Sugar Bowl #65 - entry 2

Hmmmmm, looks like this might be becoming a bit of a habit, entering the Sugar Bowl more than once per challenge. :) Not sure if could have something to do with a) the fantastic sketches (you know how I love a sketch) or b) the enormous range of Sugar Nellie stamps there is to play with.


Before I get onto my card, it's first day back at school today - Willow was up just after me at 7am this morning, all raring to go. So here's Scott and Willow all dressed and ready to go - Scott started his last year of primary school, and the P7's get to wear black sweatshirts.

Faith starts Primary 1 this afternoon, so I won't have pics of her to share until tomorrow. I've got mixed emotions about her going to school, on the one hand I will be out with the flags because it'll be the first time in 12 years I haven't had at least 1 child at home with me, but on the other hand - this is the last of my babies all grown up, so I think there just might be a tear or two this afternoon when we take her to school this afternoon.
Righto, back to my card...

Image: Strike A Pose from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
white card from The Papeterie, cuttlebug EFs, MS border punch, ricrac from stash, Fiskars flower punch, clear bling coloured with promarkers, core'dinations card
here's her close-up...

I'd like to enter her into:
Sugar Bowl - sketch and blue
The Shabby Tearoom - polka dots
Pile It On - 3 shades of blue
Scrappy Frogs - bling
Challenge Up your Life - no patterned papers
Just Some Lines - embossing

Christmas in July

I'm absolutely shattered after yesterday's marathon Christmas in July extravaganza at The Papeterie. Just want to say thankyou to everyone who popped in to see Kath, myself and The Papeterie gang... Charlotte, Rachel and Alanna
I thought I'd share some more of my samples... today I'm sharing some Xmas Sassy's from Sugar Nellie

 Image: Secret Santa from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers and glamour dust
papers are Martha Stewart, MS snowflakes punched from papermania glittered vellum, adhesive pearls from stash, nestabilities


I'd like to enter her into...
Sweet Stampin' - Xmas in July
Fussy n Fancy - Xmas in July

Image: Puppy Love from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers, white card from The Papeterie, embossed with cuttlebug snowflake EF, MS patterned paper, spellbinders snowflake covered in glamour dust

here's her close-up... (for the blonde hair I used Cinnamon, Tan and Buttercup)

I'd like to enter her into
The Sugar Bowl - Kiki's sketch
Crafty Catz - Xmas in July

Stampavie Demo Pt 1

Oh where does the time go? I haven't blogged in a wee while, the last week has gone by in a bit of a blur - and the next couple of weeks are going to be the same.
So what have I been up to? well this Saturday past I was demo-ing Stampavie stamps and promarkers with ultra-fine nibs and teaching a class at The Papeterie. So I thought I'd share a couple of samples today and a couple more tomorrow. I must apologise for the glare on some of the pics, I had already bagged them up before I remembered to take pictures.
This is the first stamp I chose - and the reason is, it reminds me of Princess Pepsi...

 Image: Spring has Sprung from Stampavie (the Laurence Collection), coloured with promarkers
white card from The Papeterie, embossed with cuttlebug swiss dots and Tim Holtz Rays texture fades folders. Kraft cardstock from Papermania, MS border punch and nestabilities

thanks to the ultra-fine nibs for the promarkers, I can now colour all the fine detail on stamps like these.
I'd like to enter this one into:
Diecut Dreams Challenge - 4 Legged Animals
Hooked On Craft Challenge - Cute and Cuddly
Stamp With Fun - Friends
Fab n Funky - animal magic


I don't know about you, but the hardest cards to make, in my opinion are ones for teenage boys. Now I don't suppose they would think my sentiment is particularly clever, but I hope that they would like this card...

 Image: Paul Texting from Stampavie (Mo Manning), coloured with promarkers
Papers are all MME Lime Twist - Out of The Blue, black card from The Papeterie, letters are Kaisercraft, buttons and twine from stash

I'd like to enter my texting teen into...
Fabulous Friday Challenge - buttons
Totally Papercrafts - One for the boys
My Mums Craft Shop - For A Teen


Today is my baby's birthday, she's 5! ok I know that's no longer a baby really, but she's my youngest and will always be my baby. She's had a terrific day and got thoroughly spoiled. Nana and granda were round with my nephew Kyle and of course there was the obligatory cake.
So here's a few pics of Faith's day...

