Penny Black Saturday Challenge - #34

Good morning my lovelies, here we are at the weekend at last .... why do they go so fast tho??! I love Saturdays because it is another great excuse to look at lots of fab cards with scrummy PB images. I am blown away by how many of you are taking part each week now, wow, thankyou so much - we are all so glad you love our challenges over at PBSC . This week we would love to see you make ....

a circle card

Well all I can say is thank goodness for my nesties!!!! Have kept it nice and simple today, just a beautiful stamped image (wind caressed) coloured with a hint of blue and a bit of bling added using my glamour dust. Proof that it gets everywhere ..... I noticed some on my chair at work!!! Yep, I am probably the sparkliest nurse in the area!! How cool is that, lol .... ok only cool if you are 13 .... or someone like me that just loves bling!
Have fun and I can't wait to see your creations. Wrap up warm everyone .... looks like we are in for a real cold snap ... until later -x-

PB image coloured with prismas and glamour dust, nesties, Dovecraft gems, Anita's ribbon, quickie glue pen (for glamour dust)

Stamp Something - Summer in Winter

Good morning, Friday again (thank goodness) and a whole weekend of clearing up after the builders is what I have to look forward to :o( but I am sure I can get my butt in gear and manage to get a little time to play with my beloved crafty stash too.
So it is time for a new challenge from us all at Stamp Something . With all this cold weather what better idea than to think ahead to warmer days .... so we would love to see your ideas of

Summer in Winter

I have used this beautiful Sarah Kay image kindly sent to me by Tracie a couple of weeks ago. She is just so gorgeous with her little picnic basket and bunch of hand picked flowers. I loved colouring her and have tried to concentrate a bit more on shading my image, something I hope to get better with over the coming weeks.

Very simple layout and I actually had the courage to stamp my sentiment straight onto the yummy BG papers - something I wouldn't normally do. I am now wondering how on earth I used to manage without BG - no turning back for me now!!

Remember to check out Stamp Something's blog for further details of this weeks challenge and to see the rest of the DT's fabulous cards.
Sarah Kay coloured with Prismas, BG papers from two scoops pack, studio g sentiment, flowers from poppicrafts, lace, brad and charm from stash

Couple of challenges and some more news

Hi, a bit of news for you all about a new downloadable ekit that will be available very soon. Making Handmade Cards very kindly asked me to make some samples for their new Sweetie Pie Valentine eKit. You may remember that I made some cards for them using their christmas ekit a couple of months ago. Well, they are back again with such a bright and modern kit that I am sure you will all love it. Pop over to the website and sign up to the newsletter for up to date information and to see more fab creations using the kit.

The ekit contains loads of scrummy papers and funky sentiments for you to get creative with. I am entering my card for 2 challenges .... well love is such a popular theme this week!!!

Cute Card Thursday has Valentines as a theme and A spoonfull of sugar have picked 'Love is in the air'

That's it for now .... see you all in the morning for the new challenge by Stamp Something ... off to be now cos I am shattered! Night night!!

Inspirational Card Sketches Design Team has been announced ....

..... Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it - I have been asked to be on the Design Team of a brand new sketch challenge!!! I love sketches and so I am really excited to be a part of this challenge blog. Inspirational card sketches will host its first sketch challenge next Tuesday (3rd February) and we would love for as many of you as possible to join in with us. Pop over to the blog for further details of the DT and pay a visit to their individual blogs for some fabulous inspiration. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

ABC Challenge - Y is for .....

Hi there, my day off already woohoo but it is already shaping up to be a busy day. We have a couple of builders in removing a chimney breast in one of our bedrooms and there is dust everywhere but it will all be worth it. Plus, getting my hair done this morning so I will be all glam and lovely and covered in brick dust ..... nice!
Enough of my nonsense, I know you all want to find out what 'Y' is for on this weeks challenge on ABC . I bet you all thought it would be yellow didn't you ... if so you are WRONG!!! This week Y is for...

YESTERYEAR!

Basically, we want to see one of your first ever stamps on your creation. Now I know you think I am mad because the image on my card is a very new stamp but look closer ....... can you see my old stamp???? Even closer .....

There you go - can you believe I have never used these pretty little heart background stamps before. They were in a See D's set that I bought when I first started crafting. I have heat embossed them with holographic EP and I really love the effect (although I may have slightly singed the paper, lol ... think that's what us crafters call distressing hahahaha).

I was also a very distressed crafter when I spilled over half a tub of glamour dust all over my dining room floor .... oops. Managed to salvage some, remove some and then blinged up everything else in the room - Boxer dogs look so much prettier when the sparkle you know ... nightmare!

A big thankyou to everyone who joined in last week. We have a guest designer this week so pop over and find out who it is! Have a fab week and can't wait to see your creations!

