ARGH!

where oh where does the time go? that's another week gone since I last posted and it's just passed in a blur - last week of term for the kids is always so busy, I finally finished the teachers presents - I ended up making 16 tea light gift boxes, and if I never see one of those again it will be too soon lol

 I used a selection of Simply Sassy, Gorjuss and The Greetings Farm images, all coloured with promarkers, a Hero Arts greeting, Tim Holtz pins, various cuttlebug embossing folders and loads of white card from The Papeterie.

I've made a start on buying school uniforms for after the summer, Faith starts school this year and I admit to having a very emotional moment when I got her to try on her new school clothes this week, I can't believe my wee baby will be starting out at school - feels like 5 minutes since she was born, not 5 years!
She's been learning to ride Willow's bike, even though it's too big for her ...

Here's a wee catch-up of things that might be of interest to you crafty folks .....
Tomorrow and Saturday, Sugar Nellie are releasing loads of new images at their Carnival of Colour blog hop , click on the pic

The lovely Jenny from Craft Test Dummies recently had a wee visit to London, so pop over and have a look at all her reviews and news in her "UK Week". Today she's reviewed Letraset Aquamarkers.

Remember at the end of May, Kath, Anne and I had our Girls Just Want to Have Fun day? well there just might be some exciting news about another day coming soon - keep your eyes peeled for more details soon.
Talking of Kath - its the blonde bombshell - aka Buddy's 5th birthday today - so pop on over to wish the golden boy some birthday love

Have had a bit of a juggle round with my class and demo dates - so please check out the class list here. If you fancy coming along to join me then you'll find all the contact info on that page. 
Think that's about it for now - not sure how much crafting I'm gonna get done with the kids at home all the time from Friday, so the blog might be a bit dry over the summer.

Happy Birthday Kerri

Today is Kerri's 39th birthday, I've known Kerri a long time - 27 years to be exact, she was also my bridesmaid 13 years ago. Happily, our friendship lasted a lot longer than my marriage :)
Kerri is also the lovely lady I made the Home Sweet Home gift for that I showed off the other day.
Anyway, because she was at Rockness the other week, this image reminded me of hippies and festivals and so I thought it would be quite cool for her birthday card.
And what a stroke of luck that Letraset sent me their ultra-fine nibs just in time for me to colour this image properly! Scroll down to the day-before-yesterday's post to see the ultra-fine nibs review.

Image: Boho Chic from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers and cut out with Labels 10 nesties
the brown base card is from The Papeterie, the larger cogs are cut with Donna Salazar Sprightly Sprockets from Spellbinders and the smaller ones are laser cut chipboard from Make it Crafty. the greeting is PI stamped onto the waste from a Bigz XL ornate box die, the clocks paper is from my stash and the black pearls are Prima e line.


I'd like to enter her into
The Sugar Bowl - sketch
I ♥ Promarkers  - anything goes
Passion for Promarkers - park life (clearly she's walking in the park)
Papertake Weekly - Here comes the sun
Stamptacular Sunday - Fun in the Sun

Wayyyyyyyyyyyyy Behind Again!

Time is just running away from me at the moment, couple of things to share with you that I haven't had time to mention..
Firstly I won Totally Papercrafts challenge last week so here is my winning banner..

my prize was to choose some digi images from Doodle Pantry, so hopefully I'll get time to use some of them to show you soon.
I also won a prize on the Crafts & Me blog hop a few weeks ago and got to choose a couple of their own digi images as a prize, so here's the card I made with one of them, it's also featured on their blog here.

Image: Forever Rose from Crafts & Me, coloured with promarkers
black and white card from The Papeterie embossed with Sizzix EF, gingham ribbon from Angel Crafts

Another Reason to Love Promarkers

It's no secret that I love promarkers, and as of yesterday I love them even more. Those clever wee souls at Letraset Secret HQ (not really secret, but it sounds good doesn't it?). Paul sent me a set of "ultra fine nibs" to play with... well my (colouring) life is now complete!
I have a few stamps that have some very fernickity (that's the technical term) tiny details, and although the promarkers have a super bullet-tip nib, sometimes even that is too big to get into the tiniest areas.... well, worry no more!
Here's the science bit...

the nibs just click on, over the top of the existing bullet-tip nib of your promarkers and hey presto, you have a promarker with an ultra-fine nib. What could be easier?


You can see in the picture, from the left is the standard bullet tip nib, then the standard chisel nib, and on the right hand side is the new ultra-fine nib.

So I thought I'd try colouring an image that I've struggled with when using promarkers normally. This image has a lot of tiny detail and the area available to colour is very small - I used the wee Memento dew drop ink pad to give you an idea of how tiny the image is. (Image is Boho Chic from Sugar Nellie)

 With the ultra-fine nib I was able to use my usual 4 colours blended together for the skin tone and 5 colours for the hair. I was also able to accurately colour the teeny tiny details like her irises and her lips.

