Sneak Peeks and some Candi to giveaway......

Just a few sneaky peeks at some of the samples I have been making for Craftwork Cards to take to CHA this week, using the brand new sentiments and card candi.....all will be revealed later

 What on earth can this one be?

Here are some of the wonderful new sentiment sheets - they come die cut in lovely shapes, with the sentiments foiled onto pearlescent card in gold or silver........there are birthday sheets, friend, Christmas, Special Occasions.....

 and they make these wonderful message bands to stick the sentiments on, they really enhance your cards, again, they are diecut, so just pop out. Use the circle ones vertically for a diferent look, pleat the bands, ink them..endless possibilities....

 and here is a collection of the very latest card candi. Is there anyone out there who doesn't know what candi is? Clever little domes of cardstock that you pop onto your card with a foam pad, cheaper and a lot easier than using brads, and much prettier. You can colour them to match your projects, stamp on them to make words or personalise your cards, turn them upside down to make flower petals.....


Don't you love the rich colours in this pack? 

and some lovely chocolate and mocha with champagne.......

Pretty pretty pastels, all foiled with tiny stars.....

Stunning holographics, and grey, silver and black foiled in silver....

and probably my favourite, pearly cardstock with newsprint

So for all my lovely followers I am giving you the chance to win four of the sentiment sheets, with about 20 sentiments on each sheet, four sheets of the message bands, and I will take a generous handful of each of the new candi so that you get a delicious bag full of all the colours shown here. All you have to do is leave your name under this post. If you are an email subscriber, click on the Going Buggy link at the top of your email, and it will bring you here to leave a comment


I will draw a winner by random number generator (that sounds so official!) next Sunday, the 30th January. Good luck


On to the last five things on my reverse bucket list - five more things I DON'T want to do before I kick the bucket!


1. I never want to go on a coach holiday. If you are in a hotel, or ship, at least there are corners to hide around if you meet people you don't have anything in common with. Short of asking the driver to put you in the hold with the cases, it seems to me that you are stuck with them on a coach - it could make for a very, very long journey. Plus, how frustrating it must be when you pass a shop window with the most adorable dress on display which is exactly what you have been looking for for the past three years - only to have the coach drive past, leaving your dream behind in a puff of diesel smoke


2. I never want to become a vegan. No hot chocolate? No quick omelet for tea when I don't feel like cooking? No lovely Sunday roasts? Would I have to wear nasty plastic shoes? No Ugg boots? (not that I have any real ones, but they are on my bucket list, so I might one day)


3. I never want to learn to line dance - my friend Carol did try to teach me the electric slide once, but I was hopeless. When everyone else was doing that cute little  jump, I went the wrong way, which almost caused the whole line to topple over, and when they dipped back, I dipped forward, causing head injuries that could have been quite nasty. I do like the thought of the cute cowboy boots and denim though - but as I have a wardrobe full of sweet white outfits from my foray into tennis, and natty little golf outfits (including clubs and shoes with spiky things on them) that have never seen the light of day, I think I will stick to sitting in my cupboard making cards,  wearing my old jeans...


4. I never want to go to another football match (soccer that is). I have friends who love it, I can think of nothing worse than standing for hours in the freezing cold watching grown men kicking a ball around the field and spitting (they seem to spit a lot, heaven knows why!). Then you have to go to the pub and stand around for more hours discussing why the men kicking the ball were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since the offside rule is way over my head, this is when my eyes glaze over. Cricket is a remote possibility, if it's a glorious summers day and I have a comfy seat that I can doze off in....


5. And finally, I really hope that I never have to visit, in no particular order, Antarctica (-129F), Siberia (-60F), or International Falls Minnesota (-32F), although I did see some rather nice cozy ski wear on sale the other day, so I might revise that later, now do I have 'learn to ski for the nice clothes' on my bucket list? Just off to check.........


So come on, lets see your reverse buckets   

Kraft with Colour for Craftwork Cards

Here's a card I made for the Craftwork Cards blog, using the lovely paper range called Kraft with Colour - although I didn't use any of the kraft on this one, just an embossed edge card, some of the lovely foiled pink paper, and one of the large die cut flowers with a sentiment button. The swirls are a die by Fiskars, and the tiny flowers are punched 

Samples are done and packed, and I must say that the new card Candi is just gorgeous, I will take a photo to show you tomorrow.

