Male Birthday

A male birthday card today, this is for the Penny Black Challenge Site, a sketch this week. Better late than never, they issue the next challenge tomorrow, I may have the distinction of being last to do this challenge. I love sketches, and keep a portfolio of them on the computer. If I am short of inspiration, I pull them up and can always find a card layout to follow. The stamp is, of course, Penny Black, and the papers are by American Craft. The little metal dots were a Big Lots find, and the sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts. Colouring was done with prismacolour pencils and goo gone. Oops, the striped paper looks crooked in the photo, it isn't in real life, how strange..........

So I am fast becoming an expert on the flora and fauna of Florida. Thanks to all of you who contacted me to tell me that the black and orange caterpillars will turn into tiger moths, and that the caterpillars STING. The upside is that the spray seems to have worked and there isn't a sign of them. I am also relieved that I am not depriving the world of a beautiful butterfly.

Winner of the Magazine is.........................

The first name drawn out of the hat for the magazine you are all going crazy for is

Ms_Dee

Congrats, if you email me with your address I will get it in the mail to you

Here is a variation on the frog in a martini glass card that I did recently. The stamp is called Max, I turned him into Maxine............doesn't she look sweet in her pink polka dots.

Cuttlebug Christmas for Papertake

I am slowly starting to do a few Christmas cards, if I leave it until the last minute, I get so bored, I really am no good at mass-producing. I have the concentration span of a mosquito. So it works well for me to just make a card here and there. This one uses the cuttlebug treetop dies, and is a variation on a card I made a couple of years ago. I did have vague ideas about doing a lot of these this year, but after faffing around with this one...........well, I don't think so. The card measures 8" x 3, the snow drifts were randomly cut by hand. The stitching was a happy accident, I didn't thread it properly so it just made the holes for a feather stitch, I really like the look and will use it again. Lots of ice diamond glitter to finish it off, the beauty of this type of card being that you can have stray glitter all over the place and it just adds to the effect. I inked the edges in ice blue, and added some snowflake brads. I made this card for this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge where they asked for a card with no stamping, now if I do a Christmas card for every challenge for the next few weeks, I may even get Christmas sewn up.

Talking of bugs, I planted some oleander shrubs a month ago and have been nuturing them ever since. When I got back from Orlando, one of them was looking a bit sick and when I went to investigate, the underside of EVERY leaf had some caterpillary things on them. Bright orange with little black bristles sticking out. I brushed them all off and sprayed them with flying insect spray, on the assumption that they would have flown someday if they had chosen somewhere else to graduate from buggy kindergarten instead of my oleander shrub. It seemed to do the trick, but this morning their brothers and sisters have hatched...............................off to Home Depot to ask a bemused sales associate what I can get to kill orange caterpillary things with black bristles.

A Perfect Pair Anniversary Card

I was at a 'swarm' this weekend, which is the nickname for a crop for cricut addicts. It was in Orlando, and luckily two of my pals came with me, so I didn't have to drive (thanks Cheryl). I hate the interstates around Orlando, and would probably still be there, going round and round in circles, handing over the kids inheritance at the toll booths........................... Anyway, back to the swarm, we had a great time, made new friends, laughed and chatted a lot. I made only 5 cards in 2 days, which is an indication of how much I was enjoying myself. We were asked to provide 30 items to put in 'goodie bags', and I had no idea I was supposed to be crafty. The stuff was fantastic - to give you an indication of how much I have to raise the bar for the next swarm, the fabulous little cat face treat bag above, is by my super talented friend Phyllis. She made 30!

The design team over on Bitten By The Bug were asked to use this pear cut from Home Accents this week. Take a look over there, there are some amazing designs. I cut the pears at 4", using papers from a Cloud 9 stack (Joannes), the white scallops are a new punch by martha stewart (who else?!) called double scallops. Ribbon also by MS

Funky Hand New Download

Both these cards were made with papers from a new download from Funky Hand called salt and pepper. I love using black and white on cards, and having this on my computer means I can print out my beloved polka dots whenever I need them. The download is 3.49 pounds, which translates into about $7. Click HERE for details

The dress cards was made using the Happily Ever After Cinderella dress (icon), cut at 4 1/2". Don't you just love that coarse mesh paper on the background? The border punch is one of the new ones from Martha Stewart The inside sentiment reads 'Have a Ball"

The present was cut from Stretch Your Imagination, again at 4" and given a liberal sprinkling of glitter and gemstones. Sentiment is a studio G, and another scallop punch from Martha.

