Christmas is coming...

Argh!! Too quick!! I have had so much fun over the last few months making Christmas Cards and decorations, but it's almost time to get them all out and sent and it still feels like it suddenly jumped up from nowhere!! Mind you. I'm better prepared for it this year than I have been in the past!

Our theme at Winter Wonderland this week is to stamp a candle, or make a candle holder. Regulars will know that all our themes are completely open to interpretation - after all, it's YOUR Christmas, not ours. We only want to provide inspiration and motivation. And so I was delighted to come across a pot of candle gel that I'd bought from Lidl a couple of years ago and never did anything with. But I have now. I melted the gel and whipped it like mad to try and create bubbles in there, even though the instructions said "Pour carefully to prevent bubbles" - there still weren't enough for me though! So while it was still warm I sprinkled some chunky glitter and glitter stars onto it. Some of them sunk but It didn't matter because enough stayed on top to get the effect I was hoping for. And oh boy, you should smell it!! I poured some "Sugar and Spice" refresher oil into it and it smells good enough to eat. However, when I came to decorate it, I was wishing I'd used a different jar - I didn't achieve quite the look I had in my head, but I can't do anything about it so I have to love it as it is!! And in a week or so, I will add a match to it and pray it still smells as good as it does right now!

Thanks for stopping by, and hope you have a good week! :o) xx

Vintage Promarkers

Hi bloggers! This is a midweek special from me - I saw the Promarkers challenge this week and was immediately fired up! I haven't done Vintage for such a long time, and to my recollection, I've never tried to do vintage with a 'cute' stamp, but it really whet my appetite, and this is what I came up with. The colour choice this week is free and I stuck to the Browns using mainly Sandstone, Cocoa, plus various flesh tones.

Thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

Loadsacardz!!!

Phew, it's been a busy ol' week, very tense and quite emotional at times, and I thank God that I am so blessed to have my three wonderful guys to come home to at the end of the day! But it's another week gone now and another one closer to Christmas OMG, how close?? Just about 33 days, I believe, and I received my first Christmas card on Thursday! But you're going to have to wait a couple more weeks before I can show it off because it was from Vicki, one of the lovely guests we have helping us over at Winter Wonderland. The theme over there this week is to make something without using any Christmas images or Christmas dbg papers!! That was a challenge, but one I thoroughly enjoyed, and these are what I came up with:

Both of these were so incredibly simple. The wreath was made by cutting out a chipboard circle and then cutting out an inner ring then sticking the leaves on. It's so basic and simple that I shan't embarrass myself or insult you by giving a step-by-step guide! The second card was simply a computer generated text with a swirly stamp in the corner, a touch of bling and a splodge of glitter, Hey Presto, CAS!!!

Next up is this week's Promarkers challenge. I haven't managed to play for weeks due to other stuff taking over my life, but I was determined to play this week and Oh my, what a challenge - the colours were Marsh Green and Burnt Umber. Well, they're not top of my colour combo fav's but I gave it a shot, and Hey, isn't that what a challenge is all about?

And finally for now it was my lovely friend Penny's birthday this week so I made her this Easel card. I bought the stamp a loooooong time ago when Penny first moved to the coast and never got round to using it, but I finally managed to do something with it this week and here's the result. I figured that as it was such a busy image and the bg paper is a bit, well, stripey, I didn't need to put a lot of 'extras' on it and decided to keep it 'un-fussy'!

Well that's my lot for now. I hope everyone is keeping safe and warm and these awful storms aren't giving you too much bother. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you leave with a smile on your face and maybe a little inspired! :o) xx

Creatalicious Challenge #4

Hi fellow bloggers - I have been a baaad blogger lately. Lack of time is my only excuse - that and having to compete with Club Pengiun! My kids are nuts about this game and trying to get anywhere near the computer while they're playing that is a non-starter!

I love this time of year - the Christmas Production rehearsals are now in full swing and I love to watch the children giving their all as they belt out their lines, and there's been more than a couple of discrete chuckles enjoyed by the staff already!! I cannot wait to go and see "Nativity" at the cinema - judging by the trailer, it's an absolute must for anyone involved in School Christmas Productions!!! LOL!!

