I've made a Christmas card!!

and it's AUGUST! This is completely unheard of - I don't usually start til at least November! But in a bid to be organised for once I started today - probably won't make another til November tho'! LOL

I used DCWV Christmas paper stack, A Muse Snowman and Merry Christmas stamps and strano ribbon.

HS:MS

I'm playing catch up again! had a horrendous couple of days - but I'm back so here goes

Today's prompt is Dish - A shallow bowl or radio antenna. Find 'dish' in your space.

My first thought was Sky dish, but as it's on the front of the house I thought I'd get too many strange looks from the neighbours - so here is Todd's water "dish" it's really a cat dish (hence the Garfield) but he doesn't need to know that!

Yesterday's prompt was Cloud - A mass of water vapour. Show us 'cloud' in your space today.

We actually had some nice weather yesterday, yet fortunately there were still some clouds! I did take this yesterday - just didn't get round to uploading!

HS:MS

Today's prompt is apple - A red or green fruit from a tree. Show us 'apple' in your space today.

Now, typically, when I went shopping I didn't buy any apples - I have strawberries, grapes, nectarines and all manner of other fruit, but not apples.

So this is the best I could come up with - Dettol antibacterial floorwipes in "green apple" scent!

HS:MS

Today's prompt is Sun - An object that gives light and warmth. Find 'sun' in your space today.

I must admit this is a big cheat - cos I didn't take today's pic - Ash did! I was really struggling with today's prompt when Ash asked for my camera and vanished into the garden. He came back and showed me this pic - how cool is this! So I just had to use it and big thanks to Ash for taking an interest in HS:MS!!

HS:MS

Over on HS:MS they've started SOS - show off Sunday, which I'm really preferring to self portrait Saturday! LOL. The idea is:

This is the day when Kirsty and i take a little rest and you can post any photo (past or present) that you are particularly pleased with. It could be that you are pleased with the composition of the photo, a technical aspect, or it is just a moment that you are glad that you captured. It doesn't have to fit any theme, so you are completely free to choose and tell why.

Now my photograph skills are pretty basic, so I don't have any of those "WOW" kind of shots (yet!), this was one of the reasons I started doing HS:MS, my Dad gave me his old digital SLR and I thought it would be a good way to practice. So I wanted to share this one that I took last week as I'm really pleased with it! I spotted this little fella toodling along the path outside our house, and dashed in to get my camera - I got some really funny looks from the neighbours when I was taking the pic I can tell ya!!

HS:MS

Well I must say today started off very badly. First my washing machine broke (but Ash being the champ he has fixed it) then I check today's HS:MS prompt and I'm supposed to do a self portrait? ARGH!! I hate having my pic taken, but then I figure so does everyone else probably, so bite the bullet and do it - and so here I am!!

The day got so much better tho' as this afternoon I went round to Samm's and spent the afternoon with her and Denny, chatting, eating Krispy kremes and drooling over Samm's cricut expression! So big thanks girls - I had a blast and we'll have to do it again real soon!

DCM - buttons

This week's dare over on Daring Cardmaker's.....

I know you've all got buttons stashed away somewhere, whether they've been purchased at a cardmaking store or you thriftily snipped them off DH's old shirt. I'd like you to find those buttons and use them somewhere on a card. They can be real buttons, craft shop buttons, die cut buttons, faux buttons or another type of button, surprise us all.

I've had these doodlebug buttons for ages and not used them, so I thought I'd go the whole hog and use a doodlebug flower and paper too! A very quick and simple card, but I'm pleased with the result.

Di Hickman's sketch challenge

This is my card for the latest sketch challenge over on Di Hickman's blog - even tho' I've only done a couple so far I just love her sketches!

I used the Doodlebug card kit from the Scrummy Stash Cafe to make this card, and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out - LOVING that ric rac! LOL

(apologies for the wonky scan!)

HS:MS

Today's prompt is Stone - A hard solid mineral. Show us 'stone' in your space today.

Well the weather is pants here again today, I'm even considering putting the heating on as the thermostat says 18 degrees!! So I've cheated and used a piccy from a couple of weeks ago.

This is one of the many creatures that inhabits my garden, and his name is Norbert (named after the dragon in Harry Potter!). When my Dad first saw him, he said "he looks like you - it's that look of attitude!" How rude is that?!

Look what my postie brought me!

This lovely lot of stash arrived this morning from Lou, which she sent me for winning her doodling challenge - what a lucky girl I am! Off to play with it now - thanks Lou!!

