Introducing you to Baby Milo

Just a sweet little baby card for you to see today, the image is by Hampton Arts, coloured with copics, and the sentiment label was cut with nestabilities in the cuttlebug. Here is the reason why I posted this today -

Introducing you to baby Milo, the newest addition to our family, born on the 18th May at 11am. He is the baby brother of Max and weighed in at 7lbs 13ozs. Isn't he perfect? He was just two hours old when this photo was taken. We fly home to the UK on Tuesday and will be dashing down to London on Thursday to have cuddles and hugs with both Max and Milo. Thank you Edward and Lidia for this precious gift and sending love to you all

BBTB Blog Hop and Cute Daisy May Challenge

Today we have a blog hop going on over at Bitten by the Bug, hop around all the design team blogs, and every time you leave a comment you will be entered in a draw to win the download shown on each blog from the Cutting Cafe. The download to win here is this sweet Candy Box, it takes 12 mini chocolate bars, and the download even has the little wrappers on it. You can make it with a window aperture, or as shown here, plain. We all had to use this label from the Storybook cartridge as well, it's the one on the page with the number 3 on it. I used chipboard cherries from Heidi Swapp, and the sentiments are by studio G.

In addition to the download, I am going to send my winner 12 fabric cats/ladies as seen on my fabric cards. I know that some of you have had a hard time finding the Loralie fabric, so here is your chance to win a few. I will draw the winner by random org on Friday, 22nd May so leave your comment by thursday night to be in with a chance.

Now hop over to Heather's blog to see her take on the challenge, and to follow the blog hop

Cute Daisy May

Here is my card for the Cute Daisy May challenge this week. The theme is Springtime/flowers. I paper pieced Daisy (printed her out twice, once on white cardstock, then onto a pattern paper with a tiny floral pattern, cut out her outfit and pieced it onto the white base. I thought she looked a bit pensive, so I turned it into a Thinking of You card. The sentiment it from my faithfull studio G acrylic stamps.
I would be so thrilled if you can take part in the Cute Daisy challenge, Linnie the artist is such a lovely person and it would be so great to have entries from you. You don't even have to use a cute Daisy image, and you can combine it with another challenge or two. The winner each week gets the cute blinkie on my sidebar, and a free download of their choice. Hope to see you there....

Just A Note for DCM

On daring cardmakers this week the dare is to use anything musical. The paper here is Que Sera by K & Co which I only bought today, couldn't wait to try it. The music paper has been hanging around waiting to be used for ages, I tore it and inked the edges. I found a tiny metal music note, and the truly gorgeous flowers are by Prima. The crushed velvet ribbon was a dollar bin find at Michaels. The sentiment stamp was a cheapie from Walmart.

We are starting the big pack-up here. Mike has been and bought a ladder and all of a sudden is obsessed with doing stuff six feet in the air, so all the air-con filters have been changed, the light fittings washed etc etc, the trouble is all these jobs need two people and I just don't have the same fascination with the new ladders as he has. Maybe tomorrow he'll move on to a new toy.

Funky Hand Word Books and stuff.............

This card was made with the papers from the new Funky Word Book CD from Funky Hand. It was a sell out when it was first shown on Create and Craft TV a couple of weeks ago, and now here is your chance again, Anice will be live on Create and Craft TV on tuesday 19th May at 12 noon, with this fab CD, and the whisper has it that they are selling the Bind-it-all machine on the same show. those of you in the USA or Canada, can order the CD direct from Funky Hand and you get free shipping to anywhere in the world.

This is quite a big card - 5" x 7", when they are shown on TV I have learnt to my cost that little cards just don't have an impact, and the bigger, bolder designs work best.

Here is my word book - I had to get these done in a hurry, as there was a deadline for the first TV show, the CD had to arrive from the UK, then the finished products had to be parcelled up and sent back to the UK. I decided to print out the words OH NO! 50! for my book. It was before I got my bind it all, so I used keyring chains to hold it all together (can't wait to make another one now that I have all the fancy binding thingies). The book is to a fictional chap called Tony, so called simply because I had all these left over letter epoxy stickers in exactly the right shade of blue, and the only name I could make was Tony - I could have called him xyont but didn't think that would look great - or I could have used the sensible option and printed out a totally coordinating alphabet from the Funky Hand CD - what was I thinking?
On the subject of Funky Hand, we are all excited that Dolly is joining our team, welcome Vicky (aka Dolly). Go and have a peek at her blog and you will see why Anice felt she would fit right in. There were many fabulous entries though, so hugs to all of you who didn't make it this time.

Take a peek at my sidebar, notice a new logo on there? I am chuffed with this one - click to find out what Polka Doodles is all about.......................................

