Less is More wk43 - a bit of bling

Today's card is one that I quite liked when I was making it, but looking at the photo I'm not so keen - I think it's a bit boring!  I made it for this week's challenge at Less is More, which is 'a bit of bling'.

I used the limited edition winter distress inks to make the background - the greeny colour is a mix of 'evergreen bough' and 'iced spruce' and then I decided to see what the bright red 'festive berries' shade would look like around the edges - it went a shade of purple!.. not what I expected (although people who know about these things would have worked it out I'm sure!) but quite pretty I think.

I stamped the tree from Hero Arts Swirl Christmas set in memento ink and then added some random bling... although if I'm completely honest it wasn't random at all - I shuffled the blimmin' things around for about half an hour before I was happy, and I still don't think it's quite right.  Can you imagine how long it takes me to decorate our Christmas tree?!  The sentiment is an Elzybells one and the teal cardstock is from Papermill Direct.

I'm also entering my card for Simon Says Stamp's 'anything goes' challenge.

I've got Morgan off today because of the teachers strike.  I ummed and aahed about keeping Dex off nursery too, but decided to send him in the end as I'd get more done with just one of them here lol... regretted it a bit though because Dex got all upset when I dropped him off.  Ooh, just remembered I'm supposed to putting a stew in the slow cooker, better go and sort that out or I'll forget again!

My candy winner!

I'm finally back to announce that my candy winner is

Entry number 10 which is the lovely...

Doreen

Congratulations Doreen :o)

Please email me your address and I'll get your stamp (and a few other goodies) posted to you.

I've had one of 'those' days today... I had the bright idea to make a load of tags to bag up and put in my box at nursery.  So I've been a one woman tag machine today... I've been making them in the kitchen so the table is piled high with bits of card now.  And I'm not even sure if they'll sell at nursery - I'm still debating the Etsy shop idea, but I wonder if it's a bit late in the year to be putting Christmas bits in an Etsy shop.  Sorry, I'm waffling again - ever feel like there's just too much going on in your head?!

If you came to see a card instead of my rambling nonsense, please scroll down to see my Passion For Promarkers DT card!  Congrats again Doreen :o)

Passion For Promarkers - sketch

Before I get on to my card - sorry I haven't drawn a winner for my candy yet!  I didn't get chance yesterday, so I'll be doing it later and will post the result this afternoon.

So, our challenge this week at Passion For Promarkers is a fab sketch created by the lovely Tracy... a sketch which made me panic slightly because there are lots of layers - well, lots for me anyway!  But I'm really happy with the result, so I think I need to start being braver with the sketches I attempt.  We're sponsored by Sugar Nellie so there'll be a fab prize for our lucky winner :o)

I've used one of the fab Maurice images from Pollycraft, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers, with some glamour dust on his hat.  The papers are from a Trimcraft pack I think, with textured red cardstock from Papermill Direct.  I did lots of inking around all the papers for a change, added some spotty ribbon and pearls from my stash, and a Craftwork Cards sentiment.

Here's Tracy's fab sketch

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Creative Craft Challenges - free for all
• Pollycraft Monday - Christmas fun
• I Love Promarkers - anything goes
• Delightful Challenges - red & green
• Totally Papercrafts - Christmas (I think this is my 3rd entry so please delete me if there's a limit)
• Here Come The Boys - for the man/ men in your life

As usual I'm very behind with commenting, so I'm going to try and have a big catch up... I should probably be doing housework but I won't let that stop me lol :o)  Back later to announce my candy winner, hope you all have a lovely day!

Quick Christmas card

I need a little selection of Christmas cards for my box at Dex's nursery, but as I'm not sure whether any will actually sell I wanted to keep most of them fairly simple.  So I dug out my LOTV die cut images - which are what I was searching for the other day when my wandering Gorjuss girl turned up - so I can make some that don't need any colouring.  I'm also trying to use sentiments that I can easily swap if someone wants a card personalising - and so that I can still use them if nothing sells!

I wish LOTV still did these little packs of cute squares, they're so handy for quick cards... although I'm considering buying some of the A4 sheets while the sale's still on, just on the off chance I get a rush of orders lol!

