Happy Birthday Mum

It's my Mum's 77th birthday tomorrow so I've made this card for her. I've been trying to get hold of some of Clare Curd's signature range stamps for a while but finally saw them in the new Hobbycraft which opened nearby last month. Only managed to get the doodle set so far but will be adding the other sets as soon as funds allow!

Sunday Sketch & Stamp

Had to do a Christening card today and had no inspiration at all until I decided to try the sketch on the new Sunday Sketch and Stamp challenge blog (also had a lot of fun blog hopping to try to answer the questions - go and have a try, you have till 9am tomorrow to email the answers), I wasted an hour or so trying to find some die cut oval card I know I have somewhere but gave up in the end and decided to use a Leanne Ellis design instead. I'm really happy with the way the card turned out - hope my customer likes it as well!

A 'recipe' card

I followed the recipe - 3 flowers; 2 buttons; ribbon, fibres or lace - to make this card for the Creative Inspirations challenge this week, the winner of this challenge will join the design team for three months so why not have a go if you fancy being one of the team.



My backing paper is K&Co McKenna and I made the flowers with the same paper and another from the set, I had to cutomise my brads to make them match. The lace and buttons are from my stash and the Tilda image came from an image swap quite a while ago, she has been coloured and sitting on my desk awaiting her turn for some time! Hope you like the card.

Candy alert

Have just found a lovely blog by Siri and she is offering some candy as soon as she reaches 3.500 hits so go on over and have a look at her great work now! Link on sidebar.

Trying something new

The title is maybe a bit misleading, you'll probably look at the card and think 'what is she on about??' actually what I mean is that I've tried using one of my own drawings as the image on this card. I was inspired, by 'Dotty' on Eastenders, to have a go at creating my own character to make into a rubber stamp or possibly for digital download and have done this card to see how the drawing stands up.
I'd be very interested to hear what you think of her, would you use her for a card, would you like to see more etc, etc?

A nice surprise

Had an unexpected day off today - I say unexpected as I had no idea it was a public holiday - so I got up at 6.30 as usual left the rest of the family in bed as school doesn't start again till tomorrow (a clue there!) and set off for work. A cleaner let me in the building and was surprised when I asked if anyone else was in yet - but the library doesn't open till 12 today she said - doh!
I wasn't sure whether to be pleased to have the day off (I normally finish at 12 on a Monday) or cross that I got out of bed in the first place!

However I did have time to make this card for the new Just Magnolia challenge blog. I used my Tilda with Christmas Stockings stamp but used non-Christmassy colours when colouring the image. My backing papers were from a K&Co 12x12 pad Classic K Bailey, the stamped flourish on my circle was from a Personal Impressions set called Swirls & Flourishes and the sentiment was from Creative Cafe.

Dare U 2 Digi Stamp challenge

My entry for this week's Dare U 2 Digi Stamp challenge where the theme is Pink and Green, is using an image from Sketching Stamper. I have coloured the image 'Elise' with Promarkers and added some stickles on her tutu - yeah I know it should have been for last weeks 'Bling' challenge but what can I say it's been a really busy week! - my backing papers are (pink) Basic Grey and (green) K&Co, the flowers are Prima and the buttons and ribbon are from my stash. I've been having a lot of fun sourcing Digital Stamps to use for this challenge and am considering trying to do some of my own sometime soon - so watch this space!

Two more Awards

Just received two more fab awards from Trish - thanks so much Trish.





Would like to pass them on to:
June
Val
and Zoe
3 very talented ladies, well worth keeping an eye on!

Daisy & Dandelion Challenge 6

It's my second week as Guest Designer on the Daisy and Dandelion Challenge and I've chosen an image from the Candyfloss and Marshmallow set for this week's effort. My backing paper is from Southfield Stationers, the ribbon is from my stash as is the flower, the heart and the flourish are sizzix die cut and I glittered the brad in the flower to match the flourish. The sentiment is computer generated.

Rush card and day out

Had to do a rush card yesterday, a recently retired colleague has just heard that she's become a grandmother for the first time and she wanted a card to give to her son and his wife to mark the occasion. This is the card I made for her last night, just had time to take a quick photo before she collected it this morning. Don't usually have quite such a quick turnaround! Also I don't usually do anything on the inside of my cards but I hadn't left any room for a message on the front so thought I ought to add one to the inside.





Had a nice day out in Edinburgh yesterday, I met up with a blogging friend Val (flippinpest on the Trimcraft forum) and we had coffee, a little shopping at the bead shop, a browse round a couple of charity shops followed by lunch at the Cameo Bar. Great fun, it was lovely to have a good crafty chat! We got a random tourist to take a quick pic of the two of us at the coffee shop, Val is on the right.

Guest Design Team spot at Daisy & Dandelion

Was excited this week to be chosen as one of the Guest Designers on the Daisy & Dandelion challenge blog, the challenge this week was a sketch by Zoe -



and this is my card



I used an image from the Pickles and Onion set, backing paper from K&Co Sparkly & Sweet designer pack and Pearls Perles which I won as part of Steph's little giveaway last week, pearlescent card from Southfield Stationers, Anita's ribbon, lace from my stash and a sentiment from Funky Kits.

Candy Alert!

See sidebar for Susie's candy to celebrate the opening of her new shop Die Cut Dreams.

New challenge on the blog

The latest challenge blog I've found this week is Dare U to Digi Stamp and their very first challenge is a sketch which you can see here:



I have made my card with a digital image or stamp from Spiral Whisper it is one of a set of eight images named Flowers, the backing papers I used were free downloads from Jessica Sprague, the ribbon is Anita's, the brad is Dovecraft and I'm trying to find where the sentiment is from and will add that info when I find it!



Thanks for looking and hope you are all having a great week!

Two awards and a new job!

I received these two lovely awards this week from Sue - thanks so much, I was so pleased that you thought of me! I am supposed to pass them on to ten others but because it's been such a good week for me I've decided you all can have them!
Not only was it my birthday yesterday but this week I've won some gorgeous die cut dogs from Susie who is giving away some great die cuts to celebrate the opening of her new shop (see sidebar) on Monday the 6th., and I also won a little giveaway of a K&Co pad, Pink Pearls and ribbon from Steph who somehow had too much stash - how is that even possible?!
But the big news this week is that I have a new job..... I am going to be the Retail Development Manager for Southfield Stationers starting around the end of this month. I will be co-ordinating demos, working in the craft shop, developing the craft club and much more. I am hoping, amongst other things, to be starting a new challenge blog and will be looking for Design Team members when I get it up and running so watch this space for more news!
It's all very exciting and will be a big change for me.

A card for Easter

Found a great blog this week - this guy Dustin Pike has some great free downloads on his blog and I couldn't resist downloading this one as it's so different from all the usual bunnies and flowers etc I've been using for my Easter cards. The backing paper was from a Papermania spring pad, the felt was cut with a Cuttlebug die and the self adhesive ribbon was Missy from DCWV. I coloured the image with my Promarkers. Thanks so much Dustin - it makes a great card!