Christmas IS coming........

Well, an interesting couple of days here - the laptop continues to be stubborn and   

I can't upload, so the Letraset giveaway will have to wait until next week - worth waiting for though. It's going to be repaired tomorrow, so I will be back in business

In the meantime, here's a Christmas card I made before leaving home, the circle card was cut with Wild Card on the Cricut, I cut another card in white and then snipped a random wavy line so that it looks like sauce on the pudding. The mice were made with circles and ovals from the George cartridge, holly leaves from Christmas Cheer. Mice faces are from Peachy Keen

On a Thursday, I go to meet up with my craft group, and always call them before I leave home to see who wants coffee from Dunkin Donuts. Armed with the list, I go to the drive through. I must stop doing that and go inside, the order is always unrecognizable as the one I gave. A large iced caramel latte, a large hot caramel latte and an iced coffee with cream morphed in a mysterious way into three small hot coffees with no cream. Even when I am face to face with them, as soon as I open my mouth a puzzled look of incomprehension crosses their youthful faces. Now I don't have a strong regional accent, I just speak the Queens English! I found myself yesterday trying to speak in a fake American accent just to make myself understood. I am not sure what part of America I originated from, but it sounded like 'a caarmel cwowffee, iced cwowffee with crem, hod caarmel ladde'. No, they didn't understand that either, sigh, back to speaking very very slowly with a 'watch my lips' look on my face.........

Shaped Card for Polkadoodles

Today on Polkadoodles, the challenge is to make a shaped card. I found a pack of thank you cards on sale in Big Lots for a dollar. Well, they were worth a dollar just for the lovely red square envelopes. When I opened the pack, the 'cards' were just a single sheet of white card, with the thank you sentiments printed in a circle around the edge. The center was perfectly plain.

So I cut a red card using the doily cut from Wildcard, and stamped the Polkadoodles neighbourhood house stamp onto white, cut it out with a nestability and backed that with a red nestie circle. I think the result is fun,  what do you think?

We are in the Lake District for the wedding of the year - Kate and Will, eat your hearts out! Lots of photos will be shared next week. Have a lovely weekend

And the Winner is........

Thanks to all of you who left your names for the Magical Winter CD, only one winner sadly, and she is

LINDA (cardsbylinda.blogspot.com)

Congrats Linda, email me with your address, and your CD will be in the mail at once.

 Look out for a great Promarker giveaway on here next week......

On to today's card, this one took ages to do, so I went a bit mad with the camera. The base card was cut with Wildcard and the Cricut (sounds like a rock group!). I used the doily cut on blackout, and cut at 5", then cut another one and used just the front of that card for the easel (I used the base card as a template to cut out the missing scallops)

The image is a Sugar Nellie digi stamp. Coloured with ProMarkers

Hair cocoa, cinnamon, caramel and tan

Skin Ivory, dusky pink and blush

Clothes Ice grey 1, 2 & 3, powder blue, china blue, cornflower 

I made the flowers using the Flower Shoppe cartridge. The leaves are from Walk in my Garden 

I put some little oval gems to match the flower centers down the sides of the Nestability label shape......

and the sentiment is a lovely silver foiled one from Craftwork Cards

So my son was with four year old Max in a lift (elevator), the lift was crammed with people, all standing silently in the usual British way. Edward was holding Max's hand in the crush, and the silence was broken by an accusing little voice ''Awww Daddy, you're hurting me.........     AGAIN''
Instant swiveling of eyes from the silent onlookers, who all looked as if they were debating whether to call Childline......kids can be so embarrassing  

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

Two more magazine cards ............

Since I have had my hands full with little boys for the past couple of days, here's a peek at two more quick cards from this month's Papercraft Inspirations. The first one is a card for Mum - it would do as a birthday card or mother's day I suppose. The circle card is the doily cut from wildcard, cut on blackout at 6", and the papers are from Polkadoodles Sugar Birdies Cd. I cut the flowers from one of the papers, added a bit of doodling and a quick sentiment.

This one was based on a very heavily altered pregnant mummy cut from New Arrival. I really just used the base cut and altered it drastically, especially around the legs, but she turned out looking good - I wish my legs looked like that! The sentiment is from a stamp set by MFT (My Favourite Things). the figure was done in white card, and I used flesh copics (E00 and E02) to turn it into skin tones
The boys were really good yesterday, thank goodness. Milo has got used to us now, and we had a lot of smiles, and even a few chuckles, and as long as any activity revolves around Fireman Sam, Max is happy. He spends his time dashing around putting out imaginary fires. EMERGENCY he yells, dashing past you waving a plastic fire extinguisher. I have taken quite a few photos, so will update the ones on my sidebar over the weekend.

Another doily card...