Anyway, a little late I know, but finally I get to blog my Creatalicious Challenge card. The challenge this month is to make something for Christmas, use lots of glitter and snowflakes. My card is another easel card; very popular at the moment, and once you've made one, you can understand why that is, they're great fun and really impressive! This one was especially quick to make because all the elements you see (apart from the snowflake) are from the K&Co Swell Noel collection. I have absolutely loved K&Co's Christmas papers this year, but these chipboard pieces have been a very welcome addition. The only trouble is, they're double sided so it seems such a shame to glue them down to card - they would probably look better as free-standing figures on a 3D display!



Anyway, that's my lot for today - hope it won't be long before I have something to blog again!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! :o) xx

Sunday is good!

I've treated the family to a freebie day out at Warwick Castle today! It was a special Teacher Taster weekend so I registered and went along. We had a fab time. Apparently they've re-branded themselves "The Ultimate Castle". I have to confess though, I was a little more than shocked when I saw the price increase from last year, plus an additional £7.50 pp if you wanted a tour of the dungeon! What used to be labelled "The Ghost Tower" has now been transformed into "The Princess Tower!" and it's all very pink and girly - not that my boys appreciated it one little bit!!!!! LOL!!

One of my forum buddy's, Lana, set us a weekend challenge with a sketch and after being inspired by a card design I spied on Magnolia-licious challenges blog, I came up with this:

It's a very quick and simple, but very effective design. You start with a sheet of cardstock, 11" x 5.5" plus an additional square of 5.5" - this will be the front of your card. Score the 11" x 5.5" piece at 2.5" and 5.5" and fold as shown below. Then stick the 5.5" square piece onto the folded down portion. You also need some kind of 'anchor' on the base to hold the card up - I used the sentiment as my anchor.

Over at Winter Wonderland we have a sketch this week with the optional addition of a Pantomime theme. I'm afraid I'm not much of a panto person so I just stuck with the sketch. We also have another giveaway from the wonderful Regina of The Cutting Cafe, so if you are needing to make a start, or just add to your Christmas Card stack, get over there, join in the fun and who knows, it could be you who walks away with that fabulous candy!!

Well if you made it in here, I'd like to thank you for passing through and I wish you a pleasant and safe week ahead! :o) xx

Aaah, the weekend is here

The first week back after half term is always quite tiring, but I am soooo glad that it's now Friday evening because I am exhausted!! Partly because I missed 3 precious hours sleep this week, but I'm not complaining because this was the reason why:

OMG, I saw Fleetwood Mac at the NIA in Birmingham!! They were incredibly amazing and I shan't go on and on about it and bore the ass off anyone, but I have to say that it was one of the most momentous occasions of my life! Stevie Nicks is every bit the Goddess and when I grow up I want to be just like her!!
But getting back to reality with a big bump, here's something I made earlier! I loved it but it kind of pales after the previous pics

Thanks for stopping by - hope you enjoy the photies!! :o) xx

It's November!!

One thing we've not had a lot of round these parts lately is rain! Until it happens, you forget how long it's been since the last time, and the truth is, I can't remember! And then this morning it came back... Oh boy, it's coming down in buckets this morning! What a lovely start to November.

This week's theme over at Winter Wonderland is Jingle Bells and I used K&Co. Christmas Cheer papers and a cookie cutter to create this hanging decoration. And it really jingles too - see the little bells at the bottom! They are so sweet, but unfortunately they came in a bag of mixed sized bells and I've used up all the little ones on this banner.

So, if you're still waiting for inspiration to get started on your Christmas Cards, take yourself over to Winter Wonderland and have a look at the fantastic samples the girls have created for you. You might even get lucky and win Joey's amazing blog candy giveaway!!! Good Luck!

