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Wednesday 29 December 2010

Happy New Year

The lovely Leigh from Happi Scrappin' Doodles gave away a freebie on CDAC which is a great New Year image.

Having started my Christmas Cards late this year I only had enough time to make family cards and those for Paul's work colleagues so a lot of people missed out on cards so I thought I could send some New Year cards instead.

I had printed out a number of digi images a few nights ago and was colouring them with my Promarkers on Christmas Day whilst Paul was playing with his new steering wheel on the PS3. It was pretty much as perfect as could be :)

The backing paper is a magazine freebie by Funky Hand which has been torn and folded back a bit, and also distressed on the edges. I used a little serrated clay tool and it really roughs it up. I have to admit though it kinda hurts to tear pretty paper. I don't think distressing paper is me, I loves my pretty papers too much....

The image has been coloured with Promarkers, sakura glitter pen and some stickles bubbles and was cut out using a Nellie Snellen die. I have inked the edge and mounted it on 3d foam pads.

The swirl is a self adhesive one from Doodlebug which has got lots of silver glitter on it (yes, there is glitter EVERYWHERE, but that's what makes it fun LOL)

I have added gems in the corners and the sentiment is a peel off sticker.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-
This will probably be the last card of the year for me as I am going visiting friends over the next couple of days so I would like like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year.


Friday 24 December 2010

Stampin With The Dragon #16 Winner


OMG, I have just been going through my email and there was a Google Alert and my name had popped up on Stampin With The Dragon. I have just found out I was picked by random.org as the winner of Challenge #16 with my Little Birdie card and have won 5 digi images.

Considering so many people have been entering the challenges lately with so many amazing Christmas projects I really cannot believe how lucky I have been.

Make It Crafty Bog Hop


I have just taken part in a blog hop over at Make it Crafty and have to say the creations are just absolutely amazing. I can never in a million years envisage me being able to achieve a level of expertise that these ladies have shown and am in awe of their talent.

They have got some amazing news at the end of it and so many chances to win prizes but you will need to hurry as it ends today!

Even if you don't enter it is well worth hopping just to see the amazing creations.

I Won at Pattie's Creations


Oh wow, I had some amazing news last night from Theresa who is on the DT at Pattie's Creations. I had a cryptic message on CDAC to go check Pattie's Challenge blog and found out I had won last week's challenge for my Candle Box.

My prize was $10 worth of digital stamps from her Etsy store. I have chosen some smashing designs, 3 Christmas ones, a piggy bank and some lovely daisies. I ham having the most amazing luck lately and can't quite believe it. I feel like Christmas has come early. More importantly though, the boost it has given me in my self confidence is the greatest thing. The way I have felt recently it is something money just cannot buy but clearly crafty achievements can :)

Well it's now Christmas Eve, if it's not done or bought by now then it isn't going to be. Paul and I exchanged cards last night, I am glad to say he loved my owls card, he said he thought it was my best ever.

He is still at work today but will hopefully be finishing early. We are going to meet his Sister at the German Market in Birmingham later and have a bit of fun before the main event. Just got one more Christmas card to finish off and then I'm officially done........ I'll be back later :)


Thursday 23 December 2010

2nd Place at Happileigh Scrappin'

Woohoo, I have just found out today that I won 2nd place in the challenge I entered at Happileigh Scrappin.



My prize is 2 of Leigh's digi images of my choice and I get a special blinkie for my blog.

There is challenge #3 on the blog at the moment with another lovely freebie and if you become a member of the Crafters Digital Art Center (CDAC) Leigh has got a group and has just given away another freebie. If you are not already a member I would urge anyone who uses digis to become one as it is a great community with so many wonderful freebies.


Cards for Men Bloghop Winner

Woohoo, I am absolutely delighted that I was the winner of the main prize at the recent Bloghop over at Cards For Men.

My prize is over £40 worth of Dovecraft goodies which the lovely Donna has posted out and should be delivered between Christmas and New Year. It will be like having an extra crafty Christmas gift.

I very rarely enter bloghops for the sake of it as there are so many people who enter and the odds of winning prizes seems quite low, however, if it is support a blog/group I am particularly a fan of I will to help support them and all the hard work they do for us. That makes winning all the more special.

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Happy Birthday CJ

First of all, sorry for the poor photograph of this card, we are in the middle of a massive snow storm at the moment and the birthday man is coming round so I needed to take photo before he sees it.

Christmas Day heralds the birthday of a very special man, my nephew CJ is 14 (can't believe he is 14 and he is taller than me, mind you that's not hard at 5'4" LOL)

Anyhoo, I luvs him to bits. He was quite a difficult child for a number of years but thankfully he grew out of that stage and is turning into a lovely young man who I am very proud of. He is in the Army Cadets, previously in the Sea Cadets and the sense of discipline it has given him has completely transformed him and got him back on the straight and narrow.

He is really good at football and until recently that was his sport of choice. He is now playing Ice Hockey and goes skating for 5 hours on a Sunday. He has my utmost admiration, I honestly don't think I could manage 5 minutes. I've never tried it but knowing how accident prone I am I am pretty sure it would not be a good idea......

