Blog Candy Winner

So many comments, a lot of followers and subscribers, whatever possessed me to do all the 'two entries' for this 'one entry for that' - I was trying to be very fair. It has made for a major headache today, but luckily I have my own pet accountant (Mike) on hand, who was able to sort all the names into lists for me, then we did the random thingy. I really would like to thank all of you for entering, I am just sorry I can't send you all something, if I did I would be living in a cardboard box. I haven't been able to get around to all the blogs of those that left comments either, if I had done that I would not have slept for a week.

So, without further ado, the name that was chosen with all the care given to an election result is

JULES (always with a heart blog)

Huge congrats Jules, email me with your address and your goodies will be in the mail as soon as I can find a box to take them :)

Go to The Cutting Cafe, Cute Daisy May and Lily-Boo's Boutique to choose which downloads you want for your prize, and let me know

Fairy Fabric Cards

I'd forgotten I had this really pretty fabric with little fairies on it, I haven't a clue where I got it from, or who made it. Anyway, two card later, both with a lot of bling. I swiped the back of the fabric with a glue stick and stuck it on to plain white card, then when it was dry, cut the images out. I really like the look of fabric images on cards, you get a texture that looks a bit 'different'. I ran a panel through the cuttlebug, using the paisley swirls folder and white core cardstock, then ran a nail file over the surface to highlight the embossing. The sentiment is from Great Impressions.

Look at this adorable little fairy baby, isn't she sweet? The border on this was done with a martha stewart punch, double scallop, and the sentiment is a clear studio G acrylic. I added some gems and a few drops of stickles to the flower centres.

If you want to try your hand at using fabric images on cards, look for fabric that has clear, well defined images with a space on the fabric between images, if they overlap it's really tricky to find a workable image. The added bonus of course is that you don't have to do any colouring.

I am just about to start the task of sorting out who has won the blog candy, bear with me, it's a bit of a mammoth task. I will post the winner later when the official adjudicator (Mike) and I have sorted it

Baby Girl Card for Cute Daisy May

What a sweet little sleeping girl, having her nap on the moon.................

and inside................

On Cute Daisy May this week, the challenge is 'anything goes' so you can pick your favourite card and enter it for a chance to win a blinkie for your blog and a free download. I picked this sweet little girl image, and cut a moon with the New Arrival cartridge. The sentiments are computer generated and the papers are Heidi Grace. The border was done with the martha stewart valentine hearts border punch, and the pink ribbon is a twill, also by MS

There is a blog hop over on Bitten by the Bug this week, the main prize is the brand new Stand and Salute Cricut cartridge, so hop on over there to see how you can be in with a chance of winning (I didn't join in this week, a. because I don't have that cartridge, and b. because I am a bit up to my eyes in it with my own bloggy candy thing)

I am busy with a magazine commission, working on the Christmas issue, it seems odd to be working with snowflakes in June. I have a lot of emails asking about doing stuff for a magazine. How it works is that the editor contacts me with an idea for an article, or I have been known to come up with an idea myself, we toss these ideas around via email, and when I have a clear picture of what is wanted, I start searching for supplies. All the papers/stamps etc have to be current, and available from a UK supplier, so I can't pull some paper randomly out of my stash. When that is sorted and the cards designed and made (avoiding some specific colours that don't photograph well), you write the accompanying article, again to a specific format and using a set number of words. Then I email the text, and send the cards off to be photographed, which has to be done before a tight deadline. Magazines work at least three months in advance, so it can be Christmas in June or Easter in December. Jenny Dixon the editor of Papercraft Inspirations magazine is lovely, very approachable and is good at gently telling me that some of my wildest ideas just wouldn't work! Take a look at the site, there are always freebie downloads on there, and competitions too.

Have A Wheelie Cool Day - for DCM and Cute Card Thursday

Daring Cardmakers dare this week, is to make a card suitable for a child. They have a link to an organization called Post Pals, who work with children who are seriously ill. I defy anyone to look on the site and not be moved. I made this card for a little boy of 9 called Ethan, and will be mailing it tomorrow. I hope he likes it! The image is a download from the Boys and Toys collection from Lily Boos Boutique, coloured with copic markers and a few highlights added with a white inkessentials pen. The paper is called graph strips and simple graph by Simply Luxe. The word cool is a foam thickers alpha, and the tiny black stickers are by making memories.

This just fits in with the challenge on Cute Card Thursday this week as well, which was to use wheels on a card.

Little Polly for PolkaDoodles

No sketch this week over at Polka Doodles challenge, although there is one on there if you want some inspiration. The design team were asked to use Polly from the Sugar Birdies CD, and we had to colour her in ourselves (you have the option on the CD of printing her out already coloured). I used copic markers of course. Another requirement was to use paper ribbons, I cut some strips of paper and did a concertina thing then bunched them all together to make a funky little flower. I used a black button instead of the o in hello, and stitched around the outer edge of the card in a white zig zag (yes, I know black would have been better, but I couldn't be bothered to go through that whole rigmarole of squinting at that little needle trying to thread it for an hour). Everything on the card, papers, image, paper ribbon, sentiment circles, is from the CD.

