My first go with aquamarkers....

Last week I spent the day visiting my fab pal, Yvonne. We met when we were both teachers but are now into various different crafts and meet up once in a while to share ideas and borrow each others recent purchases :-) Yvonne has a set of the aquamarkers that I'd never had a go with before and this is the result....

Not bad for a first attempt??? The cheeky fella is from Daisy and Dandelion that I bought aaaages ago and rarely use - although I'm not sure why.... He's so cute!

I used:

Image - Daisy and Dandelion

Sentiment - Clare Curd, It's a Man's World

The papers are scraps but I think the stripey is Forever Friends and the spotty is Henbury Lane

Aquamarkers

Nesties

Rounded corner punch

Papermania mini polka dots embossing folder

Buttons (yeeeears old!) and ribbon from stash

Challenges:

Sketch 'n' Stash - Fab sketch (old neglected stash = stamp and buttons)

Cards for Men - Embossing

I'd better go and check out all your fabulous blogs! See you soon :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

I am sooo lucky!

I am such a lucky girl! It was my birthday yesterday and I had such a lovely day :-) Loads of cards and pressies - mostly either crafty or gardening gifts. I have such wonderful friends and family.

I really wanted to share with you the card that my son George made for me. He's only 5 and I think he's done really well :-) He's used some of the Country Companions stuff from Docrafts and some of my paper scraps. I think they're Forever Friends (the pink one) and Wild Rose Studio (the green one). He added some gems and ribbons from my stash and then coloured some tiny punched hearts with promarkers and added them at the bottom. I did a bit of cutting out for him but everything else is his own work.

Anyway, I thought he deserved to try his luck in a challenge so he's entering this into Messy's Mini Missions which has an Easter/Spring theme - Good luck, George!

And then my eldest son, Marc (15) decided he'd make me a birthday cake too! I think he was kind of hoping for it to rise a little more than it did (he kept calling it a biscuit, lol) but I have to say that it's absolutely delicious! Thankyou so much :-)

If every birthday was like this, I really wouldn't mind getting older (or should that just be old???)!

Anyway, back in a mo with my own creation :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Another mother's day card and an award......

And another scalloped circle card - love these! The image is a new addition to my collection from Fizzy Moon - love him! Had such fun making this one :-)

A close up so you can see the sparkley bits....

I used:

Image - Fizzy Moon

Promarkers, Glitter glue

Sentiment - Computer generated

Papers - Papermania Summer Bloom

Nesties

Flowers and pearls from stash

Challenges:

Wags 'n' Whiskers - Spring

A Gem of a Challenge - Anything but square

Whoopsi Daisy - Easter/spring

Creative inspirations - No square cards allowed

Simon Says Stamp - Mother's Day/Girlie

Totally Gorjuss - Spring is sprung

And I've also been sent this gorgeous award from Jude - thankyou!!! You're so sweet to think of me :-)

I need to pass this on to 7 of my followers so here goes:

Lisa

Diane

Coops

Angie

Cebelica

Jennie

Melly

Thanks for your support, ladies :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge #3 - Mother's Day!

Hiya - again! This is my second post today (those from the Brum area will be comparing me to the number 11 bus!) and it's time for Dream Valley Challenge #3 - Mother's Day!

This week we are sponsored by Digi's With Attitude and the lucky winner will win $10.00 Canadian dollars to spend in their shop!

Digi's With Attitude

Digi’s With Attitude! is a Digital Stamp Company that brings Sass & Attitude to your stamping projects!

Meet the newest Attitude’s in town!

’Grumpy Gretchen’ is a sure beauty with sexy curves and very unique facial features.

Her hairstyles constantly change, as does her clothing and element she is in.

She is sassy and isn't afraid to show it! Everyone loves Grumpy Gretchen. We know you will too!

You can now meet the new Animals With Attitude! too! They are in the store and ready for you to adopt them.

All images are 300 dpi and come in both JPEG & PNG instant downloads

I made this card and tag set using the Gift Giving Tween digi from Digi's with Attitude.

I really struggled getting decent photos - hope you can see the details ok....

