Six Mid Tone Flexmarkers for you

Today's offering is a set of six mid tone Flexmarkers. The winner will get:
Berry Red
Sunflower
Forest Green
Cadet Blue
Wild Orchid
Rose Pink

As always, just leave your name under this post, all the comments for today will be thrown into a random virtual hat to pick a winner - to be announced with all the others next Wednesday. Good luck

Here is a link to the brand new, printable colour charts that Letraset have put together, you can print them blank, to fill in with the colours you own, or already coloured for you to add to your wish list. There are charts for ProMarkers and Flexmarkers

Here is something you don't see very often from me - a scrapbook page. This was made for a magazine commission I did on sliding cards - the 'finale' was to use all three sliding techniques on one scrapbook page, quite a challenge. All the photos are of Max, when he was much younger than his present advanced age of five!

The pocket on the top left of the photo pulls out with a pop up photo. the little boat pocket has a sentiment tag to lift out

the next little element used the sliding principle I showed on the blue flower card earlier this week, I like the way the train underneath seems to move when the top panel is moved across......

the VROOM VROOM sentiment was cut with the Cricut, using the George cartridge.... 

I'll be back tomorrow with another set of Flexmarkers. Have a great weekend

Win - Vibrant Flexmarkers

Todays giveaway is a set of six vibrant Flexmarkers - the colours in this set are:
Sunset
Mandarin
Yellow
Chartreuse
Cyan
Shocking Pink

All you have to do is leave your name under this post, all the comments from this post will be entered into the draw and the winner announced next Wednesday. If you want to see all the Flexmarker colours go HERE to download the new colour chart. To see all the special offers (some markers are 50% off, and you get free worldwide shipping) go HERE

So I thought that the vibrant set deserved a vibrant card. This little image is by Nellie Snellen

isn't she cute! The flowers and leaves are punches, also by Nellie Snellen, coloured with Flexmarkers

Thanks to all of you who have sent good wishes to Mike. Unfortunately he is no better, still in a lot of pain and on very strong meds which have been changed three times, none of them are really working. We see an osteopath tomorrow, keep your fingers and toes crossed that she can do something

If you remember, I had to turn comment moderation on because of the loads of spam that was coming through. Well, I now get to see the spam close up and it is hilarious. About thirty people a day seem to think I am in desperate need of viagra. Then there are the spammers who send out what looks like a genuine comment - 'what an interesting post, I would like to read more, visit my blog pharmacysuppliesforidiots.com'. Last week, for some reason (which left me totally perplexed), I had a stream of spam messages from people all offering me help with blocked drains. What?......Where did that come from? I am offered cheap handbags, designer trainers, stuff to stop me going bald.......it is endless. So if I am late posting any day, you will know that I have been diverted by someone offering me large discounts on bulk dog food, probably sent by courier from China.......(no I haven't got a dog, but a bargain is a bargain)

Win Pastel Flexmarkers

Today's prize is a set of six pastel Flexmarkers - the same excellent quality alcohol ink pens, but with a brush nib instead of the bullet tip. Lots of the Flexmarker colours aren't available in Promarker pens, and as you can use them together, it's a great way to add more colours to your collection. This set has:

Vanilla

Pale Citrus

Aquamarine

Powder Blue

Heather

Sorbet

I'm going to make you take a detour for your entry today. Go HERE to the Letraset blog and leave a comment under my post, then pop back here and just leave your name, those who have visited both posts will have their name thrown in the hat to win the markers, so go on............see what I have been doing with my Cameo and Flexmarkers

All the winners will be announced at the same time, next Wednesday, and I will mail to anywhere in the world

A quick Max and Milo tale - we haven't had one of those for a while

Max (aged 5) - Daddy, do they have prisons for children?

Yes they do, but you have to do something very very naughty, like hurting  someone very badly to go to one, and you are a very good boy

Milo (aged 3)  I'm a bit naughty......