Here's another wildcard 'doily' card, this time, I threaded grosgrain ribbon through the holes. The papers are all from Funky Hand's new CD Dreams Come True, and the little branch is one of the icons on the wildcard cartridge

The sentiment oval is by Craftwork Cards, I swiped it with a green inkpad, and I dotted the branch with pearls and green gems. the card was cut at 5 1/2"
I had a good old sort out of all my papers yesterday, now I have them in boxes according to colour, and I have kept the stacks together in another box. I felt quite virtuous when I was done, and I have a huge pile of cardstock/papers to give to my niece as well. How long it will remain organised is anybody's guess, I am a VERY messy worker.

How did I acquire all this stuff? I swear it's reproducing itself in my crafty cupboard. I found tubs and jars of mysterious stuff - powders, pastes, gunky stuff, that I have no idea how to use. I obviously saw some technique using them, somewhere, sometime, had to have them, used them once, didn't like the effect, so back it all goes into the cupboard with the other unused/unloved/unwanted/mysterious stuff. Now, the original purpose of the stuff is lost in the mists of time, and it will sit there until the next time I see a fabulous card made with it. What happens then, is that I forget I have some, go out and buy a new, expensive pot of gunky stuff, and the whole sad cycle starts all over again................

Mental note to self: do not buy any more paper, there is no more room in the boxes

Dreams DO Come True................

So today sees the launch of Funky Hand's new CD - Dreams Come True, on Create and Craft TV in the UK at noon. Good luck Anice xx

This card was cut with the doily feature from wildcard, at 5 1/2", which fits in nicely with this week's dare over on

Daring Cardmakers, where one of my Funky Hand teamies has set the dare for this week

HOLES!

Well, there's holes all round this one Lythan, I hope it fits the bill.

I printed the pattern onto 140gsm cardstock, then cut out the base card.

I love duckegg and brown, don't you?
For this next one, I printed out the spotty paper for a background, and covered the front of a scallop card base.
The teapot and cups are images off the CD, and the fabulous thing is that with the click of a mouse you can enlarge any of them, quickly and easily, with no fiddling around with photoshop or anything, and believe me, if I find it easy, that means it's truly a doddle...................
I decided against colouring in the images, I rather liked the graphic looking black and white. I could, of course, have printed it out onto one of the pattern papers, and it would have totally coordinated. I added some clear shimmerz to drip from the teapot spout. The large letter T is by papermania, and the rest of the sentiment (cheesy isn't it?) was done on the computer.
The printed elements were stuck on with foam pads, to give dimension, and I finished with a silver brad on the teapot lid




So watch out for more Dreams Come True cards over the next few days

It has started to thaw! YESSSSSSSSSSSS! Now it is all slushy and drippy, but so welcome.

Have a lovely weekend

We're HOME!

Here we are, back in the UK, it was strange to fly over and see all the little patchwork fields, all covered with a sprinkling of snow, and boy, did it feel cold. 'You'll get used to it' said our taxi driver cheerfully (he was from Kashmir). The saga of the suitcases ends here, they didn't even weigh them, I was tempted to push my luck and say 'hang on a minute can I just stuff some more things from my terribly overweight handluggage in there', but decided it would be best just to walk away quickly before they looked at the scales. So now we have piles of stuff decanted all over the kitchen floor, a man has been with a wheely thing to try and find out where we have a water leak, if it's outside the gates they pay, if not, well, I'd better clear the kitchen floor quick, because that may have to be dug up (I fancy wood flooring, so I am hoping........)

Anyway, enough of the mindless babble of a seriously jet lagged person, on to today's card, which is for this week's Polkadoodle challenge, we had to use the brand new and very fabulous Nature CD, which turned up in Florida just in time for me to make this.

I cut the card with Wildcard at 6", added a spotty back printed from the CD, then just popped on some trees and that oh-so-cute owl.

The lettering is my favourite making memories tiny alphas - I have bought a good supply back with me, so you will see a lot more of them............... I know there should probably be an apostrophe in the WHOO's word, but as it's just a punny made up word, decided it didn't matter

and just to show you how the card looks when opened. Why not join in this week, a prize for the winner, which would be a nice extra pressie to go under your tree, and then the polkadoodlies take a break until January, which suits me, it will take me that long to sort my stuff out

More Jingle Jangle Cards

Here are some more of the sample cards I sent off to be waved around on Create and Craft TV, for the launch of the polkadoodles Jingle Jangle Christmas CD. This first one was made with three trees that I cut out freehand from the stripey paper, then dotted with blobs of red liquid pearls. The circles are the pointy nestabilities, all papers from the CD

For the second one, I actually used the cover of one of the shaped word books that are on the CD. The base card was done with the doily cut from wildcard cut on blackout at 6"

Don't you love that fat little robin? I drew the holly leaves freehand and cut them out, using tiny red buttons for the berries

This last one couldn't be simpler, the topper is already printed, doodled and coloured, all ready to go. I matted in black and pop dotted two more little penguins on to look as if they are waddling off the edge





On a happier note than my last post, I am feeling human again, and since I have managed to wash my hair, no longer look like a Penny Black hedgehog. So this will be the last time I will refer to this sad and painful little chapter of my life :) but big thanks to everyone for all your support. I might even be able to sit at my crafty table and produce something today..