Thanks for popping by and have a great week! xx

First day of the hols

Sigh, I was so looking forward to having a lazy ol' lie-in this morning, but DH's alarm went off at 5am and that was it, I never went back to sleep again, so at 5.45am this morning I was downstairs fiddling around with the old Video Recorder. It's been such a long time since we used it that I'd forgotten what it was all about. Years ago when I first got hooked on crafting I used to love doing One Stroke Painting. I bought pretty much all the kits at the time and nothing was sacred - if it didn't move, it got painted!! LOL!! And so just lately I got it into my head that I need to find all the books and get doing it again, but the first thing I needed to do was brush up on the tutorial in the form of VHS tapes of Donna Dewberry showing me "what fun" it is to paint leaves and flowers on everything. The next thing I did was order myself a new set of brushes and I'm chomping at the bit now, excited to get going again!!

So, while I wait for the postie to deliver my new brushes (haw haw.... wonder what month that will be!!!), I decided to play along with the Sugar Bowl challenge. I love this one - I haven't had much time to play in there since I started my new job in September, so this was a great opportunity. There was a sketch by Kathy and here is my take on it

Also, yesterday, I came across a fantastic website for digi fans - The Sketching Stamper! Christine is an amazing artist and has created the most wonderful images. This pointsettia is one of hers which I coloured using Promarker pens. Unfortunately, I had this fabulous idea to put 'water droplets' (glossy accents) on the petals - it looks really good IRL, I promise, but it just doesn't translate well in photo!

Well that's my offering for today. Thanks for stopping by. :o) xx

Back to Blogland!

OMG, what a couple of weeks I've had! I shan't bore you with the details but the long and short of it is that my computer went into a coma! Talk about panic! It's very scary (and very sad!!) how much our lives depend on the smooth running of our computer's! Not only could I not participate in the Winter Wonderland theme last week, I also couldn't upload my pic for the Creatalicious Challenge, nor take part in any other blog challenges. However, that didn't matter as much as the fact that all my planning for the Autumn term is stored on my computer (now backed up onto an external drive - let that be a lesson to you m'lady!!!!) and the hundreds of photo's that I took on holiday this year were still on there waiting to be copied onto an external drive, as well as the many, many digi images I've acquired just lately!! However, after researching lots of would-be fixers (who's general response was "I can't guarantee I can retrieve any of your files but I can take it back to the factory settings for you!"), my lovely friend's husband came forward and offered to take a look at it for me. A couple of days later, he returned to me a virtually brand-new computer, all cleaned up and with extra memory, new hard disk and best of all, he managed to retrieve ALL my files (which are all safely on an external drive now!!!), and charged me £20 for his time! What an absolute darling!!! Mwah!

Creatalicious Challenge #3

So, without further ado, here we go again. First up is the offering I made for the Creatalicious DT challenge. The challenge is to use scraps of paper and make your own flowers. I made this matchbox advent calendar because I wanted to make something practical and I've always loved these whenever I've seen them out there, and they are unbelievably simple to make! The flowers were made by stamping out a free Paper Artsy heart stamp that I was given at the recent Artisan show near Leamington Spa.

Over at Winter Wonderland this week we're having an Open Theme. Our lovely team member and fantabulous graphic wizardess Teri is giving away 3 of her amazing digi images to one lucky person who plays along with us this week, so if you're one of those players, I wish you loads of luck because Teri's images are just so fabulous and easy to work with. Teri very kindly sent all the team a dove that she created especially for us for this week, and here are a couple of the cards that I made with the image - but you really must go over there and see what fantastic creations the other girls have made with it also!

And my final offering for today (so far!!) is my take on this week's Friday Sketcher's sketch. This gorgeous sketch was supplied by Claudia who's work I always adore! I coloured my image using Promarkers and the bg papers are by Papermania.

