Oops...

...I forgot to post this - sorry Sweet Stampin' teamies!  It wasn't my team's week for posting, but the theme is 'weddings & anniversaries', and I had to make an anniversary card anyway.  So I joined in, and then forgot all about it!  This week's sponsor is Whimsy Stamps, with 5 digi stamps of the winner's choice, and our monthly sponsor is Joanna Sheen who is offering a £10 voucher prize.

Now I must admit, I'm not very happy with this card - it isn't quite how it looked in my head!  It was another of the cards that my Auntie asked me for, and she was happy with it, so I suppose that's ok!  I've cut the hearts from pearlised card, using a sizzix primitive hearts die, embossed the hearts with the divine swirls folder, and added some little red pearls.  The corner is a MFT dienamics die, and the sentiment is Stampin' Up.

We've not stopped today!  Visited my uncle, as it was his birthday today, then went shopping for school uniform... Dex tried on his little jade green polo shirt and looked soooo sweet and proud - I managed not to blub though!  Then we've spent the afternoon at my mum's, and I had to squeeze in a couple of hours in the craft room when we got back.  Hoping for a quieter day tomorrow!  Hope you've all had a lovely weekend :o)

A Gem of a Challenge - teddies or animals

Hello :o)  Sorry I've been a bit quiet over the last couple of days - it's a bit tricky fitting everything in during the school hols.  Last summer the holidays were a nightmare - the boys did nothing but squabble and I couldn't wait to get them back to school and nursery!  I'm really enjoying my time with them this summer though, they're getting on well and we're having lots of fun... I'll miss them in September when the hols are over - and Dex will be starting full time school too, eek!

Anyway, that's quite enough waffling from me!...  Our new theme at A Gem of a Challenge is 'teddies or animals' and the prize is 4 Pink Gem Designs digi images of the winner's choice.

I've used the super cute Josh with Puppy, and coloured him with promarkers and flexmarkers.  I made another circle card using my large Go Kreate dies again, makes a nice change from my usual squares!  The papers are from the gorgeous Echo Park Summer Days pad, the sentiment is from the Birthday Numbers stamp set from Pink Gem Designs and I added a Memory Box banner, with some little dots punched from the papers.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Crafty Catz - animals
• Moving Along With The Times - shape up
• Delightful Challenges - punches & dies
• Papertake Weekly - spots & stripes (possibly cheating a bit with the spots, sorry!)
• Simon Says Stamp - animal antics

Have you seen the new Gems of Inspiration blog?  The DT will be posting regularly with our Pink Gem Designs makes to hopefully inspire you, and there are some fab stamps to be won at the moment - be quick though, because the candy draw closes on Monday!

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far :o)

A simple 30th card

I've made a couple of simple cards today, as my Auntie asked me for a few and she doesn't like fussy stuff!  Here's one of them...

I've cut the card base with my large Go Kreate dies - it's about 14.5cm across I think, but circle cards always seem small even when they're not lol!  The papers are First Edition 'boho chic', sentiment is Stampin' Up and the numbers are from the fab Birthday Numbers stamp set from Pink Gem Designs.  The edge of the sentiment strip was trimmed with scalloped scissors and I added a bit of bling from my stash... I coloured the numbers with a Coral promarker, and edged the numbers with a Sakura clear stardust pen, not that you can tell from the photo!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Allsorts Challenge - going around in circles
• Stamptacular Sunday - shape it up
• Sentimental Sundays - clean & simple + bonus sketch
• Creative Craft - just a sentiment

Bit of a rushed post again... I'm cooking for a change (hubby usually does it!) and I still want to squeeze in some visits to your blogs.  Hope you've all had a lovely day :o)

Lil Sweetpea - Sugar Nellie DT

I've used one of Sugar Nellie's gorgeous fairy stamps today - this is Lil Sweetpea.... It looks like she's out of stock at the moment so I can't link her up, but I'm sure she'll be available from Funky Kits again soon!