After a lot of thought, here is the first five on my reverse bucket list - a list of things I DON'T want to do before I kick the bucket. All very random


1. I hope I am never a celebrity, I can think of nothing worse, not being able to answer the door in your PJ's with hedgehog hair, in case it's the paparazzi. How horrible to have photos taken of you with no make up on, and published for the world to see. At least if family  do that, you can insist the evidence is destroyed, or you will tell the world that they once wore white jackets with rolled up sleeves/had a crush on Paul Young/Olivia Newton John/practised dirty dancing in their bedroom......


2. I hope I never develop green fingers. After a lifetime of killing plants by wilful neglect, I would find it hard to get out of the habit of nipping to the nearest garden center to replace them, all that messing about in compost just does not appeal, plus you have to go outside in the cold to look after them. Honestly I raised three children with less fuss than a geranium demands......


3. I never want to become one of those old women who drive cars very very slowly, sitting bold upright with their noses an inch from the windscreen. I don't particularly want to be driven by a guy doing the same either.....


4. I never want to go on a cruise ship with an Italian at the wheel....


5. Since I have escaped for a long time without bungee jumping, abseiling down a cliff or other foolhardy stuff, I had better put it on this list, in case it suddenly becomes all the rage for retired people. 'Jump love, I'll just sit here and watch, cheerio, see you later' 


I am still pondering my next five....see you tomorrow with them


  

Sunny Days.....

The weather here has been so grey and dreary the past few days, I enjoyed making this card, it gave me the warm fuzzies and made me dream of summer. I am enjoying digging out old stamps that I think would look okay coloured with Aquamarkers, this one is a Hero Arts stamp that I have had for years and probably never used. In all honesty, I hardly had to do any colouring at all, just dabbed a bit of yellow and green here and there.  The yellow mat was punched with a Martha Stewart round the page punch, and the sentiment is by Craftwork Cards. I stamped the flowers twice, and popped the blooms up to make it a bit more interesting

Apart from messing around with pens, I am working really hard to get some samples done for Craftwork Cards to take to CHA. I had a couple of comments from people thinking I was going myself, not me, not this time, just my cards! Instead, I am going to the big trade fair in Frankfurt with Mandy, the owner of Scrappy-go-Lucky, and Diane, who lots of you will know as Capadia.
We are very excited because our hotel has a spa, which sounds a bit posh, it comes with a fitness center, (but we are totally disinterested in that, walking around the craft fair will be quite enough exercise for the day thank you) but we all rather fancy the sound of the heated pool, sauna and Thai massage. What is a Thai massage anyway? How is it different to other massages? If it involves people walking up and down my spine, or hot stones, I may sit that one out........ I will only be there for four days, leaving next Friday,  but have already lugged a huge suitcase down from the attic. Well, you never know do you?


See you tomorrow, when, hopefully, samples will be parcelled up and ready for super fast delivery. 

Flexmarkers and Polkadoodles....

Friday is Polkadoodles challenge day, in case you are thinking you haven't seen a challenge card on here for a few weeks, the team has been split into two teams, so we only do a challenge card for the blog every other week, but there is always inspiration over there on a Friday. This weeks challenge was a sketch (which I forgot to take a screenshot of). It is also our Stashbox Stamp week, when the DT can use a stamp by any maker, I chose these cute little busy mice by Lili of the Valley, coloured with Promarkers, and the sentiment is by Hero Arts. Papers are from various Polkadoodles CD's - be sure to drop by here on Monday, when there will be a Polkadoodles CD up for grabs for one of you 

I do have a couple more aquamarker cards to show you over the next couple of days, this next one was really quick to make, and the stamp was perfect for a splashy watercolour effect. The sentiment is by Stampin Up  

After I have finished the Aquamarker cards, it will be back to alcohol inks, because look what arrived today - three sets of Flexmarkers, look at the gorgeous new colours. I am very happy that there are a lot of very soft blue/greys and neutral tones here, and I can't wait to use them. I already have 24 of the markers, so need to sort and store them over the weekend. 
What are flexmarkers? The same fabulous alcohol ink as the Promarkers, but with a brush nib, I did a quick video on using them a while back. Most of them are also new colours, and there are some lovely, very subtle pale tones in there, so you can get a beautiful pale shaded effect, something that is quite difficult to do with alcohol inks, because the colours are so vibrant.


