and the winners are......

Firstly, huge apologies for the delay in posting. I won't even begin to bore you with details of nasty broadband problems, so as the man who is supposed to know what he is doing isn't arriving until later today, let me get the winners on here quick before my connection goes again....normal service will be resumed after today (I say that with my fingers and toes crossed for luck...)

Many thanks to all those of you who took the trouble to post comments on all the blog party posts, and, as always, I wish I could give each and every one of you a prize and a hug for sticking with me over the years. Another big thank you also to the very generous sponsors who have donated all these prizes for you

1.  Two winners of the Katy sue Designs Classic Christmas CD

Jane Willis and Sandy Bayles

2. Letraset 24 Markers set, the winner is:

CyndiU

3. Limited Edition  Promarker set (from my last Letraset blog post)

Glennis

4. Papercraft Inspiration Magazine prize bundle

KraftyKaren

5. Polkadoodles CD's, the winners are

Winston CD - Nannapat

Hollybobs - Jessica (Jess)

Work and Play collection 6 - Jan (jdaisy9402)

6. Funky Hand Download Voucher

Maryellen Webber

7. Cutting Cafe Download Voucher

Vinita Jain

8. Craftwork Cards Potting Shed bundle

Gra O'Neill

Congrats to all of you. Can you please email me at enfysc@yahoo.co.uk

putting Going Buggy prize in the subject box

Okay, so my computer has crashed five times while writing this post. Exhausted, off to lie down in a dark room....see you tomorrow x

KatySue Designs Giveaway

Thanks to KatySue designs today for another great giveaway - they have given me TWO of the new Christmas CD's.... 




Now if you love traditional Christmas images, you will love this. Classic Christmas CD - not only do you get lots of beautiful images, papers, sentiments, you also get shaped cards (fancy a card that opens like a cracker?) and everything you need to make this really lovely Advent Calendar made up of mini boxes to put a little gift in each day 





Now I've only been working with KatySue Designs for a short while, so I haven't got loads of archive photos to trawl through, but did you know they make fabulous stamps?



and each of their CD's have really imaginative ideas for shaped cards, this one is from the Fabulous Fella's CD



and of course, they make those wonderful moulds, here's my favourite little pots, I just love them



So all you have to do to be put into the draw for one of these CD's is to leave your name under this post and go HERE to sign up for the KatySue newsletter. The really good news is that they have an American website so my friends from the USA can get these lovely products - so often when I am flying the flag for UK companies, they aren't available overseas, but these are....hurrah!

I'm sorry there has been a bit of a hiatus, this post was supposed to be published on Friday but I won't even bore you with the computer problems I have been having, I gave myself a headache from banging my head against the proverbial brick wall, when I was on the phone for the umpteenth time to someone in Delhi Sigh. So I am putting back announcing all the winners until Friday of this week, but all being well I'll be back tomorrow x

Letraset - win 24 markers

Back in July of 2010 I was sent a complete set of ProMarkers by Letraset, and so began my long and happy association with this company. Look what they have given me as a giveaway for one of you today.....  a boxed set of 24 limited edition ProMarkers - sorry I don't have a photo to show you, I was having problems with downloading, hopefully the link below will take you to the photo, but here are the 24 colours the winner will get

Set includes:
Heatwave, Sand Dune, Starfish, Pineapple Crush, Green Shoot, Oasis, Rock Pool, Capri Blue, Reef Blue, Spring Lilac, Peony,Fresh Bloom, Winter Spruce, Solistice Blue, Fire Wood, Sugar Plum, Red Sweater, Frosted Jade, Pressed Leaf, Hearth-Stone, Trick or Treat, Sleigh Bell, Frozen Lake, Iced Pearl

Read more: http://www.letraset.com/products/2179-Limited-Edition-ProMarker-Items/#ixzz3Da921TZc

Now even if you have these limited edition colours, well, a whole set of spares is a fantastic thing to have. Just leave your name under this post, and your name will go in the draw 

I am not going back through my archives for this one, I have used these pens for my colouring ever since that July date. In those days, Letraset didn't even have a formal design team, they had wonderfully talented people who promoted the pens, Jak Heath, Nikky Hall, Debbi Glennie to name but a few. To be honest, I was a bit intimidated, but I love finding new techniques which work with the markers.The whole experience has been a lot of fun, I got to know personally some of the Letraset team before the company was taken over by Colart. I helped out on the Letraset stand at CHA in Los Angeles, met up with the marketing manager at Frankfurt and various UK craft fairs. They have always been so generous to readers of this blog - thank you Letraset. It's so easy to promote products that are as brilliant as these!

Here's one I made using white embossing, a background stamp, and just promarkers to provide a pop of graduated colour.....love that when I haven't got ink pads in the colour I need, my ProMarkers fit the bill!

I'll be back tomorrow with yet another giveaway - don't forget, you need to leave your name below each of the giveaway posts this week to go into the draw for that day.

