Bump in the night ... Penny Black (and quite a bit of orange too)

This week on Penny Black it is not only a challenge week but also a design team call. They want to see spooky hallowe'en cards. No problem you may say. So .... do I have any hallowe'en stamps .... er nope! Hallowe'en backing papers .... no. Black embellishments etc ... not really. Oh dear, I really had to get my thinking cap on for this one because I really wanted to take part. Luckily one of my wonderful cratfing buddies had sent me this image recently so I was able to make it a bit more hallowe'en like by using lots of orange, lol. My new flower punch that I bought on Sunday also proved very useful (I can see this little beauty paying for itself in no time). I can't believe I haven't used any backing papers at all - just shows what you can do when you try. I am going to pop this in the post for my nieces in the morning with lots of sweeties - hopefully they should get it on Hallowe'en morning!

Image coloured with prismas, swiuss dots embossing folder, flowers punched with x cut retro flower punch, ribbon and brads from stash, gems from Sally

A special card for a very special boy :o)

Here is a card that I have made for a special birthday next week. Daniel will be 11 and his mum has asked if we could all make a card for him to make his day extra special. Please read more about Claire's son on her blog and try to find time in your busy schedules to make a little boy smile.

High hopes image from Linda (think I may need to buy this stamp!!) and coloured with my much loved prismas, paper from PM cool tones inspirations paper pack, clear glaze added to nails and horns, glitter glue added to cake, studio g sentiment stamp, nesties, brads and gems from stash.

ABC Challenge - O is for ......

.... Oval!! Woohoo I thought, this is a nice easy one cos I love my nesties. But ... I have been good and tried to make something a little different for me. I think this might be the first time I haven't made a card (shock horror!!). I have made a tag for a bottle of bubbly and it was so easy to do too. I just made it up as I went along because I did not have a template but I think it turned out ok.












Here is a close up of the cute Penny Black image that I used. I wasn't sure if it was a champagne bubble or a cherry on his nose so I settled for the boozy bubble, lol.








And here is the reverse of the tag. I think that this is one sentiment that should definately be followed!!

Make sure you pop over to ABC Challenge to check out the fab creations by the rest of the design team. Hopefully you will join in too .... I look forward to seeing your creations.

Penny Black image coloured with Prismas, wire coloured with Sakura stardust pen, nesties by Spellbinders, Studio G sentiment heat embossed in gold.

I think it is my lucky week

I feel truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends. Look at this beautiful card that Linda sent me yesterday. This is the very first Hallowe'en card that I have ever had - I love it hun. To make things even more fabulous were all the beautiful images that she has also sent ... I am in heaven!! I have already used one of them and will post the card I made with it a bit later. To top it all off Linda very generously sent me a beautiful paper pack by DCWV - I swear I almost bought this on Sunday but felt guilty cos I had quite a few other goodies in my basket - I was going to buy it this weekend. I can't wait to start using it in my creations. Thankyou Linda for making me smile and also for being my friend. I hope you are feeling better today sweetie

Cute Card Thursday

The challenge this week on Cute Card Thursday was to use stars. Hopefully the stars from Tinkerbell's wand will count. I loved making this card and I think it is one of my favourites ever because it is for a very good friend of mine.

It was Gemma's birthday yesterday and she is Tinkerbell mad. Even her car registration plate is 'Tink' so as you can see there is no hope for her, lol.

She is one of the most gorgeous people I have ever met and she has the sweetest catchphrase .......

..... 'Love you lots like Jellytots!!'

How could I resist :0)

Tinkerbell coloured with prismas and sakura stardust pen, papers from DCWV, flowers from Sally, sentiment stamp from cuddlybuddly, ribbon, gems and epoxy flowers from stash

This Thursday ...... it's Pink Petticoat

The challenge this week on This Thursday is 'thrown a curve'. This can be anything from using a circle to squiggles and has been sponsored by the fab Pink Petticoat . I love their products so just had to use one of their images and some of their papers for this challenge. Pop over to the challenge blog for a fab download too of some sample papers.

Pink Petticoat image coloured with pearlescent paints, flower 3d'd with pads, papers by Pink Petticoat, nesties from spellbinders, ribbon and butterfly from stash

RAK from Emma :o)

I wanted to share this gorgeous RAK sent to me by the lovely Emma .Thankyou so much hun for this wonderful surprise that you sent. I know you have had a dreadful week and I am so touched that you have thought of me. I can't wait to use these and hopefully they will spur me back into cardmaking instead of doing the boring old ironing!!!

ABC Challenge - N is for ,,,,,

Nature!! Well, here is a totally different type of card for me. No little cute people in sight at all. I have had this image for ages and can't even remember who I got it from but I thought it was perfect for this weeks challenge on ABC . Please pop over and have a look at the other DT cards and join in too if you get chance.

Image coloured with prismas, papers from Funky Hand, flowers, brads and ribbon from stash, studio G sentiment stamp.

ABC challenge - M is for .....

Male. It can be really tough making cards for for males unless it is for a baby boy, lol. I know it is cheating a little bit but you can't blame me for trying, hehehehe. Why don.t you all pop over to ABC Challenge and have a go too, you don't need any particular brand of stamp .... infact you don't even need a stamp at all!!! Look forward to you all joining us.

