Christmas is over but the snow goes on!

Yesterday was the only day for about a week that the sun shone and it didn't snow here in South East Scotland. Our outlook has been white for around 10 days and there is no sign of a real thaw yet. One one hand when we don't have to go anywhere it's lovely to look at but it unfortunately it meant half the family had to stay home at the other end of the country and weren't able to join us for Christmas, we did manage to have 9 for Christmas dinner which was very enjoyable if quieter than usual!

I have been suffering a bit from a nasty cold, my first for a long time, so I have been living very quietly for the past few days and not much crafting or blogging has been going on, however today I did manage to make a couple of cards one of which is a DT card for later in the week so I'll keep that under wraps for now but have this one to show.


I used my new Nellie Snellen dies for the oval and the ribbon slider (thanks Lyns!) and Basic Grey backing papers. The sentiment is from Stampin Up.

I'm entering this for the following challenges:
Magical Crafts Challenge - Thank You
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Thank You
Roses on Paper Challenge - Colour with Favourite Medium (Promarkers)
and
Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Holiday Somethings

I'm so late publishing this post - apologies all round! Had to work all day yesterday at short notice then just had time for a bath before our staff Christmas night out and was slightly the worse for wear by the time I got home in the early hours so was not up to the task I'm afraid.

Anyway today's card is my last DT card for Stamp Something, I've really enjoyed being part of the team for the last six months and will miss working with all my very talented team mates. No doubt I will continue taking part in the challenges though!

This week's challenge is Holiday Somethings and we were lucky enough to be given images to work with from the Digital Ink Co who are our sponsors for this challenge. I chose to use the Snow in Love image, coloured as usual with Promarkers. My backing papers are by Basic Grey.


I am also entering the card in the challenges at:
Basic Grey - Colour combo - cream, pink and blue
Dare U2 Digi - Last minute Christmas Cards

Creative Inspirations Challenge 23

The Creative Inspirations challenge this week is - Anything but a card - so I have made a couple of gift boxes for handmade jewellery presents. They are made from one sheet of A4 cardstock and you will find a great tutorial over here. I used my new Stampin Up Set Pocket Silhouettes and some fab organza ribbon from my stash.

Our sponsor this time is Ooh -La -La -Creations who have very generously donated a £20 voucher for one lucky winner. Don't forget we are still looking for a Design Team member to replace our lovely Louise who has recently announced she is stepping down from her DT place. If you would like to be considered please enter the challenge and add the letters DT after your name on Mr Linky.

Thanks so much for visiting today and please leave a comment so that I can visit you too!

Winter Wonderland somethings

This week's challenge at Stamp Something is Winter Wonderland and the Design Team were given a choice of a couple of really cute Digital Images from our sponsor for this week: In Style Stamps and I chose to use the gorgeous anime style Sandy.

As usual I have coloured the image with my Promarkers and I used Nesties to cut the lables shapes. The ribbon was a piece I've had in my stash for a while.


I'm also entering the card for the following challenges:
Everybody's Art Challenge : Red/Green
Charisma Cardz : Red, Green and White
Cute Card Thursday : Sew Beady
Dare U 2 DigiStamp : Red, Green and neutral

Thanks so much for popping by today, please leave me a comment :o)

Another easel card

Today's card is my entry for the Sugar Bowl challenge which is a sketch by Lilian which also should include my favourite colour which (at the moment) is green. I have used Honey's Snowman for my image and the backing papers are from Kars and Tim Coffey. The snowfake embellishments have been around for a couple of years and I don't remember where they came from :o), the sentiment is by DeNami Designs and the holly leaves are Sizzix die cuts.



Hope you like my card, thanks for looking!

For someone special

I haven't quite decided who this card is for yet - I have 2 special sons and 1 very special husband to make cards for, so who do you think I should give it to?


I have used a Magnolia image which was very kindly given to me as part of an image swap last Christmas so I'm afraid I don't know what it is called, the backing paper is from Tim Coffey, the glitter card from Southfield Stationers and the flowers are Prima Hydrangeas. The snowflake stamp is by Funstamps and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I am entering this card for the following challenges:

Just Magnolia - Card for someone special
Allsorts Challenge - Purple
Crafty Calendar - Winter Sparkle
Sketch Saturday - Sketch (obviously!)

