Sugar Nellie on Facebook

My candy is now closed, keep your eyes peeled tomorrow as I'll be drawing the candy then and we'll see who the lucky winner is. A huge thankyou to everyone who has entered.
Some of you may already know that Sugar Nellie has it's own group on Facebook (if you're not already a member then just send me a message and I'll add you) and Fiona is in charge of setting the weekly challenge there. So Karen and Fiona decided the challenge this week was for a side-step card. Well, I've done a couple of these and found them awfully fiddly - BUT they've provided a link to a super template (which I altered to simplify) and I had no trouble with it at all.

Image: Dexter Bear from Sugar Nellie coloured with promarkers
brown and pink card is all core'dinations, flowers and pearls are Prima e line, pearl brad is American Crafts and greetings are Hero Arts CL497
Faux stitching was done by piercing card using Tim Holtz design ruler and then joining up the holes with a Rich Cocoa Memento marker.


We're waiting for BT to fix the fault on our line. We've had no landline since Thursday afternoon, although we still have broadband so it's not actually bothering me too much :) Apparently they're aiming to have it fixed by 5pm on Wednesday. 


I'd like to enter my card into
Passion for Promarkers - let it shone (pearls, glitter on flowers and sparkle sentiment)
Peartree Designs - flowers
Stamptacular Sunday - whateva
Saturday Challenge - hot chocolate (and the pink is for the marshmallows)
Simon Says Stamp - animal antics

Birthday Blog Candy

This candy is now closed - winner has been announced


As promised, I'm here to tempt you with some fabulous candy in celebration of my birthday on the 27th January - yes, it's no great surprise that I'm an Aquarian, is it?


So what have I got to give away? well the lovely Paul at Letraset has very generously given me not 1 but 2 of the new Promarker sets - these are just soooooooooooooooo cool. The packaging doubles as portable storage, I just think it's incredibly clever. So here's some piccies for you of the 2 Promarker sets, each contains 12 colours plus a blender pen. 
The packaging opens out and the unique ‘carry-case’ design features a hand-grip and individual snap-fit holders for securing each marker in place. Printed ‘how-to’ tips are included, there’s also a special link to online content providing more in depth information on ProMarker techniques. And of course you can always come back to my Promarker tutorials here.

But that's not all, I also have some Sugar Nellie stamps. You all know that the very first rubber stamp I bought was Daisy and she's still my favourite but Karen is constantly bringing us new and even more gorgeous stamps so there is something for everyone.
So these are the stamps I'm giving away...
Firstly, I use this Gorjuss Girl Sitting a lot when I'm teaching and demonstrating, she features in a lot of my tutorials, so I thought I'd give her away (not my one of course, it is a brand new, unopened stamp)
Next up... Blossom and Faraway Thoughts by Leanne Ellis, Curtsy by Diane Duda, and Little Artist (Home Grown)


And I'm still not finished, there's more...
Prima - "Believe" frame stamp and bling
Papermania - Mosaics
Hobbycraft - Square clear bling
2 Anita's gem wheels 
All of these goodies from Craftwork Cards: Cupcake Album, Scalloped Squares, Elegant Card Wraps, Alpha Tots, and Build A Bun Template


I've also bought another Tim Holtz Design Ruler to give away - I was so impressed with it when I bought mine at the SECC, I think every crafter should have one.


And finally a large organza bag stuffed full of chipboard flowers, die cut shapes, plastic shapes, prima and other paper flowers and blooms.

So the important bit - what do you have to do....
1. copy this pic and post it with a link back to this post on your blog - sorry only people with blogs can enter
2. I'd prefer it if the candy went to someone who comments on my blog now and again rather than somebody who is just here to enter the candy, so please feel free to have a look around. I'm not going to rule out new followers, so long as you comment now and again
3. If you like my blog then please follow me - but don't follow me if you intend to stop following as soon as the candy is drawn.


So, good luck and remember to spread the word, the candy will close at 12 noon GMT on 31st January

Happy Birthday to me ;)

Yup, it's all true - I'm 38 years old today, although I don't feel any more grown-up than I did at 21. In fact it only seems like 5 minutes ago that I was 21. And just to make me feel good about myself, Faith is running around telling everyone that will listen that I'm 38 today lol ,Willow, ever the thoughtful one has been asking if she can have all my craft stuff when I die - charming eh?