 Without the ultra-fine nibs I wouldn't have been able to include so much shading or detail, and they are also fantastic for adding tiny dots of colour and tufts of grass.

In conclusion... I'm LOVING these ultra-fine nibs and would highly recommend them. 
So, do you want some? For a limited time from the end of June 2011,  some participating Letraset stockists will be giving away free ProMarker Ultra-Fine nib attachments with the purchase of single ProMarker pens. Click here for more info.

Merry Go Round

These last few weeks of school are a nightmare, I don't know whether I'm coming or going. I think I'm on top of it all then I get a phonecall from the school "Scott's class is planting trees this afternoon, he'll need wellies and his permission slip", "there is a meeting NOW about Faith's teacher for next year" etc etc.
It's health week this week at school too, I'm pretty sure Scott's got swimming this afternoon, Faith has her nursery sports day this morning and Willow's class isn't doing anything particularly special - but no doubt I'll have missed a note or letter somewhere along the line.


Remember I tried my hand at the bag Anne designed for our Girls just want to have fun day? Well I thought I'd also have a go at the wee canvas that Kath designed. Well I didn't have the exact same supplies, so I changed a few things. Here's the post with Kath's original, and here's my interpretation...

I couldn't get a canvas the same size so I changed it to a larger MDF frame tile, I used different coloured paper - MME So Sophie Graceful, different stamp - Hero Arts CG251 Small Solid Flower with Tattered Rose and Vintage Photo DI's. I didn't have a branch die cut or the teeny flower punch that Kath used so I substituted a Tim Holtz flourish die cut and heart punch. I used a Prima script stamp on the paper strip and flower (which is TH tattered florals) the text stickers have been in my stash for about 3 years :)


I made this as a gift for my good friend who has just bought and moved into a new flat, so I'm hoping she'll like it.
I'd like to enter it into...
One Stop Craft Challenge - stickers
Stamp Something - pretty papers
Totally Papercrafts - diecuts & punches
Cheerful Stamp Pad - things with wings
One Stitch at a Time - things with wings
Crazy 4 Challenges - twine, floss, string
Sweet Stampin' - things with wings


I'll be back tomorrow with something exciting to share .... watch this space.

You Passed!

I had to wait until I knew Rachel had got this card before I posted it on my blog, but she has now so I can also tell you that I made this card for Rachel who works at the Papeterie and who passed her driving test first time!
Am very proud of her, but also very scared and will try to avoid being on the road at the same time as her lol

Image is a kanban stamp that I paper-pieced with Basic Grey - Eva paper and coloured with promarkers and the frame is from my new set of nesties that I'm totally in love with.
I'd like to enter my card into...
My Mum's Craft Shop - Seeing Spots

Start of the Teacher Gifts

Seeing as the kids only have 2 and a half weeks left of school, I thought I better get cracking with the teacher's gifts. I have 10 to make; 2 nursery nurses, a student nursery nurse, 2 nursery teachers for Faith, 2 teachers and a SFL assistant for Willow and a teacher and a SFL assistant for Scott.
I knew exactly what I wanted to make for them all - I saw this fab tutorial for a tealight gift box on the Simply Sassy inspiration blog. So here is my trial run...

 Image: Hippy Chick from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
papers are Basic Grey - Indian Summer, Hero Arts greeting, Tim Holtz memo pin, satin ribbon from stash.
white card from The Papeterie

I'd like to enter this into
Simply Sassy tutorial challenge
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - bingo, shape, ribbon, sentiment
Totally Gorjuss - flowers
Stamp Something - punches (punched scallop circles)
Totally papercrafts - summer

Catching Up.... Again!

Life seems to be a bit of a blur at the moment, there's so much going on with the kids in the last few weeks of school before the summer holidays.
And I have a lot of things going on that I can't share with you yet, but here's what I can tell you...
Firstly - there are still a couple of places left on my class at Simply Create this Saturday (18th June) and I'll be showing off a few things you can do with promarkers besides colouring in, plus I'll be doing some monochromatic colouring - so if you fancy it, give Jacqui a call on 019755 64010 or email her to book your place.
I apologise for the crappy picture, I forgot to photograph this card before I dropped it off at Simply Create on Friday and had to take a quick pic with my phone instead.

Image: Bella Bunting from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
kraft and corrugated kraft from Simply Create
lace from stash, brad is American crafts and the flower was cut using TH Tattered Florals die and embossed with a Crafts Too EF.
I'd like to enter her into...
Craft Your Days Away - Monochrome
Just Some Lines - Monochromatic
Art Impressions Stamps - Monochromatic


I took a couple of pics of the cocoons before the butterflies hatch out...