Thanks for visiting - hope you all have a great week!

Glitzy Somethings

Sorry to be so late posting my Design Team card today, but it's been non-stop all day! I had to work until 1pm and since then I've been trying to organise all my crafty stuff for two craft fairs tomorrow - have had to do everything twice - dividing all my cards, stained glass and jewellery so I can manage two stalls at the same time - nearly all done now, just have to make a few price signs and make up 2 floats before I collapse into my bed!

The new challenge at Stamp Something is Glitzy Somethings, I wanted to use this Mo Manning Skater image again so I thought I could glitz it up a bit for this week's DT card. I coloured the image with Promarkers and added glitter on her muffler and hat, I also used a clear Sakura Glitter pen on some of the details. The backing paper is from a Trimcraft Victorian Christmas pack and I added some glittery ribbon, a glittery brad and a Snowflake cut from white glitter card - hope that makes it Glitzy enough!

The sponsor for this week is Paper Maniac who have an online craft store selling all kinds of papercrafting goodies for cardmaking and scrapbooking. Our winner will receive the following -


Some of us are coming to the end of our Design Team stint this month so there is a DT call out for new members - why not pop over to Stamp Something for more details!

2 Christmas challenges and a sketch

Today's card has been done with three challenges in mind, first off I followed Marga's sketch from the Whiff of Joy challenge - a really lovely sketch and great fun to do!

I used Charlie with Snowballs, coloured him with Promarkers, used backing papers and brads from Kars Christmas collection and finished off with felt snowflakes from The Pier and once again, a computer generated sentiment.

The card also qualifies for this week's challenges at Stamp With Fun (Xmas) and Creative Card Crew (Christmas).

Sketch challenge and DT Call

This week on Creative Inspirations we have the last challenge set by our DT member Louise who very sadly is stepping down from the Design Team - so sorry to see you go Louise, I wish you best of luck for the future!

Here is Louise's sketch followed by my card




I have used a digital image from Pollycraft which I have coloured with Promarkers and a clear glitter Sakura pen, the background papers are ones received in a swap so I'm afraid I don't know where they are from, I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the snowy circle and finished it all off with a sentiment generated on my computer.
I'd also like to enter the card for the Charsima Cardz challenge which is Anything Christmas and for Papertake Weekly whose challenge is Christmas Crackers.
We now have a DT call to find a replacement for Louise, so please join in with this week's challenge and if you'd like to be considered for the team just add DT to your link.

Horrible weather and a birthday boy!

It's my son's 17th birthday today - Happy Birthday Owen - so sorry you're having to be at school on your birthday - at least there will be cake to look forward to later!

I know it's November and I should expect it to be cold and miserable but it's just so depressing when the skies are grey and there's practically no light. I realise we're lucky here in Scotland compared to some other parts of the UK at the moment so I really shouldn't be complaining but I'm blaming the rubbish weather for the dreadful photo I've had to use here!

Anyway on to my card for today, I've managed to fit this one to several challenges - first up: Basic Grey who are looking for Glitz and Bling, I have used Ultra Fine glitter on Miss Anya's furry bits and some red gems on my flowers, as well as using Jingle Bells & Ribbon Candy backing papers so think I'm fulfilling that challenge.



Next I used the sketch from Sketch Saturday though I rotated it 90 degrees to make it work with my image, which brings me to the next challenge - Anyone for Anya, they want to see something fake on the card so I've added some faux stitching to comply with that. Finally Passion for Promarkers had an any colour & theme this week so I was able to colour Miss Anya to fit in with the Vintage Basic Grey papers - perfect!

So 4 challenges, that might be a record for me! Off to make some birthday cake now :o)

Pop-Ups at Your Special Delivery

I have made these pop up cards for the new challenge at Your Special Delivery, if you would like to join in with the challenge the images and instructions are free to download. I had a lot of fun making these so why not go and get them and enjoy the challenge!

Stamp Something Thanks

This week on Stamp Something it's all about saying Thanks and as there are two sponsors - 0ne of them ME! - I've done two cards. The first is using an image from our other sponsor Soft Pencil, in Elizabeth's shop you can find digital stamps and printable designs for scrap booking, card making, decoupaging, crafting, altered art and other paper crafts. I used Bird on a Branch for my card.



