Use up those numbers.......

First of all today, the blog candy winners. I entered 389 (allowing for the folks who emailed me asking to be included), and the UK winner is

SCRAPPYMAX

and from the USA

STACY (URATOON FROM THE CRICUT MESSAGE BOARD)

Congratulations to you both, enjoy your goodies. Email me with your address and I will get them in the post to you

(what a faff that random generator was, not the site itself, but the photos were a bit of a challenge, slight problems going on here getting used to my new camera, but that's another story..............)

On to the card, I use thickers, and various other alphabets quite a lot on my cards, I love the bold statement they make, but I never seem to use up the numbers, so I had this idea, mix them all up, different fonts, different textures, and here's the result. I like it, some of the letters are felt, some foam, some chipboard, so there's a lot going on here................

and I got rid of all those wasted numbers, plus a bonus, this card would do for a bloke as well. Now I have an idea for all those zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's. Watch this space



We are off to London today to babysit Max and Milo for a couple of days. Milo (9 months) is at the stage where he screams blue murder if his mum dares to leave the room, Max (2 3/4) is at the stage where he constantly asks 'what you doing' and 'WHY?' - so be prepared for an exhausted wail of a post tomorrow

Birthday Birdcage - Serenade

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE BLOG CANDY POST

I have been breaking open my new Serenade cartridge, this is a really pretty one, and of course, the first thing to be cut was one of the birdcages.

The card was a ready made pre embossed one by Laura Ashley, I used quite a lot of gold mirri card, so this card really isn't my usual style at all, but I quite like it

Card blank 7" x5" - Laura Ashley

Cricut cartridge - Serenade
Bird embossed with swiss dots folder

silver beads - Michaels

aqua glitter paper - Papermania
mulberry paper rose - stash

inking - cats eye bronze

A frustrating day on some levels today - I was standing in a long queue (line) to use an ATM. Now, the one thing you know when you are waiting to use these machines, is that you will need your bank card. So how come I was the only person standing there with it in my hand? I swear one woman had to decant the entire contents of her handbag, (that was the size of a small suitcase), on the pavement (sidewalk). People have climbed Mount Everest with less equipment than she was carrying around with her. She practically got a round of applause when she eventually located her card. Then the next man had a bit of a problem, the machine kept spitting the card back at him, I felt quite sorry for him, he was all red with embarrassment, and eventually slunk away, cashless. Of course, the woman in front of me didn't want a quick fiver out of the machine, no, she needed to know her balance, order a new cheque book, I'm guessing that she ordered a Chinese takeaway at the same time.....................

I think it's me, I probably dropped my tolerance on the pavement when I had to rummage in my bag to find my bank card (the card I was holding for twenty minutes was my library card)

See you tomorrow

Tweet Birthday Card

Here's a birthday card made with pre-printed birds from Craftwork cards, I hand drew the extra long legs. The tree was cut from the Winter Woodland cartridge with my cricut, at 4"..........................

and I dotted the tree with teensy buttons and some doodling dots with a white pen

Papers all from Craftwork Cards
Border punch - double scallop dot by Martha Stewart
Buttons - Papermania
Tree - winter woodland
white pen - signo

Here's what happens on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon in my eldest son's house - Kiki with her face painted beautifully by her mum Annabel, and pretending to be a scary tiger........................

.................and here is what happens when her very long suffering, beautiful mum allows Kiki to have a go with the face paints....................

On balance, I'm glad I wasn't there!

I have been a very bad blog friend just lately, so much on I haven't had time to pop over to your blogs. Bear with me, I will get there........

See you tomorrow

Pagoda Anniversary Card and some blog candy

The winners will be drawn by random.org on Wednesday 17th February at 9am UK time

Here's my card today over on Holidays with the Cricut - lots of 'how to do it' photos over there, and as before, all you have to do is leave a comment to be in with a chance of winning a serenade or sentimentals cartridge

To celebrate my week over there, I am giving away some blog candy, stuff I have used for the cards and projects that aren't available in the USA/Canada. But first, I must give something to my UK buddies, so I have a spare Martha Stewart heart punch, I bought it home with me from the USA, forgetting I already have one. Plus a brand new unmounted stamp set from Stampin Up called Ladybug Picnic. I'll pop in a few of the jewelled flower picks as well. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post, and link it on your blog if you have one.
Don't forget to put UK by your name......

