Nice end to a nice week

Hello!

Well I have missed writing my blog this week and making stuff to show you, but it has been a really good and busy first week in my new job - which I am loving!

To recap - I had lots of fun in MM and spent a large percentage of the time shopping! I came home with lots of lovely new things for my craft stash (and I mean LOTS).

I decided I could enter one challenge this weekend and chose Sketch n Stash #57 - partly because I thought the sketch (below) could work well with some of the new things I bought.

So today's pic is my entry for the challenge and I am pleased because I normally avoid stamps like the one I've used, as I think they are a bit twee!

But I think that using some nice contemporary papers makes it less so. I decided to only colour the bow and the spots on the present and I think that also helps to make it look less old fashioned! The stamps were a free gift with Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine and they are by Molly Bloom's rubber stamps. The papers are from the Sugar and Spice range by Dovecraft, for the sentiment and flowers, I punched them and coloured them using Promarkers. The pearls are by Dovecraft and the oval shape was from a batch of shapes I bought for 99p whilst in MM.

It's the first time that I have thought about punching shapes in white and then colouring them using promarkers - it works really well.

Have a good week - once again no crafting or blogging for me whilst I settle into my job, so I'll see you next weekend.

Cx

Age is only a number!

So I made today's pic for my friend who is 40 in a couple of months. She is a glittery, girly girl, so I made this card totally with her in mind!

It got me thinking about being 40 and the fact that it doesn't bother me as much as i thought it would! Which to be honest was a bit of a surprise, I have been half expecting myself to start freaking out about it some point soon! It would appear though that being happy has made me focus on what fun life seems to be right now!

Anyway today's card is being entered into the Mojo Monday #182 challenge (sketch below). I am really really pleased with this card and think that my friend will really like it! It's so bright and cheery, it just makes me happy to look at it.

I used Co-redinations pale pink textured card stock (for the base card and the smaller circle), Cuttlebug Spotty embossing folder, Pink Petticoat Big Dots paper, My Minds Eye Wild Asparagus paper, Papermania Summer Bloom paper self-adhesive pink spotty ribbon, gems from my local Poundland and the numbers are Anita's Glitterations.

That's it for this week! I am off to enjoy my last weekend before I start my new job. Have a good one.

Early Start

Well today was my first early start in awhile - bit of a shock to the system!

I am on the train on my way to Melton Mowbray, I love this journey it's so quick and so easy. I am going to stay with my In-Laws for 4 days (Hubby arrives Friday night), I'm gonna hang with some friends, see Granny Grantham, do stuffs with my In-Laws and use the new camera A LOT!!

I've got Hubby's netbook with me - not just to blog, but so I can upload all the lovely photos I am planning on taking!

Yesterday I hung out with my friend that just got out of hospital - knowing her, I thought it would be nice to take her some Thank You cards, as it was recently her birthday and I knew she'd be itching to send Thank You's! I was right - yay! She was very happy with the cards and they were especially designed for her - I'll take a pic and show you next week - as next week is going to be a no crafting week, due to me starting the new job, I want to focus! So my posts next week will be mainly about things I have already made.

Today's pic is a card I made for my friends wedding anniversary, I based it on this week's challenge from Get Sketchy #78 (sketch below). I really wanted to make them a special card and as I have been working with lots of pinks, purples and blues, I decided that I would explore green for this card.

I love this card, it really made me smile when it was finished and I got to use lots of fun stuff (more time when you are not working).
I used Pale Green Co-redinations textured cardstock (for the pale green and dark green), Cuttlebug Spotty embossing folder, Pink Petticoat Pretty Little Hearts digital papers, Smirk buttons, Papermania stamp, Versamark chalk ink in Oasis Green and a Woodware heart punch.

I thought I should mention that the heart punch has special meaning for me, as I bought it 7 years ago to make my parent's wedding invites, which was my first foray into card making.

See you tomorrow, hopefully with some pics of my adventures in MM!!

Cx

Scary Tuesday

Not today obviously, but yesterday my friend JJ is coming over today to watch Amityville - as we wimped out at film club a few weeks ago and missed the end, so we decided we'd be brave and try again - but in the day!!

Today's pic is a card I made for a friend, which I think works really well for the DYSU challenge this week - It's #10 and the theme is layers.

I don't think my card is that traditional in the use of layers, but I like how it came out and I like the blingyness (totally not a word) of it! I used Heidi Grace Papers, another of the free sentiments I got on the Complete Cardmaking Magazine disc, my current fave Martha Stewart loopy punch, a chipboard button, some pink ribbon that came with my card blanks (recycle, recycle) and gems by Papermania.

Today, I am off to visit a friend, I haven't seen in awhile and she's not been very well and then it's home to pack for MM and to make sure I am ready for Monday!!

