Tilda at Christmas

Hiya!

As promised here is another of my Christmas cards.... Just a quick simple one cos we're all a bit short of time at this time of the year, aren't we?

A close up of the image...

I used:

Image - Magnolia

Promarkers

Gold gel pen

Papers - Papermania Mistletoe kisses

Gold mirri card

Card candi

Sentiment - Daisy and Dandelion die cut

String snaffled from a clothing tag!

Challenges:

Stampin' for the Weekend - Christmas

Moving Along with the Times - Last minute Christmas

Crafty ribbons - Traditional colours for Christmas

CES challenges - Traditional Christmas

I'm off to my pal's tomorrow for a fab crafty day but I'm hoping to catch up with all your lovely blogs soon!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 22 - Christmas!

Hiya!

And a big welcome to my new followers :-) I'm back with my DT card for Dream Valley's latest challenge:

CHRISTMAS!

Well what else would it be at this time of year!?!

This is my first successful stepper card - I've always made such a hash of them before!

The image is of course Forever Friends coloured with my fave promarkers. The tree stamp was in the same set.  I've added loads of fluffy stuff I got from my local craft shop - it makes fab snow and fluffy trims :-)

I like doing my cards in those lovely pinks and blues but you just can't beat the traditional red and green for Christmas! I've embossed the background and highlighted it with shimmer chalk so it stands out a bit better. It looks really shimmery in real life - I can't hope for the camera to catch that at the moment though. It's having enough difficulty distinguishing between bold primary colours in this horrible (lack of) light we've got at the moment. How I long for Santa to bring me my daylight lamp! I've posted him my list :-)

I've used:

Images - Forever Friends

Promarkers

Sentiment - Daisy and Dandelion die-cut

Papers - Daisy and Dandelion

Fluffy stuff(!)

Papermania embossing folder

Shimmer chalks (to highlight embossed snowflakes)

Ribbon and gems from stash

Challenges:

CES Challenges - Traditional Christmas

Crafty Ribbons - Traditional colours for Christmas

Creative Inspirations - Snow much fun!

Forever Friends - It's all Christmas

Let's ink it up - Christmas Projects

Stampin for the weekend - Christmas

ABC challenge - E for embossing

Totally Gorjuss - Let it snow

Now don't forget to pop over to Dream Valley - we've got some fab new members to our design team and they've made some gorgeous festive projects :-)

I've made a bezillion other Christmas cards but haven't got round to posting them on here yet so prepare for an overdose from me in the next few days :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

White on white....

Hiya!

Hope you are all well! I thought I'd have a go at a white on white Christmas card in between wedding invites and this is the result....

The image is a digi from Just Inklined. It's absolutely fab for quick cards as it hardly needs any colouring at all!

I used:

Image - Just Inklined

Sentiment - Sentiments 4 You

Promarkers

Papermania embossing folders

Nesties

Marianne creatables snowflake dies

Gems from stash

Challenges:

Ladybug Crafts Ink - White on white

Whoopsi Daisy - White on white

Right, I'm off - my new cross trainer should be arriving any moment so I need to clear some space! I was on the treadmill last week and smoke started pouring out of it so I kind of needed a replacement.... There's no other way I'll be able to fit into my wedding dress with all the yummy Christmas food I'm planning! :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 21 - Sparkle... and a mini DT call....

Hiya!

I'm back for another challenge at Dream Valley! This time we are being sponsored by our very own Mags (who is now calling herself MagsB....) Please pop over to her blog, she makes some gooooorgeous creations! Anyway, so on to the challenge.... One of my faves this time - we want to see some

SPARKLE!

I put a bit of sparkle on nearly all of my cards and with Christmas fast approaching there's certainly no reason to put away the glitter just yet :-)

I've made a couple of matching cards for my niece and nephew using one of my fave Lili of the Valley images, James the bear in the snow.

I used holographic embossing powder on the hat trim and snow.... can you see it? Try squinting a bit.... :-) And then there's silver glitter around the edge.....

And the matching blue one....

Same holographic embossing powder but I couldn't get this to show up on my photos at all! How disappointing. It's soooo sparkley IRL. Why have I got to wait till Christmas for my daylight lamp???? Grrrrr!

I used:

Image - LOTV

Promarkers

Holographic embossing powder

Silver glitter

Papers - Pink: Tatty teddy Christmas pack, blue: Dovecraft

Silver mirri card

Silver trims and ribbon from stash

Nesties

Snowflakes - Marianne creatables dies

Gems and sentiments - stash

Card candy - picked up at NEC craft show

Challenges:

Blue card only

Creative Inspirations - Winter colours: Blue, grey and white

Ladybug crafts ink - Winter blues

Both cards

Charisma cardz - snowflakes

Lili of the Valley - Anything goes

Sketch 'n' stash - Fab sketch, new stash: card candy

ABC challenge - D for dazzle

Totally gorjuss - Sparkle

Whoopsi Daisy - Anything goes at Christmas

Dream Valley Mini DT Call

I must let you know about the DT call over at Dream Valley..... We're looking for some new teamies so if you'd like to join us, please pop over and read the post on the Dream Valley blog and add your name to our linky thing.... But make it quick cos there's only 1 day left!

