Is it a plane?...

Well, yes actually... it is!  Or maybe it's a helicopter, I'm not sure...

Now don't laugh - I know you want to!

When we were in Hobbycraft buying door hangers and other stuff to alter, Dex spotted a little plain wood plane and asked if I'd paint it for him... sort of hoping he'd forget about it I said 'of course!' and he's not shut up about it all week lol.  So today, with the littlest dictator stood next to me telling me what colour I should do everything - his favourite colours are pink and blue - and requesting black spots and glitter, this is what I've been doing!

I've used Eco Green acrylic paints, added some stickles on most of the pink bits and some black spots using a Stampin' Up stamp.

I'm not sure why I'm even blogging this lol, seems like conclusive proof that I've gone completely mad :o)

Lovely Louie

Well I'm still not feeling very creative, but I just had to try and make something with one of the cute new images from DigiStamp Boutique...

I just love this image, Louie is so adorable!  You can get the Louie collection here.  I'm not really happy with my card though - there are some days when I just can't seem to get my colouring right and today was one of them.  I've coloured Louie (badly) with promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils.  Not sure what make the gingham card is, the dark brown cardstock is from Papermill Direct.  Added some card candy and a Little Claire sentiment.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• ABC Challenge - anything goes
• My Mum's Craft Shop - all creatures great & small
• DYSU Challenge - brown
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes (optional something punched)

We got absolutely soaked on the way to school this morning, and Dex doesn't go to nursery on Thursdays so he had to do the journey back with me too after dropping Morgan off... Dex was very cheerful about it really even though he must have been freezing and he's starting with a cold.  We were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves by the time we got back though, and hubby said he'd pop out from work and pick Morgan up this afternoon so we don't have to trail out in the rain again :o)  Oh I do hope my car is fixed soon!

Gorgeous new images from DigiStamp Boutique

All this walking seems to have dried up all my creativity, so I've not made anything for the last couple of days... I want my car back please!!!  Anyway, I just thought I'd share the adorable new offer images that Sally-Ann has just released at DigiStamp Boutique.

There's a fab Christmas collection that you can get here

And a super cute new bear called Louie

Aren't they all gorgeous?  Fingers crossed I'll have something to show you using one of them tomorrow!

Passion For Promarkers - alter something

Our new challenge for this week at Passion For Promarkers was chosen by Anja and she wants us to 'alter something that is not square'.  We're sponsored by Joanna Sheen and our winner will receive a £10 gift voucher for her fab online store.  I admit to having a bit of a panic about this challenge - I'm not much of an alterer, although I'd love to get into it more.

Mine is probably a bit of a cheat - I just couldn't think of what I could alter so I bought some plain wooden door hangers... plus lots of other stuff that I'll hopefully get round to altering soon lol, turned out to be an expensive challenge for me!  I painted my hanger with Eco Green acrylic paint in 'butternut', then when it was dry I added some 'shabby shutters' distress ink around the edges, and stamped some flourishes (also from Eco Green) and dusted them with cosmic shimmer - the flourishes are actually a shimmery green but they look more silver in the photos.  Added some gingham ribbon from my stash.

The image is a Gorjuss Girl - one of my many unused stamps.  I'm glad I've finally used her, I think she's lovely.  I've coloured her with a combination of promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils on my new favourite 'make it colour' cardstock from Quixotic Paperie... oh I love this stuff, one of those things that really did live up to the hype so I'm glad I've tried it :o)

I'm entering my hanger for the following challenges:

• CES Challenges - totally gorjuss/ pretty girls (2nd entry)
• DYSU - swirls
• Fussy & Fancy - try a new technique (altering something, acrylic paints, stamping on wood...)
• Simon Says - anything goes

Walking backwards and forwards to school is proving to be a bit of a challenge!  I did a total of 3hrs walking yesterday... it feels like such a waste of my day lol.  Although I must admit in the morning it's quite pleasant - the boys enjoy it and are happy kicking up leaves and looking for conkers.  The afternoon walk is a nightmare though, as they're tired after a long day and it was so hot yesterday too - Dex had a tantrum before we'd even got going and then sobbed and moaned all the way home... such fun... can't wait to get my car back!