A close up....

And the tag.....

I used:

Image - Digi's with Attitude

Sentiment - Computer generated

Paper - Wild Rose Studio

Promarkers, glitter glue

Papermania Victorian Fleur embossing folder

Sizzix architural corner die

Pearls, ribbon and thread from my stash

Challenges:

Passion for Promarkers - Fab sketch

Sarah Hurley - Embossing

PaperPlay - Embossing

The Creative Cottage - Spring has Sprung

Wags 'n' Whiskers - Spring

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and can pop over to Dream Valley and join us. I can't believe all the gorgeous entries we're having!!!! You must have a look at our top 3 from challenge 2 - beautiful!

I've got my fingers crossed for some more nice weather because I've seriously got to get digging on my allotment - it's going to take a lot of hard work before I can get anything other than weeds growing on it! Wish me luck!

Love 'n' hugs,



A bit of paper piecing....

Hiya! I'm sorry I've not been around much over the past few days. I'm going to partly blame the computer (it's fixed now but goes soooo slow it takes me 30 mins to comment on 3 cards!), I've also just got myself a new allotment (if you're interested in that sort of stuff, you might want to check out my new allotment blog....) so I've been down there while the sun's been shining. And then I finally got into my craft corner and I'd managed to misplace my mojo :-( So I have to say I'm not too pleased with this card but it needed to be done!

My first go at a twisted easel card - I like that part of it but then I followed a sketch at Cards for Men and really the image was too big for the layout....

All the images and sentiments are part of Clare Curd's It's a Man's World range.

A close up of the paper piecing.....

I used:

Images/sentiments - Clare Curd, It's a Man's World

Papers - Papermania Rich Greens

Promarkers

Gems from stash

Challenges:

CRAFT - paper piecing

Cards for Men - fab sketch

Simon Says Stamp - Happy Birthday

Creative Inspirations - Easel card (if I haven't missed the deadline!)

I'll be back in a bit with my card for Dream Valley's new challenge! Don't miss it!

Love 'n' hugs

An anniversary card....

I finally think I may have sorted my computer issues - wayhey! Thanks to all those that offered help and advice :-) I got there in the end and feel I know quite a bit more about computers now than I did before!

I made this card a few days ago but haven't been able to put it on my blog until I'd finished fixing my computer!

If you undo the little bow, it opens up:

I added some circles of card to be able to write on for when I send it....

And a close up of the image...

I used:

Image - Lili of the Valley

Sentiment - wooden stamp from ebay

Promarkers

Papers - Summer Bloom, papermania

Scalloped cardstock - papermania

Scalloped circle nesties

Sizzix decorative swirl #2

Satin flowers, ribbon and pearls from my stash

Challenges:

ABC Challenge - P is for Pearls

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Lili of the Valley - Say it with flowers

Sarah Hurley - Flowers

It looks like it's going to be another lovely day again in Brum - I'd better get my washing pegged out :-)

Hope you have a lovely day!

Love 'n' hugs,

Bright and cheerful.....

Hiya.... Hope you're all having a good day.

I'm still having serious computer issues so I'm lucky to be on here at all! If I go AWOL for a couple of days, please don't take it personally - I'll be at the doctors with my poor old pc!

I wanted to do something bright and cheerful and then I found this fab forever friends image which is just asking for a bright cheery yellow :-) I used my promarkers as usual and cut it out with my nesties, keeping the die in place to sponge a yellow background to the image.



I used my xcut leafy lace border punch to go around the edge cut from some wild rose studio papers. I used my poor old pc to print out the Happy Mother's Day sentiment :-)

I added some ribbon, gems, flowers and a charm from my stash.....

That's about it! Just the challenges:

Sketch Saturday - Fab sketch (I've flipped it)

Whoopsi Daisy - Ribbons and Charms

Sarah Hurley - Four legged friends

Forever Friends - Monochrome

Crafty Cardmakers - Fabric (ribbon counts - I checked!)

Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes

Ladybug Crafts Ink - Spring colours

Enjoy the rest of the day :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 2 - New Beginnings

Hiya! Hope you're all having a fab day....