Teenage Girls Cards

I found these images on a site called lily-boosboutique, they are downloads and only cost £1. 99 ($3 USD)
and are perfect for those teen girl cards. Lots of cute images over there, so hop on over and take a look.
For the first one I used a fancy stitch, as I am soon going to have withdrawal symptoms from my oh-so-easy-to-thread sewing machine here in the States, and go back to my lonely little mini Janome which takes me hours of squinting just to thread to needle. I think they look quite sassy these girls. The second one looks in the photos a bit as though she has footballers wife syndrome and has overdosed on the fake tan, but she doesn't look like that in real life, just my rubbish photography! For the detail on the second card I layered up a button on top of another slightly larger button.

Bathtime Fabric

I found some more fabric called bath time again by Loralie. Go to labels, fabric cards to see how I prepare the fabric for my cards. For this one I ran a piece of vellum through the cuttlebug using the tiny bubbles folder, it came out all frosted on the reverse side which I loved, so this was the side I used for the card. The sentiment is by MFT stamps (time for the bubbly set). I added a few rain drops and a couple of gems.
Yesterday we watched as the last space shuttle streaked across the sky, we have seen a few shuttles since we have been here, the most spectacular being a night time launch a couple of years ago. I was once with my friend Barbara by the pool here as we watched the shuttle on it's journey into space, Barbara and I whooped, clapped and hollered and all the Americans watched us in amazement. What a fantastic feat the space programme is, not just for America, but for mankind.

BBTB, Cute Daisy May and Whimsy Stamps.......

Why is it that a lot of the design teams I do work for all publish their challenges on the same day? Anyway, after a bit of a weekend scramble here is the latest group. Firstly for Bitten By The Bug, we were asked to use the smiley face, which is the icon on the triangular card. Regina has a knack of chosing cuts that you would totally overlook, and boy, this one was the most difficult ever for me. I cut the face BIG, I cut it tiny, I cut it in every colour under the sun, and still no inspiration. Then I remembered the 'Oh Happy Day' circular card on the same cartridge and it all fell into place. So the card was cut at 5" in pale lemon, then again in some chatterbox papers, and the oh happy day circle in peach, which I stitched on with pink thread.

I threw everything at the bow, a cute stick pin (thanks Cheryl), flowers and ribbon, then dangled a tiny smiley face as a charm. I covered the letters and the charm in glossy accents. Pop over to Bitten by the Bug to see all the different interpretations of this cut from the design team, it makes fascinating viewing!

CUTE DAISY MAY

This little chap is so sweet, so I decided to turn him into a 'grandma' card. The little stickers are making memories, and I stuck them onto a Heidi Swapp ghost flower. Don't forget to go over to Cute Daisy May - the sketch this week is lovely. You get the cute blinkie on my sidebar and a free download if you win and you don't need to use Cute Daisy images, so you can combine the sketch with another challenge if you like.


WHIMSY STAMPS

This one is for Whimsy stamps, where the challenge this week is flower power. I used the cute duck, and stamped him twice, once on white, then on yellow spotty paper and cut just his bill out of the spots. The flowers were a cheap spray of flowers that I pulled apart, and the DAY letters are thickers by American Crafts.

Men are so much better.........

Look at this sassy lass, the stamp is by Hampton Arts (I think, I borrowed it to stamp some images). Papers are by making memories and the ribbon is some quite thick fringed stuff that I found lurking in a drawer (I have lots of lurking ribbons). The black brads aren't brads at all but domed paper shapes (a UK invention, I have never seen them on sale in the USA), I love them, they are called card candy, come in every colour under the sun and are a fraction of the price of brads. I think I got them from Craftwork Cards. The white scallops were done with an EK success border punch, and the black scallop card is by papermania UK.

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We have a bird living somewhere in a tree near here. I know he lives there because he chirps all night. Honestly, I thought they were supposed to shut up at night and get some shut-eye, but no, he makes the same chirp (a long two-tone sort of chirp) ALL night. Doesn't stop for breath. Wouldn't you think he would get a sore throat from doing that all night long. Notice that I have given him a male gender, his missus is probably too busy cleaning the nest to do any chirping.

Friendship Card

Yes, it's that fabric again. Well, if I get an idea, I always flog it to death. I have just bought some more as well, so it will be never-ending. So these lovely ladies are by Loralie, the fabric is called Gone Shopping, and I got it off ebay. I stuck them on at an angle because they looked a bit more jaunty that way. The green spotty paper is making memories.

I met up with a new friend yesterday, Net, who is on the cute Daisy May design team with me, and holidaying in Florida. We met at a scrapbook store, where we rummaged like a couple of maniacs, then went to a nearby plaza for some lunch. There was a cafe place with tables outside so we plonked ourselves down and started to read the menu. It dawned quite quickly that it was vegetarian, fine, we had no problem with that....................caffix. Have you ever heard of caffix? No me neither/coffee substitute of roasted barley, rye, chicory and beet roots. Right, so coffee's off then. Turning to the front of the menu we saw that they were committed to serving meals to feed the body and soul. Okay, it's actually my tummy that needs some ballast, we can forget the soul for now. It seems that the restaurant is inspired by their meditation teacher who is a dreamer of world-oneness (?????), musician, poet, artist and world famous athlete. However does he find the time?