Less is More - the colour of your eyes

Hmm... this week's challenge at Less is More is to make a card using 'the colour of your eyes'.  My eye colour?  Weird lol!  Well not so weird I suppose - they're hazel, which I've always known of course, but I've never really studied them.  So I had a proper look for the challenge, and they're a bit of everything!  There's yellow, green and brown in there... I got the distress inks out!

For once I'm actually quite happy with how this turned out :o)  I had no plan, I just played with the inks on a scrap of linen card, added a Hero Arts stamp and a Penny Black sentiment.  The base was going to be white, but then I happened to have some dark brown card on my desk and it seemed to set off the stamped panel quite well, so my base is dark brown card from Papermill Direct.

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

• Truly Scrumptious - clean & simple
• Simon Says - anything goes

Further to my car saga - I've left it with my mum's hubby Andrew who knows what he's doing with cars.  He says fixing it isn't a problem, but it's going to take a while - I might be without my car for up to 2 weeks, which is going to be no fun for doing the school/nursery run as I'm about 30-40mins walk away and it's all uphill on the way there.  Not much fun for me, but even less fun for Dex with his little legs bless him!

Sweet Stampin' - lilac & lace

I'm back with my first DT card for Sweet Stampin'.  Our challenge for this week is 'lilac & lace' which is easy really, but I don't use much lace so it was a bit tricky for me... for some reason I've got loads of lace though so at least some of it got used!

I've used another of my favourite stamps (yes I know, another one!), this is Fizz from Sugar Nellie.  She's coloured with promarkers, flexmarkers and koh-i-noor pencils, with a touch of stickles on the bubbles and a pearl on her flower.  The papers are Papermania with cardstock from Papermill Direct.  Flowers and buttons from my stash, computer generated sentiment, and the lace started off white but I coloured it with a promarker.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• CES Challenges - totally gorjuss/ pretty girls
• Aud Sentiments - happy birthday
• Simon Says - anything goes (3rd entry)

Today is turning into a bit of a nightmare!  To start with, I'd ordered some 'make it colour' blending card from the lovely Elaine at Quixotic, because I've wanted to try some for ages... lot more expensive than my usual card but people seem to get fab results with it so I really wanted some... the postie delivered it today - jammed in my letterbox FOLDED!!!  I was in, he just didn't bother to knock.  It's all creased and I was FUMING!  I should add this is in no way the fault of Quixotic, it was packaged fine - Elaine is sorting everything for me even though it's not even her fault.

Then hubby came home with my car which has FAILED its MOT.... agh!!!!  Apparently the garage couldn't fix it because there's something electrical and it needs welding underneath or something... I dunno!  So I've now got a car I can't drive until we can get it in somewhere else to be sorted, and then pay for another MOT. That should be fun on Monday when I have to get the boys to school and nursery!

A Gem of a Challenge - with love at Christmas

It's my first week as GDT on the A Gem of a Challenge blog, and our challenge this week is 'with love at Christmas' (a Christmas card including a heart/ hearts), set by the lovely Jenny.

I decided to give my poor neglected Cricut some use and cut a large heart from a piece of Dovecraft paper.  I've used the lovely Snow Love stamp, one of my favourite Christmas stamps, stamped on Stampin' Up kraft card and coloured with koh-i-noor pencils... which was probably a mistake!  I still need lots of practise colouring on kraft, the white didn't go quite as white as I would have liked (maybe I 'need' prisma pencils?) and all the stamped lines faded so I had to go over them with a black fineliner.  Added stickles and glamour dust for some sparkle.

The paper was mounted on foam pads for a bit of dimension.  The wooden snowflake was a sneaky purchase from a few days ago... I just happened to pass a craft shop on my way to meet a friend - well it would've been rude to walk past without going in wouldn't it?!  Added a button from my stash and a LOTV sentiment.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Charisma Cardz - love
• Paper Sundaes - anything goes (2nd entry)
• Simon Says Stamp - anything goes (2nd entry)

My little car's in for its MOT today - isn't it horrible waiting to find out the results (and cost!), I'm always a bag of nerves on MOT day.  Will be back in a little while with my first DT card for Sweet Stampin'.