So the image is a LOTV cute square, with lots of glamour dust added.  The papers are Dovecraft, with dark brown cardstock from Papermill Direct.  Large snowflake cut with a cuttlebug die, small snowflake is a wooden one, covered first in glossy accents and then lots of glamour dust while the glossy accents were still wet.  I've sponged a bit of 'gathered twigs' distress ink around the large snowflake and added a card candy centre, and a Pink Petticoat sentiment to finish.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Paper Sundaes - winter wonderland
• Dream Valley - sparkle
• Totally Gorjuss - sparkle
• Crazy 4 Challenges - snow
• Our Creative Corner - O' Christmas tree
• Totally Papercrafts - Christmas
• Charisma Cardz - snowflakes
• Lili of the Valley - anything goes
• Papertake Weekly - Christmas crackers

Right, off to watch the X Factor results show that we've sky-plussed... we've not eaten yet either as hubby's been happily playing a computer game while I was in the craft room, lol hopeless aren't we!  Will be round to catch up with your blogs later too :o)

1 gorjuss girl - free to good home!

Some of you might remember my little gorjuss girl who disappeared... I turned the craft room upside down looking for her, but she stayed hidden and I thought she must have ended up in the bin.  She was one of my favourites, so I bought the stamp again.  Well, today I had a big tidy up because I lost something else, and there was my stamp hiding behind a stack of paper!

So, as I've now got her twice, I thought I'd see if anyone would like my 'extra' one... she has obviously been used though, hope you don't mind!  I'll add some bits and bobs from my stash for the winner too.

No rules, no need to advertise it unless you want to, no need to follow me unless you'd like to... I'm just leaving the link up until Sunday, as it's only a little give away.

Candy reminder!

Just a really quick post - I'll be back later with a card, but as there's only a few hours left on my candy I thought I'd post a little reminder for anyone who meant to enter but hasn't got round to it yet!  Back soon :o)

Sweet Stampin' - punches & dies

I'm back with my second card for today, my DT card for Sweet Stampin' where our challenge is 'punches & dies'.  We're sponsored by Pollycraft and our lucky winner will receive 5 digi images, and there are loads of fab ones to choose from :o)

Ooh isn't it annoying trying to get half decent photos at the moment?!  My lovely MIL has got me a light box for Christmas, so hopefully that will help - wish I could have it now though!

The super cute image is Dexter the Penguin - snow cone, I'll have to use this image for Dex's card I think :o)  He's coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers, with lots of glamour dust for sparkle.  The papers are Dovecraft, another pack I'd forgotten all about, and the cardstock is from Papermill Direct.  I've added some punched snowflakes and pearls, and used a nellie snellen die to mount the image... I don't use this die very often as for some reason it doesn't cut well in my big shot - it seems to struggle to go through at all, and will only cut certain cardstock.  Anyway, I thought I'd persevere this time as the image & sentiment fit perfectly in it.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Christmas fun
• Charisma Cardz - snowflakes
• My Mum's Craft Shop - things with wings
• Papertake Weekly - Christmas crackers
• Everybody Art - Christmas card
• Totally Papercrafts - Christmas

I'm looking forward to watching the X Factor with hubby tonight, I thought it was a shame Craig went last week though.  I'm also looking forward to getting my littlest darling to bed, he's been a right little monkey today!  He found a bright orange ink pad earlier and splodged it all over the kitchen table - such a mess!  Wine and chocolate needed tonight I think!  Hope you all have a good evening whatever you're doing :o)

A Gem of a Challenge - monochrome

Hello everyone, hope you're all enjoying your weekend so far :o)  I'm here with my first card for today, for our new theme at A Gem of a Challenge, chosen by the lovely Christine, which is 'monochrome, not xmas + a sentiment'.

I've used the gorgeous Butterfly Chloe and coloured her with promarkers and flexmarkers, with some touches of Sakura clear stardust pen for a bit of shimmer.  The papers are from the papermania 'big one' stack - I tend to forget all about these papers but they're great for monochrome cards.  The border was cut with my favourite MFT die (again!) and I added a Craftwork Cards sentiment, a little punched flower and some little pearls from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Cutie Sunday - birthday
• Divas By Design - monochrome
• Fab n Funky - happy birthday
• I Love Promarkers - anything goes
• Flutter By Wednesdays - open challenge
• Creative Card Crew - monochromatic
• Secret Crafter - borders & flowers

Off for a huge catch up with you all as I didn't get much blogging time yesterday... back later with my DT card for Sweet Stampin' :o)

Fizzy Moon in grey - The Stamp Basket DT

It's Thursday so that means it's my day for showing a card on The Stamp Basket blog, but before I get onto my card I need to say a HUGE thank you for all the lovely messages you've been leaving me about yesterday's post... honestly, crafters are such wonderful people and I love my bloggy friends :o)

No, I know... it's not my best card, and they're not the best photos either - they look a bit washed out.