The other card uses my own Sweetheart Fairy which is still free with any purchase from Cardmadfairy's Creations until Tuesday 24th November.
The embellishments on the card include string making it eligible for the Creative Card Crew challenge this week.


Thanks so much for stopping by!

Creative Inspirations Challenge

Today's card is my Design Team card for Creative Inspirations. Our challenge this week has been set by Maxine who wants to see A pocket on your card, I made a pocket for my little greeting tag which was made with a free stamp set from the recent Creativity magazine.
I used one of my Gorjuss Girls (Foxy) from Sugar Nellie at Funky Kits so would like to enter the card for this week's Blues for Christmas challenge at Totally Gorjuss and Basic Grey backing paper so it also fits the Basic Grey challenge Glitz & Bling.

Sketch Something

The challenge this week at Stamp Something is a sketch by our Guest Designer Ann of Raindrop Echo Designs, a great sketch Ann- I really like working to sketches and this one was good fun!



Our sponsor for this week is Alison from Stretch and Bubbles Alison has generously donated 4 digi stamps of your choice to our random winner!
Some of the DT were able to use her images and I have used one of them for my card. This one is called Jillyan & Kit

I have used Papermania Secret Garden Papers and some ribbon and flowers from my stash. The tag makes the card eligible for the challenge at My Time to Craft whose challenge this week is Tags So Much, I also want to enter it for this week's C.R.A.F.T. challenge whose recipe is 1 tag, 1 sentiment and 1 ribbon.

Holly Fairy + 4 challenges

I just love the gorgeous images from Mo Manning of Digital Pencil and I had coloured this one, Christmas Fairy Holly, (with my Promarkers of course) over a week ago and then put her aside to use and promptly lost her! When I saw the latest Allsorts challenge last night I went and had a good hunt because I knew she'd be perfect for their Bring on the Bling theme. I followed the sketch at Passion for Promarkers and doodled the little flowers to make the card eligible for the Creative Card Crew challenge. The beautiful glittered backing paper is again from Kars, and the sentiment is from DeNami Designs. All the glitter on the card also makes it eligible for the Cute Card Thursday challenge whose theme is Glitter me Silly!

An OTT Award

I was sent this award by the lovely Rachel who won my anniversary blog candy last month, thanks so much Rachel - glad you liked your goodies!
I had to answer all the questions with single word answers - harder than you might think : )
and pass the award to 5 others - I'll have to get back to you on that!


1) Where is your cell phone? - Handbag
2) Hair? - Untidy
3) Your mother? - Home
4) Your father? - Heaven
5) Your fav food ? - Curry
6) Your Dream last night ? - Forgotten
7) Your fav drink ? - Green-tea
8) Your dream goal ? - Published
9) What room are you in ? - Lounge
10) Your hobby ? - Crafting
11) Your fear? - Homelessness
12) Where do you want to be in 6 years time ? - Here
13) Where were you last night ? - Working
14) Something that you aren't ? - Thin
15) Muffins ? - Yuck
16) Wishlist item - Craftroom
17) Where did you grow up ? - Scotland
18) Last thing you did ? - Commented
19) What are you wearing ? - Sloppys
20) Your T.V ? - Off
21) Your pets ? - Cat
22) Your friends ? - Supportive
23) Your life ? - Busy
24) Your mood ? - Worried
25) Missing someone ? - Daughter
26) Vehicle ? - Polo
27) Something you're not wearing ? - Hat
28) Your fav store ? - Craft
29) Your fav colour ? - Turquoise
30) Last time you laughed ? - Earlier
31) Last time you cried ? - Yesterday
32) Your best friend ? - Husband
33) One place you go to over and over ? - Library
34) One person who emails regularly ? - Friend
35) Fav place to eat ? - Bed!
36) Facebook ? - Ocasionally

Sugar Bowl challenge

This week's Sugar Bowl challenge was a great sketch from Judy and I couldn't resist having a go at this one.


I have used Sugar Nellie stamp Jingle Bells and coloured the image with Promarkers. I cut out the image with a Nestabilities die and mounted it on a background of various papers from Kars Christmas Collection. Finished it all off with a sentiment from Papermania and a couple of buttons and crystal stickers from Woodware.


