Age Challenge

The challenge over on Polkadoodles today is to make a card for any age. I used the brand new mini CD called Pretty Sweet - a collection of adorable little girls and some ravishing papers. I cut a figure 8 using Plantin Schoolbook cartridge and my Cricut at 4", then balanced her to sit on the figure using foam pads 

Promarkers used:

Hair cocoa, cinnamon, caramel and tan

Skin blush and soft peach

Sweater same as hair with a touch of burnt umber

skirt apple green and grass

 My favourite letter stickers by Making Memories came in useful....the paper was printed from the CD - and don't forget that Nikky mails FREE to anywhere in the world

After yesterday's post about two nations with the same, but oh so different language, I had a hilarious email from a regular reader here, who reminded me of another phrase that I had forgotten about. She agreed to let me share with you. Thanks Pat


Her brother in law was working in London, fresh from America, just getting used to the differences in the UK. He had a really rough day at work, and at the end of the day, his secretary said, in a sympathetic voice, 'never mind, keep your pecker up'


Now close those mouths, and wipe the coffee from your computer. It's what we say in the UK when we are telling someone 'chin up'


Ah yes, divided by a common language. Cheerio for now!  

Sending hugs.....

A simple little card today,I thought this image would make a cute get well card, or a 'cheer up' note. The image is one by Crafters Companion, round the page border punch by Martha Stewart, coloured with promarkers. This is one I coloured ages ago, so don't have my list of ProMarkers used..... 

How can two languages be the same, and yet so different? So many times when I am here in the USA  I say something which has people's mouths falling open in shock/horror...I should know the pitfalls now, but I still stumble into that big hole:

We say rubber - you say eraser
We say fags - you say smokes or cigarettes
We say 'knock me up at 7am' - you don't say that at all in polite society

and so on....................................It doesn't have to have a racy meaning either. We once had friends round for drinks, and I put some food on the table. 'Tuck in' I urged them. They all sat there looking totally blank 'tuck in?'
Yes, eat up.....OHHHH, you can almost hear the relief as they interpreted a little bit of Britspeak. I am slowly gaining ground here though, all our friends here now regularly say 'where's the loo' and 'put it in the boot' (trunk).

Sweet Little Girl.....

Isn't this little image adorable? She is a Sugar Nellie digi stamp, coloured with ProMarkers. I used a Nellie Snellen die for the label shapes, and the pretty organza flower is one I picked up a long time ago from Michaels

 Promarkers used:


Blush and soft peach for the skin
Caramel, tan, ivory for the hair
sandstone and tan for the bears
powder blue and pastel blue for the dress


Inking done with old tea distress ink

My horoscope yesterday read 'you will encounter some strange people today'
Honestly! So I went to Dunkin Donuts full of expectations of a DD experience. No, everyone was perfectly normal. I knew there was a reason why I never normally read these things......

And the Winners are...........

The numbers that random thingy came up with for the ProMarker giveaway were

102 - JILLYKINS

and

1 - CATHY (cathyplus5 blog)

Congratulations to you both. I need you to email me with your address and home telephone number, and the blending set you would like. Letraset will be sending them out to you

Thanks to everyone who entered, there will be another Promarker giveaway in October, and next week there will be a Polkadoodles prize

Here's a sweet little card for today, I like this Magnolia image the little girl is so cute with the handful of hearts. Paper roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts



Promarkers used:
Hair Ivory, buttercup and saffron
Skin blush and soft peach
Dress Blossom, dusky pink and pale pink

Martha Stewart fine glitter to her wings

We have been suit shopping for Mike - what a good job I went. The whole expedition was punctuated with wifely hisses - 'are you crazy? You would look like a gangster in that' or 'breathing in won't work, you can't stop breathing for hours every time you wear this suit' - we shop for clothes for him once a year, it takes us both 11 months to get over the trauma. The new suit will look very nice, especially when I smuggle the horrible tie back to the store for a refund - by the time he wears it, he will have no idea, nor will he care, that I  will have substituted another one in it's place. It's happened before - 'I really like the tie I chose' he says proudly..........wifely guidance, it's a wonderful thing

Teen Boy Card

Is there a more difficult person in the world to make cards for than a teenage boy? Maybe a middle aged man with no hobbies...... I used an anonymous stamp for this one, one of the stamped images I got in a swap, but he is perfect. I used American Craft thickers for the lettering, and I love the metal embellishments by Making memories. You can see that my sewing machine has been dusted down.....