I decided to colour Fizzy Moon in grey, just to see what he looked like - I think he looks quite cute, what do you think?  He's coloured with flexmarkers and promarkers, with glamour dust for a bit of sparkle.  The papers are Pink Petticoat printed on linen card, with grey coredinations card that I've sanded a bit.  I used a Little Claire tag die to cut Fizzy Moon out and then I made a mat for it by drawing around the tag and cutting it out.

I dyed some white seam binding with distress ink and then sprayed it with water, scrunched it up and dried it with my heat gun for a wrinkled up look.  I made a (not very good and not big enough!) bow and then sprayed the ribbon again, wound it loosely around a chunky paintbrush handle and dried with the heat gun again, so that it curled.  I don't think I've arranged it quite right so I'm not overly happy with  it, but I do like the curly effect so I might try this again and hopefully improve it!  Added a polka dot button, a tiny gem on one of the presents and a LOTV sentiment cut out with a MFT tab die.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Freshly Made Sketches - sketch
• Creative Inspirations - blue, grey and white
• Paper Sundaes - beautiful bows (I'm not very good at bows but I tried!)
• Simon Says Stamp - tag, you're it

Don't forget I have a mini candy that's just running until Sunday, if you'd like to win a sweet gorjuss girl and whatever else I decide to put in with her :o)

I did it....

I finally plucked up the courage to go to the dentists and get registration forms - I was shaking just going inside but that's the first bit done, now I just need to take the forms back and get an appointment.  Although she did say it could be a few weeks before they can get me in.

I decided to go to the docs as well, as I've been having constant headaches and ear pain and I wasn't sure if it was all to do with my teeth or something else.  Somehow my appointment with the doctor turned into a long discussion about anxiety and depression which she feels may be causing a lot of my problems (she thinks I might be teeth grinding in my sleep!).  I spent most of the appointment in tears (so embarrassing!) and I now have to fill in a depression questionnaire and go in and see her again next week.  I'm feeling a bit weird about all this... my family are very much the 'pull yourself together' type and I don't really know how to deal with any of this... I didn't think I was even going to say anything about it until I started typing... feeling a bit cross with myself and I don't know why... Gawd, sorry just ignore me, I don't half go on!

Here's a card, for those of you who came to see what I've made instead of reading a load of nonsense...

Just a simple one that I made for Morgan to take to the birthday party he went to the other day.  I've used Making Memories papers, nestie stars and a sentiment from a Cat's Pajamas set.  Buttons are from my stash and I added some glamour dust to the number 9.

Hopefully I'll be back with a more cheerful post tomorrow!

Passion For Promarkers - swirls & sparkles

Our challenge for this week at Passion For Promarkers is 'swirls and sparkles', chosen by the lovely Michele.  You'll notice that I'm the only one on the DT who hasn't been sensible and used this challenge to add to the Christmas card pile - I seem to remember that last year I was finishing off my card for mum and her hubby just before we set off to their house on Christmas Day lol... no doubt I'll be the same this year!  We're sponsored by Letraset who are providing one of their fab promarker stamping kits for our lucky winner :o)

I've used one of the adorable Fairy Hattie images, which are one of the 'offer of the month' sets at DigiStamp Boutique.  I've coloured her with promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils, and added lots of glamour dust - I might have gone slightly overboard, she's even got sparkly shoes :o)  The papers are First Edition, dark brown cardstock is from Papermill Direct, sentiment is CC Designs and the heart pearls from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Sketch Saturday - fab sketch
• Totally Gorjuss - swirly whirly
• DYSU Challenge - splash of blue
• Creative Craft - free for all
• CRAFT Challenge - stars in your eyes

The tooth saga continues and I've still not been brave enough to go near a dentists.  I think my tolerance for pain is too high, and I'm actually getting used to it lol... Morgan went to a party yesterday at Laser Quest and as Dex was too little to go in, I took him upstairs to the soft play centre so he could play while we waited for Morgan.  While we were there, part of the offending tooth actually broke and when we got home I yanked the broken piece out myself... even I know that's not normal!