Pencil Lines #46

I've been a busy girl today! Finally got round to doing PL #46. I used the August HOTP Personal Shopper kit - and nothing else, everything is out of the kit - how fab is that?! Really enjoyed doing this LO - and love the way it's turned out!

Another Challenge!

I'm getting addicted to challenges!!

I found this one on Monica's blog and she set the challenge to celebrate getting on the go go greetings design team - congratulations Monica!

So the challenge was to make a card for a celebration - so, naturally, I had to use Junkitz celebration papers! the ribbon was from my stash and the stamps are the little studio G ones.

Tags and flowers!

That was this weeks Design Team Challenge over on the Crop til you Drop blog - to create a project using tags and flowers. I wasn't setting this weeks challenge - so I got a chance to play along!

I made this tag book for my OH, to remind him just why I love him. I used the Sizzix super scallop tag die and covered the tags with various HOTP Vintage Sarapapers. The flower and brad on the front come from the HOTP retro embellishabilities and then for good measure, I added half a bottle of primas (well it seemed like it! LOL)

I'll be setting the challenge again this week, so check out the Crop til you Drop blog on Saturday at 6pm!

HS:MS

Today's prompt is White - The palest colour and sign of purity. Find 'white' in your space today.

I have to admit it - I am a sad individual (well you all knew that!) but when I saw today's prompt I got far too excited - why? well because White screamed 2 words to me - NEW BATHROOM!

That's right folks, we've finally got the new bathroom we've been wanting for AGES and it truly is the whitest thing in my space. Now unfortunately, I don't have any before shots, but you cannot comprehend how awful this space was before, but here it is now in all its white, glorious splendour - isn't it great?! (can you tell I REALLY love it?! LOL)

DCM Little extra

This week's little extra from the very talented ladies over at DCM is dots and dashes:

We'd like you to make a card featuring dots and dashes, spots and stripes - that's it, a nice easy and fun little theme for you to play with - just make sure you get both spots AND stripes on your card. We'd love to see your dotty, spotty, stripey creations so please come back and leave a message when you're ready to share.....

So I really went overboard!! I used Cherry Arte Princess kit from Scrummy Stash Cafe, along with HOTP stamps (dots and dashes naturally!) and finished it off with some adhesive stones.

Just can't believe I've got to wait until FRIDAY for the next dare!!!

HS:MS

Today's prompt is Friend - A person you know particularly well. Show us 'friend' in your space today.

When I saw today's prompt there was no doubt in my mind as to who the picture should be of. So this is my gorgeous hubby to be, Ash, who is also my best friend. It may sound incredibly corny, but it's true. So this post is for Ash, who is always there for me through thick and thin and loves me no matter what - I love you babe xxxx

Caardvarks - Fibres

I found yet another challenge blog! Caardvarks current challenge is to use fibres, which is good for me as I have loads of fibres, but never use them!

I used blonde moments papers (free with SBM ages ago) and the thank you stamp is Heidi Swapp. I painted a chipboard flower with acrylics, and then wrapped the fibre several times around the centre. Not sure I'm entirely happy with this card, but hey ho!

HS:MS

And once again - I'm catching up and doing 2 days at once! And not only that I'm cheating a bit today and using piccies already on my PC, but it's because they fit the prompts perfectly!



Today's prompt is Wet - Covered or saturated with water. Find 'wet' in your space today. Now this isn't the best picture in the world, but as soon as I saw the prompt I knew I had to use it. So this is Todd, having just had a bath - and as you can see he's not happy about it in the slightest!!



Yesterday's prompt was Plant - A green living organism. Show us a 'plant' in your space today.

This is one of my non-stop begonias, and the pic was taken a couple of weeks ago before all this rain battered them to within an inch of their lives!

And I had a nice little surprise yesterday, the LO below that I did for Lou's doodling challenge was picked by her DH and DS1 as their fave, and she's sending me a little stash RAK! How lucky am I?! So big thanks to Lou for taking me out of my comfort zone with a fab little challenge!

Lou's doodling challenge

I've always been impressed with (OK and jealous of!) the amazing doodling that Lou does on her LO's - so when she set the challenge, with intructions on how to doodle, I decided that I had to have a go.

I've been meaning to scrap these pics of my poor little car that got written off in January for ages, but didn't know where to start. I decided to use them for this challenge and decided to make the doodling very cartoon like - in fact it was inspired by the very old batman episodes, you know with the Kapow! Thwack! etc.

And you know what, I'm really pleased with it - I was convinced I would hate it - but I don't!