Image coloured with prismas, glamour dust added for bling, papers from BG Bittersweet pack (love love love this pack), flowers from poppicrafts, brads from stash, Anita's ribbon from The Range, See D's heart stamp

Driving with a smile to Sketch Saturday

I have some wonderful news for you all, my niece passed her driving test yesterday - woohoo ..... Well done Ayesha!!!!!!! Fortunately for me band rehearsal was cancelled last night due to a nasty virus sweeping the band (get well soon guys) which meant I had time to make a card to congratulate Ayesha. I was thrilled to bits when I saw this brilliant sketch on this weeks Sketch Saturday and knew it would be perfect.

I knew I needed an image with a car on it and I was in luck with this great RAK that Pops sent me a while ago - perfect!!!! Now, here is where I thought I was a bit clever, although you may not think so, lol. I decided to make the flowers the same as traffic lights and the ribbons across the bottom of the card were inspired by the tread of a tyre.Ok, maybe that will stretch the imagination a little but you get the idea. Just have to work out now how to post it without squishing my curly wurly bits of green card ... byeeeeeeeeee!
Image coloured with prismas, sakura clear glaze to windscreen, sakura stardust to 'chrome' on car, flowers and ribbon from joanna sheen, brads and spacers from poppicrafts, paper from BG offbeat pack, computer generated sentiment, swiss dots folder and nesties.

I have a new award

Hi, bet you didn't expect to see me back so soon with an award after my mammoth post yesterday ..... but I told you I was going to try and be good from now on and post asap if I get an award.

The wonderful, gorgeous and talented Tracie has given me this beautiful award. You have to visit her blog if you have never been, it is full of brilliant inspiration and you will not be dissapointed.

Thankyou hun for this, you are a real sweetie. Ok, so I have to pass this onto 5 other people ... would love to pass to more but going to be good and stick to the rules this time. Here goes ... Nicola (my mum) , Bev , Mrs Wonka , Pauline and Linda . These ladies all have beautiful hearts and more than one of them has had a rough couple of weeks with their health or other things life throws at you. They are all very special to me though and for that, I thank them for being a part of my life.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #16 and some awards

Good afternoon to you all, gosh I can't believe the weekend is almost over already - they go so fast!! At least I have managed a little crafting which is always a nice way to spend a bit of 'me' time. I have made a card for this weeks challenge by Secret Crafter using my new Smirk stash that I bought earlier in the week. This week we had a recipe to follow .....

1 image, 2 papers, 3 embellisments

I actually had lots of fun using this die cut decoupage kit although me being me I had to trim all the white bits around the edges off (just knew I would end up doing that!!) thereby turning it from a quickie card into a slightly longer to make card!

The green paper came with the image and the pretty glittered butterfly paper was from one of the paper packs from the Skirk range. The colours are so yummy and girly that I know I will love using the rest if my goodies. So that is the image and papers covered, which just leaves my 3 embellishments .... scrummy flowers, organza ribbon and gorgeous black pearls ..... job done!!!!

And look ..... even an matching inside!!!!!! Think I need to have a rest now, lol. Oh yes, almost forgot .... awards - will add them to this post throughout the day - got a lot of the to sort out (must be organised in future and post them as I get them) .... back soon!

Been a good girl and added all my awards on the post below (and even a new(ish) piccie of me :o)

Smirk 'naughty' decoupage kit, papers from decoupage kit and smirk naughty but nice paper pack, flowers from Joanna Sheen, brad and spacer from Poppicrafts, ribbon from stash, pearls from Sally,

It's award time!!

Oki doki, so here are a few (well quite a lot) awards that I have been given over the past couple of weeks. This is going to teach me to post the as I get them!!!!!

The first award is from 3 lovely ladies Pops , Sam and Katherine

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The next award os from a lot of lovely ladies who are all so supportive. A great big thankyou to Pauline , Rozzy , Nicola (my mum!!) , Louise and Tracie , I really do appreciate this so much - you are all wonderful!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

My next award is really pretty, thankyou so much Maxine , Rozzy , mum and Louise for thinking of me!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The ever so talented Bev has given me this nice blog award - thanks sweetie - yours is rather nice too!!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The fabulous Shirley has given me this cute hugs award - thankyou so much, this is the first time I have seen this one :o)

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Over half way now, lol, phew this will teach me to keep up to date!

Next is another fab award, this time from

Sally , mum , Clare and Rozzy . You know I appreciate every award I get but you could have bowled me over when Clare from Do Crafts nominated me for this (still grinning now!!).

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

My mum has also given me these 2 awards - thanks mum

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

And now for my final award ... well it is not so much of an award as a tag ... yep I have been tagged by all these people ...

Sally , Bev , Emma and finally mu mum . For this you have to go into your photos and take the 6th picture from the 6th folder. Now I think that they are just being nosey, lol, and wondering if I have piccies which don't include nights out. Well I do (sticking tongue out) however ...... yep you guessed it, here I am on New Years' Eve just after midnight with my wonderful hubby. Not sure what has happened to my hair although I can confirm that one too many vodkas has resulted in my rather daft expression (although not sure what Glen's excuse is hahahahaha).