Hope you like my card, thanks so much for stopping by today!

The Winner

The winner of my Spread the Love blog hop giveaway was chosen at random by my son, I asked him to pick a number from the 51 lovely bloggers who left a comment on my blog hop post and he came up with number 35 who turned out to be

JO

so Jo, if you go and take a look at Cardmadfairy's Creations you can choose which stamp you would like from the Christmas collection, send me your address and I'll get it off to you - well done!!

"Too wet for the ducks"

Too wet for the ducks is the new challenge theme set by Your Special Delivery challenge blog. If you would like to take part in this new challenge you can go right on over to Your Special Delivery challenge page and download the free Studious Duck image. I have coloured my copy of Studious Duck with Promarkers in Grass and Canary so that it is eligible for this week's colour combo at Passion for Promarkers
So many scallops is the theme at My Time to Craft challenge so I have used my Martha Stewart punch for the scalloped edge. My backing paper is Lime Rickey from Basic Grey.

Stamp Something - Recipe for Love challenge

This week's challenge at Stamp Something is a very special one. It's called "Recipe for Love," and not only would we like you to use our recipe - 1 ribbon, 2 papers, 3 embellishments (this can be a total of 3 or 3 different kinds), but we have a special request too. Over at Stamp Something...for Jaimie, there is a special card drive challenge taking place and some really awesome blog candy prizes to be won if you choose to participate.

So, what we would like, is from now until Monday at 10am ET, anyone who makes a card with our recipe challenge, please link it on the Stamp Something blog and then also mail your card to Jaimie and then link on the Stamp Something...for Jaimie blog for your chance at even more prizes! We are trying very hard to spread lots and lots of love to this young girl. For more information, please visit the Stamp Something...for Jaimie blog to read her story!

Our sponsor this week is the fabulous Mo, from Mo's Digital Pencil! If you haven't seen Mo's amazing digital images, you must go and check them out. They are fantastic and I love using them!

The prizes - yes 3 - for this Recipe of Love challenge are:

1st Prize: a $20 gift certificate to Mo's shop
2nd Prize: a $10 Gift Certificate to Mo's shop
3rd Prize: a $5 Gift Certificate to Mo's shop

Mo also gave the design team some images to work with for this challenge and this was my choice, it is called Hoppin Happy and I just adore it!


Please send your card to the address below:

Jaimie Cates
c/o Mont Vernon Fire Station
Main Street Mont Vernon,
NH 03057

Spread the love blog hop!

Today I am taking part in a very special Blog Hop, I was very upset when I read of an event which touched the life of my blogging friend and Design Teammate Erin Bailey,

"On October 4th, 4 teenagers armed with knives broke into a home in a small town in New Hampshire. Alone and sleeping inside were a mother and her 11 year old daughter. These 4 boys broke into this home with the intent to rob and kill anyone inside. They stabbed the mom, Kimberly Cates, to death and left her daughter, Jaimie, for dead in their driveway. It was a completely random act, their home was chosen only due to its secluded surroundings."

Erin has a close friend who lives near to and is friends with the family concerned and after receiving a grief filled email from her friend asking for help for the family, she knew she needed to help however she could.. so she and another couple of crafty friends decided to organise an international blog hop.

You should have arrived here at my blog from Libby's, if not you should go to the start of the hop at Katherina's blog.


This is my card for Jamie and we would love you to take part in the blog hop and also make a card for her thereby helping us to spread some love and awareness and hopefully lots and lots and lots of cards and wishes of hope for Jaimie.

I will enter everyone who leaves me a comment on this post into a draw for one of my Christmas Polymer stamps. The next stop on the blog hop is Sammy Jo's blog, thanks so much for dropping by today.
Jenni x

Creative Inspirations challenge 20

This week I am the Sponsor of the Creative Inspirations challenge, the theme of which is Doodling, and the winner will receive 4 of my Christmas Digi Images!

Available from:




I have made my card with one of the Christmas images - Snowbaby & Pogo in a Pickle. The image was coloured with Promarkers and finished off with Stickles on the fur collar and cuffs and with Glossy accents on the tree lights, the backing paper is from a Dovecraft Christmas stack from a couple of years ago and I doodled the lights across the top of the card. The holly leaves are sizzix die cuts and the berries came off a Christmas cracker! The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat.