 One of them has hatched out so far...

 Sadly 2 have had to be disposed of since I took those pics - one mysteriously drowned in a shallow dish of sugar water and the other just happened to rip its own head from its body!!


Anyway, moving swiftly on... I decided to have a play this afternoon. I've been so jealous of all the lucky ladies who came to our crafty day last month and made the gorgeously decorated canvas bag with Anne, so Anne finally gave in and gave me a bag with all the gubbins for me to make my own one, so here's my effort...

Not really a patch on Anne's original but I'm over the moon with it anyway - especially as I was kinda winging it and just working out how to do everything myself .
Hmmmm, looking at the photo the chain on the crown looks a bit lopsided, but it is symmetrical in real life, must just be the way the bag is hanging
Right, am off for a quick scoot around Bloggieland to catch up with everyone and then back to the Sunday routine, feeding time at the zoo, baths and bed :)

Chasing my Tail

I'm having a strange day yesterday, the kids were being as awkward as they could in the  morning - wandering around like a fart in a trance. Willow had a meltdown, Scott was pushing his luck to the nth degree but hey-ho.
In the afternoon we were invited to see Willow's class hosting the school assembly - it was very hard, but I managed to hold it together and not bubble. 
They all had to dress up in colours relevant to the season they were born - Willow's an autumn baby. And they sang "We're all in this together", from High School Musical which I video'd.

I can finally show you a couple cards I made a couple weeks ago, Willow's best friend at school just became a big sister so this is the card I made to congratulate her on becoming "the big sister". Willows chum always wears the funkiest tights to school and that's where I got my inspiration from.

 Image: Kanban Urban Belles, coloured with promarkers and paper pieced. papers are all Basic grey, white card from The Papeterie, kaisercraft pearls


I'd like to enter her into...
Simon Says Stamp - lets get fruity (strawberry papers)
Clear It Out - paper piecing


And this was for the baby...

Image: LOTV coloured with promarkers
pink coredinations card and white card from The Papeterie. EK Success edge punch, embossing folder, LOTV greeting


I'd like to enter it into...
One Stop Craft Challenge - texture

Thank You

I have a couple of thank you's today - firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who left me a reply to yesterday's post, it's been incredibly helpful and this project is going to be a lot bigger than I thought it would be :)
I'd also like to thank all the girls on Facebook who took the time to reply to my post asking about bleedproof papers and an even bigger thank you to the girls who are sending me samples.


The next thank you is a card I made for Mrs Sugar Nellie, who initiated a chain RAK on the Sugar Nellie facebook group. So I received a RAK from Karen and made her this card to say thank you. Those of you who know me well enough, know that I'm not a fan of Magnolia Tilda's or hAnglar & stAnglar stamps - they're not my thing, but I won this one as part of Elaine's party bag candy recently and decided that I actually quite liked her and she came in very handy to make this card as I know Karen is a bit of a h&s fan.

not a clue what the image is called, just know its a h&s ?!?! coloured with promarkers, papers are Basic Grey Eva and corrugated kraft, greeting is PI and the card blank is craftwork cards


right. am off to sit and have a coffee and a fine piece in front of the telly :)

Need your help

I'm looking for suggestions from you..... a lot of companies seem to be making their own "bleedproof" card designed specifically for using with alcohol markers like promarkers and copics, so what I'm looking for is for you to let me know if you know of any companies who make something like this that I don't already know about.
The reason I'm asking is because I plan on doing a comparative review - so here's the ones I know about...
Letraset, bleedproof pad
Kanban, superior stamping card
Make It Crafty, blending card
The Glitterpot, bleed-free card
Craftwork Cards, digital cardstock
The Papeterie, stamping card
Stampin' Up, whisper white (thanks Janice, don't know how I managed to forget this one)
Thankyou for any suggestions you let me know about :)


I've been a bit quiet in bloggieland this last week, sorry I've not been commenting very much - I have been beavering away behind the scenes again, just not with very much that I can share with you. But I did get a couple hours to play yesterday afternoon in peace because Faith crashed out lol

Image: Kanban Urban Belles coloured with promarkers: cool grey 1-5, burnt orange, coral, sunkissed pink and Blush.
Papers came in a pad, free with SC&P magazine last month, and black card from The Papeterie
I used these Kanban stamps at my last class at The Papeterie so I had a couple already coloured up from then, made a nice quick card :) And oops, forgot to put the coloured gems on the flower centres :S


I'd like to enter her into...
Totally Papercrafts - Get Fruity (strawberry papers)
Creative Card Crew - For a Diva


And while I was busy colouring up some other images, Willow was getting all Timmie-tastic and made this.....