I hope I haven't sent you all to sleep, phew, a few of you are still awake, lol. Thanks to everyone who gave me these awards - they really do mean a lot to know you think of me. Sorry for not passing on as I should but my post would have taken all night. I promise to try and stay more up to date in future! If anyone would like any of the above awards please feel free to take and post to your blog with my love. Have a great evening!!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #33

Good morning, it's Saturday and the sun is shining so I am in a great mood already!! I can hardly believe it is time for another great challenge already ... doesn't time fly! Thankyou so much to all of you who entered last weeks 'Let's get dotty' theme - we are delighted so many of you are enjoying the challenges.
The theme this week on PBSC is
FRAME IT
You can interpret it anyway you like, just remember to include a PB image somewhere on your creation and have FUN! Pop over to the blog for details of this weeks prize and to also drool over the gorgeous cards by the rest of the Design Team.



Here is this weeks offering from me. I was looking for a sketch to follow when I found this one on the lovely Denise's blog - it is also for a GD Call for Whimsey stamps so I thought I might as well enter my card and keep my fingers crossed :o)

I used my new Smirk glitter pens on the roses, sentiment and edges of nesties and wow, they are really sparkly IRL. I popped the frame up with foam pads to give a little more dimension. Have a brilliant weekend!

PB image coloured with prismas and glitter pens, papers from Papermanias Scrumptious pack, frame cut with nesties, studio G sentiment heat embossed and coloured with glitter pens, flower from poppicrafts, pearls, fibres and brad from stash

Stamp Something GD card and some news

Good morning to you all, are you having a good week? Not long now til the weekend begins - woohoo!!! Friday again which means it is my last week as Guest Designer for Stamp Something . I can't believe it is 2 weeks already and my time as GD has come to an end. But ..... here is the brilliant news ..... I have been asked if I would like to stay on and become part of the Design Team!!! Of course I agreed immediately, so look out cos I am now an official member of their DT ... woohoo.
Calming down again, lol, and so onto this weeks challenge. The theme is RECIPE. Now I don't mind telling you I actually lost a bit of sleep over this one and did have a moment or two when I had no idea what I was going to make. In the end I thought of this ....

RECIPE FOR RELAXATION!

What more does a girl need after a hard day working to help forget the troubles of her day than this delightful recipe ..... bubble bath, wine and chocolate! Need I say any more!! No further instructions required, we all know what to do :o)

I have used a fab image from Pink Petticoat as my main design and stuck to a 'chocolate and cream' colour scheme throughout. I even managed to resist eating the chocolate whilst making the matching wrapper (aren't I good, lol) and avoided the wine. Something tells me though that they are likely to be demolished before bedtime tonight though.

The usual closer look at the main image. I am now in love with glamour dust! I love it - so easy to use even though everything ends up sparkling. Thanks to Dawny P for pointing me to the Paper Mill Shop where I made my little purchase.

Remember to pop over to the blog to see the other great creations by the DT and a huge thankyou to all who took part last week (over 100 of you, wow that is amazing!!)

Will finish talking now because this has ended up a looooong post (sorry). Enjoy your day, whatever you are doing
PP image coloured with prismas and glamour dust, papers from Antique Cream paper pack by Papermania, flower, brad and spacer from poppicrafts, ribbon from Joanna Sheen,

Messy Rabbit .... how cute!

Hi everyone, just a real quickie cos got to dash back to work. I just wanted to share this cute card with you that I made for someone at work.

This is my very first Messy Rabbit stamp and I love him!!! I will be definately ordering some more from Joanna Sheen's site. They have free P+P and my ordered was delivered the next day .... how good is that!!

Here is a closer look at this cutie. I will add a few more details later after work .... I just had to share it with you. Have a great afternoon :o)

Been a little bit naughty ..... oops!

Hiya, just thought I would confess to you all .... have been naughty!! Promised to try and save up for Harrogate and not to buy too much until then. I have already ordered loads of stuff in the sales since christmas but have been looking forward to this new Smirk range which has just come out this week. Whilst shopping for a new kitchen bin in The Range, I got a little lost and found myself slap bang in the middle of the craft section (lol, honest ... not like I would head in that direction on purpose) and then what do you know .... all these lovely goodies just 'fell' into my basket!

Hmmm so that is another £40+ spent out of my Harrogate fund but I did put a few things back on the shelf (well, there is always next weeks visit, hehehe) and I am looking forward to having a play with them. Just had a scribble with the glitter pens and wow - talk about sparkle!!!!! Think I am going to be adding a bit of bling to everything!! Emma, close your jaw .... I know I said I would never buy die cut decoupage cos of the white edges (blah blah, us ex-deoupage people are hard to please) but these are just too cute to say no to - and your FF decoupage cards are just stunning so I have decided to give them a go .... will report back later :o)