Want to win £60? - CSN Sponsored contest

I was approached by some very nice people from CSN Stores to see if I would like to give away a £60 gift certificate to one of my readers. Well I love offering you freebies, so I had a look at the site, they have some fabulous stuff on there - from lights, to tableware, to cookware. If you are in the USA or Canada, you would get a $60 gift certificate if you won, to spend on CSN's US site. So even though they don't sell craft stuff, how about a coffee maker for your craft space, or a really good light for your table?

To win, all you have to do is to link this post on your blog if you have one, and leave a comment here telling me what you would buy with your gift certificate. Do you think anyone would notice if a person called Enfys won? I would love that Jamie Oliver cookware. The winner will be drawn by random.org on Wednesday 7th July at 5 p.m GMT or thereabouts, (noon EST)

As you read this I will be 35,000' in the air, fighting a losing battle with boredom. I have tried everything on long plane journeys - even taking stamped images with me to colour, but it's just too difficult, I kept dropping the tops of the markers, then driving everyone around me crazy by ferreting around on the floor for them. So I shall sit and read, and look forward to the rubbish food, which I always eat because I am so bored, and it's something to do. It's always the same choice of food as well, just cooked in different ways (we always use the same carrier). 'Chicken or beef' the cabin crew chant as they trundle down the aisle. When you ask 'what sort of beef? 'Lasagne' 'what sort of chicken?' 'stir fry with rice' Now it seems to me that their life would be so much simpler if they chanted 'lasagne or stir fry chicken' in the first place, to deflect the questions from awkward customers like me. No, the missing case has not appeared, very mysterious and strange

Farewell to DD

Just a quick card today, I bought this coffee set by Inky Antics at Orlando's Stampfest, I don't know if you can clearly read all the sentiment, it says

Just Keep me caffeinated

and we'll all be a lot happier

As Dunkin Donuts has given us all such a laugh whilst I have been here, I made this card in DD colours - bright pink and orange for those of you who have yet to sample the joys of a large iced caramel latte, with whippped cream and extra caramel..........................................................

I have spent most of the day today looking for my carry on wheely bag, and I swear it is nowhere in this house. Every spare inch has been searched, and it is not a big house with lots of hidey holes. How can that happen? How can I lose an item of luggage without even taking it out of the house? It's a total mystery. Sobering thought, perhaps I am the nutso, not all the DD characters I have met on my travels! Have you ever had that feeling when something inexplicable happens, and you rack your brains to try and solve it, you really do think you are going crazy.

See you tomorrow

Tilda and Bloom

Here's another card made with that fence from the Bloom lite cartridge. This time, I used it as a perch for Tilda, who was coloured with copics then cut out. The fence was cut at 3" and shadowed in taupe. Papers are by My Minds Eye.

I cheated and gave her a nose! some of the Tilda images are just too much for me with no nose or mouth. I heard that the concept is that they are all angels, and angels speak with their hearts not their mouths. Seems a bit far fetched to me, but there you go, mine has at least got a nose.
I am so busy here, trying to pack a quart into a pint pot............one suitcase has already made the journey up to the supermarket to be weighed, luckily it came in at a few pounds under - I soon fixed that by stuffing more craft stuff down the sides of the case
I was doing a last minute shop, one place I was in was quite quiet, and I had a little chat to the checkout person. She was asking about my accent/where I lived/how long I was here for..........the usual questions. I said I would be back in the UK on the 1st July. 'oh good' she said brightly 'you'll be back for the 4th then'. Well, yes, but we won't be celebrating a whole lot over there!

TPE Challenge - Pink and Black

the Pink Elephant challenge this week is Pink and Black, so I came up with this card. The birdcage and bird are from the cricut lite cartridge Bloom, cut at 4" in black, and shadowed with white.

I added a tiny spray of white roses which I swiped with a pink copic marker to add a tinge of pink. I left the card blank without a sentiment, as it comes under the 'useful for so many occasions category'. In case the lady from Starbucks who takes her caged bird out for a coffee is reading this, this one's for you honey.

I am beginning the big clean up/packing marathon ready for our return to the UK next week. I went out for dinner with my Thursday craft group, we all sit around making cards for about seven hours each week, and they had gone out and purchased a shop card which they all signed for me. Lovely thought gang, and much appreciated, but, ermm, what exactly are we making all those cards for every week? Mind you, they did write 'handmade card' on the envelope to try and fool me........................I will miss them and our Thursday get=togethers when I am back in Blighty.