She just makes me smile, she's so cute :o)  I've coloured her with promarkers and flexmarkers, adding some little Meiflower blossom sequins with pearls from my stash, for little hair bobbles.  The papers are from the gorgeous Dovecraft 'garden party' pack, sentiment tags are LOTV, the green flower is a resin one from MCH and the swirly bits behind it were cut with the Memory Box macarena corner die, and then chopped up.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Sketch n Stash - fab sketch
• That Craft Place - things with wings
• Bunny Zoe's - summer
• Cute Card Thursday - tag you're it
• In The Pink - 50 shades of pink (1st challenge)

Morgan's been inspired by the Olympics, and has decided he's going to be a sprinter or a hurdler, and wants to start training... Luckily we're not too far from Don Valley, which I think is where Jessica Ennis trained, so I've said he can give it a go.  He already does karate, but that's not an Olympic sport yet and he wants a medal lol.  You never know eh?!  Right, off to have another mad dash around your blogs, hope you've all had a lovely day :o)

Tilda with Wrapped Heart - The Stamp Basket DT

It's my day to post on The Stamp Basket blog, and I just had the urge to colour my favourite (and most used) Tilda again... so I did!

Items available from The Stamp Basket

Craftwork Cards - straight edge card blank

Magnolia Sweet Crazy Love - Tilda with Wrapped Heart stamp

Prima - Song Bird papers

Prima - Essential Petals 'Belle'

Berisfords Satin Picot Edge ribbon - pale pink (altered slightly with a promarker)

Memory Box - Honeyblossom Sprig die

The Hobby House - 8mm pearl brad

The Hobby House pearls

I've coloured lovely Tilda with promarkers and flexmarkers, adding my little Viva pearl dots around her.  The sentiment tag is LOTV, and everything else is linked above!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Sketch Saturday - another fab sketch
• Crafty Catz - anything goes
• Divas By Design - for a female
• Midweek Magnolias - 2 dies or punches (1 die & a corner rounder punch)
• Fab n Funky - pearls or rhinestones

Rushing off so I can catch up with some of your blogs!  Hope you have a lovely evening :o)

A card and a new blog!

Would you like to win some gorgeous Pink Gem Designs stamps?

Please pop across to the brand new Gems of Inspiration from Pink Gem Designs blog for all the details :o)

The new blog will hopefully give you lots of ideas and inspiration using Pink Gem Designs stamps, digi images and papers.

And if you're not already a follower at A Gem of a Challenge, why not pop over there too and join in with our fab fortnightly challenges with great prizes to be won :o)

And here's my card for today, using one of the fab 'Keep Calm' images from Pink Gem Designs...

I've used the colour version of the Keep Calm and Play Golf digi stamp - you get this version, a black text one and a white text version that you can layer over a digi paper, so it would look exactly like mine, but with any background colour you like.

The papers are from the lovely Happy Days pad from Papermania, with Stampin' Up cardstock and striped ribbon.  The 'Dad' sentiment is from a Wellington Bear stamp set and I added some punched circles to finish it off.  This is not for my dad (he died very young - he was just a few years older than I am now), it's for my Auntie to give to her father-in-law.

I'm not sure what we're doing today... Hubby's taken Dex to his mum's for a few hours, and usually we'd be off to my mum's later, but really we should go and get the boys kitted out with uniforms ready for school... Will have to see what hubby wants to do when he gets back!  Hope you're all enjoying your weekend, whatever you're up to :o)

Sweet Stampin' - things with wings

Our challenge for this week at Sweet Stampin' is 'things with wings', and we're sponsored by Lili of the Valley who are offering one lucky winner a £10 voucher, and our monthly sponsor is Joanna Sheen with a £10 voucher prize.

I've used one of my favourite images from the Valentine Bird Collection from DigiStamp Boutique - it's actually a single bird image, but I repeated it and flipped the second bird, making it slightly smaller than the first one.  It's a solid image, so no colouring involved, but I outlined the hearts with a sakura clear stardust pen for a bit of shimmer.  The frame shape is Stampin' Up, striped paper is Pink Petticoat, mini scalloped border is a MFT dienamics die and the corners are Whimsy.

I'm having a lazy Saturday at home today, as we just don't seem to stop during the week at the moment.  I'm hoping to catch up with lots of your blogs and do a bit of colouring, and watch some Olympics of course! Hope you all have a lovely day :o)