Bless him! I'll be back tomorrow with another set of markers for you

and the winner is .... and a chance to win some ProMarkers

 Apologies for being a day late announcing the winner of the Cherryblossom Lane CD - our shipment of goods arrived from the USA yesterday and I was drowning in a sea of large boxes

I drew the winner using random.org, and the name that came up was

BEV V FROM USA

Congratulations Bev, please email me with your address and I will get the CD in the mail to you

For the next few days I will be giving away some ProMarker and Flexmarker sets - one a day, so a few chances to win. Up for grabs today is a set of five ProMarker skin tones, and somewhere along the line I have lost the image to put here, so you will just have to pop HERE to see all the lovely colours in the set. All you have to do is leave a comment under this post. I will draw all the winners next Wednesday so be sure to come back every day for a new prize. As always, I will mail worldwide. Good luck

Sharing a card I made for a Papercraft Inspirations commission - an article about sliding cards. This pretty little card looks like this when closed........

but pull the ribbon and the left hand panel slides across over the right hand panel to reveal a sentiment....

The main sentiment is by Stampin Up, but I rather like the font on the thank you sentiment stamp which was just a dollar find by Studio G...

Forty three boxes arrived yesterday, forty boxes are unpacked and the contents stowed away. Not bad going. I'll see you tomorrow for the next marker giveaway - enfys@exhausted.com

More Cherryblossom

Here's a couple more cherryblossom lane cards. For this first one, I printed out two of the inserts by mistake, and couldn't waste all that loveliness so I used it for the front of the card - all ready coloured, Nikky usually uses ProMarkers but for this collection she used watercolours, which gives them a lovely soft handpainted look......... 

and here's the inside of the card with the insert in place, I used one of the printed sentiments from the CD.....'what a beautiful way for love to bloom'

 and these two little rabbits giving each other a hug will be a favourite for a lot of people, I printed out the background and cut them out before popping them on with  foam pads - I printed them twice, so I decoupaged the heads and the frills on their dresses for a bit of dimension......

another insert to finish the inside.....sorry about the shadows from the window, winter photos are so difficult to get right

and I turned it into a sister card with this sentiment....

Don't forget, you have until Sunday to enter your name for the draw for this CD - scroll down to the post and leave a comment there

Jessica asked a question about USA and UK card sizes yesterday, these are in inches, converted from the metric to give you a rough idea
8" x 11" - A4
5" x 7" - A5
4" x 6" - A6 (this is pretty much the same as USA invitation size)
3" x 4" - A7

I have a poorly chap here, my husband has hurt his back and is in a lot of pain. At times like this I really wish we lived in a bungalow instead of a three storey town house - especially as the long awaited shipment of stuff from the Florida house is being delivered on Monday. Some serious leg toning is about to take place I think. I may apply for a summer job as a lifeguard on a beach somewhere - oh rats, I forgot you don't just need toned legs, you have to be able to swim more than five yards. Never mind.....

What will you see?

For those who have never used crafting CD's, I thought it would be useful to do a post showing just how easy it is. You slot the CD into your computer (it will work on Windows and a Mac). On Windows, this screen pops up.......

and voila, up pops the home page..........click on enter

 then you can browse away to your hearts content. This is how the ready coloured images show, just click on one to print......(the photos are a bit blurry I'm afraid)

or you can print uncoloured, all ready for you to do............

 you get all sorts of extras - butterflies, fences, flowers, cute houses.....an impressive list of stuff to add that little extra to your cards...

there are 'scenes' all ready for you to print out and make a quick card, or, see the mushroom house on the right? Print out one of the digi stamps, and add that with foam pads to the background scene.....

you also get the images ready placed onto toppers, just print, cut out and add to your card. The files are png. which means that if you have a Cameo, you can cut them out with your machine......

just one screen of sentiments - these are the tickets I used on yesterday's card. You also get individual sentiments, and sheets of sentiments which are done so that you can use a nestability to cut around the wording.....

then there are the papers. Here is just one of the cute little bookcases full of different patterns..

click on one that takes your fancy, and it goes to another screen showing all the colours available, all carefully chosen to coordinate with all the other elements....

here's the flower paper I used on yesterday's card....