Christmas Card Book

I bought this magazine last year in the UK and was surprised and delighted to see loads of Cricut ideas in it - plus a whole host of other stuff as well. So when I saw it on sale here in the US (at Books A Million) last week, I posted a message on the Cricut message board telling everyone to look out for it. So many people wanted it and couldn't locate it in their towns, that when I saw I had reached the grand total of 200 posts, I went and bought a copy to give away. So anyone who leaves their name here between now and thursday morning will have a chance of winning it. It has 200 pages packed full of really fabulous ideas. Just look at this advent calender made with little bags from the tags, bags, boxes and more cartridge.

Totally Taupe

This card is for this week's challenge on 2sketches4you - a fantastic challenge site started by my BBTB design team buddies Kazan and Laura. I have wanted to make a totally neutral card for a while - the idea intrigued me, not all white, just neutral. I used paper by Martha Stewart and kept resisting the temptation to add brown to the mix. Lots of white stitching and a sprinkle of glitter - I used a quickie glue pen and my best glitter (sparkling ice by Great Impressions). The sparkly glitter doesn't show up in the photo of course, but It's really delicate looking in real life. A big taupe twill bow, ribbon also by Martha, and I am done. I really like the effect, it's cool, elegant and........well, neutral. What do you think?

Cropstop October Kit Cards

I am on the design team for Cropstop this month, and they sent me the October kit to play with. I made LOADS of cards from the kit, so will be posting some more over the next few days. You can see them all over on the gallery at Cropstop.com So all of these cards were made from the kit, which is on sale now, I loved the paper choice and there were all sorts of things like dewdrops, chipboard swirls and flowers to play with as well.

I had a fun time last night sorting my ribbons (fun said sardonically, with a groan). I am a bit of a ribbon freak and can't resist adding to them. A while ago I bought one of those pull-eze things, that look like a washbag with holes punched into the sides. I had it filled, it worked fine, then last night I decided that all the ribbons would look better/be easier to find if I colour coordinated them. So out they all came, a veritable ribbon mountain, and I happily started sorting them into reds, greens.............you get the picture. One hour later I was still, (not quite so happily), sorting the blues, yellows..................two hours from the marathon start time I was, not very happy at all and starting to cram the orange stuff into their little holes. Then I found that what had fitted into the holder before, just would not cram in this time. How could that be? It was the same bag/same ribbon? Honestly, the job took me 3 1/2 not very happy hours. People have run a marathon in less, heck, people have climbed Mount Everest in less time.

Queen For A Day

I made a similar design to this before, but when I saw that Daring Cardmakers wanted us to create a card with a crown on it, I just had to make it again, tweaking it slightly and changing the colours. One of the things I did was to change the size - I had a heck of a job to find an envelope for the last one, so this one sits nicely on a 6 x 4" card.

The crown is from the Happily Ever After cartridge and was cut at 4". I stuck it on the base card, (which was made from double sided cardstock,) at an angle, using dimensional foam sticky pads, and trimmed away the edges of the card around the crown on the right hand side. The sentiment is a home made rub-on (scroll down to 'Labels' on the right of the page for instructions on how to do this). The lacy border on the bottom is the famous Martha Stewart doily border punch. The edges were inked with copper brilliance ink.

You Lucky Duck

This is another of those Inkadinkadoo dollar stamps, and as soon as I saw the sentiment I thought of the little duck from Animal Kingdom. I cut at 3" and decided she would look cute all dressed up in Autumn colours! I used the DCWV Fall stack for all the papers, added doodling, and thought of giving her a ribbon bow, but left her bowless in the end.

So what's been happening here in the past couple of days? Well, I worked late into the night to finish a magazine commission, it's all ready to mail now, and later today I go to the airport to pick up Mike who is flying in from the UK. So a happy day, made happier by the fact that my High 5 card won Cardvaarks 'work' challenge, so I have a gift voucher to spend. Yipee!

Funky Hand Cards

Here are two cards made with the scrumptious papers from Funky Hand. It is such a great idea to be able to browse through a range of papers and just print off what you want. I usually print onto white cardstock, so the weight is heavy enough to make the base card if you want, and the layers add body to the card. These lovely papers are from the Paper Blossom set, which is a download you can put straight onto your computer and begin crafting!

The first one just has the front of the card folded back, and a panel of paper attached. The sentiment circle is printed off the CD. The flowers on the right hand side were cut from one of the pattern papers and a gem attached to the centre. The second card uses a stamped image by My Favourite Things, love these stamps. I stamped the tiny teacup onto pattern paper and covered it in glossy accents, then attached it with a tiny brad.