Promarkers used
Skin blush and soft peach
hair sandstone and caramel
clothes denim blue, pastel blue, ice grey 1, 2 and 3
glasses ice grey 4

Don't forget, you still have time to enter the draw for the Promarker giveaway - scroll down. I will be drawing the 2 winners on Sunday


Random questions of the day: 
Why are houses here in the USA listed for sale as 'single family homes'. Does that mean that houses without this description are big enough to take multiple families? Can you get houses that will take Mr and Mrs Smith, Mr and Mrs Brown, Mr and Mrs Davis, all jostling together happily because they aren't a single family?


Why are all the dollar notes the same size and colour? That green is very iconic, but it can be very confusing sorting out your money when it all looks the same. I recommend a nice purple $20 note, blue for $5, red for $10, and I don't care about anything above $20 since I never have that much in my purse....


Why is it that whenever you are in a hurry, the lights always change to red just as you get to them, then every light does the same for miles, even if you put your foot down and break the speed limit to break the pattern before the next light...........no, it changes just as you get there. This is a worldwide pattern by the way, it happens in the UK as well. 

Petal Card Instructions on SGL

I am sending you on a jaunt today, I made this petal card for Scrappy-go-Lucky and did a photo tutorial on how to do it - hop over there if you want instructions - if you haven't visited there before, you are in for a treat, the design team all have very different styles, and there are some great ideas over there. Check out Diane's idea for Cuttlebug folder storage - I rushed out and bought some of these boxes the very next day! Mandy stocks stuff in the store that is difficult to find elsewhere as well......always a bonus

It's my craft group day today, which means that, as I write this, Mike is struggling to load the car with box after box of stuff, 99.9% of which will be unused, and loaded back into the car at the end of the day. Each time I look at it and think 'I really must be more focused in what I take', and each week I repeat the cycle. Still, if I need a pink ribbon or a black gem, I can be sure I have it.......

Don't forget, you still have a couple of days to try your hand at winning some ProMarkers - scroll down to the post 

Here's Warren again....

Here's that little rabbit again - Warren by Craftwork Cards. A simple little card, but hey, sometimes simple is good! I cut the base card from Bazzill cardstock using the Wildcard Cricut cartridge at 5", and a plain circle in green at 3 3.4" to mat the rabbit image. I used my machine to add some pink zig zag stitching, and finished with a string bow and a small Recollections (Michaels) paper flower. The tag is also by Craftwork Cards.

I have loads of emails from people in the UK who are coming to Florida on holiday, wanting to know about the best deals and places to go - did you know that tens of thousands of Brits cross the Atlantic every year? So my USA friends, ignore this.......

A couple of weeks before you fly over, register your email address with Michaels and Jo-Anns, they will send you email newsletters with coupons. Look online to see where the nearest store is to your hotel - you will need the zip code (postcode) of the hotel for this. It's the five numbers at the end of the address.(In case Americans are reading this in astonishment, we use letters and numbers for our postcodes in the UK, so yours look quite different) Also look online to see if there is a Hobby Lobby or AC Moore anywhere in your vicinity

While you are here, buy the Sunday newspaper, that gives you flyers for all the stores, with coupons for that week - the hotels usually have vending machines for the papers just outside. 

Check out Walmart, they sell craft stuff, including the Cricut Lite cartridges

Look out for Tuesday Morning and Big Lots, they usually have craft stuff at ridiculous prices

Be sure to check, either online or in the local phone directory when you get here, for local scrapbook stores as well. They are the small shops that often stock unusual stuff that you don't get in the big stores

Right, now I have done my bit for the American economy, if anyone can think of another bargain place to shop, please add it in a comment.

I'll be back tomorrow, with a card that, at the moment is just a twinkle in my eye, will it work out? That's always the big question of the day...see you then

Flowers for Regina

Pick up my new blinkie for your blog

One of my crafting heroes is Regina Easter - she was the very first person to think my cards weren't bad, and ask me to join her design team (on Bitten by the Bug). I was so flattered, and I can't tell you how long I took to make my first challenge card. I was really nervous to be in such illustrious company. She eventually started her own business with downloadable printables (and you should just see what that girl does with them). I was with her for the start of the Cutting Cafe, but eventually, various stuff kept me so busy I drifted away, but am still an avid reader of her blog, so this week when I saw that the Cutting Cafe have started a challenge blog, I just had to join in. 

The theme is

Case It

and of course, I forgot to copy the card to put on here, so you will just have to pop over there to see for yourself...........