For my USA/Canadian friends, (if you live elsewhere in the world, just say which candy you would like to win) here's a package of some of the craft goodies from the UK. You will get

10 sheets of the silver pattern vellum I used today

2 packs of papermania embossed cards and envelopes

A roll of the raffia ribbon by Paper Cellar (on one of todays cards)

6 scallop cards and envelopes (the square ones, see card three below)

3 sheets of craftwork card sentiment buttons (see card three below)

some of the gold and silver jewelled flower picks I used today

A pack of clear rubber stamps by Papermania - Birthday Boy

Papermania tiny spotty buttons in shades of yellow (perfect for Easter Cards)

a sheet of Anita 'handmade by' gold stickers to put on your cards

A pack of Papermania papers in the colours of the buttons (as used on the sunflower card below)

(half of this stuff isn't in the photo, you will have to imagine it as I am camera-less)

close up of the vellum



here's the second card, using the same design layout


and a third one................




and here's one I made with one of the 'buttons' from the Paisley cartridge. I was puzzled as to the purpose of this feature, as only a couple of the cuts seem to be buttons, but now I have had a good look around, it's just another word for icon, and there are some fabulous cuts on there. I thought this flower looked like a sunflower, and cut it BIG at 4". The card is 8" x 4", and the papers are by Papermania.




dotted s0me gems around.....................








the sentiment is Hero Arts, stamped with memento rust ink. The ribbon is a brown felt I picked up from the dollar bin in Michaels





So there you go - leave your name to enter for the blog candy. I will keep this post at the top for a week, and draw the names next wednesday, noon UK time.
Don't forget to tell me which country you are from, and enough information for me to identify you if you win (your message board name, or email for instance)
Good luck
See you tomorrow x

Male Birthday Card for Papercraft Inspirations

Hi everyone, thanks to all of you who wanted to win the heart mini album, I used random.org and the winner is

thkelly (Therersa K)

Congrats! Email me with your address and I will get it in the mail (together with a few surprise bits and pieces) on monday

Here's a peek at a card from this month's edition of Papercraft Inspirations magazine, the Quick Cards section. I was asked to make a colourful card for a male birthday, with a cake theme. I quite liked this one, I cut varying lengths of bright paper, the candle flames are hand-drawn, and the arrow was cut from Going Places. Tiny making memories alphas (whatever will I do if they stop making these?) and the CAKE is spelt using American Crafts felt thickers

I am busy working on some samples for the TV launch of a new Polkadoodles CD on the 23rd February, I have just finished one card, and would so love to share it with you, but you will have to wait. Nikky comes up with the cutest ideas.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, I'll be back tomorrow to wish you a happy Valentines day

Normal Service will be resumed..............Hearts for Daring Cardmakers

Well, it's been a pretty hectic week here, running two blogs and doing multiple posts, videos.........phew! I have thoroughly enjoyed it though, all back to normal after today, just a gently meander around blog land daily.

Here's my card for the Polkadoodles challenge this week, Hearts and Fowers is the theme, not many flowers on this, but hey, challenges are made to be challenged! Both the cards today fit the bill over on Daring Cardmakers - Hearts.

All the papers and sentiment are from the Love Cd by Polkadoodles, I printed extra hearts out, cut them out and popped them up, then added a bit of bling to each little heart to jazz it up

border punch by Martha Stewart (one is up for grabs in my blog candy, go to wednesdays post)

I love the look of tying two ribbons together


and here is my card for fancy card friday over on Holidays with the Cricut - lots of 'how to do it' photos over there


and here's another video, of the quick card I made to round off my week.........


Huge congratulations to my Funky Hand teamie, Kath, who has just become a grandma for the third time, her little granddaughter, Megan, was born yesterday.

I have been playing with my new Serenade cartridge, pop back tomorrow to see what I have been up to, and see who I am sending the heart album to....................

Heart shaped Mini Album

Today is Scrapbook Thursday over on Holidays with the Cricut, and I came up with this mini album, cut from the Sweethearts cartridge at 6"

As I said in the video, this is a bit late for Valentines day, but would make a super little wedding or anniversary card filled with photos of the happy couple, so if anybody can use it, leave your name at the end of this post, and I will pull a name out of the hat on saturday morning, be sure to leave enough information for me to identify you. I will throw in a few more goodies for you as well if you win.

I bought the Serenade cartridge online from CardCraft UK - marvellous service, I haven't used them before and would recommend them, I think I bought the last one though, as it seems to be off the site now. I see they sell pinflair glue as well, so with free shipping I will be popping back there....