Obviously, I wanted to incorporate his new sport into his card so went searching for a suitable image on the tinterweb. I happened upon this one which was from a colouring book site. I have coloured it in with Promarkers and added a bit of Sakura clear glitter to the puck and the blades of the ice skates. I used sketch #7 at Crafters Companion for the layout of this card.

The spotty patterned paper is a freebie from an issue of Creative Cardmaking Inspirations. The starry paper is from a Dovecraft male set. I only have a couple of scraps of it left, it has been one of my most used papers.

I used a Martha Stewart punch for the edge of the mirri card, I thought it would emulate the edge on the ice skates and it embosses as well, it is the first time I have used it and I have had it ages. It was a particularly good Ebay purchase.

The chipboard circles are from a Colorbok kit I got from QVC, the birthday sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and the gems are from Paperchase.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges :-

Monday 20 December 2010

Top 3 at Scrap Creations


Gooodness only knows how I missed this last week on my challenge hunt but I have found out this morning that the Forever Friends Candle I made for my MIL has earned me a top 3 at Scrap Creations challenge.

I really am so pleased when my projects get chosen for things like this as it gives me so much confidence knowing it wasn't just a random draw thing but was actually picked out from amongst the other entries. When you see so many amazing creations entered into these challenges I honestly don't think I stand a chance against them and to know that I stood out makes me feel like I am on cloud 9.


Sunday 19 December 2010

Donny Winter

Again, another winter themed card inspired by all the snow we have in the UK at the moment.

I have used this great freebie from the Stampfairy. There is a whole range of this cute teddy called Donny and it was so lovely to colour in with my Promarkers. I am loving shading and getting more practice with colouring them in properly. I always loved colouring in as a kid and for Christmas would get a brand new set of felt tips and a new colouring book. It's nice to know that I can still enjoy colouring in at 39 years old and have a legitimate excuse for doing so :) I now just do it with grown up pens instead....

I used the sketch #133 at Friday Sketchers for the layout. The main backing of the card is silver mirri card, it was a bugger to get s photo that didn't have my reflection in it LOL. The snowflake paper is by K & Co and the mesh with snowflake fluff I think I got from the NEC a couple of years ago. It's got a nice texture to it and looks good against the silver.

The snowball has got loads of stickles smeared on it so it glistens. The thin velvet ribbon and sentiment are from my stash.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges :-

Little Birdie


As the UK is currently inundated with yet more snow we have a suitably themed card for you.

I have used the current sketch at The Sweet Stop for the layout of this card. The snowflake paper is a gorgeous wrapping paper from Paperchase. It is one of my favourite places to go if I go shopping in Birmingham. They always have gorgeous droolworthy items and they are very reasonably priced. Of course the papers are far too nice to actually use as wrapping paper so I often buy a couple of sheets to make cards. This has got lovely metallic silver snowflakes scattered with the blue ones but the metallic hasn't picked up in the picture very well.

The dotty paper is from an old DCWV stack, the faux stitched ribbon is Papermania/Docrafts, snowflake from a Christmas garland and the clear and blue gems are from Paperchase too.

The digi image is by the Prairie Fairy coloured with Promarkers and lots and lots of stickles. The sentiment is a Doodlebug sticker.

In Birmingham we have had about 4" of snow yesterday and it is really cold today so not going anywhere soon. It was coming down so thick and fast and it was lovely to not have to go out in it. I was happy as Larry crafting and watching CSI while Paul was tinkering on his computers. It was a lovely lazy Saturday, all thanks to the beautiful snow :)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Fabric Covered Box

It's another homespun Christmas pressie project from me with this beautiful fabric covered box that I made with a cross stitch panel. I have to admit I have had this kit for far more years than I should have and had done the cross stitch but never actually made the box and mounted it. There is so much detail in the cross stitch and you mount it onto wadding and add the braid around it, it is very tactile and shows all your hard work off to good effect.

Inside the box I have added green tissue paper and some pretty jewellery as a gift for my friend who I know will appreciate the work that has gone into it.

It has been nice to make gifts for people and is something I would like to continue doing during 2011.

I would like to enter this into the following Challenges :-

Candle Box


This is the gift Box I have made for the candle for My MIL. I have stuck with the Forever Friends theme and decorated an old Mini Cheddars canister with some gorgeous snowflake paper by K & Co I had in a smashing bargain pack from the NEC last November!!! It was just slightly too small to go all around the canister so I covered the join with blue ribbon and incorporated it as a decorative feature :)

I used a thin velvet ribbon to trim the bottom and some lovely pompom trim for the top. The centre image is a FF sticker added to a piece of card I cut from an old gift card. I used a Promarker to add a coloured edge and it bled into the card with a kind of mottled effect that I quite liked. I added a bit of stickles twinkles for good measure.

For the top I covered the date up (Christmas 2006, I've obviously had the canister for a long while....) with a scrap of card, added another FF sticker with some stars and splodged some stickles snowflakes inbetween. I added a tag to match the backing paper and Voila

I used some scrunched up tissue paper inside to cushion the bottom, wrapped the candle up with another sheet and then another scrunchie on the top so it is well protected.

All in all, a lovely gift which has cost next to nothing to make. I've even included the batteries :)

I would like to enter this project into the following Challenges :-