 I just clicked on the pale blue background paper, and it comes up on another screen already to print. I tend to print onto cardstock rather than paper. Georgia Pacific from Walmart is perfect, or in the UK, Hobbycraft and Osbornes stationers do a basic range....

there is a direct link to the inspiration gallery on the CD, which will give you a lot of ideas.....

something for everyone.....cute little tags (spot the grandad rabbit I used yesterday?)

you even get coordinating envelopes and pretty inserts that you can print out....

just run a tape runner close to the center fold of your card inside, place the insert on, and close the card to adhere, a really lovely finishing touch...

I have got a couple of cards to show you, but they will have to wait until tomorrow, the light just wasn't good enough today for a decent photo. Don't forget, to be in with a chance of winning this CD, just leave a comment under yesterdays post, I will draw the winner on Sunday

Take a Trip Down Cherryblossom Lane.....

Here's a chance for you to win the latest, totally gorgeous CD rom for your crafting - Cherryblossom Lane by Nikky Hall of Polkadoodles. This is an inspired collection based around fanciful flowers and sweet little rabbits. I can honestly say that this is probably my favourite of all the Polkadoodles CD - I will give you a sneek peek tomorrow of some of the lovely stuff all ready for you to print out. All you have to do is leave a comment under this post, and I will randomly draw a winner on Sunday (3rd February) and announce the winner next Monday. As usual, you can enter wherever you live, I will mail worldwide. In the meantime, go to the Polkadoodles gallery to see some of the gorgeous samples that the design team have made. Good luck

Here's my first card, I loved this little Grandad rabbit,and used him to make a retirement card. It's a simple easel, made by folding and scoring the front of a scallop edge card in half.......I printed him out already coloured, although I could have printed him out as a black and white digi image ready to colour if I'd had more time. I printed a matching background paper, it all came together so quickly...

love these ticket sentiments.........I liked the 'here's to new beginnings' sentiment as well. The last thing people need on retirement is to be told 'take it easy' or 'put your feet up' when they are wondering what to do with the rest of their lives!

the clear domed gems add just a touch of restrained sparkle, without making it too 'blingy' to give to a male.......I printed two images out, cut out the rabbit head, and the two front flower pots, and popped them on with foam pads....

I'll be back tomorrow with a couple more Cherryblossom cards for you to look at. See you then x

Monkeying around....

Here's one of a set i made for Papercraft Inspirations magazine this month. My brief was to make four cards with a monkey theme, with a 'sorry' sentiment (this was hard, I've never associated cute monkeys with regrets....) but as always, I love a challenge, so here is one of the cards I came up with. The monkey was made with punched shapes, I rather like his sad little face (easily turned into a smiley face for a happy card!) All the sizes and the other cards are in the magazine, on sale now in the UK, next month in the USA and Canada...

Thanks to everyone for all the get well messages, they brightened my day. Still in recovery mode here, and the snow keeps falling. I wish it would all stop - I am desperate to get cracking on stuff, get my hair cut, go out for a coffee, go down to London to see those munchkins, maybe tomorrow I can make a start......

In the meantime, random musings from the sickbed...

Why do women who tell us about the weather on TV always wear sleeveless little shift dresses when they are telling us that more snow is expected and temperatures will struggle to get past -5? What's wrong with a nice chunky sweater like normal people wear?

Why do last year's fur lined leather gloves always mysteriously go missing just when you need them most, to reappear in the Spring when the sun is shining?

Repeat last question for that stylish little winter warmer woolly hat that you picked up at 75% discount in the summer sales and put away in a safe place all ready for a bit of winter warming, except the summer sales are on again before you find it....

Why do dogs love snow? I would have thought it would have been most uncomfortable to walk around with all those snowballs hanging off your coat....

What's wrong with flannel PJ's? I don't think they're funny.....

See you tomorrow...x

and the new winner is.....

Still no taker for the ProMarker skin sets, so I drew again, and the name that came out of the hat this time was

RUFUS

I breathed a sigh of relief, because Rufus is a very faithful blog visitor, so I am pretty sure that I will get an email sharpish from her..........I hope! Email me with your address,  and I will get them in the post. I have some more giveaways coming up, so don't despair, it may be your turn next...

