Freedom!

yay, they're back to school today and I've scheduled this post so I can get on with tidying and sorting out my craft desk. I've loads to do this week, new mattress arriving for Scott today, have ordered winter tyres for the car and then it goes in for it's 2nd service plus I have to get the place sorted out before I'm off to the SECC this weekend and leaving my mum in charge of the kids, cat, dog and house for a couple of days.
So in the meantime I'll show you some more samples I made for last weekend at Dundee's new Hobbycraft store...

 Image: The Winters Night - Gorjuss, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
Finnish star made with Bo Bunny papers from xmas 2010, MS large and medium snowflake punch
I'd like to enter this one into:
Christmas Inspirations - die cuts/punches
Totally Gorjuss - Pastel Xmas

Image: Fox Gloves - Gorjuss coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
spellbinders dies were used to make the card blank and to cut the layers
marianne poinsettia die, pearls coloured with promarker. glamour dust
I'd like to enter this one into:
Crafting When We Can - Christmas
Secret Crafter - Wrap Up Warm

Lazy Sunday

well I am sat here in my dressing gown, having a lazy Sunday - yesterday's demo and class were a great success - and I'd like to thank all the ladies who came out to see me after the cancellation last week.


So today I'll just be sharing the rest of the samples I made - I've left these with Charlotte at The Papeterie. Talking of The Papeterie, Charlotte is running a fabulous competition - here's what you need to know...
Spring into Summer Card Designer Challenge
The challenge will run until the 30th April(noon) with winners being announced at 4pm.
1st Prize: £100 of crafty goodies
2nd Prize: £30 of crafty goodies
3rd Prize: £10 of crafty goodies
All you need to do is design a card made with products currently sold at The Papeterie with a Spring/Summer theme. Take them in to be displayed in store and we will also feature them on our website. Good Luck and have fun.


I've used the same SWALK stamp for all 3 of these cards - After the Rain, available from The Papeterie

 papers are all Basic Grey

 papers are all Bo Bunny, Winter Joy

woven ribbon background - ribbons all from Angel Crafts ribbon kit Black & White.

Promarkers on Plastic - Pt 1

Hi, there and I'm back with one project I've done with the promarkers on plastic.

Click here to see what I did to the plastic

Image: Hippy Chick from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
core'dinations card, Bo Bunny double dot cardstock for the die cut corners (Marianne D Creatables), the brads were also coloured with promarkers

Promarker Blending Sets Competition

Well, as promised I'm back with something very special - Letraset are releasing three new blending sets and they are based on the idea of blending pairs. Although Letraset have selected the colours in the three sets, there are many combinations – the key is to experiment, and so Letraset are running a competition to win all 3 blending sets by sending in your own blending pairs!
This is something I've been asking for, for a while and I'm sure others have too. And Letraset have listened and come up with these fabulous new sets......

Aren't they fantastic? I think they are a wonderful idea and have been telling the ladies at my classes all about them
So would you like to win all 3 sets? would you?
well it's easy peasy to enter and you'll find all the details on the Letraset blog.


To show you what they mean by choosing your own favourite blending pairs, Letraset asked me to pick my favourites....

yes that is my dreadful handwriting lol


So I made a card to show you 2 of my favourites, Soft Peach & Peach and Pastel green & Mint Green along with a pair from the Muted set, Buttercup & Tulip Yellow...

Stamps: Hero Arts - Friendly Flags CL475 and Sugar Nellie - Gorjuss Girls, Sitting
coloured with promarkers:
flags: Pastel Green & Mint Green, Soft Peach & Peach, Buttercup & Tulip Yellow
GG dress: Pastel Green & Mint Green
GG socks: Pastel Green & Mint Green and Soft Peach & Peach
Plain white card blank from Craftwork Cards and corrugated kraft card and waxed cord from Simply Create
Thought I'd keep it tres simple to show off the promarker colours.


Next up is a card I made using another of the blending pairs from the Muted set - of course it had to be my favourite purples... Orchid & Purple...

Stamps: Hero Arts - Delicate Blossoms CL449 coloured with promarkers: Orchid & Purple, Olive and Holly for the stems and outlined with Pastel Blue
cardstock is all core'dinations, paper is Bo Bunny Winter Joy. I chopped up one of the butterfly Marianne D Creatable diecuts and attached a  Craftwork Cards greeting ( the card blank is craftwork cards too) I decoupaged the poppies, here's a close-up so you can see it better...

So have a wee think about what your favourite blending pairs are and pop over and enter the competition here.
Good luck - would love to see one of you winning.