It's time for a fab new challenge over at Dream Valley Challenges - New Beginnings! We're really lucky to have two fab sponsors for this challenge, One Stop Card Crafts and Crafty Ribbons! Pop over to the Dream Valley Challenge blog to check out the fab prizes :-) I can't believe the number of entries we had for our first challenge - thankyou to all of you who took part. I don't envy Melly's task of choosing our top 3 :-)

There are so many things that work for this challenge, new home, new baby but I went for Wedding Day... Mainly because I've been looking for an excuse to ink up this Lili of the Valley image I bought recently :-)

I coloured it with my promarkers and added some sparkley glitter glue. The sentiment is my very first computer generated sentiment and I'm really quite pleased with the outcome :-) I followed a sketch from Friday Sketchers, forgetting of course that this wouldn't be posted on my blog until Sunday, after the deadline - duh! I'm still learning! The papers are Henbury Lane and I embossed the white background with Papermania's mini polka dots folder. Then I added some flowers, pins (from Debs - thankyou!) and pearls to finish....

Don't forget to pop over to Dream Valley for some fab inspiration from the gorgeous creations made by my teamies! I'm so lucky to be working with such a talented bunch :-)

Have a fab day!

Challenge

Simon Says Stamp No Cook Recipe Challenge: 1 image, 2 patterned papers, 3 different types of embellishment (2nd entry)

Love 'n' hugs,

A little monster.....

Morning! Finally got some piccies of my card so i can share it with you all :-)

This is for another of George's school friends - I think I'm going to be making quite a few 5th birthday cards this year! The image is Monster Boy from squiggle stamps and is coloured with my promarkers. The spotty paper was one of my scraps so I'm not sure of the make but I think it might be Daisy and Dandelion Picnic Patch??? The gingham paper is from crafts too.

It seems to be standard these days that I put quickutz cookie cutter stars on boys cards - I never seem to be able to do buttons quite right! The "Boy" embellishment on the tag and the cute tiny buttons at the bottom were won from Debs - thankyou! The birthday stamp on the tag is one of papermania's but the sentiment on the base was computer generated.

I've inked all the edges in various shades of green and blue and then added some ribbon from my stash.

A side-view:

I'll be back tomorrow with my Dream Valley DT card :-) You still have a bit of time to enter our Anything Goes challenge if you're quick!

Challenges:

Squiggles and Giggles - Spring (I've used Spring colours)

Simon Says Stamp - 1 image, 2 dps, 3 types of embellishment (stars, buttons and "boy" embellishment)

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Tags

The Creative Cottage - Tag you're it!



A lovely award..... :-)

I'm sorry that I appear to have disappeared off the face of the Earth this week.... :-( I have got a card to share with you - but not today. The sun disappeared before I got a decent photo so fingers crossed for tomorrow! And then I've got a poorly computer too - It's suffering from what my teenage son calls the "Blue Screen of Death" :-( Still trying to fix it myself before I pay someone a fortune to do it for me!

In the meantime, I can share this lovely award with you that I received from Cebelica - thankyou soooo much! You're so sweet :-)

The rules to go with this award are:

1. Thank the person who gave it to me - done :-)

2. Write 7 things about myself:

• I am an Aries
• I love jumping in mud :-)
• My little Corsa is my pride and joy
• I love Mexican food
• I can't remember the last time I drank alcohol :-( (because it was so long ago - not because I drank too much!)
• I'm soooo proud of all my children and love them all to bits!
• I have a black and white cat called Chester

3. I have to pass this award to 15 bloggers and let them know they received this award from me.

I would like to pass this award to the following bloggers:

Ali

Mandy

Donna

Liz

Clare

Debs

Melly

Jenny

Lisa

Angie

Trish

Sally

Suzanne

Barbara

Sarpreet

Phew! All of these girls have fantastic blogs which provide me with an endless source of inspiration and you should really go and visit them all but especially Angie's blog because she's new to blogland and she'd be thrilled to meet you all!

Really gotta go.... It's getting late!

Love 'n' hugs,