Nikky, the owner of Polka Doodles is doing her first ever show on Ideal World/Create and Craft TV here in the UK on Wednesday 1st July at noon. She is very nervous, so be sure to watch her if you can, good luck Nikky. I will be watching, to see some of my cards flash across the screen for a nano-second.

I have updated the photos of the babies on my sidebar, I am going to have to do this regularly, they are changing so quickly as their little faces fill out. They both have eyes the colour of the sky on a summers day, I haven't captured that on film yet.

Whilst doing a bit of blog hopping I found a great blog with photos of all the latest nestability dies and the large cuttlebug embossing folders. I will certainly be in the market for some of these, they will be 5 x 7" and a much better size for the cards I make. Take a look HERE to see some photos.

Sweetie Card

This little girl circle is a downloadable image from Lily-Boo's Boutique, I coloured the whole image in pale greys and red. The base card is a white scallop 6" square, and I used some very pale grey card matted in black to pop the image on. The 'so sweet' sentiment is by Inkadinkadoo clear stamps (cupcake set). A pop of gingham ribbon and I was done.

We have just been down to London for a couple of days to have cuddles and hugs with the babies, who are both doing well, and quite adorable. This morning we took a wrong turn (luckily Mike was driving, I would never have heard the last of it) and found ourselves rather off course. Now where in London, possibly the world, would be the worst place to be lost this week? That's right, Wimbledon. So we find ouselves almost at a standstill for what seemed like hours, following the tennis fans heading towards the All England Tennis club. After an hour of this, the score was deuce, but I think I won on points - 40 love (advantage Enfys)

Remember Pacman?

and the inside, gobbling up some happy birthday balls

Remember pacman? One of the earliest gameboy games, that little yellow ball that used to gobble all the other balls up? It's my son's birthday on friday. He works for one of the big computer games companies so I thought this card would be fun. I cut the circles out with my george cartridge, and the dark grey frame around the edge of the card was done with the stretch your imagination cartridge. I covered the front of the card with a dull silver paper (DCWV) and added some buttons for the 'controls'. I know it looks like a kids card, but he is still a bit of a kid at heart. At least he will know I made it just for him.

I am not surprised he ended up in that industry, he certainly spent enough time practising when he was a kid. One Christmas, he was desperate for a gameboy, which we bought and wrapped, hiding it away in a cupboard. On Christmas morning, he proceeded to astound us with his dexterity and skill. Many years later, he confessed that he had 'found' the parcel (i.e. spent hours looking for the parcel), then carefully opened the packaging and removed his prize. He did this at every opportunity until Christmas day, by which time he was, of course, an expert.

Fun Decoupage Cards

Nikky, the owner of Polka Doodles sent me these cute diecut decoupage sheets to play with, they were such fun, really bright modern images, they make the cutest cards very quickly

Isn't this one perfect for a footie fan? The happy birthday football paper is her design as well

As for this one - well, there are a number of chaps of my aquaintance that this would be perfect for. What's better than a pint in the pub with the paper and a bag of crisps? I left this one quite plain, as the image speaks for itself

Go to the website to see more of these decoupage sheets at Polka Doodles

I am a drooling, dribbling mess at the moment, having just returned from the dentist where I had, at huge expense, two fillings replaced. I can tolerate the dentist quite well, and mine is a lovely guy, but I hate the hygeinist thing, all that water gushing around makes me feel I am drowning. It doesn't help when she chats away asking me questions 'have you been on holiday this year dear?' when my mouth is full of steel implements 'arghhh mmm lobl ghh' I reply, and she nods wisely and says 'yes, we love it there too'. Is part of their course learning to interpret goobledegook speak? Or is there really some far flung tropical island called arghhh mmm lobl ghh?

I spoke to a very nice person at the Glitter Pot yesterday afternoon, made an order, and it arrived this morning. What a great service, and they have a fantastic website with goodies to drool over, even if you haven't been to the dentist

Moo-chas Grassias for Cute Daisy May, and Flowerpot for BBTB

On Cute Daisy May this week, the challenge is animals. You don't have to use a CDM image to take part, any old animal will do :) I used this cute cow, the circles are cut with the pointy nestabilities and the papers are by We R Memory Keepers. I did the sentiment (corny isn't it?) on the computer.

And on Bitten By The Bug this week, the design team were asked to use the flowerpot from the Garden of Words cartridge. I cut two out and ran the pots through the cuttlebug. The blooming wonderful day sentiment and the scallop card base is by Craftwork Cards, I do love their stuff, I doodled on the flowers, then dropped blobs of glossy accents on them to look like dewdrops.