See you Thursday.

Cx

Mices!

The reason mice are my topic for today is because my parents have mice and are not pleased about it, however their attempts at pest control make entertaining reading!
They no longer have a cat - which has prompted the cheeky mice to set up home in their kitchen. Their dog (Oscar the Jack Russell) is rather unconcerned by the arrival of the mices and in part this is because he can't see too well!
So my parents have tried traps and poison to no avail and finally settled on glue traps - they caught their first mouse today, but were quite distressed at it not being dead and so released it!!

Now I can understand that it's not nice to have to kill any creature (no matter how repellent) but surely this is the point of the whole exercise for my parents?! Anyway it made me chuckle.

Onto the craft stuff! I've written a list of the challenges I want to enter this week, mainly because I will be at my in-laws from Thursday, thru to Sunday (before I start my new job on Monday) and so need to get organised so I can take all the pics before I leave and then I can combine my photography adventures with my Father-In-Law with my challenge entries!

This means today, I have been crafting up a storm and have managed to make today's pic - for 3 challenges:

Corrosive Challenges #107 (sketch below)

Kaboodle Doodles #58 Happy Birthday


Polka Doodles Week 10 Challenge - Black, White + 1 other

I gave this card quite a lot of thought, as it was going to be the entry for 3 challenges. I decided it would be nice to use some red for a change, as I often work with blues, greens, pinks and purples.

I am pleased with the outcome and I think I am going to give it to a friend for her birthday. I used Martha Stewart loop border punch, free sentiment circle (from a disc on Complete Cardmaking Magazine), cute chipboard button that was part of a Christmas gift I received, red wool and papers and gems from my local Poundland.

Finally even though this card wasn't part of a challenge involving her, I should mention that my inspiration was Mary Fish, she makes such beautiful contemporary cards, I love her work, I think she is very talented.

Til tomorrow.

Cx

Chilling!

So I am very relaxed and a touch hungover - following a lovely day at a spa yesterday, then Hubby came and joined me and we stayed the night at the hotel - which was totally tricked out! We drank a touch too much, hence the hangover.

I have enjoyed my first week of lady of leisuredom and will be sad to see it come to an end, but I am excited about starting my new job and looking forward to getting stuck into work.

Whilst I have been busy tooling around town - I have still managed to enter all of the challenges I wanted to this week - which is great!

Today's pic is for the Mojo Monday #181 challenge - sketch below.

I loved some of the DT ideas for this sketch and seized upon the opportunity to use my new Pink Petticoat Big Dots digital papers (yes again!!) and make a groovy wedding cards for our friends Lora and Dan. I am really pleased with how the card came out, it's another off the wall attempt - which I quite like! It was a good use of some of my new embellishments from my Christmas stash - the joy one in particular will have special meaning for Lora!

Cx

Lady of Leisure

So because I have been 'busy' being a lady of leisure, I haven't devoted as much time as I would have liked to crafting! I have been making things, but on the downside, I have been leaving it til late to take the photos - hence today's pic, which is a touch dark and doesn't do my beautiful card justice!

I made today's challenge entry using Pink Petticoat Big Dots Lavender papers (for both the backing plain and the spotty paper), the digital stamp also came from Pink Petticoat (With Flowers set) and you saw it earlier in the week, I used Promarkers, Stickles glue, peel-off sentiment (which I coloured purple with permanent markers), ribbon from my local Poundland and push pins (not brads!) from my stationery stash!

I really like this card, it's simple and clean - I might actually take another pic and post it again over the weekend, so you can see it in it's full glory!

I made the card for Sketch and Stash #56 - sketch below.

Cx

It's Been Emotional..

My last week at RL was eventful, lunch filled, booze fueled and very emotional. I am sad to leave my posse, but I will see them again and I now have a shiny new job to look forward to.

So I have been trying out the new camera - today's pic was taken by me, using my new beloved Pentax - it's of Archie - our most elusive kitty kat - he was having a stretch on the bed and I caught him in action - cool right?

As I have a 2 week sanity break before starting the new job, I have been keeping my craft hands busy. I have a whole list of challenges I want to enter this week, but let's start with 2 for today!

DYSU - #9 - Just Green it

Polka Doodles - week 9 challenge - Flower power

Here's my card (pic also taken using the new camera) - I love it.

I have been playing around with ideas for Mother's Day cards (3rd April in the UK) and this one won! I used Pink Petticoat's Little Big dots papers and one of the digi stamps from their With Flowers set - I love Pink Petticoat! I also used Promarkers (Gold, Sage, Pumpkin), diamond Stickles and ribbon and gems from Poundland!!

Until tomorrow.

Cx