Debbi's Round-Up

as opposed to Woody's Round-Up :)
Gosh, there's just so much going on right now, it's a wonder I know what day of the week it is, it is Friday isn't it?
I'll be revealing the blog candy winner a bit further on in this post but first I wanted to share a couple of things with you.
First up, have you seen the post I did last night about the Saving Daisy raffle? If not then please take a look here.


Next up is an invitation to all of you local to Aberdeen, I'll be demostrating Letraset Promarkers at The Papeterie from 10.30 - 1.30pm tomorrow (Saturday 21st May) then I'll be teaching a class in the afternoon - I'm not sure if there are any spaces left for the class, but if you give Charlotte a shout on 01224 802337 she can tell you availability for any of my classes there.
I'll be using the cutest Urban Belles stamps from Kanban - these are so affordable and easy to colour, there's a great selection of them at The Papeterie. So if you're at a loose end tomorrow morning I'd love to see you.

 I'd like to enter this one into...
Passion for Promarkers - red, white and blue
Make It Colourful - dotty background
Crafty Cardmakers - embossing

 I'd like to enter this girlie into
Creative Card Crew - Cute and Girly
Pear Tree Designs - stamped image

I'd like to enter my santa girl into;
Winter Wonderland - P for Punches
Simon Says - sparkle and shine


So now I better get on with the Blog Candy draw, thankyou to everyone who entered - it's a shame there can only be one winner and that winner is.....

which is Marianne of Marianne's Craftroom - congratulations Marianne, email me here with your address and I'll get it posted off to you.
Marianne has her own candy up for grabs at the moment, so pop on over and see if you're lucky there 

Sugar Bowl #59

I've been scared to mention Mr Blogger and his wee tantrum for fear of tempting fate, but wow - didn't realise just how much time I spent on blogger until I couldn't get on it lol


Anyway, just thought I'd sneak in a wee post before we take the girls across the dual cabbageway to Brewsters.
Erika has done the sketch this time over at the Sugar Bowl and chosen the theme of vintage/distressed. Now, as you know, I'm not very good at vintage or distressed but I'm always up for a challenge and like to try things that are not in my comfort zone.

 Image: Guinivere, Simply Sassy from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers (burnt orange, coral, sunkissed pink and blush for her skin, Walnut, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Tan and Almond for everything else)
papers from my stash, tobacco card from The Papeterie, sentiment ticket is Tim Holtz adage tickets, Kaisercraft pearls coloured with Walnut promarker.
I die cut some browm core'dinations card with inverted scallop circle nesties, then embossed with cuttlebug Clockworks folder and sanded to reveal the colour core. Then I added some trim to the back of the circle
Here's some close-ups...

I'd like to enter her into
The Sugar Bowl - sketch + distressed/vintage
Stamp Something - anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - so distressing


So I'd better go get ready to go to Brewsters, so the girls can run off some steam and graham and I can put our feet up - it's my wee reward to myself for making a big dent in the kitting up of my workshop for the crafty day on the 28th with Anne and Kath. Kath's up to her eyeballs this week getting her workshop ready so Buddy will be taking over her blog, and if I know Buddy he'll be giving stuff away willy-nilly lol. And Anne is busy busy with her workshop prep too - so look out for sneaky peeks from the 3 of us over the next week or so.


And last but not least - don't forget to enter my blog candy here.

Steampunk v Sugar Nellie take 2

I'm starting to get a feel for this steampunk thing now, at least I think I am, thought I'd use the same image as yesterday but go a bit darker and grungier, what do you think?