Summer Holiday for Penny Black, and WOYWW

This week, the Penny Black challenge team have a theme of travel/vacation, here's what I came up with. The papers are by Mambi

I layered three buttons on top of each other, a huge yellow one, then orange, then a small pink one on top

I am joining in with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday again, although you will have a fit when you see it.......
Not on my desk, but as close as I can have it without it blowing all my stuff away is my fan - I craft in the garage here in Florida, and it is HOT
and here's my desk, what can I say. I am a messy worker. There are a couple of project hiding on there that I can't show yet, they are for a magazine



Okay, so I thought yesterday that my dunkin donuts outings were getting ridiculous, so I switched to Starbucks. I sat next to a woman who had a bird in a cage - why? I have no idea why she would take a bird out for coffee. It wasn't a parrot, lovebird or canary or anything pretty, just a rather sad looking plain brown little bird. This constant exposure to rather odd people is very exhausting, I am so busy thinking.............why? what if? where? every day, I need a nap when I get home

Happy Birthday Gwendydd

Today is my sister's birthday - Penblwydd hapus cariad (that's Welsh for happy birthday)

Here's her card. I used one of the new cricut lite cartridges called Bloom, and cut the gate at 3", shadowed in black.

The little boy is a stamp by Art Impressions, I thought he would look cute peeping through the gate. I traced around the shape of the gate and cut out the front of the card, then covered it in green paper (all papers Colorbok). I then cut an arch out at 5" for the inside of the card

I added a brad for the handle of the gate
I then flipped the gate and cut another one for the inside...............


the sentiment oval is by Craftwork Cards

I am really pleased with her card, unfortunately she will not get it in time - I spent ages doing it, put it in a padded envelope, took it to the post office and jumped through all the hoops - customs forms in triplicate, airmail stamps, etc etc. Yesterday, it was returned to me as 'undeliverable'. I don't think it had left the US, so some hapless mailman has been scratching his head wondering exactly where Worcestershire is in the USA. So it will travel back with me next week, she will just have to have another birthday celebration then.


Here is a sneak peek at Kiki's birthday card - it's not her birthday until August, but I made this one early, and I think she will love it. To see the card go to Scrappy-go-Lucky yes, I used the pens again

I'll be back tomorrow, have a great day - it's the first day of summer today

Burger King and Stampfest Video

This card is for my son, who has a birthday on Saturday. He is a bit of a whizz when it comes to a barbecue, so when I saw this cute stamp at Stampfest, I had to have a play with it. I was going to say BBQ King on the front, but then I thought that Burger King was a punnnier sort of sentiment.

The stamp comes as a double, the bottom of the BBQ, then the lid........................................

Which you just slot into the bottom, lifting it up to show the food.....................................
and a happy birthday message. Isn't that a neat idea? I found the tiny wooden utensil in a pack at the show too, and cut a teensy triangle of red gingham paper to look like a picnic tablecloth. I covered the BBQ with glossy accents to make it look like shiny metal



Here is the video I took at the show, a bit wobbly, no commentary apart from two women at one booth who were having a good old chin-wag the whole time I was filming, but it will give you an idea of the booths and the sort of stuff they were selling. I see that blogger now puts loads of tiny little links to videos on the bottom of my post, I don't know who made them at all, who knows, they may show you more than mine did :)

Cool Cat

Here's another cat card, made with the cricut lite Meow cartridge. You cut her perched on the piano keyboard, isn't that cute? I cut at 4", base in black, then the white keys, then the top layer of the face, again in black. The pink background paper is Bazzill embossed spots, it doesn't photograph well.

I gave her a bling collar...........

I had a great time at Stampfest yesterday, I have never been to a craft fair in the USA before. I had lots of basic stuff on my shopping list - bind it all wires, Tim Holtz foam inking pad refills and so on, I was able to get them all, plus quite a few stamp sets which will be getting an inking very soon. I took a video, which I need to upload, and if it is any good will put it on here tomorrow - I thought my UK blog friends would enjoy seeing the booths here. I was very taken by Inky Antics stamps, and a company called Darcey, which I had never heard of, they did the loveliest decorated shadow frames, and some unusual stamps. The Tim Holtz booth had some gorgeous samples - I am not at all into the grungey side of altered art, but these were just downright pretty

So, watch this space, off to do a bit of editing now, see you tomorrow

Cri=Kit pens winner

Without further ado, drum roll, I did the random number thingy, and the winner of the Cri-kit pens is

SANDRA (Misty)

Congratulations Sandra, email me with your address and the name of the pens you would like, and Scrappy-Go-Lucky will get them sent to you

I don't have any new cards to share today, well I do, but I forgot to take a photo of them until the light had gone, so I am posting full pictures of some of the cards I made for Craftwork Cards - I only posted a sneak peek before, and I know that not everyone can follow links. Sorry if you have already seen them, just scroll quickly past the photos :) Here they are.......................

