitter on this pic much better…doesn’t she look pretty?

Ok if you have reached the end of this post, you deserve a medal!! lol

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Lora x

Whiff Of Joy candy!!

2011-07-03T12:41:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know that Katherina is having a giveaway on her blog! She is offering 5 WOJ stamps (winners choice) to the lucky winner!!
You can find all the details here

Now I really didn't want to post about this candy because I would love to win them myself! lol

Good Luck!

I have also posted my By The Cute and Girly DT card today which you can find in the next post down.

By The Cute and Girly- Things With Wings

2011-07-03T11:27:00.000+01:00

As promised, here’s my DT card that I made for By The Cute and Girly where the theme this month is “Things With Wings”.

One of our sponsors this month is Digital Delights who also gave the design team some images to use. I have used Bizzy Bear for my card and coloured him with the usual Promarkers (colours listed at the end) and I added a pile of Dazzling Diamonds glitter
The papers are all K&Co from the Hopscotch pad, matted with some shimmery yellow paper that I had in my stash. Not my kind of usual colours, but it’s a nice change I suppose lol.
I used some raffia that I got at my local craft shop Holburn crafts in Aberdeen, and just wrote No 1 DAD on the same yellow paper and cut them out….something I have never done before, but this card was for Fathers Day and the kids helped with it, so I thought it was quite fitting for this card (because it looks like a kid has done it!! lol)

Promarker colours used.
Skin……oops I mean fur! lol I’m too used to writing skin lol
Fur: cinnamon, raw sienna, burnt sienna (cheeks baby pink)
Bee and Bears stripes: tulip yellow, pastel yellow, canary and saffron (I think…really I just used nearly all the yellows! lol) cool grey 2, 3 and 4
Grass: leaf green, meadow green

Our other sponsors this month are our 2 regular sponsors, the wonderful Simon Says Stamp and the equally wonderful Joanna Sheen who are offering $20 and £10 gift certificates!! Also we have some guest designer spots for the September challenge if anyone fancies joining us for that. Designers will be announced with our July winners on the 1st of August and you would have a whole month to make your projects (minimum of 2 projects which can be anything you like as the challenge blog is for ALL crafts).
Hope to see lots of you joining in this month!

Hugs Lora x

ETA: if anyone knows how I can add my signature in livewriter please let me know! This is my first time using it and I do like it, but I want my signature back! lol

A few late cards!!

2011-07-02T18:48:00.000+01:00

I have a few dt cards to post today which I am late with as my computer was broken! Just as well I had these cards made well in advance and posted to the dt blogs or else I would of been late in posting them there as well.

First up is a card I did for the Inky Impressions Inspirational blog, which I followed the sketch at Sketch Saturday for but I am now to late to enter the challenge. It's also for the challenge over at Stampin For The Weekend where they want to see your favourite things.

This card is full of my fabourite things:) First of all the adorable Inky Impressions image (Lili's Present) which is coloured with Promarkers, K&Co papers, lace, Prima flowers and pearl flourishes, ribbon and gems....think I got most of my favourite things on there lol.

The challenge over at the Inky Impressions challenge blog is still running (new challenge starts on wednesday) and the challenge is to use lace. You don't have to use an Inky Impressions image to join in with the challenges, but if you do, you get a second entry.
If you don't have any of these stamps, you really should get some, they are adorable and deeply etched which makes it easy to stamp and get a good impression, and they are already mounted, so you can ink they up as soon as they arrive :)

Promarker colours used (I remember to list them for a change!! lol)
skin: coral, blush, baby pink (for cheeks)
hair: satin and raw sienna
blue clothes: denim blue, powder blue and pastel blue
present: satin
under skirt and bow on present and hairband: antique pink and rose pink

My other card is for Digital Tuesday where the lovely Lorraine is hostess and she chose the challenge theme "Flower Power". Our sponsor this week is Karen's Doodles and she also gave the dt some images to use for the challenge.

Sorry about this rubbish pic, it was taken at night just before I gave it away to someone so I couldn't get another pic in good light.
I used a cutie digi image from Karen's Doodles and as usual coloured with Promarkers (have listed colours at the end), and also added some glitter on bits.
The paper is by Papermania, some Prima flowers with added gems from my stash in the middle and some ribbon "stuff" from Hobbycraft.
A very simple card but I wanted to show the flowers on the paper for the challenge, so I didn't want to add more layers.

Promarker colours
Skin: oatmeal and blush, baby pink for cheeks
Hair: vanilla and ivory
Dress and flowers: baby pink and cocktail pink
Butterflies: canary and tulip yellow
Grass: leaf and meadow green

I also have another card to show for By The Cute and Girly where the new challenge was posted yesterday, but I will leave that one till tomorrow. The challenge this month is "Things With Wings" and as always we have some fab prizes up for grabs!!

Thanks for stopping by