It feels great to be up and blogging again, and with a whole week of half-term ahead, I'm sure I'll be back before next Sunday! Have a great week and thanks for stopping by on your travels! :o) xx

Promarkers - Recipe and any colours

OMG, it's Monday again and I haven't been anywhere near my blog for a week!! Where does the time go? A little tale for you. This week I have been helping a group of Y3 children to make a poster about bikes. Two of the children in my group sat with blank faces, and when questioned replied "I don't know how to draw a bike". In truth, I've never tried to draw one myself but armed with a bucketload of confidence I helped them draw one step-by-step, figuring that if I start with a triangle frame, the rest will fall into line. It did as it happened, and between us we managed to produce a pretty impressive bicycle, though I say so myself (though my mother always said "Self praise is no recommendation!!!" LOL!). Later that morning I took another child out of the class to help him with the same task. He too sat with a blank face so I immediately picked up on the fact that he probably didn't know how to draw a bike either, so off I went again on my step-by-step explanation. After I'd finished it, he still had the same expression on his face so I asked "Does this help?" and he shook his head. Oh dear - what now? He then looked at me and said "I was going to draw a good bike!!!" ROFL!!!!!

OK, so I shan't be attempting any more bikes. But here's my offering for the current Promarkers challenge. Use any colours you like but you have to follow a recipe which is 3 shapes, 2 papers and 1 ribbon.

Thanks for popping by and have a great week! xx

Promarkers - Cool Aqua and Apricot

Talk about being out of my comfort zone!! Cool Aqua and Apricot? If you sat me down with a box of colours and gave me a month to come up with a new favourite colour combo, never in a million years would I have put these two together. Not because they're not suited, OMG, they go so beautifully together, but they're so far out of my comfort zone that I would never come up with this, which is why I am so delighted to play along with the Promarkers challenges. They make me play with colours I wouldn't normally work with and come up with some pretty striking combo's!

So here's my card for this week - another addition to my Christmas stash - YAY!!!!

In addition, this week's challenge states that you must use a flower on your card - I used two - sorted! :o) The image is another of Inger's amazing free digi downloads. This lady does the most amazing images - this one is called "Waiting for Santa" and I just think she is soooooo adorable! So Thank You Inger for another freebie - they're gorgeous!

Well that's my lot for today - I have a hard evening slogging over assessments ahead of me so I need to keep it brief! Have a great day all and thank you for popping by, and in particular if you've left me some feedback, it's always much appreciated! XX

Promarkers - just in the nick...!

Nothing like being on the 11th hour, is there? It's all happening at once here. One of the best things about my new job is that my youngest son is at the same school so he can now bring friends home from school with him which he was really excited about - 'cept that it's happening pretty much every evening at the moment! And as soon as they get here they're straight onto the computer and the only reason they get off is either to eat, or to let my other son on to do his homework! Having said that, even if I do get to bag a turn, I don't have time to anyway!!! However, things feel a little more settled and routine this week so I'll soon get back into the swing of things.

In the meantime, here is my Promarkers offering for this week. This is for the Polka Dots and any colour theme and I have to get in quick because it's the last day for the challenge!!! Watch this space for a more organised 'Me'!!! YAY!

Thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

What happened???

OK, who nicked Monday and Tuesday??? OMGosh, I have been soooooo busy and have completely lost time! I love my new job so much, but I keep falling asleep within minutes of arriving home!! This is bad practise that I need to nip in the bud so now I daren't allow myself to sit down until everyone's fed!!

Anyway, I've lost so much time I'm on catch up BIG time! First of all, here is my offering for this month's Creatalicious Challenge. The challenge is to make a creation with the colour combo pink or plum,with burgundy and green. Also add some sort of lace,ribbon or fibre etc. and here is my offering:

I found this clock on the Reduced shelf at Tesco for £3 and I thought it would be perfect for this challenge. I could be wrong but I think the paper is Anna Griffin - I've had it for a loooooong time so I'm quite confident that is probably is!! The flowers are all from Becs' own store and they are absolutely gorgeous!!!

Then I was sent this gorguss image from my lovely buddy Lesley so I used it on this card for the same challenge. The paper, lace and flowers are all from Becs' store.

Then over at Winter Wonderland this week we are doing Vintage Christmas. I found this lovely image on a Joanna Sheen CD and thought he was perfect for Vintage!