Image: Journey, designed by Leanne Ellis for Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
I have used "tobacco" card from The Papeterie and Very Vanilla card from Stampin' Up
I stamped Hero Arts CG222 Music Background stamp with versamark and clear embossed onto the largest panel. I embossed the other 2 panels with Clockworks and Swiss Dots cuttlebug embossing folders, then used the versamark inkpad over the whole panels and clear embossed.
The greeting is Tim Holtz - Odds & Ends stamp set


I'd like to enter her into...
Passion for Promarkers - for a teenager


Have been gallivanting again! off yesterday for a quick cuppy at Kath's to pick up some things for the crafty workshop day on the 28th May - sneaky peeks to follow :) or you can see some over on Kath's blog.
Then this morning I was over to see the lovely Charlotte and Rachel at The Papeterie for a yap and to stock up on foam tape and bling.
Oh and I just have to have a moan.... I ordered some bits and pieces from this company, free delivery if you ordered over a certain amount, which I did. They processed and despatched the order in a timely manner on the 3rd May and I got an email telling me it would be delivered on or before the 9th May. They advised it was being sent via HDNL (big groan) and gave me the tracking number. So I duly tracked the parcel, it arrived at the Aberdeen Depot at 8.39am on the 4th - so I thought great, I would either get it later that day or on Thursday the 5th - well that was certainly wishful thinking. So I phoned the helpline number and spoke to a very unhelpful female there who told me it wasn't due for delivery until the 9th so they would hold it at the depot until then, NO I could NOT go and collect it as they will only allow that to be arranged after they have attempted at least 1 delivery, NO she could NOT telephone the Aberdeen depot and ask them to deliver it on Friday the 6th as they had no telephone number for the regional depots (seriously??), but after quite a bit of persuasion she agreed to email them and request a delivery on Friday. But, no delivery on Friday - and of course a weekend delivery was totally out of the question.
On Monday morning I got a text from the supplier to tell me my parcel would be delivered between 12.58 and 15.58 - so I was quite confident yesterday that I would get my parcel haha
I phoned the helpline at 6pm and spoke to a lovely lassie called Abbie who told me that my parcel was indeed on the van and that they were running a little late, but it would most definitely be delivered today.
I then phoned the helpline at 9pm and spoke to Abbie again, she checked the system and just a minute before I called, the driver had logged onto the system and said that he had tried to deliver but no-one was there to receive the parcel.
Quite clearly, with 3 kids in bed and a man offshore I wasn't away out gallivanting just a minute previous to my call so it would appear the driver was lying.
So she apologised most profusely and emailed the manager at the local depot to request that the driver be spoken to as this was not acceptable and she promised that she would ensure my parcel would be delivered Tuesday (today)
An wonder of wonders... it arrived at 11.30 today - while I was out picking Faith up at nursery. And despite the fact that they absolutely must get a signature when they deliver the parcel from this supplier, they just left it in the shed lol
But at least I have it now :) and I fired off a stiff complaint about the courier to the supplier this morning.


Right, better get on - despite getting to the bottom of the linen bin yesterday, it's overflowing again. How does that happen? are there little laundry pixies running amok while I sleep?

Steampunk v Sugar Nellie

You all know by now, that my first love when it comes to stamping is Sugar Nellie - and it has stayed that way for a number of reasons, heres just a couple, 1. because it's local to me and I like to support local business, 2. the service from funkykits is second to none. 
Anyway, I have a pretty good selection of Sugar Nellie rubber from across the ranges - I have my favourites the same as everyone else. But I don't have a huge number of Leanne Ellis stamps, they do appeal to me but I've never been very sure of how to use them.
Well that has changed!!
I was totally inspired by Kath's sneaky peeks last week of her steampunk demo at the House of Sugar on Saturday, and when I was in The Papeterie on Friday I spotted "Journey" and I just had to have her.

Image: Journey from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
white card scraps embossed with cuttlebug and crafts too embossing folders and trimmed to 6cm squares, blue core'dinations card, buttons and bakers twine from stash


Kath, you can breathe easy - no buttons in the nuddy here :)
I made this card for the challenge Kirsty posted on the shiny new Letraset blog which is red, white and blue. Why don't you have a go, Kirsty will be showcasing some of the entries.


I'd also like to enter my card into...
Sunday Sketch & Stamp - sketch
Papertake Weekly - something round - buttons and embossing
Creative Inspirations - embossing
Fab n Funky - put away those papers

Puddles of Love

Before I get on to my card for today I just wanted to let you know that there are only 4 places left for the Girls Just Want to Have Fun crafty day on the 28th May, so if you're still making up your mind please don't hang around, contact Kath to secure your place asap.