Now I do need to apologise for how quiet I have been in blogland just lately. I don't want to bore you with the details but just to let you know I have a few things on my plate at the moment - all of which I hope will be resolved in the near future so I can be back to my usual blogging self! In the meantime, make sure you pop over to Dream Valley and have a look at all the other sparkley creations the DT have made - they're such a talented bunch :-)

Hoping to visit you all soon!

Love 'n' hugs,

Just for Roo x

Hiya!

I'm sending a parcel of goodies to my brother's with a mixture of birthday and Christmas goodies so I needed to get my nephew's birthday card made in plenty of time.... It's not his birthday for a month yet! My nephew's name is Richard but we all call him Roo so this is Just For Roo! :-)

I've been searching through all my crafty stash and found my Tatty Teddy stuff that I've barely used since I got it - naughty, naughty! So I thought I'd make good use of it for this card....

The hidden tag completes the sentiment....

A close up....

And a better piccie of the image....

I used:

Image - Tatty Teddy, Me to You

Promarkers

Papers - Me to You

Peel offs - Me to You

Sizzix tag die

Buttons - Papermania

Cord - Stash

Challenges:

CRAFT - Stars in your eyes

Sarah Hurley - Buttons

Sketch 'n' Stash - Fab sketch (neglected stash: Me to You range)

Whoopsi Daisy - Colours of Winter

Right, I'm off to visit your lovely blogs while listening to the fab concert for Children in Need!!! Brilliant so far. I sold all my Pudsey Bear calendars by the way - all 40 of them! I'm quite pleased with myself :-) I hope they raise lots of money!!!

Love 'n' hugs,

An army of Pudsey Bears....

Hiya!

I just wanted to share with you my calendars that I've been making in aid of Children in Need!

While I was at the NEC craft show I found out that Lili of the Valley were producing a stamp of Pudsey Bear - isn't he fab!!! I was going to make some cards with him but then thought that he might be better used as a calendar....

I printed out the backgrounds on the computer - some of them have spots while the rest have stars. I stamped Pudsey onto yellow card, cut him out and added his bandage cut from white card and coloured with my brush markers. The sentiment comes with the stamp along with a couple of others and then this "Handmade for you" stamp to go on the back....

I spent my weekend cutting out an army of Pudsey Bears as you can see here:

I had quite a little production line going!

I've been selling them in the school playground (thank you Mrs Payne for letting me!). I made 20 to start with but they all sold out by this morning so I've had to go and buy some more bits to make more. Awwww, the disappointed looks on the kids faces when I ran out :-( So I've spent this afternoon making another 10 and I've got the bits to make 10 more.... I wonder if I'll have to go back to my craft shop for more supplies later in the week???

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley - Creature Comforts

CRAFT - Cute

Crafty Ribbons - Anything but a card

Charisma Cardz - Cutesy

Squiggle Stamps - Anything but a card

Right, I'd better go and get ready - time to take them up to the school again!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 20 - Stitching

Hiya!

It's time for another challenge over at Dream Valley and this time we'd like to see your stitching! Hand stitching, machine stitching or faux stitching - it all counts!

We are being sponsored by the fabby One Stop Card Crafts who are kindly offering our winner a £10.00 voucher for their store :-)

This card is for my niece, Madison, who is 7 today! Happy birthday, Madison :-)

I followed a fab sketch from Stampin' for the Weekend but made it into an easle card - I thought it looked quite treasure-chest-y which is perfect for a pirate Tilda :-)

You can see my hand-stitching a bit better on this picture.... It took aaages but I think it was worth the effort :-)

A close up of the image....

I used:

Image - Magnolia

Promarkers

Papers - Papermania, Henbury Lane

Nesties

Lace, ribbon and pearls from stash

Computer generated sentiment

Good old needle and thread!

Challenges:

Creative Inspirations - All stitched up

Stampin' for the Weekend - Fab sketch

Please pop over to the challenge blog to see some fab inspiration from the other Dream Valley girls. Can't wait to see the entries we get :-)

Back again soon!

Love 'n' hugs,

A shoebox.....

Hiya!

My good pal Lynn asked me to decorate a shoebox for her children to take into school. The boxes are going to be filled with goodies and given to disadvantaged children for Christmas - awwww! How could I refuse???

