Birthday Blog Candy ***Winner***

To celebrate my birthday on 29th July I thought it would be nice to offer you the chance to win some blog candy.

Up for grabs are:

6 x 6 Laura Ashley papers (11 sheets)
6 x 6 Three Bugs In a Rug papers (14 sheets)
1 Making Memories Word Feti
1 EK Success Tiny Giants Vellum Stickers
1 EK Success 3D Pooh Stickers
1 Paper Bliss 3D Stickers
1 Colorbox Mini Scrapbook Kit
12 Prima Flowers
1 Sugar Nellie Stamp - Giddy Up

To be in with a chance of getting your hands on these goodies (will post worldwide), link to my blog candy on your blog, please post a comment below so I can visit you. I will pick a winner at random 9pm BST on 30th July.

***Winner***

Thanks to everyone who took part, the random winner is ~ Heike post #32, please send me your address so I can get these in the post to you :)

PTW Cool Yule

This weeks PTW challenge is to make a Christmas card! Yes, about 5 months to Christmas now so the countdown begins for us crafters!!!

Naturally the Amelia with Gift stamp from Kadoodle (which goes on sale this Friday 1st August at The Craft Barn) is the perfect choice for this challenge. Papers are Basic Grey, Cardstock - Bazzill, Flowers - Prima (embellished with Stickles, Sentiment - Craftworks.

Sarah Kay Challenges *Week 4* Scallop Sketch

This week on the Sarah Kay challenge blog we have a sketch to follow. I used K&Co paper, Bazzill & DCWV cardstock, Prima & Bazzill Flowers. Please take the time to visit the other DT members, their work is amazing and so inspirational.

Challenge 7 - Down on the Farm

This is my entry for The Penny Black challenge blog. It's just a quick one from me as I am in the middle of the housework (which I'm not doing so well at, can you tell?) before I go out with a few close friends tonight for Birthday drinks.

Strawberries & Cream

Well the little one is at her sleep over so I thought that I would try and join in on a challenge. I have decided to enter this in the ABC challenge which is Decoupage and the Cute Card Thursday challenge which is Things That Grow.

Our strawberries have been watered, picked and eaten for well over a month so I thought this image would be fitting.

In this picture I hope that you can see the 3d gloss decoupage.

Christmas Amelia & Pirate Dan

This is another take on the Kadoodle Amelia with Gift stamp, this time with a Christmas theme. All papers and cardstock were from my DT Kit supplied by The Craft Barn.

Ahoy Landlubbers!
This is Pirate Dan also available from Kadoodle and designed by Sandra Dry as is the treasure chest. I'm afraid that I did not use my DT Kit to make this card. The cardstock is Bazzill and the papers are Rusty Pickle. I can see that I will have great fun using these stamps. Do you think people will mind receiving Pirate cards from me all the time?

Introducing Amelia

Well, here she is, in her soft fleecy jacket, Amelia with gift. One of the new stamps from Kadoodle, designed by Christine Dark and available at The Craft Barn. Isn't she cute, I've already had to find a special hiding place for her because someone else in the house has their eye on her. I have used my own stash to make this card as it is for one of Georgie's friends who has a birthday sleepover on Thursday.
I used:
Papers - K&Co
Cardstock - Bazzill & DCWV
Flowers - Prima
Brads - Papermania
Ribbon - Stash
Stamp - Amelia with gift - Kadoodle
Sentiment - Woodware

***** A Message From The Craft Barn *****

EXTRAVAGANZA WEEKEND - 13 & 14 SEPTEMBER

We are pleased to be able to release further info regarding our September extravaganza weekend. This is going to be a fantastic event and amazingly is still FREE!

We have managed to arrange a truly sensational line up of demonstrations and workshops for you.

Beatrice from Katzelkratft (her first time in the UK)
Jean and Malcolm from Crafty Individuals
Leandra from Paper Artsy
Little Claire Designs
Kay Carley
Sandra Dry with her new Kadoodle characters
Christine Dark with her new Kadoodle cottages
Isabelle Norris
Wendy Horrod
Carole Cann
Carol Staples
Carol Cockbain
Paula Pascual (Sunday only)
Jane Collman (workshops)
Kassie Spires (workshops)

We will be releasing details of the workshop programme shortly. The workshops will cost £2.50 and you will make a complete project to take away with you. They are limited to 12 people and last for 1 hour each. We are also running the lucky dip again for those who book and attend the workshops and, as those of you who came last time will know, all of the prizes have a value greater than the cost of the workshop.

***** End Of Message *****

I have been promised a Birthday trip to the Craft Barn on Tuesday so hopefully I will be able to stock up on more yummy stash...woohoo!