Oh well, rushing as usual! Hope you're all having a great week! Thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

Winter Wonderland and Friday Sketchers

Boo Hoo! This is officially it - the last day of the summer holiday. Although I've technically gone back to work, the children aren't back until tomorrow and it feels quite weird. My youngest is going back to his last year in first school and that is so scary. In the meantime, my eldest will be doing SATS this year, and that's even scarier!! LOL!

So, here's my final offering for this week. Over at Winter Wonderland we're paying homage to Frosty the Snowman and I found this gorgeous digi image to make my card with

and in fact, digi images are a new phenomenom for me. Thankfully my printer ink seems to like Promarkers so I have been looking around for new images to play with, and I found this, and some more delightful freebies over at Inger's place. Inger is a designer for Panduro and her images and papers are just absolutely amazing, and she makes the most gorgeous projects. If you've not yet discovered her, go take a look for yourself.

I used Inger's image on my card for this week's Friday Sketchers offering. It was a lovely simple sketch to follow and here is my take on it:

And that's all my playtime gone for this weekend now. Time to have a last minute run through to make sure that everyone has everything they need before the bell goes tomorrow morning! Have a fun Sunday and thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

Girly and Glittery

OMGoodness, what a surprise!! My card for last week's Promarkers Challenge got picked for the winner's podium! How exciting is that! I've never won a blog candy thingy in my whole life so I was over the moon!

This week's theme is Glittery and Girly and the colour choice is yours - well, I had the most fabulous fun with this one, ask me to add glitter and I'm happy to oblige - I just need to be told when to stop though! LOL!

My photography's not what it could be - you can't really see that the blue mount background is glitter card, and the big strawberry on the image is glittered too, as well as the embellishments, so I did a close up to show that I have gone to town with the sparkly stuff!!! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by here, and have a great weekend! :o) xx

Passion for Promarkers and Inky Impressions

Feeling a bit sniffly today :o( Not ill, or anything dramatic like that, just a bit below par. Possibly because I've had a fantastic summer break with the kids and my gorgeous hubby has taken lots of annual leave this summer too but he's gone back to work this morning, and the weather has turned horrid! We've been out and about pretty much every day and spent a glorious week in Devon, and today I'm being very domesticated and sorting out everything in readiness for going back to school :o( Part of me is really excited because I will be starting my new job (HURRAH!!!) but I feel strangely nervous too.... ooer! But, unlike lots of parents who have been counting down the minutes since their children broke up, I am completely the opposite and am counting down the minutes to half term!! LOL!!!

Anyway, I've played along with the Passion for Promarkers challenge again this week because I have become completely addicted to using them! However, this week was an almighty challenge for me because the colours they chose to work with are Lavender, Lilac, Amethyst and Aubergine. Eeek!!! I'm just not comfortable with purple at all but surprisingly I enjoyed using them more than I expected to, so I made two cards!! LOL! The first one was a free digi image which I got from Inky Impressions blog - they have some gorgeous stamps! I even made the flower on this card myself using my Promarkers ;o)

Well, that's my lot for today - I have to get back to my domestics! I can hear my oven screaming for a scrubbing! LOL! Thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

Passion for Promarkers - Prussian and Pumpkin

Happy Sunday folks!! Very short post from me today as I'm rushing off to have a jolly with all my boys in Stratford on Avon!

Here's my offering for this week's Passion for Promarkers challenge where this week the colours to use are Prussian and Pumpkin, but with the addition of a Halloween theme.

And over at Winter Wonderland this week the fabulous DT have created amazing samples for this week's theme which is "By Candlelight" and here is a snippet of my own card.

