Neutral tones.....

Today's giveaway is a pack of six neutral flexmarkers. With alcohol markers, it's amazing how versatile these neutrals can be - they can be used for hair, to add depth to coloured clothing, to add shadows around an image. The winner will get:

Cool Grey 1

Cool Grey 2

Cool Grey 3

Cool Grey 4

Cool Grey 5

Black

Want to colour black clothes or hair? This set will fit the bill. All you have to do is leave your name under this post, and a winner will be drawn and announced on Wednesday. If you haven't already done so, scroll down and leave your name on all the posts this week and then you will be entered in all the draws  

Here's my last Valentine, a quickie that I will send to one of the littlest boys. 

I am always glad to finish an 'event' and move on to the next thing. In the UK, it will be Mothering Sunday, which falls in March, totally different to the US Mothers Day....I wonder why that is, Fathers Day is the same in both countries. 

Thanks for all your good wishes, Mike is getting better, much more slowly than he would like, but at least there is a light at the end of this particular tunnel now

I told you that I had a marathon unpacking frenzy on Tuesday, getting rid of most of the boxes. I was left with three - they have taken me four days, and I am still wandering about helplessly looking for somewhere to put yet another pile of stuff - yes, the difficult boxes are the ones that I hurled all the last minute crafting stuff into - too good/useful to throw away, not important enough to warrant a prime position in the crafty cupboard (think of grungepaper and you will understand instantly what I mean). My problem is that I see something online that someone very clever has done amazing things with, and it instantly becomes something I cannot live without. I scour Ebay and Amazon for the best price, wait excitedly for the parcel to arrive, then mess with it for an hour or so. The result is never as good as the inspirational project I saw, so into a drawer it goes, never to be seen again (until I move from one continent to another!) Things that fall into this category are those glimmer mist spray things, perfect pearls powders, embossing paste (boy, did I regret buying that - it took a week to get it off my hands....), and my personal nemesis, the aforementioned grungepaper. Please don't tell me how wonderful the stuff it - I know the theory, I could probably get a PhD on the subject, I have watched the saintly Tim Holtz ad infinitum - nothing helps, in my hands it still looks like an old cardboard box that a puppy chewed......

Come back tomorrow to see which Flexmarker set I am giving away (I suppose I could include a pack of grunge, that would solve one problem.......)

Cheeky Valentine Sneaky Peek

Here's a peek at one of the cards from the quick cards section of Papercraft Inspirations magazine, on sale in the UK on monday.

My brief was to make a simple 'cheeky' Valentine card, here's what I came up with.

I love these sissix doll face rub ons, they have such great expressions.

I gave one of the girlie feet a ribbon bow, she looks very shocked, can't imagine what he's up to.........................

I really need to sort my stuff out, I could do with a secretary/sorter extraordinaire to get me organised. I am sure that even with my limited space I could organise my papers into some system that doesn't involve rummaging around for hours in various boxes to find stuff that matches. Maybe I will try and do it by colour. I do have my plain cardstock in drawers according to colour, that works pretty well, it's the 12 x 12 pattern paper I have a problem with. Then there's the two sided paper - hmmm, now do I file it under blue, or red for the reverse side. Or maybe all my double sided papers can go together. HELP. Anyone got any great ideas?

Lovebirds for the Cutting Cafe - win the file

Regina Easter of The Cutting Cafe has come up with the cutest valentine stuff this year. These little lovebirds are one of my favourite downloads

The paper is DCWV Be Mine stack, I fussy cut around some of the leaves to overlap the image

Would you like to win this download? Regina has kindly said that I can give it away to some lucky person. Leave a comment on this post, I will draw a winner on Wednesday the 20th January and the download will be emailed right to you. I think this would make a great anniversary card as well.

Copic markers used - tree E37,E39

Birds - B 02

Leaves - RV32, RV23

Here's today's sneaky peek at another Funky Hand sample, all will be revealed on saturday........

Running the risk of being boring here, but the snow keeps coming - quite remarkable really, I think Mother Nature took a wrong turn somewhere and thinks she is in Iceland. Hello lady, this is the United Kingdom, we are supposed to have rain not all this white stuff. In the meantime, I am still in dormouse hibernating mode, finding it difficult to get motivated to do anything but curl up by the fire with a bar of chocolate and a good book
Keep Warm!

Valentines for the children - Scroll down for Blog Candy

This is my valentine for Kiki, which I did for the Bitten by the Bug DT challenge this week, which was to use the heart from Doodlecharms. I cut the heart twice, once at 4" in black with the scallops, then at 3 3/4" in plain peach. The elephant image is some clip art that I downloaded from the internet. I handwrote 'never forget, never forget' all the way round the heart, the word Ma is from a thickers foam alphabet, loves you are rub ons (heidi by making memories). My grandchildren call me Ma by the way. I love it, hearing their little voices calling 'Ma' when they see me is one of the great joys of my life.

Now I am not saying that Max is a little monster, but this is his card. I used the monster card off the wildcard cartridge, frankly it doesn't look much like a monster to me, more like a squared off tellytubbie, but as he's only 20 months old he will probably rip it up if he's allowed to, although my daughter in law puts all the cards I make for him into his memory box.

Cheeky Male Valentine

I am cheating a bit here, as this is a card that was published in Papercraft Inspirations two or three issues ago, but as it is that time of the year again, when hot blooded persons turn their thoughts to love and stuff, this might just give someone an idea or two. The inside of the card reads........................to ask if you will be my Valentine. I drew the boxers freehand, but some of the trouser cuts on the paper dolls cartridge could be cut down to make them if you prefer. Tip - glue the little clothes pegs on with silicone glue so that they really stick well. The papers are by Bo Bunny sweetheart range.

Thanks for all your nice comments on keeping warm. The situation remains the same while we wait for our new boiler to arrive, except that the old one, burnt out and defunct, has decided to suddenly fire up of it's own accord, runs for about an hour, just time to discard a layer or two of clothing, then dies again. Great, so now we have a possessed boiler.

Do you like my new blog header? I decided it was time for a change, and as I don't have time to make my own, which I keep meaning to do, I trawled through Rachelle Anne Millers delightful illustrations again, to come up with this one, which looks a bit springlike and happy.

Valentines Card

This is a card I did for a challengy over on Bety's blog - check it out, her work is fantastic. Her address is in my list of favourite sites to visit - Beatriz Jennings. She asked for a card with EVERYTHING on it, buttons, ribbon, bling, chipboard, flowers and a heart. I have left my huge stash of primas in the USA, otherwise the flowers would have been black I think.

Love - New Arrival

I really like using cartridges 'outside the box' and this love cut from New Arrival seemed perfect for a card which fits in with the weekly challenge on http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ This is another first, I seem to be getting into this blogging thing and doing all sorts of challenges. Anyway, back to the card, I cut the 'love' out at 5 1/2", shadowed it in black, and used a black heart, which I ran through the cuttlebug - I think the folder is called dots. Tied the ribbon on with a fastenator which says 'love', added some adhesive stones for a bit of bling, and popped the whole lot on a background paper by Papermania. The doodling is a black sakura gelly roll pen. I quite like the way this turned out.
GD

You mean the world to me

I fancied using the globe from Going Places, and found the perfect stamp to go with it. I covered the globe in diamond glaze to make it glossy. The little heart is a punch.