The brads in the flower centres aren't brads at all, but card candy, domed paper circles that you stick on with a dab of silicone glue. I love them, and most of all I love the price, you get about 250 in a bag for £1. These are from Craftwork Cards as well

I really like this blobby glue technique................

I made another online craft order last night - well I was bored, what else was I to do - and was wondering this morning what strategy to use when the parcel arrives. I could do the crafty equivalent of 'THIS old thing?, I've had it for ages' (as you twirl around in a new designer top), and say 'Oh good, my free samples have arrived' as I struggle to carry a huge box into the house. Or maybe it's time to lie in wait for the postman behind a tree, and jump out on the poor unsuspecting man, almost giving him a heart attack, to retrieve your parcel............... The ridiculous thing is, I have the most tolerant and generous husband, who looks at me with a quizzical smile when I go through these antics, but I still do it. It's a game..........

Wedding Card for Caardvarks Challenge

The challenge over on Caardvarks this week is to make a window card. I have had this idea floating around in my head for a while, so decided to have a go and see if it would work. I don't have design studio, so my cricut is just the basic cut and stick. I put a scalloped card base (craftwork cards) on the mat, and using the navigate buttons bought the blade down about an inch, then using the glasses from the Wedding cartridge I cut the shape out of the front of the card using the blackout feature. I practised all this on a sheet of copy paper first.

I edged the glasses and the scallops with gold krylon pen, then ran a square of vellum through the cuttlebug, using the d'vine swirls folder, which I stuck on the back of the aperture. I tied a big blue organza bow at the side to hide the fact that I hadn't exactly centred the glasses, dotted a few pearls and prima flowers around and I was done. I am pleased with the result, as you know I am super-critical of my stuff, but occasionaly a card comes along that makes me think 'not bad' - this is one of those!

New Funky Hand Download - Wedding Books

Anice has done it again! Her new download is for wedding word books, and is full of the most gorgeous papers in yummy shades of taupes and creams, very neutral so that you can add the wedding colours to it. I made this book just using the initials of the bride and groom and the ampersand sign. I printed my letters out, then put the card back in to print on the other side, so that the pages are double sided and coordinating. The download comes complete with a page of gorgeous sentiments to print out too, which can be used on cards as well. The download costs just under £5 ($8 USD, 5.75 euros) so is a bargain buy. This whole book was so easy and quick to do, it took me about an hour.

I added the butterfly which I used when I designed Phil and Lucy's invitations (QK die), and dotted lots of pale pink pearls around. The book, even though it only has 3 pages will hold quite a number of their favourite wedding snaps, I know they will love it.

Go to the Funky Hand site to see other examples, the DT have made some beauties. Other ideas for the books are Mr & Mrs, Joined, Love......loads of ideas over there.

Pink and Orange for Polka Doodles

Here is my card for the Polka Doodles challenge this week. The design team were asked to use pink and orange, and two buttons. The buttons are tiny ones in the centre of the two smaller flowers. Everything on the card, paper, flowers, etc are downloads from the new Sugar Birdies CD. I sprayed the flowers with water as a bit of an experiment, and when it was dry it left quite a pleasing pattern of watermarks on the paper. I love those sentiment circles too, have a look on the blog and you will see that they can be printed out in different sizes too. Why don't you have a go this week, Nicky is going to be sending a freebie download as a thank you to everyone who enters a card in the challenge. The sketch is below.....

I have just bought these pens, they are advertised as Copic glitter pens, German, and waterbased not alcohol based. Gorgeous colours, and very reasonable too. you get a copic multiliner, (perfect for doodling) in the pack. I saw them on a blog and made a comment, and got the link from Cass, thanks Cass, and couldn't resist buying. Free postage in the UK, and super fast service. They even sent me a freebie of 3 gel pens. Cult Pens is the company, take a look, they do copics too.

Look, you can see the sparkle even in a photo.......

I had a phone call yesterday "Enfys, you haven't forgotten I asked you to make a card for my mother's 85th birthday?" "Of course not" I lied "remind me, when is it?" "Tomorrow"

YIKES! I have a master list of commissions waiting to be done, and I have lost it. Now the list isn't in a nice altered notebook, or even pinned up somewhere, it is a scrappy bit of paper that sort of hangs around getting dog-eared, and now it has gone AWOL altogether, probably swept up with the rest of the scraps off my table. I really need to go on a course 'How to keep track of lists you have made' or even 'tidy tips for dummies'. In the meantime, I can expect a lot of similar phone calls in the next couple of months.

A Car and a Circle........