* Edited by request - The cardstock was embossed using a cuttlebug folder - I just love it, it's so classy and I can't stop using it!! LOL!! The candle is literally two 'sticks' of plain white card, with a very slight arc cut out of the top strip. The top was then dabbed with versamark and dipped in white UTEE and heated. While it was still hot I dipped it in again and again (about 5 times in all) until it was really thick then I let it gently run down to give the melted wax look. When it had cooled I mounted it onto the other strip with some foam pads, drew a flame and filled that with stickles - that wasn't enough so I also dipped it into a very fine white glitter!! Once the flame was dried I cut it out and glued it in place. The flower is a ready-made one from my stash and the greenery is a Stewart Gill punch from Craft Obsessions! The main image was mounted onto red card, then fixed to a plain white card - very, very simple and will probably be my 'Production Line' card this year, so if you're a work colleague of mine, close your eyes now!! LOL!! Here is the full card:

Must dash - I can hear the engine revving and sounds of impatient boys shouting!!! Thanks for popping by!

A brand new challenge!!!

Yay!!! It's the 15th of August and a brand new challenge blog has arrived - Creatalicious Challenges. Bec and Cheryl have set out their first challenge which is to make something for a man (in honour of Father's Day in Australia next month) which incorporates the colour brown and use some metal on your project! As we had Father's Day in June here in the UK, I decided to make something that I've wanted for a long time - a message board!

I started with a box canvas and inked up the edges. Then I took a photo of all my boys and sepia'd it before printing it onto Lazertran (printable decal paper). I painted turpentine over the canvans and laid the soaked decal over it and sprayed it with a gloss sealant. From experience I know that the sealant reacts with the turpentine and crackles, although on this occasion, not as much as I would have liked. Then I added the text and a rub-on quote and stapled chicken wire all over the canvas. I managed to dig out a bag of tiny pegs from my stash to use to clip messages to the wire. Then to continue the theme I made the tag and foiled parts of the letters to give it a distressed feel!

So, if you want more inspiration, pop over there and have a look at some of the other fantastic projects that the team have created! And the best thing about this challenge blog is that you don't have to rush out and get something finished quickly - there's a whole month before the next challenge is set, and next time I hope to remember on time that Australia are actually 12 hours ahead of us so I need to blog a day earlier!!!!!!!!!

Another new challenge

Oooh, I do love Summer holidays!!! I have had a great week playing with my stash and taking the opportunity to do a bit of blog hopping. I've missed so much stuff going on out there while I've been working full time and being able to take part in different challenges has been really exciting! Today's offering is from the Sugar Bowl Challenge blog which is another that I've not had chance to participate in until now. The challenge is to use a Sugar Nellie stamp along with Judy's sketch and to add your own handmade flowers, and here's what I came up withI've coloured it using my Promarkers again - omgosh, I am sooo in love with them - maybe I might even get round to using them on a different image! LOL!!

Thanks again if you've popped by, and especially if you've left feedback, it's always appreciated! :o) xx

Passion for Promarkers - Cocoa and Rose Pink

Here's a moment I've been looking forward to - taking part in the Passion for Promarkers challenges! I've been eyeing them up for a few weeks now but without the essential ingredients I've not been able to play along. Anyway, curiosity got the better of me and I had to see what it was that everyone was getting so excited about so I invested in a few pens for myself.....then a few more..... and a few more..... OMGosh, they are wonderful!!! I think I may have found myself a new obsession! Now all I need to do is find the 'right' cardstock - the stuff I've been using is a little too porous and I find the inks bleed a little. Not enough to put me off though! LOL! And here is my first completed project using the pens. This week PfP are asking you to use Cocoa and Rose Pink as your predominant colours. This is one of my favourite colour combo's (let's be honest, anything with brown is a favourite colour combo for me!! LOL!)

I have used other colours too - don't ask which, I just love blending with these pens!! I hope my friend and neighbour hasn't discovered my blog because this is a card that I made for her birthday on Sunday. The 'Wishes' text was cut from a sheet of K&Co. and I rubbed on the 'best birthday' text from a mag freebie that's been lying around my stash den for goodness knows how many years!!! A touch of Stickles on the white text for that added pizazz and Lo, we have a birthday card!!

Thanks for dropping by, and don't forget to keep an eye out for Creatalicious Challenges which starts on Saturday 15th August - it's going to be a heap of fun!!! ;o) xx