Card Giveaway Winners

Firstly, thank you all for the wonderful comments and encouragement you gave me - you made my week and I wish I could make a card for each and every one of you. So I printed out the names, including some who emailed me, and some who sent me a message via the Cricut message board. Then I cut them up and put them all in the 'hat' (actually it was a mixing bowl)

By this time I was exhausted and had to have a cup of tea. Got my friend to dip in and pick out the name of :

CarolGoughLust

Carol, I will be sending you the Halloween cards

AND

The second name picked was

Leslie (crdmkrleslie)

Leslie, I will be sending you the second batch of cards

Could both you ladies please email me with your addresses.

Elegant Thank You Card

I made this for the Caardvarks challenge, which this week is being sponsored by Cropstop, so a yummy prize up for grabs there. The challenge was to use a diecut, nice and simple! The flower was cut at 3" from George, then I cut a plain circle to stamp the sentiment on, I used a foam stamp that I got free with a magazine for the thanks circle words. Popped a prima flower in the centre, and ran the lime flower through the cuttlebug (swiss dots folder) The green strips at each side were cut using a Martha Stewart punch, and I added strips of real lace as well. I do like gatefold cards, and now that I have a score-pal they're even easier. This one is 6" square, so you cut your 12 x 12 card to 6", then score it at 3" from each side. Voila, a gatefold card.

Sneak Peek - Papercraft Inspirations

Here's sneak peek of one of the cards published in this month's Papercraft Inspirations - the whole article was about undies - titled Cheeky Undies. On sale in the UK on the 26th September, a month later in the USA.
This month they wanted a photo of me, I was very, very reluctant to send one until I had my highlights re-done (frosting on my hair for US friends :) Anyway, the deadline was approaching, the printer wouldn't wait for me to get my hair done, and I got Mike to stand as far away from me as possible, snapping away with the digi camera, 'Go back further', I kept saying, until he was out the front door. Vanity, thy name is woman.

Not one but two Halloween Cards, would you like them?

Starting with the last card, the design team on Bitten By The Bug were asked to use the house from the Christmas Cheer cartridge, I cut it at 4" and added some doodling and a little ghost from the Paper Dolls cartridge, cut at 1" Click HERE to see all the design teams ideas

The middle card is a stamp by Great Impressions, th pumkins are quite heavily glittered, what a pity glitter doesn't show on photos. The 'hey pumpkin' sentiment was from studio G

The top photo shows all the Halloweeen cards I have made - we have Boo to you with the witches feet, hey pumpkin, haunted house, ghouls just wanna have fun, and best witches. Now would anybody like these cards? I know that most people who look on here are cardmakers, but if you have loads of little ones in your life/not a lot of time/whatever, and would like these, then please just leave me a comment to say so. In the unlikely event that more than one person would like them, I will pick the names out of a hat on Friday evening. Be sure to leave your name in a way that I can identify you ( e.g Enfys from Solihull .....) The cards will all come complete with an envelope ready for you to send.

Belated Birthday Card

Once again, the inspiration for this card came from a $1 set of clear stamps by Inkadinkadoo. I immediately thought of the snail from the Walk in my garden Cricut cartridge, and cut her (well, it must be a female snail in that pretty floral skin!) at 2 1/2" out of a pattern paper by Bo Bunny, then cut the shell from another pattern paper by Martha Stewart. It lacked definition so I cut a shadow in yellow and lots of white doodling. I popped some prima flowers on her antennae, with a small black button in the centre. My crafting friend Phyllis produced the googly eye with eyelashes (how cute), and she was ready to go.

Someone asked me what white pen I use for doodling? I find the Inkessentials pen fantastic, it's a very fine tip, and very white. Shows up very well on dark paper.

Off to a crop again tonight, down at Scrapbook Fanatics. I have a load of stuff to do at the moment, but tonight will be just for pleasure, I think I will get out my photos of Kiki and Max and make a page or two..............

Sweet Birthday - Doodlecharms

This was made using a mixture of the new sweet stack by DCWV, and the gorgeous Martha Steward double sided paper that I found in Walmart of all places. The cupcake was cut from Doodlecharms at 4" the black paper underneath is the new magic paper, that when you tear it, shows a coloured core. Well it's new to me, you have all probably been using it for yonks, I was never a trend setter! The sentiment is from a clear set by Inkadinkadoo. The square scallops used the square nestabilities that I have been sent to try for a month by Cropstop. They are sending various tools to the design team to try out, and this is my first attempt. Hop over there, the forum is up and running now as well as a gallery with some great work for you to browse.