I am still working on my reverse bucket list, how on earth do you cut these things down to ten? I can think of a million things I don't want to do before I kick the bucket.


Have a great start to the weekend, I'll be back tomorrow, I am busy making some samples for Craftwork Cards to take to CHA in Los Angeles next weekend, so I need to finish, pack and post....... 

WOYWW and some watercolours....

Wednesday again already, time for another snoop around about 150 or so desks in various stages of disarray. Hop over to the head honchos desk, Julia Dunnit, who keeps an unruly bunch in order every Wednesday, and join in the mayhem that is WOYWW

So what's on mine? A box containing the full set of Letraset watercolour markers, which have been very underused while I chased after perfection with my ProMarkers. Perfection elusive, I unearthed my watercolour markers, went and bought a set of brushes from The Works, and started playing. I found the colours too intense in the main if I applied with the nibs, but you get a wonderful splashy watercolour effect if you scribble the nib onto a hard surface (I used a glass stamping block) and pick up the colour with a brush.

 You might be interested to look up while you are here, I have a shelf in my converted cupboard, here is a tin tray screwed to it, a few magnetic dots, and voila, a little forest of stalactite stickles and liquid pearls 

 and here is the end result of an afternoons splashing about with water and baby wipes. The stamp is perfect for watercolours, I don't have many that will fit the bill, but I will be on the lookout for more scene type stamps now

I found it much more difficult to get an impression of light and shade than with Promarkers, but many soggy pieces of paper later, realised that less is more, and that I need more practice! 

I'll be back tomorrow with more soggy, splodgy, watercoloured cards. See you then 

Anything Goes for Penny Black

The challenge over on Penny Black's Saturday challenge this week is anything goes, well I couldn't resist that could I, so here's a simple little card. I stamped the hedgehog twice, and cut around the second image and popped him on to give a bit of dimension. The sentiment is one of those dollar studio G ones - I love the font. Kraft cardstock is by Papermania, and I used my Promarkers to colour the image 

I stayed up until silly-o-clock to watch Julie on QVC, with an hour of lovely Craftwork Cards goodies and samples. She is a natural, very relaxed in front of the cameras, and full of helpful tips. There are more shows from her throughout the day today, so you still have time to catch one. Here's a card made with the latest Kraft with Colour collection, I added a tag and a calender sheet, both pretty heavily inked with tea stain distress ink. 

Have you heard of the bucket list? This is a list of ten things you want to do before you kick the bucket. The latest thing is a reverse bucket list, ten things you definitely hope you won't have to do before you die. This is absorbing my every waking moment, I am forever thinking 'oh no, I hope I never have to have a job emptying sewerage tanks' and other ridiculous notions (hardly likely, since I was a nurse in my other life, retired, and not looking for work). Stay tuned for my definitive list later in the week, and maybe you can work on your own lists now that I have put this bizarre idea into your heads  

Tweet Card for Daring Cardmakers..

I love the Daring Cardmakers challenge blog, they always have the best 'dares' and I join in whenever I can. This week, their challenge is Social Networking - now that's what I call a challenge! Here's what I came up with

the bird is from the Not for Girls CD by Polkadoodles, the very graphic paper is by Cosmo Cricket, foam letter stickers by papermania, and the branch was cut from the Jolly Holiday Cricut cartridge. Cool?


A tale courtesy of 4 year old Max today - that child is a hoot. His parents both have busy lives/jobs, last week his Daddy was away overnight and called to say goodnight to the boys. 'What are you doing tomorrow Daddy?' asked Max 'Going to work' replied   my son. 'Well can we reschedule this call for tomorrow then Daddy, I'm a bit busy now'. Kids are like sponges aren't they? I can just imagine him listening to one of his parents on the phone, and filing it all away in his 'may come in useful in the future' little mental filing cabinet.