PTW Katharina's Sketch #7

This week at PTW there is another lovely sketch by the very talented Katharina .

For this sketch I have used:
Papers - Basic Grey
Cardstock - Bazzill
Stamp - Penny Black
Ribbon & some glossy accents

Roll on tomorrow when it is the end of term, I know Georgie can't wait for the holidays (the other two started their's about a month ago) and there is nothing she likes more than not having to get up as early.

Tilda & Co ~*~ 29~*~ It's a Bugs Life!

This week over at Tilda & Co the challenge is "bugs"Please show us in your work insects, ants, ladybugs, you name it if its a little creepy bug then show it off!

This week I made a framed scene to hang on the wall in my craft area. I decorated the inside, then placed some acetate on top before sticking the frame decoration and butterflies on. Not many bugs from me this week I'm afraid as I only own the Magnolia butterflies and the ladybird.

Sarah Kay Challenge *Week 3* Too Posh To Be Square

The challenge this week over at the Sarah Kay challenge blog is...
*Week 3* Too Posh To Be Square
No square cards, or books, coasters, altered art etc.
You are free to create anything you like as long as it's not square!

This is my double pocket bag which I have made out of one 12 x 12 sheet of Basic Grey paper. Whilst it may look square I can promise you that it isn't, it measures 5" x 4.75".

The bag is for a friend who once told me off for putting such a small tag on their present, so now I always include the largest tag possible!!!

Cute Card Thursday ~19~ Animals Only

CCT Challenge 19
Animals Only - No People Allowed
The challenge this week is to make a card using animal images only - NO PEOPLE OR CHARACTERS AT ALL!!

Not much from me on the crafting front since the weekend, I've had one of those weeks where I just went into meltdown.

Anyway, I thought that I would try and get at least one quick card made this week so here it is. I had a bit of a play with the Paper Gator and figured out the scallop edging which matches quite nicely with the scalloped Nestabilities circles. I really love the Paper Gator, I haven't found a single thing that it can't cut yet!

I used:
Papers - K&Co
Cardstock - Papermania and Core'dinations
Ribbon - Poppicrafts
Stamp - Whipper Snapper Designs

Sarah Kay Challenge *2* "A Little Sketchy"

This week on the Sarah Kay Challenge Blog we had to make a card whilst working from a sketch


The papers are Basic Grey, the flowers are Prima, the brads are Papermania and I coloured the image using distress inks again. I think that I am slowing getting used to them.


I'm still sure that is a cat walking beside her, I know on the Stampavie site it says it's a dog but it looks like a cat to me.

Tilda & Co Challenge ~28~ Grunge

Challenge 28 Tilda & Co - Distressed Tilda
Make her Distressed looking, a little rough around the edges, a bit of grungy!
So stay clear of these cute pastel colours if you can help it and get down and dirty with tilda!

I had great fun making this card! I went to work on this with a sanding block, I took an emery board to the Tilda image, smudged ink and chalk all over, I even pinched a toy car, inked up the wheels and ran that over the paper. Luckily I had a torn paper flower in my jar so I inked that too. The brads received ink, some of Hubby's paint and a good go with the sanding block as well. The button I actually bought looking like that lol. I crumpled some Rusty Pickle paper after adding the Tattered Angel sentiment and fixed this with silicone to keep it's shape. There are some glossy accents but these don't really show in the photo.

The effect I was trying to achieve was something that resembled a once pretty card that had been left somewhere dank and filthy then forgotten about for years.

Strangely enough most of my friends would probably rather receive this card than many of the cards I normally make.

Penny Black Sketch Challenge 5

The challenge on the Penny Black Challenge blog is a sketch...yippieeeeeeeee...I love sketches.

Just a quick card from me this week as I really needed to send a little card to my Dad (hence the male colours), so it had to be written and sent.

This is coloured with distress inks, the paper is little sizzles, the flowers are prima with added stickles and the brads are papermania.

It was my Hubby's 41st birthday on Wednesday so I need to get the house straight and then we're off out to celebrate...woohoo!

First Play

This is my first play using Distress Inks to watercolour an image and I am quite pleased with results (ok so I need to perfect but this is a good effort for me with something new).
I mentioned before that I had decided to give my local craft shop a miss. The wonderful Diane at Harmony Crafts in Shoreham-by-sea supplied me with the inks. If you're ever in the area, do pop along, you won't be disappointed.
Thank you so much Diane, this card will be in the post to you tomorrow so you can see the true effect.

Cute Card Thursday *~18~* Child

This week the theme of the challenge at CCT is a card for a child.