I was in a blue and brown sort of mood, so this is what I came up with. Gemstone cardstock by core-dinations, lots of distress inking, and a favourite stamp from Penny Black. I stamped it once with rich cocoa Memento ink onto the white label, then stamped it again onto a page of an old book, and after inking the flowers, cut them out and stuck them on with just a touch of silicone glue to give a little lift. I punched two borders, both by EK Success and layered the blue one on top of the bigger white one

Thank you all so very much for all the lovely comments about the new look Going Buggy - not only did I love the feedback, but it was very encouraging and pleasing for Sarah to have such a big hurrah for her work as well. On that note, those of you who like blinkies for their sidebar, well I have one for you - just copy the code in the box below the blinkie and paste it into your own sidebar. The photo galleries have taken me most of the weekend, as I am such a computer dummy, I managed to spend three hours uploading, only to find they were the size of postage stamps. How did that happen? No idea, but another three hours later, it's fixed. 

All the old labels are still on the sidebar, so if you find a Cricut card you like in the gallery,  and want more details, I have labelled them all with the cartridge. Come back here and look under Labels for all the cards made with that cartridge.

So all this has kept me rather busy this weekend, but I did escape to Michaels to pick up a couple of things I needed.I was rummaging in the dollar bins next to a man sitting patiently on a chair, all by himself. He suddenly gave a big sigh and said out loud to nobody in particular

'I'm not sure, but I think I may have died and gone to hell'

   

Do you like it?

Well, do you like it? I am thrilled with my new look blog which has been done for my by the fabulous Sarah Bryan. I wanted a fresh clean look, and to de-clutter the blog she has given me all these little buttons, so if you want to browse my Cricut cards or videos etc, you can just go straight there. 
Those of you who subscribe by email and are reading this post that way, do me a favour and scroll down to the bottom of your email - you will see the words 'you subscribed to Going Buggy' click on the Going Buggy link and it will take you here, to see all the changes in all their glory. You will be able to view the galleries etc that way, and I would love to know what you all think, in fact, I am counting on it.
If any of you with blogs are thinking of getting some professional help to spruce it up, I thoroughly recommend Sarah, she grasped what I wanted straightaway, delivered very quickly, and was fun and easy to work with - her prices are great too! Thank you Sarah xx
So come on - I am waiting excitedly for all my bloggy mates to give me their feedback

Whiteout

SCROLL DOWN FOR PROMARKER GIVEAWAY

It was my turn to set the challenge over on Polkadoodles this week, and as I love all white cards, my challenge is

WHITEOUT

Use all white on your card. Embossing, bling and glitter allowed but the very minimum of colour

This is what I came up with. I used one of my favourite Polkadoodles stamps, stamped it twice and layered one tree on top of another to give dimension. The whole thing was glittered. I used a scallop edge base card by Craftwork Cards, and for quickness, chopped off the scallops from another card for the top. The labels are by Nellie Snellen, and that layer was embossed with the Kars Snowflake embossing folder. Some snowy white card candi and I was done. Be sure to pop over to the challenge blog HERE to see all the gorgeous glittery snowy creations

I have been really busy finishing a few projects (can't-share-with-you-yet kinds of projects), and melting in the heat of the garage as I did so. I have one of these tower fans, which is quite efficient if it is close enough - the downside of that being if it's close enough to feel, bits of paper get blown all over the place, not to mention the glitter. What is it about glitter? How does the stuff get into impossible places? How does it settle so easily on my nose, eyes and chin so that I look constantly as if I am about to go clubbing, and yet is impossible to remove? How can Mike, who never ventures into my craft space, have little sparkly cheeks? How did the lasagne I made for dinner have an extra ingredient? It's a mystery......

ProMarker Giveaway....

Time for the monthly ProMarker giveaway for Going Buggy followers. This month, the generous peeps at Letraset are giving TWO lucky readers a Blending Set of 12 ProMarkers plus a set of the fabulous fine tips to go with them.

You get to choose the set you want, so be sure to hop over HERE to look at all the fabulous colours available, and read some more about the fine tips. Or you can see my post about them HERE - be sure to come back here to leave your comment though. Comments on the finetips post won't be counted

All you have to do is leave your name in a comment below this post. If you have a blog, the nice folks at Letraset and I would really appreciate a mention with a link (don't worry if you don't have a blog) I will draw a winner on Sunday 25th September

Good luck

You may have seen all the petal cards that are around on blogs at the moment (there is a good tutorial on Splitcoaststampers) They are very pretty, but making them with even the largest Nestabilities does mean that you end up with quite a tiny card.

