Good Luck for Polkadoodles

Our task this week was to make a good luck card. I used the adorable owls from Back to Nature CD rom, and papers from the Sundae of seasons CD. Be sure to check out all the creations on the Polkadoodles challenge blog

I cut a slit in this little owl's wing, so that he looks as if he is holding the sentiment, which I printed from my computer. The 'brads' are Card Candi

We are off to London this weekend, to babysit Max and Milo, and take them to their cousin Kiki's birthday party on Sunday. I offered to buy Kiki her birthday cake, we went to M & S to choose one. She chose a fairy sitting on a toadstool, but announced that a butterfly would do if I couldn't get the fairy, or even the Hello Kitty cake "but you bought me that one last year" - what a change from when my kids were small, and I struggled with icing bags and smarties, trying to make something that resembled a train/caterpillar/fairy etc etc. I was never very successful, my kids used to come home from parties saying in awestruck voices 'Davids mum made a train cake, and it looked just like a train'. I really disliked Davids mum, she was the type of person who could whip up a fantastic fancy dress costume out of a couple of black sacks and a roll of kitchen foil. Hey presto, and David looked like Darth Vader, whereas my kids looked like boys dressed up in rubbish sacks. She probably never, ever gave her kids fish fingers for tea and they always had clean shirts and ironed underwear. Funnily enough, I didn't become friendly with Davids mum and her cronies (there's a surprise), so I have no idea what they are doing now - probably knitting intricate cashmere shawls for their grandchildren and making Hello Kitty birthday cakes. No, I 'm not going to think about that. Parent guilt is enough to deal with without starting on the granny guilt

See you tomorrow

Christmas Vellum

I spotted this gorgeous Christmas vellum by Papermania - it comes in 12 x 12 sheets, and although the photo doesn't show it well, the white design is slightly raised, and very sparkly. I loved this elegant holly swirl.... Papermania is a UK company and it's nice to see them developing their range of products, I really like some of the stuff they are producing these days

and this spotty one would be great for any elegant card, not just for Christmas.....

then there were the snowflakes, so pretty. I photographed them all against a dark colour cardstock so that you can see the detail

I used the holly swirl on these cards. The vellum is attached with a single glue dot underneath the Sissix snowflake. I dotted the snowflake and some of the swirls with Papermania shimmerz gems. The base card and sentiment are both by Craftwork Cards

Same idea, but this time I applied clear glue to pearly white card candi, and dunked them in my glitter pot, so they match the glitter on the vellum

I get asked a lot what glitter I use - I don't know why, because I can never get it to show up in photos (on second thoughts, perhaps that's why - people are thinking 'whatever she uses I am going to avoid it, doesn't look very glittery to me :D ). My favourite is called Ice Diamond by Great Impressions. It's incredibly hard to find though, and I am down to my last pot. Not helped by spilling half of it onto my black jeans when I was making these cards. I shall soon have an acute glitter emergency. In that case, I would turn to Martha Steward extra fine, or failing that, Glamour Dust

See you tomorrow

Dad's Work Apron

I found this huge stamp on sale for half price. Hmmm, that could make good cards for men, I thought as I snapped it up

It was an excuse to break out my Handyman Lite cartridge, which has been lurking for a few months without being used. I stamped the image twice onto red paper, and cut out the apron on the first image, and the pockets from the second

Added some tools, cut at 2"

Some brads and a bit of ribbon, and I was done

I am going to have a go at making a barbecue apron, also for a man, before I turn the apron into a chintzy girlie one.....amazing what a new stamp can do to inspire you

I was woken this morning by loud sirens, hooting horns and a voice bellowing through a megaphone, so I was forced out of my warm cozy bed. Surely there weren't riots in my quiet neck of the woods at seven in the morning? No, it was the binmen (garbage collectors), the chap who was driving it wasn't very good at reversing, in fact, he was totally useless, and the lorry was repeatedly honking and hooting, with a mechanical voice saying 'lorry reversing, lorry reversing, stand clear'. The poor hapless driver was in a bit of a state, so I stood in my dressing gown and gave instructions. I sent him on his way with a wave, smug in the knowledge that he faced the humiliation of having been ordered about by a pensioner in her slippers and PJ's

See you tomorrow

Poppies

First of all, here's the first little animal I made with my Peachy Keen face stamps. Cute? There are a lot more, and the card I made with this little dog on today's Scrappy-go-Lucky post. Pop over there to see what you think, and don't forget that the stamps are now available in the UK store

Here's a card that I am entering for three challenges, that's unheard of for me.