This week is going by so fast, but, boy, is doing the posts on two blogs exhausting! Off to have a lie down in a darkened room now.............

See you tomorrow xx

Gift Box - and a fabulous cow!

Here's my offering over on Holidays with the Cricut today - gift wrap tuesday. Loads of 'how to' photos over on the blog, and another chance to leave your name over there to be in with a chance to win this week's prize of not one but two cartridges for a couple of lucky peeps.

When I was last in the Lake District with my friend Anne, I fell in love with some cow paintings, so was delighted on Christmas day to open my present to find what I thought was a cow print. It wasn't until Saturday that I discovered that it wasn't a print at all, she drew it herself for me, making this gorgeous copy of the painting I had fallen in love with. Don't you think it's brilliant? I call her Buttercup (the cow, not Anne), which is such a delightfully unoriginal name for a cow that it seems totally apt, and I will treasure her forever

Tomorrow is wild card wednesday, so tune in to see what I have been up to

Quick Card Monday for Holidays with the Cricut

So today sees the first day of my stint as the February guest designer on Holidays with the Cricut (I can't bring myself to call myself Miss February!!).

Today, I was asked to make a video showing a quick and easy card, I used the elephant from the Paisley cartridge. I chose three cartridges to showcase this week - Paisley, Sweethearts and Pagoda. My holiday to showcase is valentines, but I have tried to make cards that would be suitable for other 'lovey' occasions too, like anniversaries or weddings.

if you go over to the site and leave a comment you are in the draw to win a Cricut cartridge, go on, the odds must be better than playing the lottery!

A Sneaker Card..............

It's ages since I used this shoe cut from My Community, that was the reason I bought the cartridge in the first place. I cut the shoe at 4 1/2", the base card is 6 x 6 square. The colours are a bit 'off in the photo, I took it late at night.

I cuttlebugged the sole of the shoe, the sentiment circle is a button by Craftwork Cards, I think it makes the shoe look just like a Converse trainer - the sort I always buy for Kiki when I am in the USA (half the price over there)

The stitching is faux - I took this close up to show what I am talking about, I just ran the card through with the sewing machine unthreaded, then joined the dots
Cricut machine and My Community Cartridge
Papers DCWV
Flowers Prima
Sentiment button Craftwork Cards
Border punch Martha Stewart


I am getting ready for my week on Holidays with the Cricut, which starts tomorrow. I am a bit nervous, so be sure to come on over and see what I have been up to, this is my plea for a bit of bloggyland solidarity. If you don't know the site, they give away a cricut cartridge EVERY week, and you get heaps of inspiration there as well. The gals who own the site, Joy, Melanie and Tammy are a real hoot, as well as being uber talented. I will be posting on here as usual this week, but there will be more detail on the Holidays site. Come and watch, there's a couple of wobbly videos for you to laugh at as well.


Anyone else sick of Valentines? I seem to have been making 'lurve' cards for months now for various magazines (in fact, I was making Valentines in October). I am awash with red hearts, can't wait for the Easter bunnies to start hopping around (although I made some Easter cards in December as well). This is the week when I wish I was a florist, so that I could quadruple the price of red roses and get away with it (before indignant florists jump on me, I know it's the suppliers not you).

See you tomorrow I hope. Stay warm, especially if you are in the north east of the USA

Floral Birthday Wishes for Cute Card Thursday

The challenge this week over on Cute Card Thursday is Spots and Dots. I like the way this one turned out. I took a square 6" base card, and cut a strip from the right side of the front, then scalloped that. The flowers are all cut from a single sheet of cardstock and stuck on with foam pads, then decorated with metal dots, shimmerz dots and a button, plus a bit of doodling

I lined the inside of the card with a coordinating paper, and managed to cut it so that the ring of brown dots was in exactly the right place to take a sentiment button
Paper, card base and sentiment button from Craftwork Cards
Shimmerz dots - Papermania
Metal Dots - Jo-Ann basics
Border punch - Scallop holes Martha Stewart

Polkadoodle Friday

The challenge this week is paper piecing, so I printed the girl image out in black and white, then again onto the lovely pastel check paper - she was just made to wear checked dungarees wasn't she? The stitching is faux, I am finding with my cute but difficult to thread machine that this is my best option, so I randomly stitched some wobbly lines then joined the dots with a black pen.