So I thought....I could make bigger scallop circles with my Cricut. So out came Elegant Edges, I cut four scallop1 circles at 5", and here is the result.....

the flower and leaf are a spiral flower and exotic leaf from Flower Shoppe

I reckon the inside of the card would hold a gift card very nicely. The square was punched with a Martha Stewart round the page punch

and I finished with a Craftwork Cards sentiment

Random thought for today. So I was driving along US 19 followed closely by a guy in a black pickup who couldn't wait to overtake me (why are these guys always in black pickups in Florida, at home in the UK their siamese twins are driving around in white vans)

So when he got in front, I saw the legend on his bumper sticker

'AN ARMED SOCIETY IS A POLITE SOCIETY'

Wow! Really? I learn something every day. So how does that work then?

'Excuse me Sir, but would you like a bullet or will you give me your wallet?'

'Gee son, here's my wallet, but I thank you so much for asking me and giving me choices. Have a nice day!'

You have to laugh.........

Bauble Mini Album

I spent the day on Thursday making this little Christmas mini album. It will be our Christmas card to Max and Milo's 'other' grandparents. The chipboard album was in the dollar bins at Michaels, and each page was covered with papers from this years Christmas stack by Papermania UK

I chose this adorable shot of the boys giving each other a hug for the cover........

Max is growing up fast - he starts school this month at the age of 4

He is still obsessed by firemen and rushes around in his uniform yelling EMERGENCY.......

Our sweet little busy bee Milo.........

and Daddy caught them in a pensive mood.........

Milo with Mummy.....

and on holiday in Portugal.....

I found a fabulous quote which is on another page, it reads

Small children keep you feeling

OLD!

So true, that will raise a rueful smile from them.

No funny observations or stories from me today, instead I am remembering, together with the rest of the world, in respectful silence

September 11th 2001

Peachy Keen Poodle

I got the Peachy Keen create a critter face stamps some time ago from Scrappy-go-Lucky. Mandy is one of the few vendors that sell these stamps in Australia and the UK. I made a series of cards for the Scrappy go Lucky blog and this little dog was one of the animals I made up but never got around to putting on a card - until now

I seem to have a bit of a thing about these around the page punches at the moment, don't know why. I have had three or four sets for ages and never used them except as border punches. Anyway, the papers are by K & Co. The dog was cut at 3" and I added some swiss dot embossing to her poodley bits for texture. Base card and sentiment by Craftwork Cards

I didn't tell you about my bedroom episode.....no, wait, don't go away. A couple of days after we got here I needed to go to the loo in the middle of the night. So, half asleep, I staggered out of bed towards the bathroom and walked straight into a wall that shouldn't have been there. My head connected with one heck of a bang (I am still nursing the bruise). You see, that's the problem with all this house hopping, the sub conscious seems to take a day or two to adjust, and thought it was guiding me safely to the bathroom of the house back in the West Midlands. Ouchie.

Just sittin' here......

A little Penny Black card for today. The scallop base card is by Craftwork Cards - I chopped the bottom off another card to make a matching scallop for the top. I love the lazy total relaxation of the cat on this stamp

Sittin' here is what I have been doing tonight. I have just finished some magazine commissions got them posted off today. Ta da... so I gave myself a night off and have been watching a programme called Toddlers and Tiaras with my jaw hitting the floor.

Now for my American friends, you must realise that beauty pageants are unheard of in the UK - we have a grown up Miss England, Miss Wales etc contest, but as far as I know we don't have toddlers in tiaras, or if there are, they don't make it onto our TV. So another American experience for me.

For my UK friends, the programme is all about teensy tots, some of them only a few months old, wearing make up, with elaborate hair pieces (think Joan Collins in Dynasty) and spray tans. Wow. The hilarious bit was that as these kids toddled onto the stage, barely able to walk, the commentator announced that their ambition was to 'do good in life and become a doctor'. Hmm, maybe the parents would do better to sit and read books to them then. They had a celebrity bit, where the kids had to dress up as a celebrity like Dolly Parton (complete with false boobs. Mini Dolly was three!!). My jaw dropping moment was when a proud Mama dressed up her three year old as Julia Roberts - playing the hooker in Pretty Woman. Two words spring to mind, social and worker.

Mind blowing - I can't wait for next week's episode!

As far as TV jaw dropping experiences go, the only thing we have to rival it is Today in Parliament!