First of all, Daring Cardmakers asked for Poppies or Gladioli

Penny Black have an open challenge this week

and Allsorts specified the colour red

This is one of my favourite Penny Black stamps, called simply 'Poppies' I have used it over and over. I ran the red piece through the cuttlebug using the vine and birds folder, added some raffia ribbon and a fancy button threaded with black organza ribbon. The sentiment is by Craftwork Cards

I have been making a start on Christmas cards - I know, quite ridiculous in August. Mind you, the weather was right for it, I was freezing yesterday and had to dig out a winter sweater. Between the weather, the economy and rioting thugs.........I could write reams about these destructive thieves, but you don't come here for that, so I'll button up and seethe quietly to myself, as a proud UK citizen, about the lack of respect for people and property being demonstrated, with no evidence of a shred of human decency. What are we coming to? I feel really sad........I better go and have a coffee and find someone who will make me laugh

See you tomorrow

I got mail.....

No card today, I have been busy doing mysterious stuff that I can't share just yet, but look what came in the mail yesterday.

The first package i I opened came all the way from Australia. Mandy, the owner of

Scrappy-go-Lucky now has the rights to sell the fabulous Peachy Keen stamps - they are available on the UK site as well. I got this set of cute faces...........

and the set made for the Create a Critter cartridge. Mind you, there are so many other cartridges you can use them on. My mind is buzzing with ideas, and I have already been working on some.........

I then opened was my monthly kit from Craftwork Cards. If you have never bought one of these kits and are curious, here's what you get (fantastic value folks, and I love love that rabbit).

Your kit arrives all trussed up with a sheet of card ideas on top..........

and you get masses and masses of stuff. Images, sentiments, double sided papers, matching candi, blank cards and envelopes................enough to make dozens of cards, and all beautifully colour coordinated too, that always makes cardmaking a breeze in itself doesn't it? I can spend hours rummaging around for a sheet of matching paper

can't wait to break out the Christmas candi!

and here is the 8 x 8 Christmas paper, all double sided and yummy. The colour is a bit 'off' on this photo - the first photo posted is accurate colourwise. Lovely shades of green, red and pink. I am so looking forward to using all this

Then in another parcel was some 'neighbourhood' stamps from Nikky of Polkadoodles. Those of you who don't know about these, and love stamping are in for a treat. Basically, they are houses, quirky, whimsical houses, with all sorts of accessory stamps. So you get to stamp a little picket fence, a trellis of roses around the doors, flowers along a path - build your scene up. You don't have to fiddle around with masking, just build up your scene and colour

oops, bit of a blurry photo here. This shows what I am burbling about, I just love this example on one of the packs, the use of colour and impression of light is just brilliant. Clever Nikky

I'll be back with a card or two tomorrow. See you than, enjoy the rest of the weekend

Case It - for Polkadoodles

This week at Polkadoodles, the design team were asked to 'case' or copy something that another design team member had made.

I was very taken with this rocker card by the very talented Colette, and used the idea very loosely for my inspiration - isn't her card brilliant, with the photo of the little boy in the helicopter

It has never occurred to me to make a 'rocker', I cut this one from Elegant edges at 5", then cut a 3" scallop circle. The hippo is from the Paper Boutique cartridge. This would be a good sentiment for someone hitting a BIG milestone birthday

I used card candi on the scallops, and in the middle of the flower

In our town yesterday, there was a Italian market in the town square - selling salami, olives, gorgeous Italian bread and so on. Having my morning coffee in Costa, all the outside tables were full, so a chap asked if he could join me. He started discussing the wares on sale at the Italiam market, speaking with a strong foreign accent. 'phew, did you smell that salami?' he asked, and went on to make some disparaging comments about the other stuff. 'I don't like that Italian rubbish' he declared. 'Where are you from originally?' I asked politely 'Just outside Rome' he replied. WHAAT?