At this point along came a very pleasant woman dressed in a strange orange outfit, who informed us that the soup was green. Green what? We didn't wait to find out, slunk away into the Pizza place next door where they didn't even offer to feed our souls, but served some very good ravioli.

Circle and Scallops for The Pink Elephant

The challenge on The Pink Elephant this week is to use circles and scallops. I wanted to do something a bit different and used this circle with a scalloped border from the Storybook cartridge. I threaded a strip of pattern paper through it (Bo Bunny) and decorated the strip with sequin ribbon (rusty pickle). The background was stamped using Stampin Up's Dream a Little set. I cut flowers from the paper and put some unravelled black fuzzy wool behind them then dotted a few gems around.

Talking of challenges, don't forget to pop over to Cute Daisy May and have a go at making a card with their cute sketch - you don't have to use their images, and you can win a free download. It's a new site so you have a good chance of winning.

Feel Better Card for Colour Create.....and a sneeky peek

On Colour Create this week the colours are red, chocolate and cream, so I made this little house mouse stamp fit the bill. I added a large scalloped circle (cut in half) down one side, and a strip of torn corrugated card. Some ribbon, flowers and a bit of string and I was done. I love this little image.

Here is a sneeky peek of one of the cards that I made this month for Papercraft Inspirations (on sale now in the UK, June 1st in the USA). The whole article is about turning your pocket cards into gifts. Here is a man card, I made some girlie ones, a teen one and so on.

Wanted - New Funky Hand Design Team Member

Go HERE to find out what it's all about. If you fancy having a go, you would be joining one of the friendliest, supportive and funniest design teams in Blogland. Go on, have a go...................

Flower Card

Here's another quick card I made at the crop on Saturday
The image is by Hero Arts, coloured with copics. I used a cuttlebug border folder and scattered some gems around. The bow is a ribbon bought from Big Lots - I really like big ribbons at the moment, I used to look at narrow little ribbons for cards, but I am really into the impact that huge bows make.

No crafting for a couple of days, we have been to see friends from the UK who are staying on Anna Marie Island. The weather was scorching and we went onto the beach, where there was a stiff breeze to mask the effects of the sun, so we looked a funny bunch when we went out to dinner, various shades of pink. I had taken a tomato coloured top to wear, unfortunate choice in the circumstances, but hey, at least it matched my nose

as you can see..............................

Sketch Challenge for Cute Daisy May

The design team on Cute Daisy May were asked to follow a sketch, hop over there to see the challenge and join in. I love this little image and coloured her in with copics, the sentiment sort of fell into place as I assembled the card. I added some pretty flowers, and was pleased with the end result this time.

I have been busy making 'stuff' for Kiki's dolls house that she had for Christmas. I decided to get some polymer clay and make some little dishes and bowls. Now I had no idea of scale at all, but have bought a few pieces of furniture too, so used that as my base line. The first attemps were pathetic, they just looked like lumps of clay (well, they WERE just lumps of clay), they were also very big, although when I was making them I thought they were so tiny, as far as scale goes, imagine a bowl of flowers that's bigger than your sofa....I think even a four year old would notice that something was not quite right. However, all is not lost, I have the perfect solution, it's called Ebay where you can buy little diddy stuff already made and in perfect proportion. I have also been looking for a present to take to her when her baby brother is born, I thought a baby boy doll would be good. Good grief, they are so UGLY, and noisy too. One brand of dolls all started crying everytime I walked past, they must have had a motion sensor or something. It would drive everyone nuts. I do hope my baby grandson doesn't look or sound like these dolls!

House Mouse, Copics and Wobbly Stitches......

On national scrapbooking day yesterday, I went to a crop at a store near here called Scrapbook Fanatics, it was fun and I was actually quite productive, unlike the last one where I made two cards in two days! This is one of the cards I made, and because I didn't have my machine with me wanted to put some stitching on, so I bought some of the little Daisy D stitch runners. Hmm, the jury is out on these, I found them best for just dashes of random stitching, it would be impossible to get a nice stitched looking border all the way around with them. So my rolled on stitching looks a bit wobbly and uneven, a bit like my regular stitching really. The stamp is house mouse, coloured with copics, and the paper is a mystery, but I like it. The green scallops were done with my new EK Success border punch.

I have used a random number generator for the first time to get the winner of the blog candy and the winner is

JOZZA

Can you email me please Jozza with your address. Bitten by the Bug are planning to have a monthly blog hop from now on, so this will be a regular feature of the site. Thanks to all of you who joined in the fun.

'Say Charge' Shopping card for Inspirational Card sketches

I made this one for the ICS challenge this week, I copied their sketch but it has got lost somewhere in my computer, so you will have to pop over there to see........

I wasn't going to post another fabric card for a while, thought you would all be sick of them, but I have had so many emails saying 'more please' that I thought you would be able to tolerate one more. Loralie fabric as before, the 'say charge' sentiment is from the set of that name by MFT, papers are Making Memories, flowers Prima, gems from poundland UK, and my favourite pointed label die is by Go-kreate, embossed with distressed stripes embossing folder.