Hope you like my card - now go and enter the challenge for your chance to win some Christmas images : )

and the winner is................

Rachel

congratulations Rachel - email me your address and I'll get the candy packaged up for you : )

Blog Candy

Blog Candy has now ended - the winner will be posted this evening!

Cute and Fuzzy

Cute and Fuzzy is the theme for this week's Stamp Something challenge and the images some of the Design Team have used come from this weeks sponsor Ildi Co, Jenny is giving our winner this week 5 of her lovely digital images.
I chose Cuddles Kuma Forest for my card and coloured the image with Promarkers, I used papers from K&Co for the backing and the flowers and the sentiment is from my new Stampin Up set Sincere Salutations.
The card also fits two more challenges: Furry Friends at Allsorts challenge and Spots and Stripes at Papertake weekly

Hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Making Cards for Christmas

My buddy Eiglas has started a new thread, Making Cards for Christmas on the Trimcraft Forum so I decided to join the club and made this card in the theme for this week - Pink and Green. I also thought I'd make a shaped card so that it fit into the Dare U 2 Digi Stamp challenge as well - No Squares Allowed.

My backing paper is from a Christmas stack from last year - I suspect it's Papermania Naughty & Nice. I used a Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder to emboss my circle and coloured Skating Josie with Promarkers, the card was finished off with a snowflake charm and a sentiment printed off the computer again.

Anniversary Card

Today's card is an Anniversary card which I made for this week's C.R.A.F.T. challenge, I used a digital image from DigiStamp Boutique and coloured it with Promarkers, I used Sparkly Sweet backing papers from K&Co and a sentiment I created on the computer. I followed the sketch by Ger from this Sunday's Sunday Sketch & Stamp challenge and I would also like to enter this one for this week's Passion for Promarkers challenge which is Any colours & theme.

Blog Candy Reminder - ends Saturday PLUS a freebie

I celebrated my first blogging anniversary on the 20th October and I'd like to offer this little blog candy which will include some of my own design polymer stamps (which are available on my other blog Cardmadfairy's Creations) by way of a celebration of a whole, extremely fast, year in Blog land, I've had so much fun with the challenges, blog hops and design team work! I have been inspired by so many lovely bloggers and aspire to be an inspiration to others in turn. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank my followers and all of you who leave regular comments for me, I appreciate each and every one of you!!

If you would like to win my candy:
Leave me a comment on this post
Please spread the word by linking to the candy on your blog (either a blog post or on your sidebar)
If you don't have a blog, please leave a comment on this post with your email address
It also would be lovely to welcome some new followers :o)

The candy will close on Saturday 31st October at midnight. The winner will be announced the day after. I will ship internationally!

PLUS - Meet Sweetheart Fairy


Sweetheart Fairy is my latest Digi design and she is available FREE with any purchase from Carmadfairy's Creations until my Son's birthday on November 24th.


Do you think she makes a cute card?

Already have 55 entrants to the blog candy, will be drawing names on Saturday evening and posting the winner on Sunday.

Another day, another Halloween card!

This will be my final Halloween card for this year, I really need to be getting on with all the cards and other crafts for Christmas. I've 2 Craft fairs looming and must get working on stocking up for them. So will be spending all time when I'm not in the library flitting between my desk where I make my cards, my tiny Stained Glass workshop (our porch!) and in front of the telly where I have a tray on my knees to make jewellery.

Anyway back to today's card, which is a Design Team card for the new Your Special Delivery challenge blog.

If you haven't yet come across Your Special Delivery yet here's what the founder Gina has to say about her new site:

"Your Special Delivery digital craft site is a new concept that allows talented crafters to display and sell their own digital stamps, papers, craft sheets, scrapbook files, and much more via a unique designers page.

It promises to become a valuable resource for crafters to view and purchase different styles of work for their own craft projects. So much more than a digital store which includes a forum, gallery, freebie page, and a page dedicated to promoting small artistic businesses."

