Going Dotty

Well I can't be accused of not getting my money's worth from the Swiss Dots CB folder - It's by far my favourite of all their embossing folders but really, do I have to feature it on everything??? My NBF makes another appearance on my very first Penny Black challenge entry. I was inspired by the fab DT cards and so headed off to rubber jungle that is my craft room to see what PB stamps I have secreted in my stash. Shock Horror!! I have hardly any PB's!!! How come? It's not like I'm not a fan, or anything, they just seem to have managed to stay on the shelf as I go by with my basket! We'll maybe have to do something about that in 2009! What a NYR!! LOL!!

So here it is, my Penny Black Challenge debutante - no patterned paper allowed. Very simple, very quick, clean and unfussy. This could be my 2008 Production Line card, methinks! ;o)

Thanks so much for popping by!

Snow is falling...

...at least it was when I made this tag - now it's just wet, grey and dreary! :o( Can you believe it's almost December? 15 more work days to go - YAY! However, I imagine they're going to be the busiest 15 days of my life because my 'To Do' list is written on Andrex!!!

I have, however, been able to make a couple of projects this week using one of my own stamps. I had a house -doodle phase over the summer and this is one of the stamps I made using my drawings - there will be more over the coming weeks but for publishing reasons I can't show them yet ;o) But watch this space!

Anyway, this is my tag for Tag, You're It! which has the theme "Snow is Falling" this week, and my stamp was perfect for it! And while I was playing I made this card too, another one to add to my growing pile of Christmas Cards!

Thanks for stopping by and have a good week!

Back in the land of blog

Oooh..... I have been such a baaaad blogger -I've been a bad crafter altogether in fact! But hopefully I'm back now. The last few weeks have been pretty bleak and I haven't had any 'Me' time at all, but even if I had, I hit a sooooo-low-Mojo spot and packed all my stash away, out of sight and out of mind. But this weekend I've promised myself that I must get my butt into gear and make something. So I did - I made a DT tag for Tag, You're It! What a lot of boxes I had to get out to come up with this!!! LOL!!! It's really opened my eyes as to how much stuff I have stashed, and how little I use it! Shame on me.....!

On a sad note, my lovely buddy Sam has decided to call it a day with the Tag Blog and I'm going to miss seeing her fantabulous creations on there. Organising, setting up and continually monitoring the blog was a joint venture that I have loved being a part of with Sam, but I totally respect her decision and, if you're reading this my mate, Thank You sooooooo much - it was such a pleasure working with you and I will continue to be inspired and delighted by your wonderful creations!

On an entirely different note altogether, did anyone see Kajagoogoo on "Now That's What I Call 1983" last night? Oh Man!!! Is Nick Beggs ultra cool, or what!!!! ;o) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EmZdDdc4kR4

Thanks for popping by - have a good week!

Psssst.... There's a new blog in town!

Don't be the last to find out!! Craft Stamper have created a brand new blog and it promises to be very popular so you need to get over there and check it out for yourself. And just for fun they're launching the site with a fab blog candy giveaway - these wonderful Penny Black Twelve Days of Christmas stamps (Oh my, I want!!!):
So, to be in with a chance of winning these brilliant stamps, get over there, leave a comment and keep everything crossed!!! Loads of luck to you!

Autumn Tag

Sigh.... I just love Autumn, and it's very definitely here..... or is it? It's positively tropical here today. I had one of those gloriously rare moments on my way to work on Thursday this week and darn it, I didn't have my camera on me. I was sat at traffic lights underneath a huge shower of falling leaves - every colour of autumn, gently floating down. I sat there wondering how come there were so many falling when there was barely a gust of wind in the air, and I was wishing like mad that I'd brought my camera. And as I sat there watching them, suddenly a swan flew overhead. It immediately reminded me of a book of fairy tales that I read when I was about 7 or 8 years old - for the life of me I can't remember what it was but for a fleeting moment I was transported back to my junior school.....and then it was gone. The lights changed, the swan disappeared from sight and I was back on my journey!

Over at Tag You're It! this week the theme is Autumn (surprise, surprise!!!) and here is my tag offering. The main stamp is one of the very first stamps I ever made and the 'hair' is made from stamping out lots of little leaves onto Basic Grey paper (perfect for this time of year!!) and cutting them out. You can't really see from the photo but I've been hotfoiling again - lots of bits here and there to highlight the leaves.

Well I have lots of crafty plans for the weekend - Thank You for popping in on your travels, it's much appreciated! ;o) xx

Toot Toot!!! In the pub!

Edited: Eeek, sorry, I've removed the mag articles, but you can see them in the November issue of the mag ;o)

Yay!! I've been into town this morning and picked up the November Craft Stamper magazing and drrrrrrrrrrrrum roll....I'm in it!!! Whoopidoo!!! I got to play with the free stamp to make some samples for this issue and I have to say, I really LOVE those stamps!!

And, as luck would have it, Sam's hubby Phil was having his birthday around this time too and I was having so much fun with the stamp that I used it on his birthday card too:

Oh yes, and it's Altered Flowers over at Tag, You're It! this weekend, and a chance for you to meet the lovely ladies who've joined the team to offer up more inspiration with the challenges! They are the hugely talented Carol, Sarah, Kath and Dawn - go check out their blogs, you'll be glad you did! The challenge this week is to create a tag using altered flowers - these can be altered in any way you like - stamped, embossed, cut, glazed..... entirely up to you. Well...... I DID stamp on my flowers - honest I did! I used a music sheet background stamp. Humph! It didn't quite have the effect I was aiming for, just a grubby flower look!! LOL!! The chandelier stamp is actually one of my own - heavily inspired by the 'famous' chandelier stamp, I made this one from my own pic!

I do like a bit of bling - can you tell? LOL!!! Thanks for stopping by, and if you've been kind enough to leave me feedback, Thank You so much - it's greatly appreciated! ;o) xx

Dream Tag

Well it may be late coming but the glorious weather we've been enjoying here for the last few days is MOST welcome! It's given me the chance to get out into my garden and have a good ol' autumnal tidy-up in preparation for the big fall. We are surrounded by trees on all sides here which is gorgeous in Winter, Spring and Summer, but we don't half work hard for them it in the Autumn! LOL!! I've discovered something really freakish too - we have a very small pond in the garden which I put in a couple of years ago hoping to attract frogs - Oh boy, did we attract frogs!!! This year, back in March/April time I discovered our first ever batch of frog spawn which I got really excited about and I bought a small fish tank and detached a few of the eggs so that my children could watch them develop! That was really exciting for them. However, what I have been noticing is that some of the tadpoles in my pond have never evolved - it is now mid-late September and mano of them are STILL tadpoles!!! I also seem to have an albino frog! He's only tiny, fully formed but completely white! However, he won't be still for long enough for me to get a photo of him! (or her, of course, before I'm accused of being sexist! LOL!!).

So before I get lost in the wonders of my garden, here's my tag for this week. It's a Stampsmith photo stamp and I think she's called Sabrina or something like that - I never do labels because I can never remember who makes what and titles, but I do know that all the other stamps I used are Fancy Pants. Whatever her name is, she didn't want to be photographed!!! You wouldn't believe the trouble I had getting a decentish photo of my tag!!! The image kept coming out distorted, like old newspaper - brilliant if that's the look I wanted to achieve, but I didn't, FGS it took me a dozen stamps to get a clear image of her in the first place!!! LOL!

Well whatever jollies you have lined up for yourselves this weekend, I hope the weather holds out for you wherever you are, and I thank you for popping by my blog - it's much appreciated! ;o) xx