Less is More wk42 - silhouettes

Ooh I was very pleased to see the theme for this week's Less is More challenge - I have a bit of a thing about silhouette stamps!  I'm sure I'll be back again later in the week with another attempt at this one, I could play with this theme all day (if I only had more time!).

I wasn't sure what I wanted to make at first, and then I remembered some test pieces I made when I was playing around with alcohol inks for a project for Papercrafts TV last month.  I'd never used alcohol inks before, just because I'd not got round to buying any yet, so this piece was just me playing around to see what I could do with them.

So I've used a piece of glossy card that I'd already created the inky background on, added a Flourishes stamp and then sprayed it all with fabulous Goosebumps spray - although you can't see that in the pic.  Sentiment is Stampin' Up and the pearls are from my stash.

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

• Creative Card Crew - minimalistic
• One Stitch At A Time - anything goes
• Pile It On - anything with 'p' (pearls, pink)

Well I've had a very busy day, and we're running late with everything because Morgan had a party to go to after school.  So I'll keep this short so I can have some time for commenting, will catch up properly tomorrow :o)

Happy Birthday Sweet Stampin'!

Sorry, I'm a bit late with my post... still in pain but I won't bore you all with it again!  Thanks to everyone who left me such lovely supportive messages - you're all fab and you're really helping me feel a 'bit' more confident about going to the dreaded dentists... I will make it there soon!

Today we're celebrating Sweet Stampin's 2nd birthday with a nice and easy 'happy birthday' challenge, and LOADS of fab prizes!  Please pop over to the blog for full details - we have prizes from Saturated Canary, Tiddly Inks, Crafty Sentiments, My Creative Classroom, Prairie Fairy and The Craft Room, and there are random prizes for commenters on some of the design team posts - so for extra chances at winning make sure you leave some comments on the DT blogs :o)

I've used a gorgeous image that was kindly provided by Krista at Saturated Canary, and I've coloured her with promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils.  I don't very often do blond hair as I find dark hair much easier, but this is not too bad compared to my usual attempts at blond!  The papers are First Edition, with coredinations cardstock.  The sentiment is from a little set of tag stamps, but I'm not sure what make they are, flowers were cut with an MFT die and the pearls are from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Paper Sundaes - digital images
• Delightful Challenges - bingo (I used patterned paper, punches/ die cuts and flowers)

Off to take another dose of paracetamol so I can get some commenting done!

Sorry...

Just popping in to say hello and I'm really sorry for not making it around many of your blogs.  I did do a bit of very slow commenting but it's hard unless I've just taken a dose of paracetamol - unfortunately that's the only painkiller I can take as all the others make me sick.  The only way I can have anything stronger is if I'm given anti-sickness treatment at the same time... hopeless really aren't I?!

I got as far as going past a dentists today - I had every intention of going in to register (honest!) but somehow went past instead, the fear just took over!  So hubby's going to pop in tomorrow and pick up registration forms and then he'll have to drag me in kicking and screaming I think.  I do have a card to post for tomorrow, so I'll be back in the morning - still hoping for a miracle recovery so I can avoid the dentists altogether lol!

Mimo ski - The Stamp Basket DT

I'm a bit late with my post today because I've been struggling with a bad headache all day... I have my suspicions that it's actually caused by a problem with one of my teeth, but as I'm extremely phobic of the dentist (haven't been to one for years) I'm in denial!  I managed to get my card onto The Stamp Basket blog earlier, but I had to take a break from the laptop after that.  Anyway, here's my card...

The following items are all available from The Stamp Basket

Card blank - Craftwork Cards 'on the edge - scallop white' (size 6)

Stamp - Bildmalarna 'mimo - ski'

Papers - GCD Studios 'joyful peace'

Ribbon - Berisford satin 'burgundy'

Deco Art glamour dust in crystal

I've coloured Mimo with promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils, although it was a bit of a bad colouring day so I'm not very impressed with how it turned out!  The snowflake is a wooden one, that I've embossed with several layers of gold embossing powder.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• ABC Christmas - W for winter sports
• Cards For Men - it's nearly Christmas
• Moving Along With The Times - let it snow
• Fab n Funky - baby it's cold outside
• Truly Scrumptious - Christmas with pearls or vintage (this is about as vintage as I get, but if it's not right just delete me!)