Back again with another of the new Gorjuss Girls - this one, I think is my favourite from this release so of course it had to have the purple treatment. I seem to have a bit of thing at the moment for White on white with splashes of colour - dunno if that's a good thing or not.
Kath - if you're reading this, please take a deep breath and brace yourself... there are naked buttons in this post!!

 Image: Simply Gorjuss - Puddles of Love, coloured with promarkers
all white card from The Papeterie, paisley and swiss dots cuttlebug folders, core'dinations colour card, buttons and bling from stash
MS border punch

I'd like to enter her into...
Make it Colourful - Black hair
Stamptacular Sunday - Pile it On
Allsorts - April Showers
Cute Card Thursday - no text


Look out tomorrow - I'll be posting some special candy :)


edited to add:
promarker colours..
skin: burnt orange, coral, sunkissed pink and blush
hair: black, midnight blue, powder blue and Ice Grey 4
blues: bluebell and china blue
purples: aubergine, plum and mulberry

Spring into Summer - Papeterie Card Competition

Thought I'd share my entry into The Papeterie's "Spring into Summer" card competition with you - if you've no idea what I'm talking about then here are the competition details...
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.

 Image: Simply Gorjuss - Little Red, coloured with promarkers and added Glamour Dust. Hero Arts - Poinsettia Circle CG103 stamped with Memento - Cantaloupe. Hero Arts - Find Joy CL497 greeting
Papeterie white cardstock, core'dinations colour cardstock
Cuttlebug and Crafts Too embossing folders
Papermania capsule collection paper flowers
circle and scallop circle nestabilities

I'd also like to enter her into
Simon Says Stamp - Emboss It
Totally Gorjuss - Bling It On
ABC Challenge - S for Sparkle
Passion for Promarkers - White on White
A Spoonful of Sugar - Let's Celebrate

Topsy Turvy

Well I just don't know whether I'm coming or going.... I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent woman but I had a serious senior moment today, get yourself comfy and I'll explain...
It's been a wee while since I joined in with the weekly challenge on the Sugar Nellie Facebook group, and this week the challenge is spots and dots. Well seeing as I treated myself to set 6 of the Simply Sassy's I thought I'd have a go. So I coloured my image, matted it onto some cardstock, then did all the matting and layering on the card base - went to pick up the image to stick on my card, BUT WAIT... it's disappeared?!?!?
It took me 2 days of looking to realise that the image was inded right in front of me - it was just face down so the coloured cardstock was facing up. Honestly - I had to have a serious chat with myself!!
And the worst of it is, after all that carry-on I've decided I don't even like it. I thought it was because I've just used coloured cardstock and no patterned papers, then I thought that I don't like how I've coloured the image, but I'm just not sure what it is - i just don't like it.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve it then I'm willing to hear them, because otherwise it's going to land in the bin.

Image: Witches Cauldron from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers.
core'dination cardstock embossed with Swiss Dots and Clockworks cuttlebug embossing folders
MS Spiders Web deep edge punch, ribbon and charm from stash


In complete contrast to my lack of brains the other day, I was out with some of the other mums from school at the local pub quiz last night and we won!! Absolutely chuffed to bits.
Willow lost her first baby tooth on Tuesday, it's been wobbly for months so at last the tooth fairy has been and Willow can't wait to go shopping with the money she got.
We've been missing out on all the good weather this week - the down side of living right on the coast, we get fog sometimes when the weather is fine and sometimes it just doesn't burn off. But today we were extra lucky and it's been beautiful all day. Graham managed to cut the grass for the first time this year and I thought he was going to have a stroke trying to push the mower through it. We have a marathon job still to do, getting rid of all the weeds and because my hip has deteriorated so much lately I'm not going to manage very much :(
Anyway, here are some summery pics from today.... Scott being studious (had to take a pic cos it doesn't happen very often)

 The pond and far end of the garden

 Happy smiley Princess Pot Belly Pepsi

 Happy Smiley mucky face Faith

 Willow's winning lol - those white socks landed in the bin!

 Here comes the coo's tail...

 Scott trying to smile?!?

so am off to watch funny friday on Sky 1, and hope we get some more bonny weather over the weekend