After a very mild Autumn, winter has arrived in the UK, definitely time to dig out the thermals and hot cocoa.. If you are in the UK, don't forget to tune in for QVC craft day on Tuesday.  See you tomorrow

Another challenge done.....

I am quite impressed with myself, the 12th of January, and my new year resolution to join more challenges is still going strong (usually they only last until the 3rd  or 4th January. Mind you, I am in this one by the skin of my teeth, as Daring Cardmakers have a new challenge coming up tomorrow!


This week it's a colour challenge, and I followed it as closely as I could, although the blue I used was more blue than aqua. Never mind, it's the effort that counts. I used a script stamp by Hero Arts, dotted some ink spots around (French Foliage set, Stampin Up) and used a flower stamp by Penny Black. The sentiment is by Great Impressions

Here's a date for your diary. Craft day on QVC here in the UK, on the 17th January, and the TSV for the day is some fabulous new collectable and inspiring stuff by Craftwork Cards. Julie will be on air at midnight, 1 AM, 9AM, 12 noon, 3 PM and 5 PM - be sure to catch one of the shows to see lots of brand new kits

Now I have to go and start visiting about 140+ blogs from WOYWW, I'm a day late...

WOYWW and a Penny Black Challenge

Time for another snoop around the world at some crafty spaces, hosted by the amazing Julia Dunning at WOYWW. I managed to get around everyone last week, quite a marathon, but it really is fun, try it. You remember the plastic document folders that I found in Poundland (the UK equivalent of the Dollar Store in the USA). I decided they would make perfect holders for some of my stamps, which were crammed into two drawers and getting very jumbled and squashed. Finding the one I wanted was a frustrating job, with all the stamps from the drawers being tossed onto the floor as I searched.......If you want to see the mess I was in, scroll down to the previous post...

Here is a work in progress - I had lots of 'odds and ends' of stamps by different manufacturers 

I put the stamps on one side, being cling, or acrylic, they stick nicely to the plastic surface to keep them tidy, then I stamped a sheet of copy paper with each image in that box

One little drawback was that there was no room on the narrow box for a label, so I put a white dot coloured with Promarkers on the end of each one.... 

and made a little index sheet which I taped to the wall below the shelf where they sit. Nice! It has freed up so much space in the drawers, that the mainly acrylic sets that live there are no longer in danger of death by squashing

Time for a card. The challenge on Penny Black this week, was to case, copy) a most lovely card from one of the design team, Beth. I copied the photo to show you, but it has disappeared into the black hole that is my computer, and heaven knows where the image is lurking, so you will just have to pop over there and see all the great stuff that the design team come up with

I found this anonymous double sided paper when I was clearing out, and fell in love with it all over again. The sentiment stamp also resurfaced from the murky depths, so it was obviously meant to turn into a man card, and here it is. The stars were cut on my Cricut (George, good old George) and embossed using a Tim Holtz folder, again, miraculously appearing like a little gem from the depths - I have never used it before, and I LOVE it, expect to see everything embossed in stripes and dots for a while

That's me done for today, I'll be back tomorrow

Oh dear......

No card from me today, I have been far too busy sorting and shopping. I needed to go to Poundland among other places, and look what I found, some plastic document cases - see what I did with them later in the week. The packing tape was essential, I send off so many parcels, and I always get my foam pads from there, a bargain at £1

My 1 1/2" circle punch has broken, so I needed to replace that - unfortunately, not in Poundland

and here is my crafty cupboard BEFORE I started organising it. Hmmm.....

I finally got around to labelling all my distress ink pads - yes I know they should be neatly typed, but Martha Stewart isn't going to come around for tea any day soon, and as long as I can read them without trawling through the entire pile, which is what I have been doing, it works for me

Random thoughts from my shopping trip:

Why do Poundland sell condoms and pregnancy testing kits right next to the baby supplies, and on the same subject, would you really trust condoms and pregnancy testing kits from Poundland, and it's a bit unnerving that they sell one for prevention, and one for results right next to each other.....My advice is to stick to the cheap foam pads, go to Boots the chemist for your other supplies

Why are walking shoes called walking shoes? What are other shoes for? Tap dancing? Climbing? Running a marathon?