Papers and image are from the Back to Nature CD by Polkadoodles


Be sure to check out the blog lots of inspiration over there, and have a go at the challenge, as always there is a prize for the top polkadoodler of the week
I am entering this in the Colour Create challenge as well, which is soft pink, soft blue, white and silver. I put some silvery glitter in some of the polkadots, but they don't show up in the picture.

Tune in to Create and Craft TV at 11am tomorrow, our lovely Funky Hand boss Anice is doing a live show with her latest CD -Dreams Come True - if you haven't seen a demo of this, be sure to watch, it really is the best Funky Hand CD ever, the papers are just fabulous, and lots of interactive images and stuff on there as well

Two little owls.................

These owls, by Craftwork Cards come printed on a sheet of pearlescent card all ready to colour and cut out. Dead easy. The branch is a cricut cut, but I can't for the life of me remember which cartridge it's from. I punched the flowers and added a gem to the centre. The sentiment, which doesn't show up, says 'Just Because'

The papers are lovely, all pearlescent and shiny

All supplies from Craftwork Cards

Here's a sneek peek at a detail from my card for the Polkadoodles challenge tomorrow, be sure to come back and see me then

Sir Stampalot is moving................

Two cards today, just to prove that I really am still here, and still producing.....

The first one is for a contest draw. Sir Stampalot (one of the biggest UK online craft stores) is moving to a new store, and they are sponsoring a big draw with lots of prizes, go to Brenda's blog to read all about it. To be in with a chance to win, they are asking for moving projects, so I made this moving house card, the inside reads 'be happy in your new home'

The house image comes all ready printed and ready cut, from Craftwork Cards, I just coloured in one of the houses, cut it out and popped it over the base image

I love this linen cardstock they do, it is a beautiful weight and comes in lovely subtle colours

Cardstock and image (Des Res) by Craftwork Cards

home lettering - Papermania

Tiny alphas - Making memories

And here's another Craftwork cards image, in fact everything on this card is from them

I find black hair really difficult to colour, so I went over it all with C1 and C3 greys first, then sort of streaked the black on - she looks a bit grey, but at least the hair isn't flat black

Black sparkly card, geisha, sentiment button and flowers - Craftwork Cards
Border punch -Martha Stewart
Sparkle - glamour dust
Colouring - Eoo, E02, R32, black, C1 and C3
Black fine tip pen - Marvy

Whatever are the buyers for various shops thinking? I was bemused yesterday when trudging through Marks and Spencer, wearing boots, woolly tights, jeans, cashmere sweater, silk thermals, coat, scarf.................yes, I was well wrapped up, to see....................wait for it.................................the new line of swimsuits. Well, I don't know about you, but trying on a swimsuit is essential for me, as in my experience the photo of the beautiful teenager on the swing tag bears no resemblance to what the swimwear looks like on me, in fact it would be difficult to prove that it was the same product.
So it was not a huge temptation to resist unwrapping myself from all the layers to try one on, and I searched instead for some gloves (like the mysterious missing sock, my gloves have a habit of divorcing their partner, never to be seen again). No gloves anywhere. So I asked the perfectly reasonable question, "can you tell me where the gloves are please"
"GLOVES!" repeated the shocked assistant, in tones that implied I had asked for an item of an incredibly intimate nature, kept discreetly under the counter and wrapped up in plain brown paper. "We haven't had any gloves since before Christmas".
Silly me, what a daft question to ask when it was snowing outside. Must dash now, I just need to stock up on Easter eggs and suntan lotion before they sell out

Teacher Card for Daring Cardmakers

This week's dare on Daring cardmakers is 'School' - I was going to give it a miss, when I suddenly had a light bulb moment and decided to make a teacher card that Kiki can give to her teacher at the end of term.

I welded the apple from doodlecharms on my gypsy to form the base card - cut at 6", then cut the apple again in the red spots and plain green

I found some script paper and graph paper and thought they would look good. I had already coloured Tilda - I do that occasionally, have an evening of colouring in images in front of the TV with my feet up, then they are ready to go
Apple shaped card - Doodlecharms cartridge, gypsy, cricut machine
Red spotty paper - DCWV
Graph and script paper - WeR Memory Keepers
#1 lettering - Papermania
Teacher lettering - tiny alphas by Making Memories
Tilda stamp by Magnolia

I have had an incredibly busy weekend, putting the house back to rights after the decorator had finished, now everything is gleaming, and I am basking in a glow of self satisfaction at being such a perfect housewife - dust bunnies vanished until the next time the decorator comes :)