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

snow

Have you entered my candy? click here to enter before xmas eve


well the kids are off school again today - going by the announcement on the local council website, our head teacher is still optimistic that they'll open tomorrow though (can't see it myself) There is now a backlog of flights at the heliport so it's starting to look a bit dodgy for Graham getting home on the 23rd. And I'm not sure if Tesco are even going to attempt my delivery on the 23rd, if they don't well it'll be beans on toast or maybe just beans for xmas dinner


Here's some more things I haven't shared with you, these are another 2 of my entries for the Cardmaking and Papercraft mag's Cardmaker of the Year competition. This first one was for the LOTV category...

Image is of course from Lili of the Valley, coloured with promarkers

papers are craftwork cards and stampin' up, cardstock is core'dinations, ribbon, pins, button and greeting all from my stash

This was my entry to the Sizzix category...

butterfly was made by sticking various ribbons onto light card and using a Sizzix Bigz butterfly die to cut out.
the leaf/stem paper is Bo Bunny, the lattice paper is Wild Rose Studio, cardstock is core'dinations, string from stash and the greeting is Hero Arts.


Stay safe and warm everyone

3 Sleepies

woohoo, it's getting serious now - Kath is on her way to Glasgow now, and a lot of others will be making their way to the SECC tomorrow, and Anne and I have to wait til Saturday. Bet we'll be all gleckit and bouncing off the walls of the train haha


So here's the last of the samples from Saturday that I have to share with you - and this is my favourite. I absolutely love these Bo Bunny Winter Joy papers.

Image: Foxy Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers 
papers are all Bo Bunny - Winter Joy, matted onto Bazzill. white organza ribbon is Anitas, MS snowflake punches, star charm from stash. Greeting is Hero Arts and I covered it with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.

Can't get a whole lot done today because I'm waiting in for phonecalls from the Health Visitor and the Head Teacher about Willow. We had a hospital appointment with her new consultant yesterday and I'm less than happy with his decision to change her treatment, not sure if I'm just being picky because he's not Prof or if I'm justified in being unhappy with his advice.
I need to pop out to Asda to get halloween outfits for the girls - Faith gets to go to nursery on Friday dressed up and Willow has her halloween disco at school on Friday night. Scott doesn't do discos - they're too loud for him. 
I really need to get my bag packed for the weekend, so that I can see if I need anything washed.
No rest for the wicked....


I'd also like to enter my easel card into the following challenges...
ABC Challenge - G is for Glitter
Simon Says - Punch Em
Creative Card Crew - Lets Punch It
Passion for Promarkers - Best Friends
A Spoonful of Sugar - Lets Get Punchy
The Crazy Challenge - Tons of Shapes
Fussy & Fancy - Winter Wonderland
Colour Create - Purple, Aqua & White

Angel Crafts DT - Day 2

Back again with another card featuring supplies from the fabulous Angel Crafts - I decided to have a quick deviation from xmas cards - to emphasise the versatility of the monthly ribbon kits, there is just so much stuff in these wee kits! Angela seems to have a fantastic knack of picking out ribbons and lace and all the other bits and pieces she includes and you can use them with your existing stash or treat yourself to some new supplies from the extensive selection at Angel Craft.

Main image: Hero Arts Poppy Background stamped onto Kraft card, I then stamped part of the HA Delicate Blossoms stamp several times onto core'dinations card and decoupaged it.
cardstock is core'dinations, polka dot paper is Bo Bunny double dot, greeting is Hero Arts and the lace is from the Bits & Pieces ribon kit from Angel Crafts

See you tomorrow with another Angel Crafts DT card :)

Blogaversary Candy

This candy is now closed!

Well it's my 2nd Blogaversary coming up soon on the 11th August, and I'll be celebrating it while on holiday in Ibiza, I've also noticed that I've passed 40,000 hits and over 400 followers so I thought it was about time I offered up some candy as a thankyou to everyone who follows, comments and just has a nosey at my blog, I really appreciate it.

I'll keep it simple, all I ask is that you link my candy on your own blog (sorry only blog owners can enter)- either in your sidebar or on a post, including the pic below. And leave your details in Mr Linky. I will then draw a random winner when I come back from my holidays - which should hopefully be on Monday the 16th August. Closing date for entries is noon (GMT) on Monday 16th August.


If my hits pass 50,000 I will add some more freebies to the goodies for the winner .

So what can you win? well, I've picked out some of my favourite brands

ok here's your list of goodies...

Kindly donated to me by Simon at Letraset, Rubber Stamping Set 1 and Rubber Stamping Set 2 - each contain 10 specially selected Promarkers and a fineliner pen. Set 1 contains pastels, and set 2 contains bolder hues. For those of you who don't know... I designed the artwork for the packaging of both those sets.