The kids are actually a bit upset, because dad is offshore and so they haven't been able to go out and get me anything, so I told them I'd be more than happy if they either drew me a picture or made me a card, so that's their plan when they come home from school today. Graham will be home this afternoon, so I thought I'd treat myself to some new rubber from funkykits, I ordered 3 of the newest release Sassy's - Windswept, Skater Girl and Call Me, along with one of the new Leanne Ellis stamps and the Vintage Baby stamp. And they arrived this morning, perfect timing!


Well, there's no rest for the wicked, have loads of tidying up to do before Grahamy gets home, so I'll leave you with some pics of my new hutch......
Well after I tidied up the desk last week, I decided that the shelf above my desk just wasn't cutting the mustard anymore. I had a bit of a brainstorm and decided I wanted a "hutch" for my desk, googling it came up with plenty of results, but most were more than I had planned to spend. As you know I like to "adapt and overcome" so I decided to use the faux leather dvd unit that I'd bought in Asda ages ago to hold all my 6x6 and 8x8 papers. Well of course it was shorter than my desk, so I nipped down to Asda to buy another 2 and the fab news was they were on offer - 2 for £15.
So this is how it looks....

See those baskets on top of the hutch? those were another bargain, in the bathroom accessories part of Asda I found a pack of 3 wee baskets for pennies.

Monday Blues

I'm not blue, it's the card and the fabby ribbon kit from Angel Crafts
Before I show you what I've done with it - have you entered my candy yet? you'll find it here

 The tree, ribbon and swirly stamp are all in the January "Touch of Blue" kit
I painted the tree with white acrylic paint, then covered in glamour dust while it was wet. I used Versafine to stamp around the edges of the blue core'dinations cardstock and clear embossed. Then stamped some more with versafine and white embossed - the white embossing powder stuck to some of the already clear embossed parts, but I think it gives a kind of frosty effect.
I ran a length of double sided tape across the card then concertina'ed the ribbon along it, then machine stitched to secure it.
And finally the greeting is Kaisercraft 

here's a close-up to let you see the glamour dust a bit better

Sundays for Santa

Here's my card for Sunday's for Santa FB group - I got to pick the theme this week and I chose "keeping cosy" so that I could use one of my oldest and most favourite xmas stamps "Snowflake" which is a Sugar Nellie, but sadly no longer available.

Image: Snowflake from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers (Ice Grey 1-5 and Black), and glamour dust on the snowflakes
red card, white core'dinations card, ribbed kraft card from Simply Create, AC pearl brad, gem snowflake from Angel Crafts, greeting from Craftwork Cards.


I'd also like to enter her into...
I ♥ ProMarkers Challenge Blog - Keep It Sweet & Simple
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round - Anything Goes
Make It Colourful - Monochrome


Remember to enter my birthday candy here 

The Hero Arts Tart

Morning folks,
hope you're all well.. I'm having a lazy jammie day today I think. Got to make a card for the Sundays with Santa FB group.


Had a fabulous day yesterday, as you know Kath - The Hero Arts Tart (will explain about that later) was demonstrating the new 2011 Hero Arts stamps at the grand re-opening of Simply Create. The new shop is amazing, loads of space, loads of gorgeous stash, what more could you want. I'd like to thank Jacqui for being so tolerant with my kids, they tend to spread out and it's really hard to keep control of them. And if you're reading this Jacqui - Faith tells me that you cut your own finger cos you're daft lol
The only time I could get anywhere near Kath for the crowds was when she stopped to eat her lunch. She had an avid audience, and whe you see the fabulous samples she made, its no wonder. If you want to see her fab samples then keep your eyes peeled this week on her blog as she'll be showcasing them.
I bet you're wondering what I bought, well I could tell you that I was very good and didn't spend anything...... but I'd be lying lol

I've decided that this is my birthday present, Graham is offshore and comes home on the afternoon of my birthday - so there's a pretty good chance that I won't get anything, so I thought I'd just buy my present myself.
Willow has become much more interested in crafting recently and decided she wanted the Braveheart stamp and the dress stamp, and she picked out the silhouette heads for me.
And my hot tip for 2011 - that corrugated kraft card in the background is going to be big news this year !
So are you still waiting for me to explain about the Hero Arts Tart? well, remember I was over visiting Kath and Anne on Friday, well we have some plans - which I can't divulge yet - but as Kath's "thing" is Her Arts stamps, she is now the Hero Arts Tart, Anne who is the whizz at all things sewing is the Stitch Bitch, and apparently I'm the Promarker Pro! - what can I say.