I have made my card with a digi stamp Franny created by Gina herself, I coloured Franny with Promarkers and Twinkling H2o's and doodled a spider's web on her dress, then used a Stampin Up spider stamp to create the backing paper and inked the edges with a purple inkpad. The sentiment was stamped with scrabble style stamps and each letter cut out individually and the edges inked again with the purple. I stuck some black lace threaded with purple ribbon to the card behind my image and hung a delightful skull charm from it, finally I stamped along the bottom of the card with a lace border stamp again from Stampin Up.


Go and check out Your Special Delivery today and why not enter the challenge as well!

I'm also entering the card in the following Halloween challenges:
Penny's Challenges
Cute Card Thursday
and
Incy Wincy Designs

Halloween somethings

Stamp Something's challenge for this week is something for Halloween, now as I said on an earlier post we don't really celebrate Halloween much here in Sccotland so I don't really have anything in the way of stamps, backing papers or even embellishments suitable for a Halloween card, however the Design Team were given some lovely Digital Images from this week's sponsor Cute Daisy May which allowed me to make this card.
Linnie, the owner of Cute Daisy May is also offering our random winner FIVE sheets of images, winner's choice!!!
So here is the card I made, I think it worked out quite well considering - hope you like it!

As there are quite a few Halloween challenges around just now I'd also like to enter this for
Cupcake Challenges
Stamp With Fun
My Time to Craft
Crafty Creations
and
Kaboodle Doodles

Pop back tomorrow for another Halloween card!

Today is my Blogoversary

It has been such a fast year and full of ups and downs but it has been such a lot of fun being a small part of the world of craft blogs. I've 'met' such a lot of wonderful crafters and enjoy dropping into their blogs on a weekly, if not daily basis - an amazing source of never ending inspiration!
Today I'm posting a card which I've made just for the sake of it, I adore this gorgeous image from Mo's Digital Pencil and couldn't wait to look for a suitable challenge. I just had to colour it up and make a card!


If you haven't already joined in with my blog candy, just scroll down and add a comment to take part. Thanks for dropping by today!

Creative Inspirations

This week the challenge at Creative Inspirations is 'a special card or project with numbers on it'. My design team card is for a 21st, I covered some plain chipboard numbers with patterned paper from the Bloom & Grow collection and distressed the edges with an emery board. I used more Bloom & Grow for the backing and used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on some white card before glueing on my numbers. The sentiment is from Stampin Up and I used a nestability die to cut the shape, I then followed a weekend workshop from Passion for Promarkers to make the flower - I love this and will be using it again and again!

Bling it! -Stamp Something challenge

This is my design team card for this week's Stamp Something challenge, which is Bling It!
The image is the gorgeous Fairy Tabia from Mo's Digital Pencil, I coloured her with Promarkers and a clear glitter Sakura pen. The backing paper is Pink Curls from American Traditional Designs. I edged a bit of pearlescent card with a Martha Stewart border punch and stuck on two strips of sticky backed pink ribbon then added glossy accents and sprinkled them with tiny iridescent stars.
We again are being sponsored by Copic and there is another fabulous set of pens to be won so what are you waiting for - go get creating!!!

Passion for Promarkers Challenge - week 21

Today is the middle of a really busy week for me - not a lot of time for crafting unfortunately : (
I don't have a day off until next Tuesday so I've just popped in to post a card for this week's Passion for Promarkers challenge. There is a sketch by Gina to follow and I've flipped it to use it for my card. My backing papers are from Pink Petticoat, the buttons are from Woodware and the sentiment is from the Patti Picklicious CD by Kirsty Wiseman.

Have to dash off now to try to fit in a little crafting before bed time!
If you have a minute to spare, pop on over to my Cardmadfairy's Creations blog to see the 2 new digi stamps available there now.
Thanks so much for popping by - and don't forget about my Blog Candy - see last post : )

Brown Somethings

The challenge this week for Stamp Something is 'Brown Somethings' so I got out a K&Co Recycled Earth Tones stack and found this great free digi image which I had printed out ready to colour up and thought it would work well with the colour scheme. The only trouble is I've completely forgotten where it came from. I thought I'd be able to find it again but I've been trawling around the internet for ages but can't find it. If anyone out there recognises it please let me know so I can add a credit :)

I've been told by Suzi (thanks again) that the fab sausage dog image came from Paula from Pollycraft. Thanks Paula I loved using your image.