So this is my offering for this week's challenge over at Cute Card Thursday, the challenge being food. What nicer food is there in the world than a yummy cupcake.......................... The photo looks small today for some reason, click on it for a bigger view.

Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun - Halloween

Okay, so I know this is silly, but I found the saying on a studio G set and just had to make this card. I cut the girlie ghoul from Paper dolls at 3", gave her a bow, googly eyes and some eyelashes as well as a scrolly doodle border. The papers are Daisy D, the scallop rectangles are nestabilities, cut in the cuttlebug, and the black border is a doodle bug paper frill. I thought this would be a perfect Halloween card for a teenage girl.

Talking of silly, I went to Walmart yesterday and when I came out, a truck had parked next to me, it was covered in bright green artificial turf, no paintwork, just turf. A large sign proclaimed that this work of art belonged to 'THE PET BUTLER - your dog poops, we scoop'. On the back it said 'Your dog's #2 is our #1' . There was a chap sitting in the drivers seat, he did not look a happy bunny, and given his occupation I could see why really. It set me thinking, you have to PAY someone to scoop the poop? Is there a rare breed of dog in the USA that I have not heard of, that produces vast, elephant-like quantities of the stuff? I have visions of some very rich person taking a tiny Yorkie out for a little walk, for him to do his little business, then taking out her cell phone "Hello, is that the pet butler? Can you come at once please to the corner of 42StN and 34StS, I have a scoop for you......................."

Flower Frame Card from Pooh for BBTB

This week the design team were asked to use the flower frame from the Pooh and Friends cartridge. The diversity of designs was amazing. Take a look HERE
I used Bo Bunny papers and cut the frame at 3", scattered some liquid pearls about and cut a butterfly from the Storybook cartridge.

It can be quite entertaining to be a Brit living part-time here in the USA. The nice thing is that everyone loves our accent - I can be talking absolute rubbish as usual, and everyone hangs on to every word because of the accent. I find that if I say 'Cheerio' everyone loves it, so I say it often just for effect - never say it back in the UK! I do get asked the same questions over and over again, in stores, coffee shops, hairdressers, so here is my list of frequently asked questions, FAQ's and the answers:
FAQ #1 What is the Queen Really Like? - Well, like most of her loyal subjects, I have never actually met the Queen. However, just in case she is reading this blog, Hi Liz, I'll be round at four, can we skip tea and meet at Starbucks, make mine a large latte.
FAQ#2 Is Charles really Happy with Camilla? - Who knows, who cares?
FAQ#3 Do we really eat kidneys - Well yes, we do. If you have never tasted steak and kidney pie, you are missing out on one of the great gastronomic delights of life. The trick is to ignore what the former function was of whatever you are eating - a bit like not thinking about cows when you are munching into a Big Mac.
FAQ#4 How do we get around with all that fog? - Tip: Stop reading Charles Dickens and maybe take up Harry Potter instead. We stopped having fog when they passed a clean air act about 60 years ago. Now we just have rain instead, you're right about that.
I won't go into the Diana conspiracy theories or whether Tony Blair is a nice man....................So there you go, everything everybody wants to know about the UK, cheerio for now

Black and White Cat Card

This is for a challenge on Cute Card Thursday, a simple request, make a card with a cat or dog theme. Well, would you believe I couldn't find a stamp I wanted to play with, so off to the store I went, and saw this cute set by Inkadinkadoo. As the card looks quite complete without a saying, I left it blank, and it goes into my 'any occasion' box, where I can personalise it before sending. The black and white chipboard pieces are by Making Memories, and the paper is Bo Bunny. Whilst I was cutting the nestabilities scallops with my cuttlebug, my 'B' plate snapped clean in half - oh no, oh dear, good gracious me, I will have to go to the craft stores AGAIN - said with a grin. I think I am on the list for Michaels and Jo-Annes staff Christmas parties.

I went to an all day crop yesterday, it was fun. Held at a scrapbook store called Scrapbook Fanatics, on SR 52 in Hudson, Florida. I got quite a lot done, design team work, magazine work, and just general messing around stuff. I always anticipate that I am going to finish a lot more than I do, and take everything but the kitchen sink with me to these things. I spend more time imitating a beast of burden, trudging to and from the car with my twenty sixth box of 'I'm bound to need this" stuff, than I do crafting. I always enjoy it though.