You'll have to excuse the crappy picture - weather is awful at the mo. The background cardstock is actually red, even though it looks orange, and is from DCWV. The Chipboard shapes are Rusty Pickle and the letters are Queen & Co and both were painted with acrylics and I then dry brushed some yellow acrylic around the edge of the LO.

So thanks for this Lou -you've given me the confidence to try something new, and I'm sure it won't be the last doodling I do!

HS:MS

OK so playing mega catch up for HS:MS - again!

Today's prompt - Can - A container for food or liquid. Show us 'can' in your space today.

Yesterday's prompt - Fly - To move through the air. Find 'fly' in your space.

This is the dove that's been nesting in our tree in our garden.

And Friday's prompt - Lock - A mechanism for keeping something closed that is operated by a key. Show us a lock in your space today.

That's it - all caught up!

Do you want to be challenged?

Then check out our 4th weekly challenge over on the Crop til you Drop blog - and the best bit is that Nina has set the challenge this week (check out the card she's done - it's yummy!) which means I can play along too! Hope to get it done tomorrow (If I can skive off the decorating) so watch this space!

Frilly bits

This weeks DCM dare is "Frilly bits"
You must make a card with a frill - it could be some lace, frilly ribbon, a hand cut or decorative scissor edge or a folded paper frill - or what ever you choose to make.... you decide

Now I know this isn't overly frilly, but it's close enough! I used a Penny Black stamp (as its been far too long since I did so!), the papers are by HOTP and the ribbons and trims are Making Memories.

I'm a bad girl!

Just found details of this on Beverley's blog! The Bad Girls DT go on "patrol" every Friday and search for these blinkies, and if it's displayed on your blog, they send you a RAK! So here it is (I hope!) Come and find me! LOL

Thank you Samm!

Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to Samm for the blog candy I won in her "Flowerful" blog candy challenge. I won a gorgeous set of goodies (you can see a piccy here). Not only that, but she also included this fabby little card she'd made! So thanks Samm!

Di Hickman's Sketch

I've just done my first of the challenges on Di Hickman's blog (which I found through Beverley's blog) - don't you love this blog-hopping lark?!

I used the Princess card kit from the Scrummy Stash cafe. These Cherry Arte papers are so versatile. Even tho' they're called Princess you could easily use some of the designs for "boy" cards too.

Hope you like - I'm off to see if this week's dare is up on Daring Cardmaker's - back later!

Pencil Lines #45

Been ages since I did my first Pencil Lines sketch, so here, finally, is my second. It's also my first ever 8.5" x 11" LO and I must say it was a lot easier to fill the space than a 12" x 12".

I used DCWV cardstock and We R Memory Keepers Urban Diner papers and chipboard letters, as they co-ordinated perfectly with Ash's clothes (and I have had them ages and not used them!). The journalling panel is from the Autumn Leaves hand drawn journalling panels stamps and the dots at the top and bottom are Woodware stamps.

The pictures were taken 2 years ago at Whipsnade Zoo when Ash decided to be a dare devil and climb a tree - his 31st birthday was the day before and I think he was trying to prove he was still youthful enough to get up there!

HS:MS

I seem to be doing HS:MS every other day at the minute and double posting! You'll have to excuse the naffness of these pics, unfortunately it's REALLY grey and dreary here today.

Anyway today's prompt is Chop - To cut into small pieces. Find chop in your space.

So these is my funky coloured knife block from Ikea, which sits on the side in my kitchen (and Ash always puts the knives back in the wrong holes when he empties the dishwasher!)

Yesterday's prompt was Window - An opening in the wall, filled with glass. Show us a window in your space today.

This is the window in front of my desk in my crafty shed, so this is the lovely view I have when I create - my pond ( I try to ignore OH's messy shed in the background!)

it's a wiggly one!

This week's little extra over on Daring Cardmakers is a sketch challenge entitled "it's a wiggly one!"

I had great fun with this, I used the Doodlebug card kit from Scrummy Stash cafe. The "wiggles" were drawn onto the back of the pp and cut by hand, the square was cut with my Marvy punch and the "friend" sentiment in the middle of the circle sticker is a HOTP rub on.



The other card was also made with the Doodlebug kit, I inked one of the chipboard circles yellow to form the flower centre and the stem was cut from the green bazzill with scalloped scissors.

HS:MS - I'm up to date

I've now caught up with HS:MS. Yesterday's prompt was Drive - To operate a vehicle. Show us drive in your space today.


So here is my steering wheel (along with fleecy Hello Kitty cover!!).


And today's prompt is Pasta - An Italian food made from dough. Find pasta in your space today.

And here is our all time fave pasta in this house (and we eat it a lot!) Parpadelle.