Circle Card for Polkadoodles

It's a sketch this week on polkadoodles, I cut the circle card using the cricut wildcard cartridge, then used papers from the truly fabulous candy doodles CD to make the card

got to love this cat.................

lots of inking and foam pads on the flowers
Nikky has just announced that she is bringing out a Christmas CD, I haven't seen it yet but I am sure it will be full of gorgeous papers and images. Pop over there and see Lou's tutorial for a lovely little purse, pick up the sketch and have a go, go on, I dare you...

Birdhouse for BBTB and Hot, Hot Hot for Cute Daisy May

On bitten by the bug this week, we were asked to use the house cut from the wildcard cartridge. I knew immediately what I wanted to do, and have to thank Kath, my talented teamie from Funky Hand and Polkadoodle design teams for the idea. Kath made the most fun birdhouse card for Polkadoodles and I thought I could adapt the idea for the cricut house. I cut the house at 7" then ran it through the cuttlebug using the distressed stripes border.

the owl is a stampie from Polkadoodles online store, and the tweet home circles were printed from the sugar birdies CD
I used making memories tiny letter stickers for the word home. Flowers are by prima -- oops I went over the line a bit on his eye, mental note to practice colouring within the lines...........

Cute Daisy May asked us to use only hot colours for our card this week, I picked this image of daisy in her little sundress, she is so sweet and has that look about her that little girls have when they are all dressed up and want to show off their pretty dresses



The label shapes were cut with my go-kreate nesting dies, and the happy birthday sentiment is another download from the new set by the cutting cafe



Don't forget, you don't need to use a cute daisy may image to enter the challenge, just use hot colours and have a go

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.

BBTB, Cute Daisy May and Whimsy Stamps.......

Why is it that a lot of the design teams I do work for all publish their challenges on the same day? Anyway, after a bit of a weekend scramble here is the latest group. Firstly for Bitten By The Bug, we were asked to use the smiley face, which is the icon on the triangular card. Regina has a knack of chosing cuts that you would totally overlook, and boy, this one was the most difficult ever for me. I cut the face BIG, I cut it tiny, I cut it in every colour under the sun, and still no inspiration. Then I remembered the 'Oh Happy Day' circular card on the same cartridge and it all fell into place. So the card was cut at 5" in pale lemon, then again in some chatterbox papers, and the oh happy day circle in peach, which I stitched on with pink thread.

I threw everything at the bow, a cute stick pin (thanks Cheryl), flowers and ribbon, then dangled a tiny smiley face as a charm. I covered the letters and the charm in glossy accents. Pop over to Bitten by the Bug to see all the different interpretations of this cut from the design team, it makes fascinating viewing!

CUTE DAISY MAY

This little chap is so sweet, so I decided to turn him into a 'grandma' card. The little stickers are making memories, and I stuck them onto a Heidi Swapp ghost flower. Don't forget to go over to Cute Daisy May - the sketch this week is lovely. You get the cute blinkie on my sidebar and a free download if you win and you don't need to use Cute Daisy images, so you can combine the sketch with another challenge if you like.


WHIMSY STAMPS

This one is for Whimsy stamps, where the challenge this week is flower power. I used the cute duck, and stamped him twice, once on white, then on yellow spotty paper and cut just his bill out of the spots. The flowers were a cheap spray of flowers that I pulled apart, and the DAY letters are thickers by American Crafts.

Wildcard Cupcake Card

Here is the cupcake card from wildcard, cut at 5 1/2". Since I am always on the lookout for things for Tilda to sit on, it seemed just right to perch her on the top. Some sewing and a bit of glitter and she looks all ready for a birthday party.

I caused great confusion yesterday by posting a St George's Day card on St Patricks day! No, they are not on the same day, St George's day is on the 23rd April, let's say I was flying the flag for England a little early.

St Patricks day here meant that all the pubs locally were festooned with green, white and orange balloons, and there were a lot of young men wearing leprachaun hats weaving rather unsteadily about the town from 10am - goodness knows what they would have been doing by 10pm!

Mothers Day Card for Daring Cardmakers

This week, the dare is to use circles, so I cut this circle card using wildcard, at 5 1/2" - too big to get a matching envelope, but I have some ready made that will fit. The calender circle is a new download from The Cutting Cafe, you can print all the months of the year in circles or squares. Mothering Sunday is on the 22nd March in the UK, I know it's much later in the USA. The letters and parentheses are Thickers by american crafts. Added a huge bow and a paper flower

to jazz it up a little. I do love this aqua colour, it looks great with so many other colours.