Polkadoodles Winner and a work of art

Here is one of Kiki's masterpieces, all her own work. Apart from the hedgehog who looks as if he has a bad case of sunburn, not a bad effort for a little one just shy of her seventh birthday.

Here's another Pink Petticoat Lola card - you will have noticed that once I 'find' something, I use it over and over and over.....

On to the winner of the Polkadoodles CD who is......

drum roll.........

Debbie Johns

Congrats, email me with your address and I will get it in the mail to you

The children have left for home, and the house seems quiet and empty. Last night they were bouncing around on their beds for ages, yelling 'night night Ma' and 'night night Pops' at the tops of their little voices. Monty is like a little parrot, repeating everything anyone says, nodding his head solemnly as he does so - adorable. Kiki saw me carrying a birthday gift bag - 'I don't suppose that it for me is it Ma? I suppose it might be for another little girl who has a birthday like me. It would be nice if it was for me, but I don't mind if you give it to another little girl........................................'

See you tomorrow

Gorgeous flowers, and an outing...........

Here's my card for today - the base card and sentiment are by Craftwork Cards, and the flowers were done using the Heartfelt Creations stamp and cut flower dies. I used a lot of inking on this one. The background script, and the leaf stamp are both by Hero Arts. I added some coffee coloured seed beads to the centres of the flowers

The outing to Drayton Manor park was a huge hit with the children - it was hot, crowded and noisy, but they loved it. Here's Monty with an ice cream as big as himself almost

It's really handy to have a big sister to look after you when there are all these people around,

waiting for lunch

and cuddles with Ma

Tomorrow, a ceremonial feeding of the ducks is planned, and Kiki wants to make some thank you cards, ready for all the presents she is hoping she will get for her birthday next week - break out the glitter glue.....

See you tomorrow

Another Classic........

It's my usual Tuesday spot over on the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog today - here's a sneak peek at the card posted on there, made with Embellished Florals. The cuts are so pretty on this cartridge, and my new E2 cuts all these intricate little cuts beautifully.....Pop over there to see the card, and there are very inspirational posts made every day on the blog by a variety of crafters, so there is always something new to see

and here's another card for Craftwork Cards, made with their new sentiment buttons - I really like the way you can ink these to match your card. I used the vintage car from the Just Because cartridge, and used papers from the Ooh La La collection. The wheel nuts are silver card candi, and I inked pretty much everything with Antique Linen distress ink

The family have arrived, Monty is spending his first night in a 'big boys bed' and didn't seem too impressed at all with the idea when his mum put him to bed, so it is quite possible that the middle of the night will be filled with a very small big boy's cries. Today we have planned a trip to Drayton Manor Park, a local theme park, so that will be another first for the little chap. Expect a report and photos tomorrow if I am not too exhausted by the whole experience :)

Craftwork Cards Classic Collection

Craftwork Cards monthly kit for July is a new collection of sentiments and yummy candi. I love these die cut letters, all foiled in gold or silver on a lovely pearlised cardstock. I cut the apple card using the Just Because cartridge with my Cricut, and added a sentiment circle and the die cut squares. This may very well be Kiki's seventh birthday card - they are coming to stay with us for a few days this week, so I don't think there will be much crafting going on for the next few days, and her birthday is next week.............

We are back home after a great weekend in Yorkshire - lots of laughter, good food and vino, and the very comfortable company of old friends

On Saturday we went to York, one of my favourite cities in the UK. Apart from the crowds, it was lovely to revisit old haunts. I know that those of you outside the UK enjoy seeing photos, so I snapped these for you.........

How would you like to shop here, this store was built in 1434!

Lots of quaint little streets, with the buildings overhanging the narrow passageways.......