I'll probably be a bit slow catching up with all your blogs tonight, but I'll get round as many of you as I can... fingers crossed I'll wake up miraculously recovered and won't have to find a dreaded emergency dentist!

Less is More wk41 - one layer, leaves

Need to keep this short today, because I've got loads to do and shouldn't really be here... I also shouldn't have taken time out to make my Less is More card, but I haven't missed a week yet and wasn't going to start now lol!  This week is one-layer week and Chrissie and Mandi want to see leaves... this filled me with panic because although there are lots of leaf stamps that I'd like to own, I haven't actually got anything leafy yet... or so I thought...

I had a good rummage through my stamps and didn't come up with anything really, but then I remembered a Stampin' Up sentiment set that has a few little accent stamps included, and I found this little clover leaf in there - yay!

I made a mask by cutting a row of 3 squares from a post it note, placed the post it note on my card (which is 5x7 size, ivory linen) and stamped a script stamp (from Indigo Blu) in the spaces using 'new sprout' memento ink.  Then using the same ink I sponged around the edges of my squares for definition, then stamped the clover leaves using 'bamboo' memento and added the sentiment in the same ink.  I then realised the sentiment would've looked better further over to the right, so I added the little butterfly trail stamp to balance it out a bit.

Right, must run and get some stuff done, but I'll catch up with you all later :o)

Passion For Promarkers - white on white

Before I get onto my cards, I need to say a big thank you for all your comments on our house disappointment - you're all so lovely!  I'm feeling ok about it really, it obviously just wasn't meant to be and fingers crossed we'll find something perfect next year.

So onto this week's challenge at Passion For Promarkers... it was Debs' turn to choose the theme and she chose 'WOW' or white on white.  We're sponsored by DigiStamp Boutique and our lucky winner will receive 6 digi images of their choice :o)  Oh and just a quick mention - we're having a mini DT call at PFP so if you're interested pop over and leave us a link to your blog.

Sorry there are so many photos, but in a moment of madness I decided to make a set of six 5" square cards - I'm very irritated because I faffed around stamping snowflakes all over the base cards in versamark and then adding cosmic shimmer, and they're very shimmery and twinkly in real life... but I just couldn't get the blinking things to show up in the photos!  So my cards aren't as boring as they look here, honest!

I've used one of the new 'offer of the month' sets from DigiStamp Boutique, the Cute Santa Collection, which comes as individual images and also as a handy A4 sheet with all the images ready to print.  I used the A4 sheet and accidentally sent it to print from the rear of my printer where I keep linen card ready to print, so my images printed on a sheet of linen.  I decided to have a go with them anyway and ended up really enjoying colouring on linen, as you can probably tell by the fact that I coloured all six!  I'll definitely be trying this again, because I quite like how the shading looks too :o)  I added some glamour dust and an Elzybells sentiment.

I'm entering my cards for the following challenges:

• Totally Gorjuss - Christmas traditions
• Creative Craft - minimalistic
• Cards For Men - it's nearly Christmas
• Pile It On - traditional Christmas

Aww cute news - they're doing a nativity play at Dex's nursery, and he's going to be a shepherd - bless!!!  I wasn't expecting them to do anything as they're all so little.  Oh dear, I'm so going to cry though, how embarrassing will that be?!

Excitement over!

No card to show today, although I have been making lots I can't show them yet.  I just thought I'd pop in and say thank you for all your comments yesterday, and to everyone who left messages about the house... unfortunately when I rang the estate agents today they said the house had already sold, they've just not put a sold sign up yet... boo hoo!!!  I'm very disappointed but that house was obviously not meant for us.  At least it's given us a bit of a push and we can start looking properly next year.  Glass of wine or two for me tonight I think, sob!

Oscar and his umbrella and an eeeeek!!

Mum asked me for this card - apparently she's kept the last card I made using this image and papers, because it's her favourite and she couldn't part with it lol!  So she wanted another similar one that she'll hopefully be able to give away...

Apologies for the photos, the purple is showing all different shades but it's all (including the cardstock for matting) a similar shade to the seam binding.