Papercraft Inspirations Magazine giveaway

Today I have a wonderful giveaway from Papercraft Inspirations magazine who I have done many commissions for since 2008. Here is one of the times I made the cover (no, that's not me in the background unfortunately...)



with this card.....



Now as on other days this week, I have trawled back way into the dark ages to pull up some very early cards to show you - there isn't a lot of point in re-posting any I showed you a couple of months ago. I couldn't find a photo of my other 'cover' card, but I can't tell you thrill you get when you see a magazine with your creation on the cover. The other one was a jolly little Santa I seem to remember

It all started in May of 2008, I had only started this blog in January 2008, and I had an email from the then editor Jenny Dixon, asking if I would like to do a commission of ten cards, I can't find any photos of that commission but I remember it was all about using lace, so they were very pretty girly cards - I was so excited to be asked! I seem to remember each card took me days....

After that I did commissions most months, in the early days I was often asked to make four cards for the quick cards section of the magazine (thankfully that section has now been changed to cards on specific themes. I say thankfully, because it was incredibly difficult to come up with inspiring ideas that would make the reader say WOW, and yet be able to copy them in thirty minutes or less). Here are a few of the ones I was really proud of, going way back to 2008 and 2009 for most of them

Male Card 



Birthday candles




This next one was part of a masterclass article on making pocket cards - the cards were gifts in themselves, each one holding little treats for the recipient...



and I got asked to do some imaginative stuff - these ones were a set entitled 'cheeky undies!'





One of my favourite 'quick cards' makes was this Valentines card - it still makes me giggle!

And I really loved being asked to make a set of Easter cards with a religious theme rather than cute bunnies and Easter eggs...



Here is another card from a mastercard class commission which was all about using Punctuation Marks as the focal point of your cards



another quick card I was rather proud of, the birds were made with buttons...

a quick card Christmas scene - I included this one, although it's a terrible photo,  because it seems quite ahead of it's time, I would make this card now in 2014, maybe using some texture paste snowy backgrounds instead of the snowflake brads I used back then.....

from a feature all about shoes and handbags.....

and using punches for cute animal cards....

and this was a masterclass feature making a little coupon book out of empty toilet rolls. Nicky Hall of Polkadoodles provided the readers with printable coupons which slid into the little pockets. The idea was to offer 'coupons' as a gift - I promise to mow the lawn' or 'good for one car wash and wax' or 'baby sitting for a date night' and so on. Cute idea, but I didn't take good photos of the project before sending it off!

So there's my 'blast from the past', and bearing in mind that most of these are five or six years old, I don't think they have dated too much. Do you? Magazine work certainly brings it's own challenges - tight deadlines, working to very specific guidelines, and even the products used have to be current and readily available to readers, but I always work best when under pressure, so it's been fun

Now on to today, Vicki Atkinson, the editor of the magazine has kindly offered a fabulous prize for Going Buggy followers, someone will get:

A prize bundle from Papercraft Inspirations magazine including books, craft supplies and a copy of the latest magazine

Wow! Thank you so much Vicki. All you have to do is leave a comment with your name below this post, then go to Papercraft Inspirations blog and sign up for their newsletter. (when you get there, click for full page and the newsletter sign-up is in the sidebar).  Now you will not regret this, not only do you get loads of inspiration, there are always all sorts of free downloads for you and competitions to enter as well

Once again, good luck. If you have missed any of this week's givaways so far, scroll down to leave your name below each post. I'll be back tomorrow, it's Letraset day, be sure to drop by, see you then x

Polkadoodles and me.....

So on to Polkadoodles. What can I say about this company, where do I start? Way back in the Cricut heyday I saw some amazing projects posted by someone who called herself Fat Freddie. This turned out to be Nicky Hall, the owner and designer of all things Polkadoodles, we struck up an email friendship, and when Polkadoodles was born, she asked me to be on her first design team

So on 22nd May 2009 Polkadoodles challenge blog was born. Here is my first card, and I've pulled up some very early cards from the archives - you will have seen the later ones, so let's wander back to the days of All Around and Everywhere, Sugar Birdies and Sundae of Seasons (all still favourites, all still available)



This next one has a cute sentiment. 'You make me so happy, I could wag my tail!' See the cute dog hiding on the inside of the card?







Jingle Jangle Christmas CD



A little tag book I made instead of a Christmas card for my son and daughter in law, filled with photos of Max, how tiny he is - sigh......













Oh, I need to stop! I could go on and on pulling up cards. I stayed on the design team until last year and finally stepped down, but I still do some promotion stuff for Nicky (who I adore, and has become a good friend) and as you all know, she sponsors Going Buggy and I have frequent giveaways of her lovely CD's

Thanks to Nicky for a very generous gift for THREE of you. I have three Cd's to give  away

First, the very latest CD featuring Winston, this adorable little bear



Next, the very lovely Christmas CD for this year, Festive Hollybobs, 



and lastly, the very latest in the Work and Play series collection 6 (I haven't been able to 'lift a photo' of this CD, you will have to take my word for it - fabulous as usual!