Most of the streets and buildings date back to the 1400's

York Minster is probably one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in the world.....

There has been a church on this site since 630AD. They started building the cathedral in 1110, it was finished and consecrated in 1472

I loved this stonework - it's part of a tomb, and looks like icing sugar, what craftmanship to create something so beautiful out of solid stone

So there you are, another peek at our beautiful and ancient country

See you tomorrow

Molly Bloom

Molly Bloom is a UK stamp - this one was one of a set given as a feebie by a craft magazine. I kept it simple. The kraft card base is by Papermania UK, and I used Card Candi, The sentiment was a dollar stamp found in Michaels. I love these dollar sentiment stamps, and always buy all I can find. One day, they always come in handy!

Promarkers used:

Skin blush and soft peach

clothes powder blue, denim blue, sandstone and tan

A few of you have remarked on the lack of coffee stories just lately - I seem to have hit a bit of a barren patch as far as odd people are concerned, although I still have my fair share of people wanting to share their life story with me, and yesterday I sat and witnessed a quite spectacular argument between a sulky teenage girl and her furious mother. It involved booze, boys and cigarettes from what I could make out. I just sat there in a smug cocoon, knowing that my days of that particular angst are behind me. Sometimes it's great to be a fly on the wall...........

Polkadoodle Friday

Our challenge this week is

IN AN ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN

So we could use anything you find in the garden in the Summer - flowers, butterflies, bees - I wonder if anyone has done a wasp, there's plenty of them around here. It's also our Stashbox Stamp week, which means the design team can use any manufacturers stamps for the challenge. I seem to be in a Magnolia phase at the moment, so I used Tilda with a bee, and sat her in a garden of hand doodled flowers. The papers were printed from the Sundae of Seasons CD. Be sure to pop over to the challenge blog to see all the gorgeous samples on there

I put some doodle dewdrops in the center of each little flower

We are off to Yorkshire to see old friends for the weekend. When I was doing my major clear-out last week, I found lots of photos of all of us from much earlier days, at various weekends we have spent together, which will be going up with us, should be good for a laugh. My main focus in looking at these photos is the clothes, I look at myself in amazement and wonder whatever possessed me to buy the outfit. Even worse, there are some clothes that I don't remember ever owning. It's as though I have had my head superimposed on someone else's body.

I was running some old video tapes which I am having put onto DVD's, and in the Christmas 1988 one, my shoulder pads are the star of the show, they seem to have a life of their own, everywhere you look, there I am decked up in my best for Christmas Day looking like an all-in wrestler! Mike came in to see what was making me laugh 'It's the boys fighting again' - it makes me laugh fondly, watching them now, at the time I wanted to bang their heads together.

See you tomorrow

Polkadoodles CD to WIN

Here's a chance for you to win the just released

Magical Winter

one of two Christmas CD's that Nikky has designed for this season. So get ahead with your Christmas cards.......

just look at some of the whimsical digi stamps on the CD

Plus, there are loads of papers and sentiments..........

and SIX step by step ProMarker colouring tutorials

All you have to do is leave a comment under this post. I will draw a winner on Wednesday 3rd August

Here's a card for today. I found an old Pink Petticoat file on my computer - Lola Rose. I loved these images and used them a lot, but had totally forgotten about them....until now. The scallop rectangle is a Nellie Snellen die - look out for these, they are very reasonably priced and pretty designs as well. You cut them like Spellbinders nestabilities. The lacy slip at the back of the sentiment is a Martha punch. The grey panel was embossed with the swiss dots folder onto coredinations whitewash card, then rubbed with a nail file so that the black core showed

Kiki had a school sports day last week. She was taking part in an obstacle type race where they had to dribble a ball between cones, pick up objects etc. One task was to pick up scarves and hats and put them on, the children threw them around their necks and raced on. Our six year old potential Vogue model, however, carefully put the scarf on, checked that the edges were even, tied it in a stylish knot, adjusted the ends again, then started running again. She didn't win! (She was very good at dribbling the football though :)