See you tomorrow, when order will be restored to the CC (crafty cupboard) and for the first time in my entire life I will be able to reach for exactly what I want when I need it.........   

Going Buggy Challenge

Okay folks, so here's the first challenge, I have made it simple, and you have a whole month to come up with a card or project using the main colours of

GREY, WHITE AND RED

(or Black,White and Red)

I listened to all your comments, and most of you seem to dislike the fact that some people have dozens of online friends voting for them, and others felt that a random draw didn't take into account the effort and time people have put in, so I am taking a deep breath, and hoping that I won't upset too many people, and, enlisting my sister Gwendydd and my friend Anne to help me (I haven't told them yet!), and together we will choose our favourite cards for this month's prizes. Please continue to give me your feedback on this - if you feel that you are a beginner, and feel intimidated at the thought of judging, please tell me, or any other reason of course. We can always alter it next month

Edited to say, as always you have all come up with the perfect solution - one prize will be judged as my favourite, the other one will be randomly picked. Perfect!

The very generous guys over at Letraset (thanks Paul) are giving TWO of you the chance to win a wallet that is custom made for your ProMarkers, PLUS a set of six Promarkers of your choice. As you see, the wallets hold 24 markers, fold into a stand, and are a perfect solution to organising your pens

Here's my card to start you off........

Please put your blog link - direct to the post with your card please into Mr Linky below, and please link back to Going Buggy in your blog post. I will be dropping by to see your creations. (If you are not used to doing this, just post your picture on your blog, click on publish, then click on the header of the published post. Highlight this URL in the address bar and copy, then paste it into the Mr Linky box. When people click on your name, it will take them straight to your challenge post)


 It doesn't seem fair that those of you who don't have a blog can't join in, so if you email me a photo of your card, I will add it to this post. There will be a link to this post kept at the top of the blog for a month - challenge closes on 5th February 2012


Can I ask please, that those of you who don't do challenges, but enjoy seeing the cards, please click on the links to go to the various blogs, and leave a quick comment. It would be so encouraging for those who have taken the time and trouble to take part.


Good luck everyone - get crafting

Email entries - Marlene Killey

Abby

WOYWW

The very first Going Buggy monthly challenge will start tomorrow, Thursday

Letraset are offering prizes to two winners so come and join in

I haven't joined in with WOYWW on Julia's blog for ages, if you haven't joined in with this, do have a go  it's great fun. WOYWW? It stands for what's on your workdesk Wednesday, and it's a chance to hop around all sorts of blogs and see photos of peoples workspace. This can be rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Rewarding in a smug sort of way because you realise that there are people out there who are even messier than you, frustrating because you see the most beautifuly organised spaces..... you will notice that my photos are pretty heavily cropped, that is so that nobody can see the utter chaos that is my desk

So, as usual there is a load of paper on there, I have been playing around with my Cricut, and cutting some borders and mats for stamping. I had the idea that I would make a great pile of them so that I would always have ready cut mats and borders to hand, but realised that I could spend the rest of my life cutting, and I still wouldn't have the right colours in the right shapes....

I found some pretty cuts though, see the grey one? It's a circle of butterflies, I have an idea for that one..... and I love some of the borders on the next photo. I was using Elegant Edges and the Circle Sophie cartridge for these cuts.  Mr Blogger is being particularly difficult today, and won't let me put the text where I want it, so you'll have to scroll down 
  

 Here's a very quick little card I made, using a Lili of the Valley image, I fancied a monochrome look, I find a lot of young parents aren't into the blue or pink thing, so I used grey - why not! 

I am entering this into three challenges (another new year resolution, to get out there a bit more)

Allsorts: New Beginnings

The Pink Elephant: Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes

I am planning a kitchen makeover soon - not a new kitchen, just a makeover, new worktops, sink, hob etc etc. It's all at the planning stage, but look what I found in John Lewis sale, the perfect curtains for the french window - a cancelled order by someone who probably lives next door, as they are a perfect fit, and at half price I had to have them, although it is rather putting the cart before the horse.....I can see it all now, pale grey walls, lovely green plants,  splashes of yellow ......