See you tomorrow

Inky Antics Turtle

I do love Inky Antic turtles. I paper pieced the bath on this one, and coloured with ProMarkers. The background square is a round the page punch set from Martha Stewart

Ah yes, the little white dog. So I went to Dunkin Donuts and carried my coffee outside. There was a couple sitting there with a baby stroller - I could see little dangling toys moving around, and naturally popped my head around the hood of the pram to admire what I thought would be their baby grandchild. No, sitting there (the body of the pram was a sort of box shape) and looking very frisky was a little white dog. I was a bit taken aback really, but mumbled something about what a lovely little dog, and is that a special stroller? 'Oh yes, he has his own car seat as well'. I thought maybe he had something the matter with his legs, so didn't say anything else, just lurked behind my sunglasses (so useful those things, I wear them in the rain if there is anything interesting to stare at.......)

So the husband came out with coffee and doughnuts (what on earth happened to the three missing letters do you think? Could the original founder of DD not spell? Did they not have enough room above their store for doughnuts, so shortened it to donuts? It's a mystery. But I digress.....back to Buddy, for that was his name. They cut up a doughnut and wheeled the stroller up to the table like a child seat, and he sat there eating it. The worry that he may be paralyzed disappeared when they took him for a stroll around the car park, when he trotted along, sniffing and lifting his leg and doing what comes naturally to little dogs. Then he was placed in the stroller again and wheeled to the car. Why? I don't have the faintest idea

Winners of Blog Candy........

Hi everyone. The random numbers thingy picked out the following for the blog candy

The UK candy will be sent to

MISTEEJAY - Toni

and the USA candy will be sent to

MIA

congrats to both of you. Email me with your address and I will get them in the mail to you

My card for today was made with an Inky Antics stamps and sentiment (got to love that sentiment! I have a few friends that this will be perfect for......). Although it doesn't show up in the photo, the bottle and glass have been coated with glossy accents, and were coloured with ProMarkers

Well, I have only been here a week, and already I have had three interesting encounters! I debated about telling you about this one, but thought 'what the heck, we are all adults'

So I was in the dollar store, and in came a fortyish woman with a bloke trailing behind her. She rampaged up and down the aisles, looking for stuff that would enhance her ermmm personal life and add something to her bedroom frolics. She gave a running commentary the whole time, in a loud voice. Now I can tell you that there is not a lot that this woman didn't know about frolicing!

The words brazilian wax and edible cream came up a lot. I, of course, was fascinated, especially when the hapless boyfriend tried to shut her up, and it became clear that she had forgotten his name :)

In the end, the manager was called, and she was chucked out of the store. Chucked out of a dollar store for unseemly behaviour! Must be a first.

The tale of the little white dog must wait until tomorrow, see you then

We've Arrived - Finally.......

First of all, it's Polkadoodles challenge day, the theme this week is

Autumn

I used papers and images from my favourite Sundae of Seasons CD to make a back to school card - the way the girl is dressed looks quite like a school uniform

I covered the apples with glossy accents - love that stuff

We finally arrived here in Florida, a day later than planned

As for the lowlights of the trip, I really don't want to bore you, but here are the 'stand out' moments....

Arriving at our local airport at silly-o-clock to find that our original flight to Newark was running, but they couldn't switch us back as it was overbooked, so we still had to travel around the world

Getting on the flight to Houston in Frankfurt and hearing the captain say 'our flight time will be eleven hours'.....WHAAT ! I had no idea, stupid of me I know

Arriving in Houston to be greeted by a belligerent immigration officer and a customs officer who was very busy chatting up a pretty girl, at which point it was clear that they had different priorities to us and we couldn't possibly make our next flight.....

We had a jolly good try though, galloping to the next terminal at top speed. I swear if the Olympic committee had been watching, we would instantly have been signed up as the next big hope of a gold for the UK........

Admitting defeat, and trudging to the customer service desk (HA, hollow laughter, a misnomer if ever there was one). 'But where will we sleep' I asked plaintively (by this time we had been travelling for over 24 hours). 'I suggest a hotel' said Miss Snarky 2011. Yes dear, and I suggest that you sign up for charm school or a charisma transplant....

We will gloss over the midnight taxi ride to the nearest Walmart to buy the basics, which were in our checked bags, by now on their way to Tampa or circling forlornly on some distant carousel....

And so, resplendent in our new Walmart finery, we finally arrived - to find the air conditioning wasn't working, and the fridge was leaking....

Still, we got here in the end!