Penny Black image coloured with prismas, glitter glue, pearlescent card from the papermill shop, see d's alphabet stamps heat embossed and cut with nesties, hearts embossed using fiskars template, ribbon from stash

What a fantastic weekend ... update on the Royal Albert Hall

Wow, what can I say. I have been so touched by all of your good luck wishes for Ryan and his band this weekend. We have all had a busy weekend and are thoroughly shattered but it was all worth it. To say I am the proudest mother in the world does not even come close to how I am feeling after seeing Ryan step on stage yesterday. I felt so ill, my stomache was churning and I thought my heart would jump out of my chest it was beating so hard. Ryan, on the other hand, took it all in his stride. The band played so well and the second movement was so beautiful you could hear the audience gasp as it ended - close to perfection!! There were so many brilliant bands and Ryan's band would have been happy with a top 10 finish.
They were drawn to play last so as band number 20 they had to wait 7 hours before they could play - a real test of nerves but they did themselves proud. They played their hearts out and when the results were being read out (they only read the top 6 out) and they were not 6th or 5th we figured that they hadn't done enough. WRONG!!!!! They only went and managed 4th place which is just incredible. The 3 bands who came above them are currently ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the world so you cannot complain coming behind them! Even better is that they beat the current world number 1 who came in 7th place yesterday. We are all overjoiced and as a result of their performance they have automatically qualified for next years finals (Top 4 go through by right) which means they do not have to worry during the regional finals in March next year. A big thankyou to you all once again for all your best wishes - I will be calling for your positive vibes again for our next visit in a years time (woohoo). Apologies for the poor piccie but should have some better ones later. This was taken straight after they finished playing - they all dashed outside for this group piccie on the steps that lead up to the Royal Albert Hall.

What an unforgetable day!!

Sorry I haven't been around much

........ but I do have a really good excuse. For the last 10 days or so and for the rest of this week my son has had band rehearsals every night for a very important competition. Ryan is extremely talented and plays the trombone for a brass band ranked 14th in the world. This obviously takes a huge amount of all our time up and is a massive committment for Ryan who is only 15years old. Anyway, on Friday this week we will be travelling down to London to compete in the National Finals of Great Britain.

This will be held in The Royal Albert Hall. Have you seen how big and grand it is .... my stomache is seriously in knots and I feel ill every time I see a picture of it. I am so proud of him and cannot wait to see him on stage. Please, please can you all wish his band good luck for what will be a tough competition. He is the only child in the band but he is incredible and I wanted you all to know (I think I am allowed to be proud, lol)

I will let you all know how he gets on next week when we get home. So until then, please forgive my lack of commenting or taking part in challenges.

Fingers crossed everyone!!!!!

Look what brought a smile to my face today

I would just like to thank Paula (aka Pops, lol) for bringing a ray of sunshine into my day. I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened this wonderful package from her today with all these fantastic stamped images!! I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends who are so kind. It is the wonderful people you meet here in blogland that is so incredible, to think that someone I have never met before took the time out of her day to think of me. Thankyou babes, you are a real gem :o)

Doubling up again

Night off band run for me tonight so managed to squeeze this card in at the last minute for Lili of the Valley with one of Nikki's fab sketches. This really is in at the last minute so hope it can count. I have tied it in with a fab colour combo of pink and green suggested by a spoonful of sugar . I am going to do my best to try and squeeze one more card in before Friday if I can but that might be wishful thinking, lol.
Penny Black image coloured with prismas, flowers highlighted with sakura clear stardust pen, studio g sentiment stamp, papers from papermanias olivine essence pack, cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder, nesties, Gems from sally, flower, brads and ribbon from stash.

ABC - L is for ....

... LACE. Also Lilac too, and lots of it on my card this week. Had chance to play with my new forever friends stamp - it is so sweet. Make sure you have a look at the great cards by the DT over on ABC Challenge blog and join in for the chance to win some lace, stamped images and other yummies for your stash. I based my card on the sketch on a new challenge blog called The secret crafter Saturday Challenge , quite a mouthful, lol.

Forever Friends coloured with prismas, cuddlybuddly sentiment with lilac EP, flowers and brads from stash, lace from MIL (Thanks Bess - lifesaver!)

Hat-trick!!!

I have managed to squeeze 3 challenges out of this card, not bad, lol, and allows me a bit of catch up with the various challenges too. CCT's challenge is 'christmas animals' - this tied in nicely with Penny Black's challenge which is 'seasons'. What better way to pull it all together than with a brilliant sketch by Camilla on A spoonfull of sugar . In real life this is a seriously sparkly card. Apologies for poor scan but I will get my camera out for a decent piccie tomorrow when the sun is shining (hopefully!!)

Penny Black image coloured with prismas, glitter to fur trim and for snow, sakura clear glaze to nose and berries, papers from dovecraft's winterwonderland pack, gems and brads also from dovecrafts, sentiment from cuddlybuddly which was heat embossed using red tinsel EP.

ABC Challenge

This is my very first card for ABC as part of their DT, how exciting!! This week it is K for ........... Katharina !! Woohoo, what a fab theme for my first week. Katharina has kindly provided us with a sketch to follow and it is a brilliant one (aren't they all!). So what better way to take part than to use one of her beautiful Whiff of Joy stamps. Katharina is also our guest designer this week so please pop over to and have a look at her lovely card and all the other gorgeous cards by the DT. Hope you all enjoy this weeks challenge.

'Melinda blowing kisses' stamp by WOJ coloured with prismas, papers from Dovecraft's Hont of pink pack, card embossed with cuttlebug's swiss dots folder, cuddlybuddly sentiment, charm from my mum, flowers, brads and gems from stash.