See you tomorrow

Anyone fancy a challenge?

Today's card is an Urban Belle stamp, coloured with Promarkers and the flower is Tim Holtz tattered flower. The kraft card is by Papermania.

Promarkers used:

Face, blush and soft peach

jeans - pastel blue, denim blue, ice grey 3

hair - burnt sienna, cinnamon, tan and caramel

sweater and headband - sandstone, tan 

I've had a few emails about loading the cricut handbooks onto the ipad, so scroll down to the post, I have added a couple of things which I hope will make it clearer

Do you remember a while back when I was having a blog hop, one of the challenges was to make a card and post it here? Loads of you did so, and many have said they would like to do it again. So let's give it a try, and have a monthly challenge on here, there will be a Mr Linky for easy posting,  and there will be  prize for the winner. I will put a voting thingy on, and you can all vote for your favourites, or would you prefer a random draw for the winner? I want to try and gauge your reaction to this idea before I spend time setting it all up, so let me know what you think please

I had a little browse around the shops today (theres a novelty!), everything is on sale of course (those of you not from the UK, the January sales are a huge tradition here), but I wasn't tempted at all, although I did hesitate for a nano second over a pair of cashmere wrist warmers, a snip at £50 ($80). They looked as though someone had cut off the bottom part of a sweater sleeve, that was it, just a tube of knitting. So I picked them up, and thought 'nah, why should my wrists be warm when the rest of me is freezing......'  Do the buyers for these shops ever stop for a minute and think, really think, about their customers? Do they not think that we might have the brains if we need warm wrists, to go to the charity shops, buy an old sweater and cut off the sleeves?

See you tomorrow

Here We Go....

A couple of cards to kick start the new year, both made with the same stamp by Kanban, but with a totally different look. I am a fan of stamps which don't need a lot of colouring (as well as those that take hours of course...) for those quick cards, and really you can't go wrong with this little cow. I just added a bit of grey shadowing here and there. 

A couple of newsy bits for you. As you know I have been on the team for Scrappy-go-Lucky for a couple of years now. Mandy, the owner has become a good friend, but she has decided to concentrate her business in Australia at the moment (a new studio and distribution center) and has discontinued the UK and USA stores at present, so sadly I will no longer be on the design team as such, although I will be popping over there on a regular basis to see what those talented Aussie girls are up to. They have started a weekly challenge on the blog, hop over there to see what it's all about, and of course, if you live in Australia, there is no better place to shop than SGL!


The good news is that Mandy, Diane (Capadia) and I are all meeting up in Frankfurt for a craft fair at the end of this month, so I will be able to bring you all the latest and greatest news and crafty gossip from there.


Secondly, Nikky Hall of Polkadoodles (always an ideas gal) has come up with the brilliant idea of a challenge blog for kids under 16. It's called Diddydoodles, and if your child or grandchild loves crafting with you, do get them to join in the fun - hop over and see what the children have done, amazing stuff.


New year resolutions? Yes, I seem to have made hundreds in the run up to new year, most of them I forgot about today until I realised I had broken most of them by midday (cue for a shoulder shrug, ah well, there's always next year.....) The trouble with resolutions is they are so boring aren't they? They always seem to involve less of what is bad for us, but we enjoy, and more of the stuff that takes gritted teeth to like even a little.


I do have one that involves more - more hair. Let me explain, I have had short hair since I was a teenager, every so often I have the urge to have hair that I can toss with a shake of my head, so I have been trying to grow out the layers. I fancy a choppy bob, I have a picture of just the right style, and in my saner moments, I look objectively at it, and see that the model concerned is rather young - I have tins in my pantry older than her. However, I have suffered it for about 6 months now and I am still fairly determined, although I have very thick hair and it seems to be taking on a life of it's own. One consolation, if they run out of soldiers in bearskin hats for the Olympics in July, I can dye my hair black, they would probably hire me...........


See you tomorrow with more news and stuff