I borrowed my ten year old daughter's stamp for this one, I've had my eye on it for a couple of months now and today she finally let me borrow it LOL . I have added 3d gloss to the eyes, a few scales and the tail spikes (but I couldn't capture this in the photo).

The papers are Basic Grey, the letters are Sizzix Ransom Alphabars and the brads are from Poppicrafts (pssst they have a sale on at the mo too, great service, fab items, not connected...blah blah blah). I can't help thinking that the brown halo effect was a really bad move as he reminds me of a Ready Brek Kid.

Raining Cats & Dogs

The weather today isn't very pleasant so I thought that I'd make a little sunshine with this card.

I seem to be very behind with everything at the moment, I blame this awful cold that really isn't shifting!

This card is actually for two challenges (which leaves me a little time for the chores...oh joy!). The Penny Black challenge is Buttons and Brads, if you look closely at the brads you'll see the mini embossed buttons, tenuous I know but it does just about fit! The PTW challenge this week is another of the wonderful Sketches from Katharina.

Sarah Kay Challenge *1* Lovely Lilac

Well what can I say? This is a new venture for Donna and myself. We had been talking about this for sometime (waiting for the new stamps etc), then once they were released, it was all systems go!
We really do have a superb and incredibly talented Design Team lined up.
Donna has done almost all of the work herself and I believe that she has done an incredible job. I'm just here to take some of the load off of Donna as she already has a shop and the Tilda & Co blog to run, so please feel free to contact me regarding the blog if you need to know anything.

Challenge 1....
Lovely Lilac
Taken from the Inspirational theme on the challenge blog, We have decided this week we would love you to use the colour Lilac.. With the inspiration taken from the blog template.Its a very easy one for the first week..we want to ease you all in slowly!

Tilda & Co ~ 27~ Thinking of You

"Challenge 27... Thinking of Others

Now this could be an altered gift, a Card Set, ( not just a card on its own) It could be a Mini Book, it could be anything! As long as it is a gift for somebody, as we all send out little raks to crafting friends or gifts to them, and then there's our family's – so i thought it would be nice that this week, we are “ thinking of others” and what we can make for them to put a smile on there face.

As Always your work must include at least 1 Magnolia Stamp"


I decided to make a friendship wallet for stamped images. The idea being that the wallet can be sent as a RAK and then passed on with the next friend's images inside.


This is the picture of the inside with the stamp pockets closed.


Here you can see the stamp pockets open, obviously full of Magnolia images as this is a Tilda & Co challenge.


A close up 0f the darling little charm that accents the flower, how sweet and thank you to our wonderful "boss" for sending it, along with the flower, ribbon and some of the fab papers.

Great News all round.

Today has been a great day.
I am lucky enough to have been chosen as a Design Team Member for Kadoodle Stamps. If you haven't seen their stamps (and you like the cute ones, like me) then go and have a look, they are so sweet and I can't to get my hands on them! I really can't believe it. They have chosen some extremely talented Ladies, please go and check them out, their work is mind blowing.
Valérie (known as “Poupette”) from France
Kim Piggott (UK) Blog coming soon.
Bev from Newcastle (UK)
Brandi from Pennsylvania (USA)

Then to make a great day even better, my Son got in touch to say that he has passed his diploma and is now set to start his degree in September...Woohoo!

CCT ~17~ The Great Outdoors

The challenge on the Cute Card Thursday blog is to create a card with The Great Outdoors as a theme, now I'm not totally convinced that this fits the bill but at least the image is that of someone outside. I tend to think of the great outdoors as being masses of rolling countryside, or the beach where you can just walk for miles and holidays in the Scottish Highlands. Still this could be a girl picking wild flowers in the country...with her cat...oops I've only just realised it's a dog LOL

Better Late than Never

Yesterday I seemed to be having Internet problems but today everything seems to be fine again, not really quite sure what was going on there but anyway here is my card for the New ABC challenge blog where the theme this week was Animals.

This is the first House Mouse stamp I ever bought. It seems to get neglected a little these days so I thought it was about time I used it again.

I've really got in to the old sanded embossing at the moment. The Sizzix and Big Shot plates really don't have much depth butI think they come up ok with a sanding block

PTW Thanks a Latte!

This weeks challenge (at PTW), Thanks a Latte, is to make a thank you card! There's an optional extra to use coffee and cream colours too (the Latte bit lol!)

I'm still sat here feeling full of cold but just couldn't resist playing with at least one of my new Sarah Kay stamps...it's been torture just looking at them lol.

As a child, my bedroom at my Nan's house was kitted out in Sarah Kay; wallpaper, curtains, bedding, lampshade and even a little decoupage style picture on the wall! I never even knew how lucky I was lol so there was a touch of nostalgia for me when I made this card.