Have you entered my fabby birthday candy yet? if not, click here

Bargains Galore

Had a fabulous day yesterday - dropped Scott and Willow at school then Faith and I headed over to Kath's to meet up for a coffee and a chat with her and Anne. There was much exchanging of pressies, as this was the first time we'd all got together since we were all at the SECC at the end of October. 
So here are my gorgeous pressies, firstly this fabby wee Macy's bag - how posh is that!! The bag would've been enough for me, I was tickled pink with it, but there were goodies inside it too, look....

And Anne gave me a bag too - the twist was it's in kit form and I have to make it myself :D The fabric she has picked out is SO me! and if that wasn't enough she also gave me my first SU inkpad and a gorgeous punch

Thankyou once again ladies, I love my pressies :)
While we were at Kath's, the Hobbycraft sale came into the conversation and Kath mentioned how she got a fantastic bargain of American Crafts pearl brads reduced from £3.99 to 49p. Well I'm sure you can guess where my next stop was, can't you!! I bought quite a few packs for myself and Anne, and the original price would have been £113.89, but only actually cost me £12.19, that's an amazing saving of £101.70!!!! So, Anne and I now have plenty of AC pearl brads, buttons, glitter buttons, and jewel brads. Think I might go back and get more soon.


So today we are off to the grand relaunch of Simply Create, that's not the royal we - I mean me and my entourage (the kids). (Oh that's terrible grammar - should be my entourage and I). The multi-talented and incredibly good fun, Hero Arts Tart - Kath will be showing off the most fantastic techniques with the all new 2011 Hero Arts stamps, and oh dear I feel a huge spend coming on eek!

Oscar and a Teaser

Morning!
it's getting closer to the end of the week, and tomorrow I'll be away on a wee jaunt across town to meet up with my crafty buddies Anne and Kath and blonde deliciousness that is Buddy for a catch up. This'll be the first time we've got together since - is it as long ago as the SECC?? Then I'll probably see them both again plus Jacqui at Simply Create for the shop relaunch and Kath's Hero Arts demo. If you are within driving distance of Alford then you really must see Kath in action - the woman is amazing.


So what have I been up to? well with a lovely tidy desk again (see previous WOYWW posts) it's been a joy to craft. And it will be even better from now on because after hopping round half of the WOYWWers yesterday I decided that I needed a hutch for the top of my desk as the wee shelf just wasn't cutting the mustard. I did my usual and googled "desk hutch" but oh my goodness they are expensive, and with "adapt and overcome" being my motto of the moment - I had a bit of a brainwave. I had previously picked up a faux leather DVD holder at Asda, and that was where I kept all my 8x8 and 6x6 papers, so I thought I could turn it on its side and it would make a great hutch - especially if I bought another 2 so that it stretched the length of my desk. So last night was spent rearranging all my bits in my nice new hutch, but I won't show you just yet - think I'll keep that wee surprise for next week's WOYWW.


I think I mentioned before that I'd splashed out on the 4 new soft centre stamps from Sugar Nellie last week. Just to be different I decided to colour Oscar the Owl - he's dead easy to colour.

Image: Oscar from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
papers are all Cosmo Cricket Earth Love, stitched on . The brads are papermania and the wooden button is from a stall at the SECC in October.


I followed Kiki's sketch at The Sugar Bowl, so I'd like to enter him there
as well as
Fab n Funky - Animal Magic
Crafty Creations - Its a Bird Thing - plus polka dots and green
Creative Card Crew - For Men


LOL I nearly forgot the teaser - tomorrow I will be back with some fabulous candy, have some brand spanking new goodies from Letraset to give away and after my clear out I've unearthed lots of other goodies to give away too - including some of my favourite Sugar Nellie stamps, so remember to pop back tomorrow.

WOYWW - tidy??

Well, I've tidied it - I was so ashamed after last week's midden shot. And I would just like to thank all those of you who offered to take all my new goodies away lol
Ok here's a piccie of my desk, and then I'll get onto explaining a few things that were asked about last week...