The image is Oscar and Umbrella from DigiStamp Boutique, coloured with flexmarkers, promarkers and koh-i-noor pencils.  I think the papers are from a Sweet Shoppe download, and the 'puddles' sentiment is probably TLC Designs... hope that's right!  The 2nd birthday sentiment is computer generated.  The seam binding is from The Stamp Basket - it was white and I've dyed it and scrunched it up a bit using 'seedless preserves' distress ink.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Sketch n Stash - Vicky's fab sketch
• Paper Sundaes - digital images

Now for a load of excited waffle - feel free to ignore it!  There's a house for sale near the boys' school/ nursery... I've wanted to move near the school for ages, and this house also has an 'extra' room downstairs so I could craft downstairs instead of taking one of the bedrooms, and the boys could have separate rooms if they want to.  It's priced ridiculously low so we could afford it in theory... however, they've priced it low so they can get a quick sale, so I looked at the online pictures and tortured myself and anyone else who'd listen about how perfect it would be, but didn't really consider it as an option, because we have our own house to sell which will take ages....

Today we visited my mum, and she said she'd been thinking about the house and wondered how we'd feel about her buying it, and then when our house eventually sells we can pay her back/ buy it from her!!!  Eeeeek!!!  I'm now a bundle of very excited nerves!  Of course, we might hate the house when we actually view it, or something else might put us off doing it, but I'm just in shock at her offering us the option!  I'm going to ring and book a viewing tomorrow... oh my goodness, we'd have so much work to do though, if we're actually going to do this.  Sorry, I'll shut up now lol - if you're really lucky we'll hate it and then you won't have to put up with me going on about it again...

Sweet Stampin' - gingham

I'm back with my second post for today, my DT card for our new challenge at Sweet Stampin' which is 'gingham' - couldn't get more perfect for me really, I love anything gingham!  We're sponsored by Fairy Dust Crafts so there'll be a fab prize for our lucky winner :o)

Apologies if I've been a bit boring using these papers over the last week, I wanted to try and use up the ones I'd printed rather than using them for one card and then shoving them in my box of scraps and forgetting about them!  Only a few scraps of them left now... unless I print some more lol!

The image is a very cute Pollycraft one that I won from the lovely Faye, coloured with flexmarkers, promarkers and koh-i-noor pencils.  I put the wording in place (using a simple text box in Word) before I printed it.  The papers are Pink Petticoat, printed onto linen card, with textured kraft card from Stampin' Up. The tabs were cut using the Stampin' Up word window punch, and the buttons are Papermania.  I decorated the inside too, but as usual forgot to take a pic of that!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Pollycraft Monday - Cazza's fab sketch
• Crafty Catz - use a digi
• Secret Crafter - spots & stripes

Wonder what will be happening with The X Factor now that Frankie has left (hurrah!), are they going to bring back one of the acts that got voted off?  Can't wait - gotta love trashy Saturday night telly lol :o)

A Gem of a Challenge - sketch

This week at A Gem of a Challenge, Christine has created a fab sketch to use but she'd also like to see some stitching and a sentiment.  Oh dear... I'm not very good with my sewing machine, and I'm never very happy with my faux stitching either.  My card is a bit of a disaster!

I did try to use my sewing machine but I ruined every piece I stitched - I'm going to practice stitching on a load of scrap pieces this afternoon because I love the look of stitched cards, it's something I really wish I could do.  So I resorted to faux stitching which always looks very messy when I do it -which is why I went for the distressed look, I was hoping it would blend in better!

I made some inky background pieces using 'scattered straw', 'ripe persimmon' and 'fired brick' distress inks, then stamped images from the Funky Flowers set (possibly my most used stamp set ever) to create the 'papers' and for the main image.  The only other stamp I used is a little Stampin' Up dot stamp.  All images were stamped in 'fired brick' distress ink.  I added some dark brown gingham ribbon from my stash and a card candy centre on the flower.

I'm a bit embarrassed even showing this card - not happy with it at all!  But I'll be back later with my DT card for Sweet Stampin' and that one makes me much happier :o)  Thanks to everyone who gave me advice about my cricut... still mulling things over but I think I probably will end up selling it.

Cricut - someone help me decide!

I've had my Cricut Expression since January and I'm hardly using it at all... I cut letters sometimes or the occasional shape, but I don't think it's really 'me'.  So I'm starting to think seriously about selling it and getting a Grand Calibur instead - I already have a Big Shot so I'm used to that sort of machine and think I might get more use out of it.  I don't know why I'm dithering about it really... has anyone sold a Cricut and then really regretted it?  Does anyone want to buy it?!  Lol :o)  So can anyone help me decide?