All you have to do is go HERE to sign up to follow the Polkadoodles challenge blog (we will check that the winner is signed up, fair's fair!), and leave your name under this post. It's another site that will give you fabulous inspiration

I hope you've enjoyed this latest 'blast from the past' - I'll be back tomorrow with another surprise - you are going to love this one also.....
See you then x

Funky Hand

My next design team was Funky Hand - we had such fun on that team, Kath, Kathy, Lythan, Ruth, Allison and Anice (the designer and owner) - I'm sure I have forgotten a few, forgive me

Anice designs papers and stamps on her CD's and has kindly offered a £10 voucher for one of you to spend on downloads of your choice . Her colour choices are just gorgeous, and the designs are always perfectly proportioned for cardmaking. All you have to do is leave a comment under this post, and go HERE to see the Funky Hand blog, and sign up to follow - that's another site you will want to see, loads of inspiration again

So I have been trawling back through my early posts again......

Here's my very first card for the very first challenge in august 2009



I still love the colours and patterns on this next one - I was into making flowers from crumpled up circles at that time, I still love this card, although these little gem flower thingies wouldn't be given house room these days....



I found this Joy Christmas ornament in the dollar bin at Target, and covered it with Funky Hand papers, and used them to dress the little Cricut snowmen as well....



The mittens on this card were a breakthrough - it was the first time I ever managed to resize a digital image!



One of Anice's specialities is word books, here are a couple that I made....





I can't find a photo of my favourite word book.  It was a PLAY word book, full of photos of Kiki taking her dolly for a walk. I sent it to Anice as a sample for a TV show, and the presenter was very taken with it. I had told my daughter in law to watch the show, and Kiki was standing in front of the TV when the presenter started to flick through the book. Kiki turned to her mum with an incredulous look on her face - Yes Kiki, that really was you on TV!



and I still love the funky retro feel of this card....



So there you are. Lots of funky goodness, and another site for you all to visit and follow. Leave your comment here to enter for the giveaway. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another load of memories, and another prize...see you then x 

The Cutting Cafe

I have a giveaway today from Regina Easter, designer and owner of The Cutting Cafe which is your one stop shop for fantastic cutting files - you don't have to own a die cutting machine either, all the cards shown below were done by printing out the patterns and cutting out with scissors. Of course, if you do want SVG files, you can cut right out on your machines as well. Regina is offering three sets of your choice to the winner - thanks Regina. Just leave a comment under this post to enter your name in the draw, and be sure to pop over to The Cutting Cafe and sign up for emails and visit the blog - there is some fabulous inspiration on there...

Now back in the day, when Provocraft had just introduced the Cricut onto the market, there was a very lively and active message board. Regina started a challenge blog called Bitten by the Bug (very enterprising of her, as challenge blogs were practically unheard of then). I was a huge fan (still am) of her work, in fact she was a real crafting goddess in my eyes, so imagine my delight when she asked me to join the Bitten by the Bug team. After a couple of years, Regina left the team to set up her Cutting Cafe company, and I followed her over there as a member of her first design team.

We have never met, she lives in California, but although I left the team as I got busier with magazine commissions, we still keep in touch, and care about each other....

I learnt so much from that girl - not least, my abiding passion for black and white ribbon, what she can do with a ribbon bow has to be seen to be believed! So if you are new to The Cutting Cafe, I really urge you to pop over and wander around, I promise you will be inspired

Here are a few of the designs that I came up with - it all seems a while ago now, most of these were taken in 2009. This first one is a folder that I made to Regina's pattern, filled with matching notecards...






This next one was for Mother's day, I seem to have been a big fan of Prima flowers back in those days, hardly ever use them now, funny how we change...



St Patrick's Day...



I remember loving this next one when I made it, the curved sentiment (you're the apple of my eye) curves perfectly around the apple....



and this beautiful shaped card set got a lot of use. See the black dots on the border? I printed the file onto the pink marbled paper and the dots were part of the file, just gorgeous...




and here is the same card, this time printed onto kraft card and turned onto it's side, I used to to cover the top of an oblong box which I tied with gingham ribbon (what else!)...



So another wander into the past for me. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying digging back into the furthest reaches of my blog and rediscovering old posts, I've been reading the posts too, it's really stirred up some memories and smiles, especially when I find posts about the children and some of the funny things they said that I have forgotten about. Happy smiles..

Please leave a comment under this post to enter todays giveaway, and if you missed yesterday, scroll back to enter for a Craftwork Cards prize. Wiiners will be drawn on the 22nd September, and announced on the 23rd. I'll be back tomorrow with another look-back post x