A few of you asked or commented about my huge silver box of promarkers, well here's a few shots to show you. It is actually a DJ's CD box or some call it a CD Flight Case. This is the one I have. It comes complete with a few hundred suspension pockets designed to hold CD's. BUT I use it to hold and transport my promarkers. I've found it very handy for taking to demonstrations and classes. 

  I printed off the colour chart from here, onto the cardstock that I normally use my promarkers on (this way I get a true colour representation). I coloured sticky dots with each of the pens and stuck these dots onto the broad cap end so that I can easily see the colour.

  I have arranged the promarkers as per the colour chart - I could easily fit the promarkers into a smaller box but I'm a bit on the pedantic side and wanted them set out the same as the colour chart. So there is a maximum of 5 promarkers in each pocket.

 There is plenty of space in the lid, so behind the colour chart (which I laminated so it doesn't get grubby) I store a pack of card and some laminated colouring examples for taking to classes and demos. **Edited to add** Promarkers DO NOT need to be stored horizontally, they are quite happy to be stored vertically like I have done. HOWEVER Aquamarkers DO need to be stored horizontally, just in case you don't believe me, or don't want to take my word for it - check out what Paul has to say on the Letraset blog here.

Next up was the big boxes of glitter. Well actually those are 2 wee Really Useful Boxes that I picked up in Hobbycraft, and I emptied 2 bottles of Glamour Dust into the top one - the reasoning for this is, I will use wee scoops (this was part of a mini set that came out of our xmas crackers) and hold the item being glittered over the box - so in theory less chance of making a mess. The other box holds clear embossing powder.


So that's me for this week, sorry I only made it round a fraction of the WOYWWers last week - will try to do better this week.


Pop over to Julia's blog to see what all the fuss is about


And if you've come direct to this post, you won't have seen my fabby birthday candy - click here 

Sassy Fairy Tale

Sugar Nellie have released so many new stamps lately that I'm having trouble keeping up. There are the fun and funky Simply Sassy range - which I have to say are soooooo my kinda thing, the Simply Adorables which are hugely popular, the very beautiful new Leanne Ellis designs and some super cute new animals in the Soft Centres.
Unfortunately I'm not made of money - more's the pity, so I've had to be pretty selective, especially as there are more stamps to be released soon. I've chosen to go with quite a few of the Simply Sassy's and all 4 of the new Soft Centres, I don't have a lot of animal stamps and these were just irresistable. Have a nosey over on Funkykits and see which are your favourites


In keeping with my wee promise to myself to enter a few challenge blogs regularly - I've made this card for the Sugar Bowl using Kiki's sketch. I coloured this image the other day, and then though "ugh, where on earth will I find papers to go with this". Well I'm a big believer in the "adapt and overcome" ethos so this is what I came up with - inspired by Ali's CAS and WOW designs

Image: Fairy Tale from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
white green and pink cardstock is all core'dinations, I used the cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder and the craft concepts butterfly embossing folder. The brads and greeting are Papermania.


So I'd like to enter her into:
The Sugar Bowl - Sketch & Happy Birthday
Pear Tree Designs - Free for All

Some Giveaways

Just a quick post just now with some giveaways, will be back later with my Sugar Bowl entry.

The very handsome Buddy is giving away some goodies on his mum Kath's blog - just click on the pic

The lovely and very talented Elaine is also having a super LOTV giveaway, click on the pic

Baby Baby

I don't get to make baby cards nearly as often as I'd like - but I think I might just do them for fun to build up a wee stock. Might come in handy if I manage to get a stall at any of the spring fayres. This one is a birthday card for a 1 or 2 year old.
This is another card that I've done for Letraset.

Image: Bubbles from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
papers are Wild Rose Studios, cardstock is core'dinations, greeting is craftwork cards and lace is from my stash

I'd like to enter my card into..
Passion for Promarkers - Baby cards
Stamp Something - Anything goes

Sundays with Santa

Back for week 2 of Pops's Sunday's with Santa and here's another xmas card for this year.
If you don't already know then Pops set up a just for fun group on Facebook where we all make a xmas card every Sunday so we won't have that mad dash to get them all done at the end of the year.

So here's my card for this week

Image: Hero Arts - Sending Holiday Cheer CL464, coloured with promarkers and a little glamour dust
papers are all Bo Bunny Winter Joy and the greeting is craftwork cards

Nice easy peasy quick card.
will be back tomorrow with another card for Letraset