HS:MS (catch up time again!)

So I'm a day behind with HS:MS, yesterday's prompt was thread - A long strand of fibres. Find one in your space today.

These are my fabby embrodiery threads, boring interpretation yes - but cool colours you must admit!!

Today's prompt was drive - I'll try and do that tomorrow. I have a good excuse for being a day behind, yesterday we went to Stamperama in Stevenage and I got a Clip-it-up!! It's fab (and mighty big I can tell you!) so I spent yesterday afternoon filling it up, and my god it can take a lot (even more scary is how much I've got to put on it! LOL)

Photo Finish

This week's dare over on Daring Cardmakers is Photo Finish

This week I want you to make a card for any occasion but it must include a photograph somewhere! The photo subject can be people, items, locations, flowers, absolutely anything so get snapping

This was a really simple card to make. I took this piccy this morning, it's one of the non-stop begonias in my garden, and I then added the words in Photoshop. The papers I used are SEI Winnie's Walls, and then I added a length of grosgrain and a prima flower with a brad through the centre - done!

HS:MS

Playing catch up today!

Yesterday's HS:MS prompt was Double - Two of the same thing. Find double in your space today.

Really boring photo for this I'm afraid - here are my 2 identical watering cans, I was hoping for a picture of the 2 baby doves in our tree out the back - but they weren't co-operating!

And today's prompt is Down - To fall to the ground. What moves down in your space?

I must admit this had me stumped, until I went out back to photograph the watering cans and found this little solitary tomato that had fallen from the plant

Better late than never

The Daring Cardmaker's little extra this week is:

It's one of our recipes this time, all you need to do is include all the ingredients on your card - remember, you can always add more things if you want to.
Here are your ingredients for this week:3 arrows, 3 circles, 1 square

I used Rob n Bob papers and embellishments, 2 of which are circles and one was mounted on a punched circle to make up the 3. I placed these on a punched scalloped square. I then realised I had nothing in the way of arrows, so drew and hand cut these. A nice quick card!

Some more cards

These are a couple of cards I've made today in an attempt to use up some of the free magazine papers I've collected (I have an alarming amount!)

The first one was for the Doodlebug use up your stash challenge on UKS and the second uses the Junkitz salsa papers.

HS:MS

Today's prompt is: Earing - A little something to adorn the ear. Find one in your space today.




So here is my earing. I have loads of pairs, but these I wear ALL the time - mainly because I'm too lazy to change them. I sleep in these and everything, in fact I took them out to photograph them, and that must be the first time they've been out of my ears in months! I really must go and trawl through my jewellery box and find some others!!

HS:MS

Today's HS:MS prompt today is: City - A busting place to hang out, meet friends and enjoy. Show us a city near your space.

Well technically I've cheated cos this is nowhere near my space and it's not a real city - it's one of the sets at MGM Studios in Florida - and BOY do I wish I was there right now! Florida is my favourite place in the whole world, but hopefully this time next year we'll be getting ready to go there on honeymoon - YAY!!

It's about time

The latest dare over at Daring Cardmakers is "it's about time", and you have to create a card with anything to do with time. I must admit this had me a bit stumped, until good old HOTP came to my rescue again. These papers are part of the Classic Creative Pack, and I also used the co-ordinating ribbons.

It's a bit of a departure from my usual bright colours, but I'm really pleased with it - different is good!

HS:MS

I've just discovered HS:MS, through Lou's blog.

Today's challenge is Eyes - The window to the soul, which eyes are watching in your space today ?



Well, OK this is technically eye, not eyes as I couldn't get a good pic of both (originally tried the dog's eyes but he wasn't co-operating!) So here is my very own green eye (along with freckles and eyebrows that desperately need plucking!)

Flowerful!

When Ash asked me to make a birthday card for one of his colleagues, I knew straight away that I would use the "Flowerful" challenge over on Samm's blog (check it out - her stuff is just gorgeous, and you could win some blog candy too!)

Plus I was desperate to use the felt I had bought and not got round to playing with!

I cut two different flower shapes from the felt, by drawing around some chipboard shapes, then put running stitch round the edges with black embroidery floss and then stitched both flowers together with a button. The frame was cut using a thick cuts die and the papers are from ATD. The rub on is from letraset.

I just hope she likes bright colours!!

I love being on a Design Team......

cos you get free goodies to play with! (thanks for putting me on your DT Beverley! LOL)
Yes, I've been playing with all the yummy English Paper Company papers (that just happen to be on buy one get one free at the mo!)
Check out the shop blog to see what i've been making ..............