I am off to Stampfest in Orlando for the day today, I will take my camera and try to capture a few things for you

Another Dunkin Donuts story - you are not going to believe this one, but I couldn't make it up. Sipping my coffee, all alone, there was a young man, mid twenties I suppose, hanging around the parking lot. After a while he came up to me and asked if he could borrow my phone for a quick call, his had run out of minutes. So I started rummaging in my handbag (not a easy job, I keep a lot of clutter in there). No phone. 'I must make a call' said the worried chap ' I am donating a kidney tomorrow, and the person who is getting the kidney is coming to collect me here. She's late, I am worried she won't come'

Not much danger of that sunshine, I thought. I mean, if you need a kidney and someone is offering one, you would hardly need to make a note in your diary would you?

With that, a blue car screeched into the parking lot on two wheels, a very healthy looking woman hopped out, he got in the car, and away they went, to meet their fate together.

As I said, I couldn't make it up!

Polkadoodles - Father's Day

Over on Polkadoodles this week, the challenge is simple, make a Father's Day card. As usual, I was running around with a hundred things to do on the old 'to-do' list, so I made this simple card. All the papers are from the Not for Girls CD, I love that script paper printed with the Queensbusy rules of boxing, so used that for my background, and stitched around it.

I cut the boxing gloves out three times, decoupaged them and added glossy accents for a bit of punch (pun intended)

I used one of my favourite techniques for the hook, insert a brad 'backwards' through the paper, and curl up the prongs to make a hook. This can work really well on fishing cards as well......................
Dad was done with shiny black letters by Papermania

Be sure to pop over to Polkadoodles to see what the rest of the team came up with this week.

Call back tomorrow to see who won the Cri-Kit pens, Scrappy go Lucky will be announcing the BIG winner of the blog hop too. See you then

Hang in there.....................

There are 24 new cricut cartridges, exclusive to Walmart, so of course, I have been haunting Wallys until I found them. I bought this cat one, simply because I rather like the cartoony type cuts. Here's the first card I made after breaking two nails, a pair of scissors and a knife to get the packaging open

The cat and washing line was cut at 4", papers are by We R Memory Keepers, and the sentiment stamp is Studio G.

Still melting here...............we had a thunderstorm this afternoon, I was on the phone to a friend in the UK, when there was a massive clap of thunder and the phone went dead. When I called her back I said 'did you hear that? It was thunder'. 'Oh' she said casually 'I thought your house had been hit by a tornado'. Luckily, it did rain a little and that has cooled the air a bit - coming from the UK, I never, ever thought that I would say that I was pleased to see the rain.
See you tomorrow

Penny Black Challenge

I just found time to do this week's Penny Black challenge. The textured blue card base is Bazzill, the other papers are from We R Memory Keepers. The sentiment is by MFT, and the 'brads' are card candy by Craftwork Cards

Here is the sketch I followed

I am still experimmenting with the Wall Decor cartridge, here's another one................

I love layering borders, this one is by E K Success, punched in shell, black, and shell again

I have been hampered a bit this week in my cardmaking by the fact that it is just so hot in the garage where all my stuff is, but I have had to get on with it as I have a few deadlines to meet. I come up for air, gasping and in need of a cold shower every ten minutes or so. Makes it rather slow going......
See you tomorrow

Boy Card - Wall Decor

I am having a ball with this cartridge, Wall Decor and More that I got from Scrappy-go-Lucky, not that I have any intention of decorating a wall, but there are some great features on there for cardmaking. One of the things I really like is the border feature, and this is what I used for these trucks, I cut a shadow in black at 2", then cut the trucks in yellow, blue and green and chopped them about.

The wheels are brads that I picked up in Big Lots, I wish I had bought loads of them now, they are so great for adding to this type of cut/stamp.

The papers are from a stack by We R Memory Keepers, the cityscape seemed perfect, the sentiment is cut from another paper in the stack, and the little spanner tag was part of the same stack - called Geo-hectic, the papers are great for man stuff

Don't forget you have until friday to enter your name for the Cri-kit pens, and to solve the anagram to win all those cartridges

It is really hot here now (well, I am in Florida), and the whole of our neighbourhood is awash with the Stars and Stripes flying proudly, getting ready for the 4th July I suppose. One of the things that I admire here is the patriotism of Americans. When we go to a 'do' at the clubhouse, we always finish the evening by joining hands and singing 'God Bless America', I know all the words now. I daresay that England is now fluttering with the flag of St George, because of the world cup, ( for those of you who are less than interested in soccer, the World Cup is currently being played in South Africa), but I can't imagine us all joining hands and singing a patriotic song, more's the pity. Perhaps it's because we don't really have any great rousing songs, our national anthem is like a dirge, we could chant Rule Britannia or belt out a couple of choruses of Jerusalem I suppose.
I always thought that Billy Connolly ( a comedian for those of you who have no idea what I am rambling about) had a very good idea when he suggested that we should adopt the theme music from 'The Archers' (a very long running radio show in the UK) as our national anthem. No words necessary, just rum ti tum ti tum ti tum, rum ti tum ti tum tum...............................................
So even though I have no interest in footy at all, I am still waving my flag
COME ON ENGLAND
all together now
rum ti tum ti tum ti tum...................................................