The DT on Bitten By The Bug were asked to use the car accessory from Paper Dolls this week. We were also asked to use lime green. Ooops. Forgot about that, so here is my offering. The car was cut at 3" and then paper pieced. I did the sentiment on the computer, the HI circles are from the Sugar Birdie CD. If you have the paper dolls cartridge, why not have a go. It doesn't even have to be lime green........................ :)

The challenge this week on Cute Daisy May is to use a circle on your card, I used the doily circle card from Wildcard as a base, the sentiment oval (which you can't really see) is from Craftwork Cards and the flowers are Prima. Why not have a go at the challenge, you don't need to use a Cute Daisy image, just make sure there is a circle on your card.

Time to bring the rat saga to a conclusion - Mike is home from sailing looking tanned and well, and was immediately despatched to find a pair of rubber gloves.....it was a squirrel, not a rat. I don't know why I find that so comforting, a dead rodent is a dead rodent, but it was spooking me to think of rats so close to the house, squirrels we know about, they gambol about the garden all day. The amazing thing is that I have not seen any squirrels for a few days, and as soon as their mother/father/brother/cousin was removed, back they came, not to sit reverently on the fence having a moment of silence in memory of their dear departed, but eating my plants as usual.

Lily-Boo Cards

Love this cute hedgie image that is a download from Lily-Boo's Boutique. They cost £1.99 a sheet of 6 (about $3), and I just love these digi stamps, not just because of the wonderful designs but as space is at a premium they are so handy to keep tucked away on your computer. Coloured with copic markers, and I printed it out again onto the pattern paper and cut out the big comfy ol' armchair. The sentiment and little coffee cup are by MFT stamps.

I thought this little chap sitting with his fishing rod would be a great card for a boy, and also maybe for a boy to send to a parent or grandparent. I printed the image quite big, as I didn't want to add flowers or anything to it, keep it simple for once..... I stamped the happy happy sentiment from a set by Hero Arts, and stamped the birthday wishes circle from the same set. Punched a hole in the middle of this, and inserted a brad backwards through the card and bent the prong upwards to look like a hook, then hung the sentiment circle on this. Papers are all by DCWV.

If you look on my sidebar, I have added photos of Milo and Monty - both doing what they do best at the moment, sleeping. Milo was 2 weeks old at the time the photo was taken (he is a month old today), and the one of Monty was taken today as he slept on my lap, at the grand old age of five days. The photos of Kiki and Max are both recent. They are growing so fast!

Yes, the floating rodent is still floating (my sister tells me I will get typhoid fever if I leave it there for much longer, she is such a comfort....)

Polkadoodles - Sketch 4

The sketch on polkadoodles this week was certainly unusual.........see the design teams take on the challenge and get a freebie download to join in. I made this flowerpot card, the insert slots into the pot and the flowers sort of hang over the top. Isn't the ladybird cute? All the papers are from the sugar birdies CD. Nikky is going to be taking it to Create and Craft TV in July.

My car broke down yesterday, it made a strange noise, then the steering went, luckily I had just left the motorway and was only a mile from home. It was towed to the garage, leaving me carless and helpless - I really don't know how to even inflate the tyres on a car, how pathetic is that. Anyway, a friend's husband came round and sorted it, and whilst we were waiting for the tow truck, he wandered around the garden. 'You've got a dead rat in your water feature En' he said chattily, now he is a bit of a joker, so I laughed merrily - until I looked into the terracota pot that is supposed to send trickles of water cascading gently over the sides onto the pebbles below. There is a BIG bloated ratlike thing in the water - it's still there, the tow truck arrived and we were diverted. I keep going and looking at it in fascinated horror, trying to pluck up courage to do something about it. A rat! The water feature is only about 6 feet away from the house. Did he have a wife and little ratlets? If so, where are they? Was it mass suicide? Are more drowned rats going to rise like Ophelia from the deep? What is it with me and wildlife? Regular readers of this blog will have seen me dealing with snakes, large black pigs, poisonous orange furry caterpillars.................now rats.

Sneek Peek at a Papercraft Inspirations Card

Here's a peek at one of the cards in this month's edition of Papercraft Inspirations. The commission was to make a male card, using fruit. I used left over letter stickers for the word 'husband', and the papers are by making memories. Plain and simple, it was for the Quick Cards section of the magazine.

I have been busy with a couple of commissions, a word book with the letters spelling out FAMILY, and by golly, it's taken me forever to do. I can't photograph it as it's full of someone else's photos, you will just have to take my word for it that it looks quite good.

Turtle Card for Inspirational Card Sketches

Isn't this a cute little turtle? You can grab him for free over at Inspirational Card Sketches this week. I printed him out twice and decoupaged the head, flower and feet. Colouring done with copic markers. The papers are by Debbie Mumm, from her baby boy stack.

According to my son's mother-in-law, Kiki seems rather unimpressed with the baby - 'can he kneel?' 'not yet', 'can he sit up?' 'not yet', 'can he have a sandwich?' 'not yet' .........boring. 'Shall I give him one of my sweets?' NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!