Sugar Nellie stamp - Scattering Love (Elisabeth Bell)

Sugar Nellie stamp - Curtsy (Diane Duda)

Sugar Nellie stamp -A Boys Best Friend (Home Grown)

Sugar Nellie stamp -Peek A Bunny (Elisabeth Bell)

Kaisercraft 6x6 paper pad - Gypsy Sisters (includes 2 glitter paper sheets, 2 flocked sheets, 2 spot varnish sheets and 4 sheets of diecuts)
Wild Rose Studios 6x6 paper pad - In Love with Japan
Wild Rose Studios 6x6 paper pad - Spring Fling

Bo Bunny - 6 sheets of cardstock stickers: Thankful Hearts, Harvest Spice Wordstrip, Love Me Tender, Fright Night Border, 2 Hot 4 U and Special Delivery

Wags n Whiskers - Easter Blessings Stamp
Wags n Whiskers - Bedtime Story

Papermania, Henbury Lane wooden stamp
Papermania, Henbury Lane steel butterfly stencil
Papermania sticker sheets
Papermania pack of 6 metallic pencils

And an organza bag full of assorted flowers, charms and beads

Was having a nosey

and I found this! Its Bo Bunny's new Winter Whisper range and I think its gorgeous - I just need to hope for 2 things now;

1. snow, so I can take lovely snowy pics
2. being able to find somewhere that sells this range or that santa will bring me some :)

Update:

a-ha! have found some for sale at Craft Island,  Graham won't notice a wee order coming off the bank account, will he??

Anagrams

I was blog-trawling tonight and came across Caroline's mention of Wordsmith in her Whats in a name? post. So I thought I'd put my name into the anagram generator and see what it came up with.....
There were 854 results so I picked out the 2 worded results...
Dibble Engine - makes me think of Trumpton :)
Nibbled Genie - love that name, random enough to tickle me
Bible Needing -  not really me is it?? lol
Belied Benign - keep wanting to pronounce it Bellied
Edible Benign - and the benign makes me think of lumps
Bending Belie - again I want to pronounce it Belly

Anyway, crafting wise, I haven't done very much today. I modified a couple of photo's that Rory took 2 weekends ago while we were visiting Mar and family. They are 2 pics of Manda, Mar and myself while we were oohing and aahing our way through Mar's wedding album. I cropped one of the pics and converted both of them to sepia. Then printed them off along with a title and a quote. Now I just need to get some peace to do a layout. Am wondering whether to go with brown and an accent colour or maybe I could try out some more of my Bo Bunny Beau Jardin papers.

Yay - I got one! - Scallop Punches R Us

A wee parcel arrived today..... in fact I forgot I had ordered it the other day, the lovely Angela from Angel Crafts sent my order: 2 journalling stamps and the infamous threading water scallop punch from Fiskars, woohooooooo! Now I just need to get some peace to play with them lol
I also just wanted to say that Angela puts that wee bit extra into her packaging, the stamps and punch were wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a ribbon - freebies! YAY!
Right after I ordered the punch from Angel Crafts (and I hunted all over the internet for it) I noticed I had received an email from the lovely folks at Craft Obsessions letting me know they now had stock of the Fiskars Threading Water punch - so if you want one, you better be quick!

Decided yesterday that I didn't like a couple of the layouts I did for our holiday scrapbook - the one of Scott, Graham and the owls, and the macaw & cockatoo one. So I pulled them apart and managed to re-do the Owls one. I am definitely favouring the simpler style, the previous one was far too busy and unco-ordinated for my mathematical brain lol I do think my journalling needs a bit of work though - I seem to have a mental block when it comes to thoughts and feelings or even witticisms

I used some Cosmo Cricket - Honey Pie paper and ribbon, Papermania Secret Garden acetate (inking the edges), a journalling spot from the Bo Bunny Beau Jardin sheet, chipboard letters (inking them to give them more definition) from the K&Co Wild Saffron range and some green and gold coloured adhesive stones to pick out random owls eyes on the acetate.

I have also finally got round to making up Rachel's care package. Rachel is a lovely friend of mine who lives in Ibiza with her 3 gorgeous children. We "met" through the Extra Special Parents website and met for real this summer when we had our holiday in Port d'es Torrent. I made up a wee mini book for her as a memento of our visit (early version in August posts) and have been adding to it when the mood took me. Rachel and the kids are flying over to Wales next month to see her family, so I've also enclosed 3 Scotland woolly hats for the kids to wear when they come over. I added in a copy of Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (the book) - I believe the film is out in the cinema just now, but I'm not brave enough to go and see it because I know I will bawl. And I'll have to get some sugar-free sweeties for Aidan and Galaxy chocolate for Rachel, Ana and Emily.