Scrappy-go-lucky International Blog Hop and DCM

Well here I am flying the flag for the United Kingdom. It is still Friday evening for me as I write this, but over in Perth it is Saturday morning - Good morning Australia.

I was asked to come up with a project that represented my part of the globe. After much thought, I decided to use as my inspiration

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

who has ruled our country faithfully for almost sixty years now

For my card I first made a 6" square base card and cut away the front on the diagonal like this.................




Then I drew a crown out from my brand new Cricut cartridge Wall Decor at 4 1/2" on white cardstock with a black glitter Cri-kit pen, then pressed load paper, and cut
The second layer was cut from DCWV glitter paper.
The metallic lines look like very neat doodling, you don't really get the effect in the photo.
I added a very narrow Martha Stewart border to the left edge, stitching it with black thread first.
I added a liberal sprinkling of 'diamonds' to the crown and the whole thing was stuck with foam pads along the line of the cut












the font on this cartridge is beautiful....................




The next card is representing the area of the UK where I have lived for all of my adult life. I was born in Wales, but have lived in the Birmingham area for years. Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK, a large industrial centre, and the home of the English Royal Ballet Company. So this next card represents that.
Again using the Wall decor cartridge I cut the beautiful ballet dancer at 4"
The border scallops are by EK Success and Martha







adding some red gems to the swirls of her skirt really bought the die cut alive. I used silicone glue to glue her to the paper, as this dries in 'blobs' and doesn't flatten, useful for giving delicate cuts dimension







Of course, if I am representing the United Kingdom, I also have to mention my second home, the USA, where we live for about six months every year, have many friends and feel very much at home

So here is my card for America.

Celebrating the 4th July, Independence Day (ironically of course, independence from British rule!), I made this card using Designers Calender. I drew the flag first with my white cri-kit gel pen, then cut, at 4", I realised later that I should have cut the main body of the flag in red and the star in blue, take it as an artistic interpretation. At least it's red white and blue! I was too short of time to make another one.

Happy 4th America, and thank you for making us so welcome

These cards fit nicely into the dare for this week over on Daring Cardmakers, so I am entering this post in for that challenge..........

I am giving away a set of 10 Cri-kit pens of the winners choice, and holder. The winner will be drawn randomly from all those who leave a comment on this post, all my followers will be in automatically, if you comment as well as being a follower, you will have two chances. You have until next friday the 18th June to leave your comment.

The main prize for the blog hop is FOUR of the very latest Cricut cartridges, including Wall Decor that I have used for this post (I love this one)

You need to follow the hop from Scrappy-go-Lucky's site to pick up all the clues, solve the anagram and email the answer to the address on the site

I hope you are enjoying this week of hopping around, as much as the design team are enjoying making the projects to show you

Here is your clue for today

For the final clue, visit Mandy at Scrappy-go-Lucky tomorrow to see what she has done with that gorgeous little fairy she cut out on monday

Good luck

Craftwork Cards Contest

There is a new contest going on over at Craftwork Cards - all you have to do is make a card, using the sketch below, using their products.

I was supposed to use the red, white and blue new papers called Anglomania, but of course, as I am in the US at present, I had to make do with what I had. In fact, I thought I might have to miss joining in with this, but then I found a whole pack of the gorgeous Glitz and Glamour papers to make this card.............................................. Do go and see what the rest of the design team are doing with the new paper collection though, I can't wait to try these when I get back home

I drew a rough spiral on the back of the script paper and cut it out, then inked the edges before rolling it into a flower shape



they were popped on with foam pads. The sentiment is just one of the words from the script paper, cut out, and I added tiny blobs of red liquid pearls

Today's designer for the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog hop is Tereesa. Go and collect your anagram letter and don't forget to leave a comment. Tomorrow is my turn, come and see what I have thought of to represent my country, and of course to try your luck at getting a set of pens.

Well, my truth/lies post yesterday really set you buzzing. I was amused, that so many of you thought I was such an accomplished liar
Out of the LOADS of email messages I got about this, the truth has been hit very neatly on the head by Claire who is one of my email subscribers. She wrote:

Enfys, you crack me up! You definitely sound like you could get into funny situations like the ones you listed, therefore I say they are all true except for number 6. I've tried that soup honey, and nobody can endure waiting to lose 50 pounds eating that "bleurk" slop! I especially think no 5 is true since I have done that myself once..okay, maybe twice. Should I ever be invited to your home, I will never have cake! Thanks for the laughs, Claire

Thank you Claire, this wasn't a contest, but as you arrived at the truth in such a scaringly accurate way, email me with your address and I will send you a little crafty goodie bag

See you all tomorrow for the international blog hop.