No card from me today (again), not wanting to curry sympathy (oh, why the heck not!) but flu and crafting don't work very well. However, I have some antibiotics now, so wait for the miracle healing...In the meantime, although it won't look very impressive to friends from Canada and the Northern states, here is our big (for the UK) snowfall this week, looking out at our back garden.....

But of course, not everyone stays warm and cozy indoors, like children everywhere, here are my grandchildren enjoying the snow............the photos of Max and Milo were lifted from Facebook....

Milo dragging his sledge.....

and Max about to launch himself downhill......

Kiki - even at eight, that child manages to look stylish in any situation!

and Monty discovers the joys of a snowball fight....

Teddy Bears Picnic...

Here's one I made for the Craftwork Cards blog today - go HERE to see the others....the base card is one of their ready made step cards - genius, saves all that measuring and cutting..... the papers are Moorish, and the bears are Alfie Bear stamps. The balloons were cut with the Cricut

Sorry this photo is a bit dark, I took it when there was a blizzard outside

I spoke too soon about my recovery, there has been a bit of a relapse here, I'm fed up with feeling unwell now and it is a strange bug, just when you think you are on the mend, wham, back it comes again...it's time for it to go now, not welcome here! I have done the bare minimum of crafting, just keeping up with design team stuff, it's piling up, I need to be fit and healthy to get on with it.....
In the meantime, the snow keeps falling, so I am keeping warm and snuggly indoors

Still no word from the person who won the ProMarkers, so if I don't hear by Monday night, I will draw another name, so see you then x  

All about Weather......

 I must be feeling better, I sat down for a couple of hours and made some cards...including this one. I used a Silhouette background file called Raindrops for the background, the image is by Saturated Canary coloured with ProMarkers, and the sentiment is by Art Impressions

I added some acrylic rain splashes by Fiskars....

and talking of weather, the UK is feverishly preparing for some snow, we do this every year. Each winter we know that we will have one or two snowfalls, but when it's forecast, the whole country reacts as though we have been given warning of a nuclear fallout that will keep us housebound for three months. Today in the supermarket, the fresh vegetables had mostly disappeared, apart from a few sad carrots, people everywhere with huge stockpiles of food, all ready to sustain them through the long starvation days of a nuclear winter. The sad thing is that I keep looking through the window looking for those snowflakes, well, we got a few....

It is pretty cold though, -4C as I write this. Time for the thermals and a nice mug of hot chocolate I think

The winner of the Promarkers hasn't been in touch with me yet, if I don't hear from her, I will do another drawing and pick another name out next Monday

And the winner is.......

Sorry about the delay in letting you know the winner of the Promarkers, but I'm afraid I am still far from well, this flu has knocked me right off my feet. Thanks to everyone who entered, the name that came up from random.org is

Craftyhugs (Sharon)

Congrats Sharon. Email me and I will get your markers in the mail

Go over to the Letraset blog this week, they have a competition going with lots of chances to win some markers.......

and go HERE to pick up some half price markers - don't forget the free shipping! 

Because of the interruption to normal crafting, I haven't been at my desk for weeks now, but found this card that I haven't shared with you before, or can't remember sharing anyway - I  love this little guy, a Nellie Snellen stamp coloured with ProMarkers. The base card is by Kanban, and the brads are Card Candi from Craftwork Cards

So apart from being ill, I haven't really got anything to report at all - I did make a brief dash into town on a grey January day, to pick up the essentials of life - three extra large boxes of tissues, pain killers, cough medicine....fun things like that. I was struck by the people scurrying by, shoulders hunched against the cold, and all wearing black or grey coats. It looked like a mass funeral service. Why is it that when the sky is blue and the sun is shining, we wear vivid bright colours that look quite harsh in the sunlight, when cool looking neutrals and white linen please the eye........and when the sky is grey and dark, out we trot in our black and grey. Honestly, I think the brightest thing in Solihull that day was my nose!