We had such a laugh - and chocolate chip muffins, yummy!

I started by covering it in brown parcel wrap....

A view of the lid....

A close up of the tag....

 And a wierdly angled piccie so you can see all the glitter :-)

I used:

Image - Me to You

Promarkers

Glitter glue

Brush marker for faux stitching

Kraft card

Papers - Papermania, Henbury Lane

Velvet ribbon - Crafty Ribbons

Snowflake dies - Marianne

Snowflake punch

Gems and ribbon on tag from stash

Challenges:

C.R.A.F.T. - Cute

Charisma Cardz - Cutesy

Crafty Ribbons - Anything but a card

Creative Inspirations - All stitched up

Forever Friends - Something old (shoebox), something new (snowflake dies)

Passion for Promarkers - Kraft and 1 other colour

Wags 'n' Whiskers - Christmas themed

Whoopsi Daisy - Tag it

Busy day today - need to do some shopping and then I'm making Pudsey Bear calendars for Children in Need to sell at school next week.... Piccies soon!

Have a fab weekend :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

A card for the box....

Hiya!

I always seem to run out of make cards so while I was doing my Dad's birthday card I coloured a spare image and this is the card I've made with it :-)

The image is of course from LOTV and coloured with promarkers.

The papers are Clare Curd's It's a Man's World, and then some more Smirk ribbon - simple!

A close-up of the image...

Challenges:

LOTV - Creature Comforts

C.R.A.F.T. - Cute

Right, despite my trip to the craft show at the NEC at the weekend, I need some more crafty supplies.... I'm off shopping :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Best Dad Ever....

Hiya,

Just a quick post from me tonight.... It was my lovely Daddy's birthday yesterday and I used my lovely new LOTV stamp that I won recently for his birthday card :-) Coloured of course with my promarkers....

The papers are from Clare Curd's It's a man's world collection and the ribbon is from Smirk.

Challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Textalicious (text on ribbon)

Forever Friends - Something old, something new (old papers, new stamp)

Moving along with the times - Food & drink

Hope you had a lovely day, Dad!

Back again soon.... :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

My NEC goodies....and my pumpkins.....

Hiya!

Had a fabby time at the craft show at the NEC yesterday.... :-) I thought I'd show you what I bought....

A daylight lamp - woohoo! Finally! Shame I've got to wait for Father Christmas to wrap and deliver it though..... :-) Some card blanks and mirri card, an ink pad, some christmas papers and LOTS of glue runners - I need them for my wedding invites and the removable ones to fix my unmounted stamps to my acrylic block!

Some fab punches (only £1 each!) and some dies - corners, snowflakes, leaves and a rolled rose. And two of the new LOTV stamps.... I ordered one of the Pudsey bear ones too so I can make some cards to sell for children in need. They'd sold out at the show but they're going to post it to me :-)

Little Claire's butterfly tree stamp, some buttons, card candi, flowers, stickles and ribbons.... Oh and some of those fine tips for my promarkers..... :-)

Unfortunately most of this lot is my christmas pressie from my lovely fella so I won't get to play with it for a while..... I can have all the christmas stuff now though, and a few other bits and bobs :-)

I promised you I'd show you all what I did with my pumpkins from my allotment too.... Now my carvings aren't the best but I was quite happy with these and the kids seemed to like them :-)

And I managed to scoop out the flesh and make pumpkin soup too - yummy! Definitely making this again :-)

Also on the menu at my halloween party were chocolate spider webs - me and the kids had a lot of fun making (and eating!) these :-) I think they look quite good!

Right, I should be getting the kids ready for school.... Catch up with you all soon!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 19 - Anything goes!

Hiya!

Oooops! I've been a very naughty girl - this post should have appeared on my blog on Sunday but I was away watching my fella run the Great South Run (he did really well!) and then I got back home, got the kids back off to school and college, a Halloween party, some wedding preparations and, well, I guess I just forgot!!! Soooo sorry. Bad blogger!

Oh well, it's here now. This is my DT card for Dream Valley's challenge - Anything Goes!

My apologies for the awful quality of the photo - I just can't get the light! Maybe I'll ask Father Christmas for a daylight lamp.... :-)

Love this little fella from Squiggle Stamps - one of the first I ever bought!

I used:

Image - Squiggle Stamps

Promarkers

Papers - Candy win

Nesties

Gems and ribbon from stash

Challenge:

Sketch 'n' stash - Fab sketch, used my neglected stamp

I really must pop round all your lovely blogs - I'm afraid wedding prep and life have got in the way just lately and I owe you all a visit!

Make sure you pop over to Dream Valley to check out the creations from the rest of the DT.

Love 'n' hugs,