The Stamp Basket DT - Fizzy Moon

Thursdays are my day to share a creation on The Stamp Basket blog, and I've used a very cute Fizzy Moon stamp.  It's the first time I've coloured one of these stamps and I thought I'd made a big mess of it, but it didn't look too bad when I'd finished... phew!

I've coloured the image with flexmarkers, promarkers and koh-i-noor pencils, and then added glamour dust on his hat.  I cut a circle aperture from a piece of Nitwit paper and raised that piece on foam pads, with the image in the aperture.  The sentiment is from the same Fizzy Moon stamp set, and the poinsettia was cut with a Marianne Design Creatables die with lots of stickles and a little gem added... and I know the poinsettia shouldn't really be blue lol... I like it in blue though!

Items used:
Craftwork Cards scalloped edge card (size 6)
Image & sentiment - Fizzy Moon - presents
Nitwit Collections - Joyful Hearts 'holly white' paper
Marianne Design Creatables die - poinsettia serrated edge
Deco Art glamour dust in crystal
Dovecraft adhesive gemstones

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Winter Wonderland - make your cards sparkle
• Crimbo Crackers - make it sparkle
• CRAFT Challenge - cute
• Papertake Weekly - first Christmas

My cold is finally starting to go, hurrah!  I'm still coughing but at least I'm feeling better, so hopefully I can get lots done in the next few days.  Ooh and my limited edition winter Distress Inks arrived today so I need to find time to play with them, they look gorgeous :o)

Passion For Promarkers - kraft & 1 other colour

Our new challenge at Passion For Promarkers is 'kraft + 1 other colour', chosen by the lovely Julie.  We're sponsored by Some Odd Girl this week, and one lucky winner will receive 3 digi images of their choice :o)

So, another baby boy card from me, and I got an order for another one today.  The girls at Dex's nursery asked to see some of my cards when I took the Halloween treats in, and the manager has now said I can put a box of my cards at the nursery and she ordered a card too :o)

I've used the very cute Baby Fynn from DigiStamp Boutique, coloured mainly with flexmarkers, plus a couple of promarkers where I needed extra colours.  The papers are those Pink Petticoat ones again, printed onto linen card, with textured kraft card from Stampin' Up.  The sentiment is from Elzybells, the tabs at the top were cut with the Stampin' Up 'word window' punch, and for the little hearts on the sentiment I used the heart section of the Stampin' Up owl punch.  Spotty buttons from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp - buttons
• Stampin' For The Weekend - fab sketch
• One Stitch At A Time - use a digi

A quick baby card

Hubby asked me for a baby card for one of his friends, so I made one and then I sort of let someone else have it... oops... so this is the replacement!  I'll show my first card tomorrow lol...

I've had these Pink Petticoat images printed out on linen card for ages and hadn't got round to using them.  Normally when I colour on linen I keep my colouring quite flat because it tends to bleed, but I thought I'd try a bit of careful blending and see how it went - I think it actually looks ok, not bad anyway.  I coloured mainly with flexmarkers.  The papers are also Pink Petticoat printed onto linen card - I'm trying to use up the papers I printed at the weekend.  I inked all the papers with grey ink and added some card candy and little pearls from my stash.

I cried reading Katie Renz's blog today... I didn't know her at all but she seemed like such a lovely person, it's so sad that she's now lost her battle with cancer.  Her poor family... she had 3 young boys and I set myself off again every time I think about them.  Just so sad... giving my boys extra big hugs tonight.

Less is More wk40 - red and orange

I'm back with my second post for today, a card for this week's Less is More challenge which is 'red & orange' - fine for me as I like bright colours.  I thought it'd be an ideal one for getting inky... so I did... you should see the state of my hands!

I made an inky background on a scrap of linen card, using distress inks in 'scattered straw', 'ripe persimmon' and 'fired brick', then stamped the Hero Arts image using 'gathered twigs' - yep I finally got to play with the Autumn limited edition inks!  I used a scrap of stripy paper, some dark brown card from Papermill Direct and stamped the Stampin' Up sentiment on a tab cut with an MFT die.

I'm also entering my card for the 'over the edge' challenge at CAS-ual Fridays and Jules' Crafty Snippet Challenge - this is what I'm planning to do with a lot of my offcuts of white linen Jules, they're all going to get the inky treatment... eventually anyway!

By the way, it's just the photo that makes everything look slightly wonky, at least I hope it is lol.